Walking the Otter Trail

Walking the otter trail….
I recently had the amazing privilege to walk the famous otter trail. I say privilege, because if you want to walk it you have to book almost 2 years in advance to get space on your preferred date. I was asked by a friend last minute (3 months before!) to fill a space…
Part of the excitement is preparing and we talked a lot about what to pack, did some research on the internet, looked at photo’s, talked to people who have already walked and all the while got more and more excited. But honestly, you can’t know how it will be until you get there….

So the Friday morning, we packed our stuff (4 of us drove through from Great Brak River and met the other 8 there) in my Dad’s Corolla and off we went to Stormsriver mouth.
We had to wait for some people, so we rested a while in a hut, admiring pics of the trail, watching a documentary and frankly getting a bit restless. It was at that point that I looked again at my backpack, which was too heavy in my estimation and off-balance in a way, and decided to repack. I pulled everything out of my bag and tried to put them back in different spaces thinking of how the weight would affect me when I walk. This was a BAD idea!!! First of all, suddenly all my things didn’t want to fit anymore (I needed help just to zip my bag again) and later during the day, actually walking with it, I realized that my bag’s delicate weight-balance had been better off before I repacked it…
When, finally, we started walking, we entered the beautiful woods and walked downhill towards the ocean. The downhill was tough on our knees and thighs, but we were soon to discover that this was just the introduction to all the uphills and downhills we were about to face during the trail (honestly I had some good warning on this ahead of time, but somehow I thought people were exaggerating a bit. …. Now I know they didn’t)
Our first stop was the famous waterfall, which was completely different than I imagined it….but still beautiful, and it was good to take off my pack and rest a bit. I opened my bag of trail mix (peanuts, raisins and smarties) for the occasion.

Late afternoon we arrived at our huts, in a beautiful valley, close to the beach, and for a long time I sat on the beach admiring the sunset and drinking in the quietness of having the world to myself. Later a friend joined me and we sat talking and enjoying the rays of light playing over the water and colouring the rocks of “skilderkrans” (translated: painted cliff)
That night we could hardly sleep because of the excitement and adjusting to the new environment….and that was only the beginning.
The second day was the hardest for me…Later I wondered why because it was only 7.9 km, compared to the longest day; 13.8km, but as I think back, it was because our muscles were sore from the first day and because (I think) the worst uphill of the trail was the starting point for that day. At the end of it (when we all rested at the top) I honestly thought that I couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. One of the guys then realized he had forgotten something at camp and he had to go back!! I was amazed that he had any strength left after walking up that hill for a second time that day! (The 2nd time he didn’t have his backpack on, but still…) The 2nd day also had some of the loveliest spots to rest, among which were a beautiful river where we had our lunch, a private beach, between rocks where the guys were brave (or crazy) enough to swim in the ice-cold water and a viewpoint from where we saw a whale (or was it a dolphin?….or an orca?) Well, there were some difference in opinion as to what it was, but you get the idea…
The third day passed with more beautiful scenery and fun times along the way and soon we were ready to face the 4rth day,which was supposed to be, from what we heard, the most difficult (13.8 km and a river crossing) We brought our survival bags and put on our swimming costumes in readiness to cross this river that we had heard so much of. We made good time and came to the river around low tide. When I got there I was almost disappointed (almost…) at how low the water was…we only had to take our shoes off and we walked through without even taking off our bags or getting our knees wet! On the other side though, we came to rocks and realized that we were a way off from where we were supposed to join the path. We had to make our way along the cliff, over the rocks, following the yellow otter footsteps in order to rejoin the path. We came to a part where we could climb over the rocks (instead of along it) with a rope and that is what we did. We had our share of adrenalin as we searched out footholds and held onto the rope on the way up, nervously looking over our shoulders at the waves crashing against the rocks which were now quite a distance below us… but soon we were on top, joined with the rest of the group and to celebrate the occasion we took out some provitas and tuna and had our lunch there. Later that night as somebody studied the map (probably something we should have done before the crossing) we found out that we missed the normal crossing route and that by mistake we took route D, which according to the map was “highly dangerous” and “not recommended” Needless to say, that was the highlight of my day!

That evening as we made the fire and had our “braai” and walked around the campsite there was a feeling of nostalgia as we spoke of our last day fast approaching… After the sun had set, I sat with a friend on the beach, talking and enjoying the peacefulness for the last time.

Our last day was dragged out as long as we could and followed a lovely (and relatively easy) route along the beach and then on the cliffs all the while looking out over the ocean. When at last we saw the white beach of Nature’s Valley stretched out in front of us, a distinct feelilng of regret came over us and we walked even slower, sorry for it to end….and even somehow thinking of turning back.

Throughout the trail I was so aware of God’s favour and protection around us and at times when I sat in stillness, admiring His Creation I was struck by what an awesome God we serve. In my daily life my thoughts are consumed with many worries about where I am at and where I am going, but there with the oceans and mountains around me telling of God’s power, majesty and creativity, listening to the quietness of nature, I longed for one focus again: To be so completely consumed by One thing (intimacy with God) that all other things in my life would pale in comparison. The Bible speaks of “singleness of heart and action” and I long again to say that my life has that singleness - to be completely in love with God above all else…

This song stayed with me on the trail, and explains it well:
Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition in my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after You
To go as Your disciple, in Your truth
This world is empty, pale and poor
Compared to knowing You my Lord

So, lead me on, and I will run after You.

Some tips for hopeful otter trail hikers:
*Take LOTS of Hot chocolate!!
*Take a journal and write down your thoughts. You will want to remember the details.
*Make sure your camera’s memory card is BIG! (and that you have enough batteries)
*Zip-loc bags…need I say more
*Take your time walking…Stop at every viewpoint, every river (okay maybe not every river, but the bigger, beautiful ones) every beach….there is no hurry and there is so much to see and appreciate.
*Don’t repack your bag minutes before you start walking. Leave it, and learn from your mistakes the next day!
*Make sure you don’t forget anything at camp…You DON’T want to turn back!
*Don’t take too much clothes. If you are in doubt…leave it!
*Rambo knife…
*2 pair of shoes (One of the guys’s hiking boots broke along the way…he tried to fix it with cable ties to no avail….luckily he had Rockies that he could walk the rest of the way in)
*Look left, there’s usually dolphins
*What goes up must come down….

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