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Dome Pools (24 February 2019)

Dome Pools 01Dome Pools 02Dome Pools, a hiking area on the north side of the Magaliesberge. Some of the land belongs to the mountain club and one has to get a hiking permit from them, which is not a problem.
We met on Sunday morning at the parking area and were off by about 09h30. Nice hike through the lower ranges of the mountain, going in and out of stream beds, some with water, some without. At the last stretch, which was up the mountain, some of us were slacking a bit. It was hot and the continuous uphill caused us some discomfort.
Dome Pools 04Eventually we got to a pool. I am not sure it is the only pool, I do remember the place very much different. But I was not willing to search any further, this one will do. So we had a lovely swim and a jump or two, interrupted by having lunch.
Dome Pools scorpionThe return trip was much easier being mostly downhill. Submerging ourselves in a shallow pool helped to cope with the warm temperature. Back at the parking area we were informed that the total hike, as measured by Allen, was only 10km. So why were some of us so pooped? Must be age.
Frans found this lovely scorpion, about 10cm long, a Pugnacious Burrower (Opistophthalmus pugmax) as determined by Allen. See the picture, the description says it's not very poisonous and would not kill you.

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