Write up by Venkat -
Since there was an accident of a college student washed away by the streams of OG. The panicked group of students stuck in the jungle that night and they were rescued next day morning. This issue has kept the forest officials head rolling to the questions of media. So, our trek plan was next week of this accident. So we decided not go to OG and get arrested by forest officials. We decided to venture into the jungle of Palani. We booked our tickets and departed to Palani on Sleeper bus Friday night 17-02-2012.
Day 1: 85 Degree Grass Climbing
Next morning upon reaching Palani we had breakfast at Deepam restaurant and waited for Bangalore folks to arrive. Then Bangalore folks arrived they had their breakfast we started by a Van to Palar Dam. Start point of trek initial trail was along the jeep trail then we got into a side stream. After few meters of walking we heard an elephant shouting at us why are you guys entering my area. We could only hear the elephant noise and we decided to push a little faster so we pushed ourselves upstream a bit faster. Initially it was flat stream then it started ascending.
Later it got little steep and by this time many of us were exhausted
as it was a sunny all along the way. Someone even got muscle cramps. The
stream was full of boulders ups and downs quite some time. Then we
reached a shady place with water so we decided to rest there for some
time until all the trekkers are regrouped. We had lunch and some power
nap. All the trekkers were regrouped and Peter has asked us to start.
"Up-Up" was the call. I was in a resting position and immediately after
getting up. I was stuck with muscle cramp and I'm unable to move by leg.
Later few people asked me to take salt with lime. I took and it was
relieved the cramp temporarily. We went on and on for few mm's until we
reached a point.
This point is "Grass climbing point" In rock climbing we use rocks
for the grip. In this case we use grass as a grip. It was completely
steep. 85 Degree steep. This climb is for almost 150M to 200M climb.
Upon reaching 100M of the climb i was again stuck with Muscle cramp on
one leg, unable to move forward, backward or sit. I was hanging in the
85 Degree slope with one another fellow trekker on top of me to provide
help and all others have already moved up. I asked him to leave voloni
spray at the point he was standing and he left the same and moved. Later
after great difficulty i decided to move Voloni spray. I reached the
point where voloni was dropped and grabbed it to spray all over the
Cramp area.
It relieved me once again from the cramp. After completing this grass
climbing point we reached a stream and later we reached view point
overlooking palar dam. Wow" What an amazing view and refreshing air that
caresses us. Later we moved back to the stream and started going
upstream. Again we were asked to stop at a point where there will not be
a possibility to reach water. So we decided to go back to stream and
camp there for the night. It was dark and we started with soup later
finished with Maggi. We started sleeping, Muthu a cotrekker after
sometime of sleeping he awakened me stating that he heard a noise of
something moving towards us and few others were also pointing torch
towards something. Later he awoke another fellow trekker and made not to
sleep for some more time by lifting up with Camp fire and asking him to
pull some fire wood. After that i slept.
Day 2: Hiking to 2240M
Quickly after waking up we made tea - Making tea in the jungle is one such feeling. After taking tea- Sundar made Rava Pongal it was delicious and that too with Mango pickle was awesome. We finished our Breakfast and proceeded to our next challenge of the day the climb to Kizhavarai Malai peak at 2240m. We are 900M Altitude climbing almost double before lunch is a challenging target. We started with Steep climb to neighboring peak and this was 1200M this climb was equally steep as Day1 Climb. In an hour we reached the peak of that hill which is 1200M.
We were following the ridge for some time and we found a jeep trail and started following a Jeep trail and followed it for quite some time and reached a small hut we rested to regroup all trekkers and took some snacks. Then we started again for few mm later we started descending to a jeep trail. "Stop Stop Nobal" was the call from Peter. Peter told we need to climb this mountain and go over it. Wow. Looking at it makes us say wow huge mountain. Highest peak of the trek "2240 Meters" Kizhavarai Malai peak. Highest when we said this other trekkers they were saying don't joke. It is huge. Then Peter quickly started the climb within few 30 mins he reached the peak. The same thing took us hours to complete the ascent.
After climbing up we rested for few more people to arrive then it
took quite a lot of time for all the people to complete the ascent. So
some of us proceeded along the ridge for some view point and we
proceeded towards the next target – Village – Palangi. We proceeded the
descent on – on for 2 hrs. to reach the small town named Palangi. The
group was divided into 4 groups. 1st Group – Reached Palangi, 2nd Group
Reach Vazhalthalodai, 3rd & 4th group reached athampathi. Finally
the entire group was regrouped at Vazhathalodai and took a lorry to
reach Palangi. We followed the Jeep Trail, Followed a Village trail to
decent into Gundar Valley. All along the way we were seeing many
villages. Later at 6.30PM on Day 2 we reached a Small town. There Peter
gave a quick update that today we need to trek for another 2 hrs. To
reach camping site and tomorrow is going to be tougher than 2 days. We
need to overcome many obstacles to reach the Palar dam so he gave the
update asked anyone wants to exit from the trek. Later 7 people quit
due to various reasons out of the 20. 13 of us proceeded along the jeep
trail and jumped into the Village trail to reach gundar valley. After 2
hour trekking in the village trail we camped around 8.30 PM. As usual we
made our own soup and noodles and retired to sleep near the camp fire.
Day 3: Huge & Big boulders:
Quickly after making tea and corn flakes we started our trek in the Gundar Valley – (Gundar means big) we proceeded along the Valley while we started coming across big boulders, jumping from one rock to another. Using our knees as cushions to jump.
After trekking for an hour we reached a beautiful falls we took a quick dip and enjoyed refreshing and posing for pics.
After 1 more of descending in the valley we reached a point where we
need to use ropes. Without it is very difficult all of us used ropes and
climbed down.
However, Peter has to climb down that obstacle without ropes reason being we don’t have any rocks or point to use special knots and we have to use that rope for other obstacles so Peter untied the ropes to get down even without it. I was standing there to check how this man is going to climb down without it. Its slippery rock and in the middle of climbing he removed the footwear to through it down. Then he was holding on and trying many combinations to get down that huge boulder. Here is the link to the video.
https://plus.google.com/
Then we reached a point where need to use the Roots & tweaks of the tree to climb up a boulder and climb down.
After climbing down towards other than we can came this below rock formation. A boulder rock formation we need to climb down just with minimal grip.
After doing many boulder crossings we reached the Gundar Valley Pool.
We reached quite faster than the plan. So we decided to rest and take a powernap for a while and then we decided to proceed. Shortly after a 2 hrs of rest we started to Palar Dam. That’s our exit point of the trek.
After walking and trekking for another 2 hrs. we reached the jeep trail to Palar Dam. We came across a tractor carrying mud and a JCB – Earth mover. They gave us a lift and it ended with great fun near the palar dam.
This trek is amazing and most memorable trek in all aspects. It had
vertical grass climbing, vertical steep climb, summiting the highest
peak in the region with 2240M. Huge boulders and ups and downs Wow, We
thoroughly enjoyed this trek every bit of it. Thanks to Peter for
organizing, Nobal & M
Since there was an accident of a college student washed away by the streams of OG. The panicked group of students stuck in the jungle that night and they were rescued next day morning. This issue has kept the forest officials head rolling to the questions of media. So, our trek plan was next week of this accident. So we decided not go to OG and get arrested by forest officials. We decided to venture into the jungle of Palani. We booked our tickets and departed to Palani on Sleeper bus Friday night 17-02-2012.
Day 1: 85 Degree Grass Climbing
Next morning upon reaching Palani we had breakfast at Deepam restaurant and waited for Bangalore folks to arrive. Then Bangalore folks arrived they had their breakfast we started by a Van to Palar Dam. Start point of trek initial trail was along the jeep trail then we got into a side stream. After few meters of walking we heard an elephant shouting at us why are you guys entering my area. We could only hear the elephant noise and we decided to push a little faster so we pushed ourselves upstream a bit faster. Initially it was flat stream then it started ascending.
Quickly after waking up we made tea - Making tea in the jungle is one such feeling. After taking tea- Sundar made Rava Pongal it was delicious and that too with Mango pickle was awesome. We finished our Breakfast and proceeded to our next challenge of the day the climb to Kizhavarai Malai peak at 2240m. We are 900M Altitude climbing almost double before lunch is a challenging target. We started with Steep climb to neighboring peak and this was 1200M this climb was equally steep as Day1 Climb. In an hour we reached the peak of that hill which is 1200M.
We were following the ridge for some time and we found a jeep trail and started following a Jeep trail and followed it for quite some time and reached a small hut we rested to regroup all trekkers and took some snacks. Then we started again for few mm later we started descending to a jeep trail. "Stop Stop Nobal" was the call from Peter. Peter told we need to climb this mountain and go over it. Wow. Looking at it makes us say wow huge mountain. Highest peak of the trek "2240 Meters" Kizhavarai Malai peak. Highest when we said this other trekkers they were saying don't joke. It is huge. Then Peter quickly started the climb within few 30 mins he reached the peak. The same thing took us hours to complete the ascent.
Day 3: Huge & Big boulders:
Quickly after making tea and corn flakes we started our trek in the Gundar Valley – (Gundar means big) we proceeded along the Valley while we started coming across big boulders, jumping from one rock to another. Using our knees as cushions to jump.
After trekking for an hour we reached a beautiful falls we took a quick dip and enjoyed refreshing and posing for pics.
However, Peter has to climb down that obstacle without ropes reason being we don’t have any rocks or point to use special knots and we have to use that rope for other obstacles so Peter untied the ropes to get down even without it. I was standing there to check how this man is going to climb down without it. Its slippery rock and in the middle of climbing he removed the footwear to through it down. Then he was holding on and trying many combinations to get down that huge boulder. Here is the link to the video.
https://plus.google.com/
Then we reached a point where need to use the Roots & tweaks of the tree to climb up a boulder and climb down.
After climbing down towards other than we can came this below rock formation. A boulder rock formation we need to climb down just with minimal grip.
After doing many boulder crossings we reached the Gundar Valley Pool.
We reached quite faster than the plan. So we decided to rest and take a powernap for a while and then we decided to proceed. Shortly after a 2 hrs of rest we started to Palar Dam. That’s our exit point of the trek.
After walking and trekking for another 2 hrs. we reached the jeep trail to Palar Dam. We came across a tractor carrying mud and a JCB – Earth mover. They gave us a lift and it ended with great fun near the palar dam.
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