Walk Light, Travel Deep: Slackpacking Adventures in Clarens
This lively little Free State town sits beneath sandstone mountains and has become a popular base for outdoor adventures, with hiking, horse riding, mountain biking and delightful cafes to relax in afterwards.
For slackpackers, it makes a very comfortable starting point for some amazing adventures. There are so many layers to a walk here. The dramatically beautiful landscapes of time carved cliffs and endless golden grasslands are just the veneer to the experience. The area is home to intriguing cultural history; Basotho conflicts, the calling cards of hunter-gatherers as well as relics of the dinosaurs that once roamed here. Ghostly echoes from the past will whisper in your ear. The land itself becomes the storyteller.
There are routes for different levels of fitness, from shorter walks to more demanding mountain days.
Clarens itself is part of the experience. It provides charming accommodation for slackpacking trips. You can finish a walk dusty and tired, wander into town looking slightly wild, and soon be fresh and shiny and ready to partake of the delights the town has to offer..
Then there is the food. The town has a reputation for good cafés, restaurants, bakeries and craft beer. A person can burn a respectable number of calories on a mountain and then immediately put them back. But that’s what makes it all such fun!
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