One of the lesser known treks in the Tamil Nadu circuit, Vattakanal trek is on the difficult side of the trekking spectrum. Completing the whole trek in a day would make it comparable to the strenuous nature of Kumara Parvatha trek. After reaching Theni early on Day 1, we head towards the base where we freshen up and start the trek. First hour is a warm up and is easy on the eyes with couple of deeply hidden waterfalls.

After a refreshing break is when the trek becomes taxing. Constant steep under the thick jungles of the Western Ghats make it a tiring journey. The views when the forests rarely open up are majestic. Spotting wildlife is highly probable with Bison, wild goats, porcupines being the more common species. Mist laden forests make it a spooky environment and walking the trails feel like a true adventure. After trekking for 10kms, we reach Vellagavi, a 50 house village with no road connectivity. They have to either come down to Kumbakarai or go up to Vattakanal for selling the fruits and spices which are in abundance. Oranges, Butter Fruit, Papaya, Banana, Guava, Passion Fruit, Jack Fruit are some of the many varieties of fruits available here, which make it a mouth-watering experience. Deep in the jungle, an aptly named camp site Into the wild is where we camp on Day 1.

Day 2 welcomes us with an unforgiving winding path which is continuously steep and equally spooky with the mist. After a tiring 3 hour hike, the warmth of lemon tea in the cold weather of Vattakanal concludes a satisfactory trek. The trek ends at Dolphin Nose in Vattakanal.