Hiking TABLE MOUNTAIN!

A few weeks ago my housemates and I, as well as another VAC intern from Australia, decided we HAD to climb Table Mountain. We knew that we couldn't leave without saying we had done that- mainly because Table Mountain is the heart of Cape Town; it's what Cape Town is known for. And since Kat (one of the Australian VAC interns) was leaving in about a week, we had to do it soon!  

Table Mountain has tons of trails to climb, so we wanted to start off with an easy one, and possibly try a harder one later. Just so you all know, Table Mountain is 3,558 ft tall and most trails are gradual inclines. We took the advice of one of my housemate's co-workers and climbed a trail called "Plateklip Gorge." It was definitely not what we expected. As we were starting the hike, we realized that it was far from being "easy". It was literally ROCK STAIRS the entire way up. The regular time it takes people to climb the Plateklip gorge is 2.5-3hours. So picture yourself on a stairclimber at the gym... on FULL incline for 3 hours straight. Let's just say that I was dying about 15 minutes in. Nonetheless, we climbed the super steep, super rocky trail in TWO hours! We beat the average time by 30 minutes! (pat on the back). Job well done! ...my legs didn't think so the next day (and by day I mean WEEK) after.

Quite the glute workout ;)

The view at the top was breath-taking! Noo, it was literally BREATHHH TAKINNGG; I was close to death at the top because of the 2 hour climb up. My lungs were shot! haha. The view actually wasn't so great at the top because there was a huge cloud over the mountain (popularly known as the "table cloth" over Table Mountain). So we waited for a bit in hopes that the cloud would pass over, but no luck. We took the cable car down, and got some nice views. And once we were at the bottom we had a great view of Table Mountain... minus a cloud on top! If only we had waited a bit longer. Oh well, I suppose that means I will just have to climb it again... on an EASIER trail next time!

The view on the way up so was so magical!

The view at the top was NOT so magical. This is Chelsey and her sarcastic thumbs up!

I Can't believe that half of my time here is now gone! I know that I have already done so much, but I feel as though time is just FLYINGG by! Too crazy. Anyways, I will try to post another story before Saturday (I leave then for 10 days; I'm doing a trip with VAC that goes all along the coast. You'll hear all about it soon!)

Miss and Love you all! xoxo
-Keira