Great start this new year was with about 20 km of tough trekking to over 1000 m altitude along the difficult trails of Kolli Hills!
First of all it was a nice re-union for me to meet my new trekker friends whom I met in Yelagiri trek. We started by salem express at chennai central railway station at 23:40 hours to salem, from where we went to the kolli hills base by tempos. Seeing 80 plus young men and women with trekking suits, the whole central station was staring at us differently :-D . The other passengers in the train even started whispering among themselves like "They are all from national geographic channel. That white man (Peter) is the trainer and they are going for scientific expedition". Wah! it felt lot of pride!!
Day 1 started with a mission to reach summit1 at altitude 1064 m and back to the base camp at Arapaleeswarar temple; and having dip in the stream on the way. The trek heads led us along the trails to the planned destination. "Move, move" and "just 10 more minutes" were the keywords. These words, along with reliance fresh apples, peer fruits, glucon-d and other snacks kept us moving. And thanks to the soup at the base! That is most memorable in the two day trek!
Day 2 plan was to trek to the water falls and caves in the hills and back. Never ever thought even steps could be this much difficult. Ever stepped up/down sever kilometers of steps? Day 2 trek was even more difficult and had absorbed the whole of our energy. Day 2 stream was even more fun! "10 more minutes" magic didn't work out this time, for all its magic had been hijacked by the tough terrains with slippery mud somewhere and thick forest around. When we finished the trek and reached the base at arapaleeswarar temple, all of us flooded the shops to re-energise ourselves. All some of us wanted was sleep and we even skipped lunch for it (ofcourse took other snacks). The heads informed us of another plan. To trek down the hills to the hill base and board the tempos to railway station from there. Ouch!! They gave another option, to go by tempo right from there!! This sounded appropriate for some of us and we did it! Some trekkers went the first way.
And the 2 day trekking event was great fun! Enjoy the kolli hills trek photos here!!
Nice One. :)
ReplyDeleteWould have been better if you had given the trekking route details ,
ReplyDeleteRajan.
http://rajarajangs.blogspot.com/
Thanks Raj, I've noted your suggestion and will try to implement in future posts. I'm just a beginner, both in trekking and blogging. Your comments will help me improve in both.
ReplyDeleteI like kolli hills very much. I have visited more then 70 times. Whenever i am going there i like to ride two wheeler only. South india people should be visit this place. Should not miss this place. If you want any guide please cal me round the clock.+919916065369.or mail me. rrpramesh@gmail.com
ReplyDeletehey ha hia..I saw yur updates.i wanna knw sumhn abt Kolli Hills..pls contact me as soon yu see ths msg..
ReplyDeleteThank yu..
P.Prakasam.
9176920107
Hia Sam, thanks. Please see chennaitrekkers.org for all trekking related details.
ReplyDeleteWow... What a wonderful place. I didn't saw this place. My next vacation place is this! Surely I will go.
ReplyDeleteYou are so interesting! I do not suppose I've read something like that before. So good to discover someone with some unique thoughts on this topic. Really.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is something that is needed on the internet, someone with some originality!
ReplyDeleteMy blog post - http://genabedar.xanga.com/