Venkatagiri

Our trekking started on a fine Saturday morning. We all started from Koyembedu at 6 am with 35 people, 5 cars, 2 bikes and Peter’s Scorpio leading us, and me driving my car with 4 people that includes my colleague Sabari as well, After one and half hour of drive in NH5 (Nice highway), we turned left to Naidupet and stopped for breakfast and to load water. I knew this was going to be my last spot to have a proper food for the weekend, as we knew, it was going to be just packed and canned food for the next 2 days. Everyone got 3 liters of water each, loaded it into the car. Then the route became tricky, we had to follow Peter’s car carefully so not to miss him. At 11.a.m. we reached the village where we were supposed to park the car and meet our trek-mate Chenchu (the native of VenkataGiri town). All things got distributed here: Theplas, Bread, Jam, Snacks and most important – Glucon-D (Peter shouting “guys, pick it up – It’s the Life saver”).

“Here we go… 42nd trek”, said Peter. It was a 2 hour walk to reach the base of the hill. The scorching sun was beating us down at Andhra :( Many first timers and myself began to wonder “How the hell are were going to make it to the top?”, “Was it a bad to decision to have come here?”, but there was Chenchu pushing us to go on and encouraging us to walk.



“Water Water Water No-where” from 11 am till 4 pm. Thorns pierced my t-shirt, my cap and my sleeping mat got torn at all it’s edges. We still kept trekking with all our energy, draining out every minute, thinking and hoping all the way, that it is “just another 5 minutes to the top”. After we kept fooling ourselves withthat 5 min Top thoughts, we reached the 700m base camp of the hill at 3.30 p.m., and Peter, who reached there before us, was happily taking a nap there knowing that these guys will always be late.

Completing our lunch with eggs and sweets (Thanks to Chenchu for carrying it all along :) ) and relaxing, we were surprised on seeing the clouds touching us, we all felt that all the climbing was in fact a nice idea.
But when we were all wondering where the tents were and where do we sleep, Chenchu says we still have another 200m to climb and if we go in a good pace ( :( which we can’t ), he said it would take another hour. The best part of the trek started there. No more heat, no more sun beating us down, just clouds everywhere, telling us to “Catch me if you can” :D

For every meter we ascended, we were able to catch breathtaking views, astonishing greenery, which made our expedition a little easier and we reached the top around 6.p.m. We were all treated and welcomed to the top, by the sunset views, with awesome colors changing every minute in the sky, which made everyone forget all the trouble we had while climbing:) Chenchu and the local guides took all the empty bottles and filled up with water. (We thought there was water stream flowing down somewhere in another path).



People then started unwinding things and each found a place for his/her sleeping mat. Each one kept praising and exclaiming “what a wonderful place this is!” and felt sorry for the people who missed this trek. The guides arranged water for all of us who needed to quench their thirst and mix it for a drink. Peter and some trek-mates claimed the ruined fort, and started enjoying themselves by playing games, having discussions. Then it was time to sleep, and the chillness kept creeping in; good thing that it didn’t rain, otherwise it would have made things worst. Aeolus(Greek God of Wind) tells Zeus (God of rain), “Let me take care of these fellows from CTC, leave ‘em to me”. Then she started with all her strength, changed my sleeping bag into an air-balloon and barely let me sleep with all the noise. We all woke up in the morning with the roaring-wake-up call from Aeolus and then I got ready to capture the sunrise. After enjoying the sunrise we all decided to go down to another edge of the peak to take group photos on the rocks and we could see amazing views again. We left Sam and Viki, at the same place to capture us in their cam when we reach the top. And so we all climbed to the peak again.

After completing the breakfast our descent started. All my thoughts were to go to the water stream and get the 3 litres of water and Chenchu showed us the way to the stream. While I was happily rushing to the water spot I was shocked to see water droplets dripping underneath a rock and all of us needed 3 bottles each (Was this the same place where the guides got water to entire group the previous night? :-?) After accepting that this is the only way to get water from this place (My hundred rupees note in my pocket is of no value here), we started collecting the water slowly from the droplets. We started the descent slowly to reach the 700m area, where we had some rest. Since it was a slow descent I was able to capture some macro shots of insects, butterflies in my cam.



While most of us were resting we heard sounds of people from the other side of the hill. So many questions crossed our mind.. “Whoz that? What’s happening ?” “Did some people take a wrong trail ?”. The answer was “no” :) It was Peter and the pro-trekkers who did not want to go back early and so they decided to reach the other peak. They are indeed great guys, I sincerely wish I could be one of them someday (But certainly not today..ha…ha…:D ), For all of us who thought descending would be easy, we were wrong – “It’s not”, with the toes slamming into the shoes, it was painful throughout the journey. With some tiny breaks inbetween, we reached the ground level. On the way we heard of people shouting and a sudden burst of one name “CCCHHHENNNCHHHHUUUUUUU…………………” :D The group looked relieved and happy, since they lost the trail for about an hour and then saw Chenchu. So they joined us and everybody took a long walk to the village with Glucose in hand, totally exhausted for the weekend, hoping to have a good meal for dinner. We waited for Peter to arrive with the pro-trekkers and we all started at 7 p.m. and reached Chennai at 10:30p.m.

Overall the trekking expedition was amazing. Trek your way to life’s peak, is all I could say :) I wish to thank Peter and organizers for arranging this.

Nagalapuram

My experience about the Nagalapuram Trek -- A first time trekkers FIR
My typical Saturday itinerary is something like this-- get up @ around 12 noon, get hooked to the internet, book any movie running in Satyam Cinemas/mayajaal, Do Pub hopping and hit on a watering hole, Get home late night and crash for the day cursing myself for wasting one day of my weekend.....

There was a unusual twist to my usual cozy Saturday story.... Thanks to Baidik who threw light on this group to me.... I registered to this group on last Monday and through the chain mails realised that a trek is happening in nagalapuram hills.... Never heard of that name before... But I registered for the trek just for the heck of some fun filled TRIP.....



I woke up @ 4am... Rushed to Tidel Park after picking up Raghu - the co trekker on the way... As we came near the Tidel main entrance I saw a set of people chit-chatting, I asked one of them casually whether they are part of Chennai Tekkers Club, He was flummoxed and did know what I meant..I was bulbed... My wandering eyes caught another set of people... I didnt want to be embarrased this time... So i just went near them and tried to figure out myself whether they part of the group .... Bingo !! they were the CTC guys... We waited for 5 mins or so... there came Peter, Balaji and other trekkers... I introduced myself to the other trekkers...Then we headed to koyambedu to pick up the other trekkers...

"The TRIP has begun" My SMS to my mom once we started zipping from the koyambedu CMBT.....We pulled over for some gas in a nearby gas station...We had breakfast in a food joint... Then suddenly the rain god descended on earth, it was so refreshing to see it pour... we waited for about half an hour for it to stop and then we continued with our journey....We reached the base camp at around 9.15... We parked the cars/bikes...back packed ourselves with the snacks and food materials and I embarked on a journey of my life...



Perfect weather, Lush Green forest, thick tree cover and a passionate group of trekkers, I couldn't have wished for more. We were traversing across the thorns, bees and what not.. At one point we were walking across a small piece of rock clinging ourselves to the the wall of the rock...At the moment I almost felt that I have made a mistake by enrolling for the trek...After about 30 minutes we hit on stream with a small waterfall , it was so delightful to eyes... We jumped into it and soothed our aching muscles for sometime..Peter tied a rope across the stream to make sure that non-swimmers were not denied the fun... we lazed in the pool for about 30 mins and continued with our journey... for about one hour we were wading through thorns and steep climbs... and finally we broke for lunch near another stream.... Pooris and Idlis which were in the menu.... But I didn't have much inclination to eat for obvious reasons...I was feeling very thirsty then and all the water we carried were dried up.... so Shubro helped us filling the water bottles from the waterfall which was flowing into the stream... To be very frank I have never tasted any water like that before, so cold, refreshing, straight from mother nature... It felt like ambrosia ...Water has never tasted so good before...
After Lunch we continued with our journey ... I was starting to feel the pain...Aching legs...bruised hands(with thorns and even a bee stung me!!)... fatigued body...All of these wanted me to give up.... but my mind was just keeping me up to go an extra mile..But after a point I decided its the time to give up ..Then came Ram who carried my bag and gave me support and was helping me in the perilous climb... Thanks Ram !!!! We reached the summit at around 2 when the sun was scorching... We took a group photo to mark our conquest...



We began our descend immediately, we increased the pace of our walk and descend was really steep we had to watch our steps as there were many loose stones... After about 30-45 mins we hit on another stream... We decided to follow the stream...As we walked along the stream... we encountered another stream which we had to cross.. Peter did the initial safety checks...and we jumped in and cross the stream with the help of Peter, rope and the other swimmers... We thought we were done with the rivers by then... but we were in for a surprise when we bumped into two more streams one after another....Yes we had to swim across the streams....We were so much connected with the trek that we didnt really feel the pain... We synced perfectly with nature took whatever it had to offer..... Peter and other swimmers were fabulous in helping carrying the bags across the stream.... and also helping the non-swimmers cross the stream seamlessly.... I'm sure we can give Mike Phelps a run for his money!!!!

We were just swimming and climbing and swimming again.... we were kind of unsure where each stream was leading us to.... I was getting a bit apprehensive about getting lost in the woods... We looked like blips on a radar scale when compared the mountains on both the sides.. I was reminded of an Eagles all time hit song "hotel California" -- where they end it like this -
"Relaxed said the nature ("nightman" in the original song) We are programmed to receive,You can check out anytime you like(crossing every stream thinking that this the last), but you can never Leave (never find the way out)"



Then came the good news from Peter and the other senior trekkers that we have finally hit the right spot.... I heaved a great sigh of relief....
The night set in.,... the trekking continued.... We were walking cautiously across the dense forests...It was pitch dark and we were walking with our torches on....
Then we were told to hold back for a minute or so by Peter.... The GPS system stopped working....

But Peter and other trekkers were quickly able to get the trail at the drop of the hat... that was when I realized that when technology fails experience steps in!!!
After that -- In Peter's words "it was just a child's play" and we reached to the base camp and got back to our vehicles... Raghuvir and I were so tired... 100 kms before us looked like Nagalapuram IV to us... but we drove the vehicle like Johnny Depp drove in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and somehow managed to reach home same.......Finally -- Thanks to all you guys for making this TREK (atlast I realized its not a TRIP) a memorable one... Special thanks to Peter, Ram, Vivek, Antony, Balaji and Shubhro for organising such a fantastic trek
Last but not least... I think Robert Frost, the greatest American poet should have been a trekker himself since his lines fit the Club perfectly in his Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. "

Tada

I was eagerly waiting for a trek to TADA falls, because many of my colleagues have been to that place and have told lot about it. Finally I got a chance to go there and I am penning down our experience during the TADA trek.

And the journey to TADA falls started finally on April 12th 2008 with a Scorpio, a Santro, two bikes (Enfield and XCD) and 17 trekkers. In this gang 3 were from SA and others excluding John were first time trekkers with the club. As per our schedule the pick-up point started from Thoraipakam. Peter, Nagendran, Vinay, Nailesh and Sheetal got into Scorpio.



Chandramouli joined us in his bike. Then we drove through Madhya Kailash and picked up Vivek and Prathap in Guindy. Prem had a bike (Royal Enfield) joined in near Le Meridian and other five trekkers Kalpa,Sunitha, Yashoda, Kamal, Kunal joined us from Koyembedu in their Santro. Here comes our great photographer BIG John who joined us in Annanagar 15 minutes late. Because of some confusion with the pickup point Prathap had to take bike and pick Supriya. The last trekker to be picked was Lavanya @ Retteri.By the time we reached NH5 it was 6.45 a.m. Peter tried to compensate the 15 minutes delay by squeezing his Scorpio through the chennai traffic, We started to discuss about our experiences of our previous treks, furure trek places and how we got to know about our trek club. Also there was some discussion going on camera, and John-The photographer was answering to those questions.

Now to know more about TADA, the original name for TADA falls is Ubbalamadugu falls, we came to know this through localates there. This place is in the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil nadu. Its in Nellore district. You can take NH-5 from Chennai and drive for about 85 kilometers to reach Tada. Just before you enter the town Tada, you hit the Kalahasti Road going west off NH-5.



After reaching the TADA village, we had breakfast (Dosa and Idlyz) and also packed the same for lunch. We bought two cases of water bottle and some plantains. From there we had to travel for another 20 minutes to reach Ubbalamadugu Falls check post. On the way some building construction was going on with full of marbles and from far it was looking really beautiful. We started clicking photos of that building and some poses in front of Scorpio and santro. We drove to check-post which is new to that place. Then we had to pay 50/- rupees for the entry into the falls and another 50/- for each camera.

Scorpio started from check post. Then it was turn for the people in Santro and the Bike-riders to pay for the entry and cameras. The road was either with big stones or loose and sandy. As we didn’t see the Santro following us, we waited on to the side, and within a minute, we got a call from Santro people that they couldn’t drive through that road. Peter had to go back and pick those five trekkers. So totally, the count reached to 13 trekkers squeezed into a single Scorpio and it resembled more like an advertisement for Scorpio.

After travelling to some distance, we tried to park our vehicles under the shade, but one of the localite said that we can take our vehicle for another 2 Km inside. We had some plantains and we drove for another 2 km to park our vehicle in the new Parking space under a dead tree. This 2 km saved around 40 minutes of walking towards the falls. Then Peter distributed 2 water bottles each and lunch packets that each need to carry. Thanks to Chandru, for he opened his tripod and clicked group photos with all of us in frame, before we started our trek.



We started our trek towards the falls with lots of photo sessions in the middle. After sometime we crossed a small water stream, where we could clearly see the stones under water. After which we had to walk in an open space under the hot sun, but it was bearable because of the breeze. On the way we saw a nice view of the hills around. Then we had to cross one more water stream, and thank God for no one fell into the water. Cameras were busy in clicking photos when we crossed. This place was very rich in diverse flora and fauna with lots of colorful butterflies and colorful insects of different size.

The next water stream was a delight to all of us. Everyone jumped into water as it was less deep and swimmers had nice time. Then we resumed our trekking, to meet with a Shiva temple on the way. It was from here that the terrain was fully rocky, boulders and had to jump from one big rock to another. Every now and then, we came across small water streams between the rocks. Then came another beautiful water stream between the boulders. There was one more big rock, which we climbed with the help of wooden log. We could see Lot of small rocks submerged in water. Then came the most challenging part of this trek. We had to climb a big and vertical rock which has some support at few places. Thanks to Peter and Prem, who were helping us to climb this vertical rock. A few were helped to climb, and the rest were pulled up the rock on its smooth and slippery surface.

After climbing the last vertical rock, we walked some distance to find a beautiful pool between the 2 vertical mountain ridges. The water was very clear and freezing too. The pool was very deep, and definitely it would be more than 20 feet. So we started tying shirts and towels together to make a rope. We tied one end of rope ( shirts + towels) to a wood plank and Chandru and Prathap swam to the middle of the pool holding the other end of the rope. Kamal held the wood plank from the bank. Some of the swimmers reached the centre of the pool using the man made rope as support. Peter accompanied every swimmer to give then support whenever needed. A few of us were able to reach the centre of the pool without any help. The rest of us including all the girls, swan on Peter’s back. The last 2 were left behind for clicking photos and to safeguard our food from the monkeys.



After the photo-session was over, we all swam back to have our packed lunch .Kalpa had brought chapathis , pickles , and some deserts like mango, papaya and chikki. We had to share our lunch and deserts with a bunch of Monkeys (The only wild animal we can see in this so called forest). One monkey took “Lays” from Kalpaz bag. This reminded us of the slogan of Lays “ No one can eat just one”.

We started returning from the falls at around 3pm, We had to face the same challenge again, but this time it was climbing down the vertical rock. Climbing down the vertical rock was much easier than climbing up. On our way return from the falls, we reached the last water stream crossing. It was here where we relaxed for some free treatment from the Doctor fish, followed by an intro session. The intro session was the really fun. Then around 5 pm , we reached to the place where our vehicles were parked. To our surprise, no one looked tired. We had to squeeze ourselves into the Scorpio for yet another 13 member ride back to the check post. After reaching the check post, 5 trekkers got into their Santro and left to their home. On the way back to tada village, the bajaj XCD ran out of fuel and we had to go and bring petrol in water bottles. When we reached the village, we had tea, juice and snacks. We drove back towards Chennai , but as usual got stuck in the traffic jam.



This trek is much do-able for anybody; nowadays we even saw a group of granny’s coming to tada. If you know swimming, I am sure that you would really enjoy the most, and for those who does not know how to swim, take help from an experts and you can also float on to their back (provided the area is less deep).
This is the beautiful place, but spoilt by some enthusiastic alcoholics who had broken their beer bottles and filled the place with lots of broken glass pieces all over. So make sure you trek this place with your eyes wide open, so that you don’t step on some glass pieces.