Cool climb up the crags

Today was a crowded mountain morning as our group joined up with another hiking group on the same narrow trail up the crags to the Elephant's Eye cave in Silvermine Nature Reserve. There are varying paces to be catered for, and after it was established that we were going to take the harder high road up to the ridge, some hikers opted to do the easier jeep track. They got to the eventual destination way ahead of us, although we may have benefited from better views at times, and certainly from a little more effort, but it isn't a competition and is all about the pleasure of being out in the beauty so freely offered by our Cape Peninsula.
A cold wind kept us refreshed and I don't think anyone broke out into a sweat despite some fairly tough bits, and we stopped often to admire the summer fynbos and in particular the swathes of white everlastings and brightly coloured mountain dahlias. A Karoo prinia trilled nearby but wasn't visible, preferring to shelter in the lower branches on a windy morning, and no other birds were seen or heard.
Some clearing of the old burned pine trees near the waterfall on the way to the lookout point has taken place - by clearing I mean chainsawing of huge trunks and sundry undergrowth without discernment and leaving logs lying like pick-up sticks to probably rot away over the years to come. It all looks rather untidy and ravaged, and there might have been a better way to deal with it.
Walking in Silvermine allows us to feel secure in our environment and we eventually split up into three groups, all large enough to meet our 'safety requirements' and so it was a little disjointed in that people who we conversed with at the beginning of the hike had disappeared by the end. To those who I didn't get to chat with at all or finish a conversation, sorry! That is what happens when the path is narrow and the line long. It was lovely to be up there with all of you anyway!
A fire in the mountains near Grabouw meant that the view was not quite as awe-inspiring as it could have been, but it gives us an excuse to go again on another day.