Ga-Ma "trail" on Klein Pella, Northern Cape for the adventurous

[Bex]

this looks awesome. A good excuse to take the family to Klein Pella. What do you think of the route on big litre class bikes? That's also tempting for me as a quick weekend getaway....

m0lt3n , I have been riding offroad bikes for 35 years now and I struggle to do it with the CRF250. I have had 2 guys here with a KTM 690 and a KLR650 and they gave up before we even got to the first "interesting" bits, the trail is not suitable for bikes. Even the FJ r was stugling a bit to get grip on some climbs.
The few times I do go through with the bike it digs and loosens the track so that you can see the damage to the trail even after I have driven through a couple of times with the bakkie.

[Bex]

m0lt3n
I had a rethink about it. Trail B is actually ok for a bike. There is lots of sand but it is fairly level so once you get up to speed it is ok , and the granite/boulder area is ok. The last really steep climb and exit from the trail is a no go for a bike, but there is a bypass and I can even easily add a dedicated bike exit to provide a bit of a challenge, to replace the climb.
Trail B is only 4km, so not much for the long drive out here.

[m0lt3n]

Bex I don't know when last you were to Road to Hell, not to far from you. We did it earlier this year on the 1190 and 950. Could you maybe compare your route to that? (we did it, but it was stupid difficult)

[Bex]

I have not done Road to hell, so I cannot compare it.
I have seen pictures and a video of it, and it does look rough. It is a road that had deteriorated. My trail is actually smoother, but as I built it by hand and to be a 4x4 Trail and I was lazy I planned each obstacle to have one possible line through. Sometimes I tried it and ausyed a few times till I can fit it through only to find later that I struggle to find the right line again. I think that for that reason it is more technically difficult for the driver than other routes that require the same kind of capabilities vehicle wise.
The climbs on A and B will not work for a bike, we had to work together on them to get the small scrambler up by both pushing with the bike in gear and digging up the track.

[Bex]

I will see if I can do road to Hell soon and compare.

[milbury]

Hi there, 3 of us in 2 vehicles did Bex's 3 trails at Klein Pella over 3 days. We were driving an unmodified Cruiser 76 and a slightly modified FJ. We'll be posting a detailed writeup with photos shortly but in the mean time we just want to give a huge word of thanks to Bex who took time off his busy work schedule to show us around the trails. He's done a Herculean job of clearing these trails in the most inhospitable terrain and the result is spectacular. With challenging climbs and descents, tight twists and turns, thick sand and loose rocks, all set amongst a remote, beautiful area, I highly recommend making a visit to Klein Pella to experience what Bex has put together. Well done with all your hard work Bex, you're a legend!

[Bex]

I have been and stil is a lot on the road for work at the moment but I managed a quick trip into route B and C yesterday evening.

Route just above the last steep climb.

Same from the other side.

On the plateau on route C. You can see where the trail goes. I want to finish t to the other side of the plateau before 2019.

[Bex]

The harvest is keeping me busy so I don't get much done at the moment. I did manage to get into the trail this morning for a bit of work.

On the plateau itself making the trail is mostly just marking the trail and moving a few rocks aside.

And then driving through.
I managed about 500m in 2 hours until I reached the last rise on the plateau before it drops off into the next valley.
The rise itself should be an easy fix in one or two trips, the drop down however will be a big job.

The climb starts with a dip through a small dry bed and some loose rocks, that will be next time.

[Bex]

So after a bit of a hectic time I managed to go out to the trail again. I didn't have much time, so I did not plan to do much.
The trail has gotten to the point where it is quicker to enter from a different point and walk some way in. At the same time it offered a good view of what still needs to be done.

I stopped where the trail is going to exit from the plateau.

Looking back, this bit is going to take a lot of work to get passable.

Walking in to where I last stopped working, I finished a small climb that did not have much work to do.

Then I planned the route through another climb and started to clear away some rocks.

I did not get very far, but I will be back over the weekend.

[Bex]

The temperatures are a bit high for working in the sun for extended periods.

So I cleared only a section. Before

After.


And then I spent some more time trying to work out how I am going to do this section.

[Bex]

I tackled the next stretch late this afternoon.

Before

After.
The pictures looks very different because the sun had set by the time I had finished.
There were a bit less work than I expected so I did the next bit as well.

Before

After.
The total distance completed for the day is 150m. There were some clear patches that upped the meters.
Total time worked was 3 hrs.

[Bex]

I wanted a second opinion on my planned route down so I asked Pedro to join me.


We discussed the possibilities and came to the conclusion that this was the most ambitious attempt to date.

We started moving some rocks to see what it would look like

We kept going until we made a ledge level and wide enough for a vehicle. It is only about 2m long and still way too rough, but it is a start.

There is a big hole to fill in next, so we moved some more rock.

[Bex]

I have been slowed down to about 2m/hr.

Before

After.
I have to make a ledge sloping down that is wide enough for a vehicle. Fortunately the rocks have lots of cracks and splits easily with a few blows.

[Bex]

I have some solid boulders to move, I start by finding fault lines, then break out the thinner layer between the large pieces which normally gives me a gap to get the crowbar in and lever it out.

Here though the big piece is about 2m long and 1m high judging from the way it moves when I try to lever it out.
About 2rd's of it is stil below the ground and the one apparent crack doesn't want to open up. I will have to tackle it with chisels and a sledge hammer.


I did make more progress further down in the looser rocks.
This is before.

The looser stuff moves easily, but the drop on the right is about 2m high and I need a lot of rock to fill it up stable anough for a vehicle to pass over, so I have to stack them carefully instead of just randomly dropping.

[Francois Theron]

Bex, I don't know what you look like, probably already like Tarzan, but you should have taken before photo's of yourself because after this you sure would look like Tarzan! Amazing work!

[Bex]

Francois
Unfortunately the work does not allow for much muscle building. Breaking the rock with the crowbar is heavy on the biceps, and the tendons that connect the biceps to the forearms.

I enjoy the work and would rather do this than go running for exercise.
I have been traveing for work a lot so not much time to go in, but i will go again this evening, I just have to repair some of my tools today.

[Bex]

Ths is me failing to move that stubborn rock.

I could not move it even with the chisels. I need the bigger hammer.


I didn't have much time for the rock as we took the Ranger through this trail for the first time and I had to do some work on the tighter turns before we got it through.
Mark's Corner nearly claimed another victim.

[Bex]

It was slow going for most of the evening, I had to break the rock out piece by peace.

The difficult part is getting the chisels started into the crack.

Then drive them in alternatingly until the crack opens enough to get the tip of the crowbar in.
Once the piece is out you start on the next bit.

Rinse and repeat.

This time the whole thing moved.

I got it out by the roots. My original estimate of how deep it went was about right. You can see the white marks at the top where the chisels went.
There is stil a bit of it left that I need to move, but I spent the rest of the time working on an easier bit further down.


It is starting to look like something. It is not stable enough yet, I want move all the big rocks first, then the medium sized ones to push in between to stabelize the big ones. I am leaving the gravel and soil where it is, I will rake it over last to full the small cracks to stabelize it more and to make the road surface a bit more tyre friendly.

This is what the rest looks like looking up from the bottom. I was careful to stack the rocks so as not to hurt the tree.

[milbury]

We visited Klein Pella in mid-December last year and tried out Bex's 3 trails. Its incredible what he's done, virtually single-handedly. Ive attached a short trip report and strongly recommend that anyone who wants a challenging drive in a stunning, peaceful location visits Klein Pella to try it out.

[Bex]

Thanks for the compliments Mark, but I have to mention that Ehlers planted the seed and that Pedro has frequently joined in on the fun of breaking and moving rocks. Gert also helped with the big boulder

There is a obstacle named after Mark after he was the first to climb it, and also a corner named after him for a different reason.