B2M - Bodi to Munar Trek Dec 12-13

[Balu]

Bodi To Munnar Trek

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An Invite for Moderate trek tracing the ancient tea route between Bodi and Munnar.

Trek Duration: 2 days.
Trek Dates: December 12 and 13 2009.
Trek Expense: 1500 (shared food, travel expense etc.) - CTC is non-profit club and cost is shared among all.
Seats Availability - Limited (First come basis) [The trek group is lmited to 25]
Trek Transportation Mode - Bus .

Trekking Routes:
- Bodi -> Top Station
- Top Station -> A nearyby peak,


Note :
~~~~~
* Participants should be in good physical condition as this is a moderate trek involving good amount of walking.
* Organizers will take care of Food, Stay, Transportation.
* Leech preventing stuff is required as we will encounter leeches on the way.

AGENDA
````````````
Saturday December 12

- Arrive Bodi by bus at 0600.
- Take an auto to Korangani
- start trekking at 0700 hrs towards top station, not before spending time in the water falls.
- Reach Top station for lunch,
- Trek back to Ground nearyby for camp.

Sunday December 13

- Start to wards a near by peak with only GPS to guide.
- Return back through Top station and Korangani finally reaching BODI

** - Plan can be changed. if we encounter rain or any other natural obstacles.

A Sneak Peak on B2M:
http://sathitharan.wordpress.com/my-trek-log/munnar-tea-route/

MUST CARRY LUGGAGE:
--------------------------------
Good walking shoes.
Small/medium back.
Torch light [LED] or Head Lamp.
Personal medical stuff.
Preventive stuff from leeches.
Extra Set of cloth.
Extra cash of 500
3 water bottle (either full or empty) is sufficient
Camera
Sleeping Mat and Sleeping Bag.
Rain Jacket / Rain poncho, we may encounter a slight shower.

Advance money to be paid - 1500 [Advance money will not be returned in-case of dropout]
Money can either be handed over to organizer/s or can be transferred to the following account/s.

Contact Organizer/s (CTC - Team)
Balu - 9840107176 - [e-mail]
Stalin sathitharan - 9790062226 - [e-mail]

[Balu]

Registration Closed. Here's the Final List of Participants:

Name	Boarding At
Ananda Bharathi G	Chennai
Lavanya	Chennai
Gunasekaran S	Chennai
Alfonso	Chennai
Marie paul	Chennai
S.R.Praveen	Chennai
Bharat Routray	Chennai
Vasanth	Chennai
Chandrasekar	Chennai
Anurag Singh	Chennai
Yash Moghe	Chennai
Shikhar Pant	Chennai
NITIN N. JADHAV	Chennai
Ajay Kumar	Chennai
Ravikanth K	Chennai
Maruthi Raj	Chennai
Bala Senthil (Rock Bala)	Chennai
Ram Gopalan	Chennai
Raja Sekhar	Chennai
Dinesh	Chennai
MuthuKumar	Chennai
Vijayan	Chennai
Alex Franklin Jude	Chennai
Balu	Chennai
Tarannum Abbasi	Vilupuram
Stalin	Bodi

[Balu]

It was an awesome Trek. We touched almost 2201m peak. Actually we are supposed to touch 2290m - just left 90m untouched, bcoz of some unavoidable circumstances.


 -- Actual Trial --

 -- The trial shows, till where we Reached --

The CTC's First ever cooking event was also a great success. We had different flavors & taste.

It was a great moment: The Early morning view of 15 Indian Gaurs near 30-50m.
All together we enjoyed the beauty of western ghats.

The following are the Keys or Tags for the B2M trek
Bodi - Trek starting point
Top Board on Van - Seats on the Top Van & the view was really nice.
Kurangani - amazing freezing pool (Nagala you need to have this your side)
Central Station or Middle Station - everybody will remember the snacks shop.
TopStation - A pleasant tourist spot.
Golf Club Ground near Chunduvarai - our camping place. we almost grabbed the bison's home. we were surrounded with bisons (i.e Indian Gaur).
 CTC's Cooking Event  - Excellent Chefs, tasty food, different flavors. B2M has launched the Event.
Chunduvarai Tea Estate - Good Place surrounded with Teaplants
Yellapatty - Its was the nearby place which has transport to reach munar from our camp site.
etc...


Thanks for all the volunteers who supported this trek.

Special thanks to Rajasekar for his Support on Logistics, Team Assembling & Sweeping
Extended thanks to the newly formed sweepers - Rock Bala & Alex Franklin Jude
Ajay - who involved in the Trek Items purchase.


Do upload the pics ASAP.

[Ajay Kumar]

Here goes my pics:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/aj7819/BodiMunnarTrek

[Chandrasekar]

Hi Friends,

Bodi 2 Munnar was an awesome trek, I love visiting Munnar quite often. This place is so romantic that anyone would fall for and this being my 2nd trip to Munnar side, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Day 1 -
We had a dip in the pool and the water was so cold that made me feel difficult to swim.
Gradual ascent to Top station, we had Noodles, Bread Omelet and Kada Muttai :) Yummy Yummy
Walk down to our Camping spot amidst fear of wildlife (Indian Gaur and Elephants).
Cooking event - Poha (Aval Uppma - Maharashtra style), Veg Pulao, Puliyodhara Rice and last but not the least Aalo fry.

Day 2 -
Relaxed morning for few who spent time having tiffin in canteen, playing cards, cooking food for lunch and of course taking some pics.
Some went to climb a nearby peak.
Everyone assembled after lunch and proceeded to Bodi to catch the bus to Chennai.
 
I thank Balu and Stalin for organizing such a wonderful trek.

Please find the link to my album below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/chandru.raghu/TrekBodi2Munnar#

[mk]

Thanks to Stalin and Balu for squeezing me in and for arranging this wonderful Trek.

Ajay and Chandru, thanks for sharing your beautiful photos

And i hope others are uploading theirs

[peter.vangeit]

Thanks Stalin and Balu for organizing this wonderful trek.

Peter.

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 7:49 PM, Chandrasekar [via Chennai Trekking Club] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Friends,

Bodi 2 Munnar was an awesome trek, I love visiting Munnar quite often. This place is so romantic that anyone would fall for and this being my 2nd trip to Munnar side, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Day 1 -
We had a dip in the pool and the water was so cold that made me feel difficult to swim.
Gradual ascent to Top station, we had Noodles, Bread Omelet and Kada Muttai :) Yummy Yummy
Walk down to our Camping spot amidst fear of wildlife (Indian Gaur and Elephants).
Cooking event - Poha (Aval Uppma - Maharashtra style), Veg Pulao, Puliyodhara Rice and last but not the least Aalo fry.

Day 2 -
Relaxed morning for few who spent time having tiffin in canteen, playing cards, cooking food for lunch and of course taking some pics.
Some went to climb a nearby peak.
Everyone assembled after lunch and proceeded to Bodi to catch the bus to Chennai.
 
I thank Balu and Stalin for organizing such a wonderful trek.

Please find the link to my album below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/chandru.raghu/TrekBodi2Munnar#

---

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--
Peter Van Geit
Dare to create your own path rather than follow existing trails
http://www.google.com/profiles/peter.vangeit

[Bharat Routray]

Thanks to Balu and Stalin..for arranging this excellent trek.
Many thanks to Rock Bala for sweeping all the way and bearing with the laggers .
And thanks to Marie for the painkiller..that made my 2nd return easier.
It was wonderful experience being with u all guys.
Here goes my few clicks
B2M Bharat

[zeus alias ram]

This was my first trek with CTC, awesome it was i enjoyed each moments of my trek a lot. Stalin enthusiasm and balu ( Calm & composer) helped the team to climb up....... Each trek has it own positive and negatives. this one also had some good learning. which helped the organizer to make preventive actions. The beauty of the golf land still lies in my mind ( which brush my thought every day ). Smile on the people face making jokes, pulling each other lending hands made each other know well. the Trekking  towards annamudi peak could have been better arranged, still we were able to enjoy the view of each place. the food was awesome, we got together cooked and had, this was lot fun. i will soon post my pictures.

[Alex Franklin]

hi guys,
how ya doin. these are the pics from my cam:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.franklin.jude/CTCB2M1213Dec09#

i still hav some more pics from my mobile from the top of the van and pics from another cam which i'll post with a detailed write up.... keep ur posts and pics comin.... saw a lotta cams durin the trip but very little has been posted... so come on guys!!!!!!

[Maru]

My Dear Chennai Trekkers,
It was a wonderful Trek. Thank you Stalin and Balu for organizing it. The view right from Bodi till Halfway through to Alamudi view was awesome, so much so that, Ram kept lamenting ' What a View ' a hundred times every hour. The dinner was great. It was as good as my own cooking, especially the Pulao. :) First Poha was great and so would have been the second one, if only the participants who weren't prepared enough to attack the first one had little patience to let Anurag finish it. The best food of the trek was so-called-Chicken Biriyani we found in the middle of nowhere in an Omni. A handful of us finished it in Raj Kiran's style. Only bones were left in the plate in a matter of seconds. God bless the Omni guy and his family. The best part of the trek was returning in total darkness after celebrating Christmas and New yr in Mid Station. The worst part of Trek was watching Thoranai while returning. Last but not the least, This was my first rendezvous with the leaches and boy, dont they love me. I got bit in my right eyelid and twice each in my right and left leg. I love you too guys.

Here is the link to mera pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/maruvit/CTCB2M#

P.s: Stalin macha, i need to call my friend in Russia. Can you give me the isd code

[Balu]

I guess you guys had a deep sleep, even if an elephant stamps on you - you would continue sleeping ?
Its really crazy, Maruthi raj was sleeping inside the tent with all coats, sleeping mats etc... How come the leech went inside???

I think only 5 - 6 guys were sleeping outside including me without having tents & tarpaulin sheets.
Definitely everyone felt the cold outside.


There are some protocols which has to be followed in Western ghats or in dense forest.
1. No camp fire unless for survival [Ruled out completely in this B2M]
2. Don't Get panic & Run when you see animals and finally make the animals to charge at you [I don't want to comment on this]

check the Video here : Try to understand whats reality, this works in 80% cases.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZye09ckAo

There are some places in Western Ghats [India], the trekkers, wildlife photographers, wildlife activists, whomsoever are allowed to drink water from the stream, only like animals [as a deer drinks water]. Bcoz they doesn't want to disturb the tilt there.

check this video: this is what will happen when its tempted. I guess this video is better to understand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNvTHOrTf_Y

etc...

I just wanted to share this information. This is no kind of advice. You can ask any Wildlife Photographers, Wildlife activists etc... about their views. I just wanted to ensure the safety of us & animals.

[Robin]

One of the best treks I ever had ...
My first with CTC ... very well organized ...
We started off from Korangani and reached the waterfall cum pool nearby.. The water was damn cold and it was really difficult to swim and breathe inside (though I know swimming)  .... Thanks to Guna and Alex for saving my *** in the pool
Lemon juice at middle station was awesome and so was the 'passion' fruit about which I had never heard. This fruit we got near the top station. Though the second group, of which I was a member, lost the track after top station and we struggled to find the way till golf course, we enjoyed the photography tricks with low shutter speed in the dark by poncho ... and then came a biker who became savior for us and led us to the golf course (our camping site) ... We had a nice nap with tarpaulin covering the sleeping bags and protecting us from the drizzle ...
Next day, the trek to hill top was awesome .. the first time I encountered leaches, though I have trekked more than a dozen times in Sahyadris .. A single look at Yash's leg was enough for me to become much more cautious about those tiny but wicked creatures .. The view from the top was amazing (though we missed the actual peak to which we initially planned to go) .... Balu's persistence to trek to the highest peak went in vain as everyone wanted to head back to the camping site ...
The return trip was more of a challenge for us and even more for Stalin as the two groups (one which went with bus and the other which trekked down to Korangani) wanted to beat each other in the quest to reach Bodi .. Finally .. the ebullience shown by the group trekking down won ... We edged the other group by 5 minutes .... The best part of the trek was downhill walk (or call it run ) from top station to middle station which we completed in 40 minutes ... and at the middle station we celebrated Christmas and New Year .. It grew dark by the time we started from middle station and the next half took almost 1 hour and 45 minutes ...
Hats off to Stalin and all the other organizers  ....
One more special mention to that Biryani guy who made the day for starving trekkers .. The Biryani may not be the best we had but surely will be the one which we all will remember for a long long time to come ...

Its sad that this was my last trip of the year (as I am off to Goa for New Years ) ... Will join you guys next year after 3rd of Jan ...

[Balu]

I was taking 11 of the group from the Golf Court to Bodi. I need to thank all the 10 guys.
FYI - Some of the people who went in the first batch, has literally left everything except them.
We almost took 1hr to clean the place. We found 4 eating plates, 3 spoons, T-shirt, couple of sleeping bags, cooking items everything left out.

I told to offer the food supplies, plates etc.. to the person who lived near the Golf ground.

We collected the trash, dispersed the ashes, folded the Tarpaulin sheets, washed the vessels etc.
We climbed almost 1hr 20min uphill and reached a nearby village Yellapatty, without any trial - carrying all the left outs  . From there we were delayed 30mins to get our F1 Jeeps.

Alex & Ravikanth are the guys who vomited, in this race. Alex reported a severe Shoulder pain in this battle.

We have taken lots & lots of efforts and reached exactly at the same time.
So we are the definite winners.

[Balasenthil P]

yes balu,

after we did all those cleaning works, carried all the heavy loads without dinner, even some of us havnt took our lunch also,
we reached bodi,
we r the real winners

& i will post my detail write up as soon as possible

Balasenthil (Rock Bala)

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 4:18 PM, Balu [via Chennai Trekking Club] <[hidden email]> wrote:

I was taking 11 of the group from the Golf Court to Bodi. I need to thank all the 10 guys.
FYI - Some of the people who went in the first batch, has literally left everything except them.
We almost took 1hr to clean the place. We found 4 eating plates, 3 spoons, T-shirt, couple of sleeping bags, cooking items everything left out.

I told to offer the food supplies, plates etc.. to the person who lived near the Golf ground.

We collected the trash, dispersed the ashes, folded the Tarpaulin sheets, washed the vessels etc.
We climbed almost 1hr 20min uphill and reached a nearby village Yellapatty, without any trial - carrying all the left outs  . From there we were delayed 30mins to get our F1 Jeeps.

Alex & Ravikanth are the guys who vomited, in this race. Alex reported a severe Shoulder pain in this battle.

We have taken lots & lots of efforts and reached exactly at the same time.
So we are the definite winners.

Balu

http://baluchan.narod.ru

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[Muski]

Hi Guys,

I just saw a couple of albums .. awesome pics.
It was my first trek with CTC and was  awesome indeed! I have quite a lot of memories from the trek.
right from the start from Korangani, the waterfall (i should learn to swim asap :P), old british post at middle station, Kattan tea at top station, passion fruit, golf course, chilly weather, campfire, pohe @ night, leeches, climb next day, view from the peak made my day, then the rush back to top station, awesome unexpected biryani out of nowhere, wild running from Top station till middle station (shouting "run forrest run" all the way!), and then the walk back to Korangani in pitch dark.

Cheers guys, hats off to Stalin and Rock Bala.
hope to join you all soon for next trek

Shikhar Pant (Muski)

[Ajay Kumar]

Good info, Balu. The 2nd video is a familiar sight at Yellowstone National Park where Bison roam about freely even during daytime. They are gentle creatures and don't bother humans. But some people forget that they're still wild animals and get too close for their comfort. Don't bother them and they won't bother you!

If you're in a group and confronted by a wild animal, the worst thing you can do is to panic & break away from the group. You'll never out run a wild animal in it's habitat. It's better to stay together as a group since you'll appear physically bigger than the animal. Most animals won't attack a bigger prey. If you run they sense weakness and chase.

[Ravikanth K]

Thankyou Balu and Stallion for organizing such a beautiful trek. And thanks everyone for making it so memorable.

Here goes the pics from my cam:

Sorted: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ravikanth.kurma/Bodi2Munnar_Sorted?feat=directlink
Others: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ravikanth.kurma/Bodi2Munnar_Others?feat=directlink 

Comments and criticism welcome. Hope to meet you all again soon.

Cheers,
Ravi

[Vijayan]

B2M  was a awesome , Zippy , peppy , bouncy trek.  Thank you Bala and stalin for this wonderful trek .
Sequence of events :

1) Dec-12 , Morning : had a nice break fast  , Idly  , vadai , pongal  etc as if attending a marriage function without any awareness of  the 17km +  trek .
2) Bodi to Korangani van ride was filled with beautiful views . Cramped ride inside the van got eased after check post when some of the monkeys perched on top of the van ( sorry guys ) .
3) Reached Korangani  , trekked some distance to reach  the   enrapturing , enchanting charming waterfall and the  icy cold water  pool( COPYING BALA "nagala you should have this " ) .
 


4) Resumed the trek  , break at mid station was fun with coffe , Tea , biscuits  , lemon juice etc . STALIN thanks a lot for this arrangement .
Next reached top station had a sumptuous  meal , moved to camp site .
Camp site , dinner  was excellent  .



5) Dec -13 ,  Trekking back to Korangani from TOP station during night was a excellent , adventurous experience   .

 
At last  an interesting debate has been started .. closely watching ........
wondering who the winner will be ......





 



 
 

[Balu]

Exactly! Ajay.
Thats the point i wanted to share out from that video!