The Summit

Here's the giant Shivaji temple parts of which are 2000 years old in the city of Tiruvannamalai.

This is me on the summit with my intrepid guide taking a moment over my right shoulder.

I met this lovely French man named, Guy just below the summit. He hiked to the top with us and I enjoyed a chat with him in the hut at the top as we rested for the harrowing journey back.

This is me at the beginning, fresh and unsuspecting.

Photos of the big climb

We started out in Selvaji's hut. He is a guardian of the forest, keeping people from smoking and putting out forest fires. I started up the mountain alone while Selvaji went back for provisions.

This was one of the "sleeping spots" Selvaji picked out for me. He set two rocks down for a pillow and said, "you lie down and sleep for 2 minutes." Very refreshing.

Arunachala, Sacred Shivaji Mountain

This morning I got up and planned a sedate 2 km. hike to the cave where Sri Ramana Maharshi lived and meditated for 7 years; started at 6am and planned to be back by 8am to bathe and go to Richard Clarke's (retired here from San Jose a year and a half ago; rents a palatial 2 story home with roof deck for $200/month) house for a visit by 9. But nooooooooo. I caught the enthusiasm of an impromptu guide living in a grass hut at the foot of the mountain and agreed to have him guide me to the top, without asking the length of the trip or preparing for a long gruelling hike with sunscreen, water, food, head protection, walking stick, none of the essentials. Nevertheless, my fearless guide took me on like a project with comments such as, "you have a big body and walk so nicely to the top of the mountain." Well, that didn't turn out to be entirely true, because near the end, I turned my ankle and fell, colliding with my tiny guide and we both sprawled in the dirt on an incline. He scratched his leg and hit his spine on a rock. I scraped my back and turned my ankle, but not badly. He urged me to a standing position as quickly as possible and had me crawl into a narrow cave for shade to "sleep" while he hustled down the hill a few hundred yards to the cave cum ashram and freshwater spring. He returned with a liter of water and a steel plate of food, rice, dall and green beans. It was the salt that was most critical at that point, and the rest. Whew! Near catastrophe averted. Now I'm recovering with only moderately sunburned forearms and face, swollen and sore knees, but proud to have bagged that peak! Pictures to follow, my camera battery just died.