Camping trip - Day 3 (July 3)

The last day of the trip. Basically it was nothing more than a pack-up day. Before I go into the details of it I would like to elaborate more on our arrangements. Here is a snap of the bare essentials of the trip.
The black containers are called 'Bear Cannisters'. These are environment friendly and bear friendly containers. Previously, people who used to go for camping trip would use plastic bags to store food and the wild bears would unwittingly eat them along with the food and die. Nowadays, most of the trekkers pack foodstuff in such cannisters and the bears can't open them and eat the stored food (ofcourse, in this photo the cannisters are open since the foodstuff is outside). Also, during night time, we would keep the cannisters a fair distance away from our tents so that even if the bears smelled food, they would play around with the cannisters and not venture too close to our tents.

The green cans are propane gas which was our fuel source for cooking. These are really small, convenient and safe to carry around and in fact they form the base of the stove. The black can is a water-proof sealant which we would spray on our shoes to keep them moisture-free since it had rained the previous night. This spray forms a layer on the shoes which is effective in keeping away small quantities of water. The blue plastic bottles are electrolyte replenishers. We also carried them in powder form. We also had iodine tablets to purify the water from the stream. Basically, u collect the water, put a couple of iodine tablets in it, wait for 30 min and the water is safe for drinking. This water has an unpleasant taste and to mask it we used the electrolyte powder. We bought a lot of packed food; mostly powdered soup and ready to eat Spanish rice. Apart from this, we also had macaroni and flavoured oats. The grey bundle is a sleeping bag. There is just one shown in the snap but we had one for each of the eight of us. Believe it or not, the black bag contains a tent. It has 3 rods which form the skeleton of the tent, the main cloth which forms the tent, a water-proof cover and clamps to hold the tent on the ground. We also had energy bars and torches. These are some of the things you have to carry for a camping trip.

As for the third day, I slept really well the previous night and was one of the first to wake up. I called the other guys, brushed my teeth and started preparing tea. Slowly but surely, everyone woke up and we had oats and tea for breakfast. We packed everything, dismantled the tent and waved our final good-byes.
We went back the way we came. So first we crossed Marcy dam and then walked for ever till we reached our van. This took us more than an hour. Since this area had all the facilities, a couple of us decided to take a bath before leaving for home and while they were doing so, Mukul, Chetan & Harsh got busy stuffing everything inot the van and to tie off the sleeping bags on the top of the van. Here is Harsh smiling after a job well done.
We all left after spending almost an hour at the parking lot. We had to feed our hungry stomachs and some peolple opted for subway sandwiches while others including opted for Chinese food. This Chinese restaurant is situated in the downtown of Lake Placid area. The downtown is very beautiful with a European touch and was chock-a-block with tourists. We then went to an ice-cream shop and had juices and ice-creams.

Then began the long drive back to Buffalo. We had breaks in between where we would change seats, sing along the songs played in the van and sometimes do nothing. We stopped in the evening at a Burger King for our dinner. At the very end of the trip, Vatsala got bored with the songs that were being played in the van and hence she started listening to the songs in her i-pod. She would sing the song aloud and at that moment, since I was the navigator, I paused the song being played in the van and recorded a clip where you will see my lips moving but actually it is her voice in the background. Such fun!!!

We ultimately reached Buffalo around 9:30 pm and thus ended a successful camping trip. I am sure I won't forget this for a long long time to come. I thank Harsh & Mukul for borrowing some of their photos and video clips. A big 'Thankyou' to Amol, Ranjana, Candice and Chetan for arranging this trip and to Vatsala for sportingly bearing our constant bantering. Here is a photo with the names of the members:
From left : Harsh, Chetan, Candice, Ranjana, Amol, I, Mukul & Vatsala.

Here are the photos again in case you missed them in my previous write-up.

Camping trip - Day 2 (July 2)

Here we go. The most exciting day of the trip. Most of us got up at around 8 am and this place looked so different in the morning!!! It turned out to be a very organized place with log wood cabins and lots of people around camping in their own RVs which is basically a trailer attached to a vehicle. Heck, they even had bathrooms with running hot water.I didn't take a bath but some of the more 'hygienic' ones did. Duh, this is not how a camping trip is supposed to be. Anyway, while the others were getting ready, I & Harsh sneaked out to the lake nearby and clicked some photos and a video. The weather seemed really violent.U can clearly see the waves behind Harsh in the photo and ofcourse in the video.
By the time we got back, the others were ready and packing up everything. Once we thought we were done packing, it was the other guys' turn to make a visit to the lake and have fun.

Before leaving, the forest rangers told us to be wary of the weather since thunderstorms were predicted for the day. That didn't at all dampen our enthusiasm. And so we made our way to the adirondacks lodge which was around 30 miles from where we camped last night. On the way, we passed Lake Placid again. We finally reached our destination and started gathering all the important stuff. There were lots of really good cars parked around which indcated that not only were there a lot of trekking enthusiasts but also that most of them must be financially well-off. Look at this car!!!

We left behind some things in the van and the rest was stuffed into our backpacks and each of us held our own sleeping bags. We all were ready and raring to go and to our delight, the weather was with us too. The sun shined brightly and brought smiles on our faces.

So off we went in search of the perfect camping spot. On the way we met many trekkers who were on their way back and I was thinking 'are we too late?'. As always in all trips some people are faster than the others. In this case, one of us was slower than the others. Any guess as to who it was? Well it was the one who was making her debut in trekking - Vatsala. She had started off with great enthusiasm on day 1 but now that was no where to be seen. It was really good to be in the midst of nature and I realized how much we take nature for granted. The trail was not really beautiful since we were always surrounded by bushes and tall trees but it was fun walking nonetheless. We took a couple of breaks in between, mainly for the weak link, and finally reached our pit stop - Marcy dam. It offered a breathtaking view of the Adirondacks and we could see the tallest mountain in the region 'Mt. Marcy' as well as our destination 'Mt. Phelps'. Here are some views of and from the dam as well as a video.

We walked a kilometer more and reached a spot where Amol & Co. had camped before. So while we waited at that spot, Amol & Candice went in search of another perfect spot and soon enough came back with good news. This place was just a couple of hundred metre from the previous one and was fairly hidden from the trail. I still have no clue as to how they found this spot. It was perfect. There was a stream containing icy cold water flowing by and a clearing which was just about enough for two tents. We immediately started setting up the tents while simultaneously, Ranjana was arranging to feed our hungry stomachs. By the time we were done with the tents, Ranjana had heated up soup for us and was busy heating up Spanish rice. Harsh was enterprising enough to offer a good view of the spot with this neat video. We all devoured the food and prepared for the uphill climb. We kept most of our things in the tents and took only the essential items like water, energy bars, torches and cameras.

Pretty close to our tents was another stream over which a couple of logs acted as a bridge. Mukul, our official photographer clicked some snaps and here is one of them.

We had to cover an altitude of around 2000 feet and I thought it would be pretty easy but boy, was I proved wrong! There are 3 colours to indicate the degree of difficulty of the trails; Yellow for the easiest; Green for intermediate and Red for the most difficult one. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that we took the red one. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be fit enough and had enough stamina to keep going. As before, Vatsala's progress was pretty slow and I stayed back with her and Amol for most of the climb. On the way, we met more people and they all would say that its just 20 minutes or so but in fact it took us two and a half hour to make it to the top. We reached there at about 4:45 pm and was disappointed to see that there was only a huge rock on which we could rest, otherwise the top was completely covered with bushes but the view more than made up for this shortcoming. There were mountains all around and the wind was pretty strong; in fact sometimes strong enough to jeopardize our balance. We spent around 30 min and clicked some snaps and videos, one by me and one by Harsh.

Then started the descent and this was more difficult and dangerous than the ascent because the rains from the previous night had made the trail muddy and slippery. Somehow after two more hours of walking and talking we finally reached our tents in one piece. We all were exhausted and I had a severe headache. Ranjana diligently started preparing dinner and most of us had gone bonkers over the soup. After dinner, we clicked some crazy pictures and later gathered in one of the tents for a session of story-telling. Needless to say, it was about ghosts and spirits. A couple of us already fell asleep and that's when we decided to call it a day. Here is a compilation of all the photos from the trip.

Coming up, day 3.

Camping trip - Day 1 (July 1)

This has taken a long time coming. I have been procratinating to blog about my camping trip but at last I have got down to write this. Harsh, my ever resourceful friend, informed me that some of his friends were planning on a camping trip and asked whether I would be interested. You bet I was but I was dilly-dallying since the trip was planned for Jul 1-3 and I and Dhaval were planning to move to our new apartment on the 1st. Well, we talked to our new landlord and he had no problem with us moving in a day or two earlier. So we moved on 29th June and I was all set for my camping trip.

The masterminds of this trip were Amol, Ranjana and Candice since they had prior experience of camping. The remaining enthusiasts were Chetan, Mukul, Amol's sister Vatsala who was vacationing in the US and ofcourse, Harsh and I. I had the luxury of just accompanying them for the trip without having to worry about buying or planning anything. All I had to do was buy a sleeping bag and a raincoat and pack my stuff.

So Harsh and Amol went together to rent the mini-van for our trip first thing in the morning of July 1st, a Saturday. We were supposed to leave around 9 am and so I got ready at the decided time. As things would have it, I didn't realize that we would be running on IST (Indian Stretchable Time). I reached Harsh's place at 10:30 and by the time the other guys reached it was past 11. We all got busy stuffing everything into the van (which turned out to be smaller than we imagined) and tying our sleeping bags to the top of our van. Here is a snap of Mukul after satisfactorily tying the sleeping bags.

So off we went, the seven of us, to Rochester which was on the way to our destination to pick up our 8th member, Candice. We were going to the Adirondacks mountain ranges which was around 350 miles to the north-east of Buffalo.

Only Amol and Harsh could drive the vehicle since only their names were enrolled in the contract. We reached Rochester in good time but got lost for sometime before we reached Candice's place (thanks to modern technology using cellphones and Candice guiding us by looking at an online map on her laptop). Candice had recently moved to Rochester for her internship and we all took a look at her apartment. Her roomie was an American and look at the number of pairs of shoes she has!!!

We hadn't had lunch till then and so after joining the highway, we halted at a service station for lunch but it was so crowded with tourists, that we decided to eat at the next service station which happened to be 40 miles further away. After lunch, our real trip started. The girls were sitting in the backside and they were constantly complaining that the seats were cramped and uncomfortable.

Whenever we made a halt, we would change seats, like we were playing musical chairs. After a lot of leg-pulling and bantering episodes, we finally reached Lake Placid indicating that we were pretty close to the Adirondacks. Vatsala took over as the navigator, a job she became adept at and hence I gave her the nickname 'GPS'. She was expertly guiding her brother but try as we may, we couldn't find the way to our intended stop. We were searching for a road to our right but when we eventually did find one it turned out to be a private property. After wandering around for some more time we reached the banks of a lake which was jam-packed with people who had come to watch pre-July 4 fireworks. We did not stay there but decided to look for a camping ground. Unlike in India, you cannot just set up a tent anywhere you want unless it is designated as a camping site. On our way, we could see the fireworks from a distance and it was really magnificent. We reached a camping ground but it seemed to be full. The guard there, a sweet old man, gave us directions to another camping ground and so we made our way back and again saw the fireworks at the exact same spot. We finally decided to fill petrol in our van and to replenish our stomach at a convenience store. We bought some muffins and a couple of cheese pizzas which we microwaved at the store and greedily consumed. We also asked for directions from an employee at the store. Despite the tiredness and the frustration, we found time to click some snaps.

After refuelling, we set of to search for a new camping ground. We drove a couple of miles and Harsh slowed down at a stretch since we thought that we were close to a camping ground. A car came behind us and Harsh signalled them to overtake us. To our horror, it turned that it was a cop and he flashed his lights. Harsh manouvered the vehicle to the right, switched off the vehicle and put the blinkers on. We all were discussing what to say. The cop walked toward our vehicle with his torch on and knocked on the window, Harsh rolled the window down and explained the problem to the officer. Meanwhile, another officer came to the passenger side with his torch and was visually scanning the whole vehicle and made a mental note of the number of passengers inside. The officer turned out to be very helpful and on seeing this, Vatsala started asking some questions too. The cop did have difficulty understanding her Mumbaiyya English but eventually he said that our best bet would be a site which was just 2 miles down the road. Thankfully, the cops let us go (our only conceivable fault was driving at 30 mph on a 55mph stretch). We managed to find the site and after locating the forest ranger we registered ourselves and he was gracious enough to give us a spot to set up our two tents. We parked our van such that it could throw light on the spot and we went about putting up our tent.

The tents were pretty easy to set up and was completely waterproof. As usual we had the enthusiasm of clicking more photographs and here is a view of the 2 tents.

Some more photographs:
We said our good-nights and went into our tents. There was absolutely no problem of mosquitoes or bugs and the ground was pretty flat too. I am a poor sleeper and I knew that I would have a tough time adjusting to these conditions. Turned out that I was right and had great difficulty sleeping. I could hear the thunder and the rain. The thunders were so loud that it felt like I was sitting in a theater with an excellent surround sound system. It was both scary and exciting at the same time to be in the midst of nature because you never know where the next lightning would strike.

Watch this space for the exciting details of day 2.

At last, its over!!!

I'm talking about the football worldcup. I say 'at last' because almost every afternoon we would slip out of our lab to watch one of the games and this would be followed by the guilt of having done that (although most of us didn't have anything else to do). At the last stages of the tournament, it was taking way too much of our time and energy. Although the quality of football in this worldcup was not as good as in the previous one, it was exciting because the results of most of the matches were decided in the last 15 minutes.

The contest between Le Bleus (French) and the Azzurris (Italians) was nothing compared compared to the one between Germany and Portugal. Its a pity that the Germans couldn't make it to the finals since they were playing like champions throughout the tournament except for that lacklustre semi-final against the Italians. I have never seen a hungrier German team and with the likes of Klose, Podolski, Borowski, Schweinsteiger and Schneider in their ranks, they would be my favourites to win the next world cup to be held in South Africa in 2008.

Coming back to the final match, I wanted Zidane and Co. to win it but destiny had a cruel twist to it. Italy dominated the first half but seemed to have run out of gas in the middle of the second half and this trend continued till the end of extra-time. Had Zidane been there for the last 10 minutes, France might very well have lifted the golden cup. I don't want to attach pictures or videos of Zidane's antic here since you can find them in numerous other sites and blogs. I don't care what Materazzi did or said to him but what Zidane did to Materazzi was absolutely unwarranted and highly deplorable. We know that sledging is pretty common in sports like cricket and football and should be taken in its stride. If its too much, you can just talk back and/or lodge an official complaint after the end of the match and let the officials deal with it.

People call Zizou a 'gentleman' but the fact is that he has done this before in a European championship and hence he doesn't qualify to be called one. One witnesses such incidents in club-level or street football. Zidane has had an illustrious international career but people will keep questioning his school-boyish behaviour for the rest of his life. What a way to end the last international match of your life!!!