Wrong way Kaulbach (or where is Craze when you need him)?

After a day of mild cycling (Franschoek itself is fairly flat- my kind of wine region), I decided the next day to take a break from wine tasting and hike in the surrounding  mountains of the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve.  Taking a page from the old Craze-Ken playbook, I got up early and arrived at the park promptly at 11am just as the sun was peeking over the horizon (peeking being a relative term).  Yes, there were already a fair number of cars there- indeed I was forced to park a long way from the trail head- but I ascribed that to the fact that most of the hikers were NO doubt camping in the park (tho strangely only a few remained when I returned late in the day) or were crazy early morning hikers who did not mind starting in the dark.  I would not take that foolish risk and insisted on good sunlight. 

In any case, because I had gotten there so early, I seemed to have the trail pretty much to myself, which always bears some directional risk for me....  After a couple of hours, I reached what I believed to be the top of the pass, where I found a family hiking with a guide.  As the trail was 17km long, I thought I really was making great time, but I did think it prudent to make sure the guide and family knew where they were.   So I made a polite inquiry with my map and the guide looked at me and said "No, you are not where you think, but over here (he pointed to a different spot on the map). The top is over there" whereupon he pointed what looked to be a good distance away.  Looking at my map, it appeared possible that I had somehow gone up a different trail than I thought.  Or maybe the guide was wrong; I was not quite sure and certainly did not want to offend the fellow. 

The guide then looked at me and said "A little confused?  Entirely undersandable, as it can happen to beginners.  Not hiked much?"

Me- "No, one of my first times out."  (in South Africa, sotte voce)

"Makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, it is not like I have been doing this for 40 years on 5 continents or something and still cannot read a map with essentially 2 trails on it."

In any case, i think I cleared up all of the guide's confusion and so continued on my (not so) merry way.  The trail condition was something to behold.  Whoever got the contract to build and maintain it I am sure made a solid profit, as I only saw this one very helpful sign-

He was certainly economical with the signage.  The contractor also seemed to believe in 'minimal impact' as I would guess the trail averaged about 6-10 inches in width (I am not exaggerating here).  I literally could not see my feet.  I had read that you should wear pants when hiking in So. Africa, as the bush can be very scratchy, but I hate hiking in pants and can bear some scratches.  However, after a awhile, it truly felt like I was hiking thru brillo pad turnstiles- scratchy does not do it justice. 

Anyway, after helping the guide and family along- I felt my duty to stay close to them so they did not get further lost in this African wilderness- I arrived at the top (the guide nodded 'yes' when I looked over).  The hike was a grind and half- the descent worse than the ascent with the interminable bushwhacking.   Were the views worth it (you could see the ocean far off in one direction)-

South African mountains are known for their wild flowers-