Silvermine Valley Walk #1: Intro, Info & River
Note: the published coordinates are for the trail head
This currently 5-cache trail takes you on a gently ascending path up the beautiful valley of the Silvermine river with its wonderful variety of fynbos plants and stunning views in all directions. The other 4 caches are:
It is an approx. 2.5km there and back trail (ie. 5km total) which, including multiple stops for refreshment/gazing at the view/admiring the lovely flowers – and of course doing the caches, can comfortably be completed in under 3 hours.
There are currently 4 other caches along or near the trail, which are:
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GCBKT6X SVW #0: Gary the Snail - Returns! – on the approach road.
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Family Behrens’ GC4C7NC TIN – 90m off the trail, along a branch to the south
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MnCo’s GC1QYCW Old Powder House – along the trail
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Family Behrens’ GC4HCP0 Gone Fishing – approx 250m beyond the last of the SVW caches as the trail zig-zags and climbs its way more steeply up to the countour path which links with the main east Silvermine track to the north and skirts Klein Tuinkop to the south before heading up Klein Tuinkloof towards The Amphitheatre area.
This cache, a small flip-topped dispensing pot, is a replacement for GC1R287 Silvermine River which was hidden on 7-5-09 and archived on 9-3-26 after some 73 finds garnering 6 FPs in its nearly 17 years lifespan.
To Reach the Cache Area:
Park near the Sunbird Centre @ S 34 06.701 E 018 24.490 and proceed to the information board and trail start at S 34 06.672 E 018 24.511.
After collecting the required information here (see below) follow this path down, across the river then up and around to the left at S 34 06.698 E 018 24.647.
Continue to S 34 06.501 E 018 24.555 and then take the small path heading west and down towards the river, some 75m away.
To Find the Cache:
Looking at the Silvermine Valley Walk information boards, find the following . . .
a) there are A images of dogs
b) looking at the 11 square boxes on the lower board, you will see that B have a prohibitory diagonal line through them
c) the maximum altitude reached on the Valley Walk Circuit is 1C0 m
d) the time to reach the Waterfall via the Valley Walk is 1hD0
e) looking at the map, just right of the compass symbol, is the 11-letter name of a peak. The alphanumeric value (A=1 B=2 C=3 etc) of the 1st letter of this = E
f) two emergency telephone numbers are given. The total number of zeros in these = F
The cache can be found at:
S 34 6.C(Dx3)(A-1) E 18 24.(B-D)E(F+1)
For detailed information on the Silvermine River including an informative map, see Omni’s excellent EarthCache GC5JJA8 Silvermine River: Source to Sea. Some key facts:
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Once it reaches the coastal plain formed by the Fish Hoek - Noordhoek Gap separating the north and south of the Cape Peninsula (just south of the Sunbird Centre) it flows SE along the base of the mountains, through Clovelly Golf Club and Lower Silvermine Wetlands (see here for drone video) before passing under Main Rd (M4) and either a) forming a small lagoon (dry season) or b) entering the sea (wet season) at the north end of Fish Hoek Bay having flowed a distance of some 12.3 km
Notes:
1) Access to this trail is free but the gate off Ou Kaapseweg is only open from 08h00-17h00
2) Please take special care leaving and joining the busy Ou Kaapseweg at this dangerous junction – making sure you especially look out for fast moving traffic coming down around the bend.
