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.

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 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

Kodachadri Trek – Back to the Abode of Goddess Mookambika

Some places don’t just stay on your travel list—they stay somewhere deeper.

Kodachadri, nestled in the Western Ghats and known as the abode of Goddess Sri Mookambika, is one such place for me. The first time I visited was way back in 1992 during an NCC trip. Over the years, most memories faded—except for two oddly persistent phrases: “Sampe Katte” and “Bhattara Mane.”

After 23 years, I finally found my way back.

And while the world around it has changed, Kodachadri itself? Still as raw, wild, and breathtaking as ever.

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The Plan That Almost Didn’t Happen

Like most group trips, this one began with big excitement—18 people initially showed interest. Reality, as always, trimmed it down to 12.

We explored three options to reach the base:

• Train to Shimoga → Bus to Nagara → Jeep to Kattinahole
• Direct bus to Kollur → Jeep to base
• Drive all the way from Bangalore (~400 km)

Given past trauma with ticket bookings and cancellations, we went with the simplest option: hire a 21-seater bus. Decision made.

But accommodation? That was a different story.

Multiple calls, no responses, and rising uncertainty. One contact didn’t work out, another redirected us—and finally, through a bit of luck, we found Prakash, who sorted out our stay and food at the Inspection Bungalow (IB).

Plan locked. Bags packed. Excitement high.

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Day 0 – The Late Start

We planned to meet at Silk Board at 10:30 PM.

Bangalore traffic had other plans.

By the time our group (Deepa, Manjari, Roopa, and I) reached, it was already 11:30 PM—thanks to rain and traffic. After quick introductions, we hit the road.

And in true Bangalore fashion, it took us nearly an hour just to get onto NICE Road.

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Day 1 – Into the Wild

By 5:00 AM, we were near Shimoga. Our driver, Vinay Kumar, was calm, steady, and exactly what you want on a long road trip.

A quick tea stop in Ayanur gave us our first reality check—hot water tasted better than the coffee. Not a great sign 😄

By 8:00 AM, we reached Chitrakoota Homestay, freshened up, and had a simple but delicious breakfast of idli and upma. From there, we headed to the trek starting point.

At 9:30 AM, we began.

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The First Challenge – Water Crossing

Barely a kilometer in, we hit a stream.

Not deep—but just enough to guarantee wet shoes.

Some tried to stay dry. Nature disagreed.

Ritu slipped. Manjari lost a battle with balance. Shoes got soaked. Laughter followed. Trek officially began.

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Hidlumane Falls – The Highlight

After leaving the jeep track and entering a forest trail, we passed a house crowded with ~150 NCC students. Chaos, whistles, instructions—pure energy.

A refreshing glass of buttermilk later, we pushed on toward Hidlumane Falls.

The path? Slippery rocks.
The vibe? Equal parts caution and comedy.

People slipping left and right—NCC students, our group, everyone. Thankfully, no injuries—just stories.

And then… the falls.

Absolutely stunning.

Unlike many waterfalls where reaching the base is risky, this one invites you in. Knee-deep water, a strong cascade from about 100 feet, and a natural “massage” that makes you forget the climb.

We were already drenched, so we didn’t even pretend to stay dry.

One hour disappeared in pure joy.

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The Tough Climb Up

Leaving the falls was hard—not emotionally, but physically.

A steep climb, wet terrain, and a massive crowd made it intense. Add to that the “social drama” of 150 students—people helping, shouting, showing off—and it felt like a live reality show in the middle of the forest.

Eventually, we broke into the grasslands.

Wide views. Open skies. Wind in your face.

That moment makes everything worth it.

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Reaching the IB – Well Earned Rest

By 3:30 PM, we reached the Inspection Bungalow.

Cold weather. Light drizzle. Zero visibility for sunset.

Perfect excuse to do nothing.

Lunch by Sandeep was simple and satisfying. The rest of the evening was spent drying wet gear, chatting, and waiting for dinner.

By 9:30 PM, after rice and sambar, we were done for the day.

Sleep came easy.

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Day 2 – The Way Back

We started descending at 8:20 AM after a quick breakfast.

By 11:00 AM, we reached what we jokingly named “Ritu’s Point”—yes, the same stream crossing. This time, it turned into a mini bathing spot while waiting for the rest of the group.

The plan was to leave by 11 AM.

The group had other ideas.

Let’s just say the “slow walkers” (or white walkers, as we called them 😄) delayed things enough for us to rearrange lunch plans.

Back at Chitrakoota Homestay, we had a simple meal and hit the road by 2:00 PM.

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The Journey Back

Stops at Kadur (for snacks and coffee) and later at Hotel Mayura for dinner broke the journey nicely.

We took the Channarayapatna route—wider roads, faster drive.

By 10:00 PM, we were back in Bangalore.

Manjari got VIP pickup by her parents. The rest of us waited for autos and slowly wrapped up the trip.

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Closing Thoughts

This trek wasn’t just about reaching Kodachadri again.

It was about revisiting a memory after two decades… and realizing that while life changes, some places don’t.

I did miss visiting the Kollur temple and the one atop Kodachadri—but maybe that’s just a reason to return again.

And yes… something really good happened in my life after this trip. Something I’ll keep to myself 🙂

I guess I owe the Goddess a visit soon.

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God bless.

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

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 !!

     

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