hiking up Table Mountain

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Well, today I hiked up Table Mountain! I went with my work partner at the hospital. We may have picked a bad day and time. Although it was beautiful out today, it was the hottest day since I've been here. Also, we chose 1:00 in the afternoon to climb. That may not have been the best idea. Our journey began with a mile walk on the hot pavement to get from one side of the base of the mountain to the side where the trails begin (I blame my roommate for giving us bad information).

The start of the hike didn't go so well for me. It was steep and consisted of lots of step climbing (not actually steps, though - just rocks jutting out from the mountain side). I got a little overheated and told Jess to go on ahead w/o me, fearing I'd slow her down. Eventually, once I felt better, I headed back up.

I ran into a group of students from the University of Delaware that belong to some christian organization. They were really friendly and let me join them on the way up. Unfortunately, my calf muscles were not cooperating and I had to deal with a lot of pain periodically on the way up. I took me a little over two hours to make it to the top. It was all worth it though. The views at the top were spectacular. Facing "behind" the mountain from the top, you can see some towns and the Cape of Good Hope. Facing forward on top, there are really great views of the city. Unfortunately, my pictures don't really do it justice. Oh, and I took the cable car down to the bottom.

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