Kuduremukh - 3rd time

Yes, for the third time I climbed the Kuduremukh peek on 20th Dec 2019 with a whole new gang. Umesh, Indiresh, Swamy & I drove from Bangalore to Balegal. The original plan was to reach Hornadu by night, stay in the temple lodge and next day morning drive to Balegal. But Rajappa, who is our contact in the Mullodi village (basecamp) suggested coming directly there. There is a limit of 50 members per day allowed to trek so he suggested he can arrange for permits the previous night itself. We started from Bangalore by 3:30pm on 19th Dec and reached Balegal by 10:30pm. The drive was good except at few places after Kottigehara where the road repair was in progress. Mr. Jinendra from Balegal owns several jeeps and runs between Mullodi (basecamp) & Balegal (base town). We took a drop to Rajappa's house and checked-in to our rooms. 

     It was very dark & chilling when we woke up at 5am in the morning. As usual, after multiple snoozes finally woke up at 6am and got refreshed. Idli, Sambar & Coconut chutney was served at 7:30am for breakfast. After filling our bellies with hot idlis & a cup of tea, we took the packed Puliyogare rice for lunch and started our trek around 8am. There is a new forest check-post built after a short climb-up from Rajappa's house. They check if you are carrying a plastic bag, alcohol and other non-degradable materials. You are not allowed to carry small chocolates wrapped in plastic. You have to remove everything and put it in one big plastic box. This will ensure that people don't throw that little plastic wrap after eating chocolate. After clearing the security check, we started walking up towards the peak. The initial part of the trek was good as you have to walk on a plain road. Trek gets ugly once you cross Lobo's house, and you have to climb up. I have been out of touch for few months now and was having difficulty to climb the final stretch. Umesh & Indiresh looked very fit and the claimed the peak first. Swamy joined as the third person, and I was the last person to reach the peak at 11:45am.

We spent an hour up there on the peak and finished our packed lunch at the stream just below the peak. We started descending around 1:30pm and reached Rajappa's house around 4:00pm.

After changing clothes, I & Swamy went to take bath in the Mullodi falls. It was chilling water but gave a very refreshing bath. We came back to Rajappa's house and started chit-chat with his kids. Suman & Seema were very friendly, and without any hesitation, they opened up for discussion with strangers. Seems in fact, started asking stories from Ramayan & Mahabharath and I & Indiresh shared whatever that we have learned. Rajappa served us the onion pakoras and we finished that in no time. After dinner, we came back to the room and settled for the night. 

     The next day, we woke up at 6am, and after taking bath we left Rajappa's house. We went to Horanadu temple, but due to the Sabarimala season, it was heavily crowded. We offered prayers from the outside and started our journey back to Bangalore. While having breakfast at Kalasa, we met one of the very good lyricists of the Kannada film industry, Mr. Jayant Kaykini. He was there for the Galipata-2 film shooting, and he obliged to take photographs with him. On the way back, we visited Indiresh's home at Hasan and had a glass of tasty buttermilk. Next, we stopped for lunch at Swathi Delicacy and reached Bangalore by 6pm. It was a nice drive and trek to Kuduremukh. There are a lot of treks in mind, but don't know how many can be attempted. 

     Keep traveling & keep blogging :-). Good night.

Kurinjal peak

We are back from a short trek to Kurinjal peak in Kudremukh national park. Kurinjal doesn't sound like a Kannada word and I was wondering why this name came for a peak in Karnataka. Later a forest guard told me that it is because of the "Natikuranji" flower that blooms every 12 years in this hill. But, I was not given the complete details and few questions still remain on my mind. 

When I look back at this blog posts, 2018 is a very disappointing year. We did not do a single trek last year. Maybe the passion for trekking is dying slowly? or we are stuck with family, work and other personal problems? No, we should not let it die. We should take some time out to spend in nature and connect with nature. A few years back, we used to go often, and camp overnight on the peaks of western ghats looking at the dark sky filled with millions of stars. But now, a lot of restrictions from the forest department and banning of camping inside the forest has made life difficult for us. Sometimes I think, all these restrictions and bans are the result of some of us creating a nuisance by throwing the liquor bottles all over the campsite, snubbing the forest guidelines and disrespecting the laws of nature. We don't deserve the precious gifts from nature. 

Okay, coming back to this trek report. We hired an Innova car and decided to leave Bangalore by 11pm so that we can start the trek early and spend some good time relaxing on top of the peak. But there is always a "man" up there to dispose of our plans :-). After all the pickups we left Bangalore by midnight on Friday. There was little traffic on the Tumkur road because of the long weekend but the Mangalore highway was free, and we could cover up the initial delay by driving faster. We took a tea break at Kottigehara around 4:30am on Saturday morning and resumed the journey. It was very foggy and visibility was only a few meters. A few kilometres before Kalasa, I noticed some dead animal on the road and asked the driver to stop the car. 

It was an Indian civet cat, perhaps hit by a car very recently. Though there are signboards all over the highway that mentions to driving carefully these incidents happen. This Civet cat is a nocturnal animal and is my first ever sighting and it happened this way. We reached Kuduremukh at around 7:15am and went straight into the forest office to seek permission. There was no sign of life on the campus and the Kudremukh town looked like an abandoned city after a world war. We thought it is best to go to nature camp, a Jungle lodges property and ask for information there. The best way to do this trek is to book a room or dormitory in this nature camp, start early in the morning from Bangalore to reach this camp by noon, take rest and do the trek next day. You will be entertained only if you are a guest otherwise you will be denied of any of the services here. After pleading with the camp manager, he allowed using the lavatory which was a dire need at that time. You can live without a lunch or dinner, but you can't live without proper shitting & only an experienced person understands my statement :-). We were told to go back to the same office for permission, and this time we found one person to speak to.

We were asked to wait until they find a guide for us so, we walked to a local shop cum hotel to finish breakfast. When the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) was running at its peak, the town supported 2000 workers and their families, but when the company was shut down in 2005, people had to abandon the town and move to other places in search of work & food. I was told that all the buildings in the town will be razed down shortly and the picture of once beautiful town will remain only in the memories of those who have seen it in the past. The hotel where we had breakfast is run by a single lady, and once all the dismantling work finishes, she also has to vacate the town. We asked her to prepare and pack the  "lemon-rice" for the lunch, and after paying the 500Rs fee per person which included the entry fee, guide fee & eco-development fee, we started our trekking finally by 11am. A clerk named Nagaraj Bhat accompanied us as the guide.

The trek starts from 500 meters after the Bhagwathi Nature Camp entrance. All the blogs that I read about this trek suggested a 7kms one-way distance, and an estimated time of 3 to 4 hours to the peak. I don't know from where they calculated the distance, as we found it to be a very short trek. Our average walking speed will be around 1.5 to 2 kilometres per hour. We started our trek around 11am and by 12:45pm we were at the abandoned house at the base of the peak. That gives roughly 3 to 3.5 km maximum distance. The first kilometre is ascending but it is a jeep trail, so there are no challenges involved except that you will be sweating. If you are not carrying luggage or a heavy DSLR camera then it is an easy walk. The next kilometre is almost on a flat trail, where you will go around two or three hillocks. The final stretch of 1 to 1.5 kilometres is a steep climb and puts a little load on your heart while climbing up, and stresses your knees while coming down. You can also avoid this steep climb by taking a few extra steps on the jeep trail. There are no water sources on the way except a very small stream mid-way. So carry enough water till you come back to that point. Just before you start the steep climb, there is a viewpoint. From here, you can see the Kurinjal peak and the valley below. Since this is winter, there is no beauty angle to the ghats & valley. It is all dried and brown coloured all over. The forest department will be closing the entry from 15th January as the chances of wildfire & human-caused fire accidents are common. All along the trek route, we could find Leopard scat which was thrilling but the big-cat chose not to appear in front of us. We reached the abandoned house around 12:45pm. Ravi, Sangeeta & Roopa climbed to the top of the peak and Sibhasis joined them later. I & Prabin had a nice one hour sleep at the house. I wanted to climb up but thought there is no fun in seeing the dried out valley. After the rainy season, when it is lush green all over then I will revisit the peak. This peak will surely be mesmerising post monsoon, and when the Kurinji flower blooms.

We finished lunch and started coming down by 2:30pm. We had plans to visit the Hanuman gundi falls the next day, but the guide told us that the entry is banned from last 2 years. We could have returned to Bangalore on the same day but the driver had not slept well, and we were also very tired & sleep-less. So, we went to Horanadu and checked-in to Bhadra Nivas temple lodge. It is the best and economical stay option for tourists coming to Horanadu. After a refreshing & chilling cold-water bath, we visited the temple and had a nice dinner at the temple. 

Today morning, we left Horanadu by 7:30am and reached Bangalore by 2:00pm. The trip cost is around 3k per person. At the time of this blog, the dormitory cost at the nature camp is 1100/- Rs, and the cottage cost is around 1700/- Rs (excluding GST). At Bhadra nivas lodge, there are different room options varying from 250Rs (Standard room with no TV), 500Rs (Room with TV) etc. As I mentioned earlier, the best and economical way to do this trek is to 

• book the dormitory at nature camp, 
• drive your own car by leaving Bangalore at 5am
• check-in to dormitory and take rest
• Next day, start early trek to the peak, come back to camp for lunch
• take some rest, and start driving back to Bangalore

Please leave your feedback in the comment section below. For any information, contact me or WhatsApp me on +91 Double nine Double zero five, Nine four zero 23. 

Arishinagundi waterfalls - first attempt

     Well, I'm back from yet another trek in the western ghats. This time it is inside Mookambika wildlife sanctuary, yes Arishinagundi waterfalls. But, why is this first attempt ?  Read on.

     We have a WhatsApp & Facebook group called Crazy-Hikers, and discuss about our future treks, and trek plans. From last October, the group was almost inactive and none of my plans to motivate the group members worked out. I and Prabin decided to abandon this group and go for a trek with Bangalore Ascenders or BMC. As a final attempt, I initiated a one day trek to Arishinagundi falls. I & Prabin had decided to go even if we get one more member or none. To our surprise, we got 14 more interested in this trek! From my past experience, I know the pain points in booking Bus tickets for a large group. Lots of cancellations and re-bookings. Ah! I hate that. So, I searched for a non-ac sleeper bus to Kollur and back & finalized a VRL bus. I'm repenting that choice of mine even now (Why ? will tell you shortly). Sorry friends, I did a mistake. I then communicated that bus timings in the group and asked those who are interested to book tickets for themselves. That was a great move indeed :). The bus was scheduled to leave from Yeshwanthpur at 21:40. For the first time in my travel history, I could exactly plan and make it to Yeshwanthpur before the departure time. Thanks to BMRCL, Metro train :). All sixteen of us were on board before 21:45 hrs. After a quick exchange of information, I slept while others continued to chat. Around 4'O clock, the driver started shouting - "those who want to get down for Mangalore can get down". I was thinking, perhaps Shimoga has come, so the driver is asking to get down and catch Mangalore bus. I started looking outside the window anticipating any familiar building or road in Shimoga. It took a while to realize that we are not in Shimoga but actually in Mangalore itself. Oh My goodness !! I pinched myself to confirm that I'm awake and checked google maps on my phone. By then, Udupi had arrived. Manipal, Brahmavara, Kundapura all coastal towns passed. It was like a "Karavali Darshan" tour. Never, I imagined one can go to Kollur taking this extra long route. I should have paid attention when the journey time was given as 10 hrs.

     We reached Kollur by morning 7:30. We checked in to a low cost hotel just in-front of the temple, and after all the "morning raaga" and bath, visited the Sri Mookambika temple. Temple was little crowded due to weekend, and there were lot of tourists from Kerala. The Keralites believe in the goddess very much and they visit the temple very often. You can see the influence of Kerala architecture in the temple complex. One of the locals expressed his concern over few Malayalis holding key posts in the temple administration, and becoming temple priests. Anyways these discussions are out of scope for this blog. After temple visit, we came back to room and decided to retain one room and dump all our extra luggage. We had breakfast at "Mahalakshmi Restaurant" and then visited the forest office to pay the entry fee. At first, the forest officer (Vivek) declined my request for entry to falls. But, I had already spoken to the RFO, Mr Siddeshwar and sought his permission, so he took 100 Rs per head entry fee and gave receipt. He reiterated again that the trail is very slippery, and fallen trees have blocked the road and we have to make our own path. It was around 10:30am, and he said that he cannot arrange a guide now, and we have to find way on our own. He suggested to take auto to the forest gate which is around 2 kms and described that for 4 kms inside the forest there is a jeep track, and then a steep descent of 1 km to get to the falls. Usually, I save the co-ordinates of the destination and keep google map ready, but since this was supposed to be a guided trek, I did not bother much. We took four autos to drop us to the forest gate. After initial photo session, we started walking inside the forest. It was a very cloudy day, and the accuweather & google weather had suggested rains with thunder-storms. So, I was fully prepared to take on any kind of shower. Rain pant, jacket, Gum-boots besides Umbrella, I was all set to walk in rain, in fact to walk only in the rain. Initial few minutes of the trek was easy, as it was nearly flat, but after crossing the first stream, it was only ascending and ascending. We walked for almost an hour, but no signs of waterfall. Due to the water-proof jacket & pant, I was sweating heavily from inside causing dehydration. I felt like walking in rain would have been better, than protecting myself. On an average we walk approximately 2km/hour, and we had come less than half way. We walked for few more minutes, again ascending and saw a falls on a distant hill. God ! It would be easily 9 to 10 kms if that is our destination, I uttered to myself. There was no sign of the board at which we had to descend to the falls. I and Prakash discussed to give up this trek, and try next time with a guide. But as usual, Ravi and Laxmi were not ready to give up, and pushed entire team to walk further. Exactly after two hours of walking, which means we had covered 4 kms, we saw the board showing directions to falls. I was very happy to see the board in the first place, and started descending using the narrow trail. After some 15-20 minutes, we reached a very small water falls, and a trail was visible after crossing this. I & Ravi, went little ahead and hit another falls. After crossing this, Ravi went ahead to find that trail is going up again. I don't know, if we had continued, we could have hit our destination or not. It was already 13:30 Hrs, my exhaustion and the thought that we have to be out of forest before 5'O clock did not allow me to explore further. At least, I was not ready to go forward and so said no when Ravi asked if we need to continue. Others also did not show interest in continuing, but were happy playing in the small water fall. We started back journey by 2'O clock, and it was a continuous descent, and by 4'O clock we all were out of the forest. 

     You call it Luck or Bad-Luck, it did not rain once :). My belief that, "Expected things don't happen when you are prepared for the worst" was proved right once again. Except the morning breakfast, we did not eat anything, except few chocolates & fried items. After coming back to the hotel, we hired rooms for few more hours, to freshen up. Our bus was at 7:30pm, so finished early dinner at Hotel Akshaya, and boarded the bus. So, this is my first attempt story to Arishinagundi falls. If I maintain good health, and my crazy-hikers active then surely will go back to this falls post monsoon.

     I had packed my Camera, ND filters in a nice plastic wrap, and I bring them back unopened. For the first time, I have come back taking no photos. Very bad! So, will update this blog with mobile clicks from others, so stay tuned.. :)

     Good night !!

     Crazy-Hikers:- Ravi, Sangeeta, Karthik, Roopa, Indrani, Laxminarayana, Prabin, Prabhat, Debashish, Kotresh, Rakesh, Kishore, Akash, Kavitha, Prakash and Sharma.

Ettina Bhuja - Again

Each and every trek that we do, involves lot of offline/online discussions and registrations and cancellations. So, I will not get into those writings :). Four of us decided to trek to Ettina Bhuja from the Shishila side this time. 

On Friday (14th Oct 2016) evening while returning home, I called Veeresh to book onward tickets to Dharmasthala for that night (KSRTC, Non-AC Sleeper bus leaves Majestic at 22:51). After going home, I booked return tickets from Chickmagalur to Bangalore (Airavata, starts at 23:59). I and Prakash went to Majestic to catch the bus, while Veeresh & Roopa joined at Yeshwanthpur. After few minutes of discussion, we informed the bus conductor to drop us at Kokkada cross. 

[INFO] - Kokkada cross comes 15 kms before Dharmasthalaa. You get rickshaws & jeeps here to drop to Holegandi. You can hire a room at Kokkada, get refreshed & have breakfast before going to Holegandi which is the trek base OR you can take drop to Shishila first. There is a "Sri Shaila Veg hotel", next to the Shishileshwara temple which has room facility as well. The river Kapila flows beside the temple, and is very scenic. You can find contact numbers at the end of this blog. Please talk to them before making a surprise visit.

Temple at Shishila 

Bridge to cross river 

Kapila River 

We reached Kokkada cross by around 05:15, and our Jeep driver Mohan was already waiting there. He helped to get a room in the nearby lodge. It costed around 700/- Rs just for an hour. We couldn't bargain much due to increasing abdominal pressure :). After all the rituals, Mohan dropped us to the Sri Shaila hotel at Shishila. We had fantastic Idli-chutney & Buns-sambar here and lunch packed for the afternoon. He then dropped us to the Holegandi. Balakrishna, brother of Chennappa was our guide and he was waiting at the stop. After paying to the Mohan, we started our trek around 8:15am. 

Unique thing about this trek is 90% of the trail is ascending and inside forest. The forest below this tall mountain is so dense that it is not possible to take a short route. Balakrishna was leading from the front, and I was just following him. At the very beginning, the trail forks into two and we took the left one. The other trail, perhaps goes down to the stream. 

First view of EB peak

We got a good glimpse of the peak initially. Without a guide, it is a bit difficult because the trail goes away from the peak and goes through the forest most of the time. We had to cross the river after some 30 minutes (?) of walk. It was only knee deep, and was very refreshing. After an hour or so, we reached a small waterfall. Another group was already taking bath at the falls. This falls is known by the name "Matthi Kolu". The guide cautioned that it takes another 3.5 hours to go to the peak, and we would miss the bus if we get down to the falls. But, we were not ready to miss the falls, and hence got down. Who could resist bathing in such a wonderful falls ? but I did.

Water falls on the way

Veeru & PK, I sacrificed bathing to take your photos :). After the photo session we started ascending journey. Walk through the forest was very cool compared to walk on the ridges at few points. We never expected the trail to go up always. After last year's Kodachadri trek, we did not do any major trek. So we were struggling to pull our body upwards. Roopa, after the marriage had put on more weight and was trailing behind all. As told by the guide, we took neary 3 hours to reach the camping site at the base of Ettina bhuja. One more group was already there, and they were pitching their tents in the hot sun. Balakrishna and other guide (Anand), took all our bottles to the stream and fetched water. 

[INFO]: After the waterfalls, there are no water sources till you reach the camp site. So carry sufficient water and dring judiciously. 

Final stretch to the peak

We finished our packed lunch, and immediately after that started climbing to the peak. I had come to this peak from Byrapura couple of months back and I knew it wont take much time to climb the peak and get down to Byrapura. We had our bus at 17:30 to Mudigere, so we had ample time. We took lot of photos on the way up, and it was very hot and dry up there. We expected some cool breeze to relieve our stress, but that did not happen. I could clearly make out the changes in weather. Three months before, it was clouds all over, and I could barely see the valley beneath. But now, the Sun has dominated the entire region and it was very hot on top of the mountain. Locals told that they are having very less rains from last two years, and usually there will be rains in October also. After photo session is over, we came down to the camp site, packed things and bid adieu to other trekkers and mighty EB. Guide, took another route this time and we reached Byrapura directly without going to the Byraveshwara temple. We had remaining snacks, followed by Tea at a local's house. Bus came at 17:45 and we reached Mudigere by 18:30. We reached Chickmagalur by 19:45 by another bus. Our return bus was at 23:59, and we had lot of time to do nothing. We had dinner at Vishnu delicacy on the I.G Road, and came back to bus stand and waited another 3 hours. We reached Bangalore by morning 04:30 and I reached home by 05:30.

Useful phone numbers:

Hotel & Rooms at Kokkada 

Hotel & Room at Shishila 

1. Mohan (Jeep driver): 9483241082 
2. Balakrishna (Guide): 8762058142 
3. Chennappa (Guide): 9480239185 

Best time to visit:

It is good to trek post monsoon during October or November as you will see green all around and leeches will be less. Summer might be okay since most of the trek is inside forest and leeches will be very less. Monsoon season is better to avoid but there are guys who dare to go in heavy rains :), so your wish.

Forest permission & wildlife:

For any trek inside reserved forest, its a must to take forest department permission. But the local guides charge you and take without legal permission. As long as nothing bad happens, no one cares. If some unfortunate incidents happen then be ready to face the consequences. You may take permission from the Belthangady wildlife division. 

There will be Elephant movement across the forest, and consider yourself lucky if you spot the beast first or unlucky if he catches you. Keep your calm while walking through the forest and listen to alarms of the nature. Other than Elephants, I did not hear about any other mammal from the guide. One of the trekker claimed that he saw two Black Eagles hovering above, but I did not spot any. Guide told me that he spotted a big python last week, but I don't know the veracity. We had spotted lot of Malabar pit vipers during our Ombattu gudda trek, but this time did not spot even one. There were many different varieties of butterflies, but I could recognize none of them.

Sincere request:

If you happen to trek anywhere in the forest, please don't leave anything on the trail except your foot prints. We could spot lot of Beer bottles, Chewing gum packets, plastic covers, torn chappal etc. all along the way. 

I wish everyone a very happy & safe trekking. Good night !

Ettina Bhuja Trek

Ettina Bhuja

This particular trek was on my mind ever since we saw it while returning from Ombattu gudda trek some 4 years back. We did lot of other treks, and Ombattu gudda once again but we could not make it to the Ettina Bhuja or fondly called "EB" peak.

     Nothing much to write about this trek, as it is a very small trek. Six of us: Laxmi, Prabin, Prabhat, Sibhasis, Nilesh and me climbed the "Ettina Bhuja" peak on 23rd July 2016. At first, we thought of leaving Bangalore after midnight, and reach the base camp (Bhyrapura) by early morning. But, I was not sure of any facilities at Bhyrapura so decided to leave by 9 pm and reach Mudigere by mid-night and take rest in a hotel. The Bangalore traffic screwed our plan, and we could leave only by 10:30 pm. It took almost an hour to reach Nelamangala cross at that time also. Our vehicle was a new Nissan Evalia which had place for just 6 people excluding driver. The driver, Deepak was driving very cautiously and we reached Mudigere by 4:30 am. After having tea & bun at a road side shop in-front of Mudigere bus stand, we checked in to Hotel Athithi (Contact: 9731448527/9901941333/08263-221515)(just few steps down from the Bus stand). We needed room for only few hours, till we get a hotel for breakfast. We had a good sleep for 3 hours, and woke up at 7:30. After all morning rituals, had breakfast at the restaurant below, and started journey towards Byrapura. 

   

View of the Ettina Bhuja

 It is another hour drive from Mudigere to Byrapura (for about 25 kms). You have good road till Bhyraveshwara temple. The view while going up towards the temple is good but it was very cloudy so could not get any photo. We were at the temple by 10:30 am. I did not had bath, so didn't enter the temple. The peak is visible from the temple complex, and the temple priest told its only 2 kms and we could do in just 30-40 minutes. It was drizzling, and I was fully prepared for the rain by wearing waterproof pants, coat & gum boots.  I had experienced heavy rain during Ombattu gudda trek, when I was not prepared for rain at all. I expected medium rain this time. As Murphy's law says - "You can't expect the unexpected, otherwise there is no need for word unexpected". Rain gods were very kind this time and it didn't rain even once :(. The peak was not visible at all due to heavy clouds surrounding it. It was very rejuvenating, cool weather, and I was taking deep breaths to take in more oxygen from Nature's laboratory. The final part of the climb requires a flexible body, and if you make it to the top you will be in heaven. When we reached the top, it was around 11:30 am, and it was white clouds all around. We waited there to get a view of the valley below. After an hour or so, the clouds cleared and the view is simply breathtaking. At 1 pm we started coming down, and it took only 20 minutes to come back to the temple. After changing clothes, we finished lunch and started driving back to Bangalore. We visited Belur-Halebidu temples on the way back, and reached Bangalore by 10:30 pm.

     From Byrapura side, this trek is very short and ideal for beginners.

1. You will not get any food/drinks close to the temple, so you have to carry everything you need. Remember to bring back all the plastic covers,packs and non-degradable things.
2. The public transport is available from Mudigere, but won't go till the temple. So, its better to make your own arrangement. 
3. There is no water source on the way up. If its sunny day, carry sufficient water bottles.
4. Remember the direction of peak, and choose the proper trial. Aim to reach the grassland first which then leads to the top of peak. The Jeep trail, might lead to Shishila or Ombattu gudda but I'm not sure now.

      I thank Dr Sampath kumar, for giving me necessary information for this trek. Hope to revisit the place again after this rainy season with you :).

Mullayyanagiri to Kemmannugundi & Hebbe Falls

Background     

Road to Mullayyana giri

      Ravi initiated a trek from Mullayyana giri to Kemmannugundi via Baba Budan giri. There are number of trip reports on this trek and all of them indicated a total of 35+ kms for the entire trek. The interesting part of the trek was the ridge walk from Kavikalgandi to Manikyadhara (BSNL tower) for which Ravi initiated this trek. We discussed to go in small group as we can move faster. As somebody said "A team can be as fast as its slowest member", we didn't want to include anyone dragging. Myself, Ravi, Roopa, Laxmi & Prabin decided to do the trek. 7 more people from Laxmi's team showed interest in the trek, but said they will return from Baba budan giri on day 2. After all these discussions we started booking tickets for 12 people.

Planning (Chaotic !!)

     I booked 12 tickets in Airavatha Club class to Chickmagalur via KSRTC Website. Ravi booked return train tickets from Birur in Jodhpur express (at 21:30). After all the bookings are made, the cancellation requests started coming in as expected. Two people had some emergency, so had to cancel their tickets. There was some confusion in the discussion that we had, and Laxmi booked return tickets for the evening train for all on day 2. So, we had tickets for both evening train (Janshatabdi 2S), and night train (Jodhpur express 3AC). Something went wrong in the planning. Few were determined come back by evening train, so they got their tickets cancelled for night train. We were not sure whether we get permission to trek from Baba budan giri to Kemmannugundi, so we kept both the reservations open. 

     For any trek in the forest, it is a must to take forest permission. I called up Chickmagalur forest office for the information and permission, but the lady on the phone bluntly said, that we have to visit the forest office in person to pay the fee and take permission. There were lot of uncertainties -

• trek permission will be given or not
• Camping at Galikere is allowed or not if we take our tents
• Someone told there is a IB or community hall in BB Giri. So whether to take tents or just go with sleeping bag & mat ?
• trekking from BB Giri to Kemmannugundi is doable or not as some blog suggested that trail isn't very clear.

     Despite all this, we decided to go without tents and take permission at Chickmagalur.

Day 1 - 9th Jan 2016 (Saturday)

     We reached Chickmagalur by 04:00am. I had booked tickets in multi-axle club class, bus but what we actually came in was a regular Benz bus. After complaining with the conductor, he refunded 50 rupees per head. We had to spend time till 10:00am when the forest office opens, so we checked into lodge Lavasa, next to the bus stand and slept for 2 hours. It is the same hotel we stayed 3-4 years back while returning from Ombattu gudda trek. I still remember the fight Kirthibushan had with the hotel manager over a signature issue. 

     I had spent 4 years in this beautiful city when doing my engineering during 1995-99. Then, I used to visit a Ganesh temple in MG Road. After taking bath, I visited the temple again after 16 years and to my surprise, found the same priest performing pooja. 

     We had heavy breakfast at hotel Soundarya (just opposite Bus stand), and got Pulav packed for lunch. I arranged a Jeep to drop us to the Mullayyana giri (for 1300.00 Rs), before which we visited the forest office. It was second Saturday of the month, and holiday for the forest office. When I enquired the lady over phone, she didn't say that it is a holiday and I was shocked ! I thought of meeting the officer Mr. Manikam, but the Jeep driver told, we can take permission from the check post at Mullayyana giri. The driver then dropped us at Seethalayyana giri, which is some 4 kms before Mullayyana giri. 

View of Chickmagalur

We started trekking from there towards Mullayyan giri and reached the peak by 11:15am. After a brief photo shoot, I enquired the priest there about to trekking trail towards BB giri. He got angry & started shouting at me to return the same way I had come. Apparently few days back, two trekkers from Hyderabad went missing in the forest, and the department people had to struggle for a week finding them. So, the DFO passed an order not to allow anyone without permission. Since the grassland is completely dried, there are high chances of wildfire catching up during this season. So, from their point of view trekking is strictly barred during this time. We were very disappointed & I started pleading a forest official present there inside Mullayyan giri temple premise.

Nilesh with the backdrop of Mullayyana giri

He asked us to escape from the eyes of priest and trek. We quickly took a trail to the left of temple, and started walking towards BB giri without looking back. The trail was prominent, and our destination i.e, BSNL tower was in clear view. Except few forest patches, all other hills have turned yellow already. It is good to come here just after monsoon is over if you want to see them green. Just after 3 kilometers, we got view of main road & check post which we have to cross to access the ridge that goes towards Manikyadhara. 

View of BSNL tower & ridge

It was around 2'O clock and the forester Mr. Narayanappa stopped us from going ahead, and didn't listen to any of our pleading. He said, he can put a case against us for coming from Mullayyana giri. With no other option left, we started thinking what we can do next. All our effort in planning is useless. After finishing our packed pulav, we hired a Jeep to take us to "Buttermilk falls" also known as "Jhari falls" & "Dhabdabhe falls" and then to Kemmannugundi. We planned to do "Hebbe falls" trek next day which is at 8 kms from Raj bhavan.

     

Butter milk falls or Jhari falls or Dhabdabe falls

The "Buttermilk falls", is an amazing but lesser known falls. It is inside a 150 acre coffee plantation owned by ex transport minister Mr. Sagir Ahmad, I was told by the Jeep driver. During this season, the water will be less, and you can go till the base of the falls, and take bath. No private vehicles are allowed entry, but you can hire local Jeep services from the main road for a cost of 600.00 Rs. Price depends on your negotiating skills to travel just 3 kilometers on mud road. Even elderly people can visit the falls. We were hard pressed against time, so reluctantly left the falls and started "Jeep trek" towards Kemmannugundi. 

     All ten of us, with heavy backpacks packed in a single Mahindra Jeep ! There can be no better punishment for improper planning :(.  Kemmannugundi is around 22 Kms from here, where the initial 10 kilometers has good tar road we didn't feel the pain. The last 12 kilometers was a terrible ride !  Ah ! the vehicle was in such a pathetic condition, that the driver used separate diesel can placed below the front passenger seat serving as fuel tank. One of his friend also accompanied him. So we were total 12 people plus lot of luggage in one Jeep on a junk road !. God bless "Mahindra" :)

     We reached Kemmannugundi by 7:15pm, and we enquired for a space to sleep. All we needed was a flat area where we can comfortably sleep in our bags. But the manager at Horticulture office refused such space but offered a large suite at the cost of 4480.00 Rs. It was dark, and we were clueless of any other facilities there, we checked in to that large room. It was comfortable suite, with two big rooms inside, which can accommodate 5 people each, and a large veranda outside with dining table & sofa sets. We never wanted such luxuries, but had to accept since there is no other way.

     After finishing the chapathis, bread/jam etc that we had carried, me, Ravi & Nilesh went up to Raj bhavan to shoot star trials. It was a new moon day and a perfect time and place to shoot star trials. It was my first attempt at this, and I had not carried any tripod. Ravi however, mounted his 24-70mm lens on his 5dm3 on a stable Gitzo 6x CF tripod and started taking trial shots. I was mere spectator suggesting Ravi what best we can do. All the stars were quite high on the sky, and we couldn't include any earth element in the composition. Ravi tilted lens upwards to the sky and started automatic photo capturing for next 45 minutes. It was already 10:30 pm and due to cold breeze, I sensed headache, so I came back to room and slept. Ravi & Nilesh stayed there and don't know when they returned.

Day 2 - 10 Jan 2016 (Sunday)

   

Hebbe falls

 I woke up at 6:15 am, and Ravi was getting ready. As per our plan, we had to checkout the room, keep the luggage in reception and start trekking to Hebbe falls by 7'O clock. Prabin said he is not feeling well and he opted out of trekking. We finished breakfast with whatever we had brought from home, and after taking permission (200/- Rs per head) started the trek by 8:30 am. We had to come back max by 4:00 pm to catch our evening train from Birur. We had requested Prabin to follow up with Arun (person at Raj bhavan) for the Jeep drop. 

     Hebbe is one of the magnificent falls in Karnataka. Because of its location inside Wildlife sanctuary, and lack of tourists it retains its pristine glory. I could still trace few paper plates, cups and broken beer glasses. I don't know, when people learn to respect nature and behave properly. 

     As per our original plan, we were supposed to reach Hebbe by morning 10:30 am, and start back by 11:30 am. Because of our start delay, we reached there by 11:30 am. At any cost, we had to start back by 12:00 otherwise, we can't catch our train. The initial part of the trail goes through a forest patch, and then through a grass land with grass blades grown to the height of 6-7 feet, before opening up to the Jeep track. We walked another kilometer or so on the jeep track, and arrived at a view point. We could clearly see the hair-pin curves and if we had to continue on this track, we need to walk another 3+ kms. So, we decided to descend directly which is hardly half a kilometer. It was quite a fun to descend but I was worried about return path, when we had to climb up in the scorching sun. After getting down from the hill, it is another 3 kilometers walk through the coffee estate (on Jeep track) and we reached last home on that side. After taking a turn at the house, we had to descend a hill almost vertically. The inclination is almost 85 degree. There is a jeep track also, but that is a longer route.  We had to then cross a stream. I carefully stepped on stones and tried to jump the stream without getting wet. I escaped one stream, but there was another one to cross. We met another team of 15 people from Tata institute, Bangalore here. When I hit the second stream, I thought there is no point avoiding water, and walked straight with shoes on. The water worked as a lubricant to cool off my feat. After crossing the stream, we walked for another half a kilometer. Ravi exclaimed ! "Welcome to Hebbe". Aha !! I couldn't believe my own eyes. Its is spectacular and very very beautiful than I ever thought it would be. There are no words to describe nature's beauty. You only have to experience it. If you can walk, and love nature don't miss this spectacular, magnificent falls. I know, I'm not doing justice by using only these two words :). 

     I took, some shots of the falls without ND filter that I carried all the way. My ND filter is a cheap plastic and other than stopping the light, it doesn't do any good to me. I didn't carry either a tripod or ball head this time since that was not in our plan. Somehow, used a rock as the support and with little struggle took some slow shutter shots of the falls. By the time I did all this setup, all other people had come and there was a big gathering. I could not avoid any of them in my composition. Then someone reminded that we have to start back. So, quickly I changed my clothes, and took a cold-shower and 3 times dip in the chilling water. I felt to spend some more time in the water, but there was no time. By this time, Ravi also came and took a dip in water. It was already 10 minutes past 12'O clock, and we were 40 minutes late from the original plan.

     We started walking back keeping an eye on the watch. The uphill walk on the jeep track was little tiring, but boring. The first ascend through the forest took less time than anticipated. Laxmi & Ravi motivated Ritu not to loose courage, and she did climb the hill in just 20 minutes. It was then 1:10 pm and we had finished 1 of 2 biggest ascends. We resumed walking and then took another break at a water point near a house. Kamal & Senthil mixed orange flavored glucose to water, and we drank stomach full of water and preserved Oranges for future climb. After walking for another hour, we reached the base of second climb. It is the same point, where we descended directly to avoid long jeep track. It was around 2:15 pm, and I anticipated it would take another hour or so to climb. But we climbed it in 15 minutes ! After reaching the main road, we took a long break and finished off whatever we had brought to eat. We had to walk another 3-4 kilometers to reach our guest house. Prabin called right in time, and he offered help to load the jeep with all our backpacks (we had left our luggage behind at the horticulture office) and come to cross road.That would save us one kilometer of walking and 30 minutes. 

     We came to the cross road by 3:30 pm, but there was no sign of Prabin or the Jeep. To our bad luck, there was no signal also. We sat on the "Kemmannu" (red soil) road, waiting for Prabin. Even after 30 minutes of waiting, there is no sign of Jeep, and all of us were worried. A local biker dropped me at the check post which is some 500 mtrs from the guest house. A driver then asked, if Arun (a worker at the Horticulture office) has booked a jeep for us. Prabin was waiting at the guest house, and this driver was waiting near check post. I explained him our urgency, and took him to the guest house. It was a Mahindra Marshal vehicle, and 10 people sitting with luggage in it is next to impossible. So, we had to shift the luggage to a open jeep again and started our journey towards Birur. 

     We ran into one local problem here. One private bus leaves from Kemmannugundi daily at 4:00 pm, and they claim that they reach Birur by 5:40 pm. When the Bus is there, they don't allow Jeeps to operate, because it will be a business loss for them. The interest of the passenger is least bothered here. The Bus agent started a quarrel with our Jeep driver, and our helpless driver stopped the jeep, and asked us to go in that Bus. It was already 5:00 pm, and every minute is important to us. So to end this unavoidable conflict, we simply paid 300.00 Rs to the Bus agent to cover his losses and proceeded with the jeep. We were dropped at the railway station exactly 10 minutes before the arrival of Janshathabdi. We reached Majestic by 9:35 pm, and then dispersed. 

Important contacts to know

• Arun - 94815 83445 (worker at Horticulture office, Kemmannugundi)
• Yogesh - 94807 79193 (Jeep driver at Kemmannugundi)
• Harish - 94813 94189 (Jeep driver at Bababudan giri, Trek organizer)
• Chandru - 99801 34539 / 72045 55251 (Jeep driver at Chickmagalur)
• Lavasa regency - 87628 11527 / 08262 228877 (Hotel next to Chickmagalur bus stand)

 If you like reading the blog and enjoyed, please share your feelings with comments.

God bless all trekkers, Enjoy nature & keep it clean.

     

Kodachadri

     Kodachardi - Abode of goddess Sri Mookambika, Kodachadri is a well known trekking spot in Western ghats. Many many years ago (guess it was Year 1992), as part of a NCC trip I had trekked to Kodachadri peek. "Sampe katte" and "Bhattara mane" were the only two words I could remember from that trek. After 23 years, I revisited the place. Though a lot of things have changed, the pristine beauty of the mountain remains same.

As usual, after many rounds of discussions, email exchanges we decided to go to Kodachadri. Initially, a total of 18 people showed interest and then it came down to 12. After reading few blogs & looking at the google map a basic plan was prepared. We had three options to reach base point:

1. Take a night train to Shimoga, and then take a Bus to Nagara. Take another Bus or hire a Jeep to reach base point Kattinahole
2. Take a KSRTC bus till Kollur (which 38 Kms from the base point), and then hire a Jeep
3. Take our own vehicle from Bangalore to Kattinahole which is around 400 Kms

From my past experience, I know that booking & cancelling train/bus tickets is a pain. After discussing with Prabin & Laxminarayan, we hired a 21 seater bus at 19 Rs per kilometer fare. We had new friends in the group this time, and some of them were first time trekkers. Many trekkers have suggested to contact Mr Rajendra for food & accommodation bookings. I called him several times & requested to make arrangements for accommodation. For some reason, he did not respond well and finally I had to stop calling him. We decided to start on 21st August night, and the accommodation booking was not yet done. Normally, we are least bothered about food & accommodation. We carry our own food & tents so we don't care about any rooms availability. Some blogs indicated that there is no permission to pitch your own tent as the area has been declared as a protected area. After scouting the web for contacts & calling them, I found Ramesh to be very nice & co-operative. Unfortunately, he was in Mangalore and he suggest another person Prakash. Prakash is another gentle man, and he took care of food & accommodation bookings at IB. Many many thanks Mr. Prakash. 

21st Aug 2015, Friday:
     We decided to meet at 10:30pm at Silk board, since it is easy for both the people coming from Whitefield & BTM layout. We (me, Deepa, Manjari & Roopa) reached the silk board junction at 11:30pm due to heavy rain & traffic. After mutual introductions are complete, we started off our journey. It took almost an hour to take the NICE road on Hosur road from Silk board junction.

22nd Aug 2015 Saturday:
     I woke up at 5:00am, and we were at Shimoga. The driver Vinay kumar was a nice guy & he drove very well. We stopped for morning Tea at a road side hotel in Ayanur. Hot water tastes better than the coffee here ;). I'm not sure of the Tea though. We resumed our journey, and reached Chitrakuta homestay at 8:00am which is 2 kms before the trek start point. Its a nice home stay, and the cook Ganesh was very friendly. They gave us a room to freshen up, and had made Idli's & Upma for the breakfast. It was delicious breakfast. Later, the driver dropped us at the circle from where the trek starts. Our guide, Annappa was very young & smiling. We started our trek at around 9:30am. After walking a kilometer or so, we had to cross a stream. It was not that deep, but enough for our shoes to get wet. I did not care about it, because shoes are going to be wet at one or the other place and you cant completely avoid it. Few wanted to avoid getting their shoes wet but failed miserably :). Ritu slipped into the water & Manjari got one of her shoe wet. While we were coming down the next day, Manjari had a nice slip which I've captured in a video. If these incidents aren't there the trek would have been very dull :). After crossing the stream, we had to leave the jeep track and enter narrow trail. We have to ascend from this point and after walking through a forest patch, we arrived at someone's home. A big group of 150 NCC students had come from Bangalore & their teachers were struggling to manage them. After having nice buttermilk there, we started walking towards Hidlumane falls. From here it is around 1.5 kms walk to the falls. Due to rains, the rocks were very slippery. It was fun watching one or the other NCC student slip on the rocks. It wasn't different in our group also. But, all of us managed to reach the falls without a majory injury. The falls is one of the best I've seen. In most of the water falls, it is either difficult or dangerous to go near the base. But here the setting is just perfect. You can walk in the knee deep water and take a shower in the cold water. The water falls from a height of approximately 100 ft and gives a very good massage. We were already half drenched, so we did not care about changing the dress and walked straight  to the falls. It was around 12'O clock when we reached the falls & we spent around an hour there. We had to reach the IB for lunch, so reluctantly continued our trek. Climbing up from the falls was a real challenge. It was very steep climb, but more challenging was the crowd. 150+ students from Bangalore, all at the peak of their "masti" had made a fish market there. Girls pleading their boy friends for help, Boys trying to impress their girl friends, Helpless teachers & guides - it was a total chaos. After few minutes of climb up through the forest, we reached the grass land. But, the climb was not yet over. After an hour or so, we could see the Jeep track. We waited for others to join, and then started walking towards the Jeep track. It took another hour to cross a small forest patch and climb up a hill.After hitting the Jeep track, the IB is around 1.5 kms. By, 3:30pm we reached the IB & checked in to a room. After changing the dress, we had delicious lunch cooked by Mr. Sandeep. It was very cold outside and drizzling. There was no point in going to the Sun set point as it was very cloudy. So we had no option but to wait in the room for Dinner. One of my sleeping bag was wet and I & Deepa tried our best to dry it before night. At 9:30pm we were called for Dinner, and after having nice rice & sambar, we called it a day.

23rd August 2015 Sunday:
      We all got ready by 7:30am, and after having the "Rava Upma" prepared by Sandeep, we started walking down the Jeep track. It was 8:20am when we started, and by 11:00am few of us reached the "Ritu's point" (Remember where Ritu slipped into water). We had nice bath, while waiting for others to join. Original plan was to leave Kattinahole by 11 and reach Shimoga by 2 for lunch. But the plan was ruined by "white walkers" oopss "slow walkers". So, called the Ganesh of Chitrakoota homestay and arranged for the lunch. Afte lunch (75/- with Rice, Rasam & Sambar, 60/- without Sambar), we left for Bangalore around 2:00pm. On the way, stopped at a new hotel in Kadur & had snakes(?? :)) & coffee. We took the Chanarayapatna route, as it is wider and we can go faster. We stopped at Hotel Mayura for dinner and reached Bangalore by 10:00pm. Manjari's parents were waiting at Devegowda petrol bunk, and as we got down from the bus, they picked up "only her" and went home. I, Deepa & Roopa waited for an Auto, and reached home by 11:00pm. I then dropped Roopa to her home.

It was a very nice trek after a long time. I was little disappointed that we could not neither visit the Kollur temple, nor the temple atop Kodachadri. But something good happened in my life after coming back from the trek which I can't disclose here :). So, I'm visiting the Kollur temple next week to pray. God bless all ..

Important Phone numbers to note:
Prakash (Jeep driver) at Kodachadri : 94493 27846
Ramesh at Kodachadri: 94810 09983
Ganapathy (IB incharge): 94480 65836, 98804 80005