We Hike "Hangklip" with some of the Elders

I had made prior arrangement with the owner of the Farm that surrounds HangKlip Mountain for permission to walk across his farm so we could hike to the top of the famous mountain that you can see from all around Queenstown.  It is quite the hike and because of incumbent weather, we had to turn back just a couple of hundred vertical meters from the top. 

We were close enough to enjoy the cliffs that crown the top of the mountain.  The Elders were fun to hike with and the conversation was lively during the whole time.  Sister Thomas believes that in comparing the elders to our daughters, it seems that the elders scream just as loud when they get close to a spider just as our daughters do. 

Rocks thrown in the bushes just next to the elders causes them to jump just as high as my daughters.  Hiding along the path waiting in the bushes for them to walk by just to give them a bit of a scare was fun as well. 

It was more my objective to climb this mountain as much as the Elders and I am grateful that they were good sports and came along with me.

You would not have believed just how well Sister Thomas did hiking this mountain.  It was her encouragement that kept us all going.

Some explanation of the pictures:  The hike begins in the upper left and ends in the lower right.  In the third picture in the top row, the Elders are just a bit freaked out by the size of a South African Spider.  In the upper right we discover that Elder Pennington brought a Book of Mormon with him.  The middle left pictures gives an indication for just how steep it the hill side is.  The elders point to the City of Queenstown in the middle picture.  The cliff in background in the middle picture is about 100 meters high.  The rest of the pictures are of us descending to the car.  As always, Sister Thomas had cookies waiting back at the car for the Elders.