Trek to Nagala West - 19th and 20th of March, 2016

Nagalapuram... A place that is long on my list, ever since my friend Raksha said me about it. She had been there in January, and she was describing about it sooo well that I just wanted to go there asap. And finally got a chance to go with Bangalore Adventurers! I booked for the trek on Wednesday, and waited for the day to arrive. But when Friday came, I somehow was not in a mood for adventure. I had work in office, and a meeting till 7 PM, and then had to reach majestic at 9:30 PM! The whole idea made me feel lazy. I even thought of canceling it, but only because it's not a good habit to keep a trek waiting, I went! :P

We were asked to gather at Shantala Silks at 9:30 PM. I somehow made it on time, despite the busy schedule- only to find no one there! I waited, and one by one gathered. We were a group of 11 including the organizer, and we started our journey at 11 PM. By this time, we were already talking too much to each other, but we did have a formal introduction in a dhaba, where our TT stopped for a short break at 11:40 PM. The group of 11 were: Srinivas (organizer), Kavitha, Sharath, Aparna, Shamanth, Balaji, Guru, Varun, Rudra, Ashish and I. Two special things about this group was- All were experienced trekkers; And we had 2 doctors in the group! (Srinivas and Sharath)

We started our journey again at 12. All slept, but I continued talking to Balaji, Rudra, Ashish and Shamanth about treks, trips and ghosts :P At 1:30, we stopped talking, realizing we should sleep now and closed our eyes.

We reached a village Pichattu at 5:15 AM. We freshened up in a post office cum house, and we left to the hotel and had our breakfast, and packed our lunch. We left in our TT to the start point of our trek, and we started the trek at 8:15 AM with our guide. First it was barren land, and then we entered the forest. The forest was not that thick, but enough shade was there to keep us from getting too tired. We reached the first pool at 9:15 AM. Here we could slide on a small slope, and play in water. We kept our bags on the side, removed our shoes and got into water. The water was very clear and cold, and it felt very good. We realized we had enough time and thus decided to spend time there till 10 AM. We then started again, with much expectations of the 2nd pool and 3rd pool, very eager to witness the beauty of it.

The post office cum home in Pichattu village

 

Our group, ready to conquer

Initial route of the trek

We kept walking and the hills started to incline. We went up for almost an hour, and we were almost near the peak. We got doubtful if we were on the right track, since we had heard that trek to Nagala is very easy, no inclinations at all, though it is 8 km. Upon asking the guide, he said he is also unsure of the route! We realized that he didn't know anything. We were all so annoyed and angry at him for making us climb the hill unnecessarily, and for wasting our time. We then climbed all the way down, and figured out the path ourselves to one of the pool. Many people were playing here and the pool was awesome. We realized that we were on the right path now, and later we got to know that this was the first pool! Thus the misunderstood 1st pool now turned out to be 0th pool :P

0th pool :P

It was 12:45 PM already! Yet, we were happy that we at least made it to the right path this soon, instead wandering there on those hills! This pool had clear water, and it was not deep till mid length, and then it was about 8-10 feet deep. There was a small falls, and we could also slide on it. We all got into the water, and our dried clothes thus got wet again after 3 hours! :P It felt very relaxed to get into the water after a tiring wrong route trek :P We found a huge stone, from where we could jump. It was about 6 feet height from the water level, and one by one went to jump from there. I also went and jumped, and it felt awesome, and went again and again- may be some 4 times! There were many people here, so we couldn't get the privacy we needed. We decided to move on to the 2nd pool, so we came out of the water at 2:30 PM. We sat there and had lunch, and started at 3 PM to walk along the stream to reach the 2nd pool only in 30 minutes.

View from the height that we reached, on the wrong path

1st pool

This pool had crystal clear water. We remembered we had to take some group pics for fb cover photos :P So we decided that we will first take a pic, and then play. I dared taking my cellphone into the water and clicked a couple group pics and a few selfies. I then kept my phone in the bag, and joined the others. There were many people here too, but in about 20 minutes, all vacated, giving us the privacy we needed. This pool was exactly like swimming pool- The depth of water  gradually increasing from fool level to 7 feet- near the falls. The gradual inclination was magical, though we had to believe that it was natural. There were no jumps or slides, but just floating and floating and floating.. Lie on the water, your body half immersed, under the trees, and gazing at the sky above.. It's an experience that cannot be explained. It gave such a relaxed and peaceful feeling that all the tiredness just disappeared. This was just so better than the 1st one, and we were now too excited to witness the 3rd pool, since the awesomeness was increasing with the index of the pool :P We decided to start at 4:30 PM, since we had to reach the pool, search for the camping site and get things set up for cooking. So we left at 4:30, again walking beside the stream.

Groupfie in 2nd pool

Clear waters of 2nd pool

2nd pool

On the way, we found a secret falls, which was almost hidden amidst rocks. The height of this was much more than the the previous two. We could hardly even see it. And this is the beauty of Nagala.. Trek underneath the trees, amidst jungle, beside the stream and small falls here and there, with clear and sweet water. What more do you need!?

At 5:20, we reached the 3rd and final pool. The first sight of it left me breathless! There was a falls of about 20-25 feet height, falling into a circular pit of about 30 feet diameter, and depth-unknown! There was no way of getting into the pool, except jumping into that dark green water. I was wondering what can be the depth, for the color of that clear water to look so dark a green. On the sides, we could see the rocks, and yet it all disappeared sharply into the depth. The idea of getting into this pool sent me shivers. Opposite to the rock on which we stood upon, was a vertical patch of the hill, that reached about 100+ feet. This pool looked as if it was concealed from the rest of the hills, as if to protect all of it's beauty. It was decided that we will be getting into this pool the next day, and thus, we all came back to the camping area, which was just 50 meters before the pool.

3rd pool

We started making the necessary preparations. Few guys went to get wood for the fire, Srini and Guru chopped the vegetables, Varun, Ashish and I washed the vessel, rice, dal and vegetables. After all this, Kavitha and Rudra took over the cooking. We all put our sleeping bags and mats, and sat there chatting, seeing at the moon in the sky occassionally, and also watching the vessel with eagerness, as the Bisibelebath got cooked. We were all hungry and wanted to eat it as soon as possible. Kavitha cooked it with so much patience, inspite of the tiring day. At 7:30 PM, it was ready! Hot Bisibelebath amidst dark and cool jungle!! It tasted just great.. Thanks to our Chef Kavitha, and sous chef Rudra for an excellent dinner.

Kavitha and Rudra, preparing Bisibelebath

Campsite

We now went near the pool. It was dark, and moon was upon us. The falls was seen white in the moonlight, and the water looked black. We lied down there, chit chatting, watching the moon in the sky and the pool, wondering how such beautiful a place is hidden in this hills, far from our concrete jungle. I was talking to Balaji, and I said him that I won't get into the pool the following morning- coz I thought I didn't have enough courage to think of myself in that deep pool, though I had a life jacket. Nobody spoke loud there, and simply observed the beauty of that night, trying to imprint the scene on our minds forever.

At 9 PM we decided to get back to the camping site and sleep. Nobody was in a mood for campfire fun, for which Guru called out for. Everyone looked just tired, and slept. I wanted to have some fun before sleeping, but with no company for it, I too slept at 9:30 PM.


The next morning, I opened my eyes at 5:30 AM. No one was awake, and all looked to be in deep sleep. I couldn't get sleep again, and thus just stared at the sky above. At 6:30, everyone woke up and got ready to jump into the pool. All guys left and we girls changed and went to the pool. By the time we went, almost everyone were inside the water. I jumped into the pool with the slight glitch of the fear of depth of water, though I knew my life jacket will bring me up to the surface. Cool water at 7 in the morning was a great feeling. On the side, there was rock, from which we could jump into the water and it was about 7 feet height. All went and jumped one by one, posing to the photos and videos.

7 feet jump

Floating

Now comes the most challenging and thrilling part of the entire trek- jump from 18 feet! There was a point next to the tip of the falls- a small rock, and that was a perfect place to jump into the water! Ashish started with the first jump. Just seeing other people jump from such a height gave a thrill. I was waiting for all of them who were up there, to finish their turn, and then I went up to the point, not sure if I should do it or not. Ashish, Rudra, Varun, Guru had already done it, and were going for second rounds. Standing there, the pool looked amazing, and I did want to jump- but without telling anyone :P I knew that motivation was required, but that will also increase your excitement, holding you back from jumping. Aparna was getting ready to jump, and just when she turned back to talk to someone, I just stepped forward and jumped, without thinking much. That was it.. 18 feet jump was just great. Only after jumping did I get to know that it's only that small push that you need to place yourself in air, and after that, everything just happens and you need not do anything :P

18 feet jump point

We spent about 2 hours in the pool, and we had to come out now and get ready, since we had to trek back and reach Bengaluru on that same day. We wanted to spend some more time there, but had to come out unwillingly. We changed into fresh clothes, and at 9:30, we started making preparations for Maggi. The leftover Bisibelebath was put on the rock, and the monkeys finished it in just minutes. They were now keeping a watch on us to get something to eat. Rudra had got gun powder and it became a seasoning for Maggi :P Hot Maggi after playing in cold water....:D We then put the little leftover Maggi also to the monkeys, washed everything and packed up. It was 11 AM when we started our trek back to the village, and we thought we will make it as soon as possible. We only stopped for about 2 minutes at all the pools. I felt really depressed for leaving that place. I never wanted to come back, I wanted to stay there until I was satisfied enough with those beautiful natural pools. We finally came down to the end point of our trek, near to the river's backwater at 1:15 PM. We took a group pic here, and went to the TT that was waiting for us. It was very sunny, and we were tired and thirsty. We stopped at a hotel at 2:15 PM, and had Andhra meals. We started our journey at 2:45 PM towards Bengaluru.

Group pic at backwaters

We thought of slide showing the pics on the TV, but we didn't have AUX cable. So we put Bhajarangi Bhaijaan movie. All got involved in the movie, while most of them also slept. I never slept though; I was watching the movie, and at times kept staring at the window, still thinking about those awesome pools and the fun we had there. In between, we stopped to have watermelon. At about 6:30 PM, we stopped at Adiga's for coffee. After having coffee, we had feedback session, and it went on for 30 minutes. Each one of them had enjoyed it to max, and looked forward to visit the place again, and shared their interest of continuing being friends in future with other group members. It was in fact an awesome group. At 7:30 PM, we started the journey again after taking the last group pic. We thought initially of going to Bengaluru directly, but because it was late already, we decided to stop for dinner as well. We stopped in a Dhaba Sher-e-Punjab, and enjoyed the little time left till the group separated. The food was also good, and everyone ate till full and started the final stretch to our city. As we reached KR Puram, people started getting down, and one by one thus departed. I also got down at Majestic, while the remaining group members continued till Jayanagar.

Thus, the 2 day Nagala West trek came to an end! With the journey so good, place so great, and people so awesome. I would keep this on first place among all my 2 day treks.. I will definitely keep visiting this place again and again. I also hope that the friends I have made in this trip will stay in touch. Thanks to our organizer Srinivas, and also to Bangalore AdvenTurers for giving us a chance to trek such amazing place. Looking forward for more and more of such experiences.. :)

The awesome group of 11