When the whole world was counting down to welcome the New Year (2011) at their home, their cities and other known civilizations. A bunch of 21 CTCians vanished inside their second home the mighty “Venkateswara Reserved Forest” to welcome the year ahead in a style well known to them and marked an historical event for the rest of the world to only read and dream about.
The group consisting of an uneven mix of 20 guys and 1 gal coming from Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad met in Tirupathi on 31st December early morning and headed to Papavinasam Dam to start their three days trek.
Day 1 – Party with the wild beast
It was this day of the life that the entire group will never ever dare to forget.
Encountering a wild sloth bear face to face is not an easy opportunity which a trekker gets in his life time that too in a short range of 5 feet. It requires the courage of a lion, the strength of a bison and the patience of a tortoise to encounter a wild beast face to face. What followed after the encounter was fear and panic spreading across the group although shunned down by the brave souls in no time.
The New Year celebrations was spear headed by cooking, singing and adventurous team hitting in full swing the campsite and rocking the mountains with their energy and their goodies. The last day of the year was indeed a special day for the entire group to cherish and keep it close to their hearts.
Day 2 - the “NEW YEAR DAY”
Can you imagine taking bathe on a New Year morning in a water fall which is unparallel in its beauty and splendid in its freshness?
One can’t imagine taking his eyes out of the Angel falls for its impeccable beauty and crystal clear water. The swim inside the pool is something I would term it is as “heaven on earth”.
What followed after the fresh bath in the Angel falls was trek, trek and trek cutting across the thick jungles and wild streams. Ferrying across the wild stream was a perfect instance of man’s survival with his sense of togetherness and carrying for each other.
All the sleeping mats were roped in to make a perfect floater and to transport the luggage from one end of the stream to another end. It was a perfect moment of togetherness for the entire group.
The tiring trek was rewarded by our beautiful V 6 pool were we had our lunch. V 6 pool is a trekker’s delight and a perfect refreshing point for tiring souls. We had some amazing dives and swim in the pool and got completely drenched with its beauty and to confess this is the best place I have had my lunch so far in life.
After another few hours trek inside the thick forest we reached one the most beautiful camp sites in the entire venkateswara forest the “Betel leaf” falls. The tiring souls spent no time to take a dip in the wonderful falls which refreshed the entire soul and body.
The night-stay on a no-moon day with twinkling Stars on top of your head was a god sent opportunity to enjoy ‘Mother Nature’. Marvelous, fantastic can be shunned down as under statements. The chill weather refreshed the entire body and gave us a sound sleep.
Day 3 – the tiresome day
With heavy deadline of 30 kms trek in mind the final day was a pleasure in pain. We started to trek early morning and crossed through wonderful rock formations and thick jungles.
We passed through some beautiful streams. The ferrying in the wild stream was indeed the highlight of the 3rd day trek. The vertical climb up and down a huge mountain made the souls to completely exhaust. However, it could never withstand the will-power of the surviving souls.
Even after the sunset we were stranded inside the forest and had solid 12 kms to trek to hit the closet village. All the 21 survivors started moving as a single unit at a steady phase ignoring the rain, the muddy soil and had to trek across the waters of the village dam.
No Food, No Water, No Rest and all that was on our mind was to hit the nearest village and to complete our trek. At 2 ‘o’ clock in the night we hit the nearby village – welcomed by the barking dogs of the village.
After missing our transportation to our respective places came the most remarkable part when we had to board a goods lorry and travel to Chennai. In a perfect CTC style we completed our NEW YEAR TREK and reached Chennai at 6.30 a.m.
Happy Trekking.
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