“It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B.
It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
I had heard a lot from all my friends that trekking is a fun experience and that everyone must try it atleast once. Each time I heard my friends talk so passionately about climbing the mountains and discovering new heights, I would feel inspired but
never really dared to step out of my comfort zone until that day when I saw a new meetup (on meetup.com) announced saying "Trek to Makalidurga" and I don't know what got into me but I just decided to go for it.
After giving my contact no to the organizer, I got introduced to a bunch of people on whatsapp none of whom I had ever met. For me, it was a really big step to go out with a bunch of guys and girls who were all strangers to me. I just made sure that a few girls were tagging along for the trip and thats all. Around 10:30 pm when my ride arrived, I was still not sure about the risk I had taken. What if the group isn't fun, what if I can't climb up, what if I slip off and die ... I had a thousand doubts but decided to go for it anyway.
When we all finally arrived at the neetup point, the final count was 11 and we all started on bikes and cars towards our destination, the foothills of Makalidurga. When we finally reached there around 1 am, I looked up and the sky was clear. It was the night next to Poornima and thousands of stars had illuminated the sky, a sight so rare in the cities that I savoured the moment. But when I finally looked back at the hill we were supposed to climb, all my doubts were back and I was sure I was gonna end up dead somewhere in those rocks.
It was pretty dark and we could already see a group of people who were halfway up through the mountain. The challange for me begin when I started climbing up the mountain whose peak stood at a height of 1.3 kms approx. I was hardly 1/3rd way up when I realized that I got myself into something that wasn't my cup of tea or coffee for that matter.
I didnot want to climb up anymore but I was too scared that I will be left behind at 2 am in the mountains and won't be able to find my way up so I tried to keep up with the group as much as possible but finally gave up. I was already short of breath and the rocks were too high for me to climb. While rest of the group went up, one of the group members stayed back with me probably because he could see how bad I was struggling and there was still almost 2/3rd of the trek left.
So finally I and he started to climb at a much lower pace, stopping every 20 minutes for a 10 minutes break and then continued climbing some more. For sometime, we could see the rest of our group climbing ahead of us but after half hour or so, they were nowhere to be seen and only the two of us were on our own trying to look for way up. It was dark, scary and we were surrounded by thorny bushes and slippery stones. Everytime I stepped on a rock, I could picture myself slipping off and rolling down the hills.
I was scared but alert, trying to place my feet on the rocks as firmly as possible, holding on to the surrounding rocks or to my travel mate for support. While we continued climbing, three other groups passed by us and climbed up while I was still struggling to even take another step. With every step I was taking up, I was more and more exhausted to climp up anymore. I was least bothered to see the the awesome view from hilltop anymore but staying in middle of nowhere at 2:30-3:00 am was not an option so we continued climbing with me complaining almost all through the journey.
So finally when we reached the top of the mountain, it was almost 3:40 am and we had taken almost an hour more than rest of the group to reach the top but I didn't care. I was happy that I finally climbed up, it wasn't a big deal for most of the group but I felt accomplished ... and dead tired. I just lied down on the big rock facing the sky and finally let myself cool down properly. My feet were aching and I was feeling very hot from all the climbing but in 15 mins, once I cooled down I finally realized how cold it was and put on 2 jackets and lied back down.
The others then lit up a bon fire and stood around it for a while but I was just too tired to even get up for some heat so I covered my face with the stole and kept lying instead. Later on everyone decided to lie down as well and although I could not sleep for very long as it was pretty cold at the top but finally when I got up around 5:45 to witness the sunrise, I felt much better.
We looked around the place, clicked the view from top, clicked selfies and had a lot of fun. Although we could not witness the sunrise properly due to cloudy sky, the view from the hill top was spectacular (not sure though if it was worth all the pain I endured or not ;) :P )
Finally when we had to get down, all my nightmares were back. I was still pretty tired, my feet were aching and now I had to get all the way down to the foothills. As scary as they looked, it somehow felt easier to get down that climbing up. As expected, I was among the last ones to get down but this time I had three more people giving me company, getting down at slower pace and taking breaks now and then. Dead tired, we finally reached down to the parking about 20 mins late than rest of the group.
On way back to Bangalore, I was so tired and sleepy that I dozed off a few times in the pillion seat of the bike so we took a break at CCD to freshen up a bit. As a whole, it was a really fun (and a little painful) experience and luckily the group was fun. All the inhibitions I had about travelling with a bunch of strangers was broken and turns out most of them love to travel frequently so I have turned in my RSVP as a permanent Yes ;) :P :P
Thank you Barkha for letting me know about a platform like Meetup.com and thanks to Prasad and Prashant for organizing this and making my first experience a memorable one. For anyone looking to experience trekking, I would definitely recommend this place. Looking forward to getting together for lot of trips and a lot more fun.
It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
never really dared to step out of my comfort zone until that day when I saw a new meetup (on meetup.com) announced saying "Trek to Makalidurga" and I don't know what got into me but I just decided to go for it.
After giving my contact no to the organizer, I got introduced to a bunch of people on whatsapp none of whom I had ever met. For me, it was a really big step to go out with a bunch of guys and girls who were all strangers to me. I just made sure that a few girls were tagging along for the trip and thats all. Around 10:30 pm when my ride arrived, I was still not sure about the risk I had taken. What if the group isn't fun, what if I can't climb up, what if I slip off and die ... I had a thousand doubts but decided to go for it anyway.
When we all finally arrived at the neetup point, the final count was 11 and we all started on bikes and cars towards our destination, the foothills of Makalidurga. When we finally reached there around 1 am, I looked up and the sky was clear. It was the night next to Poornima and thousands of stars had illuminated the sky, a sight so rare in the cities that I savoured the moment. But when I finally looked back at the hill we were supposed to climb, all my doubts were back and I was sure I was gonna end up dead somewhere in those rocks.It was pretty dark and we could already see a group of people who were halfway up through the mountain. The challange for me begin when I started climbing up the mountain whose peak stood at a height of 1.3 kms approx. I was hardly 1/3rd way up when I realized that I got myself into something that wasn't my cup of tea or coffee for that matter.
I didnot want to climb up anymore but I was too scared that I will be left behind at 2 am in the mountains and won't be able to find my way up so I tried to keep up with the group as much as possible but finally gave up. I was already short of breath and the rocks were too high for me to climb. While rest of the group went up, one of the group members stayed back with me probably because he could see how bad I was struggling and there was still almost 2/3rd of the trek left.
So finally I and he started to climb at a much lower pace, stopping every 20 minutes for a 10 minutes break and then continued climbing some more. For sometime, we could see the rest of our group climbing ahead of us but after half hour or so, they were nowhere to be seen and only the two of us were on our own trying to look for way up. It was dark, scary and we were surrounded by thorny bushes and slippery stones. Everytime I stepped on a rock, I could picture myself slipping off and rolling down the hills.I was scared but alert, trying to place my feet on the rocks as firmly as possible, holding on to the surrounding rocks or to my travel mate for support. While we continued climbing, three other groups passed by us and climbed up while I was still struggling to even take another step. With every step I was taking up, I was more and more exhausted to climp up anymore. I was least bothered to see the the awesome view from hilltop anymore but staying in middle of nowhere at 2:30-3:00 am was not an option so we continued climbing with me complaining almost all through the journey.
So finally when we reached the top of the mountain, it was almost 3:40 am and we had taken almost an hour more than rest of the group to reach the top but I didn't care. I was happy that I finally climbed up, it wasn't a big deal for most of the group but I felt accomplished ... and dead tired. I just lied down on the big rock facing the sky and finally let myself cool down properly. My feet were aching and I was feeling very hot from all the climbing but in 15 mins, once I cooled down I finally realized how cold it was and put on 2 jackets and lied back down.
We looked around the place, clicked the view from top, clicked selfies and had a lot of fun. Although we could not witness the sunrise properly due to cloudy sky, the view from the hill top was spectacular (not sure though if it was worth all the pain I endured or not ;) :P )
Finally when we had to get down, all my nightmares were back. I was still pretty tired, my feet were aching and now I had to get all the way down to the foothills. As scary as they looked, it somehow felt easier to get down that climbing up. As expected, I was among the last ones to get down but this time I had three more people giving me company, getting down at slower pace and taking breaks now and then. Dead tired, we finally reached down to the parking about 20 mins late than rest of the group.On way back to Bangalore, I was so tired and sleepy that I dozed off a few times in the pillion seat of the bike so we took a break at CCD to freshen up a bit. As a whole, it was a really fun (and a little painful) experience and luckily the group was fun. All the inhibitions I had about travelling with a bunch of strangers was broken and turns out most of them love to travel frequently so I have turned in my RSVP as a permanent Yes ;) :P :P
Thank you Barkha for letting me know about a platform like Meetup.com and thanks to Prasad and Prashant for organizing this and making my first experience a memorable one. For anyone looking to experience trekking, I would definitely recommend this place. Looking forward to getting together for lot of trips and a lot more fun.
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