Treksperiencing the VELLINGIRI HILLS.....

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http://picasaweb.google.com/nhegdes/Vellangiri#

It’s been about a week my life in Coimbatore has started and I’m already getting bugged of it’s heat and stink….but trust me..If u look around once u’ve got ample number of places to visit and all are very much affordable (let aside much hyped ooty,kodaikanal and munnar). This Vijaydasahmi we planned a trek to vellingiri malai( vellingiri hills) and this was my first trip after getting coimbatored…and I was really in need of one to relax myself. So as per the plan we left Coimbatore at 8:30 am and reached the foothills of vellingiri hills at about 9:30am. And everybody in the office started laughing when we said vellingiri malai.. cos it is supposed to be a very difficult trek and an exhaustive one too…Even the taxi driver started laughing when we said we’ll climb vellingiri…
That made us more broken and we thought of climbing it half (But to be frank we dint know how much of the hill is half!!!!)
So some basic facts about Vellingiri. There are 7 hills we gotta climb and on top of the 7th hill lies the shiva temple. All that we knew was that and we went to climb it…
At the foothills we stood and clicked some photographs to mark the starting of the trek. And every check point we had to click one. We started as a team of 12. And as and when we started climbing slowly but steadily we felt it’s gonna be a tough task as it was just too rocky and dry without much greenery and full of scorching sun and no blowing wind.Vrashabh gave up very early at about a few hundred steps and we bade him goodbye. So we were 11 now!!! And the whole team was broken and divided based upon their speeds and capacity. The first hill was done after 1hr 15mins of rigorous climbing and we rested for a while. And seven more to go!!!! Was scary…And then slowly Yathish and Horatti gave up…and thus went on our trek..willing to see the top but no fluid left in our body. Nor in our water bottles!!!!
And after a rigorous climb of about 3.5 hours we had managed to see the peak of the 7th hill from a long distance. Or to be precise from the peak of 4th hill….thereby the other 6 people gave up and it was me,Narayan and Aslam still to have some fluid and guts left in us to climb the 7th hill. We dint want to go back when we have invested so much of our energy and time. And above all, we were so close to our destination. It was visible!!!
We decided to climb and started towards 7th peak at 1:00pm. With literally nothing in our body and few bottles of water in our bags.
And now started the real trek. Now I started to realize how impossible it is to conquer the nature. And how impossible it was to reach the top. Trust me…every ten steps I had to rest for 3 minutes. And this went on till we reached the top.Every step was like climbing a hill in itself.and every step was sucking lots of energy from my body and every step was filling my mind with more determination….And finally at one point I heard Aslam shouting hhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…….And I rejoiced as I was only a few steps away from him…HE HAD REACHED THE TOP!!!!!!
And the sight was awesome and all the exhaustion and weakness was gone once I saw mother nature in such a form. It was chilling out there. We were literally into the clouds and I Could see a bird’s eye view of Coimbatore, a part of Kerala and many smaller hills!!!
That was like……oooooohhhhhh my god……and my camera was never off….it was something I had never experienced…..Only the one who has reached can experience it… And I felt so soooo pity for the people who gave up at the end of 4th hill. They missed it.
And then while coming back it was just exhaustion and curiosity to tell all others how it was.
In the meanwhile we had forgotten we had office the very next day and our legs are gonna be in the worst of their forms….but then….all others who did not reach the peak were also gonna have that….So finally I reached my room at 8:30 and fell asleep at 8:45 and woke up at 7:30 the next morning….to find my leg in a painful condition..!!!!
But it was all worth it….
Do visit it once if u have the balls...
-Harsha Bhat