Post Trek Write-up - Munnar Moderate Trek

After my first trek to Nagala East Easy trek on November 2012, I wanted to do next level, moderate trek, to test my strength and began waiting for it. Since I am an CTC member, I am getting mails regularly for the treks from easy to extreme difficult. On December 2012 I got a mail stating Munnar moderate trek is on and it was organized by my previous trek captain Arun Prabhakar.  I was so excited and ready to apply for this trek and asked one of my colleagues to accompany me as he was interested on this. But he was busy on that time in his work and not applied that day. But I readied my form and don’t want to lose the chance, submitted the form on that day itself. Next day I saw that the event was closed due to huge response. I called Arun for asking to add my friend in the list and confirm my position for selection, but he said he had already short listed and had sent the list to all. But in that list my name was not there. But after my request, he considered me only and said that I have to book the bus tickets immediately for Theni as there are few tickets only available. I booked the ticket and informed Arun. Then he added me in the list of participants. I bought a pair of trekking shoe for this moderate trek and eagerly waited for the day to come.

Walking alone as the last person

Zig-Zag Trail

A day before trek, Christopher called me and confirmed my participation. On 25^th Jan Friday evening I reached SRM Bus stand by 8.40pm and I saw few familiar faces Arun (Captain), Senthil and Ramesh and some new faces that are waiting for the bus to board. We introduced ourselves with our new team members and waiting for few more members to come. Finally the bus started after 9.15pm and everyone boarded by that time. After chit-chatting our previous trek memories, we settled to sleep. The bus reached Theni the next day 26^th Jan by 7.00 am and few of our team members are waiting there for us. We then boarded a local bus and reached Bodi by 8.00 am. We had a nice breakfast in a hotel and packed our lunch for the day. A van arranged by Arun picked us from Bodi and dropped us at Kurangini base by 9.00 am. On the way to Kurangini we saw a small village where the Kumki film was shot. A huge mountain beckoned us with her motherly hands.

Taking Rest

We are all set ready and started marching towards the Kolukkumalai. The initial steps of the trek were taken along the lands of Kurangini village. We saw lot of Orange trees and Gooseberry trees on our way to the hill. The sun was on top of us draining every bit of our energy but this could in no way stop our dream to reach the peak. We paraded through the mountain trails, marched through the grasslands and hiked the steep trails to reach the peak. Once we reached the zigzag trail leading to Kolukkumalai tea estate we saw a tree standing alone and spreading its branches to give us shadow. We took few minutes rest there and proceeded further. After reaching a certain high altitude we had to make steep climbs making our heart to beat faster and our thighs cry out of pain. We carried 2 liters of water each and it was getting empty before we reached around 60% of the trek distance and most of us found it very difficult to trek. Slowly and steadily with strong determination steps were taken towards water resource and in reaching the day’s target. There is tough fight between my mind and body, finally my mind won over my body. Even though my legs are begging me to stop and take rest but my mind says don’t give up, move.. move.. I walked slowly and reached the destination.

Single Tree

Trek Trail

After the struggle with the dream to reach peak, slowly and steadily one after other trekkers started showing up the Kolukkumalai tea estate. When I reached the Kolukkumalai peak, most of the trekkers finished the distance and I am the last one reaching there. Vibin helped me a lot by encouraging me and sometimes carried my backpack too. The sun slowly started to rest for the day and the cold waves started to blow on us. We had nice tea (Rs.10 per cup) in that Estate shop. The trek for the day was still not complete and we got to reach the Suryanelli town, most of our team members started for the trek to reach the Suryanelli town via the tea gardens. I was very tired and our captain said I can rest along with other tired team members and a Jeep will come to pick us to the town. 

Kolukkumalai tea estate is located about 35 km from Munnar. This is the highest Organic tea estate at 7130 feet (2160 Mtrs) above the sea level. There are less people living there and they are working for the tea estate. People living here have to come to Suryanelli town or Munnar to buy anything. Besides tea, nothing is available here. Kolukkumalai is prominent for it panoramic views, on clear nights Kodaikanal is visible from this estate.

The local jeep driver hired for the trip arrived after 30 minutes to pick us to Suryanelli.  In between we took some photos in the Tea estate. Regular vehicles cannot ply on the path to the estate. Not only did the route pass through a private estate, the road finally went down the mountain to Suryanelli was a dirt track. The road was full of rocks and the ride was very bumpy. As the jeep bumped over boulders scattered on the narrow lane, my body was paining more and I thought it was better to walk down with the team members instead of travelling by jeep. But the breath taking views of valleys and mountains was awesome. It was around 6.00pm, on the way we saw Sun set on one side and moon rise on the other side. We immediately get down from the jeep to watch the sunset and enjoyed. We took some photos there. We saw a board there stating you are in the highest grown orthodox tea estate Kolukkumalai at 7130 feet. It took us around 1 hour to reach Suryanelli, as we waited for our few team members to join us in that jeep in between took extra time. The driver told us few of the drivers drive the jeep very fast and can reach Suryanelli in 30 minutes time. When few members joined in our jeep it was overcrowded now and I decided to get down from the jeep, and travelled by hanging on the jeep. I enjoyed a lot by travelling in foot board in a jeep on the bumpy hill road. It was a thrilling experience for me. 

Sunset

Mattupetty Dam

Elephant seen on other side of the dam

We reached Suryanelli by 7.00pm and waiting for our other team members to come. They reached Suryanelli by 7.45 pm and we are all boarded in 3 Jeeps waiting for us to carry to Munnar. We have arranged some cottages near Munnar town for night’s sleep. We had dinner in nearby hotel and slept for the night. Morning we wake up with a hot bed coffee served by the cottage owner.  Few of us refreshed early and went for a small walk in the Munnar town. By 9.00 AM everybody got ready and had breakfast. We boarded again in 3 jeeps with our back packs for proceeding to Top Station where we have to climb down to Kurangini trail to reach the base station.  On the way we got down at Mattupetty dam and taken few snaps. On the other side of the Mattupetty Lake we saw few elephants drinking water. Finally we reached Top Station and few of us went to Top station view point for taking the zig-zag trekking trial pictures. There is an entry fee Rs.15 + Camera charges Rs.10 was collected for the view point. It was spectacular view from there to watch the Kollukumalai range and I realized that I crossed the trail and patted on my back myself.  After returning from the view point we had lunch from a small hut shop. People had stomach full food as they will have food after this in the night only. 

Kolukkumalai Tea Estate

First few of the slow walkers moved from the Top station to the trekking trail to start climbing down.
(Top Station name derived from its being the uppermost located railway station on the Kundala Valley Railway, built in 1902 between Munnar, Kundalai and this hilltop location. This 2 feet hill railway was built in the late 1890's to transport tea from Munnar and was in operation till 1921 when it was destroyed it completely by floods, never resume services again. A monorail goods carriage system was soon installed along this cart route. In 1908 the monorail was replaced by a 24 inch gauge railway. Middle Station is 12 km  west from Top Station on the way from Lower Station Munnar. Some remains of Kundala Valley Railway can be seen at the Munnar Tea Museum)
After some distance again I was the last one in the entire group and struggling to walk. The Captain said the last bus from Kurangini to Bodi was 5.00pm so we have to reach the base before that. But I was very slow and thought that definitely I cannot reach before that. On the way to Kurangini Trail we saw a small village called central/Middle station (Kottagudi) where the film Alagarsamiyin Kuthirai shooted. I was wondering how these people are living here as there are no proper transportation facilities and I saw some people are walking on the same trail where we trekked. Also some people crossed me with horse carrying the necessary things like rice and vegetables from the base station. 

Return Trek Trail

Everybody except me and one more person, reached the base station around 4.30 to 5.00 pm and waited for us. On the way we asked the village people, “still how much distance is there to reach the base”, they replied still 4 km, 2km etc., Also we asked about the last bus timings, somebody said there is one last bus around 6.10 pm, it gave a small confidence in us. We took rest often and somehow we managed and reached a river falls before 1-2kms from the base and took some rest. We are cursing ourselves on our strengths, that time two of my team members reached there from the base station in search of us.  They asked us to walk fast to reach the base station as the last bus was waiting for us. 

Central Station - Kottakudi

We increased our foot length and reached the base and everybody cheered (?) us as we reached the destination finally. When we reached up to the bus, the driver started the bus immediately; the time was now 6.30pm. If we missed that bus, there is no other way to reach Bodi. Some autos will be there sometimes, otherwise we have to call the auto from the Bodi town and they will ask around Rs.600, it was said by our team captain. The bus reached Bodi around 7.15pm and from there we boarded the same (?)(The bus we boarded from Kurangani was upto Bodi only, after it was reached Bodi, the conductor changed the board name as Theni) Bus to Theni where we have to catch the Chennai Bus. We had Dinner in Theni and waited for our Bus to Chennai. Everybody boarded KPN travels bus from Theni to Chennai except me as I booked in the SRM Travels Bus. I boarded the SRM travels bus around 10.00pm and reached Chennai the next day around 8.00 am with beautiful trekking memories and with leg pain….. I am proud that I can also do these kinds of moderate treks with my will power. 

Thanks a lot for the entire team for supporting me to finish this trek.



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Trekking to Nagalapuram East with CTC

From my childhood I was very much interested in reading Lena Tamilvanan's Travel Experience in Tamil Magazine "Kalkandu", from where my travel interest was grown up. I am not a good writer to write Travel write-ups, So I thought I can travel to the places to know more about the places. I travelled some of the South Indian Places like Madurai, Palani, Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Rameswaram, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and in North India Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Agra, Mathura, Mount Abu, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Ahmedabad etc., I started my first trekking in Parvatha Malai near Tiruvannamalai in the year 2011 with one of my friend.

(http://interestingindianravi.blogspot.in/2011/09/trekking-to-parvatha-malai.html) 

This was a temple visit but my unquenchable thirst in trekking was increased after this. After that in September 2012 I went to Sathuragiri Hills near Srivilliputhur. This was also a temple visit.
(http://iniyaindiyavilravi.blogspot.in/2012/10/blog-post.html) In mean time I was in searching for trekkers club. I found CTC in July 2012. I applied for a first trekking in Nagala with CTC and got rejected. My temptation was increased again and I am wondering why they rejected? May be they have some selection criteria for this and got more registrations than the actual. On the third time I got selected for this Fresher's Nagala East Trekking on 3rd and 4th November trip. I was very happy to see my name in the selection list.  I think they selected me this time for my blog post Mumbai Adventure HR Meet at Alibaug. (In this trip I did some adventure events)

(http://interestingindianravi.blogspot.in/2012/10/mumbai-adventure-hr-meet-at-alibaug.html)

After saw my name in selection list, I am waiting for the day to fulfill my thirst on trekking. In mean time I did some preparations for buying sleeping mat and life Jacket ( yup.. I don't know swimming). Finally the day has come. I went to CMBT (my pickup point) to meet the like-minded peoples whom they are coming along with me for trekking and the Organizers. Everyone assembled and we were started around 11.00pm.

The Vehicle running fast to reach to Nagala Base camp and the rain was started to welcome us with cool showers. We reached near the base around 2.00am and the mud road was very bad and our vehicle was struggling to move so we all get down from our vehicle and started walking to the base camp. Some of them are holding torch in their hand and moved slowly. My torch was stuck in my bag with other bags in a Car So I started walking front without light. It was very wonderful to walk in early morning (?) at a base hill with cool breeze. We heard a stream flow sound throughout our way, where it’s leading me the way to the base camp in the dark (?). 

We ended up our walking in a temple, where organizing team was preparing a tarpaulin hut for us to sleep and we opened our back packs to spread our mats and sleeping bags to take rest for some time. After a small nap we wake up by 6 am and the Organizers are ready to start the trekking. One of the volunteer (Tara) collected Disclaimer forms and the other (Jim Bino) collected money from us. Food and common gears are distributed to everyone and we started a fresh morning walk to reach the Nagala East peak. 

Arun Prabhakar was leading the team and I was following the team with my camera turned on. I took few photos with my camera in the beginning of the trek after some time I realized that it was better to capture the scenes in my eyes instead in my camera, because in the trail there were streams all the way, few steep climbing and have to hold something for balance. Therefore I kept my camera in my back pack to avoid loosing in the stream. We formed human chains to cross the speedy streams and helping each other to move on. 

We stopped at a small pool for a break (fast) around 9.00am and some of the members are started preparing Uppuma for breakfast. Some people are jumped in to the pool for refreshing themselves. By the time the uppuma were ready, I want to have a bath and entered the pool wearing my life jacket. Once I finished my quick bath I found that the uppuma vessel were empty. My stomach needs something to fill so I opened my bread pack and had some slices of bread. Mean time some fellow members (I guess Raji and Gayathri) are prepared pulka roti for whom they not had Uppuma. Nice to see the unknown faces are (By the time I know some of the members name) preparing food for us and I helped a little to collect some firewood.

After we had our breakfast we started our journey again to reach Magic pool and sun were above our head scorching us by his rays. We crossed some of the streams boulders, rocky grass slopes and steep gradients to reach the 2^nd destination Magic pool around 12pm. The swimmers are jumped into the pool immediately and the non-swimmers are watching this with excitement. Organisers Arun and Vibin are encouraging us to jump into the pool wearing life jacket. Then some of us are entered the pool with little fear. I don’t know swimming and didn’t jump in any of the pools never before. So I had a small hesitation to jump into the pool. After seeing my co-trekkers sliding and jumping into the pool I changed my mind to jump into the pool. It was a once in lifetime opportunity which I had in my life time. I tried twice to slide on the Magic pool. 

Then we moved into a next deep pool with dark water, a waterfall at one end and the stream draining it at the other end. Unlike the sliding pool, this had a much stronger current and was almost surrounded by high cliffs which made it one of the most enchanting vistas. Small Fishes in the water giving you a free pedicure, you just have to be there to feel it! Any tiredness we felt was washed away by the water and the shrieks of people enjoying it really lifts your heart. After that, our team prepared Vegetable Sambar rice and our stomachs are filled with that. 

We took some rest there. By 4 pm the organizers Arun, Sridhar and Bala went back to Nagala town to buy chicken and other members decided to do a short trek without back packs. Even though most of us were tired out after the two pools , lunch and a little rest soon revitalized us and when a plan to walk ahead to the 300 mts falls was proposed, most of us took up our torches and were ready to go. The ensuing trek was different from what we had previously encountered as we were deeper into the forest and the ground below was more dry leaves and mud when compared to rock and sand earlier. Few of the Co-organizers Vibin, Senthil and Hari guided us to the 300m water falls. We pass through lush green forest to reach the mini falls on the way to 300m falls. Sun is going to set and it’s getting dark, so we had a discussion that we will return from there. But, most of the members are decided to climb and reach the 300m falls so we started our trek again. When we reached the 300m falls the view was really an excitement. I had a thought that I will take shower in this falls up to my life end. But rain interfered my desire, so we took some quick shower and decided to climb down to our night camp near Magic pool. In return the path was very slippery due to rain and dark. We slipped several times like water sliding. 

Everybody returned to camp safely with small scratches and wounds on their legs and hands as a symbol of trekking.

We changed to dry fit clothes and camped near a cave rock. Gayathri, Vibin, Sridhar and Arun are prepared food for Dinner. Few peoples are played cards and few people taken a small nap. Veggie peoples got Chapattis and Palak panner and Non Veg peoples had rice with Chicken gravy. All are fall asleep by 12pm in the small area by adjusting themselves inside their sleeping bags or in their blankets.  In morning rising sun waken up with his rays and we had finished our morning refresh near the magic pool and tasted a cup of coffee with rusk. Some people entered into the magic pool again to play. Finally we left the camp by 11.00am with green memories and started back to Nagala Base. We collected all the waste like plastics covers (used for food packing) and carried all the way to base and left it in the garbage dumping box.  

It was now little easy to come down from the hill. The trail was easy but if we have to follow the right trial, if we miss the trial means it will lead us to the other direction and come back to the right track will take time and make you tired. So don’t do private trekking by your own without expert’s guidance, I came to know this as on that day some of the private trekkers are lost their way in the jungle and helped by our captain Arun.  Finally we reached the base by 1.00pm and had soda and bonda.(These things only available in that house /shopJ). There our intro session and our experience sharing started finallyJ.

Everyone shared their experience and feeling about the trekking. No one wants to leave the place and want to come again and again with the same team. The unknown faces are now came closer and became good friends as everyone helped anyone in that trek in some manner. (Thanks to all who helped me in some way or otherJ)It’s a wonderful experience for everyone and it leaves us a note that If you care Nature, Nature will care for you. 

After our experience sharing session, we started back to our home by car. On the way to Chennai we stopped in a Hotel and had our lunch. There is the climax, 3 drunken monkeys are fought with us in the hotel and ended up with a hand clash. The organizers dropped everyone at their respective points and we left to our home with a signing off.

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Trekking To Parvatha Malai

Trekking To Parvatha Malai.

Some days before I came to know about Parvatha Malai through one of my friend. I planned to visit there and collected information about the hill. It is nearby Tiruvannamalai and Polur. From Tiruvannamalai 37km and From Polur 20 kms distance. I went to Tiruvannamalai by bus and reached by 8.00pm and had a quick darshan at Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwarar temple. We then boarded a Bus to Parvatha malai and get down at Thenmathi mangalam village by 10.00pm. It is said that, to climb this hill by night is best, because the climate is chill so we can’t get tired and some siddhars will cross that time. So we decided to climb by night. There are three routes are there to climb the hill. One is Thenmathi mangalam, second is mambakkam and another one is Kadaladi. Me and my friend met one friend in the bus and he guided us very well. Without him it was a tough task to us, because we are visiting first time to that place. As guided by him we taken bath in the base and started to climb by 11.30pm night and we reached the top by 3.40 am. In night torch is must for everyone. We got powerful torch so it was useful for us. In between the climbing,  rain was started and we heard a dog voice reminding us some shelter is nearby. We then climbed in that rain also and found a small shelter on the way. There we saw some dogs, somebody said if we miss the route these dogs will guide us. We saw some arrow mark showing the route also in rocks and trees to guide us in the night also. We reached by 3.40am and then performed pooja by our own (it is usual thing here) and we taken some rest. By 6.00 am we started to get down and we excited to see the paths we climbed. In night we never got feared by the way, but in the morning we saw the way was somewhat dangerous, the first few kilometres, path was  plain surface, second few kilometres steps path, third few kilometres rock path and fourth one is iron bar path- 500 feet(It is very tough). The hill is totally 4200 Hight. We then finally got down by 10.00 am. On the way to Hill some shops are there, they sell water, cool drinks, tea etc in night also. In Day time you can get light refreshments. Previously this hill was climbed only on Full moon night. Now a days every weekends, lot of peoples are climbing, even in weekdays also few peoples are climbing.

PARVATHA HILL :

Parvatham means hill and 'Parvatha Malai' as it is called is the Hill of Hills or Queen of Hills at the top of which resides the presiding deity Parvatha Rani or Parvathammal. She is the Sakthi aspect and the 'Siva' aspect is Lord Malligarjun. 'Parvathammal is also called Lordess Brahmarambika' (also called Maragathambika). It is not known when exactly the temple was constructed at the top of the hill ( about 4,000 ft. high and a difficult terrain with 'almost' vertical rocky cliff called 'Kadapparai Malai'. But pre-historic record (Malai Padu Kadaam) shows that a king called 'Maa Mannan' who was ruling that area, during the year 300 A.D used to visit this temple frequently and worship the lord and lordess. It is said that even 2000 years ago the great yogis (Siddhas) constructed this temple at the top of the hill for doing meditation.

Unlike other hills, Parvatha Malai 'Cliff' presents a wonderful sight when viewed from different angles. It portrays eight different shapes from eight directions around the hill. The view from the top of the hill is splendid and one can have a panaromic view of the landscape below (when there are no clouds) for upto even 50 kms. The sight of the rising and setting sun from the hill top is a rare one to enjoy more than that at Kanyakumari (South India). At nights visitors can witness the 'Jyothi Dharshan' at the hill top.

This virgin hill grows plenty of rare herbal plants which are not found in other hills except Himalayas. The visitors / devotees can easily smell the 'Herbal breeze' while going up or coming down the hill. It cures many diseases automatically. It is said that two 'sadhus' one guru Namasivayam and the other Guhai Namasivayam when they stayed on the hill accidentally cooked and ate an unknown herbal leaf (now known as 'Karunochi - Siddha Medicine') and regained their youth for ever.

TEMPLE in HILL:

The temple has no doors or compound wall and also no 'priests' to perform 'pujas'. The visiting devotees themselves can perform 'pujas', do 'abisheham' and 'arathanas' like in most of the North Indian temples. 'Nishta' is reached in no time when one performs 'meditation' at the top of the hill (that is the power of the 'vibration' of the hill and the presiding deities). Few devotees have experienced 'Miracles' in the hill and the temple. One has to personally experience to believe them. In many cases such 'miracles' have been encountered by few fortunate devotees when they stay overnight in the hill/ temple.

DEITIES:

The names of the presiding deities of the temple at the top of Parvatha Malai, similar to the one at 'Srisailam' temple in Andhra Pradesh (India) also has equal or more 'powers' in bestowing grace to the devotees and redressing their grievances. Milk is preferred for the pujas and there are no sacrifices offered. Oil for the temple lamp, flowers and 'Vilvam leaf' have to be taken to the top from bottom by the devotees who wish to perform pujas. Food packs, drinking water, torch light and woollen shawl also have to be taken with them.

At night times 'Jyothi' (brightness) can be witnessed on the cheeks of goddess Brahmarambika. This is a rare phenomenon in no other deities in any temple can be seen. When the devotee recede as far back from the deity, (goddess Brahmarambika) sanctum sanatorium, the size of the deity appears to increase in size instead of diminishing and is seen that the deity steps up forward and approaches towards the devotee. One has to see it to believe it ! when 'camphor is lighted up before the Lord Malligarjun and viewed from a distance while worshipping, the images of serpent, trident and drum appears in the camphor light. When a devotee 'Chants' 'OM' mantra sincerely 108 times before the Lord Malligarjun in the 'Sanctum sanatorium', he/she can clearly hear 'Silent whisper' of 'OM' mantra from behind.

IMMORTAL YOGIS (SIDDHARS):

It is believed that several 'siddhars' still live in small natural caves all along Parvatha Mallai hill and they give 'dharshan' to few lucky visitors / devotees. Since they move in 'subtle bodies' it will be difficult to have their 'dharshan' with the naked eye. Only with the power of the 'third eye' (Gnanakkan) any sincere devotee can at times witness the presence of siddhars. These siddhars often take on mortal (gross) bodies to facilitate viewing them e.g., in the form of vegetation, birds animals and very rarely human form also. Sometimes devotees though unable to see them in physical form spot them out on the hill from the smell of fragrance' like camphor, agarpathi, or sambrani which the siddhars carry around them. At times , it is a rare sight to have 'dharshan' of 3 'kazhugus' making rounds over the cliff of Parvatha Malai just like one can witness 2 kazhugus over 'Thirukkazhukundrum' hill top. These kazhugus are believed to be 'siddhars' giving 'dharshan' to the devotees taking on the form of birds; some times siddhars give dharshan to sincere devotees in the form of 'honey bee, bairavar (dog), etc. and guides them the path while trekking up the hill or stepping down.

It is believed that these 'siddhars' visit the temple on the top of 'Parvatha Malai' at 12 0' clock midnight to worship the presiding deities there. Though no one can or have seen them in physical bodies, villagers around the 'Parvatha Malai' down below say that they can clearly hear the sound of ringing bells, blowing conch, drums beating etc., exactly at 12 mid night when the 'pujas' are performed by siddhars.

TREKKING THE HILL:

There are three places from where the 'peak' of Parvatha Malai can be accessed. One is from a place called 'Then madhi mangalam' the second from Mambakkam and the third from Kadaladi. Normally the first and the last routes are chosen as the second one is very steep and difficult to climb. Out of the first and the last, the first route is comparatively easy to climb as half of the trekking distance (12 km) is mostly plains and the rest is also not very steep. Most of the visitors / devotees take the first route to climb and while trekking down, prefer the Kadaladi route more so since the setting up of the 'Ashram' at Kadaladi region. The first route takes about 4 hours to climb while the last one, only 3 hours to climb. On full moon / new moon and important days all along the trekking route, the visitors find small temporary shops where they can take rest for a while and refresh themselves with drinking water (available in packets), tea, coffee, biscuits etc.,

One has to trek through 6 small hills to reach the top of 'Parvatha Malai' which is the seventh. It is said to be synonymous to the 6 'Chakras' in the human subtle body. The Mooladhara chakra or Kundalini climbs up and after crossing six other Chackras, joins with the seventh 'Sadasivam' or Sahasradhara chakra. About 3/4 of the hill route is through thick forest via treaded foot path where on both sides one can enjoy the smell of 'Himalaya's rare herbs' are in plenty. The last 1/4 portion of the trek is a bit difficult to climb as the path is rocky and almost vertical. It is called 'Kadapparai Malai' since there are no regular steps to climb and only with the help of 'Iron rods' which are embedded in the solid rock, one has to climb keeping his steps alternately on the notches carved on the rock.

The trekking of this last portion is almost like in mountaineering and as such one has to come prepared with 'kits' similar to mountaineering. Shorts are preferred to wear and the kit containing drinking water, puja materials, fruits, biscuits and other eatables should be carried on the back as both the hands should be free to grip the Kadapparai one after the other.

There are no wild animals or any poisonous insects on the way and people of any age can climb up the hill with 'will power'. So far in the history of Parvatha Malai, there is no record of any visitors / devotees falling down and meeting with death. Though after trekking the Parvatha malai route on the hill, legs pain for atleast 2 days

LOCATION and ACCESS TO PARVATHA MALAI

This wonder hill is situated in Kadaladi P.O., Thiruvannamalai Dist. Tamilnadu (India). It is about 37 km North West of Thiruvannamalai. Thiruvannamalai is well connected by rail and road from all major towns & cities in Tamilnadu. Kadaladi can be accessed from Thiruvannamalai only by road. Buses are plying regularly to and from Thiruvannamalai main bus stand. Kadaladi can also be reached by private cars, vans and auto etc. from Thiruvannamalai, which takes about 45 minutes. As earlier stated Parvatha Malai can also be climbed from Then-madhi mangalam or Mambakkam, which are near to Kadaladi.  Polur is 20 km from thenmathimangalam.

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