This post is for the #wednesdaywalk challenge and the #makemesmile challenge collaboration. This collaboration initially took place once a month, but due to its popularity, @tattoodjay (of the #wednesdaywalk) and @elizacheng (of #makemesmile) decided to make it a weekly thing.
If you want to know more about the rules, visit this week's post by @tattoodjay where you will find all the rules at the bottom of his post after you've enjoyed his beautiful photos from his walk.
Today's post is actually from a walk that we did two weekends ago. Last week was a hectic week though, and I didn't get the time to write my post in time to publish it.
But such is life, and here I am...lol.
It was an awesome walk and I took enough photos to share in more than one post.
Knowing how I love waterfalls, our oldest daughter reached out to me and told me about a waterfall that she would like to show me. The best part was that it's not even far from where we stay either. Danielle, my daughter, and some fellow martial arts students, along with her instructor, often go for a run on this trail.
I soon realized that it was on a hiking trail that we wanted to do before. But on that day, we took our dog with us, and as we arrived at the start of the trail, we found signs that says "No dogs allowed". So we just strolled around in the area and left without going on the trail.
So, Danielle joined us early on Saturday morning, and the three of us left and off we went to the Gillits Waterfall via the Molweni Trail.
Enjoying the Beauty of Nature on Molweni Trail.
In today's post, I would like to share the beauty of nature along the trail. I'll show you the waterfall next week.
There are no fancy walkways of any kind. You're out in the forest, in nature. I love it!
According to alltrails.com, it's a 2.9 Km trail with an elevation gain of 87m. It is considered to be a moderately challenging route, with an average time of 48 minutes to complete. I guess that is when you walk to get it over with. We were relaxed, stopping for photos and admiring nature, taking us just over two hours before we got back to the car.
We parked the car and were ready to start our adventure!
Not too far in, and we were about to enter some dense areas.
We had some rain during the night before and still being early, it was wet and slippery. That created some challenges of its own in some areas...especially walking with a camera. I wouldn't like to slip and fall, damaging my camera in the process...lol.
The Molweni River is not a big river under normal circumstances, but it can change quickly into a force to be reckoned with when we get a lot of rain. We were walking all along the river toward the Gillits Waterfall.
Finding some open space, looking up at the sky above us...
In the next photo, you can see how the trail is following all along the river. You can also get a glimpse of the wet, slippery surface of the trail after the rain of the previous night.
A little further up, looking back over the river as we move along...
For those who don't feel like going all the way, there are places where you can cross the river to the other side and return to the starting point on the other side of the river. This is one of those rocky spots.
When the water level is higher after heavy rains, you obviously have to practice caution when crossing at places like these.
To the right, you can see the trail continuing on, going deeper into the forest and toward the waterfall that we were heading for.
Looking down in the opposite direction...
Moving forward, we found another "challenging" spot due to the wet and slippery conditions. Under normal (dry) circumstances, it should be easy, not presenting too much of a challenge. But being wet, just at a sight incline, this becomes a bit of a challenge as it is extremely slippery.
As you can see in the next photo... I took this shot of the surface and if you look closely, it looks like someone else who passed there just before us, already took a bit of a "skid"...hahaha.
Okay, we're still standing, and time to continue...going forward!
The view when you look to the right...
Further up, we find spots where you can still see signs of the floods from last year...
My daughter, walking in front of me, is about to enter another dense area...
By now, this is the view in all directions...
Further upstream...we were getting closer to the waterfall now...
I loved this tree bowing down to us to pass through underneath it...
And yet another tree to pass under...with the waterfall becoming visible in the background.
Suddenly, we were out in the open. To my right, I saw this fallen tree, yet, its beauty was still intact!
To my left was this bridge to cross the river. After passing over the bridge, we were to go to our right. The waterfall was right there!
While I was still taking some shots on this side, my wife and my daughter crossed over the bridge to the other side. You can see them waiting for me on the other side.
I got some really nice shots of the waterfall, but I'll share those next week! As mentioned, for today, my focus is more on the trail.
Next week, I'll show you the waterfall and then I also have some great shots containing the detail we found along our walk.
Finding Our Way Back.
After spending some amazing time at the waterfall, we started our journey back.
What I enjoyed about this trail is the fact that we didn't follow the same route back. It's like walking a "loop".
We followed the trail back on the opposite of the river.
By now, it was a bit dryer and easier to negotiate our way back without any risk of slipping and sliding...lol.
Looking back, I must admit I was grateful that it was dryer now, looking at the slope we just had to come up with...
And another little hill to climb ahead of us...but not wet and slippery anymore! No problem!
Getting back into the denser areas.
My daughter, being in a playful mood, waved at me while "hiding" behind a tree because she knew I was busy taking photos...lol!
And this was the last shot I took of the river just before we arrived back at the car.
And that's all for today, Folks!
Next week, I show you the waterfall!
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!
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