[ampere]

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Ampere bhai, was not able to go to the trek as I was completely down and out due to viral fever. But my friend went for the trek along with the guards. He sighted bisons and other wild life during the trek. Actually that was the worst part, listening to him talking about the wild life sightings, the omni present fog, etc. Sigh!!

I saw your update on the railway TL. Hope you have recovered by now.
Nothing bad like listening to a TL from someone, with whom you were supposed to go! More so, if its a trek!

Hoping to catch up with more.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Ampere bhai, was not able to go to the trek as I was completely down and out due to viral fever. But my friend went for the trek along with the guards. He sighted bisons and other wild life during the trek. Actually that was the worst part, listening to him talking about the wild life sightings, the omni present fog, etc. Sigh!!

Tell me about it!! You will definitely feel bad when you miss out something you wanted to do and it hurts even more hearing that you missed out on all the fun. I had enrolled for the Tiger Census here Karnataka last year and was supposed to go to BR Hills along with a friend. But, just a couple of days before the census was to begin, I was injured while playing badminton and could not walk. And this had to happen 2 days before the census. I had to be content hearing about the different sightings my friend had (no, he did not sight a tiger).

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Actually that was the worst part, listening to him talking about the wild life sightings, the omni present fog, etc. Sigh!!

Originally Posted by ampere

Nothing bad like listening to a TL from someone, with whom you were supposed to go! More so, if its a trek!

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Tell me about it!! You will definitely feel bad when you miss out something you wanted to do and it hurts even more hearing that you missed out on all the fun.

Completely agree.
I have missed what would have been the best trek so far for me.
it hurts even more if you yourself planned for the whole trek and finally ended up not going.
Me and my friend had planned a lot and finalised a trek in gangotri - gomukh - tapovan for 10 days, and finally I couldn't make it due to some issues at work I planned for the detailed itenerary, made all the travel bookings, planned for other activities like river rafting at hrishikesh and visit to corbett...finally, couldn't make it![2 smileys are not enough to convey my pain]
My friends who made it to the trek still make sure they rub it in whenever they get an opportunity

[ampere]

Originally Posted by figo_united

Me and my friend had planned a lot and finalised a trek in gangotri - gomukh - tapovan for 10 days

The Gangotri Tapovan thing reminds me. There used to be something called the
"Old Pilgrim's route from Gangotri to Kedarnath via Tapovan.

That used to be one of the most arduous treks. But looks like it's now been stopped by the authorities.

[ampere]

While looking through old snaps, found another one of the lake at Devarayanadurga.
It made me realize was how sunlight can change the texture of a place!
The water looked blue in snap which I posted before.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...ml#post2391994

This updated snap, makes it look totally different. (All this difference in a matter of 15 minutes!)



I must say, its one amazing place for landscape photography!

[deky]

Went on The Kailash Mansarovar yatra recently and realised that the Kumaon area and specially the Pithoragrah region is a beautifull place to trek.

Here is a map of the region which I have scanned from the Kumaon Mandal brochure attached. This indicates the trekking and other routes beautifully.

It can be used as reference who are going up north and looking for trekking routes

click on the picture for a larger map

[ampere]

Very nice @deky!
It must be a divine experience going there.

[deky]

Originally Posted by ampere

Very nice @deky!
It must be a divine experience going there.

Yes it was indeed. A complete test of one's stamina and endurance!!!

regards

[rk_sans]

Can any of you suggest a place where we can camp(something like pitch a tent, cook food, bonfire,etc..) for a night. I am fine if it includes little bit of trekking also but not difficult/moderate trekking.

Adding some more info:
Any place in karnataka, preferably with 300kms of bangalore.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by rk_sans

Can any of you suggest a place where we can camp(something like pitch a tent, cook food, bonfire,etc..) for a night. I am fine if it includes little bit of trekking also but not difficult/moderate trekking.

Adding some more info:
Any place in karnataka, preferably with 300kms of bangalore.

There is a place called Kaginahare approx 45 kms from Sakleshpur. There is a small ruined fort at this place and surrounding this place are grasslands where there are places good enough to camp. You can try here. You can take your car till about 1 km to the fort.

Another place is Ballalarayanadurga. This is near Kalasa and also has an old fort out there. I'm not sure if it can be reached by a car, but you can reach there in an SUV or if you trek. Nearby homestays also offer camping options at this place.

Please note that is rainy season and it might be raining at these places which will make it tough to put up a fire.

A request: Please do not put blaring music and litter the place where you camp.

[Nutty Nair]

Tracking at Thenmala.

More pictures and log to follow in Travelogues section.

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

There is a place called Kaginahare approx 45 kms from Sakleshpur. There is a small ruined fort at this place and surrounding this place are grasslands where there are places good enough to camp. You can try here. You can take your car till about 1 km to the fort.

Another place is Ballalarayanadurga. This is near Kalasa and also has an old fort out there. I'm not sure if it can be reached by a car, but you can reach there in an SUV or if you trek. Nearby homestays also offer camping options at this place.

Please note that is rainy season and it might be raining at these places which will make it tough to put up a fire.

A request: Please do not put blaring music and litter the place where you camp.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will get in touch for more info if required.

The pure idea to do camping is to be away from all electronic gadgets and enjoy the nature. Absolutely no littering also . Thanks for the suggestion

[ampere]

@Addy,

- How good/helpful/effective was the Garmin eTrex?
Esp from a battery standpoint?
- Can you added extra pencil cell like battery (used as back-up)?
- What maps do you have for them? They should be terrain maps?
If yes, are they available in India?

(I thought I would post this in your TL, but on second thoughts, realized, this
thread would be better to have all trekking related details)

@Nutty, just one snap? Where is the story?
Addy has also left us in the forest!

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Tracking at Thenmala.
Attachment 601793
More pictures and log to follow in Travelogues section.

Nutty, the picture is too inviting. Don't leave us high and dry. Put up the travelogue ASAP

Originally Posted by ampere

@Addy,

- How good/helpful/effective was the Garmin eTrex?
Esp from a battery standpoint?
- Can you added extra pencil cell like battery (used as back-up)?
- What maps do you have for them? They should be terrain maps?
If yes, are they available in India?

(I thought I would post this in your TL, but on second thoughts, realized, this
thread would be better to have all trekking related details)

@Nutty, just one snap? Where is the story?
Addy has also left us in the forest!

My eTrex Vista H runs on 2 AA batteries. So, you can always carry extras. I used 2 Duracells on the trek and it lasted one whole day of continuous usage. I was recording the tracks as well as plotting the waypoints. So, I guess it was pretty good backup. I used it on the second day too, but don't remember when I changed it.

As far as maps are concerned, I never used any map. I don't think terrain maps are available for the Garmin here in India. It was just a base map of the world preloaded with the GPS unit.

Regarding the effectiveness, I had marked the Ombattu Gudda peak and other nearby landmarks for reference before we set out on the trek. These were just for reference, so that if we ever got lost, we would atleast have an idea where we were. We did get lost and all we did was follow the heading we took on a previously marked point.

Another thing was that we recorded tracks wherever we went. This would have helped us if we were lost and wanted to go back on the same route we came from.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Another thing was that we recorded tracks wherever we went. This would have helped us if we were lost and wanted to go back on the same route we came from.

Addy thanks for that info. It would be very useful to build a db of tracks.
I hope these logs also get stored in the same GPX/GDB formats, which can be opened in Mapsource.