Hikes without guides

gqsmoothie

Hello everyone.

I am wondering if there are many places in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Nanda Devi NP where a person can go on a 1-3 day hike without a guide. I guess I am just wondering if there are well marked trails in any of these areas?

mridula

I think to enter Nanda Devi NP one needs a permit. The only well marked trail I can think of is Mani Mahesh (up to half way through) that starts from Hadsar in Himachal Pradesh. That is not to say that there are not other trails, only I can't think of them. Hope someone else will come along with a more helpful reply.

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mridula

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AvidTrekker

Read this thread.

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arunchs

I cant think of multi-day trips, but here are day-treks I know of in Kerala/TN

1. Chembra peak, Wayanad
2. Pakshi Patalam, Wayanad
3. Perumal Malai in Kodaikanal.

Infact the possibilities are many around Wayanad, Munnar and Kodaikanal but there will never be any marked trails. You are usually better off with guides.

Seeing that you are from the US, the concept of marking walking trails in the forest like is US doesn't exist in India, though you may see a few examples rarely.

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snonymous

If you go to Kodaikanal, there are several short or long hikes you can do yourself such as to Dolphins Nose along the Pambar shola, Vattakanal route. The Pillar Rocks, Guna caves area is also excellent for hiking, you can walk ahead of the main tourist areas for about 100m, cut through the forests and enjoy several view points, some in fact far superior to the designated tourist 'points'. The road leading to Mannavanur also has several 'eerie' type pine forests which you can walk through and explore as well as patches of shola forests, some of which are not that dense so you can walk through these as well. If you go through http://kodaikanal.org/ there are several options for hikes and treks which you can do on your own. We did a few after reading about them on this site, and were more than satisfied.

In the Nilgiris district of TN also there are several places where you can hike on your own, for example if you take the Ooty Pykara route, you can stop anywhere that looks interesting to you [avoiding the tourist stops], and hike through vast meadows, dense sholas, plantation forests, near lakesides etc etc. Endless possibilities, all very do - able. You can even go further upto Pandalur and there are several areas en route where you can hike, likewise if you go towards Emeralde lake. You can also easily hike to Kolaribetta but for that you need permission from the DFO at Ooty to enter the reserve forest area.

I am sure that other members will give you more suggestions, and better details, esp. about Kerala and North.

Almoraboy

I have been in Kerala and TN areas without guides (munnar, kodai outskirts, ooty outskirts, etc), even though i am not from those areas. and uttarakhand is my native state but then also i will not go into the Nanda Devi area without any guides...reason being that the scale of that region is huge compared to the south, the weather is much more fierce and it is very remote.

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