As planned started off for Avalanche on the weekend. Met few of the other campers and got into the bus at Shanti Nagar bus stop. It went round and round the city and went to Mysore road bus stop again. It was raining heavily outside and no air inside the bus. After sometime the bus started and we were stopped at Bandipur forest as they have closed the entry from 2am-6 am. Slept in bus till they started allowing it at 5:30 am. Reached Ooty by 9:30 after a delay of 4 hours.
Went to Emerald from there. Most of the people had breakfast there. Started to walk to the camp site. It was a long tiring walk. The guides kept telling it was 30 mins away initially and after they changed it to 15 mins. It took almost 5 hours for the entire trek is nearly 10 kms; 3 kms on good road and after that on a mud trail. Up and down the hills. It was raining on and off.
Reached camp around 3:30 and had lunch there. It was a hot and yummy lunch, after all the trek it tasted awesome, It really is. Finished the lunch and relaxed for sometime, roaming around the camp site to explore it.
In the evening went out for kayaking. I did it for the first time and it was pretty good. Initially was trying to figure out which was it was going and after few minutes was able to control it. The lake and its surroundings are very beautiful. The clear waters in the lake are warm compared to the rain and the cold wind outside. I played with water while other took their turns with the kayak and swimming. I jumped into the kayak again when the instructor said there is a free kayak for the last trip. This time I went in much deeper and I was able to manage it pretty good. I think now I can do it alone.
Came back relaxed for the rest of the day. It was continuously drizzling all the time. Had very nice dinner along with chicken barbeque. Tried to sleep in the tent but it was very cold, so went back and slept in the dorm.
Woke up at usual time 6. Explored the places around while others are still getting out of their beds. Was feeling lazy as it was drizzling again that day too. The trip to the water fall started, didn’t want to go out in the rain but joined in end with the umbrella and the jacket. It was a short walk of less than 5 mins and there stands a beautiful waterfall making huge noise and running cold water.
Seeing that couldn’t resist so left the umbrella and jacket and went into water and enjoyed it a lot. The water is very cold and was looking too good. Had a nice waterfall bath – natural shower. Came back packed the stuff and finished the lunch and started to walk back to Emerald. It was good this time, didn’t feel much tired, though it took around 4.5 hrs for the trek down.
From Emerald took a truck to Ooty, was fun trying to maintain the balance. Reached Ooty, roamed around for some time, did some shopping and had dinner and reached bus stand.
Booked a AC bus so that it will be relaxing as needed to go to work the next day. This bus is Ambari, looked well, but all the way I can feel every ditch in the road, I doubt if this bus had shock absorbers.
Over all it was a very good trip. Enjoyed a lot of rain all along.
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