[caption id=“attachment_37938” align=“aligncenter” width=“1200”] Sinhagad at a distance. This picture is from on of my previous hikes.[/caption] Sharp at 0600 as we finally reach the road that winds up to Sinhagad, Ankur and I take a moment to savor the twilight chill. The last 7.5 hours has been nothing short of mesmerizing and rewarding. Just as it was twelve years ago when I did this hike with a much larger group. ...
Took Appa and S out to the Oregon Ridge Park while M helped getting things ready for Amma’s Shraadam. While at it I also got to test the new action camera that we bought last month. Quite a chilly and windy day. That didn’t deter S from having a blast at the playground. The ‘hike’ quickly turned into a playground outing. I wouldn’t complain. Amazed at how well she handled the low temps. ...
Most of the morning today was spent wasted on getting the RT-PCR for the upcoming travel. M suggested we hit the trails with N & A as they had a snow day - after-effects of the winter storm earlier this week. We decided to head to the Patapsco thru trail since we didn’t have much daylight hours left. The snow showers earlier this week and dusk setting in made this place look terrific! ...
This first, we wanted to take Miss S out for some good time outdoors. With various factors at play, we haven’t had that mental space to prioritize this over the last few months and this is something we definitely wanted to change this year. The Trolley trail was an easy pick since we’d already been there a few times in 2020. [gallery link=“none” size=“medium” ids=“31845,31847,31844,31848,31846”] We directly went to this ‘secret’ spot that’s hidden right at the beginning of the trail. The fog and the weather made this space look even more mystical! Miss S had a terrific time hopping around and throwing pebbles stones across the stream. Later on during the drive back she went on to claim all the fog on the road was because she threw those pebbles in the water. Today was magical! ...
Every time we’ve flown in and out of Chennai, I’ve had my eyes on the hills right opposite the airport. Earlier this week, I found the access road to the Pallavaram Forest Hill and we decided to explore it over the weekend. We initially thought it might make sense to take the metro to the airport and then cross under NH45 using the Trisulam subway to make our way to the start of the hill. Decided to drive over instead and were able to find parking right near the police assistance booth on the approach road. This map has all the navigation cues you might need to access the hill. There are two ways to access this hill - One using a flight of stairs up to the Balamurugan temple and then a dirt trail from there to the hill-top. And the other is to follow the tarred road up from the village. We chose the latter since it was close to where we ended up parking the car. ...
It’s so hard to find long dirt trails here in Chennai. So when I heard about the Adyar river trail, I hopped on the bike and head over across the city. Thoroughly enjoyed the 6kms of solidarity amidst this bustling city. Got Shasta and Meena over this weekend and they had their bit of nature-fix too. I need to actively scout for these secluded nature spaces. They come far and few but I’m pretty sure there’s got to be more! ...