Climbing Lion's Head

Lion’s Head is one of the mountain peaks that surround Cape Town. The peak is about 2,195 feet above sea level.

This is the first mountain hike I’ve ever done. And I’d like to tell you that I found it easy because I’m so in shape and young (yes, sarcasm. I’m like really average if we’re talking exercise… Okay, maybe a little below average), but I’m not lying, it was a struggle. I went with a group of about 10 other people, and I was quickly left behind. Honestly, the hardest part was walking up the constant incline before the actual climbing.

But one girl did stay behind, and her name is Rachel (I’ll picture her below). We may have took a slower pace, but we did actually make it. And I gotta say, she was the perfect person for me to climb that thing with, because every time I was thinking about giving up and turning around, she was cheerily giving encouragement and telling me stories to take my mind off of the task at hand.

And at one point we even made a little bird friend that led us up the mountain for a ways. He’d fly a few feet in front of us, wait for us to get close to him and fly a little more. It felt like someone watching over us, making sure that we got our second wind to push up the rest of the way.

Our experience would have probably been much better, had it not been the coldest and rainiest of days since I’ve arrived in Cape Town. At certain points, we were enveloped in clouds with spitting rain. It kind of felt like we were in an action movie, even though I’ll acknowledge that it probably didn’t look that way as we stumbled up to the peak.

Once we got there, it was still super cloudy, but it was starting to clear up and we could see the city below us and the sun beginning to set in the background. Once the sun got to a certain point, we decided it was probably a good idea to turn around before we lost the light. As we descended, we got to see a gorgeous sunset, as the clouds blissfully dissipated.

We all made it up, and we all made it down. Granted, we were all soaking wet and chilled to the bone, but I was very satisfied with myself.

Obviously, the video doesn’t cover the hike in it’s entirety, because once I had to start climbing, I didn’t want to have the camera in my hands. Especially with the slippery rocks. But I did try to get the highlights.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I’d do it again. But next time, I’ll be sure to do it one a day with better weather. And at the end of the day, it’s really the people you go with, and making sure you take it at a pace you’re comfortable with.