Saturday 4am till Monday 1am.... 45 hours of non-stop living life to the max, of stretching you physical and mental boundaries, a group of mostly new people to come together and team up to complete a very challanging mission - a though trek and steep climb to the upper Tada mountain stream.
A group of 46 trekkers reached base camp around 10am Saturday morning. We parked our 7 cars and 7 bikes after crossing a mountain stream. We proceeded along a small sandy trail fully loaded with back packs till we reached a neck-deep clear mountain stream near a small temple. It took less then 5 minutes before everyone was having fun in the water unaware of what was awaiting them...
After this we diverted from the main Tada valley trail and proceeded West towards the base of the hill. We had to make our way and cross a stretch of dense bush vegetation to reach a small hidden trail that took us up the hill, past a horizontal range of steep rocks surrounding the same hill. We left the bush and proceeded uphill along a 40 degree slope over a barren landscape sprinkled with small rocks, burned grass and sparse trees. After climbing for a while we decided to take breakfast towards the top of the first hill enjoying a cool breeze and wonderful view of the surrounding valley.
After this we proceeded further upwards until we crossed a dry stream after which we continued more or less horizontally through grass land again sprinkled with rocks and small trees here and there. We periodically verified our current location on the map using the GPS to confirm that we were proceeding towards the main uppper stream. Suprisingly we reached the stream at 2pm and were happy to see the presence of running water (=drinking water). We set up camp near a place with several layers of horizontal rock (part of the stream) and a 10 feet deep water pool. As usual, it didn't take long or most of us were enjoying a cool dip in the water.
Feeling still too energetic, we decided to drop our bags and continue trekking upstream along the main river deeper into the upper Tada hills. This trek took us along some amazing natural sceneries and rock formations which required us to do some serious climbing. Periodically we found new water pools of different sizes. Nature was beautiful and dramatic here. Possibly unexplored yet by any human being. Far away we saw one hill peaking above the rest and made a silence promise to come back one day and put the CTC flag on top. When the clock showed 5pm, we decided to head back to the camp before it got dark. This time we took a straight path back over hills and valleys until we reached the camping site along the upper stream again at an altitude of around 500m.
Everyone without exception was exhausted of the long trek, thursty and very very hungry. We took out our two pots and started cooking the chef's special - maggie noodles and tomato soup. It's amazing how these can be soooo tasty after a long day of trekking. After dinner, everyone spread out their sleeping mats and it didn't take long before one could hear snorring all around. The night was dry, the breeze enjoyable. It was a hard day of climbing, everyone slept soundly unaware of the though climb awaiting them the following day....
Sunday 6:30am - sleepy faces getting up here and there, some even taking a bath in the nearby pool. After a few nice group snaps team CTC proceeded Northeast up the Eastern hill of the Tada valley until we reached a vertical edge of the hill providing a breath taking viewpoint on the Tada valley underneath. The cool breeze and magnificant views made everyone sit on the edge and take in the scenerie. From here we proceeded towards the start of a dry mountain stream and started climbing downhill along this stream covered by trees.
The slope was initially small but started increasing soon to around 45 degrees with small vertical drops here and there. It was boulder trekking time again. Once we had dropped sufficient altitude and the stream became to steep we proceeded horizontally towards a parallel, larger stream. We had to go through dense bushes, steep inclines and rock formations to cover a 100m stretch to the other stream which would take us down to the valley. The trail along this stream was again wonderful, big boulders, vertical dops, flat rock formations, ... made us loose altitude very quickly until we hit the main river in the Tada valley.
It took less then a few minutes for every to dip inside the stream. Before returning back to the cars we dediced to trek towards the end of the Tada valley (beneath our camp of the previous night). We continued long the river where the water was flowing generously jumping over boulders which were getting bigger and bigger. Again some climbing was required to make it till the end where a large, deep pool of crystal clear water was awaiting us. The water felt so good and cool. We tied the rope and got nearly everyone to a big rock in the center of the pool and from there again to the final end of the valley/pool where a small waterfall provided a heavinly massage for our tired muscles.
Another successfull but though mission completed by CTC, soon to be pulished more elaborately on the blog. Ok, ok, shut up now Peter and show us the photos. We want to see those photos. Alright then, here you go, enjoy the moments captured by various photographers:Samyak
Peter/Amal
Kannan
Murali
Sivaraj
Jaskirat
Bala
Words or pics - no matter how good they sound or look - do not come even close to the real life experience - pushing hard and stretching your physical limits while climbing steep uphill over rocks and slippery mud and with 10kg of luggage on your back, strained muscles and sweat all over, the taste of glucose mixed with cool, mountain water, the fresh mountain breeze in your face, standing on top of a 500 feet vertical cliff overlooking at the valley below, diving into a cold mountain pool seeing the rock bottom 50 feet below you through crystal clear water, the pressure and pulsation of cool water falling on your tired muscles from high above, 
climbing down a 85 degree 20 feet vertical rock along a thin rope, climbing down a 50 degree dry mountain stream sprinkled with huge boulders and hundreds of feet of imposing vertical rocks on both sides, the dramatic sculptured rock formations in the mountain streams carved over millions of years, walking along a narrow 1-feet wide path high above the valley floor struggling through dense thorny bushes trying hard not to lose your balance, climbing over hills and valleys with a hungry stomach and dry, thirsty mouth hoping to find a suitable camping site before it gets dark, finding fresh, running water after hours of trekking under the tropical sun and more.
Nothing beats trekking through virgin hills and forest with no pre-existing trail to show us the way. Real trekkers create their own path through undiscovered parts of nature. This weekend was a trek in its true sense. Add to all this a group of people most of whom have never seen each other before but sharing the same passion, spontaneously bonding, that stretched out helping hand at the right moment, the selfless sharing of water and food, volunteering for cooking, setting up tents, carrying the extra luggage, pulling someone out from the water, ... Beautiful unexplored nature combined with selfless team work to accomplish a challenging trek is what makes these weekends unforgettable experiences. I guess it's true "We trek therefore we live", the others are missing out on something big...
Participants: Peter, Amal, Anand, Vinod, Tarannum, Tabassum, Balaji, Bhargavi, Rahul, Kaarthik, Sivaraj, Mukundaraman, Vinodha, Samyak, Srikanth, Karthick, Deepak, Vijay, Gaurav, Hari, Jaskirat, Diwakar, Ram prasad, Anand L, Revathi, Fermie, Mahadevan, Santhosh, Madhusoodhanan, Mahesh, Kannan, Balamurugan, H rajendra, Ashok, Rajesh, Kalpana, Ravikanth, Suseela, Yaseen, Mritunjai, Viigneshvar, Ravi, Joshy PL, Radhika.
GPS Log
Trail in Google Earth
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