Background
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| Road to Mullayyana giri |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| View of Chickmagalur |
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| Nilesh with the backdrop of Mullayyana giri |
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| View of BSNL tower & ridge |
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| Butter milk falls or Jhari falls or Dhabdabe falls |
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)
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| Hebbe falls |
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)
God bless all trekkers, Enjoy nature & keep it clean.
