Post Trek Write up from Alagappan Ramu
The number of months between my treks with CTC seems to keep growing. This time it was more than eight months. In the meantime, I have been on numerous other trips/treks elsewhere. But still I was eagerly looking forward to go for one of those CTC treks especially to meet and interact with a lot of new people. I registered for a trek to the top of Tada organized by Emperors, CTC. Made a few of my friends register. They had a fitness test to go through before they were shortlisted for the trek.
Went with my friend for his fitness test. It was a small hill opposite Chennai Airport. They had to climb up the hill within a certain time limit. If they did, they’re in. Or else, better luck next time. My friend Charan, being the energetic-enthu guy was one of the first to reach the top.
A few days later, I received a small list of people whom I was asked to call up and confirm their participation. I did. Soon we finalized the list of participants. It was a big group of 45 which was split up into two for convenience. I coordinated the Guindy pickup point where 3 cars and around 13 people were to come. I took my car and went to Guindy at 7.45PM, a few minutes earlier than what was specified to others. One by one people came, got introduced and got into one of the cars waiting there. Once everyone was in, we proceeded to meet the others at Koyambedu. After signing the disclaimer form and paying the trek expenses, we started out trip.
There was a lead car. Followed by the rest of us and a sweep car at the end. Among all those numerous heavy vehicles in the road, we soon lost sight of the other cars. Assuming that the others are already ahead, I hit the accelerator very hard. Within no time our car reached the toll gate. We then got a call from one of the organizers telling that they had actually stopped much ahead of the toll gate for dinner. Ah! Our luck. We stopped at a small roadside shop and finished our dinner and waiting for the others.Perhaps, I had been tooo fast. We waited for a long time for the others could catch up with us. Within about 45 minutes from that point we reached Tada foothill.
We parked our cars on the road. Took out our tarpaulin sheets, our sleeping mats and went to sleep instantaneously. The next day, we got up much earlier than the sunrise. Made a fire and prepared tea. We then split all the food items that we were supposed to carry on our trek. After we had our breakfast (a few idlies and a couple of vadas.) we started our cars and drove for another couple of kms to reach the parking lot.
We identified our leads and sweepers and started off on our treks carrying our backpacks. Initially it was a long walk with moderate ascent. Tired of walking, some of took a shortcut and started climbing. Soon we reached the leads and were waiting for the others to come. We took some rest at that spot before proceeding to climb again. There were a couple of nice viewpoint-like locations where we briefly halted for taking some snaps. We also crossed a dry stream on the way to the top.
We reached the top of Tada by noon. We were welcomed by a nice waterfall and a couple of small pools. Flash forward a few minutes, and all of us were under the falls, some of them diving from varying heights.
The speed of flowing water was unmatchable. We had free high power jacuzzi for a couple of hours in nature’s lap followed by a nice nap in the shade. We took a different path on our downward journey. At one point, we didn’t have a proper descent and had to tie ropes and climb down using that. It took quite some time for all of to get to the base of the mountain, but nevertheless it was fun. Actually, however hard it may seem at the beginning, it always feels so easy when you are done with it.
For some distance at the end, I was the one sweeping the group. In a while, we reached the actual Tada falls where most of the general public comes to. A few guys wanted to go to the top of the falls. Since it was already beginning to get dark, the others had already started towards the exit. It was six of us, stuck in the middle. Not with the group with that had left and not with the ones who went to the falls. We slowly started moving towards the exit, when it became completely dark. We had to take our torches out and walk among the slippery boulders. A bunch of non-CTC guys joined us. We didn’t exactly have an idea of which way to go. So we started walking in the stream. We got our shoes all wet. And then our pants. We were eventually half submerged in the water , by the time we found the exit. The early-birds were waiting for us there. Then we too took some rest there and waited for the rest of the gang to return.
Introduction session happened. It was quite interesting to interact with the people with whom you had spent the entire day. Nice idea of the CTC-Emperors to have introduction session at the end. One thing that was left was the dinner feast which we had at a dhaba on the highway. After filling our stomachs, we parted way and reached back our homes by 01:00. In all, an unforgettable trek.
The number of months between my treks with CTC seems to keep growing. This time it was more than eight months. In the meantime, I have been on numerous other trips/treks elsewhere. But still I was eagerly looking forward to go for one of those CTC treks especially to meet and interact with a lot of new people. I registered for a trek to the top of Tada organized by Emperors, CTC. Made a few of my friends register. They had a fitness test to go through before they were shortlisted for the trek.
Went with my friend for his fitness test. It was a small hill opposite Chennai Airport. They had to climb up the hill within a certain time limit. If they did, they’re in. Or else, better luck next time. My friend Charan, being the energetic-enthu guy was one of the first to reach the top.
A few days later, I received a small list of people whom I was asked to call up and confirm their participation. I did. Soon we finalized the list of participants. It was a big group of 45 which was split up into two for convenience. I coordinated the Guindy pickup point where 3 cars and around 13 people were to come. I took my car and went to Guindy at 7.45PM, a few minutes earlier than what was specified to others. One by one people came, got introduced and got into one of the cars waiting there. Once everyone was in, we proceeded to meet the others at Koyambedu. After signing the disclaimer form and paying the trek expenses, we started out trip.
There was a lead car. Followed by the rest of us and a sweep car at the end. Among all those numerous heavy vehicles in the road, we soon lost sight of the other cars. Assuming that the others are already ahead, I hit the accelerator very hard. Within no time our car reached the toll gate. We then got a call from one of the organizers telling that they had actually stopped much ahead of the toll gate for dinner. Ah! Our luck. We stopped at a small roadside shop and finished our dinner and waiting for the others.Perhaps, I had been tooo fast. We waited for a long time for the others could catch up with us. Within about 45 minutes from that point we reached Tada foothill.
We parked our cars on the road. Took out our tarpaulin sheets, our sleeping mats and went to sleep instantaneously. The next day, we got up much earlier than the sunrise. Made a fire and prepared tea. We then split all the food items that we were supposed to carry on our trek. After we had our breakfast (a few idlies and a couple of vadas.) we started our cars and drove for another couple of kms to reach the parking lot.
We identified our leads and sweepers and started off on our treks carrying our backpacks. Initially it was a long walk with moderate ascent. Tired of walking, some of took a shortcut and started climbing. Soon we reached the leads and were waiting for the others to come. We took some rest at that spot before proceeding to climb again. There were a couple of nice viewpoint-like locations where we briefly halted for taking some snaps. We also crossed a dry stream on the way to the top.
We reached the top of Tada by noon. We were welcomed by a nice waterfall and a couple of small pools. Flash forward a few minutes, and all of us were under the falls, some of them diving from varying heights.
The speed of flowing water was unmatchable. We had free high power jacuzzi for a couple of hours in nature’s lap followed by a nice nap in the shade. We took a different path on our downward journey. At one point, we didn’t have a proper descent and had to tie ropes and climb down using that. It took quite some time for all of to get to the base of the mountain, but nevertheless it was fun. Actually, however hard it may seem at the beginning, it always feels so easy when you are done with it.
For some distance at the end, I was the one sweeping the group. In a while, we reached the actual Tada falls where most of the general public comes to. A few guys wanted to go to the top of the falls. Since it was already beginning to get dark, the others had already started towards the exit. It was six of us, stuck in the middle. Not with the group with that had left and not with the ones who went to the falls. We slowly started moving towards the exit, when it became completely dark. We had to take our torches out and walk among the slippery boulders. A bunch of non-CTC guys joined us. We didn’t exactly have an idea of which way to go. So we started walking in the stream. We got our shoes all wet. And then our pants. We were eventually half submerged in the water , by the time we found the exit. The early-birds were waiting for us there. Then we too took some rest there and waited for the rest of the gang to return.
Introduction session happened. It was quite interesting to interact with the people with whom you had spent the entire day. Nice idea of the CTC-Emperors to have introduction session at the end. One thing that was left was the dinner feast which we had at a dhaba on the highway. After filling our stomachs, we parted way and reached back our homes by 01:00. In all, an unforgettable trek.
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