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 !!
