Kudremukh - Once again !!

     My last trek with "Crazy Hikers" was to Kuduremukh peek on 7th December last year. Many friends who could not join then were requesting for a trek to Kuduremukh again. Last year, we did trek every month and had different experiences in wilderness. Some friends got married, some left the company and various other commitments damaged our group's reputation as "Crazy Hikers" :).  Every time we met each other at office, we used to discuss about our next trek but it was not getting materialized. 

     Finally, Laxmi took a bold step and declared that we are going on 17th October no matter who comes are not. We then started choosing the place to go, and "Bandaje" came out. I've gone to "Bandaje" two times already but still would love to go again. I had my daughter's first term exam results & grand father's ceremony on Saturday (18th Oct) due to which I wasn't able to join this trek. But, I wanted others to continue as per the plan, otherwise people loose interest. Every time one or the other person has reasons to drop out, and we can't satisfy everyone. I was lucky this time, as few others also dropped out, Laxmi postponed "Bandaje" trek to a future date. Few people were still interested for a trek during that weekend, and I suggested "Kuduremukh" & I could join the trek if we start on Saturday night. As usual, we started roping in people & formed a team of sixteen people. 

     Trekking in a large group has both advantages & dis-advantages. The advantage is that you have many friends to share experiences and enjoy. The dis-advantage is that coordinating with every member will be difficult. As they say - "A team can perform as fast as its slowest member of the team", the team's pace will be decided by the slowest walking person. We prefer "fun" over "pace", so in most of the treks we will be more than 10 people. 

     We divided the trip logistics among ourselves. Prakash booked a 20 seater "Swaraj Mazda" at 20 Rs/Km rate, Laxmi & Prabin co-ordinated with all the members and ensured that everyone boards the bus at the right time. I called up Rajappa (Raje gowda) at Mullodi, and requested to send two Jeeps to Balegallu around 5:30am on Sunday. I also requested him to prepare only "white rice" for the lunch. Last time, the "Lemon rice" he had prepared was extra-rich in oil, and we could not eat properly. So this time, thought of taking "Puliyogare mix" (a paste made out of Tamarind & Jaggery) with us and mix it with "white rice" ourselves. The plan was to start at 10:30pm from Bangalore, go via Hassan > Mudigere > Kottigehara > Kalasa and reach Balegallu by 5:30am on Sunday. The first pickup point was Jayadeva hospital at 9:30pm. Prabin, Anusha, Debashish, Raghu, Ankit, Sangeetha & Ravi boarded the bus at Jayadeva, Prakash, Laxmi, Kavitha, Satish ponnusamy joined at Delmia circle. Me, Deepa, Roopa & Sangita (Roopa's sister) joined them at Devegowda petrol bunk. Last person Karthik joined us at Goragunte palya on the way. 

     Everything was going as per the plan except that the bus we were travelling wasn't comfortable. It was going fast and road was good, but the seats weren't designed for long journey. Laxmi had brought a sleeping mat and we shared the mat & slept on the aisle between the seats. At 3:18am I woke up to check out where we were, and google map showed another 1.5 hrs to Kalasa. We were near Kottigehara by 3:30am, and we stopped the bus to have a cup of coffee/tea at "Indian Cafe". It was still dark, so I told Lohith (driver) to go little slow. The road between Kottigehara & Kalasa had lot of curves and I felt like vomiting but somehow controlled. We reached Balegallu just 2 minutes early to the expected 5:30am. It wasn't a surprise to see 4-5 vechicles parked already which indicated the number of trekkers present there. After morning rituals we were transported to Rajappa's house in two jeeps. Rajappa welcomed us with a big smile and I reminded him about our visit last year. We were given a room to change the dress & keep our baggage. Since no one is allowed to camp at the top, there is no point in carrying anything except food & water.

     After having Idli's for the breakfast, we prepared "puliyogare rice" for the lunch there itself and distributed the packets to all & started our trek around 8:15am. Some say the trek distance is 9  kms one way, and some say 11 kms. Google's "My tracks" app clocked around 8 kms !!. A small team would cover this distance in around 3.5 to 4 hrs, with a large group it will take an hour extra. We paid 275.00 Rs per head forest entry fee to Rajappa. He said, he will pay 8,000/- Rs every month to local forest department guys, otherwise he will be tortured for unnecessary reasons. Well, without knowing the other side story, I can't conclude anything in this case, but the forest department doesn't provide any assistance to trekkers after taking 275.00 Rs. In Kumara parvatha trail, there are sign boards and mile stones but nothing here except at the top. Ravi & Prakash, who were coming in the last, lost their trail twice but luckily could find the proper trail.

     

     This trek was special to me, as I was accompanied by my wife. It was her second trek but still I was concerned whether she can do it or not. There were few other first timers & I was mentally prepared to come back from the point where they feel they can't proceed. But, all of them were very brave & strong and completed entire trek without any complaints. The last year's trek was still fresh in my mind, and I could recall what we did at every turn & forest patch. After some 25 minutes of walking, we reached "Bodhi vriksh" (A temple tree where Buddha was enlightened) & then reached a stream. Ravi & Prakash were behind, trying to shoot some Scarlet Minivets & Rose ringed parakeets, and we waited for them. Raghu & Satish went back in search of them, when they didn't turn up after 10 minutes also. While we were waiting for them, I shot this slow-shutter image of the stream. 

When Ravi & Prakash joined us, all others continued the trek and I stayed with them trying some more shots of the stream. A frog suddenly appeared on a rock & posed comfortably. There was no light, so had to bump up the ISO to get a good shot. Ravi & PK continued their shooting, and I started walking. After this stream, there is a steep climb and then trails splits into two. One trail goes down towards the stream, and this is where Ravi & PK had lost their way. 

     The trail is very clear, most of the times in open land and 4-5 times goes through forest. At another stream ahead, the trail splits into two, and we had to choose left one. We placed rocks one above another to make a pyramid, to indicate the direction for late comers. After crossing the stream, we hit an open land and from there the Kuduremukh peek was clearly seen. It is when we spotted, 4-5 people on a different mountain. I thought they must have gone there by mistake, but later came to know that, that is another peek called "Thirumalaguppe", which is just 5 kms from Rajappa's house. After walking few more minutes, we saw a damaged home (?!), perhaps someone lived there long long ago. Ravi & Prakash were still behind, and all others have gone ahead. I was walking alone, when I met two birders from Mangalore. They were pointing at a distant bird & were trying to photograph with a Canon 100-400mm lens. I greeted them and moved on. Just after I came out of this forest patch, there is a steep climb for some 1 hour, which is to me, is the first exam. After climbing this part, I could clearly see people on the ridge walking towards the peek. I checked "My Tracks" app, and it showed around 4.2 kms and the time was 10:50am. Raghu was carrying my bag with food & water and he was very much ahead.

Deepa was resting under a lonely tree and the view from there was awesome. All the pain of climbing in hot sun was taken away instantaneously. Roopa & Sangeetha joined us & she kindly shared an Orange, which gave some energy to trek further. Deepa & I continued the trek, while Roopa & Sangeeta took rest. It was a steep climb again from here and after crossing a forest patch, we reached a water source. Raghu was taking rest with others, and I happily searched my bag he was carrying for two Oranges I'd kept. Where are the Oranges !?, he had eaten both. I had no reason to be angry on him, as he was helping me by carrying my bag. Its really difficult to manage the trekking & photography at the same time. It was difficult for me manage my camera with all the graduated neutral density filters while carrying backpack with food & water. Raghu was walking empty handed, so handed over my bag to him. Sangeetha (Ravi's wife) arrived right in time and gave couple of Oranges. We ate one and saved another in the Camera bag for future use. After filling the water bottles, I and Deepa continued our journey, while others waited. Deepa wanted to walk continuously until the destination is reached. But, when beautiful landscape & cloud clad mountains are in front of me, how can I continue without taking a photo ?. The lighting changes, clouds formation changes every minute and gives spectacular show. I cursed myself for not carrying a tripod. We reached the top around 2:15pm, and there is a water source just before the final climb to the peek. We started our "Puliyogare" lunch, with Curds & raw onions. Laxmi & others joined us after five minutes. Some chose to eat near the water stream, while some went up to the peek & had lunch.

 There were lot of people on the peek, most of them from the "Bangalore Ascenders" group. After lunch some people took some power nap, while I tried my hands at time-lapse photography. It was very windy & the clouds were moving very quickly. None of us for a moment thought that it may rain. It was 3:15pm, when Deepa & Laxmi reminded about the time. Last time, we took around 2.5 hours to go down without stopping anywhere. So, with that data in mind, I was confident that we can go back before it gets dark. But the Nature had something different to offer. It started drizzling, so after a quick group photo, we hurried back. Just as we walked for 5 minutes, it started raining. We neither had any shelter nor time, so we continued walking. Rain stopped after 5 minutes, but had done all the damage it could do. It was very slippery, and we had to walk carefully & slowly. Despite all the care, some of us had great fall :). I thought the rain god showed mercy on us, and it won't rain again. I was proved wrong after 30 minutes of walk, when the downpour started. It rained for almost 45 minutes, and we had no option but to walk. We came down to that damaged house by around 5:45pm, and it was still a long way to go. The chances of reaching Rajappa's house before dark looked dim. We just walked, walked until we reached the "Bodhi vriksha". It was completely dark, and we didn't have proper torches except the mobile torch app. Somehow, we managed to walk in the darkness, and reached Rajappa's house by night 7:15pm. Onion pakodas & Coffee was ready for us. After getting refreshed, we were transported back to Balegallu. By 8:30pm we started our journey back to Bangalore. Everybody except few were exhausted, and they slept as soon as they got into the bus. We stopped at "Indian cafe", Kottigehara for dinner and resumed our journey back. We reached Bangalore around 4:30am, and dispersed after settlement with the Bus driver.

     Here are some snapshots from "My Tracks" app for this trek.

 

Happy trekking !! Happy Deepavali !! Good Night !!

     

Delhi airport link hotel

Reached Delhi at midnight yesterday and checked in to hotel airport link close to Airport at mahipalpur. We had flight to Leh at 8:40am today but GoAir canceled the flight quoting operational issues. It is rescheduled to10th Feb morning. Now we need to spend two days in Delhi. Friends are planning to go to Agra.  Let's see how it goes. ...

Chadar - My dream trek...

     It's been ten months since my friend Satish came back from this chadar trek in ladakh region and shared his photos. Since then I've been dreaming of this trek. Last year in October when friends in office went to roop kund trek, I could not join them due to some commitments in office and felt very disappointed. Now, in last December when Srinivas asked if I would be interested in Chadar trek, I readily agreed. All bookings happened within a week. Usually people go through India hikes group but we selected trek the Himalayas group as it was little cheaper.  Safety can't be compromised for price, so after reading lot of reviews on TTH we learnt that it is one of the group recommended by US Embassy, and felt little relieved. Srinivas paid 19k per person fees for the trek while I did the flight bookings. From Bangalore to Delhi night Indigo flight and Delhi to Leh morning flight. I booked the tickets well in advance but still they were not cheap.

     

     Trekking in high altitudes is not an easy job. Though I've done many treks in karnataka the terrain in Himalayas is different. Chadar means blanket in Hindi. During winter temperature drops to below freezing point to the order of -25 degree celcius to -30 degree C, and a thick chadar will be formed on the Zhanskar River in the valley.  All paths to this valley will be closed and people use this chadar route to commute. I've done many treks in Western ghats but the freezing climatic conditions & challenges of high altitude trek is seriously a matter of concern for me. Back in 2012, I'd done a 25 kms trek near Dalhousie through Youth Hostels Association. That was infact, my first exposure to Himalayas and I'd experienced a very very cold night at a place called "Kalatop" near "Lakhanmandi". That night, I'd told to myself, that I will never come back to Himalayas if I go home safely. But again in October 2013, I planned a family trip to Leh-Ladakh. We hired a Tavera from Delhi, and travelled all the way up to "Sarchu". That night at "Sarchu", was the coldest night of our lifetime. None of my family members will ever forget that night. My father had "Heart by-pass surgery" during the previous Christmas (I'd been to Dalhousie trek after that surgery), and father-in-law also had some health problems & he complained of loss of breath that night. At high altitudes, the air will be thin and contains less oxygen. So one should take slow & deep breath, but the air will be chilling, so you can't take deep breath posing the biggest challenge. If there is no wind you are lucky, otherwise, it will make you feel more colder. But the strong burning desire of doing "Chadar" trek motivated me and I was mentally prepared to take the challenge & face the odds.

     Fitness, is something I've given priority in my life ever since I started going for treks. I still remember how I struggled to climb a mountain during my first Bandaje trek. For the sake of trekking, I decided to be fit and joined a nearby Gym. When I'd joined Gym, I was unable to run even 100 meters, but now I'm proud that I can run continuously for 2.5 kilo meters. Now, for "Chadar" trek I started preparing myself, by walking 5 Kms daily (ofcourse on treadmill), and drinking more water (as suggested in some blog). I think most part of the "Chadar" trek is on the frozen river, and there will be no uphill climb required, except at places where river is not frozen. 

     Cost, is another factor you should seriously think about while doing Himalayan treks. Fees for most of the treks will range from 5k to 20k rupees, but if you are a first timer, you need to buy all the equipments & apparales for high altitude treks. Good pair of shoes, Good warmers, Good jackets (down jacket, fleece jacket), Good goggles, Good rucksack and the list of "Goods.." goes on while you prepare for the trek. Some of the items you can take on rent but not all. I had spent close to 5k rupees on apparels for my first Dalhousie trek, but from my past experience, I knew that it is not sufficient. I bought a new pair of shoes, warmers, down jackets, goggles from "Decathlon". I hope the quality of "Quechua", protects me from biting cold :)

     Only 6 days left for my flight to Delhi. I don't know, if I get time before that to update this post. Once I come back from the trip, will update this post with real experience & photos. -- Good night :)

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04 Feb: Today, I was about to cancel my trek :(. Suddenly, lot of work has come to the team and everyone in the team has to put in extra effort to do that work. I will loose around 30,000 rupees if I cancel this trek :(, but I'm ready since work is important than passion. Since the cancellation fee is high, my manager & senior manager are saying to carry on with the trek.

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06 Feb: Srini called me to give shocking information. The Go Air flight from Delhi to Leh on 08th morning had been cancelled due to some operational issues. No one from GoAir had called me to inform about it, so I called their call centre to confirm that news. The guy on call asked me to reschedule to 12th Feb or get a full refund. I argued with him for some time, and finally he agreed to reschedule to 10th Feb. Now, we had to make arrangements to stay two days & two nights at Delhi.

07 Feb: As planned, I & Srini went to Airport in RR Taxi cab. The traffic near Mekhri circle was horrible, but the new fly over after Hebbal made journey easier and we reached Airport in time. We reached Delhi around 11:30pm and hired a taxi to check in to pre-booked hotel Airpot link at Mahipalpur. Other 3 friends, Guru, Shetty & Shubam had already checked in that hotel. We greeted each other, discussed a plan to visit Agra & Mathura in the next two days & slept.

Kudremukh peak trek

    

View from the Peak

On 7^th day of December 2013, we climbed the Kudremukh peak at 3:30PM. After a long gap of many months and multiple postponements we five – Lakshminarayan, Satyadev, Sagar, Kavitha & I decided to go to Kudremukh peak. We missed our usual champions Roopa & Ravi this time as they were committed to other plans. Usually, we go in a sleeper bus to the nearest trekking point, but this time we had booked “Innova” car. We left Bangalore at around 10:45 PM on 6^th December night & plan was to reach Horanadu by morning 5:00 AM.

            We took Hassan, Belur, Chickmagalur route but the bad roads after Chickmagalur spoiled all our plan and we reached Horanadu by 6:30 AM. We took two rooms in the lodge adjacent to the temple and took bath quickly before visiting the temple. It was around 10:00 AM when we came out of temple after having breakfast at temple. After checking out of the lodge, we started our travel towards Kudremukh & on the way we again filled our stomach with nice Idli & Poori at “Nagagiri comforts” on the banks of Bhadra river.

            Balegal, is the place where we were told to come by our guide Mr. Raje gowda. It is around 16 KMS from Horanadu via Kalasa. From there we were picked up by Raje gowda’s person in a 4x4 drive Jeep to another place called Mullodi. It’s around 10 KMS journey to Mullodi and the drive in an open Jeep was horrible. Going by walk was an option, but we did not want to try that as we were already late by 3 hours. We had thought of starting the trek by 8:00AM, but it was 11:30AM when we reached Raje gowda’s house at Mullodi. After collecting our packed “Lemon rice” for the lunch & paying the Forest entry fee of 275.00 INR per head, we started our trek towards peek. Each trek group must be accompanied by a guide, but we were lucky to have none and we followed another group of 10 people. Most of the other group members were not serious about trek, but were there for only fun.

            Initial path of the trek looked most like Tadiyandamol. But we were proved wrong very quickly. After walking for an hour or so, we reached a point where we saw a lone tree with a circular cement platform around it. It looked like Buddha meditated under that tree & we named it “Bodhi Vriksha” J.     After 1.5 Hours of walking also, there was no clue of the peak. We saw so many peaks around and thought the trail will lead to one of these peaks but it was just going around the peaks and no sign of climbing up. Lakshmi pointed at a very distant peak and said that is the Kudremukh peak. Oh! God! It looked like we are not going to reach that peak today. The worst part is we have to come back all the way before it is dark. I started thinking: Are we on the right track!? A young man by name Nagaraj at the age of 70 came to our rescue. He pointed at the peak and showed few groups climbing up towards the peak. Hmm, we did not have any choice but to walk silently towards our destination. After few more minutes of walking, we hit a hill and started climbing it. We could clearly see the gigantic peak from here and those trekkers looked like small Ants on top of a Jaggery cube. We had walked almost 5 kilometers and another stretch of same distance had to be covered. Lakshmi had bought Oranges, and that was a very big life saver for me. Lack of sleep on the previous day & scorching sun above the head has made the trek uncomfortable. Since we had to go back on the same day, we did not carry any backpack except Sagar (he was carrying the packed lunch for all) and that was a great relief. We rested under the shade of a tree till Sathya & Kavitha joined us. The other group which started with us reached there after some 15 minutes. They were also so tired and decided to go back from there.

            We resumed our trekking, entered the forest patch and as soon as we came out of it, saw the trail going upwards towards the peak. Finally at 3:30pm we reached the peak. It was like a trekker’s conference on top of that hill. There was a huge gathering of around 25-30 people from various places. We soon finished our packed “Lemon rice”, took some photo shots and rest. By that time all the people started going back and we had to walk back very quickly to reach the base before it gets dark. Walking downhill is bit more difficult than climbing up. You have to be very careful about your knee & ankle. Sagar & I were the first to come back to base camp. Others joined after 30 minutes. Nice onion pakodas & coffee helped to gain the lost energy.

            We had to wait for two hours before our Jeep arrived to drop us at Balegal. To save time, we finished dinner at Raje gowda’s house and started journey back to Bangalore at around 10PM. This time, instead of Chickmagalur route, driver took the Kottigehara, Mudigere bypass & Belur directly and he said the route is very good and that saved almost 3 hours of our journey time. By morning 3 AM we were in Bangalore and after dropping each one at their door step, I reached home at 4:30 AM.

            Approximate cost of the trek was 2,500/- INR per head (10,000/- Innova + 500/- Breakfast + 1250/- Forest fee + 500/- Lunch & Dinner (100/- head) ).

Shishila to Ombattu gudda

You must have read number of posts on Ombattu gudda (OG) trek from Gundya side, Shishila to Ettina Bhuja (EB) and then to OG but, you will not get a single post on web for a trek from Shishila to Ombattu gudda directly because I'm writing the first post here :). If it interests you read further else close this page.

As avid trekkers we always wanted to climb new peaks and last year while returning to Mudigere after completing OG (from Gundya side) trek (Aug 2012), we had seen the beautiful EB from Byrapura side. We had then decided that we will come back after few months to climb EB. Well, this was the preamble for this trek.

Planning

In Dec 2012, I sent an email seeking participation to EB & OG trek. Everyone was in holiday mood & no one responded. Again in Jan 2013, Laxmi re-initiated this trekking plan but the response was poor.We then decided to go with any number of participants and sent a final call to the group. Surprisingly, there were eight people who opted for the trek. I took charge of logistics this time & booked tickets from Bangalore to Dharmasthala (onward) & Chickmagalur to Bangalore (return). After reading few blogs on EB to OG trek from Shishila, we decided to do the same since going to EB from Byrapura will be less adventurous. In Feb, none of us expected rains in this part so we decided not to carry tents and go with minimum luggage. I had booked Non-AC Sleeper to Dharmasthala which leaves Bangalore at 9:30pm and reaches destination at 3:45am. Take a room there, get refreshed, have breakfast, take a drop to Shishila & start trek northwards to reach EB peak. Stay somewhere near the peak or Bhyraveshwara temple on Day 1, and start trek towards OG on Day 2. From OG, we know how to reach Hosakere & catch the last bus at 5:30pm to Mudigere. This was the plan but did we stick to it ? Read on,

Journey Start (15 Feb, Friday)

Everything was fine until the previous day, when Prabin asked me to cancel his tickets as he has got an emergency. Two of his friends followed him stating no reasons. We were only five now; Ravi, Roopa, Laxminarayan alias Laxmi, Shreyas & me. Shreyas was in dilemma initially but joined finally. I reached Majestic at around 9:15pm and could locate the Bus easily. I must appreciate KSRTC for sending me an SMS with Bus registration number, platform and the crew member's mobile number. I never expected it from a government service. Indeed, Technology has made an impact on our lives. Laxmi, Roopa & Shreyas were already there & Ravi joined in time. The bus started on time & I was all set to fade into sleep while others engaged in a chat. The journey was very good until Hasan or Sakaleshpur (my guess) and once we entered Shiradi ghat life was miserable. To add to my woes, there was a child in the back seat who was crying continuously & disturbed my sleep.  

Day One (16 Feb, Saturday)

We reached Dharmasthala by 3:45am and after enquiry got to know that rooms are available in "Saketh" complex which is two furlong down from the main temple. I was surprised to see huge accommodation complexes bigger than the main temple itself, all managed by the temple trust. They charge a nominal rent of Rs 100 but have maintained it very well. I now know the reason why Dr. Veerendra Heggade is very much appreciated. We got into room quickly and stretched our body on the floor trying to get some more sleep. At 6:00am, after bath we went to see "Lord Manjunatha" before the breakfast. I had been there long back and lot of things have changed now. Instead of entering from the main door, you now have to go through multiple rows separated by iron mesh something similar to Tirupathi. It was hard to guess the rush from outside but it is lot better than the Tirupathi crowd any day. We joined the queue and could see only 15 people in-front of me and thought that "darshan" would get over in less than 10 minutes. I saw a person selling morning news paper to the people in queue. Aha!, it is definitely going to take more than 4-5 hours if he is selling paper here and all our plan has to be reworked & I thought of retreating from there. But, the fear of sin I would commit by retreating from Lord's darshan forced me to stay in the queue. It took nearly an hour to pass through the queue and come out. A short drizzle indicated something big in the future though we ignored it. On the way back to "Saketh", we finished breakfast in a hotel which looked very modern from outside with name boards lit in pure white bulbs. It reminds me of the adage: "All that glittering is not gold". We had no option but to eat whatever that was available and after breakfast we vacated the room to start our mission. We hired a local Tata sumo for Rs 750 to drop us at Shishila (Car owner: Chandra, Phone#: +919448153017/8970554857) which is at around 32kms from Dharmasthala. On the way, I purchased a sickle at Kokkada for Rs 250 (a bit high price but I failed to bargain) which was of great help later. Finally, we ended up in Holegundi which is some 8kms away from Shishila and had to pay Rs 50 more to Chandra. 

Back in the room that day, we had looked at Forest survey map and had found that we need to go 10kms northeast to reach EB and then go 10kms southeast to OG and back some 13kms to reach Hosakere. In a hurry, I exclaimed why should we go that way, instead we can go OG first and then to EB and then exit at Byrapura. That would save us some kms. The idea was good but I had not thought of any trials or the distance from Holegundi to OG. Everyone agreed and Ravi was more happy to try something new :). There was a clear jeep track & foot trails marked on the map but none of us knew, how far that could be. We identified "Herike" as the last village enroute OG and "Nayi halla" a big stream flowing southwards to be exactly mid point between Shishila & OG. That's interesting! If we reach "Nayi halla" in 4 hours it would approximately take another 4-5 hours to reach OG. So by late evening we would hit the OG grass lands & we are safe. But before venturing into it we thought of asking locals about the route and if anyone have gone there recently. Shockingly, nobody knew about that route and those who were aware, knew little about it. One person told no such route exists, and another person told it takes about 3 days to go to OG. That was really discouraging but, Ravi factually believed that there is a jeep track to OG and we must take that route, Roopa had strong faith in Ravi, so she was  supporting Ravi's decision, both Laxmi & Shreyas nodded in support and reluctantly I bowed to the team's decision. I just wanted to reach EB peak & enjoy the evening there but it looked like luck something different in store for us.

From Holegundi, we walked back a kilometer and inquired about "Sathi kallu" with a local lady and she was very generous to show us the right direction from her backyard. We thanked her and crossed the Kapila river to move towards "Sathi kallu". We had one last beautiful sight of EB while crossing river. After walking 1-2 kms we reached a place called "Herike" and inquired about "Nayi halla" in a house. The oldest of the family told something about OG in Tulu and his son translated it in Kannada to say that OG is around 10kms from there and "Nayi halla" is around 6kms from his house. He then guided us through a narrow path towards "Nayi halla". It was around 11:00am and I was not confident that we will reach OG in day light. I suggested that we will go to "Nayi halla" and return from there but Ravi was not in a mood to listen and he said "Let's see". It was a proper trail till "Nayi halla" and we reached at around 2:00pm at a pretty good walking speed of 2km/Hr. We took a very short break for lunch, just 5 min to finish 2 chapathis. Laxmi had stomach upset due to fantastic breakfast in the morning and wanted 5min more rest badly. We quickly checked our co-ordinates with SatGuide GPS receiver and approximated spotted our position on the physical map. We had to follow the stream towards North a little, cross it and take a turn towards East where we will get another stream which we had to follow for 1-2kms and cross it to hit the Jeep track. But it wasn't that simple. From "Nayi halla" there was no prominent trail to North and in the best interest of time we had to take a quick decision. Anyway we had to cross the stream at some point and turn right, so we decided to cross the stream here itself and go North so that there is a chance of hitting the second stream very soon. We took best decision at that moment and as expected we hit the stream, but it looked like the same stream where we had lunch. There was a prominent trail on the other side of the stream here, but there was no route from the lunch place to this point. It was totally confusing. Again, we checked our co-ordinates & position on map, and decided to go East. Unfortunately, there was no trail and we had to make our own way through the forest and it was the toughest part so far. We saw a falls on the left hand side but to go to East, we had to head right. It was a steep ascent and any small mistake would be disastrous. Since I was leading in the front, I went ahead to check out if there is any trail available but that was a futile effort. It was 4:00pm by then and we had no glimpse of grass land. Ravi looked at the map and suggested that we cross the falls & climb on the other side, at least there are chances of hitting a Jeep track. We started to descend slowly, but we ran out of luck.A heavy downpour of rain worsened our problems. We had no choice but to continue in rain. We crossed the falls carefully and started climbing up again. It was also equally steep and any mistake would render us in the falls 15ft below. Heavy rain softened the soil and we could not get hold of small rocks. They come out if you hold them, and fall down if you step on them. Most of the tree branches are dried out and they break even before you hold them making it much more difficult. Only hope was the small plants and roots of big trees and finally we all managed to climb up in 1 hour. It was 5:30pm by then and we had no clue of grass land. Rain had stopped by then and we dragged ourselves in search of Jeep track. I could see light above a small hillock and assumed it to be opening to grass land. It was getting darker and we had to get out of the forest at any cost, but it looked bleaker. We did hit a Jeep track and I & Laxmi suggested that we camp there since the road was wide, but it looked like Ravi still had hope that we will hit grass lands soon. It was around 6:30pm and was pitch-dark inside the forest, and we continued on the Jeep track. Unfortunately, we missed the Jeep track and took a path which looked like a trail but it was actually a dried stream. Unable to continue further, or go back we were stranded inside the forest and halted there. To "rub salt into one's wounds",  it started raining and we had not carried tents except a 6x4' plastic sheet which Laxmi had brought. We quickly tied ropes to four corners of sheet and made a best possible shelter. None of us had thought we will end the day like this. All of us sat under that small plastic sheet praying Gods to stop the rain. It was only 7:00pm and we had to spend next 12 hours in the forest, in complete darkness & heavy rains. Luckily, there were no leeches around and that was a great relief, but the deadliest snakes of Western ghats: Pit vipers, Cobras & King kobras ? What if they come and bite us ? We neither know what is the antidote or have nor carry the person to nearby village. "Ignorance is a bliss", I stopped thinking about all that and tried to get some sleep. Rain has stopped & Ravi fell asleep fast and we started chatting on, What we could have done better, Why we took decision of coming this way & What should be our strategy next ? etc. Night was running very very slow and I used to ask time every one hour. We were complete wet and could not change dress. I was getting shiver from within the body which was lasting few seconds. We all were trying to get some sleep, but at 1:00am it started raining again & kept us awake. I started chanting all the stotras that I could remember, but rain didn't stop. There was another round of heavy downpour at 4:00am in the morning for almost 30 minutes. Never in my life I have stayed awake beyond 3:00am, and it was the first time. It was then 6:00am but Sun was in no mood to rise.

Day 2 (17 Feb, Sunday)

It dawned at around 6:45am and we could see around. It was critical that we take correct decision, either to go back or continue further. Going back was very difficult because of slippery but we are certain to reach civilization. We decided to explore that area for another two hours and if we don't get a proper trail we will retreat. We then split into two groups to explore. Laxmi & Shreyas went up to see if they can penetrate the jungle, I & Ravi came down to see if we can trace the Jeep track seen last night. Ravi did a good job in finding the track by penetrating through a thick bush and that made all the difference. We saw a grand Jeep track and followed it. After 1hr of walking, the track forked and we had to judge the right path. Ravi suggested to continue on the right track & I on the left track. Ravi went ahead on the right track to see if there is any trial & I went on the left track. A huge tree had fallen blocking the left road, so we continued on the right track but it was leading to forest again. Something is wrong! Let's go back and check the left road. If there is no other way, we decided to go back. Ravi did yet another good job. He climbed up a small hillock & voila!, he screamed & called us up. Yeah, we were right in the Laxmi estate and out of forest. We had done it within two hours and thats great! 

We were welcomed by the estate workers and we were familiar to them already. We did breakfast with whatever was left (Chapathi, pickels, fruits) and ate the Bananas offered by the workers. It was 10:00am and we resumed our trek towards Hosakere. We had to walk another 10kms to reach Hosakere, it was very cloudy day and that helped in a way. We reached Hosakere by 1:30pm, got the bus to Mudigere and then to Chickmagalur. Our return bus was at 11:50pm and we spent the rest of the time playing Uno.

All of us returned safely to Bangalore on Monday morning. While some went to office, some worked from home, and I took a day off. I've decided that I will complete blog this time, so writing this while scratching my legs :).

Ending note

• I thank the brave-hearts in our team, who accompanied the trek through a less trodden path. We have truly made a history breaking through a virgin path :).  
• I did not carry my camera this time so no photos from my side. Ravi was happily clicking with his new Canon 5d markIV and I was only a silent watcher.  
• Some of the useful contacts during this trek are,

1. Chandra (Tata sumo driver at Dharmasthala): +919448153017/8970554857
2. Madhava (Villager at Herike who guided us to Nayi halla): +919480038314
3. Chennappa gowda (Guide at Shishila): +919480239185
4. Gopu gokhale (Villager at Herike, also called as Bhattara mane): 08251269246 

Dudh sagar trek

Ballalaraya fort to Bandaje

Side view of the Bandaje falls

     I'm writing this trek report after a gap of 7 years. So, whatever I'm writing is from the bottom of my memory. Some moments are still fresh in my mind since it was my first trek with Ravi & team. I never attempted to write down my experiences before, because I was not good at writing in English. I'm not an expert even now, but still want to write down my thoughts for my daughters, who might read it in future, and know about my interests and experiences.

     We went to Horanadu temple, and then hired a jeep to drop us to Sunksale. We walked few kilometers and reached a bungalow at the foot of the hill. It was around noon, and we finished our packed lunch quickly. I had kept a pack of curd and knife in the same pouch in my backpack. To my bad luck, the curd packet had swollen overnight, and the knife had pierced it ruining my bag. I washed my bag with the fountain water, and rearranged

We had lunch here on the first day

things. We started our trek around 2'O clock, and we followed the ruins of fort wall, as suggested by some other's trip report. It was a steep ascend, and for a first timer like me it was a hell like feeling. I was thinking, why did I come here to climb, putting all my well grown organs to difficult test. In fact, I had not carried anything in that trek. My back pack was as light as feather, compared to others who were carrying their sleeping bags & tents. On the way, shot some orchids, and some wild flowers. There were interesting insects also, but could not photograph them, due to bad light inside the forest. We were supposed to cross a stream after few hours of walking, if we had followed the proper trail. Unfortunately, we lost the trial and couldn't figure out where to go. The Ballalaraya fort was clearly visible to us, and that was our destination. So without thinking too much, we started climbing the hill straight towards the fort. It was a steep 85 degree climb and by evening 4'O clock, we were at the fort. It was a spectacular view of the western ghats from that fort. 

View of Western Ghats

     After clicking some photos there, we started walking towards Bandaje falls. I got to know from Ravi that, it was his second attempt to reach Bandaje and in his first attempt he lost the trail and could not complete. Gosh! my heart started pounding! What is the guarantee that we find the path this time?, what if we don't reach Dharmasthala in time tomorrow? All we were told by Ravi is to trek towards south to reach the falls. It wasn't a time to think as we had to walk very long distance. We decided to walk and walk till it gets dark, and then camp. After an hour of walking or so, we found a flat place, and pitched our tents. It was again first time experience for me, to sleep in tents on top of a mountain, with no one around except darkness and silence. Thought of wild animals especially elephants came to my mind, and I shivered once. Lights from a distant village was visible from there, and we discussed to somehow

View of Western Ghats

reach that village, if we don't get any other trail. We discussed strategy for next day, and one thing was very clear. We have to go only in south direction. I & Nataraj checked in to one of the royal cottages we had setup. Nataraj got sleep very quickly and started snoring. I wasn't feeling comfortable because of my wild thoughts, and slowly got sleep. Around 2 or 3 AM in the morning, I woke up to the sound of some grazing animal. I decided in mind that it is some Elephant or a wild boar, and I started carefully listening the movements. I shook Nataraj, and whispered, "saar, it seems some animal is there outside !!". He was least bothered, and said - "Its okay saar, sleep. Lets see in the morning". Rama !!, I started praying to all my known gods and slipped into sleep. 

Our Royal Cottage

When I woke up & looked around, it was like sea of milk. In our mythology, we read that Lord Vishnu sleeps on "Shesha", the serpent king in the middle of "Ksheera samudra". For a moment I felt, is this the one called us "Ksheera samudra" ? I looked around for signs of elephant dung, but couldn't find any. We packed our tents and started walking southwards. From the fort, we were walking always on the top of the mountain, so that was an easy walk. After walking an hour or so, we hit a valley, and had to cross it. After this, we started descending, and we could feel we are on right track, and could hear a water stream. We thought that must be the falls. Near the stream, we finished our breakfast and we had to cross the stream, but there were no proper trail to climb to other side. So, we walked in the stream for a furlong or so, then we heard noise of chopping a tree. We yelled in that direction. Few minutes later, few forest guards came looking for us, and they lead us to

Forest guards who helped us

the top of the falls. It was around 3'O clock, and we spent few minutes at the falls and started descending. The guards showed us the trail leading to Mundaje village, and that would take another 2-3 hours to reach there. While getting down through the grass land, we got beautiful side view of the falls, as seen in the first image. Then we entered the forest, and walked for some more time but still signs of civilization wasn't visible. It was getting dark, and we didn't have proper torches. There were lot of leech bites, but I ignored all of them, and was literally running towards the village. Few in our group were walking

Nataraj, finding a direct path to the base

very slowly, and chances of them reaching village before dark was feeble. It was me and Vijeth I guess, who reached the village first and asked for help. I think it was Babu Naik's house. The villagers were very kind and they sent 2 people looking for the rest of the group. By around 7'O clock, all came down, and we spent some time removing the leeches and cleaning. We asked for a Jeep to drop us to Dharmastala, and we could catch the bus right in time. It was a memorable first trip for me. I was initially thinking not to come for any another trek but after completing this trek, decided to join gym and be fit to climb. 

     After few years, I did Bandaje trek once again. More on that later :).