Wolfe's research project.
From the peak we climed we could look down into the Hex River Valley.
The hike participants were Andi Wolfe, her field assistent Esprit Heestand, Adam and Leanna Harrower and Dennis and Gigi Laidler.
See also Andi's blog post of the hike.
Adam, a scientist from the SA National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch, first discovered the Hyobanche up there about two years ago and Andi was keen to collect material, including roots of the host plants, for molecular systematics of the Hyobanche species and to identify the host plants.
Hyobanche is a parasitic plant species.
We left the vehicles parked in the shade of those pine trees
It was about 30 deg C (86 deg F) when we set off
It was going to be a long hot climb
Here is Esprit setting off
Adam Harrower, our intrepid Hyobanche hunter and guide
And up there is where we're headingWe are heading for that peak just left of the bush protruding above the horison
Off we go through a stand of Protea nitida, Waboom or Wagon Tree as it is called locally
There is no trail up those mountains, just lots of rocks and very scratchy fynbos, or as known to many local hikers, "painbos"
That is just the first of a neverending series of ridges ahead
Here is a view northwards from up the first ridgeThe Gydo pass is left of the mountain with the sharp drop off
Now is time for the first of many rests
From left to right: Esprit Heestand, Andi Wolfe, Gigi Laidler, Leanna and Adam Harrower
The Skurweberge on the left, Waboomsberg on the right and the Gydopass runs up the lower ridge between the two northwards to Citrusdal
The green areas are decidious fruit orchards, irrigated from the mountain streams. The brown areas are dryland wheat fields
Some real interesting rock formations on the way up
Georgeous - species unknown
Cresting every ridge the main range just seems the same distance away!
Luckily this was a relatively flat if rocky plateau
What we did'nt know is just how much really serious climbing there was after this
Andi with the Waaihoekberge close to her hat and the Skurweberge in the middle ground
Buffelshoek peak 2058 m (6752 ft), right and Milner Ridge peak 1887 m (6190 ft)
A beautiful white Erica
and in close up
A georgeous Serruria.
Probably Serruria dodii, the Hex River Spiderhead
This genus is in the protea family
And here is the Serruria dodii bush growing in its habitat
A panorama of the Waaihoekberge in the background and Skurweberge in the midground
A georgeous yellow shrub - perhaps ann Erica
Need to do some homework to work this one out
A closer view
I was heading for the next ridge before taking a break but this georgeous little orchid halted my progress
And here is another little orchid growing in the rocks just over the ridge
Now we really start climbing
This is a view east along the northern slope of the Hexberge towards Matroosberg
A wonderful panorama looking NW from the same spot'Shift Click' (Explorer) or 'Ctrl Click' or 'Click the mouse wheel' (Firefox) on the image to open it in full size in a new window or tab respectively
A sighting looking eastwards along the Hex
The steepest bit is over but we still have a way to climb
Beautiful restios against the late afternoon sun
The first mountain pools we came across were very welcome in the heat.
Remember we were climbing at about 30deg C (86deg F)
Sundews growing alongside the stream.
We drank our fill, filled our waterbottles and admired the tiny utricularia (bladderwort) flowers
Click on the link to read about these really interesting little parasitic plants
All bladderworts are carnivorous, and capture small animals by means of bladder-like traps. Terrestrial species tend to have tiny traps, and feed on minute prey such as protozoa and rotifers swimming in water-saturated soil. Despite their small size, the traps are extremely sophisticated. When prey animals brush against trigger hairs connected to the trapdoor, it is released and the bladder sucks in the door and the prey, along with the water surrounding it. Once the bladder is full of water, the door closes again, the whole process taking only ten to fifteen thousandths of a second.
Eventually we reached the pools close to our camping spot late in the afternoon
The area is a small flat plateau at the point where the northern slopes of the Milner Ridge Peak and the Shale Peaks meet
From left to right, Milner Peak, Milner Ridge Peak, Shale Peaks and Buffelshoek PeakWe camped just left of the small ridge in the midground
Before we got there we found this 'magnificent' specimen of Protea magnifica, the Queen protea or sugarbush
which we photographed in the setting sun
with Milner Ridge Peak in the background
Eish!
Yes Andi - your Hyobanche is waaaay up on the left shoulder near the peak!
But that is tomorrow's joy
The sun setting over the Waaihoekberge in the background and the Skurweberge receeding up to the north
Peace!
Looking up the Shale Peaks to Buffelshoek Peak as the sun sets
Last pics of the day
A WoodCentral sighting with the sun receeding up Milner Peak with Milner needle on the right
Going ...
Going ...
Gigi and Andi
Gone ...
Esprit, Gigi and Andi
Andi on the phone to Steve back in Columbus, OhioSteve is logged in to Google Earth and Andi is guiding him to our position ... sort of
According to GoogleEarth we were camped at 33d27m41.59s South and 19d26m44.47s East
The Milner Ridge Peak is at 33d27m44.37s South and 19d28m14.41s East
We slept till after sunrise in the morning
Esprit, still in her sleeping bag, had decided to join Adam and Leanna sleeping in the open under the stars
Gigi peering at the clouds coming in from the North West
A cold front was expected that evening
Cloud over the Skurweberge with the Waaihoekberge rising above it on the leftI bought that french 'Jamet' tent when I was a first year university student in 1970 and it is still going strong! I just Googled 'Jamet tent' and it seems like the company is still going strong!
Even before breakfast we were photographing flowers
Thet's where we're headed up to the left!
Esprit eventually arises ...
Africa is supposed to be hot and warm ....
Surprise !!!!!!
On goGigi's shoes
The clouds building now ...
After breakfast we started climbing Milner Ridge Peak.
The going was slow due to all the photo opportunities
This is the closed bud of a low blooming protea species that is pollinated by small mice
See also here
A white form of Protea magnifica
Awsome
and closer
I coudn't help myself
Those georgeous little early morning dew drops
And then just around the corner the normal colour varient of Protea magnifica
the picture says it all
Hey Andi, here is some scat for Steve's blog
My educated guess is that it's probably vlei rat (Otomys irroratus)
Otomus is a gorgeous chocolate brown large rodent with beautiful big eyes
Google only finds one poor pic of this wonderful beastie!
Another wonderful species of Erica
It will take a while to identify this one from our book of 650 odd of them that occur in South Africa!
Here is the shrub in its habitat on the lower north slope of Milner Ridge Peak
And this is a classic pic containing all the key elements of Fynbos
Proteas, ericas and restios with an endemic Brunea or Berzelia of the family Bruniaceae
Just below the saddle where Milner Ridge Peak and the Shale Peaks meet
The clouds are hiding the peaks
You can see the group climbing slowly upward
Adam examining an interesting small protea
Here it is with a couple of small pollinating beetles drinking nektar
Another beautiful Erica
About half way up nowDown there at the base of the slope close to the centre of the picture are our two tents, one much more visible than the other
A 'ballancing' rock
Wonderful texturing caused by weathering on the rock
Think Haley Smith
See here also
Erica again ...
Wow - reached the top left flank of Milner Ridge Peak and peeked over into the Hex River Valley
But we are not going to get higher up today - never mind we were virtually at the peak in any event
We were here to find Hyobanche and not to go peak bagging anyway
Sighted a WoodCentral cap on the eastern flank of the peak with the Hex River Valley below
The N1 between Cape Town and Johannesburg passes up this valley, leaving the Boland behind and rising up the Hex River Pass into the dry Great Karoo
And behind me the Hexberge sweeping westwards towards the Waaihoekberge
Looking across to Milner Peak and Milner needle
Life is great!
Andi composing a sighting with Milner Peak in the background
See also Andi's post of this hike on her blog
My Woodcentral sighting with Milner peak in the background
The cloud slowly clearing as the day slowly warms
A panorama matrix of Milner Peak from Milner Ridge Peak
Then, having spent an hour or more searching unsuccessfully for the Hyobanche that Adam had discovered here two years earlier, we turned to decend
Another queen protea (Protea magnifica) in her magnificent realm
Wow!
and more wow!
Off we went, descending slowly back towards camp
All somewhat dissapointed not to have found Hyobanche
Heeeey yelled Adam
Over here - whew
Still in bud - clearly we were a bit early in the season to find mature flowers
Andi, the world expert on this genus suggests that this is probably a new species! Eish!
I took a couple of quick close-ups before the rest arrived
Andi doing the same
Andi and Esprit
Hyobanche sp. nova habitat
But now we really had to get going
But yet more flora!
And more close to the streams we crossed on the way down
Gorgeous in close up
Down to the plateau with the tents over theeeeere
Through thick stands of restios, probably a species of Chondropetalum, in the seeps
Easier walking now
Photos
and more photos
Andi arrives as I start to get the now dry tents down
That's where we were!
On the horison, just left of and below the peak
The rest of the group arrive
Packs up, again, and depart
A quick lunch and a quick swim in the pool before the big decent
Klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus) spoor in the moss and sundews
Characteristically shaped like two 'beans' rather than the sharp pointed hooves of other small African antelope
and more spoor
The group rest next to the stream
Tired knees by now
Palmiet (Prionium serratum), a locally vulnerable species in the stream
After decending a particularly steep section on very tired knees we reach an easier section and pause for pics in the late afternoon sun
Looking back up whence we came!
Adam and Leanna
We take a break before the final steep rocky decent to the vehicles
And a final group photo
Down there under the pines are our vehicles
This last decent was very slow on seriously painful knees for some
And as the sun set we arrived at the vehiclesI drove off to Beaufort West (see the following post) and the rest headed for Cape Town and bed
Thanks all of you, Adam, Leanna, Andi, Esprit and Gigi for a great weekend
It was definitely time that Gigi and I got back into the mountains
On the way back from Beaufort West I drove down through the Hex River Valley and looked up to where we had been the weekend before
Still cloudy, three days later
Here is a panorama of the areaOur peaks are those set far back about a third of the way from the left of the picture
