9 Gudda : The way back!

Please read Part 1,Part 2 and Part 3 before reading this.

Okay! There was not bear and I was not hallucinating. Shashi and Deesu who had ventured into the forest were returning. Though they came back together, few feet away from us, they took different paths to come towards us. It was deesu who was wearing dark colored trouser and shirt. He stopped momentarily and at that time he was behind a tree. The tree blocked his face and I could see only his legs and it looked as a bear which stopped near that tree and stood upright. It all happened within seconds. And again no animals were seen till then.

Everyone started gulping chapathis . Shashi and Deesu who went inside forest did not find and any proper way forward. So we decided to finish our ‘breakfast’ and then decide what to do. Post ‘breakfast’, again option to go back was rejected and no one wanted to go back in that thorny grass path again. Though this time thought of going back was much serious than earlier ones. So we were again on our way(?) in search of some way. There was one stretch of small bushes. Had to crawl through that to reach the end of it. From there we were actually seeing the peak we were supposed to reach, but had to cross the dense forest and had no idea what to expect in that forest. Though we went ahead in that direction where we saw the peak, encountered a cliff after few meters and had to come back. Discussion of what to do was happening more and more now, which included going back. It was concluded that since we were able to see the peak, we will take a left turn(right turn would have taken us away from peak) and do climb where ever we see the inclination. Idea was to reach a point where we get proper mobile signal. It was really appreciable aspect of our group that though clear decisions did not happen at times and some cribbing had started, we stayed as a group. Again we set out in the forest with Deesu leading the group. There was a strong feeling (as always) that we were not far from the destination. Actually that was always there, it was only that we did not reach it Physically. We walked for next few minutes towards unknown. Fortunately it was relatively easier. No thorns! No creepers! Only trees canopy was present. And again we hit a cliff and we stopped there in despair. But, a silver lining was waiting for us.

At the place we stopped, our mobile was showing some traces of signal. Nitin and Kummi, both called one of their friends/relatives. Our intention was to know where we were. Fortunately our Garmin GPS latched to some satellites and showed our co-ordinates. But before we could communicate the co-ordinates to the people who were conversing, mobile signal disappeared. But soon it was back and this time before we could communicate the co-ordinates, GPS went blank, but came back after few minutes. Finally we were able to give our co-ordinates. We started getting several information with their help. First info we received was that we are already on grassland!

But we were deep inside forest as we could see. We checked the co-ordinates again. This time it seemed we got different co-ordinates from GPS (perhaps more correction was required on previous reading). The new information was provided to our friends. And this time we got couple of info. That we were on the edge of the forest and grassland is not far and perhaps a walk 30-40 should be enough to reach it. Second info was that if we continue to walk in the same path with which we reached where we were, we could reach grassland and then reach the ‘9 Gudda’ peak from there. But for that we had to go walk through forest again. We were still discussing what to do. Requesting for a Helicopter rescue was also considered. No joke! We actually considered that. We just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Another option we had was to reach some plain land and if possible camp there that night and next day either come back or plan to go ahead towards ‘9 Gudda’ peak. But we more or less ran out of water already. Most of us were tense as our watches were telling it’s around 3 PM. And then came couple of calls.Perhaps the most important call in this entire trek. One from Sanjeev(Nitin’s friend) and one from Kummi’s cousin. Both suggested same thing. Travel North! And that we are already on ‘9 Gudda’. All we had to do was walk towards North side for around 30-40 minutes to find grassland and from there we could easily reach the peak through grassland. With the hope that if we reach some grassland(open/plain land), in worst case ,can call for helicopter, without wasting any more time we started climbing the inclined land towards our north side, which had ‘small/medium size plants/trees'. We would have trekked hardly for around 10-15 minutes only to find out that the info we got was WRONG!

Wrong, I meant on the positive side. We reached grassland in 10 minutes. Not in 30 - 40 minutes! Happiness started from our heart, travelled through our throat and came out of our mouth through whistles and shouts and roars. We could clearly see human trail through that grassland which was ending at ‘9 Gudda’ peak. Shashi declared that he now recognizes the place and pointed @ a small tree at a distance where they had rested when they were here last time. We could also see traces of some people camping there. After trekking through grassland for few minutes we rested for a while under shade of small tree. We tried to arrange for a Jeep which could pick us up after we climb down ‘9 Gudda’ peak from other side. But unfortunately it did not materialize. That meant more walking. Over next couple of hours we found ourselves trekking through grassland in visible human trail. Walking without shade was tiring and we took frequent breaks. We reached the peak just in time for sunset. It was one of the most amazing moments of our trek. we finally had reached the destination we planned for. In one piece. Though late by around 24 hours, we were there! View of mother nature from there seemed to heal the pains we went through for past 2 days. After almost 2 days of hard trekking we were set to start from the peak only after spending around 20 minutes ( I was one of the last to arrive and spent only around 20 minutes) as we had to climb down and reach jeep track before it was dark. Climbing down was relatively easier. There was human trail till we reach Jeep track, initially through grasslands and then through forest again for brief period. By the time we reached the forest part, it was already dark. But this part of forest was not dense and it was walk of around 10 minutes. We reached Jeep track soon and had to walk around 8-10 km on that Jeep track to reach the estate house where our TT was waiting for us.

Next two hours was tiring walk. No canopy, No thorns, No creepers, No steep inclination, No way of getting lost and No water as well. We were under the shade of dark sky with stars. Ate some fruit which was still there with us on our way as water source. Couple of guys still had a bottle of water which was shared. With every turn there was hope to see artificial source of light. But it was there where it was and we were the ones who had to reach there. We shared various experiences of college, work and discussed some technology, politics while we walked. When we reached one of the corners, people from our group who were ahead of us, started whistling loudly. They had spotted our TT and artificial source of light was also seen. We reached the estate in 'Hosakere' finally .We(Me,Nitin,Shashi,Deesu,Kummi,Chandra,Vipin,Kartik,Jeevan,Charan) had successfully completed ‘9 Gudda’ trek. We went near that house and drank ample amount of water. House owner agreed to cook dinner for us on request. I opened my 'torn' sleeping mat and slept for a while. Had delicious dinner some time later. It was ‘Chitranna’ with pickles. We thanked the house owner with full heart for the dinner. It was now time to pack our bags and board the TT again. We occupied more or less the same seats. I was deprived of proper sleep again during the journey. So was the case with most of us. It was early morning when we reached Bangalore. We kept the rented sleeping bags and mats at Nitin’s place to give it back later that day. Chandra dropped me to my house. I looked at the clock, it was reading around 6 AM and then I hit the bed.

Epilogue :

Nitin sent a mail couple of days later that he and Karthik found an insect on their skin which stung them on touching.

There is a plan going on to do '9 Gudda' trek again. This time plan is to start from 'Hosakere' and reach 'Gundya' through the same forest. The trek 'might' happen later this year.