Want to dive into the beautiful pools ?,want to learn swimming or overcome the fear of drowning ?, want to do trekking in dense and safe forest along the stream ?, want to sleep under the stars, hearing the sound of running water ?- if you are staying in Chennai ( even if you stay in other places, it is worth to travel all the way) and want to do all the above things, then visit Nagalapuram. Through the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) event i came to know about this place and it is one of the few natural places around Chennai where you can go, relax and enjoy the nature during the weekend. There are so many trekking routes in this place, but mainly two trekking routes are popular- trekking from west entrance and trekking from east entrance.
By 6 am every one started from their respective places to red hills. It was drizzling and the climate was so cool unlike the usual Chennai climate, we reached red hills at 7 am where Sam was waiting for us with all the food items. We reached the west entrance road of nagalapuram (Aare villiage) by 10.30 am, parked our bikes there and started walking towards the hills. we walked for an hour to reach the 'pool 0'.
 |
| Nagalapuram hills |
Me and my friends planned to go for trekking through west entrance and i was so excited because for the first time i am going to have camp fire, stay for the night in forest with my friends. Our plan was to start early in the morning and reach the west entrance road as early as possible. so i slept early to wake up early. I woke up- 'did i miss the call from chandru ?', i asked myself, Chandru told me that he will call me at 5 am to wake me up. I took my watch and checked the time, it was 3 am----- this same scene got repeated for every 20 minutes, i get up, check the time and go back to sleep.....getup, check the time and go back to sleep. Finally the clock ticked 5 am, i got ready by 5.30, but there was no call from chandru, i called chandru, he didn't pick up the call, instead he messaged me- 'machi..i am celebrating deepavali da'- his way of telling that he is shitting. This guy 'chandru' is my colleague and he is one of the few unique characters i have met, no one can be like him (chandru, you can take it as compliment). so, what i am trying to say is that i didn't sleep properly because of this excitement and it happens to me every time i plan to wake up early, i don't know why 
By 6 am every one started from their respective places to red hills. It was drizzling and the climate was so cool unlike the usual Chennai climate, we reached red hills at 7 am where Sam was waiting for us with all the food items. We reached the west entrance road of nagalapuram (Aare villiage) by 10.30 am, parked our bikes there and started walking towards the hills. we walked for an hour to reach the 'pool 0'.
 |
| Surender. Yerra reddy, Chandru, Selva, Sam and Bala |
Our plan wast to go to pool 1 and pool 2, camp for night at pool 2 and return. we don't know the way from pool 0 to pool 1 and pool 2. With out crossing (there is a way on both sides of the pool, you have to cross and take the way which is on the left side of the pool) the pool 0 we just went in the way that was there to the right of the stream. From pool 0 we walked for 5 min, then came a place which was very steep, we started climbingggggggggggggggggggggg...almost one hour got over and we were still climbinggggggggggggggggg.
Then came a view point (we named it as a suicide point) where you can have a look of the forest below, from there we saw a line of smoke coming from the forest down the hill we were climbing, we were confused whether the way we took was correct or not, Bala and Chandru called their friends (yes...fortunately signal was available there) who went there. They told that you have to cross the pool 0 and walk along the stream to reach pool 1 and pool 2. we came in the wrong path...and that one hour climbing sucked every inch of energy out of us, slowly we returned to pool 0.
 |
| completed exhausted after the climbing |
Then came a view point (we named it as a suicide point) where you can have a look of the forest below, from there we saw a line of smoke coming from the forest down the hill we were climbing, we were confused whether the way we took was correct or not, Bala and Chandru called their friends (yes...fortunately signal was available there) who went there. They told that you have to cross the pool 0 and walk along the stream to reach pool 1 and pool 2. we came in the wrong path...and that one hour climbing sucked every inch of energy out of us, slowly we returned to pool 0.
we crossed pool 0 and followed the path along the stream, sometimes crossing the stream, you can hear the sound of the running water all along the path, after walking for some 20 minutes we reached the pool 1. I have to dig my dictionary deep to get the correct word to explain the feeling we got when we reached pool 1, i don't want to make you guys wait, so i say we felt relieved + excited + tired.
After having some fun in the pool, we had our lunch there. We started to pool 2, on the way we met a group of people who were returning from pool 3, they told it takes only half an hour to reach pool 3, so we thought we decided to go to pool 3 and camp there for night. At 4.30 pm we reached pool 3, pool 3 is very deep (30 ft), if you know swimming very well, then only you should enter into it, so i didn't
So. we all decided to enjoy pool 3 by just looking at it except these two guys Surender and Yerra, they know swimming very well, they just dived into the pool and started having fun, we others took photos and videos.
After an hour, it started getting dark, so we collected wood for fire and started cooking Maggie. By 6.30 pm the place became completely dark, eyes closed or open, it was just same. In that complete darkness, sitting near pool 3, under the stars we had our dinner, then we cleaned the place near by the pool and tied the tarpaulin to sleep.
Surender brought a tab in which we played A R songs through out the night, i tried to sleep but these '3 idiots' in the photo below didn't let me sleep
After 12, with full concentration i tried to sleep and i almost did it, but this Selva, he started camp fire at 3 am, started shouting(singing) and dancing, my sleep gone completely, so i got up and joined them. At 6 we got up, finished our Poo Poo in that beautiful forest, packed every thing and said good bye to the pool 3. By 7 we reached pool 2, while coming, we didn't take bath in pool 2, so we decided to take bath there
 |
| Pool 1 |
After having some fun in the pool, we had our lunch there. We started to pool 2, on the way we met a group of people who were returning from pool 3, they told it takes only half an hour to reach pool 3, so we thought we decided to go to pool 3 and camp there for night. At 4.30 pm we reached pool 3, pool 3 is very deep (30 ft), if you know swimming very well, then only you should enter into it, so i didn't
 |
| Pool 3 |
So. we all decided to enjoy pool 3 by just looking at it except these two guys Surender and Yerra, they know swimming very well, they just dived into the pool and started having fun, we others took photos and videos.
 |
| Surender at pool 3 |
After an hour, it started getting dark, so we collected wood for fire and started cooking Maggie. By 6.30 pm the place became completely dark, eyes closed or open, it was just same. In that complete darkness, sitting near pool 3, under the stars we had our dinner, then we cleaned the place near by the pool and tied the tarpaulin to sleep.
 |
Surender brought a tab in which we played A R songs through out the night, i tried to sleep but these '3 idiots' in the photo below didn't let me sleep
 |
| Chandru, Selva and Sam |
After 12, with full concentration i tried to sleep and i almost did it, but this Selva, he started camp fire at 3 am, started shouting(singing) and dancing, my sleep gone completely, so i got up and joined them. At 6 we got up, finished our Poo Poo in that beautiful forest, packed every thing and said good bye to the pool 3. By 7 we reached pool 2, while coming, we didn't take bath in pool 2, so we decided to take bath there
Early morning!! 7.30!! taking bath in that beautiful pool!! it was so nice and you should experience it. we just looked around that beautiful place- it was so calm, only our gang was there, it was so silent and at that moment we just fell in love with that place. A dip in that chilled running water just took away the tiredness we got from sleepless night. With that freshness, we left Nagalapuram and returned to Chennai by afternoon
 |
| Pool 2 |
Information
Trek route : koyamebedu- periyapalayam- pichatoor- Aare villiage (west entrance), you can park your vehicles in village. If you go by bus..it will take 3- 4 hours from koyambedu bus stand.
If you don't know swimming( or have fear of drowning like me), take swimming tube with you.
Great post!! thanks for sharing this wonderful post in this blog. Really loved reading this blog. Well written with picture. Travel and explore to those places by booking your bus tickets in advance in Chennai and make your trip as memorable trip.
ReplyDelete