Scene III - The trek, the realization

After a nice cup of tea in the morning, we set out to trek at 7:45 AM. We had a guide who took us to the hill top through the Bhadra forest area. It was a dense forest we were trekking in to. Every time we do this after a break, it makes us realize how much of stamina we have lost, how fit/unfit we are to do this. And everytime, the realization soon vanishes when we are back to our routines.
The trek was too good, until the guide told us there were leeches. They were around only when we were almost to reach the hill top. One thing I was telling Sree before we planned for trek was that we should go to a place where there would be no leeches. And lo! Here I was standing on the rock, screaming, having experienced my first leech bite :( and Sree got 2 of them.
Of course there was no prick or pain, its only the feeling that a slimy thing is stuck on you. It fell off when he poured the salt on it. There were 2-3 stuck on my pants which were pulled out. It took a while for me to come out of that messy feeling and to start enjoying the height and the view.
The surrounding mountains were covered with mist and it looked astounding. Lying down on the rocks and viewing the clouds spread across the sky was a moment.

The climb down the hill top was a quick one, because I was running down trying to ensure I don't allow more leeches to stick around my pants and shoes. I guess that does not help. We observed how they stood straight on the ground to leap out and hold on to us. There were more on the pants while we climbed down, but luckily nothing could get on to the skin. Sree pulled them out before they could.

We had a grand breakfast and were all set for the day.