Rendezvous with Nature

North Pennines has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is a European and global geopark. We reached YHA Dufton from Cockfosters late night on 14th March 2014. YHA Dufton in village green is a large house with great bedrooms that sleeps 2-6 people with all linen provided, hot showers, a self catering kitchen and a lounge with fireplace. A comfortable, neat and cool place for rest and recreation after a day-long hiking affair.

Saturday’s walk lasted over 7 hours covering an 18 km stretch, leaving from the hostel, up the Pennine Way, climbing slowly to the ‘High Cup Nick’, which was our lunch stopover point. ‘Gone with the wind’ would be an understatement to describe the strong winds. It was quite freezing, so much so that even peeling an orange for lunch or biting into an apple was too much of a bother!  Despite hiking socks, gloves and three layers of clothing, numbness of fingers and toes stubbornly refused to go way in a haste.

Looking back – down the path to Dufton!

The Hike to High Cup Nick!

A Stream – On the way to High Cup Nick

High Cup Nick

After lunch we were on on the route down to the Eden Valley via Middletongue Crag. It was a visual delight all around, a glorious sight. The strong winds made the route down a bit of a challenge but it was exciting to stick to the boulders and rocks on the way down. Weather was quite foggy and hence we couldn’t spot any of the Lake District peaks. Upon losing height the route back to the accomodation was via a forest and the woodland trust valley of Dufton Ghyll.

Eden Valley

High Cup Nick leading onto the Eden Valley

We returned to the hostel at 17:30 with pleasantly sore muscles, empty stomachs rumbling for food and completely soiled boots. Immediately after a round of steaming hot tea and an equally hot shower, we got ready to gather at the lovely country pub for the obvious, dinner and socialising!

On Sunday we drove about 14 miles to Little Salkeld to start our 8 km walk. We walked along the River Eden, passed through lacy’s Caves. We left the river at Daleraven Bridge and headed south back to Little Salkeld pasing, a lovely stone circle known as Long Meg and her daughter.

River Eden

Lacy’s Caves

Long Meg

Upon our return, we took off in our cars and mini vans headed to Cockfosters, with a couple of breaks at service stations. A weekend well-spent; bonding with nature and nature-lovers!!!

The Bunch of Nature-lovers – they certainly are one of a kind!

Last year, I had barely managed to finish a couple of moderate treks when I saw the invite for TH. Though I was fascinated by the idea of a treasure hunt, especially on a trek, I did not have enough courage to push myself to join any team. My philosophy is quite straightforward – I’ve never wanted to be viewed as a burden. The least I could do for the team is to take care of myself and ensure that I do not come in the way of other’s fun and happiness – either by being slow or by getting injured! So, in view of social welfare, I stayed out of it!

Imagine my thrill on receiving the invite for TH2? However I was soon dismayed to find out that it was scheduled for the weekend after PX6. Having booked my tickets and being one of the confirmed participants for PX6 right from the beginning, despite stringent and innovative methods of shortlisting, it meant that I had to miss TH2 as I can’t take leave on consecutive weekends (I work 6 days a week).

My participation in TH2 – should I say it was an act of fate? Or, to those who do not believe in destiny, should I say it was a mere coincidence? Either way, what actually happened was that I had to drop out of PX6 (which, by the way, was an utter disappointment) due to some unavoidable circumstance and hence could transfer my leave for TH2. I learnt that from every disappointment stems an adventure.

Nachiketa & Mani asked me to join their team – the Maverick Meerkats! And so I did. It was a strong team with mostly seasoned trekkers (except me) – Mani, Nachi, Raj Jacob, Ela, Rajesh, Arun Sekhar, Vipin Lal and few others. The irony was that the guys who initiated and formed the team – Nachi & Mani, amongst few others had to drop out due to some pressing commitments/injury. A team that initially had a member base of 11, had to manage with only 7 . We were faced with the uncertainty of further dropouts leading to disqualification of the team on the grounds of minimum size till the last minute – what with Arun wanting to go to Rat Tail Falls and charming Ela and Vipin to follow suit?!

Finally, we set off at 4.30 a.m, a 7-member team comprising Rajesh, Praveen, Samim & myself from Anna Nagar, in Praveen’s car. Ela waited for Arun who was  to be picked up on his bike at Nathan’s Café in Koyembedu. Arun did not pick up our wake up calls which indeed gave us peptic ulcers but finally he managed to turn up at TP Kota (a few minutes ahead of us, advantage: bike ride), where the teams were to receive the instructions for the Hunt.

There were 5 teams lead by Prem, Arun Prabahar, Alex, Arun/Vipin & Brijesh respectively. The rules were quite clear – each team would be given a clue to start with apart from which there would be three more clues to be unearthed to reach the treasure (treasure was to be collected from Peter at a specific location and the third clue of every team would direct the members to Peter). Subsequent to finding each clue a photo of the team members (except the one capturing the snap) with the clue was to be taken. The treasure could be collected from Peter only upon producing these photos as well as all the clues.

We retraced with Peter, Nobal and other participants. Had a half hour pause at a pool near the exit point which definitely had a cooling effect on us, picking mangoes from trees and treating our taste buds to age-old combination of mango with salt.

Many times through the hunt, we were discussing the efficiency of planning and execution of the whole event in awe and reverence, a meticulous effort by the organizing team. The clues were intriguing and kept our anticipation at a constant high. Finally what stood out was the fairness of the clues. Each team had to go through equal rigor to get to the treasure.

They say the spirit behind any competition is participation, more than winning. Each team proved its spirit by being there, going all over Nagala and beating the heat – never mind the result!

With such a lovely team, a fulfilling experience and unimaginable levels of fun, I was bathed in ineffaceable elation!

Wiki describes Palani Hills as an eastward extension of the western ghat ranges that run parallel to the west coast of India, while I would call it a valley of answers and a visual delight!

The group had twenty four of us – seventeen from Chennai, four from Bangalore, two from Palani and one from Pondicherry. The Chennai team met up at Koyembedu, KPN bus stand at around 9.15 p.m. and the bus left at around 10.00 p.m. I’m sure those hopeful of catching up with sleep prior to the rigor of a difficult trek lost all hopes of sleep with my constant and energetic (means loud!) conversation with a few till past midnight! Respite came to all and sundry in the bus with respect to sleep post 2.00 a.m. (around the time I decided to shut up and retire for the night, myself).

Dawn came too soon to my utter disappointment, but with it our growing proximity to breakfast made me immensely glad. Hot idli/pongal/vada/dosa touched our taste buds and soon filled our stomachs. After finishing our morning ablutions, we set off in a minivan.

Getting off at the starting point (beside a dam), we paid the van driver and set out at 9.45 a.m., walking towards our grand destination. The walk lasted for approximately 30 seconds, after which we had to climb onto a parapet wall and thereafter use the steps to reach the top. A group snap was captured here before we continued on our path.

The first one hour was a flat trail, with scanty greenery that steadily gathered density as we marched forward. We hit the first source of water and stretched our legs, resuming our journey ahead after refilling the bottles with the nectar-sweet stream water. Now came that part of trail that completely took me by surprise. Huge boulders, each one bigger than the next, as slippery as a wet tiled floor greeted us; if the size of the boulders was intimidating then what of the amazing grip it offered?! After one hour of such pleasurable struggle and a reasonably decent pace of progress, the team gathered at 12.15 p.m. realizing that we’d ventured into a more challenging trail that did not have possible outlets. To make this find more interesting, Ankush who retraced a few steps to gather his lost sleeping bag went missing for more than 45 minutes. So did Karthick who went ahead in search of an exit route.

Ela, Rajesh and I were patiently waiting at the so-called inflexion point – we had not caught up with the rest of them, neither were we the last as Ankush & Karthick were supposed to join us after accomplishing their mission. Seconds ran into minutes and minutes almost into hours (a couple at least). Captain of the ship, Raj arrived on the scene and told us that we had to retrace for 10 minutes to get onto a reasonably penetrable trail. But where were Ankush and Karthick? None had spotted them anywhere! We waited for some more time before Rajesh & Gothan went in search of Karthick. After they disappeared into the wilderness of the path ahead, Saravan kumar appears from no where and clarifies that both Karthick and Ankush were with the captain and that we had to retrace and reassemble. So off we all went with the two hours of wait giving us adequate rest to face the forthcoming challenges in the trail.

Refreshed and recharged, we all marched ahead at 2.30 p.m. The trail was quite steep with lot of thorny bushes at regular intervals. Crossing a particular boulder is vividly embedded in my mind. There was a tree beside which was an impossibly large boulder. The thought that this had to be crossed seemed so ridiculous to me that I was going around in circles trying to find out alternative ways. I laughed out in disbelief when I realized it was not a joke, rather a quite serious and tough task ahead of me. Ela just jumped up, grabbed the tree and did a monkey thing! While I was impressed, even amused, it terrified me to think of how I would be able to manage this mighty feat with a height of 5 feet. Imagine my plight when it was brought to my notice that I was to go next?! I looked helplessly at Ela. It was Karthick who made the grand gesture of bending over and letting me place one foot on his back for balance (I honestly felt humbled). The problem did not end here as Ela had to pull me onto the boulder. Actually this made me feel quite ashamed of myself, so to make up for it I volunteered to pass on the bags to more even grounds so that others can also be subject to a bitter-sweet similar fate.

At 5.10 p.m., we reached another water point (waterfalls actually) where we had 20 minutes time to romance the ice-cold water. Many guys just ran and jumped into the water. The shock of the ice-cold water making them go numb all over was evident in their pained stares, yet they drenched in immeasurable joy!

We started at 5.30 p.m. and reached the campsite at 6.30 p.m. after battling with a difficult terrain of loose rocks, thorny bushes and slippery soil at an incline of 75-80 degrees. The campsite was incredibly beautiful, unlike any other I’ve seen. It was mostly flat surface with the stream cutting across it, enough of water for cooking but not too much to come in the way of camping! We just took a few minutes to settle down and immediately and unanimously commenced our dinner preparations. It was an amazing team effort – work was judiciously split and involved collecting fire wood, setting the fire, washing potatoes, mixing masala and making noodles. Potatoes were grilled and the noodles had CTC Palani Team’s special masala!!! Till around 9.30 p.m. none of us were conscious of the cold weather as the fire and piping hot food kept us diverted, busy and warm. Ram & Vinod were involved in slicing the potatoes, while Sundar and Rajesh were involved in grilling them. Nachiketa and team were busy getting the noodles ready. Anavarathan Raj was busy keeping the fire going at both places. What was I doing?! Well, the most important of them all – moral support!!! Also, I was deeply involved in eating and distributing food to deserving candidates and ensuring that no one eater was monopolizing the food supplies. Ela was walking around providing general gyan on any query pertaining to implementation of the cooking plans. All others were totally engrossed – in eating! Though few of us knew each other from previous treks, the entire group behaved like one family.

We all retired for the night and the captain kept a night fire going which burned through the night on account of the selfless effort of Saravana kumar and Gowtham. I survived the night and in fact slept for close to 4 hours thanks to the 1.50 kg sleeping bag of mine. The burden of carrying it around was well worth the effort. Dawn came and with it came the hope of another exciting day of trekking, of yummy food and of experiencing the magnificence of the perumal peak. We were up and ready by 7.30 a.m. Our uphill climb started at 8.00 a.m. and ended in forty five minutes upon reaching the road (jeep trail). I’m sure all of us together could have made abnormal profits in selling lemons that we picked up on our way to the road!!! We took a 5-minute break and proceeded towards our first waterfall for the day. Reaching at 10.15 a.m. we were all overjoyed at the prospect of a break and jumped at the opportunity to have food – milkmaid, jam & butter with bun, apart from chapattis. I was magnanimously involved in spreading the jam/butter/milkmaid on bun for the folks and managed to steal one for myself while creating a contrary impression. We left at 10.45 a.m. from the water point and targeted reaching the village at 11.45 a.m. The trail was constantly at an incline and without breaking anywhere we reached the village on the dot.

We had a tea break for 15 minutes after which the entire group split into two – one, that was to head to the perumal peak (18 of us) and the other that was to head back to palani after exploring the village (6 of them). I was part of the team that went to perumal peak. We had to work against time – the climb and descend had to be completed within 3 hours as the Chennai team had their bus leaving Palani at 7.30 p.m. (given that it would take 1.50 hours to travel to palani from the exit point of perumal peak).

The trail to perumal peak was at an incline with a lot of dry bushes/leaves. The steps were slippery but it added flavor to our ascend. Vaidi kept us all going through the challenging terrain with his running commentary & sense of humor which made us burst out laughing despite the testing climb/descend. After 2 hours of climbing we reached the top. I was astounded by the scenery that welcomed me. There were mountain ranges surrounding the peak. Few of the valleys between these mountain ranges were clearly visible, so were the dark patches on the neighboring mountains, being shadows cast by the mighty sun.  As though possessed I walked to the far end of the peak and sat down mesmerized. My eyes drank in the serenity of the place, hungry for more. Sun shining brightly on me did not irk me in the way it normally did, as I had lost myself to the present moment. During our onward journey to Palani, I had this question that kept haunting me – are humans as lonely as they are social? I felt something whisper the answer into my ears at the peak – even in loneliness we are social as we have nature staring back at us all the time, wherever & whenever!!!

The descend was incredibly steep with almost no trail, thorny bushes waiting to kiss our skin and right angled ‘drops’. It took us one hour to reach the bus stop (4.45 p.m.), but to our dismay learned that the next bus to Palani was at 6.00 p.m. Meanwhile, we had some snacks and freshened up a bit. The ride to Palani was fun – there was no place to sit and the bus was crowded, so for the first time in my life, I sat right beside the footboard and enjoyed the curvy & bumpy ride while feeling the cold breeze against my cheeks. We reached Palani and boarded the bus at 8.00 p.m. as we’d requested the guys there to hold the bus for us. Could things get more eventful than this? It sure did – the bus to Chennai broke down and was only partly set right. Hence we were stranded at Trichy KPN office for over an hour. That is when we had to take a call – to wait for a replacement or to take a cab to Chennai. Those who had to get back to work took a cab and left at 3.00 a.m., while those who were more flexible with timings chose to stay back and wait for the replacement.

I went feeling a bit low, I came back feeling ecstatic!

Raj Jacob was incredible and his organizing was impeccable (nothing surprising but always worth mentioning). Anavarathan Raj had a soothing effect on those who were relatively inexperienced/first timers, his words of encouragement and patience in navigation went a long way in helping them see the finish line. My fascination revolved around the team’s behavior as one family. I totally admire the first timers for their determination and grit in completing this trek. The time spent with each other amidst the exaltation of nature will always be cherished by me. My best trek ever!

Soon after I registered for PX5, I was thrilled to see my name in the confirmed list of participants. Ever since this happened, I immediately booked my tickets and was enthusiastically engaged in a count-down. The journey that I was eagerly awaiting began and so did a lifetime of bonding with fellow-trekkers. Though I already knew around 10 of the 34 participants from other treks, the others seemed quite familiar upon introduction, possibly attributable to our common passion for trekking.

Met Peter & Co at Perungalathur and we boarded SRM transport to Dindigul at around 10.00 p.m. The events unfolding prior to my reaching the bus stop in time to board the bus were dramatic enough to be made into a movie. The moment I met Peter, even before greeting me, Peter took one look at the potential pregnancy of my backpack (cause: my sleeping bag) and expressed his sympathy (direct addition of 1.30 kgs to the backpack without adding the weight of food and other essentials)! Well, I did not have much of a choice, having brought it, I had to carry it. But I was confident that the pain of carrying it would be amply rewarded when the chillness tries to wage a war with my body at the campsite in the mountains/plains.

Day I (Friday): We all got off at Devadanapatty (few kilometers away from Dindigul) and coordinated with the other groups to meet at a common place – being the only breakfast shop which was prepared to make food for 34 people by 7.00 a.m. Breakfast was sumptuous – parota, idli, dosa, different dishes made of egg and poori, apart from tea and milk (Brijesh – being the milk baby!). While I was waiting for food to get ready and treated my stomach to tea as an appetizer, Venkat diligently bought a toothbrush and paste, maybe he was trying to make up for the next 3 days of no ‘brushing’! But I found it quite hilarious. We provided the amused villagers with much entertainment. Something that caught my attention was the way they served food – with a warm smile that spoke of abundant love, usually unseen in city life.

After breakfast we boarded a mini van which dropped us off near the Manjalar dam. We set off on the wild mission of diminishing the yawning gap between the rat tail falls and 34 tough minds! The initial couple of hours was quite comfortable and then began the steep climbs and the impossibly huge boulders. We dropped our bags at a particular spot and did more steep climbs and jumps to get to the rat tail falls. One look at the beauty of the falls cascading into the expanse of the pool below and I was completely mesmerized. I wasn’t aware of the steps that took me closer to the waterfalls, but when I came back to my senses I was right beside it and absolutely enjoyed getting myself wet. When I went near the pool with the intention of taking a dip, I realized it was a bit muddy, so decided against it. After taking a group snap there, we retraced our path and were back near our backpacks hungry – lunch was over in no time!

Peter told us that we had to do a bit of climbing to get to the top of the rat tail falls which is to be our campsite for the night. What he did not tell us was that this climb would be the wildest, steepest, longest and the most challenging ever.  The steepness of the climb hit me when I realised that every step ahead diminished the visibility of folks around me. There is a particular incident that will remain engrained in my mind forever. Ram and I were stuck at a specific point, progress beyond which was unimaginable, unless we were keen on taking a slide down – upto where was quite unknown, such was the terrain. We were stuck at that spot for 10 minutes, petrified of any movement for fear of getting dislocated. Venkat and Masi gave us the much needed encouragement that got us moving. Ram went first, I was impressed with his courage. After seeing him settle down a bit I thought I had the nerves to go next, but two minutes later as I tried my best to imitate the most intolerable of reptiles (lizard), I made out that I was a miserable failure. Seeing Ram’s bag roll downhill with a will of its own was my undoing. I slowly started slipping but venkat grabbed my bag and got me safely back on solid grounds, where not more than 3 to 4 people could rest. As I waited catching my breath, my anxiety heightened not only upon noting the steepness of the climb ahead but also after registering the look on Brijesh’s face. I have noticed many emotions on his face before, ‘fear’ was never one of them! By this time most of us had exhausted our water reserves, even ‘The Reservoir’ (Brijesh) had gone dry! The one thing that kept us all going through the rest of the day was the unwavering focus on getting to the seemingly evading campsite. The answer to the million-dollar question on why, being the undeniable need for water. We had almost reached the peak when we decided the last leg of the climb had to wait till Peter had taken a look at the prospect. He took one look and said is too risky; Brijesh and Venkat were nominated to find a different and new trail, for which we had to retrace for around 20 minutes. It was 8 p.m, close to 6 hours since we had water and we were still clueless about how long it would take to reach the campsite. Subsequent to a few hours of hanging on to trees and rocks for support, groping in the dark for support, crawling on all fours, a tough climb using ropes and yet another steep climb for half hour without an LED torch, we reached the peak.

It was 9.30 p.m when we reached the peak and almost half of the crowd was still way behind us. Peter, Arun & Brijesh had gone to the campsite in search of the three guys who had already reached the top of the rat tail falls by 6.00 p.m and also to get water for the rest of us folks at the peak. Craving for water like I have never known before coursed through me, my perception of water changed that day – reverence vis-à-vis indifference! Lemon and orange had never felt better on my taste buds, down my parched throat. I remember staying awake till 12 midnight before my hopes of tasting water anytime soon started fading. As masi, venkat and rest of us were debating on whether to go in search of Peter with the help of the GPS device, we heard a gruff voice echoing through the stillness of the night – Brijesh was calling out to us, demanding (he never asks) that we walk towards him. This time we went behind one another with unbelievable discipline and in quick succession, reaching our primary destination first (guys were waiting with water) and the secondary one (campsite) sometime later. My obsession over NUTELLA paled in comparison with the emotion that I experienced when I had the first drop of water in 9 hours! Brijesh conducted interviews and recorded the feelings of souls such as mine asking about how we felt after swallowing 750 ml of water in one gulp! And of course the response was unanimous – ‘blissful’!

At the campsite we made Maggie/soup and had dinner at 2 a.m. The main advantage of the timing was that we had lost many of them to deep sleep resulting from exhaustion. The hot dinner and the cozy interiors of my sleeping bag kept me warm and I drifted into sleep, waking up only to the smell of tea, cool breeze and the lush beauty at the source of the rat tail falls.

Day II (Saturday): After the trying terrain of day one, we were groomed to be able to handle anything that came our way. Through the day we were trekking at a decent pace, had a relaxed lunch and a comfortable journey till our exit point, the ghat road. We took a bus to Kodai and had sumptuous dinner at Hotel Hilltop. We then set off to camp at the entrance of the pine forest 20 kms from Kodai. The weather started off being cool and steadily progressed into becoming ‘cold’ urging me to get a monkey cap, which became a part of me during the third day of our trek to Gundar falls.

Day III (Sunday): was more a treat to the eyes, mind and soul. Trekking was a bit tricky at places but we had become unconquerable – no terrain could make us bow our heads. We had periodic breaks at gorgeous spots, filled with lovely water bodies – either pools or flowing water laced with moss, and greenery in all directions. We had elaborate meals as well – breakfast and lunch! The climb from the Gundar falls, where another group snap at different angles and with different poses were captured, to the exit point of the pine forest was very steep, but it lasted for a little over half hour. Despite continuous trekking for the last three days, most of us had energy left in us to do cycling around the Kodai Lake for 45 minutes, before boarding our bus for the return journey. We paused at regular intervals to take snaps, capturing the happy moments and even had ice creams!

The way we ate during the entire trek, kept me reminded of something a German co-trekker in one of my earlier treks said about CTC – he said that CTC should be renamed Chennai Trekking & Eating Club!!!

I was the ‘only rose amidst a sea of thorns’, as someone succinctly put it, however a rose feels at home only amidst thorns and this rose was no different! 😛 Special thanks to those who shared their food/water with me and gave me company at difficult spots, in the name of chivalry. Hats off!!!

It was my best trek ever – a mix of everything – fear, elation, frustration, thirst, hunger, concern for all!!! One comprehensive experience, I must say. There was a time on Friday late evening when I actually gave up and let go with a couple of drops of tears in my eyes. Though I was ashamed at the helplessness I felt, I never fail to be honest with myself. Raj pulled me up at a couple of places during the climb to the peak amidst the engulfing darkness – ever grateful for that. Within few seconds of the tears coming out, they dried up because I realised I’m not someone who gives up – especially when the going gets tough, I believe only the tough can get going. This trek pushed my endurance and helped me comprehend the depth of my mental stamina (more than the physical one). Well, the saving grace being the fact that the next two days I did not accept any help and managed on my own 🙂 🙂 :), called bouncing back – felt incredible !!!

Nocturnal Nagala was a revelation of kinds to me. It was an all-encompassing experience – a night trek, steep/challenging terrain and incessant rains through the night. Nocturnal Nagala enlightened me on my own potential and stamina. I drove close to 250 kms – prior to starting our trek and post our trekking expedition.

I did not plan to take my car initially; however, upon request to bring my car, the only condition I made was to stop for tea at Uthukottai on the way to Nagala (what to do?! Most of us are addicted to something in life!).

We started from Chennai CMBT bus stop at 11.00 p.m. in four cars. As usual, I was right behind the lead car, barely able to restrain myself from overtaking the mighty ‘Ritz’. I noticed that I had company with respect to the seeming ‘restraint’, as there was a Scorpio, the driver of which I’m sure was used to driving a plane (maybe), certainly not a car!!! It was a thoroughly enjoyable ride to Nagalapuram with loud music and louder chatting all the way.

We reached Nagala at 1.30 a.m. and immediately got down to distributing food – apples, mango bites, Glucon D, chapathi packets and other goodies. We set out at 2.00 a.m. The first sight that greeted us was that of a snake. It was just coming out of a puddle of water and heading for cover in the nearby bush! Five minutes into the whole thing and it was getting enjoyable already. The familiar smell of dampness, plants and insects greeted us. Guru and his lead man (Mani) had the GPS to guide us on the trail. We spotted a couple of bull frogs, though initially we mistook them to be a piece of rock. Such a fat ass it was – slimy and disgusting; yet alluring and fascinating. Night life at Nagala held us all enraptured as we steadily progressed into the mountain range along our planned trail. It was tiring and strenuous with the narrow focus of our torches guiding our way. The sound of the wind in the trees around us and water in the stream somewhere nearby kept us all going. The silence of the moonless night was amazing. We had crossed the first pool, supposedly the second as well and were heading towards the third.

As we were taking stock of our position we found that we were at the steepest possible incline ever. There was hardly any flat surface enough to fit our seats. Our precarious balance was reflected in the way we were hanging on to tree branches and sticking to boulders for dear life. It was then that the thought of a lizard fascinated me – how conveniently it could stick onto surfaces, against gravity?!

Stimulated by the nocturnal sounds of the forest, we suddenly realized we had lost our trail somewhere between the second and the third pool! Oh  never mind, said the entire group, the enjoyment mirrored on their glowing faces – such were the spirits, a commendable team effort! So what if we had lost the trail, we hadn’t lost our minds/soul! We trekked continuously for close to 7 hours and finally arrived at the fourth pool.

I’ve already been to the first, second and the third pools during my other treks with CTC. Despite which, every time I set eyes on them, love happens all over again – the beauty of nature consistently overwhelms me! However, nothing could have prepared me for the glorious sight of the fourth pool. I was completely bowled over. The waterfall came from great height and its force almost unbearable. I became silent for quite some time as I was drinking in the scenic magnificence (only nature has the power to get me dumbfounded and I’m sure all my co-trekkers will nod vigorously in assent). Just when I think nothing is as beautiful as what I have witnessed, it is again nature that beats its own benchmark. The force of the waterfall was intimidating, but I was sitting right in front of it and mentally coaxing myself for a dip in the pool. Though I’m not a great swimmer (due to lack of adequate practice), I love water! That is something that motivates me to get into every pool that comes my way. I dragged Mani along with me and drew some comfort from his presence (I’m not sure of the vice-versa bit, though!). The chillness of the water made me go numb all over as I strode purposefully towards the waterfall. There were two smaller ones on the way to the largest waterfall. I believe in slow and steady – leading to astounding accomplishments. I set foot under each one, conquering it and at the same time being humbled by the warmth it bestowed on me. The largest one was so forceful that it almost threw me into the small pool ahead, just by the might of its speed. Well, I refused to let it intimidate me – I stayed under its steady and strong flow for a few minutes filling water in the vessel and bottles for making tea. I then, went back to join rest of the crowd taking rest and stretching their already overworked muscles.

The next 2 hours were spent in trying to start fire for making tea. We then found out that none of us had the tea (dust) packet with us. However, we had with us Nestle milk powder and sugar. So the immediate thought that popped in Mani’s head was to make hot milk. Something hot was so enticing that I promptly seconded his thoughts. So we set out to do the same. The milk was damn tasty, I think it had more to do with my effort than the taste of stream water used (winky)!

We resumed our trek at 12.00 noon. As we went past the fourth pool to reach the source of its waterfall, the trail was immensely challenging, with steep incline coupled with loose rocks everywhere. It was a wonder that all of us managed the climb without major issues. Prior to reaching the source of the fourth pool’s waterfall, we were taken to a breathtaking viewpoint. We could see the source of the waterfall from a distance and were surrounded by rocks and greenery. Marvellous sight! We took snaps of the gorgeous scenery and I managed to climb onto the last boulder/rock beyond which was magnificent void – air and space! Subsequently, we trekked to the source of the fourth pool’s waterfall. It was a small pool by itself. I joined Mani, Arun & Co in exploring the nearby area and was gifted with the discovery of two more pools with small waterfalls. Climbed onto its source and sat on it, enjoying the force of the stream trying to push me down its length and into the pools. Few others joined us at these pools later. And all thanks to the lead team comprising Guru & Mani and the sweeping team comprising Arun & Shankar. They were amazingly patient, helpful, encouraging and invincible at all times!

We trekked back to the third pool by 7.00 p.m., where we decided to camp for the night. Again, camp fire was started and hot upma was served for dinner. Our ravenous hunger was responsible for the upma disappearing within  minutes of being served. Totally dead beat and exhausted, we set our sleeping mats and got ready for bed. At around 11.00 p.m. most of us had retired to bed. Arun was just explaining to me about his previous trekking experience wherein it had rained and due to the size of the group and the lack of adequate tarpaulin sheets, he had to sleep under the sky with just his cap protecting his face from the rains. The thought of that chilled me to my bones. I was fervently hoping that it wouldn’t rain that night. As soon as this thought crossed my head I heard Arun say that it is cloudy and he smells rain. My heart just sank at the thought, but I cheered myself up by remaining positive. Just as the reassuring thought coursed through me, I felt droplets of rain water on my hands and face. Damn it, I thought! I heard myself call out to Arun as he was lying down somewhere close by. Four of us including Arun went speeding towards people with extra tarpaulin sheet. Grabbed and yanked the extra sheet off them. Most of us used the tarpaulin sheet to cover ourselves, with our sleeping mats beneath us. I’ve only had soft bed sheet/blanket covering me, never a plastic sheet. It was initially suffocating, but I coaxed myself saying I could breathe and that’s all that mattered. Ten minutes later, I woke up with a weird wet feeling on my neck and back and to my utter dismay I realized it was rain water and that my entire sleeping mat was almost drenched. Hmmmm…..what to do? It then hit me that the intensity of rain was not letting anything remain dry. It felt like ages since it started raining and so I looked at my watch. God, it was only 12.30 a.m. When was the night going to come to an end? It struck me that it was going to be a very long night! To my relief  I realized I had company in staying awake, as movement around me caught my attention. Every half hour I heard Shankar call out for the time and I meticulously kept track of it for the entire team (lol)! Through this mess, Nithya started wheezing just when Guru and Mani came to her rescue. As the minutes rolled by, things got better and the experience was more palatable! I realized then that most things in life are a matter of habit or a matter of time! The entire group came awake at 5.45 a.m. The eagerness to start trekking back was blatantly visible with our body language! It occurred to us that since it had rained through the night, the trail down would be more challenging and slippery. But by now, the previous day’s experience had prepared us to face any kind of trail – challenging or otherwise!

As soon as the group reassembled, with each of us sharing our experiences of wetness and cold with the other, the night that previously seemed unbearable turned out to be a pleasant memory. As predicted, our speed was decent and we managed to reach the second pool within 40 minutes. We halted at the second pool – this is where I had my quota of fish pedicure! We were rummaging through the left overs of our food supplies and shared whatever was left of it – groundnut bars, chapathi packets with pickle, biscuits, chocolates and even oranges. We started by 8.45 a.m. from second pool and bumped into another CTC group that had ‘photography’ as its trekking mission for the weekend. We exchanged pleasantries and captured couple of group photos and continued our merry way to the parking lot by 10.30 a.m. We started by around 11.15 a.m., reaching Chennai by 2.45 p.m.

A very memorable, marvelous, magical, wonderful, splendid and revealing trekking expedition indeed! Thanks to Guru/Mani/Arun/Shankar (CTC) for all the support. I’m so glad to be part of this awesome club!!!