Grindstone Caves Hike

About Grindstone Caves Hike

Start: Injasuthi hutted camp, Injasuthi Wilderness Area
Finish: Injasuthi hutted camp
Duration: 8 km (return)
Fitness: moderate to easy
Our tip: there is a longer option, leaving the camp and taking a circular route via Grindstone Caves, through the Cataract Valley and along the Mhlwazini River back to Injasuthi (roughly 13 km, as it involves a bit of bundu-bashing)

There are two Grindstone caves just 4 km from the Injasuthi hutted camp. And because they are so close people tend to think it is an ideal beginner hike. However, most of the hike is a steep climb to the caves, so whilst the hike is short, it is taxing and you need a certain amount of fitness.

Children will cope easily if they are active. Be warned though that you can feel as though you have walked twice the distance once at the top. The caves, which are about 50 metres apart, get their name from a couple of old mill stones that still lie in the cave, origin unknown.

Each cave is capable of sleeping about 12 hikers, but for environmental impact reasons it is limited to 12 across both caves. The more westerly cave (the first cave one reaches) is the more popular as it is a little bigger, although the second has a small waterfall during summer (if you are sensitive to noise, however, it can be difficult to sleep with the continuous sound of running water).

They have deep overhangs and provide good shelter from rain. The hike heads up the grassy hill from Injasuthi, dotted with boulders, clumps of small trees and proteas on the more exposed slopes.

After climbing steadily, the path reaches steps hewn in the hillside that then take you up yet a further steep and grassy slope to the caves. Views, when the weather is fine, are of the escarpment.