Clarens Weekend Part II - Meiringskloof Nature Park,

My son Salt and I had a highly ambitious plan to roll into Fouriesburg (about 30 minutes from Clarens) by 6 am on Saturday.

Tiny logistical setback - my car window had seriously frozen over, and by the time it finally thawed enough for me to see through it, 6 am had come and gone.

Besides the ridiculous potholes - Fouriesburg is actually quite charming.

But the real story is the Nature Park.

Honestly, for R 25 per person, you’re basically buying a front-row seat to paradise.

In my extensive pre-trip research (loosely defined as “I skimmed something once”), I remembered a mention of a “chain ladder.”

Naturally, I interpreted this as a sign of personal growth.

New me.

Braver me.

Possibly delusional me.

By the time we arrived, confidence had already started negotiating its exit strategy. I asked the friendly man at reception if I could manage the ladder.

“Yes, no problem,” he said.

He was wrong.

Or optimistic.

Possibly both.

But we’ll circle back to that little character-building moment later.

We decided to join the trails, which start right at reception.

You head down a set of steps and suddenly find yourself in a completely different world—lush, damp vegetation and strange rock formations everywhere.

Genuinely magical.

Our first “cave” appeared shortly after, which is technically more of a “crevice,” but calling it that feels unnecessarily dismissive given its size and drama.

Standing there, listening to the steady dripping of water echoing off the rock, you can absolutely understand why people just call it a cave and move on with their lives.

More walking and some climbing because why settle for one crevice when you can have a whole buffet of them?

Each "cave" flaunts its unique beauty like a peacock strutting its stuff,.

And then we reached "The Ladder."

Fueled by a cocktail of exhilaration and bravado, I was ready to conquer this towering beast.

After all, it looked perfectly safe, sturdy even, with its cemented foundation and manageable height.

But alas, Salt, the voice of reason, expresses doubts. "I don't even want to do it, mom," he says - a sensible position, frankly.

I tested it anyway.

A few steps. A little wobble.

A brief reassessment.

And then I was back on solid ground, having completed my climb in reverse.

“Fine,” I said, with dignity carefully assembled from panic. “If you’re not happy, we’ll take Jacob’s Ladder instead.”

Jacob’s Ladder turned out to be… fun, slightly terrifying and also quite hard.

The first section is essentially actual rock climbing.

Eventually I reached what looked like the “summit”… which turned out to be a smooth, uncooperative slab of rock.

“I can’t do that,” I announced. “And I refuse to climb back down.”

So yes, for a brief moment I considered the very real possibility that I now lived in that exact spot permanently.

That’s when Salt calmly pointed out the very obvious indents carved into the rock for hands and feet.

Details.

Going up suddenly seemed far more appealing than attempting to reverse the climb, so up I went.

After that, it felt like we were walking across the top of a mountain…..which we were.

But emotionally I felt like an explorer who had just discovered a new continent.

During the entire three-hour hike, we saw not one other human being.

Absolute bliss.

Eventually we reached the magical Water Tunnels.

You descend down to a rocky stream where, with the assistance of my loyal sherpa (Salt), you hop across stones to reach another beautiful rock formation and waterfall situation.

At this point we faced an important logistical question:

Were we supposed to walk through the water to exit the cave… or go back the way we came?

We chose option two.

Which then led to some mild confusion about the trail that had, up until that point, been very clearly marked.

We decided the safest strategy was to backtrack and find an alternative route back- one that did NOT involve chains or rock ladders.

There was a short patch where you have to walk along a ledge, where, being afraid of heights, I thought I might have a panic attack, but alas, I rose above it.

Total hiking time: about five hours.

We eventually drove back to Clarens, had lunch, and - because moderation is overrated - headed out for an afternoon hike in the Clarens Nature Reserve.

Similar scenery, totally different trails.

My Hiking Hag Ratings:

AREA - Fouriesburg

COST - R 25!!

LENGTH - Approximately 15 km combined.              

ELEVATION - Not sure, but really not torture.

MARKERS - Well marked until we came out of the Water Tunnels, but at that point I was ready to spend an eternity there if we had got lost.

AMENITIES - There are campers and lodge dwellers.

Definitely needing to try that!

ON A FINAL NOTE

This is, without question, the most magical trail I’ve done so far. It will be permanently etched in my memory - along with the sweet little town of Fouriesburg.