Kodaikanal to Munnar

The art of getting lost, as my friend rightly called http://lostinthewinds.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html, this trek was truly unique. We did take few wild choices and luckily none turned out to be life threatening! :)

We started our base camp in a forest rest house next to Berijam lake.

Quoting from "The Art of Getting Lost",

"In the morning we went to the lake, and 'went around' the forest. The lake was peaceful and serene with a large herd of blossomed water lilies on one side. Mani had mentioned there would be an old boat tied somewhere and that we can try it but to be very careful. Nothing on the lakeshore looked like a boat landing. We walked along the shore a bit. Only me, roop, jomy and shanti were there when we found the boat. It looked pretty shaken down, with no oars visible anywhere! But we figured the couple of wooden planks lying inside the boat were supposed to be serving the purpose. I don't think any of us were on anything like this on our own and we were skeptical about whether we should try it or not. We were no rowing experts! But there we were eventually, untying the boat, stepping in hesitantly and pushing ourselves off the shore! roop and jomy were the rowers or oarers, I was the control and shanti was the observer - she was to keep observing if the water level inside the boat was rising enough to cause alarm!"

The important aspect he missed to mention is that none of us can swim in such deep waters and we had no life jackets and no one else other than us knew that we were rowing the boat. Now I think, it was a rouge choice that we made! Nevertheless, the experience out of it was truly unique.

Roop, another dear friend of mine has jotted down his trip thoughts  too - http://blog.knurd.in/2008/01/ex-road-trip.html#more

Roopkund & Kuari Pass trek

In 2009, we a group of 6 guys and as usual, me the lone girl attempted couple of weeks long trek in Himalayas. Typically, Roopkund and Kuari pass trek are not done together as the trekking period lasts to 2 weeks. We attempted to do at one shot and were successful. However, success didn't come easy and we had to push our limits. The memory of the surreal surroundings and the painstaking attempts to reach every day destination still energizes me.

It is been few years since I trekked in Himalayas. But, those memories still brings me chill & thrill. So, once in a while, I keep going back to my friends words at
http://lostinthewinds.blogspot.in/2009/07/roopkund-and-kuari-pass-walking-over.html and relive those moments.

On this trek, we experienced various terrains and passed by many villages filled with fun loving kids and helpful mountain people. We trekked few days on lovely high altitude green grasslands at 11,000 feet. Oh, I still remember the cool winds brushing through me and help me forget all the pain!

From one of our camps, we did a hard climb to the glacial lake, Roopkund at 16,500 feet. The route to the lake was very steep covered with snow and loose rocks. We had to take every step with great caution bearing in mind that with a small mistake, we may roll over at great speed into the valley below. But, this got easier as we kept walking, the fear went off and we started enjoying the breath taking devilish foggy surroundings.

This emerald lake http://lostinthewinds.blogspot.in/2009/07/roop-kund-emerald-lake.html tested my endurance the most and it brought out my true character. The incident gave me more insight into myself.

Quoting the incident from Kumar G's blog

"It was almost 1 O'clock now. Shanti and the rest of the group have not reached yet. I doubted if she will be able to make it. But we waited. At about 1.30 we heard some shouts and Shanti and group emerged from the fog. She had made it finally! In spite of low hemoglobin, and an affliction of altitude sickness, puking and almost running out of steam she had ploughed on and did reach the top, Kudos! And as soon as she reached, she uncontrollably broke down in tears putting us photographers who were ready with flashes in a dilemma of whether to take snaps or not! :-D "

The true self comes out when we get pushed beyond our limits and without fail each of the trek brings out some!