Run-up to the trek:
Flurry of mails followed on Do's and Don'ts. Tents and Sleeping bags were hired. Vehicle was booked. Pick-up points were finalized.
Day Zero - 18th Sep, 2009
Messy day in office, messier traffic on the way back home. Purchased MTR food items from Total. Stuffed the backpack. 45L one did not seem to be enough to hold some of the items. So, unpacked and shifted to a 65L one. The journey to Forum, chosen pick-up point, turned out to be worse with heavy traffic on inner ring road. Finally reached Forum @6.30. Had to goto the other side. Security guard didn't allow me to make a throughfare as such a big bag was not allowed inside. Went around to the other side and waited for the others. Kutty reached in with the tents and sleeping bags. Madhukar, who came to bid us goodbye, joined in after sometime and so did Karthik. Met Nidhi near the petrol bunk. All of us waitedin the drizzle for the bus to come. Finally, the bus arrived at 7.30. Everybody got in, bags stored inside the back of the bus.
9.00 PM : Time for dinner. Bus stopped near a Veg Restaurant. Chappatis, Egg Curries and Khuska rice were the flavor of the night. After a round of drags, everybody got into the bus and we started our journey towards Kodai. Gopal and Rashmi initiated the antakshiri proceedings.
Bishu, Rajesh, Vasu, myself joined in and had a gala time till late in the night as others too joined in as time passed by. We had breaks for tea in between. Finally, we reached Kodai at 8 in the morning.
Day One : 19th Sep, 2009 : The Leechy Trail and the Walk in the Clouds
Kodai town is centred around Kodai lake. Looks very much like Ooty. But Kodai seemed warmer than Ooty @ 9.00 AM. The rest of the gang had breakfast at Meenakshi resturant, next to the lake. Bishu, Manas, Rajesh and me decided to test out idli-vadas and ate at a road-side restaurant. Awesome vadas.
10.00 AM
Food items and sleeping bags were distributed among all. Everybody was set and waiting for the guides to come. Around 11.30 AM, the guides came with the bus that we had to take to get to the starting point, Kookal shola, just above the Kookal lake. After a break for photos and tea and a few failed attempts to start an antakshiri, we reached Kookal starting point at 2.00 PM. Kookal lake is a majestic sight. Its like one of those laidback lakes set amidst a few hills with a pristine countryside to boot. Shutterbugs were excited and derived maximum benefit out of the break of one hour till we were ready to start the trek at 3.00 PM.
3.00 PM start:
The start was through a bit of grasslands, till we reached the forest part and the guides instructed to remain in a straight line. Myself, Manas, Rajesh and Bishu were the sweepers in this part of the trek. And yeah, our 'leechy' friends were waiting there. A shout from the front confirmed it. Since I was wearing floaters, I had an easy time removing leeches from my body.
However since the trek had a few begineers and the guide, who was ahead of me in the trail stopped every 2-3 seconds to see whether any leech got stuck into them, I ended up with a few leech bites till I saw 8 leeches piling onto one big drilled hole in my right foot. I went out of the trail and bypassed almost everybody ahead and came right up to the front. After that, it was a run towards the grasslands. Totally, it took an hour to come out of the grasslands. The damage was only 7 leech bites.
After a search and cleanup operation, we started the climb again and reached a temple at 4.15 PM. Mani, the guide brought out some awesome homemade chocolates. The guides performed a puja , after which we had lunch. For 5 of us i.e. Prasanna, Bishu, Manas, Rajesh and myself, lunch was on the rocks with chappatis, bhindi masala and pindhi masala. It was then that I said to Rajesh for the very first time "Its a crime to trek and not sit on such a rock for a break".
This was to be repeated a million and fifty-nine times more in the next two days.
Trek started again at 5.00 PM with descent from now on. Awesome views greeted us on the way. We were mostly walking on the ridge. Shutterbugs were pretty busy in the entire stretch.
A herd of 4 bisons cause minor excitement in between. Finally, we were down a couple of blackened mountains, probably forest fires did them in. Our camp-site was just behind them.
This place is called the Pappalamman Kovil Grassland. We reached the camp-site at 6.15 PM and immediately got up to setup the tent. Within 15 mins, our tent was up, some more plugging of loopholes later, we were proud of the sturdy product.
By 7, everybody was at the camp-site and we had all tents up. Then folks decided to have a canopy in which all backpacks can be put. It took one more hour for the efforts to bear fruit.
Finally by 8, everything was done and the 4 of us moved into our tent. Had arbit chat for a couple of hours before having dinner(pulao/rice/dal) and desserts(halwa). Music followed. More chats followed ranging from Ivory Coast to Gokarna. Around 12, we were inside the sleeping bags and fast asleep.
Day Two : 20th Sep, 2009 : The Descent and the Night Trek
6.00 AM:
Manas woke everybody up in the tent. Already Prasanna was waking people up in other tents.
We quickly packed up the sleeping bags and mats. After morning ablutions were done, the tents and the backpacks were packed up. By 7.30 AM, after a round of group snaps and smiling faces, we were ready for the trek.
Boys, Are you ready for Adventure?
Yes Sir!
Boys, Are you ready for Danger?
Yes Sir!
Boys, Are you ready for death?
uuggggh, can u plz repeat the question?
The Morning Halt:
After a brief walk of 10 minutes, we halted at a place for brushing up and having some food.
Then we started the walk around the ridge which was wide enough for just one person to walk. The rocks were loose and the soil was giving away at a few places on the ridge. A slide down meant getting a few bones broken. Luckily, no such thing happened.
The Descent:
Boy, memories of Barai valley came flashing at times. Although that was a 80 degree slope for 900 feet with loose gravel, the descent here was no less mean, as the grass was hiding quite a few holes, and there was a real danger of spraining ankles etc. It took around 3 hours with a few halts to get down this slope. My backpack support rod had broken into two and the existing portion was piercing my back every slide. We moved in groups of 5-6. Everybody ensuring that the one behind had made it safely. Great teamwork marked this part of the trek. Kuthiraiyar falls was an awesome sight.
The Dry forest:
Post-descent and with no water, we rested for sometime and continued our journey to the mini-pool. We had a full-fledged water source to our right all this while. But its preceded by a very steep descent that ends up in water. Some irony, I thought. After some confusion regarding the trek route, we were near the pool by 3 PM. The ones who reached earlier already had their food. For the rest of us, we had a quick bite and by 4 PM, we were on our way. This was a simple walk and the most boring part of the trek. The floater tore up as well, just to add to the misery. The pebbles started getting inside and soon I had blisters on the feet. After that every step was a pain and I remained in the back of the group till the end. Came across lot of elephant dung in this part of the trek. Three-finger pug marks were also discovered. Also, lot of big rocks were there along the trail. Rajesh and me were chit-chatting throughout till we reached the river . I said to Rajesh "Its a crime to trek and not sit on such a rock for a break" after coming across every such rock :-)
We were at the river by 5.30 PM. River crossing is always a fun, but not when done with a torn slipper and a heavy backpack and deliberately stepping on jutting stones. A fall is not far away as I realised. A few more strides away, we came across a small waterfall and the last sun-rays penetrating the forest. Rajesh started taking snaps while after seeing a big rock , I declared to Rajesh that "Its a crime to trek and not sit on such a rock for a break". Ultimately, we lost sight of the first group. The place was a lovely sight and since life is short, both of us decided to make the most of it and enjoy our time here. We waited for almost half-an-hour.
Night Trek:
Because it was 6 and it gets dark pretty fast in the forest, torches were out. But 13 people and 5 torches is not a pleasant experience. A few falls and slips happened. I had a torch and that kept both Rajesh and myself in the business. It took two hours , one wrong deviation, several ups and downs before we finally came to the dam, thirsty and hungry. The dam water was also very muddy and used it only for washing our faces. After a 1 km trek, we reached the dam and finally reached the shop nearby and downed a 7-up on-the-rocks for a change.
Ultimately, it was a 13-hour trek on the 2nd-day. From the night halt to the dam, its around 25 kms according to the guide. So, 10 hours timeline given for 2nd-day depends upon speed.
Journey Back:
Nothing exciting. No Dhabas nearby, slept hungry. Had tea in between. Reached Bangalore at 7 AM.
PS: For some gyan
1. Kodai-Kuthiraiyar trek is awesome. But its much more than a photographic trip as I initially thought.
2. Always have backup water.
3. Floaters are good for small treks. Not for a 25km trek in one-day. Chances are that you will be walking with bristles on your feet for a week after.
