Short but Steep
Route: From the hotel car park past Mushroom Rock to the Little Berg plateau at the tarn.
Distance: 6 km
Duration: 3 hours
Grade: Moderate
General: This is a steep walk, but it's really short. It takes in two landmarks and offers lovely views of the Little Berg and Escarpment wall, especially at sunrise. Rise early and drag someone special with you (the hotel does have its own wedding chapel), then impress them by hauling a bottle of bubbly out of your day pack and pop the cork as the sun peeps over the horizon.
Mushroom Rock on Little Berg
From the hotel car park take the path marked 'Mushroom Rock' which follows the right-hand bank of the Mhlonhlo River and then veers to the right after about 700 m up the steep grassy slope to the rock band. Mushroom Rock is a weathered feature of the Little Berg cliff line and you have to pass behind it. From the rock the path climbs for another 500 m before veering to the left and easing off on top of the Little Berg.
From where the path eases off above Mushroom Rock it's another 1 km to the tarn. From there it's 750 m to the start of the jeep track, which joins and becomes the Contour Path 1.5 km further onwards and upwards. Where the jeep track meets the Contour Path coming over from the Tseketseke Valley, the shortest way to the summit round here, by way of the Camel and Organ Pipes, commences.