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Old 16th April 2010, 14:07   #586
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Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Statutory Warning: Don't try those tips if your future wife happens to be physically stronger than you.
I was noting down all the tips to bachelors so that I can also use them!
Did not realize that there was a Statutory Warning!

BTW, is the track still unused by the railways at Yedakumeri?
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Old 16th April 2010, 15:26   #587
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No, now there are 2 passenger trains running on this track.

Yedakumeri trek was one of its kind in India. Although, unused stretch of railway track was over 100 Kms, trekkers prefer Gundya - Yedakumeri - Donigal because this 30 km track has numerous bridges and tunnels (some are really long!).

This trek was ideal for those with "heightophobia" (fear of heights) and "cavophobia" (fear of caves and dark places)
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Old 16th April 2010, 15:27   #588
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Originally Posted by pulsar56 View Post
BTW, is the track still unused by the railways at Yedakumeri?
Nope. Train services have started full fledged. There are 2 passenger services from either sides (Bangalore & Mangalore) apart from the goods trains. So, traffic is high at the moment.
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:36   #589
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YEDAKUMERI TREK CONTD:

Pic 1: After all of us were on board, we started wondering how to get to Yedakumeri. Go left or go right? After scratching our heads for 10 minutes (I guess the "high" altitude had disoriented us for a moment), we took the left. Anyway, note the guy sitting on the wooden plank on the right. His entire torso goes in between the wooden planks - that's how wide the planks are placed. This is what makes the bridge crossing a slightly unnerving experience.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00717.jpg

Pic 2: After trekking for 10 minutes, we found a waterfall. Whenever Karthic sees a waterfall, he strips off almost completely and sits under the falls. That's how he got his nickname "Shakeela". And once he gets into the water, its difficult to get him out. It takes two men to convince Shakeela to come out of the water.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00718.jpg

Pic 3: Soon, everybody starts complaining about the weight on their backs. Solution? A breakfast to transfer the load from the rucksacks to our stomachs. Since, this was our first trek, we never realized the importance of travelling light - so we carried an entire kitchen with us - gas stove, non-stick cookware, milk powder, tea-bags, maggie etc.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00719.jpg

Pic 4 & 5: Although it was december, the hills were all bare. We expected them to be covered with greenery.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00721.jpg

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00725.jpg

Pic 6: Binny & myself were leading the pack - we were actually far ahead of everybody else. We saw our first tunnel. We switched on our tiny torches and walked 10 metres inside the tunnel. But when we heard strange noises inside (Bats!), both of us scampered outside and posed for the camera till the others caught up with us. Then with high powered torches, we entered our first tunnel. The bats bombarded us with crap, and we crossed the tunnel with the jackets over our heads.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00722.jpg

Pic 7: Now you know how we got the phrase "Light at the end of the tunnel"

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00727.jpg

Pic 8: The Bangalore - Mangalore train journey in the monsoons through this type of landscape will be fantastic.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00728.jpg

Pic 9: Not everybody finds crossing bridges scary. Some take on the bridge like they are walking in a park (see the guy in the middle with a stick), others like Me/Shakeela/Binny have our arms outstretched for balance and look only down & nowhere else. And a few others have the philosophy of "We'll cross the bridge when we come to it" - they just don't think too much about it.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00730.jpg

Pic 10: With a heavy load on his back, Shakeela's face is contorted, red and sweaty. But put a camera infront of his face, he starts grinning. After the photo is taken, his face goes back to its original state.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00731.jpg
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Old 17th April 2010, 01:26   #590
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
[b]

Pic 6: Binny & myself were leading the pack - we were actually far ahead of everybody else. We saw our first tunnel. We switched on our tiny torches and walked 10 metres inside the tunnel. But when we heard strange noises inside (Bats!), both of us scampered outside and posed for the camera till the others caught up with us. Then with high powered torches, we entered our first tunnel. The bats bombarded us with crap, and we crossed the tunnel with the jackets over our heads.

Attachment 331022
Macho aah?

Please post more pictures dude, I am following your posts everyday and time consumed is decreasing day by day
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Old 17th April 2010, 01:40   #591
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smartcat,

In Pic no 6 ( before the tunnel) you are really looking smart .. ..Great going ..

Thanks,
Srini..
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Old 17th April 2010, 07:30   #592
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@Smartcat - After 40 odd pages, man, sounds little boring from the way it started. Bring on the car trips like the one you did in Jaisalmer.
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Old 17th April 2010, 09:24   #593
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Originally Posted by sriswe View Post
smartcat,

In Pic no 6 ( before the tunnel) you are really looking smart .. ..Great going ..

Thanks,
Srini..
+ to that !
I was about to say the same .....
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Old 17th April 2010, 10:46   #594
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Cat here are the snaps. But as suspected I dont have the snaps of the station where we branched off. But as I told you we started from Subramanya.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00020.jpg

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00016.jpg

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100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00014.jpg

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00013.jpg

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00012.jpg
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Old 17th April 2010, 10:50   #595
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Two more. Mods sorry for the back to back posts.
100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00011.jpg

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-00006.jpg
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Old 17th April 2010, 10:58   #596
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranjan Sharma View Post
Macho aah? Please post more pictures dude, I am following your posts everyday and time consumed is decreasing day by day
I'm too lazy to post more than 10 pics per post
Also, I'm only posting pics of scenaries or gang members doing some activity. There are lots of pics with some of us staring at the camera and grinning - I'm not posting those.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sriswe View Post
smartcat, In Pic no 6 ( before the tunnel) you are really looking smart. Great going
Quote:
Originally Posted by ampere View Post
+ to that ! I was about to say the same .....
ehh? Really? That was my "nice guy" look in 2003. Nowadays, I have the more eccentric "advertising guy" look.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aargee View Post
@Smartcat - After 40 odd pages, man, sounds little boring from the way it started. Bring on the car trips like the one you did in Jaisalmer.
I guess I have to go to Jaisalmer again to get the car trips like the one we did to Jaisalmer! Although almost everybody loves roadtrips, there are some who like trekking too. Trekking builds character. The one real life change in me after I started trekking was - now, I don't mind either sleeping in the car or staying at a Rs. 100/night "temple accomodations". Not being fussy helps!
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Old 17th April 2010, 12:44   #597
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ampere View Post
Cat here are the snaps. But as suspected I dont have the snaps of the station where we branched off. But as I told you we started from Subramanya.
Checked the internet - the place you started off from is about 15 km from Gundya and 8 km from Shiribagilu. So I guess you did 30 Km in a day!

Which year was this? Looks like track refurbishment was in progress. From the pics, looks like all those rickety wooden planks were being replaced by steel bars.
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Old 17th April 2010, 13:04   #598
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Checked the internet - the place you started off from is about 15 km from Gundya and 8 km from Shiribagilu. So I guess you did 30 Km in a day!

Which year was this? Looks like track refurbishment was in progress. From the pics, looks like all those rickety wooden planks were being replaced by steel bars.
This was in 2005 (I think). We had did quite a walk that day.
Apart from the trek on the track, we did another 5 Km easily through the dense jungle to hit the main road.

On top of it, we halted near a stream for food (after getting of the tracks). When we nearing completion,
we realized that some thing (not sure what) had smelt our food. There was quite some rumbling behind the bushes.
We ran for lives not taking a moment to see what that was. It could have a wild animal or a just a dog not sure !

What you said is also true:
From Kukke town, we took a bus to the Subramanya road station
(which would have been about 15 minutes, not sure of the distance).

Folks also note the Truck Modifcation in the snaps.
A nice Truck-Rail !! I was pleasantly surprised looking at that.

Crossing the first bridge was also a bit chilling. Then I realized the trick.
The trick is not to look down and in true sense do a CATWALK!!
In other words walk in a straight line right in the center of the track where the iron sheet is rolled out.

Last edited by ampere : 17th April 2010 at 13:13.
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Old 18th April 2010, 00:39   #599
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ampere View Post
In other words walk in a straight line right in the center of the track where the iron sheet is rolled out.
I was about to mention that bit


YEDAKUMERI RAILWAY TREK CONTD:

Pic 1: At many tunnels, you have the option of not going through it - you can go over it from the sides.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00733.jpg

Pic 2: Which can be useful, because a couple of tunnels were flooded with 3 or 4 feet of rain water.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00738.jpg

Pic 3: Disuse of the track is quite obvious at some places.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00739.jpg

Pic 4: Although we had already wasted enough time fooling around in the waterfalls & having a grand breakfast, we always stopped to smell the roses & daisies.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00736.jpg

Pic 5: Low flying clouds cast a shadow on the hills.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00741.jpg

Pic 6: It is past 2:00 PM now, and we unpack our lunch - MTR ready-to-eat meals. Those things were heavy allright, because after lunch, all our rucksacks were light as a feather.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00744.jpg

Pic 7: Some of us had already left the "lunch spot" and continued the trek. But Karthic who was the last one to leave found this camouflaged green snake about 15 feet from where we were having lunch.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00746.jpg

Pic 8: This is the longest (250 metres), tallest and the scariest bridge. As ampere suggested, the trick is to walk on the metal plate at the centre of the bridge. Unfortunately, the metal plate was missing at places where there was the biggest gap in the wooden planks.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00747.jpg

Pic 9: This is another one of those long curvy bridges. Since different trekkers had varying confidence levels, overtaking was allowed - but you need to take the right-most lane (like in an expressway). But since Jagga was impatient, he continued walking on the "fast lane". A couple of planks were wet, and Jagga slipped and fell.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00748.jpg

Pic 10: Thankfully, he fell on his face, and not to his side. Binny is our resident "Mommy" - he blasted Jagga at the top of his voice. Jagga probably would have never got such an earful from his own mother.

100,000 kms on Indian Highways, 6 treks & a Couple of Flights-dsc00749.jpg
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Old 18th April 2010, 02:29   #600
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Aha. Was waiting for the snap of a snake. Good one there. I love snakes.
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