A "planned" trek.

Getting up at 3..that was a shocker. Guys were late as usual. Started from Bangalore at around 5 AM. Not bad, I thought. Cries of "Jai Mata Di" filled the air. However, an incident was about to happen. An accident, well within the boudaries of Bangalore. Guy unhurt, bike hurt. Had to empty the tank of the bike coz it was leaking, and we have all seen the movies, haven't we ? A few solutions were proposed and implemented, brute force action winning in the end. This resolved, the trip was back on track.

AD taught me the word "floater" and his role in a moving group, also he decided to fill up this role. We were constantly on the look-out for the "two-capped" bike (:p). Speed thrills. Forget the second part of this sentence which traffic guys stick up your minds everyday. It really does. Some racing action happened as was expected. Was awesome.

Reached the spot at around 8 in the morning, and started the trek. Now I have been in plenty of trekking trips before, some involving even high peaks like "Har-kee-Doon" and "Nagtibba". But this one was differemt. As in, there was no "goat-path" which one could carefully follow in the hope of reaching the summit. There were just rocks and grass. Initial enthu got us fairly upto the middle of the hill but thats when things began to look difficult. The "fitter" guys were off finding ways, climbing rocks, and were soon no longer in sight. With two members of the fairer sex in the group, speed was not particularly fast of the latter chunk .

Reached a spot where it was impossible for the "heavy-weights" to continue the journey up. For the ladies it was easier. They, being lighter, could be pulled up relatively easily. Not so for others. Arguments followed. Some people wanted to climb down, others up. Yours truely, with all his prior experience of trekking (:p) was in the up gang, realising how difficult and risky it would be to climb down bare rocks with no rope etc. However there was no option, the way up was no where to be found, we all were sitting on a big rock for a long time, stuck in deadlock. Then it happened.

Godsend (Or have I been watching too much of that Heroes !) Two guys. Self-proclaimed professionals of this way of climbing up (with no path) appeared from like no-where. They gave the group hope. That was all that was needed. Soon we were on our way. Up. However some guys decided to climb down, and some others volunteered to help them do this (Thanks Sameer). The upward bound party started on the most difficult part of the journey with hope. And we finished it. Top of the summit !

Happiness ! Sitting on the cliff, looking down at the rocks which we just climbed. They looked so pretty, so neat, so bare. But we had been there. We knew what they were really like and what did it take to move a complete group safely across a bunch of these giant monsters. Mountains, they are so beautiful. Especially from far. Wind on the cliff was great, clicked a bunch of pictures. The buttermilk that we were promised (that proved to be a driving force for many a soul) was nowhere to be found. But the important thing was there. Water. And then came the extras. Hot tea. Warm Beer.[:p] Two of us decided to share one. Learnt an important lesson. When sharing a beer with another super-thirsty person, take the first sip. People say mountains teach us a lot of stuff. True, true.

Then came the buk-session, sitting on a cliff, now that was a newbie ! Location was new, topics old. Many more pics later we decided to climb down. This was easy. Found the much awaited "butter-milk" enroute. Blessed souls. 10 Rs for pure elixxir. Took pics with the vendors as well.

Reaching down, we looked up at the beauty we just conquered, the hill. It looked so majestic, so high, so awe-inspiring and knowing we had been there right on top and looked down at this road below, on which we now stand, was good. Chatted our way back to the parking lot. Learnt a few details about events in Manipal. Further strengthened my belief of a father's bias towards his daughter (poor sons !).

The way back was a quickie. Stopped enroute for a meal at the local dhaba. Food and soft-drinks after a whole day of tiresome trekking cum rock climbing. Heavenly. AD had to attend 2 parties (this is when another one scheduled was cancelled), so our bike was off. Reached Bangalore in a jiffy. Took an auto from MG road to office. Saurabh was kind enough to drop me home from office, was in no mood of a 2 km walk after the tiring day.

Had loads of fun. Great trip. Thanks guys.

Will put up some pics in the next post.