My first REAL trek . OG Part-1

Finally after 3 days got the time to write about the Trek to OG.The dense jungles of the
kabinale forests comprising of Ombatthu Gudde (ombatthu=9 gudde= peaks) is once in a lifetime experience, not because the place has stunning scenery in this dry season but because of the adventures and thrill that I experienced, trekking with a group of 36 like minded people (barring 1-2).

There was a lot of hype about OG: the mysteriously dense forests,long list of missed people in these jungles (that's what some of the blogs I read claimed before the trek).But scare/bliss/sorrow/ whatever the emotion may be ,you'll remember and cherish/respect that particular feeling only when you experience it first-handed.So decided to go ahead with OG trek, registered for it and it was one among the 15 trkes organized as part of 3rd birthday of CTC.Preview to OG Trek

In the prep mail sent my Biju and Peter,trek sounded to deliver and live up to the hype around OG.Anyways coming to the preparations: as usual, waiting till the last moment, hence leading to a lot of last min preparations,acquired all the required things as mentioend in the mail like torch, sleeping mat,sunscreen lotion,camera, empty bottles etc... and got into Lalbagh express to Bangalore at 3:30 PM, Friday,18/2/11.Thus started my journey.

In Train, there are two other CTC trek groups present and all the three together made amerry there.Surya one among our OG trek grou, had an unusually weird English(natural or artificially acquired to woo girls,am uncertain) and with it he started to talk to random girls and every tale ended with surya proposing to that woman.Finally ended up with surya proposing to women ranging from 21 to 50 years.Met a few IITians who were part of another CTC trek.With me thinking of ways to get acquainted with some of the members, made friends with a few and the train came to a halt in bangalore.Ten of us had a detour to get a quick dinner and caught the bus from Bangalore to Gundya checkpost (located on Bangalore-Mangalore highway, base of the jungle)and reache the destination 5AM Saturday.Had a short nap on spread out sleeping maps, then I had a 1/2 litre of milk,then everyone took their share of food(energy bars, glucose,chappathi packets,buns,apples) and shared the common food (Noodles,soup powder etc..).Then came the instructions from Peter that first 8 hrs of the trek would be on dry land and there would be no water available hence everyone should carry 3 litres of water.Filled em up as instructed and started at 7 AM towards the first peak at an altitude of 1100m.The remaining two days experience to soon follow..