Devil’s Peak is only a few dozen meters less high than Table Mountain, but it is the calmest mountain of the three. I guess that people who want a (relatively) easy walk do Lion’s Head, while Table Mountain is the obvious and more popular choice for people that want to go on a more strenuous hike. I hiked the three mountains in order of altitude though, so I went up Devil’s Peak after previously having done Lion’s Head.
According to the legend in the 18th century a Dutch pirate called Jan Van Hunks lived in Cape Town, and he had the habit of smoking his pipe on the slopes of Devil’s Peak. One day when Jan Van Hunks was contentedly having a smoke a stranger approached him and challenged him to a pipe-smoking contest. The two men smoked for several days, leading to the enormous cloud blanket that covers Table Mountain to this day, until finally Jan Van Hunks won. Unfortunately for him though, the stranger he had bested turned out to be the devil. Being a rather poor loser, the devil unleashed a strike of lightning which scorched Jan Van Hunks off the face of the earth, and which gave Devil’s Peak its name.
Looking out onto the awakening city from Rhodes Memorial.
At the starting point of the hike up Devil’s Peak is the Rhodes Memorial, an impressive memorial erected in honor of the powerful 19th century mining magnate and politician Cecil John Rhodes. I enjoyed the view of the awakening city at my feet, took a deep breath, and started off on the hike. After an initial steep part I turned left onto the ‘contour path’, a wooden walkway which took me round the side of Devil’s Peak underneath the tall trees of the forest. The tree trunks clearly displayed some evidence of past forest fires, an elementary part of the local ecosystem.
Panorama from the Saddle, with Table Mountain to the left, Devil's Peak to the right, and Lion's Head in the distance.
After circling the slope of Devil’s Peak for some time I came upon the Newlands Ravine leading up from the forest to the Saddle between Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain. Up on the Saddle the trail turns to the right towards the top of Devil’s Peak, but instead I ventured to the left and waded through the thick fynbos vegetation towards Table Mountain. I struggled towards a protruding piece of rock halfway up the slope where I admired the scratches on my legs this endeavor had resulted in. After a small rest I scrambled back to the trail and continued towards the top of Devil’s Peak, which I reached not long afterwards.
On top of Devil's Peak: king of the world!
To go down I took the trail via Mowbray Ridge. This path is more difficult than the way up I took and lead me along a narrow ridge with a steep drop to the side. After some time I noticed that I could not find any easy way forward and realized that I had lost track of the path. I decided to continue downward in more or less the same direction in the presumption that I was bound to chance upon the path again pretty quickly. This did not turn out to be the case though, and I had to cross a fair distance while free climbing and jumping down. Unfortunately, when I finally saw the path again I still had to cross a very tricky section to get there. This proved to be considerably more dangerous than the free climbing I undertook on Lion’s Head, and someone slightly less athletic, crazy, and/or insensible (take your pick) than me might have (rightly!) had some second thoughts during this undertaking. This clearly gave me an insight into how dangerous it must have been for people to climb these mountains before the touristic trails were established, and how multiple people still die there every year. All of a sudden while I was stuck at a particularly difficult spot I saw quite a surreal picture when I noticed two muslims loudly worshipping on a ledge in the distance. I have no idea how they got up there though, as I could not see an easy way to reach them from where I was, nor from their position to the trail.
After this precarious undertaking I was relieved when I could finally rejoin the laid-out trail, and I conscientiously followed it back down to conclude my exciting walk.