NURSERY RAVINE - Rocks, Stairs, Views and Good Company

A day for the books. A not too early start. We set off at Constantia Nek Parking to make the contour route trek to the start of our chosen route up beautiful Table Mountain.

Table Mountain, located in Cape Town, South Africa, is a prominent landmark and one of the 7 wonders of the world, with some interesting stats:

• Height: Approximately 1,086 meters (3,563 feet) above sea level.

• Area: Covers around 25 square km (9.7 square miles).

• Flora: Home to over 2,200 plant species, many of which are endemic.

• Biodiversity: Part of the Cape Floristic Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nursery Ravine is one of the scenic hiking routes on Table Mountain, known for its lush vegetation and diverse flora. Here are some details about the trail:

• Distance: Approximately 3.5 Km (2.2 miles) to the summit.

• Duration: About 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on your pace.

• Difficulty: Moderate. to Hard

  
  

Highlights

• Scenery: The trail offers stunning views of the surrounding area and beautiful indigenous plant life. It's particularly lush and green, with fynbos and forest elements.

• Waterfalls: Depending on the season, you might see small waterfalls and streams along the way.

It truly was a beautiful day, no wind, open views and the sun was out.

Having been on the contour path a couple of times, it was an easy walk to the start of the ravine. Along the way we got treated to spectacular views of the peninsula and the mountain.

A lot of evidence of the wet winter we have endured in Cape Town with some water drifts, water erosion breaks in the path and rocks that came from the mountain along with the water. This did slow us down somewhat. The Last photo is me standing in front of a fallen tree's route system. There are massive tree's that fell over this year due to the ground being so wet that it could not keep itself upright any longer, and then wind! Lots and Lots of wind this year that made things worse.

Good conversation and lots of things to see got us to the 4km mark, with just over 200m vertical climbing where the ravine starts.

Having been up a couple of times before I thought I knew kind of what to expect. The beauty did not disappoint! The views are just spectacular and being under that tree canopy is just amazing.

What kept us on our toes was the water damage to the trail. Normally its stairs with fair rocks as stairs, but there was a lot of displacement and dislodged rock along the path that we had to negotiate.

t took us about 90mins to climb the rest of the 1000m of the Table Mountain ascent, about 850m. The photo's we took was just when we took a breather, because safety first. Hold on with both hands, both feet and your whole mind. Concentration up was high.

Also - loving the scenery without grabbing technology too much was a priority for the day. When we hit that last stair case everyone was overjoyed!

From there you have a couple of options, we took the path to the dams. We decided that we are going to have a sit down for lunch there and then move on. This is about 1.5km of easy walking between the milkwood tree forest and then the vegetation changes to more open fields.

Those that has been on the mountain before knows it can look like moon rock there, if water levels are low and I was excited to see what it looks like after our winter. WOW...that is the only word I had for what we found.

We Found dams filled to the brim, with vegetation flourishing.

After a well deserved break and food stop at the dams, we took the cement pathway down past the overseer's cottage, Where we filled up on water and then took the known route down Constantia Neck.

After just short of 16km and 6 hours later we got back to our vehicles at the neck. Feeling grateful, invigorated and amazed at our day on this spectacular land mark on our door step.

Photo Credits: Thank you for everyone that went with.

What you see here is a highlight reel of everyone's photos. A Mixture of Smart phone and go pro Shots.

Thank you for a memorable day on the mountain! You all know who you are!!

I share this journey with you all because everyday I wake up is a new day to grow and live my Journey Of Grace with countless new beginnings this last couple of years.