In 2014 my friend and myself went on a hike which turned out to be an episode of I Shouldn’t be Alive.

Jonkershoek Nature Reserve is one of my favourite places to hike at. When my friend Palladino and myself first hiked in August 2013 doing the two waterfall trails Jonkershoek immediately became a favourite.

The following year January 2014 we decide to hike the panorama trail. As it was still summer and it was reasonably warm the morning we didn’t bother to take along jackets or tops with. I was wearing a tank top and shorts and only took with an extra t-shirt. Palladino had on a tank top and track pants and a wind breaker jacket.

As we paid at the gate around 7:30am it is a 5 km drive in on a gravel road to the two waterfal trails. The panorama trail stated across the river from the two waterfall trail as you cross the bridge which goes over the river.

The trail is a moderate constant incline to the top. As we were walking and stopping to take some photos I saw these clouds coming across as you could see by the photos above. We weren’t worried as the clouds didn’t look like any rain clouds. Little did we know that the weather can change in a snap on top of the mountains in Jonkershoek.

As we came closure to the halfway mark of the hike we could see the cloud cover coming right over and it started getting a little chilli as it started to get misty the further up we went.

I decided to put on my t-shirt and Palladino put on his wind breaker. We still didn’t think it would rain as there was no rain insight just mist cover.

As we came closer to the top we could feel it was starting to drizzle but yet we weren’t worried as it was light drizzle which didn’t faze us.

As we came to the end of the trail before it begins to become a steep incline to the top, I decided to climb a rock to take a photo and it started to drizzle a little harder. I quickly put my camera in my camera bag and we dashed to the top as we thought we might find some shelter at the top.

As you can see from the photo below as i am standing on the rock the rain is just starting to fall on the right of the photo.

Once we came to the top we couldn’t even enjoy the view as the drizzle became constant and we started getting drenched. Looking around there was no cover so we had a choice, go back down the same way we came up or carry on with the trail to the right to get some shelter.

We decided to carry on with the trail as by now the steep incline was drenched and slippery. As we went further up the trail as there is steps we found some shelter and stood under.

After standinfg for about 15-20min we made a decision to carry on with the trail as the didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. As this was the first time we hiked the full trail we didn’t know where we were going all we could see was the other side of the mountain where the two waterfall trail is and thought to hike until the second waterfall which didn’t seem so far, but we hugely miscalculated as sometimes the pathway looked like it was going further back then it swung around and went down and that’s when we were happy , then the path went upwards again. It went like this for and hour.

We were so drench and at this point we weren’t talking to each other. My hands was freezing to the point where I couldn’t tie my shoelaces. We were slipping and falling the entire time and that was very frustrating and we couldn’t see where we were going as it was misty and that really took a toll on us and was very defeating.

Finally we came to a four way crossing and we had to make a decision on which one to take. We took the one going to the second waterfall.

now the path down to the second waterfall was very broken and we could see not many people hiked that path as the plants had grown some parts closed. I had on a shorts and my legs was cut up by the thorns on the plants.

Now we had to go down and from that point I could see the second waterfall trail which got us excited. We continued to press down the path which was covered with rocks as it looked like there was a rock slide. To get pass this section we had to crouch down and sort of slide down as we couldn’t just walk down as we we slipping because the rocks gave way below our feet.

finally we got to the bottom river and I told Palladino lets take a small break here, but Palladino didn’t want to take a break as he just wanted to get home.

From that point in was 6 km to the car. Along the way we just felt defeated but pushed on until eventually we got to the car. We were tired, cold and mentally defeated and on top of that I still had to drive home.

I can say I learned a lot that day and it is an experience I will never forget.