Nagalapuram Trek : Day-1

Went on a 2 day trek with the Chennai Tekking Club to Nagalapuram in Andhra Pradesh. The trek promised to be a larger and more difficult version of Tada. Taking a break from the normal route, this time the trek was planned from the western side of the mountain. The trail was supposed to be dry and all of us were advised to carry 4 liters of water. If only we knew that even 4 liters would prove less.

We left on Friday night at around 9. I was in Peter's (the head of CTC) Scorpio. The ride was quite good. Scorpio is quite a car when it comes to comfort and handling. After stopping in between for an hour and then resuming, we reached the base village at around 2.15 am. After getting a few hours' sleep in the school – premises, we started off at around 6.30 am with bags full of stuff. We reached the ever elusive base of the mountain after around an hour's walk. And then started the climb. The climb was quite easy in the beginning and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. We had breakfast at around 8.30 am and again started off with periodic stops for drinking water and glucose. As the time passed people started getting tired and the gap between the fit and the unfit people began to widen. Soon people were divided in batches with the first batch including Peter far ahead of us. After walking through the jungle for some time, we reached a dry stream and started following it which was monotonous and tiring because of the uneven land. After following a series of stream trails we hit upon quite a steep climb with barely any trees for hold. My 4 liters of water had got over by then. The steep climb was somehow completed after a series of rests. I guess we rested more than we trekked. Finally we got down the second hill and started following a river which was supposed to lead to a flowing stream. It was at this point that I started getting all weak and shaky. I was constantly loosing my balance and patience. After being helped by the cores at a point and after a 3 km climb, we sighted a stream. And what a feeling that was! All we could think about was drinking the flowing water. We followed upstream, climbed over a hill to avoid swimming and reached the 'rugby' pool at around 5.30 pm. Ah, what relief! After around 11 hrs of trekking we had reached the pool. The pool was awesome; calm and deep. No sooner had I reached the pool, I changed and dived in over-looking my exhaustion. After a meal of delicious Maggi and soup, we crashed nearby the stream. And what a sleep that was ! The sound of the insects, the flowing water could only add to the depth of the sleep. That was the end of the grueling first day. Will upload the photos soon.