Nagala first timers trek, June 19-20

[Written by "ConsoleArt"]

This was my second trek with CTC, first being Kodai - earlier this year. For some of the people ( the Food Team) the trek started even before we entered Nagala - I mean the purchasing of veggie'ss and maggie's.

We reached the village right on time and spent a quality time with the village kids. Bala's pet "Anjalai" was nodding for all the questions being asked to her (Actually it was her elder sister who was Anjalai), Bala even got confused a little and questioned her "whether she shrunk during these days" for which the answer was a unadultered laugh. I quite did not realize until we met the actual "Anjalai" at the temple with her brother.


We shared the NAtraj pencil, books, pens, sketches, crayons with the kids and started off with their blessings.

We started our day with a long walk towards the dam(?) and entered the range, the sky was clear and we were invited wth a soft breeze.



We stopped a little for a small regrouping and started the trek, I will not call it painful, because it was enjoyable, we filled our bottles at the first stream and started again, during this time bala was sharing his previous trek adventures with us and all were listening to him. The we started the trek again. Snaps were taken by the respective camera owners with poses like drinking water, standing with friend, solo shoots etc.,

Then we followed Bala who was having the GPS all the time looking for directions and saying "The GPS shows this way, but i dont remember comming this route earlier" - only then we realized that moutains changes quite soon all it needs is just a little rainfal and it will spellbound you inside, if you can properly navigate.



then we reached the first pool, it was very refreshing and the swimmers enjoed having a dip at the mini waterfalls. Some jokes at the pool about the "Varanasi" - his shaved mouche and long hair...Sriram craked a timely one which made everybody laugh hard...

after an hour we started off again, bala as usual leading the way and pushing others to start off. Arun Mathai, was sweeping everyone from the end...

We climed a small hill and got out on the other side, then again a long walk towards the dead end pool.
- we were not sure why it was called dead end pool, because its actually not a dead end, there is a paradise once your cross it...may be we have to rename it as "Gateway pool"

We splashed, jumped, played hard...suddenly i heard a kind of noise over my head( a sort of insect flying), the I saw another guy whose was battling 5-6 bees - never in my life i have seen bees so big...and suddenly bala shouted "Everybody inside the water", all of us jumped inside the water and dipped ourselves inside, Sriram was the first victim, he was bitten above his eyes by one and another guy was bitten at couple of places...Bala showed us the bee hive which looked monstourous...so we silently crossed the "Deadend Pool" tagging one by one and making a ferry to take the baggages...

We then started to walk for around 1/2 hr and came to the third pool, tht is when a minor accident happend, one of the trekker - Suresh - got his ankle twisted and he felt that he cannot make it to the "Picnic Pool". we sat upto 4 over there, tht is when bala decided that the group must spilt, a few stayed behind and the rest headed to the picnic pool...I heard from them that it was another paradise altogether, and there was a nice place to sleep and have fun...

Couple of people stayed back with Suresh for the night so that he can regain some energy to come back to civilization the next morning. Myself, Harish(the open source guy), Arun - Deepak ( the awsomes), Herbert - the greatest fisherman in our group....We had the best time in the middle level pool where we stayed back, i could not remember anyone catching fish like the way he and Arun does....

we cooked Soup and Maggie and spent the night near the pool...it drissled during the night but not much rain at all, so we got a little sleep for the next day....

we ate bread and jam during the morning and started to descend with Suresh. he made his way through the trail with a injured ankle, tht is when i realize how a small moral boost will help someone to cross the obstacles...he came near the dead end pool and waited for the others...

The came the lunch time...veggies were washed, cut, cooked, eaten raw,
fish was caught, cooked and eaten with peper...

It was late and it was dark...we made our way through the dark wilderness and came out to civilization again...we heard thunderclouds on our way back...it was like the forest enjoying her freedom "after being capture by the first timers" - we waved goodbye and came to the CO2 rich - virus prone roads of Singara Chennai...waiting to start of once again...

new friendships...new bonds...new lessons...new paths...new people..
What else can one expect from a trek which is called as a First timers Trek !!!!!

happy trekking to allll...