Climbing Solo at Chembra Peak

There I was was walking along the snaking path, lush green tea gardens on either side of me. The valley below me laid out in an intricate pattern unique to tea plantations. Not a single person on the road. Then I remembered the following words (I was texting to a friend of mine telling her about my plans for a solo journey, and this is what she had to say)  - 

"There is no fun when we are alone. If we enjoy a solo journey, then it is not because of fun, it is something else" - 

 At that time I was adamant not to admit that its true in my case, at least partially. I hadn't intended to go alone, but since I couldn't find anyone to accompany me, I set out on my own. There was a sudden sense of urgency to travel, to go outside and explore places, meet and talk with people. The place that I chose was Chembra Peak in Wayanad.

On 14th of April I went to Kollam Bus Stand for a bus towards Kalpetta, where I had already booked a room. I had found a very good deal from RedBus. The bus that I had in mind was the Trivandrum -Mysore super fast which was to arrive at 19:40 hours. Whenever 'I' am waiting for a bus or train, the normally punctual vehicle will be definitely late. So I had expected this, and was not disappointed. The bus was indeed late by a whole hour. So by 20:40 the bus left Kollam towards Kalpetta While travelling towards Kalpetta, my thoughts raced back to those times when I took this bus to get to Mysore Infosys. It was almost 14 hours, at the end of which all the passengers walk out of the bus battered and drained. I also relieved that this time I'm travelling only till Kalpetta. I fell asleep a few times, and had short sleep intervals of 30 -45 mins. Each time I woke up, I was greeted with a new scenery. Finally at 5:30 in the morning I was woken up by a hard pull towards one side. The whole bus was swaying to one side and I new very well what this was. It was the start of the hair pin curves. There are a total of nine. Now that the climb had begun, sleep or rather any possibility of it became nil. All that's left to be done was to enjoy the scenery as the bus began the difficult ascent. 

At 6:00 the bus was passing through Vythiri and then around 20 mins later, I saw shops with sign boards, that said that I was passing through Kalpetta. Then the bus stopped. I was dazed and confused, thinking that it was the main stop, I grabbed my bag and jumped out. That was mistake number one. No wait, I am not going to be numbering my mistakes, because there are quite a few of them, and its gonna get all boring and systematic with their listing.  With a double bell, the bus was gone. I was standing on the side of the road, looking left and right and decided to walk in the direction in which the bus went. I walked for a good 20 mins before realizing that I had walked past the lodge. I re-traced my steps and found a deviation from the main road, which I had previously missed and found the lodge nestled away from the main road and hidden from view. The room was more than what I had bargained for. After taking a bath I switched into a fresh pair of clothes and went out.

Chembra peak is at Meppadi in Wayanad. I had lost my way trying to find the lodge and ended up near the bus station, where I had seen buses plying towards Meppadi. So there was no difficulty in getting a bus. It was a mini bus and was empty as it left from Kalpetta. Along the way it took on passengers and from Chundale junction it turned towards Meppadi. Tea and coffee estates wrap either side of the road. Each of the bus stops and the people boarding it gave off a rustic feeling. There was a calmness in the air, no rush, pushing or shoving inside the bus. I was not able to see the hectic daily races so very common in cities. After some time I reached the town and got off near a rather busy looking junction, which was the penultimate stop. The last stop is further away from the route towards Chembra peak, besides I was hungry and wanted to get something to eat. Found a place called Vanitha Mess and had 3 dosas and a tea. On second thought I had one extra dosa for the road. I struck up a conversation with the owner of the establishment to get a good idea about transportation facilities available. The news was disheartening. There's another 8 kms from my current location the start of the trek. And the only mode of transportation are private vehicles. He said that people normally come in groups and take an auto-rickshaw or hire a jeep. Both were out of the question in my case. I was travelling with my shadow and the voice in my head. I asked him whether it was a good idea to walk. He said its doable. From that point onward I was preparing myself mentally for the walk of 8 km. My plan was to complete those 8 km in 1 hour and still make it in time for the climb. This was crucial as I wanted to start climbing before the sun started his climb. I paid for my meal, thanked the old man and walked out to where the road begins. I got a bottle of water from a nearby shop and confirmed with the owner the actual distance till the start of the trail. He was amazed that I was going to walk that far. He advised me to get a shared auto. It was simple. But there was a catch. The auto will depart only when its full. The auto-driver was advising me that I'm running out of time and kept reminding that it's dangerous to climb during mid-day as I might get a sunstroke. He was trying to persuade me to travel alone and pay him the whole amount which was around  Rs. 150 - 200. I smiled and said I'll wait. And it took another 30-40 minutes before the auto was full. There was an old man who took a seat along with the driver, a middle-aged guy, an older woman, 2 kids and yours truly. The road was poorly maintained and as promised he only took Rs. 20 from each of us. He dropped me off at a distance of 3 kms. I had 5 more km to go. But before that I had to buy the tickets for trekking from the forest office. I asked some locals where the office was and he said to walk . Which brings us to the start of this blog. The view to my right was truly spectacular and breathtaking. I clicked a pic and moved on.

Walking with my jeans was proving to be too much of a hassle. So I stopped and took out a pair of shorts and changed into them, then and there on the side of the road. As I was lacing up my shoes and folding the jeans I saw a bike coming towards me. I asked him whether he could drop me near the forest office, to which he readily agreed. After a km or so he stopped and said that his house is that way - pointing to a path that led off the road and the office was in the opposite direction just up the the road. I thanked him. He asked me to take the short cut through a small footpath etched into the hillside. I climbed up through the bushes and cut across some trees to land directly in front of the office. The road on the other hand goes straight and takes a hair pin turn to get to the office. The officer there said that the trekking fees was Rs.750 for a group, even if that group has only one person. I already knew this, so I agreed and paid the amount. I also asked him to provide me with a guide. (This turned out to be the only smart move from my part on that day). The name of the guide was Rajesh. From the office to the start of the trek was another 3 kms or so. I was starting to walk and the officer who gave me the ticket said that the guide will take you in his bike. Yay!! Finally! The bike was actually a Honda Activa Scooter, I am not complaining or anything. It was a great ride. The only real problem was the road. It was pathetic and I was afraid that the shocks might break because of the gutters. Rajesh explained that the whole area is owned by the Chembra Estate and they haven't handed over the roads to the government. So there is currently a dispute going on regarding the ownership and hence the roads aren't being repaired. After 10 more minutes of back breaking gutters we finally came to a stop near a check post. The ticket I  took from the office was checked here. They will also checked your bags for alcohol and other prohibited materials. Since I had a guide with me they didn't bother to check my bags. You also have to pay a deposit for the plastic bottles that you carry up. You'll get the deposit back when you bring back the empty bottles. This is done to discourage littering (Again I was not made to pay this.)

From there we began what would turn out to be one the most grueling 45 minutes I've ever had. The trek starts out slow and steady. The path isn't much difficult to engage, but its very deceptive. The slow ascent is almost unnoticeable at first and too easy that you start to take it faster and end up tired before you know it. Rajesh had warned me about this, but being too excited I completely forgot to take it easy. The start of the trail looks somewhat like this. After some 100 meters or so the terrain starts to change and you can feel the ruggedness of the ground beneath you. Within another 10 minutes I was relying on the water i was carrying with me. Blame it on the sun and my bloody stubbornness to climb in the middle of the summer. Soon enough  we broke through the trees and came into a clearing and I was looking back to a spectacular view.

Behind me far below is the tea estate through which I came. We were now above the canopy of trees and directly under the sun. The climb was starting to become a bit more difficult. I slowed down a bit and started taking more water breaks. I kept on asking how much more and Rajesh would always reply 'A bit more, just a bit more'. All along we kept overtaking other groups.So I guess we were still the fastest that day. Sometimes we would encounter some steep climbs and there would always be an alternative route which Rajesh would suggest. Often I was forced to climb on all fours and the dry ground would sometimes be slippery with the gravel. After climbing over yet another small hill the peak became more prominent.

The summit was shrouded in clouds and in was beyond another stupid hill. I was getting tired of these small hills. There seemed to be no end to them. The only solace amidst was the fact that I am actually doing this. Finally, we reached the final point of the trek. The heart-shaped lake. The peak still loomed above us waiting to be explored. But after the recent sighting of a rare species of bird the trek to the summit has been restricted. It was now time to relax and take in the sights. There was a cool breeze and the view was reward enough for the climb. From here once can view all the major parts of Wayanad. There were only two groups at the the top when we arrived. After some time other parties began to trickle in. And soon enough everyone started clicking away to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and what not!! I guess a couple of pictures wont be enough. I'll never know. This was how the peak looked that day.

We had ran out of water and Rajesh said he'd go an get some from a nearby stream and asked me to wait here. Left all alone I was pondering about the sad state in which our forests and parks are reduced to. There is control on the amount of deforestation that's occurring and pretty soon more and more bald spots will appear amidst the greenery. If I were to come back here after 10 years there might not be much to see, i,e if the trend is left unchecked. We have a responsibility to the generation that comes after us. The forests, rivers and mountains that we inherited should be given to them in a better condition than  when we first got it. Rajesh came back with a bottle full of fresh stream water. It was really cold and surprisingly clear and tasteless. I was not able to find a single speck of dirt in it. He said that they all use the very same water directly without any purification whatsoever. From the view point he showed places like Kalpetta, Vythiri etc. I don't exactly remember the whole list, besides it was a bit cloudy and hence I could make out very less of the places that were shown. I took some more pics of the peak as the clouds parted and decided that it was time to head back.

Getting down is as difficult as climbing. This is a fact that we all conveniently forget, until gravity starts shoving at your back. We descended at twice the pace and pretty soon we were half way down. On the way down I clicked more pics of the mountains that were on either side. Were were practically jumping  and hopping down when  I misjudged my landing and along with my current momentum I couldn't stop there. I started to run down so as not to fall down and yelled out to Rajesh, who was directly in front of me. He promptly stepped out of the way so that I wont collide into him and take him down with me. I was able to slow down and stop myself by grabbing hold of a branch. After this I became more cautious. All the while we could see new groups climbing up. After retrieving my bag from the watch tower we walked back to the parking area where the scooter was kept. Back at the ticket counter I had a hearty meal, which we had ordered in advance (before we started). After that Rajesh dropped me off at the auto stand from where I took another shared ride to Meppadi. On the way back to my hotel room I decided to visit Pookodu lake asI had enough time on my hands. I got off at Chundale Junction and took another bus, which dropped me off at Thalipuzha Bus Stand from where I walked for 10 mins and reached the lake. I've been here before a couple of times. But this is the first time just by myself. I've never been a fan of boating, so i skipped it. You have to pay 10 rupees for an entry ticket. Found an empty bench overlooking the lake. It was a clear sunny day and there are a lot of tourists. Some were trying their hand (read leg) at pedal boats, while others took the motor boats.  After a while I decided to take  a walk around the lake and return back to my room.

As you can see Wayanad, is a pretty vast area and it cannot be covered in a single day. My primary goal was to visit Chembra peak and I completed it. I'm sure the scenery would look much much better once the rains arrive. The hear shaped lake and the trail path would all be blanketed in greenery and even as I'm writing this I'm planning to take another trip after the rains. It is best to avoid trekking while the monsoon is at its peak. Also it' pretty disheartening that I was not able to trek all the way to the peak. I seriously doubt that they'll re-open it to the public.

Until next time :)