Highmoor 2.

A few more photos of Highmoor. But before that in my post about fishing at Boomy dam 30th April, I wrote about my frustration of not catching anything even though I tried every fly in the book. Mark of the blog Northern California Trout took pity on me and said he would send me some "wiggle tail" flies. Well they arrived in my post box at school this morning, and they look great, can't wait to try them. Mark enclosed these flies in a very handy dry fly box. So actually two presents in one. Wednesday is municipal elections in South Africa, and schools will be closed  Many schools are used as polling stations. So you know what I'll be doing on Wednesday.Thanks Mark for your generosity!!

Small stream on the way to Kamloops dam, also a tributary of the Little Mooi.

Wooden foot bridge crossing the stream. This structure is much sturdier than it looks.

About 20 meters down stream, the stream enters this "kloof", the direct translation from Afrikaans would be cleft. In the US I suppose it might be called a canyon. If you fell off the foot bridge it would be a very long slide to the bottom.

This view gives you an idea of the ruggedness of the country.

Photo across Kamloops dam.

 Sudden change in the weather, and the temperature drops drastically. Photo across Salmo dam towards Giants Castle.

On my way back to the car I walked to the edge of the Kloof, and took this photo of the Little Mooi's head waters. About a 100 metre drop, almost sheer.

Taken from almost the same spot as the previous photo, but looking downstream. The next photo is to the right and shows where the stream crossed by the foot bridge enters the main kloof. As you can see I didn't stand to close to the edge.

The bottom of the kloof and stream, crossed by the foot bridge in a previous photo, entering from the right.

Basically the same shot as above but not zoomed in.

The trail back to the footbridge. This is very rugged country and it can be very dangerous, and this is just the Little Berg, foothills of the Drakensburg proper. Anyone who wishes to hike here has to fill in the mountain register, stating number of persons in the party hiking, (minimum of two, but four or more recommended) where you will be hiking to, and which trail you will use, (trails are named). When you return you must sign out in the mountain register. If you don't they will think you are lost or injured and start looking for you.

The big killer here is the weather, which can change in minutes. Even in summer it can suddenly get bitterly cold.

One of the trail markers, this one reads "aasvoelkransgrot", or translated in to English, Vulture's Cliff Cave. Wonder if Og of Gorges Grouse blog, will find this cave to his liking. Better check it out for him.