Naveen’s Travel Blog

Mission Dead or Alive (DOA8) - Day2

Monday, January 11, 2010 – 1:30 pm

Day 2 – Dec 26, 2009

[ Continued from Day 1... ]

On day 2, we woke up with wet sleeping bags. Obviously we blamed it on the mist.

The remains of the campfire were used to boil the Channa which we had soaked the previous night. We were trying a new breakfast dish instead of our usual rusk. Boiled Channa mixed with sprouted green gram sprinkled with lemon and salt.

After a first bite, here is the reaction…

After a group pic of us munching the grams, we moved on by 8am.

From the Cliff, we can see the rocky mountain opposite projecting like a piece of sliced cake, splitting the valley below around its both side into two narrow gorges.

Just 45mins, we climbed down the Cliff and first went to the right side gorge to discover a superb waterfall with a big pool and cave. The water was much better today and after almost of day of no splashing, everyone got down into the water for a refreshing bath. The swim to the waterfall was quite long and I guess it was the 2nd largest pool in CTC history next to DOA4 pool which was 3 times larger than this.

The Cave at the right side was very unique, its wide and not much of height but goes deep inside, fully filled with water and no landfall. Few of us swam inside and perched in the rocky edges of the cave and wondered at the beauty that we saw. Words fails to describe….rays of lights sparkling over the waving waters and the brilliant view from inside the darkened space was surreal.

We didn’t spend much time; just 30mins then we retraced and went into the left side gorge. Away from urban living, these wild forests have a way to restroke our childhood passions. Here is proof where 2 fully grown adults where jumping like kindergarten kids over a heap of dirt.

As we venture into the gorge, the rock formations on both sides grew impressive. Gowri stretched out his arms and looked up the mountains in awe. I was lucky to capture his innocent candid expression…

And who couldn’t be awed at these massive giants….

Barely 10 mins from the Mega Cave pool in the other gorge, we reached what looked like the insides of fortress, a fully enclosed area with high mountain walls.

As I approached the group ahead, I imagined the abrupt end to be another pool and was wondering why they were waiting and what prevented them from jumping into the waters.

Fortunately i stopped at the edge and a shocking chill ran across my spine.  Its not a simple waterfall or pool or was there any enclosed space, we were on top of a 100+m drop and its the DOA3 Falls where we had actually planned to camp on Day 1.

One can’t realise the immensity of the feeling of where we are until one see this wonderful waterfalls from its facing up from the gorge beneath.  The next couple of shots were from Ravi Ghosh DOA3 album.

Tugged inside folds of mountains, the DOA3 Falls was a sight to behold

We went around the corner to get a top view of the waterfall. With an inclining edge, it was too risky to stand, so I laid down and crawled to the edge. And then Alfonso held my leg as I projected my upper body out of edge…

and took this thrilling shot of my life…

It took a bit of effort to keep my head from spinning  as i took in the view of the scary depths and nature’s gigantic creations

The gorge beneath the falls was a straight-cut lane as if some one used a ruler to design its sides.

And getting into this narrow dark gorge is one of the targets of the mission. Did we achieve it? Continue to read the adventure to find it out yourselves…

Just like yesterday we can’t climb down this steep gorge, so we retreated back and climbed across the mountain into the stream above the Mega Cave pool.

During the climb, Guna spotted a Gooseberry tree and brought down an entire branch with several dozens of berries. Our vitamin-conscious minds, filled bags and packets with plentiful of gooseberries.

Half way through the stream, we had news that the group ahead had hit a deadend and they will return back after dipping in a waterfall. So we relaxed above the Mega Cave pool and never known to be idle, soon wild costumes were made, poses were posed and an extensive photography session unfolded…here is a glimpse of our Tribal Hunter.

More than an hour passed. At the sametime, the rest of the group had swimmed through 3 big pools for 30mins into a narrow gorge and enjoyed under the 50m high DOA8 waterfall which we had discovered yesterday. Ignoring it as just another waterfall, I missed a great opportunity and exciting moments were lost. Lesson learned – Never underestimate anything without seeing it with your own eyes and judge by your own self.

After a lunch of chappatis, we climbed out of DOA8 stream and came back to our yesterday campsite above the cliff. Yes, yes, after half-day of trekking we were back to square one! From here we climbed more higher for 1hr to reach the grassy mountain tops. Our target was to get down into the DOA3 valley. The mood was upbeat with Karthick Sundararajan corrupting our minds with  Vettaikaran songs. Our innocent Mexican brother Poncho picked the lines pretty quickly and went gaga singing “En uchi mandayila surrungudhu…”. With all enthusiasm, we started descending into the DOA3 valley, or rather better described as our first attempt to do so!

Half-way down, Gowri noticed a nice rock formation on the opposite mountain range, where rocks had got strewn as if a Horse was galloping up the hill.

As we all agreed and gaped at the amazing coincidence of a natural formation, Gowri started swinging to the hot beat blaring from our mobile player. Shouldn’t we be in more firm ground to dance rather than at this mountain side? Gowri replied back coolly, Naveen its not possible that we could come back to this exact same place with such nice view, so lets enjoy the moment and dance now. Mark these words readers…

Few steps down, we heard that the GPS went missing. Peter and few went up searching. Several minutes passed and then everyone started scanning the whole mountain side near to them. Peter came back and we were almost about to conclude that the GPS was lost. Now, Balaji Seshan woke up from his 30min nap, casually picked up the device which was lying few steps away and declared its recovery. Now there is no need to say who the whole group was staring at.

Then we continued our descent. Almost when we can see the valley below, we hit a steep vertical drop. So we climbed back and you know what, we reached exactly the same place where we were dancing. So Gowri, we did indeed come back precisely to the same place. And about the view, you will read how it will continue to haunt us….

Wall-shaped ridges are characteristic of Venkateshwara mountain ranges which are sometimes as high as 50m and its impossible to climbdown these steep verticals.

From here, started our ultimate challenge of the trek: We climbed up the mountains and made our 2nd attempt to climbdown through another slope but in vain. The 3rd attempt through a dry stream was very promising until we encountered the same kind of steep fall. Our chatters got silenced and cameras didn’t click as we went on a relentless pursuit to get down to the valley. Each attempt to descend and then climb up the same hurdles that we went passed was a real test of our stamina and will. Our water reserve was running low and the last refill was around 12 noon. Peter advised, “Guys, don’t think about thirst, control your mind!”

By the time we made our 4th attempt, the night had set in and we were walking semi-blind with our torches. Yes, we were exhausted but the pursuit had never slowed down. Finally Peter decided that we should continue tomorrow and descending at night is risky. So we set to camp at the grassy mountain top. With no water, there is no way of cooking our maggie soup or noodles, we took out the Plum cake which had luckily escaped from the yesterday Christmas party and divided the sugar-rich dessert for our energy.

We bundled into 3 groups, wrapped tarpaulins over our sleeping bags to protect ourselves from the cold winds, mist and went to sleep.

Its not finished yet, some like Aditya who was resting beside me have sleeping problem especially in these grassy mountain side. Lets say it as Tadagala effect! After a bit of chitchat, all went to deep sleep and snoring sessions. Sometime who knows when at the dead of night, Aditya woke me up  urgently. I was like what? He silenced me and pointed in a direction and hushed, “Elephant, elephant…” Shaking off my sleepy eyes, all that i can see was shadows of trees which obviously can illusion as any shape for imagination. And from the way he was blabbering, I know this kid had some dream and now I’m a victim of parasomnia. Unfortunately the victim had to act also as the doctor to cure, so i patted him back to sleep and put the day to an end.

Photo courtesy: Ravi Ghosh, Viki, Kannan