Table Mountain!

Holy Shit.

It's 1:11pm and what a day its been. Lee Anne and I were up at out at 6:45am to hike Table Mountain with our hired guide, Margaret. There are many different trails to choose from, but we hiked Platteklip Gorge. I think there are three words best used to describe the trail: steep (!), hot, and rocky(!).

As hikes can sometimes go, it was hard, challenging, exhausting, painful, near-impossible, and sweaty. I got dizzy and my skin was tingly. I didn't think I was going to make it. There was lots of swearing under my strained breath. I doubted myself and I felt bad for slowing Lee Anne down. The sun was piping hot by 8:00 and the shade was sparse. The rare breeze was incredibly appreciated. The flora was oddly beautiful and completely unique - the fynbos is the indigenous vegetation, and is found nowhere else in the world. Then there were the lizards and the dessies.










I knew the hike would be hard; I expected nothing less. But there's a difference between thinking it and experiencing it. And no matter what pre-hike pep talk you give yourself, there are still moments on the trail of believing it cannot be done. But just like Lester's One Pitch At A Time way of thinking, I kept telling myself it was one step at a time. Lee Anne had my back, literally and figuratively. She hiked behind me and continusouly ushered encouragement. I don't know that I could have made the hike without her.

And then, finally, we passed through the narrow gorge and the flat table top was unveiled. What a sight! And the view! And, for me, more importantly, the sense of accomplishment and success and peace and awe and giddy excitement and the sigh of relief! At the top, I had a moment of, "I knew you could do this. It wasn't easy and you had to work really damn hard for this moment, but that's what makes it this worthwhile."










Sitting quietly on top of Table Mountain, enjoying the breeze and taking in the vast and never-ending views, I found myself really emotional. I cried. Maybe from pure exhaustion, but more likely it was the culmination of all my experiences here in Cape Town. And my personal challenge of hiking that damn mountain! When you spend time in an incredible city like this, creating vivid memories, experiencing new things, and meeting the most amazing people, and then you work so hard to stand on top of the mountain to see the same city - where all of these things have happened - that has taught you so much and changed you in a special way, it tastes that much sweeter and means that much more. Odd as it may sound, it's the most spiritual I've felt in quite a long time. Is it apropos that I felt a spiritual connection when we were literally above the clouds?





Fast forward through the cable car ride down and the drive home, to an enormous plate of baked ziti, some stretching, and a cool bath. And I still can't get over that hike, the views, the complex and in-depth emotions, my sore quads, my strength, and what this city is doing to me.