Meesapulimala

 Day 1

Meesapulimala was a dream location, only accessible thru KFDC packages, 1 day trek 2 base camp, 3 Sky villa 4 Rhodo mansion, lot of groups are running camps @ Rs 3600 for base camp, a facebook / whatsapp post announced a budget rate @ Rs 3000 , i.e KFDC trek fee + jeep fare 

Base camp is with 15 - 20 tents shared by 2 persons, food : evening tea & biscuits, dinner cappathi, ghee rice and chicken curry, breakfast bread n jam, lunch veg meals

Our group was a team of 12 reported at Munnar jeep stand, took the jeeps and moved to KFDC office to collect the pass moved thru the Silent valley tea estates, reported at the first check post, stopped at Silent valley shooting location with accasia trees with a background of hills , spend some time there, this is the last place to get any things you need, had tea and a baji from the lone tea shop.

A 1 hour ride takes us to the base camp, beautiful landscaped place , a wooden hut, a steam of water, hikers was coming in batches , about 60 people were there for the hike

Our tents were a bit far from the main tents, 3 man tents ,4 common toilets was also nearby

Camp fire were lit for the big group, we have also a camp fire very near to our tents, informed the KFDC officer that it may be lit when it gets dark/ after dinner.

 A small introduction of hikers and stories of past hikes, one persons love for travel was very interesting, going for international trips without the informing family, with help of Jio international SIM. A posh karshakan aka farmer, traveller, expressed his true love towards travel with an advice, go see places, nothing can stop you, you have to overcome all barriers, loved his tag line ' small trips, a couple of drinks with friends, even a holy smoke by any chance ', most of them were 50+, after dinner campfire was lit, antakshari in 2 groups had a gr8 time , fun, laughter, and tears, smoke from the camp fire, back to tents a chilly sleep inside the sleping bags temperature was about 10 c

Day 2 

Jeeps will be ready for viewing the sunrise , so alarms at 4.15, after morning rituals, breakfast of bead n butter. 5.15am started the off road ride, a 5km ride to Rhodo mansion from there we have to climb the steep hill to see the sunrise, took about 20 minutes to reach the top all waiting for golden rays, the wind was lashing and struggled to get got shots, but got some nice pics, a clear sky we saw most of the peaks Chokramudi, Anamudi, Kolukkumala, Elapetty and some unknown moutain ranges, Anayirangal dam, in a distance saw Idukki dam, upto 7am all had a nice time enjoying the 360 ° views

Meesapulimala is the 8th moutain so 7 to go not so hard climbs, the hiking paths were easy , open area dotted with carribean pine, planted earlier, now culled as it's hampering the growth of shola vegetation and some red rhodohendron flowers, a beautiful stream crossing, most of them filled their water bottles here, occcassional stops at available shades which was hard to find, got chocolates, peanuts, cashew & dates to boost our energy.  

A way back was a different and short reached Rhodo mansion by about 11.30 off road back to base camp, had lunch waited for our group so the first jeep can move back to Munnar, said bye to all, reached Munnar by 13.45pm KSRTC bus to Aluva