It’s always
said, whenever you wish for something very hard, it does get fulfilled and so did
mine too. I had been planning for it since last Aug and everytime I did plan,
it got cancelled :(. As soon as I saw the event registration at BASC, I never
gave a second thought and just went ahead and registered for it. The
registrations in BASC close in hours and to my surprise I had made it to the
list…. There were no limits to my happiness that day.
Finally
Friday (5th July) was here and I was all set with my bag pack. Made
sure I didn’t miss out anything, reached the station on time and I should admit
was feeling indifferent just like a student would feel when he goes to the
school on first day. The group was totally new to me, all strangers, will I get
adjusted?, Will I feel like a stranger in that group and all those thoughts
running in mind, but also was confident that I would have a great experience.
It was group
of varied age people and we started off talking about our trek experiences and
talking about places visited and their specialties. I learnt a lot from them
and it was inspiring listening to their experiences and somewhere inside did
feel that I am really lagging back and need to explore a lot of stuffs :).
Train
journey was fun…. lot of talks and the bluff cards game that I learnt :P.
Didn’t realize how time flew and we reached our destination Castlerock.
There are 2
ways to reach Dudhsagar via the railway track, one from CastleRock to Dudhsagar
and another from Kulem to Dudhsagar. We started our trek from Castle rock at
11.30am. It was pretty simple route; just follow the railway track…. Amazing
views and landscapes on route, it was bliss for all photographers and for
posers too ;). Not to forget, we all were carrying heavy bagpacks (obviously
had to carry food for 2 days, sleeping bags and tents). It was not easy
walking….. Thanks to the pleasant weather and rain which made the journey fun.
We would stop by and rest on the tracks to grab some food ;).
The moment
you hear the train horn, we would inform each other and move aside the track
and stop by watching the train pass by. We encountered in all 11 tunnels and
was fun and exciting when the train passed by when we were in the tunnel (Scary
and adventurous).
Before we reached Dudhsagar, we saw a lot of small and huge
waterfalls on the way.
I cant forget the first fun at the falls, the water was
forceful and I and Veena didn’t worry much and jumped into the falls to enjoy
the flow ;). That is the time when we felt that all the walk was worth it and
knew the remaining journey would be more fruitful :D. It was noon then, we had our lunch
near those falls and left for our rest of the journey. As we approached
Dudhsagar falls, I could see a lot of crowd at the station and felt the
excitement to see the view of the beautiful falls. As we crossed the final 11th
tunnel, there I got the glimpse of the pretty falls. It was spectacular, simply
amazing and realized why it is called “DudhSagar” (Sea of Milk). As I stood on
the bridge, I could not see the falls for long, the mist was entering the eyes
and covered it. I could feel it more than seeing it ;). An experience I can
never forget…
I could not
wait to unload my luggage and get back to the falls. We pitched our tent, kept our
entire luggage and went to explore the location. I could hear the roar of the
falls loud and clear; it created a mist all around it and never gave us a
direct view of the falls. We walked thru the bridge dividing the falls… I
cannot express it in words, you got to see and experience it yourself :D
We then went
more ahead and explored the falls in between the twin tunnels (#12 and #13).It
was a beautiful sight seeing water seeping through the gap between the tunnels.
We spent our evening there enjoying under the falls and playing around :). As it got 8pm, we had finished with
our dinner and went off to sleep (Since there were no light, it was difficult
to hang around). It rained heavily the whole night and the trains passing by made
it a little difficult to get a proper sleep….but once a while it is fun, being in the vicinity
of the falls and enjoying, feeling it :).
Sunday, we
got ready by 8.30am and had the view of the falls in the daylight. We started our
12km trek to Kulem station. After walking for little distance, we finally came
to the point where we got the complete view, including the bridge which was
passing right through the middle of the falls. Since it was raining heavily,
the fog was covering the view and it was difficult to get a clear view, I tried
capturing the view I could see ;).
We walked
for 4 kms and reached Sonalium station where we diverted our route to the jeep
track which is via the forest. It was somewhere around 4kms trek and got back
to the rail track.
Another 2kms
of walk and we reached a falls (I don’t recollect the name, its 2kms away from
Kulem station). We played in the falls for nearly 2 hours. It was a good body
massage and relaxing :), body really got some relaxation… We knew we were reaching
the end of the trek…. so had mixed feelings. We freshened up in Kulem station
and boarded the train to reach Londa. We got another final view of all the
points on our way back to Londa.
The journey
was just so mesmerizing and cherishable which I can’t forget for my lifetime.
All those talks, breaks on rail tracks, crossing through the gushing stream on
the way to Kulem and sharing of food that we had carried ;) and many more….
Finally we
got a nice group pic of 30 people at Londa station and boarded our train back
to Bangalore. Legs had given up but smiles and glow on the faces said it all
that “The trek was rocking and all had a lot of memories to take away.”
Thank you
BASC group for the lovely trek experience….truly amazing :D
And Yes, I
did learn that there is no age to have fun…. Just be determined and have the
will, you will achieve all that you wish for :).
