Deccan Trekkers

14 members from Deccan Trekkers have successfully completed DT’s  trek in Thadikkalpudi hill range. Let’s read what Krishnan, a first time trekker with Deccan Trekkers had to say about this trek …
I had bravely enrolled in this trek, thinking that it would be a breeze for my rather strong physique (yeah right, it’s an oxymoron ). No sooner had I registered than I fell ill with just two weeks to go for the trek! Fear began to creep into me, and I wondered at one point whether to cancel the trek. Luckily, I recovered in time.

DAY 1

First came the preparation which in itself was tiring. I being a first-timer, had to purchase a host of stuff, including a backpack (a rather large one), cooling glasses, a sleeping mat, and a cap – all of which cost a cool 3k. And then came the heaviest of them all – water – 8 whole litres of it (for just two days!). When my bag was fully loaded (with 2 kgs of food), it became difficult to carry. I was wondering how far I could go with this before collapsing .

We (14 of us) took Machilipatnam Exp from Secunderabad.

DAY 2

We reached Tadikalapudi at 4.15 in the morning. Having a penchant for frequent headaches, I emptied a litre of water early in the morning, hoping to keep one at bay that day. We started our walk from the station at dawn around 6 AM and kept walking through lovely cotton and paddy fields. Then I saw the ornage morning sun – something which I hadn’t seen in a while . We walked around a couple of hills and approached a small hill. It looked puny to us, but no one had an idea of what it had in store for us. We met one of the villagers on a bullock cart (which was in itself a rare instance – the first and the last time we ever saw humans in the trek!) who suggested to us to take a path a little further away to cross the hill. We ignored his suggestion, and took the nearest ‘route’ right in front of us. By the time we reached the peak, my breath had become faster, and we all needed rest. So much for this ‘tiny’ hill!

Having climbed down this hill, which in itself was an ordeal with lots of thorns (my protruding sleeping , we then reached the plains and our walk became easier. We reached the base of a taller mountain around 8 and settled for breakfast near a stream. A hundred grams of corn flakes with soya milk was all we had for breakfast (Poor me…I was used to eating upma and pongal!).

Yours truly emerged stylish after breakfast with sunglasses and a cap . We then started our ascent through the pass between a couple of hills. Our mission was the head of the stream, where we were planning to cool off with a possible bath and a swim. The ascent was smooth at first, and then became rocky. Climbing became difficult, but I was able to manage rather well, usually among the first few in the group. We crisscrossed the stream, and the weather was also perfect during this time (still morning at around 10 AM).

Somehow, in the next half hour or so, we lost the stream, and the land became kindof barren, with just dry grass and fewer trees. Combined with the hotter sun (the season being almost summer), trekking became difficult with more dehydration. I started sweating more, and consuming much more water.

A word has to be said about our leaders. None in the group had any idea where we were going, and simply followed Ravi and Raghu. Both these guys knew this place (this was their third trip here) and often asked the group to rest while they ventured out in the sun to explore routes when they were not sure of the path to take. And yet, they continued to climb with ease! Where did these guys get their stamina from???

The group as a whole started taking more frequent breaks till lunch. Then came the search for a lunch point. We couldn’t find a single area with a shade for around half an hour. Then came two smaller such areas, where we split in two and accommodated ourselves. Five chapathis with rajma and channa masala was our lunch. We stayed there for an hour and half (a few even slept).

Thinking we would all be energized post lunch, we resumed our trek – only to rest in another ten minutes . We had reached the peak of a 400m high hill and agreed to find the nearest decent plain area to retire for the night. Ten minutes later we found a good spot; but Ravi was still reluctant. “Our original resting point is atop that peak”, and he pointed to the top of a adjacent hill 600m tall (”peak 2075″ – which measured 2075 feet)! To reach there, we had to descend the peak we were on and ascend the other one.

“Come on guys, it’s just 1 km!” Yeah.. if we jump down straight, break our heads and then climb up straight! Otherwise, easily more than 2-3 kms, if we were to properly get down and then up. The group managed to convince Ravi to calm himself down and rest for the night . We then prepared the spot – flattened the grass, spread out our sleeping mats atop plastic sheets, and prepared a fire for dinner after collecting dried wood, and removing all the grass off a 2m wide circle. (The last thing we wanted in that scorching heat was a forest fire that we triggered). That was when my headache which started around noon worsened, and I took a tablet and slept soundly for an hour or so. I appeared in such a poor shape to quite a few people that they thought I was dead

After sunset, we began our dinner prep – a pack of noodles each for most people on a kadai. We noticed a couple of forest fires – one, on peak 2075, was composed of two magnificently bright lines tapering towards each other, and the other on our peak (the fire itself was not visible, but the fumes were). This was what really scared us – we did not know if and when this fire would hit us, and were told to pack up our stuff and be ready to start descending if we actually saw the fire. However, I and most others slept rather soundly, believing that it wouldn’t hit us. Karthik later revealed that he was so afraid (he even woke me up a couple of times), that he didn’t sleep well, what with both his legs bent (fearing a snake bite ).

DAY 3

Sure enough, as the night got cold, the forest fires disappeared – and when we awoke the next day at 5 AM, they were no longer there. We started our descent at 530 AM – the descent was tougher than the ascent since we usually do not use our hands during descent for grip (we would be on all fours throughout the descent if we did ) and had to rely on trees, and consequently I fell down twice. Thankfully we reached the base by 730 AM well before the shadows left. We moved on near the breakfast point, and after freshening up, walked towards the station. We were there by 11 AM and took a passenger train to Bhadrachalam by 12. We were there at Bhadrachalam Road by 1230 AM, and took a dorm. Most of us were truly relieved to see a town with facilities that we usually take for granted . After a good lunch, most of us went to the Ram temple there (35 kms away from the station) while Karthik, Venkat and myself stayed behind (Karthik had a swollen knee, thanks to his bent leg the previous night . I had been to Bhadrachalam the week before and had visited the temple, and Venkat was not interested). After idling around for the rest of the day, we had dinner and boarded the train to Secunderabad.

Overall, it was a fun trip and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Trek dates: 2 Sep 2007

After an unsuccessful attempt to cross the hill range at Thadakalpudi on 19th August 2007 by Sridhar and Ravi (weather not permitting), we decided to cross the hill range.  Having the knowledge about the location and the transportation details, the enthusiasts included Kumar, the experienced; and Lakshman the core developer for the thadakalpudi trek.  As the planning started on Friday, the team decided to have a 1 day trek on Sunday.  The starting point, Thadakalpudi is known place to Ravi and Sridhar.  As Ravi took care of booking the transport and planning the route, Sridhar/Kumar took care of the food and Lakshman assisting Ravi.

On Saturday, the bus was starting from BHEL and Ravi, Kumar and Lakshman decided to borad the bus at KPHB where as Sridhar decided to board the same at SR Nagar.  The scheduled deparature of the bus from KPHB is at 20:05 hrs and 20:30 from SR Nagar.  Ravi, Lakshman and Kumar had dinner together and ready to board the Auto to KPHB only to realise that last minute shopping needs to be done by Ravi for the fruits.  As Ravi and Lakshman grabbed the fruits all three took a speed Auto to KPHB.  In the mean time, Sridhar reached SR Nagar by 20:05 and trying to contact Kumar for the status of the bus.  Kumar responded that they just reached KPHB and the bus is yet to arrive.  Sridhar made couple of friends in SR Nagar trying to find the return journey details.  The best alternative is to reach Kothagudem and then try for a bus back to Hyderabad: alternatively if the team is near Yellandu, reach Warangal and then to Hyderabad.

Finally the long awatited Super Luxury bus to Bhadrachalam (via Kothagudem) reached at 20:45 hrs much to the relief of the team waiting at KPHB.  As soon as the bus strolled out of KPHB bus stand, Kumar communicated to Sridhar who was delighted by the call.  As the team enquired, they came to know that there was a huge traffic jam at JNTU which resulted in the delay of all the long distance busses.  As the bus left Hyderabad at 23:00 hrs, the team was more than happy as the scheduled time of arrival at Kothagudem will be 5:00 AM which is ideal to catch the ongoing train to Thadakalpudi at 5:45.  Ravi, as usually quickly went into a deep sleep setting up the alarm for 4:30 AM hoping to wake up the team and Kumar quickly ecliminitised to the new weather.  Sridhar found the same music on his main road side apartment in the team sitting right behind Lakshman, but Lakshman had little tough time in getting a deserved sleep as the music was different and new to him.

As the bus was about to stroll into Kothagudem, Sridhar woke up and requested the team to get ready for alightment.  Quickly the team ran to Bhadrachalam Road (Rly station of Kothagudem) which is @0.75 km away and quickly took the tickets to Thadakalpudi.  As the train is yet to be bearthed (the train starts from Bhadrachalam Road), the train from Hyderabad had just arrived and yet to be taken off the platform before our train can be bearthed.  Lakshman quickly took a cup of Tea and Ravi joined him for the same.  As Sridhar spotted the train on the sleeping platform, the team ran quickly to take the seats for the 20 minute journey.  Kumar and Lakshman completed the freshup even before the train reached the platform.  The train started its stride at 6:00 AM from Bhadrachalam Road.

After reaching Thadakalpudi by 6:30, Sridhar and Ravi quickly completed the formalities and within 10 minutes they were on the mainroad of Thadakalpudi walking towards the hill range.  The team talked to the villagers to find out the route for the planned trek.  The guidance from the villagers was “just follow this path”, the team started walking.  The route is full of greenary and after walking a few meters, there were deviations; decisions were made to move left and right.  Sridhar in his usual style asked the memebers which way to move and got them say that they must move in the direction of the nearby hill.  Rains over the last two days made the route muddy and slurry.  After 1.5 hrs of walk, the team were looking at a hill, which they need to cross to start the trek.  Looking at the weather and terrain, they decided to climb this hill and return back.  The stomach cried for breakfast at 8:30 and we had breakfast here.  We also created xxx crains so that we can trace back the path.  After the breakfast, and taking a closer look at the terrain, it was decided to abandon climbing the hill.  The planned starting point cannot be reached as it was over the hill ahead of us.  The thought of walking around the hill was also abandoned as it was very muddy and we need to make a long path.  The impression was that we could end up reaching the starting point only.  So we decided to start climb from a different point.  Being innovative, we started walking in the direction of the path along the fields (trying to avoid the retracing).  After walking a few steps through the field, the shoes were tested to the limit as the black soil was sticking.  We started walking slowly and by the time, we crossed the first field, we were very tired and frustated.  As we realised that we took too many turns towards the hill and one of the paths will be in sight quickly.  The fields were fenced and then we realised that we were in a maze.  We started walking through the fields in the direction of another hill (towards west).  The maze was never ending and we were getting tired.  suddenly we found an old man in the fields.  The prior knoledge of Sridhar and Ravi prompted us to ask the old man the direction for the WaterFall, a known local spot for villagers.  The old man has shown us a rock formation on the hill and asked us to move in the direction.

The old man was kind enough to direct us towards a “Machan” where another person was sitting and he will guide us towards the water fall.  As we could see the “Machan”, we started walking with little more confidence and enthusiasm.  The old man was thanked (with a tip).  As we reached the “Machan”, we met “Trailer Ramadasu” who showed us a jungle track to move ahead.  We spent a few minutes here enjoying the view from the “Machan”.  This machan was erected as this being the last field of the village and being close to the hill, the monkeys, come here to pluck/eat the cotton seeds.  Thanking Ramadasu, we walked through the bushes.  Though the villagers were confident about the route, we were checking our way at each cross paths.  We kept cairns and walked towards the hill by making way through the shruby bamboo grass.  Couple of approaches towards the hill were unsuccessful and we had to traceback and walk along the hill side till we reached a small stream.  Now we had a little break and quickly started walking up the stream.  The terrain was just rocks and the water flowing fluently.  We hopped over the rocks only to find Kumar and Lakshman were getting tired quickly.  At 13:00 hrs, we decided to have our lunch but the sight of the top of the hill, motivated Ravi and Sridhar to jump a few more rocks to reach the top.  As Sridhar and Ravi travelled for @15 mins, the path seemed to be never ending and they returned back to have lunch with the team.

After a well deserved bath, we had lunch and started walking down.  The pace was very good and we reached the entry point to the stream within 1 hr.  Surprisingly, it took us more than 2 1/2 hrs to climb this part.  We retraced the path and reached back the “Machan” and talked to Ramadasu to find the way back.  As we were talking to Ramadasu, he has mentioned that walking in the field is not acceptable and it will be difficult when the manuring of the fields is done.  He almost warned us and suggested to walk away from the fields.  We took his help in finding the route and walked away from the fields.  Now, to reach Thadakalpudi from here just took 1/2 an hour.  But the onward journey to reach the Machan took us nearly 3 hrs (including the break for breakfast).  As we reached Thadakalpudi, we found out that the train is 1 hr away from reaching us.  As Ravi, Kumar and Lakshman took some deserved rest, Sridhar was exploiting the terrain for the next trek.  As the train reached Thadakalpudi by 17:45 hrs (15 mts behind schedule), we reached Kothagudem, followed the tradition of watching a movie; Yamadonga this time and started by 22:30 to reach back Hyderabad.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Trek Dates:  16-DEC-2006

Preparation:

Immediately after the Kondaveedu trek, the wanderers wanted to trek across those Mountain/Hill ranges and touching the river as well.  The Google search immediately flashed a beautiful area in Guntur / Nalgonda and Krishna districts borders where the new Pochampalli Project is being constructed.  Here river Krishna took a U turn.  Sridhar came up with the idea of trekking over the weekend.  Discussing with Ravi and after a little bit of exploring Google Earth, District Maps of Andhra Pradesh (http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/andhrapradesh/districts/guntur.htm) & Live on Internet (http://mapmyindia.com/) a brief outline sketch of the trek route was envisaged.  In the meantime Anand, Kumar also expressed their views and are ready to take up the challenge.  The next day (15 Dec 2006) the trek route was finalized:

Starting from Hyderabad towards Guntur.

Alight at Sattenpalle.

Move towards Achampet via Krosuru.

Get down at Achampet and then choose one of the following Options.

a. Take a bus across to Venkatayyapalem and from their move towards Kolluru. Get down somewhere between and trek the highest hill in the Mountain range (approx 1500ft) cross the First Hill range and again trek across another mountain, reach Tallacheruvu. From here reach the main road towards Achampet.

b. After reaching the base of the mountain (if the hilltop is not trek able) move along the Mountain range with Krishna River along. Reach Madipadu Agraharam and come back to Achampet.

c. Another option was – Going to Amaravathi, along the river Krishna

The challenges actually started as the route itself is challenging with the little information available.  Finally Anand, Kumar, Sridhar and Ravi decided to do even if it would take 2 days.

Leaving Hyderabad:

Sridhar was busy with a birthday party after reserving the Bus tickets to Sattenpalle.  As the party was delayed he found himself at 21:45 hrs at his residence.  He tried reaching Ravi but Ravi did not pickup the mobile.  Thinking that Ravi could be travelling, immediately rang up Anand (who was about to leave to MGBS) and informed him the Seat Nos and told him that he will reach just in time.  Anand started off and as Sridhar started there was a huge traffic jam near Maitrivanam and Ameerpet.  And at 22:30 hrs he was still at Ameerpet only.  At the same time, Ravi was on his mobile talking to his friend at MGBS.  His mobile indicated that Anand was trying to call him.  After disconnecting the call, Ravi asked Anand to reach Platform No 13 and resumed the important call with his friend.  As Anand came in to view, Kumar sighted him and called him up where they were sitting.  After exchanging pleasantries all the three started waiting for Sridhar.  In the mean time Anand had indicated that Seats No 22,23,24 & 25 were booked till Sattenpalle on the last bus to Guntur leaving at 23:00 hrs.  Sridhar would reach the bus station with Tickets.  Soon Anand spotted the Guntur bus and all the three boarded the bus waiting for Sridhar. 2255 Hrs still there was no sign of Sridhar; Anand got down from the Bus and was looking for Sridhar. In the meantime Kumar sitting next to the Window, saw Sridhar and just before the bus started to leave for Guntur all the four were comfortably seated.  After informing that the bus would be at our destination by 0515 – 0530 all of them went in to their own world.

As the bus (Audio special) sped away towards Guntur, little did anyone knew the audio speciality.  The bus windows started making noise and the cool breeze reminded us the temparature is going to be low this night.  Ravi went to deep sleep, opening his eyes only when the Bus Driver was forced to apply break – and that happened on very few occasions.  Thanks to the driving Skills of APSRTC bus drivers, Kumar and Ravi were able to sleep peacefully.

In the seat No 22,23 a different story was being enacted.  Anand was unable to get sleep all through the Journey. He fidgeted, adjusted, moved tried in vain to get some sleep so that he would be active the next day morning, but could not.  Sridhar was waking up almost every hour to find out the time and how far the destination is.  As the bus was approaching Sattenpalle, sridhar woke up and alerted the rest of the team to prepare for the alightment.  We reached Sattenpalle at 0530 hrs in the morning.  All the four alighted from the bus and decided to act as discussed the day before.

Reaching the Starting Point for Trek:

Armed with the printouts of Google map, District map of Andhra Pradesh, all the four were thinking of going further.  Luckily for them they were able to find the “Road map” of the busses run by Sattenpalle Depot (this was not to scale).  We added this valuable information also into our maps list for further reference during the trek.  Checking the road map, Bus routes, discussing with the kind hearted APSRTC Depot employees it was decided that the trek route would be modified slightly.  Instead of reaching Achampet from Venkatayyapalem, it was decided to start from Achampet and reach Venkatayyapalem.  The drivers also warned about the naxalite activity in the area that is calm now-a-days, thanks to the combing done by the Government in view of the Pochampalli Project. The first bus torwards Madipadu Agraharam is at 0630 hrs.  A cup of Coffee in the morning energized all of them as they waited for the bus.  As the bus made way between the Cotton, Jowar and Chilli fields along the dusty pot-holed roads, the Journey towards Achampet had begun.  As the bus moved towards Madipadu Agraharm in the morning, chill was felt.  It was really cold.  As all the four started to appreciate the surroundings, their spirits got dampened when the Bus Conductor informed that the area was exposed to Naxalite activities – although it was very less.  2 kms after Achampet, we got down at so called “Venkatayyapalem Road” and started the trek with the view of the Hill range at 8:15.

The trek:

As the journey continued by foot towards the base of the hill, Chilli and Cotton fields still kept pace with them.  The chirping of the birds made us stop here and there playing hide and seek with us to spot them.  A different experience we faced here, as there were bushes and fields all around us, it was difficult for us to spot the birds.  As we leaned over the barricaded bushes (preventing the members from entering the fields) the birds flew away.  At 0830 hrs a huge tree with a Hand Pump located at the foothill invited us with open arms for the breakfast.  The Idli’s brought by Anand (thanks to his idea of covering the idli with “karam podi”) are very delicious and gave a good energy for the team to move ahead.  The team was cautious only to leave the footprints in the trek, the trash was packed back into backpacks.  They decided to stick to the well-trodden path of rivulets.  Although there was no water flowing, they were able to quickly conclude that this was the route that people use to reach Venkatayyapalem and decided to stick to this route.  This route is very different from the rest of the treks taken so far as the path is filled up with stones of all sizes through out the route.  It was hard to find soil for long stretches.  As they continued along the foot trail, they once in a while halted to take snaps.  By the time they reached the top of this hill, it was 0930 hrs exactly 1 hr from the foothill.  The ascent was steep and a bit tiring.  At this point there was a discussion on the way to proceed further.  On their left the foot trail was still there going down this hill, but they felt this might not be exciting.  They could see another hilltop on to their right.  The challenge was accepted and after 15-20 minutes of moving ahead, found out that this route is going to be hard.  The voice of the team echoed to go back to the hilltop and go downhill.  As they trekked down the hill the chirping of the birds was more frequent and had a few stops to have a glimpse.  This is not a bad place to do some bird watching!!  There were no birds during the ascent.  This indicated that the temperature is going to be hot as the day proceeds.  As the footsteps started picking up speed, a good view of the other side of the hill was available.  Quickly a vantage point was found and everybody started analyzing the remaining trek from here.  From the vantage point, On to their front were crops; on to their Right at a far distance was the Hill point (They were able to correctly identify that this was the point which they had originally planned to trek – refer option a).  The team decided to take some rest and pondered over which route to take – with each one suggesting left, straight and the right direction.  There was even confusion about the direction East as we did not have the compass.  Even the sun shadow did not help us much as the sun is now touching “Tropic of Capricorn”.  Having some oranges and Appy juice, got them energized and all of them decided to stick to the crop fields path expecting the Venkatayyapalem in the nearby vicinity.  As the team reached the plains, they were able to see crops.  Soon it was confirmed when they met a village local while crossing the fields.  Reaching Venkatayyapalem, talking to the villagers there, found that the bus to Venkatayyapalem, from Sattenpalle did not reach in the morning and not sure if any bus will come for the rest of the day.  The team had the following options:

Wait for the bus till 14:30 hrs

Walk up to ManneSultanPalem (11 Kms)

Walk up to Kolluru (8 Kms), cross Krishna River, and reach the nearest town of Kodhada.

It was decided to take the route to Kolluru through the forest.

By the time they left Venkatayyapalem to Kolluru, it was 1125 hrs.  The trek was through the plains and forest.  They were able to see hill range to their right stretching along the path.  This route seems to be motarable but for the powerful 4 wheel drives with high ground clearance only.  As the sun was beating down with high power, the walk was brisk and few stops.  Kumar was struggling to walk that stretch of 3~4 kms and tired.  After an hour they took a break under a tree.  The team was tiring up, so, we decided to have some biscuits, Glucose and some lemon-salt.  Sridhar did not have anything as he wanted to relax his body.  After 15 minutes, they resumed their trek towards Kolluru.  Anand was very energetic throughout this walk.  After reaching the village and asking for directions to reach Krishna riverbank, they moved along.  As they continued further, suddenly a cool breeze was felt in the air indicating they were very near to the riverbank. But there was no sign of the river roaring, water hitting the rocks. As they came to the bank, Krishna was in calm mood.  The localites mentioned that the depth of the reiver here is @250-300ft.  The river was flowing as if it did not wanted to show its existence  – peace, calm, somber face of the river.  The pochampalli project is being constructed @8 KM downstream from here.  All of them crossed across the river on boat, reached Vellatur.  Having found a small shop for quenching their thirst, Initially the shop owner refused to take minor change thinking we belong to “Squad” – the “Naxalite police/detection squad”.

Return Journey:

Looking for a place to take rest and Enquiring about the directions to take to reach Kodhada, all of them decided to have lunch.  Witnessing a cricket match going on and having chapattis and Jam as lunch gave them the much needed relax.  Appreciation to Kumar/Ravi for packing the chapattis so that they stay during the trek and still remain fresh. (these are not home made).  All of them waited for the Auto/Bus to them to Kodhada.  After a long wait, an Auto turned up which is ready to take the villagers to “Mela Cheruvu”.  We quickly jumped on and the road being very dust, we had to cover our nose with handkerchief and to prevent the dust from entering the eyes, The team was tired and almost everybody took a quick nap during the 35 minute journey.  As we were reaching Mela Cheruvu at 15:20 the bus towards Kodhada was leaving towards Vellatur.  We knew that the bus would come back in 45 mins.  Ravi and Anand continued their sleep at Mela Cheruvu bus stand.  As the bus arrived from Vellatur towards Kodhada at 16:10, we got into the bus and as the bus started, Ravi & Anand went on to relaxing mode again. They closed their eyes impervious of the surroundings and slept. Some time after Kumar woke Ravi, informed him that they had reached Kodhada at 17:20 hrs.

There are quite a few busses that ply from Vijayawada towards Hyderabad but the tickets will be issued only after the bus arrives.  There were already 6 members in the queue by the time we arrived.  Sridhar and Anand decided to share the queue relaxing in between.  Kumar and Ravi were trying alternate means of transport from the Main road.  As a bus came after 45 mts, there was no room to travel to Hyderabad.  And suddenly a bus came at 18:35 and there was a rush towards the bus.  We all were scattered as Ravi quickly passed the two bags he had in his hand to reserve a few seats, Anand pushed his way through the crowd and went in.  Sridhar, came out from the queue of taking tickets and got into the bus.  As anand was returning back stating that there were no seats for all of us, Sridhar overheard the discussion of the Conductor stating that 8 seats will be vacated at “Suryapet”.  As Ravi has reserved two seats, we thought we can take a risk or atleast share these two seats amongst the four of us and reach Hyderabad by night.  Ravi could get the clue about the seats that will be available at Suryapet.  And was able to execute the plan to perfection more to the relief of everybody.  We reached Hyderabad safely at 22:30 hrs.

“This trek could not have been possible an year ago and cannot be done an year later”

Popularity: 4% [?]

14-Oct-2006
Sridhar, Basu, Venki and myself thought of having an adventurous trek this weekend. We hit upon Google Earth and found a small hill range near Phirangipuram and decided to trek this small hill. Since we did not had any information about the place we were bit apprehensive about it. Ater a small discussion we thought this would be adventurous. The only information we had was from Google Earth – Aerial view of the hill range  and Sridhar had a bit of information about the places nearby the hill range.The only thing we had abundance of raw enthusiasm to do something different for the weekend along with the Google earth Map of the Area.

Pic 1.
As the Delta Fast Passenger train slowly started from Secunderabad we again revisited our plan of going about crossing the Kondaveedu hill range. After some chit-chat all of us went to sleep. I was woken up by Basu at around 4:45 AM when we were about to reach Guntur.From railway Station we moved on to Bus Stand.Having a quick breakfast we boarded the bus to Phirangipuram. After 45 minutes of sleeping in the bus we alighted at  Phirangipuram. The Starting point of the Trek was from Kondaveedu Village which was at the base of the hill.We started around 7:15 by following a walkable path and after 45 minutes of climb we reached near the fort ruins and took a break. There the path Ended.

Pic 2.
We broke up in to 2 teams with myself and Venky taking the shorter but challenging route and Sridhar-Basu taking the longer and the easy one. After some crawling between rocks and Venky getting hurt and some more searching for a path, we finally were able to hear Sridhar and Basu shouting for us. After taking some rest we continued our trekk, trying to find a path with some help from the cattle dung lying around.

Pic 3
After some more getting lost and walking around aimlessly we took some rest and had our lunch.We had biscuits, chips and some fruits. And  we had only a little of water left with us.After lunch we again started to move and approximating the direction of the Highway which was seen earlier by one of us. All the time we had broken ourselves in to teams while searching for a path to the Highway which could be seen very faar from us.

Pic4
Everywhere we tried to stick to the path of the now-dried water stream. This would our best bet for reaching downhill and this would be the nearest path to reach the base of the hill.As we took turns and tried to follow the dry  stream, we could hear some voices of Shepherds. That gave us a huge relief. After contacting the shepherd on the direction of the descent and the village, we luckily reached the base of the hill. By this time Sun was already burning at its highest and our water was over. Seeing a pond nearby was a relief but it turned in to disappoinment when we realised the water in the pond was useless for us to wash ourselves.

Pic5

After some time taking rest near the pond we started towards the Gopanapally village main road through the Eucalyptus plantation. As we reached the village, we quenched our thirst from the boring well and took an Auto to Boyapallem. Reaching Boyapallem all of us had coconut water and boarded the bus to Guntur.

Pic 6

Realising we had lot of time at our end, we went to ‘Pogaru’ – a Telugu flick, thinking of sleeping in the A/C movie hall. Instead I got engrossed in the movie and just did not sleep through the movie. As we  had dinner and boarded the bus to Hyderebad, we were wondering how this trekk was accomplished.

Pic 7
After our trek, we tried to map the path which we had taken and we were astonished to find the path which was originally decided and the path which we took was entirely different. Thats what happens when anyone does trekking based on Google earth without a GPS system!!!!!

Starting Poinnt- Kondaveedu Village, Phirangipuram
Destination-  Gopanapally/Boyapallem Village
Photos -

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