BTC trek to Kukkal Valley

“Don’t stop, keep moving!” Lokith shouted from behind.

“It senses your body warmth. Standing at one place is like putting yourself on a dinner table.”

With nothing but shrubs and trees in sight, I paced my way through the only visible way, following the sounds coming from the people ahead of me. My heart was pumping and the adrenaline rush was creating a very different frenzy and excitement that I kept on moving inside the jungle. But suddenly a sound came.

“RETURN!”

And we started tracing our way back and as soon we reached in open area, we realized we were already been declared as lunch for those slimy little creatures.

“Mai ise nahi maar sakta, iski rago me mera khoon hai!!”, Nitish said. (Translation: I cannot kill it. My blood is in its veins). And the area was filled with the laughs of 12 Homo sapiens dabbing salt and Dettol swabs over their leech bites.

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It was my first trek with BTC, and certainly one of the most enjoyable adventure I did in a long time. The beauty of Kodaikanal is already very well known, and what will be a better idea than a 2 day trek amongst those beautiful valleys in this amazing season.

When we started from Bangalore on Friday night (17th June, 2016), we were all a bunch of strangers from very diverse backgrounds. And only then I experienced the “Unity and Diversity” of our country that we are so proud of. Before Lokith (our organizer) could throw in any ‘ice-breaker’ games at us, our super-talkative and lively “Scientist” (Jay) was already on it, and with a very positive note we started our journey.

In the morning we were welcomed by the Silver Cascade falls and a chilly yet beautiful weather of Kodaikanal. After freshening up and having a good breakfast (and that hot coffee in the chilly weather), we loaded our backpacks in the tempo traveller and started on our way to Kukkal village. Mid-way we were greeted by clouds and rains, giving us the most welcoming challenge to explore.

After we had our lunch nearby a small lake, we started our trek to the valley. It was drizzling continuously and thus the trail was super-slippery to walk. But the view was so inspiring, we kept on walking towards our way up the hill.

And when we reached to the top, a little breathless but full of excitement, the beauty of Kukkal Valley made us to forget everything else and just enjoy that serene and peaceful show of nature. 

After the trek, we reached our camping site where we were introduced to the game of “MAFIA” by Ashwini (God bless you, Ashwini! ), which we kept on playing till the last moment of our trek (and the “Scientist” kept on guessing till the end, who was the mafia).

The beautiful night was complimented by a campfire topped up with ghost stories, songs and trekking experiences. And believe me, you have the best sleep when you are tucked inside a sleeping bag. 

The next morning started with a shower in water fall. And it won’t be wrong to say that the cold water numbed our brains out. After lunch we started on another trek to a lake. The way was filled with views which were as picture-perfect as the Windows XP wallpaper.

After finishing the trek, we started on our way back to Kodaikanal to cover some of the major viewpoints like Sucide point and Pillar rock. The view of Kodaikanal from Coaker’s walk was so beautiful, we sat there for the long time, watching the clouds flooding the whole valley. 

While playing multilingual Antakshari on our way back to Bangalore I was feeling a very different sort of peace and happiness. Maybe because it was a breath of fresh air from the city life or maybe because of the company of a very good lot of people. Even today, while trying hard to control itching on leech-bites, I wonder when I could go back to a trip with this lot again.

Date: June 22, 2016

Written By      : Ravi

Organized By  : Lokith

Date of event : June 18, 2016

Place               : Western Ghats

Pictures          : BTC FB Page