Of sunny peaks and frigid pools - Nagala Central peak

Another month, another trek, same Nagala, same me, different group. 'Nagala Hills' as marked on Google maps, is a discontinuous range of mountains along the Eastern coast of India. Situated on the border of TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh, it is abutted by the Tada and Nagari hill ranges. Don't let its small size on Google maps fool you; its been 7 years and I still have loads of hidden gems to discover inside this paradise.





This time our plan was to explore the hills and ridges below the highest peak of Nagala, the central peak.

It was Friday and I had arrived at the base to sleep over for the night and receive the others next morning. It was a place that consisted a temple, another building that was meant to be a shop but used as a house, parking space, and a stream flowing adjacent to it. It was a starry night, the weather was salubrious and perfect for camping without the need for a campfire. So it was just me on the terrace with my sleeping bag, the whole universe on display above, the howling of the wind, and hooting of the owls. Being surrounded by forest on all sides, and enveloped in its ambience, the only thing that kept disturbing my primeval reverie every 20 minutes or so, were aeroplanes that kept whizzing by overhead, and we have Nagala's proximity to Tirupati airport to thank for that.

I stargazed so much that my eyes started closing automatically, and I didn't know when I actually dozed off. I was awakened by the loud noise of my phone's ringtone; quite startling I must say in a tranquil environment. I picked up the call, and at the same time heard the sound of an approaching car on the trail below. The group had arrived. After cutting the call, I checked the phone to see that it was just 5 in the morning, well before their ETA.  Since they were also terribly sleepy after driving all night and I having slept for just half the night, without any introductions we swiftly went about arranging the tarpaulin sheet on the roof along with the other sleeping bags.

Room at the billion star hotel

Day 1

We woke up to the clatter of pots and pans in the bedroom-cum-kitchen downstairs where breakfast was being prepared. I unzipped my sleeping bag, went down and got to know that the food was ready. Harsha and I quickly started packing up the stuff and told the others to complete their morning ablutions quickly as we wanted an early start. It was still chilly and sitting beside a woodfired stove, eating hot idlis in the breeze was pure nirvana.

Despite all our efforts to get an early start, it was 8.30 by the time we distributed all the food items, packed our bags and started for the dam.

Route to the dam

Quite a late start

It took us around 5 hours to get to the peak, just in time for lunch from this viewpoint:

Hows that for a lunch point !

The dam can be seen in the distance

With lunch wrapped up in 20 minutes along with a few photo sessions, we careened on the rocky, bushy, trail-less terrain towards the water point where we had left our bags as we had to return via the same route.

 Water point and baggage counter ;-)

Good enough, after a days climb

Being a strong, fit group, none of us were tired, and we did a bit of exploring before we caught up with the original trail that led back to the main stream in the valley. By the time we got down, it was dusk with just a tiny bit of light remaining owing to the presence of the canopy and we still had around 40 minutes of trekking to do in order to reach our intended campsite. One of our guys had a tough time descending due to certain issues with his right knee but once back on the stream, he was fine, albeit much slower than before. Due to this, Harsha and I decided that it would be prudent to proceed as a single group rather than separately, as it was getting dark and there were quite a few diversions coming up en route our campsite. With darkness already having set in, the torches came out, and so did the evening snacks and without any further delay we started for the sliding pool campsite.

View from the sliding pool campsite

We comfortably reached the campsite at around 8 and immediately got on with preparing hot soup and noodles. It had gotten chill by now, but I was still snug in my sleeveless dry-fit tee. The sky was starlit like the night before and the mountains provided a perfect backdrop for the moon and stars on display. Planes kept whizzing by as usual, with engine noise piercing the exceedingly quiet surroundings of the jungle. Since airplane lights are identical to stars, they looked other-worldly while leisurely floating above among the constellations.

It became savagely cold later in the night. Barring Harsha and me, everyone had 10 degree sleeping bags in which they were snug and warm. Even Harsha had a jacket on his tee, over which he draped the top layer of his sleeping bag. So in the end, it was just me who shivered all through the night 😁

 

 

Day 2

We woke up to melodious birdsong and the faint tune of the sliding pool waterfall in the distance. It was barely 50 meters away from the campsite and it served as our water point the previous night too. We were absolutely ecstatic as the first thing on our agenda for the day was two hours of frolicking around in both the magic and sliding pools. 😀

Some photos from our exploits at magic pool:

Thats me !

We decided to first start our recreation at sliding pool since it was above magic pool. So in we went one by one. I was the first one to go as only then others would get some motivaton to take the plunge. The slide into the pool wasnt very long but nonetheless, its always reassuring to see someone try it first before you yourself go for it, thats what one of the participants said. So in I went as the first one, and then brimming with joy as I got out of the water beckoning them to give it a go. They started rolling in one after another and we even took second and third rounds as the adrenaline rush kicked in.

With around 3 rounds done for most of us, we decided that it was time to get into magic pool. With another hour to go for breakfast, we had as much fun as we could here, as one could dive from even 20 ft high; this pool was known for its high diving boards (or should I say rocks). After 30 minutes of diving and swimming with the others, I left for the campsite to prepare breakfast, which was again Maggi with a variety of other ready to eat stuff like bread, Chapathis (Indian bread), Khakra (Dry Chapathis), mixture, chikkis, and other snacks and savories.

We still had loads of energy in us even though we trekked hard on day 1, due to a nights blissful sleep and so decided to visit dead end pool , splash around, have lunch there and only then exit Nagala. So after packing all the tarpaulin sheets, cooking utensils, and other miscellaneous stuff, we were on the descent back to the main stream. While descending we decided to click some pics at the cave below our campsite and monkey around for a bit:

Since the dead end pool wasn't that far away we there in a flash and immediately started swimming and diving.

Dead-end pool

The 'dead-end pool' was vivid and glowing with color as the monsoons had filled it up just a few months back. The water was warm and mellow with the sun sparkling in its reflection. Schools of fishes lazily floated by, oblivious to all the mayhem that abounded on land. Strikingly clear emerald green water blended with the turquoise blue sky above to take you back to an era long lost to the ravages of modern civilization. The pace of life here was hundred times minus the fast paced insanity of our "get shit done" world. Now I can't wait to go back!