This was my 7th Bangalore ASCENDers (BASC) trek and I have met Patrick in 4 out of those 7 treks. This was my first difficult trek but being with Patrick I was chilled out about it.
For me the trek really started when I was woken out of my sleep at 5AM in KSRTC bus. Within few minutes we were off the bus and marching in dark terrain guided by Patrick's GPS and our torch lights. It seemed as if a bison or elephant might be lurking at any corner to pounce upon us. That set the theme for rest of the trek. 
I had been on this terrain few weeks back, but soon after khakhra breakfast we were into different terrain. This involved countless stream crossings and bush whacking to reach to a grassland. From here we got our first grand view of ranges nearby. Some more steep climbing brought us face to face with our target with a sheer 500mt drop separating us. We topped out well before sunset. 
It was a full circle for me to be able to spot and identify SG ("some gudda") that I had reached in a previous trek with Pratap. Since we had network few folks uploaded customary fb pics. 
Next morning we were treated to a view of a majestic herd of about 20 animals on a far off ridge. After some debate, it took a zoom camera to identify them as bisons!!! After jam roti breakfast, we headed off for ethina bhuja.
On the way we saw malabar squirrel, colourful birds and poops of countless creatures. We also came across a herb picker who offered us few figs. During all this we were running short of water. After some foraging around for a stream, we reached a reservoir. We engineered a water drainage to get enough fresh water out of it. 
Sunil had to take off due to severe back pain.. Having filled our stomach (and emptied in few cases) we headed back on our pursuit to ethina bhuja. This took us through some exploratory routes. well before sunset we topped out to be treated with a panoramic feast of a view. 
The night was spent listening to a bat flapping around and wild dog's howl. To add into fun, it drizzled for a while and we had to sleep under tarpaulin to keep ourselves dry. 
Last morning of the trek we took a downhill route that took us 270° around the ethina bhuja into deep forest. We kept a steady pace to reach a river in 2 hours. We came across a desolate temple and river bank.
Some folks got themselves fish pedicure while others took a dip and had lunch.
After a long walk on paved road, we reached civilisation. I personally gulped down 4 fish fries at Rs.10 each! Since we had some time for our bus we went back to start point of trek and spent some chill time in a rubber plantation and later by the stream. We saw 4-5 species of water birds.
Finally our trek route was a U-turn starting from Gundya check-post to Shisila via OG peak, a unknown peak in between and EB peak.
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Written by: Subodh Prabhu
Image Gallery: Jithendra B N
Composed by: Partrick Samuel & Jithendra B N
Event organized by: Partrick Samuel
Event Date: 29th to 31st March 2014
The Crew: Partrick Samuel, Sunil Kumar S, Jithendra B N, Subodh Prabhu
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