This past Sunday morning I had the pleasure of hiking up the iconic Legogote. “The Legogote mountain is an impressive landmark between Hazyview and White River. To the east stretches the Lowveld and to the west the escarpment foothills in the Peebles area. The pinnacle is huge granite rocks and stands at 1194 meters.” – Peakery.com

My squash buddy Roy volunteered to show me the way up to the summit. We started just after 8AM from the Petra College entrance off the Numbi road. The hike starts with a steep angle for the first hundred meters but becomes then much more tolerable from there onwards.

The path is well trodden and easy to follow. It winds through two forests and after forty five minutes we reached the last section before the summit. There are two tricky rock scrambles before you reach the top. A 360 degree view of the Lowveld greets you once at the top. The summit marker was infested with gnats and we only spent a short while there before moving down to the bottom tier.

There was a bit of haze which meant the view wasn’t crystal clear, but we could still see Crocodile Gorge to the South East, the Barberton mountains to the South, the Kaapschehoop mountains to the South West, Spioenkop close to Sabie and the Graskop escarpment to the North.

 

We also visited the Bushman paintings in the rock overhang just below the summit. This little cave would make the perfect overnight location for some stunning night photography. We hung around a bit longer to enjoy the views and then decided to make our way back as the humidity and temperature were notably rising. We arrived back at the car park before noon.

Words of caution though, don’t underestimate the climb by not taking enough water with you. The humidity of the Lowveld means you expend much more liquid than at the higher altitudes of for instance the Drakensberg. If you’re a Lowvelder this is a hike you absolutely have to do once in your lifetime.

EJ