Skandagiri alias Kalavara betta

Skandagiri was doing the rounds among the trekkers in BLR. I just had received an invitation to view the pictures in the picasa web albums belonging to my friend Raju. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the pics. They were standing on the edge of a cliff with a sea of never ending clouds below them. I decided then and there to make it to skandagiri. It is also known as kalavara betta. I spoke to my co-trekkers, Anirudh and Narayan to decide upon the dates. The next question was when to leave. There was no shelter on top of the hill to spend the night and none of us owned a tent. Anirudh and Narayan wanted to leave BLR in the middle of the night so that we could climb the hill in the night and reach the hilltop just before sunrise. Plan was sounding good. Only issue was I had never driven that early in the morning. We started at 3 in the morning on a Saturday/Sunday night. It just took an hour for us to reach Chikkaballapur. We saw a cop standing near a junction on the National Highway. We checked the route with him. We were exactly at the junction near the temple where we were supposed to take a left to head to the village. He gave us directions informing that when we hit a dead end, that would mean we are at the village. We headed in that direction on narrow roads. We travelled a few kilometers and saw a person directing us to the parking area. We were there. A forest guard was ready to collect entry fees and informed that we could utilize the guide services which we weren't keen of. Narayan checked for the start of the trail with him. He promptly gave us directions and asked us to go behind the temple where we will be able to spot the trail easily.

We started our walk, it was 4:30 AM in the morning. I looked up and to my surprise I saw a full moon. We thought it was a good co-incidence; a night trek and a full moon make a good combination. A while later we were behind the temple. The three of us started looking around for the trail. We were looking and looking but couldn't find the trail. Our torches didn't help us much. Every point we tried to move ahead we were at a dead end. Thick shrubs blocked our entry. Time was running out and we were nowhere near the track. We decided to make our own way. Locating a trail in the dead of the night is indeed a difficult task. We sneaked our way through the shrubs for a while and slowly climbed the hill inch by inch. Narayan who was leading the team finally found the path to the hilltop. We felt relieved. From there it was a cakewalk. We hardly made use of the torch. The full moon lit the surrounding enough for us to walk easily. The sky started turning red, which kept me in the doubt if we would make it before the sunrise. We still had a lot of distance to cover. We increased our pace gradually so was the sky, turning red gradually. It looked like we and the sun were competing against each other; who would appear first. The sky lit up completely, and I lost all hopes but maintained the pace. I saw a few people yelling on the top. I could hear their voices loud and clear; then I realized that we were almost there. Yes, we were on top and I looked at the East to find that the sun was yet to come out. We did beat him in the race. The sky was painted red, it made a good opportunity to take beautiful pictures. We weren't expecting company at all, but were unhappy when we found so many people on the hilltop, most of them who had camped in the night. I was expecting a silent sunrise, but we weren't that lucky.

As we got the first glimpse of the sun, I readied the camera to take the pictures. The sunrise was something very different, not found anywhere. As the sun started climbing, the reflection of it started appearing on the ground, mind you there was no water source anywhere in that direction. It was entirely fascinating, marvelous, spectacular and fabulous. Well too many adjectives I believe. But they aren't enough to describe the beauty of the sunrise. All of us enjoyed watching the sun climb up until its full size was visible. A few snaps were taken. Then we saw the moon on the other side still glowing in the clear sky. It wasn't an eclipse season to have them on the same side as the sun in the east; had it been on the same side of the sun, I would bet you that would have been the best sunrise witnessed by me in my entire life. It was time for the moon to pose with us. We took a couple of pics and suddenly found Narayan missing. We looked around and no where was he to be found. I saw him sitting on a boulder looking at the sunrise. Typical Narayan I thought. He was enjoying the sunrise in a spot where it was free of all the noise the other teams were making. We spent some more time on the hilltop and then started our descent from the East side which appears to be shorter than the North trail. We were back in our car and then headed towards BLR. It got over in less than 11 hours, but the sunrise would remain in memory for long.

Sailing on River Sharavati

We were going to the sailing camp on the river Sharavati for the second time. I wasn't that keen but then I decided to make it because I hadn't carried my camera the first time. We were told we would be sailing in a boat through out for 24 hours or so, that scared the hell out of me which made me avoid carrying the camera the first time. Now that I knew how things work there, I decided to carry it along. The camp is planned when a full moon day falls during the weekend. The whole river and the places around it would be lit up with the moon light which makes it a really different experience.

We set upon our journey on a Friday night from BLR. The bus took us to Honnavara. We were taken to a house on the banks of the river. After freshening up and yummy breakfast we all got into the waiting motor boat which had a carrying capacity of 25 people. The owner of the boat started the engine and kept it roaring. Slowly the boat started moving inch by inch until it gained some speed. The plan was to sail to the point where the river converges with the sea, by night fall. At a shallow place we stopped the boat and all of us jumped into the water with the life jackets on. The water was dead cold. Shivering is not the word I would prefer to use here, it was much more than that. We played in the water for a good one hour and then we set on our journey further. En-route we stopped near an island. We all got down and started walking along the cultivated fields. In the midst we found a house and a few people around it. We were offered fresh sugar cane juice. I would bet that you wouldn't get such a taste in BLR. It was very relishing. They were making jaggery paste. I was seeing some thing of that sort for the first time. I always assumed you get jaggery either in cube form or in ball form. Learning that a paste is also formed, I was kind of surprised. It tasted as good as honey. A few of us filled some of it in the water bottles we were carrying as we were told that it makes a good ingredient for sweets. We headed further to ascend a small hill. On top of the hill we found an abandoned British Bungalow and a watch tower. The British had set up bungalows in the nicest locations for a holiday, very smart. We hanged around for some time and then we started our descent and were back in the boat. It was evening by now. The weather which was very hot till now, started cooling down gradually. The boat continued to proceed further. After sunset, we happened to stop at a secluded spot on the banks of the river. All our rucksacks were taken out and preparation for dinner was initiated. A walk around the place yielded good amount of firewood for cooking. As the other people started to cook, we all played around the bank of the river. It resembled a football field with grass grown on it. The dusk turned into night as we were waiting for dinner. Once it was ready, we almost pounced on it, that hungry we were. Some time was spent resting after dinner and then we set upon our return journey.

The whole funda of the camp was this - To sail through the river in the night with a full moon in the sky. The engine of the boat was started, we could here the echo of it miles away. We were told its only to gain speed. The driver navigated the boat to the centre of the river and gained some speed. Then he switched off the engine. It suddenly became so quite. We were surprised, there was absolutely no noise at all. Our whispers were sounding as though we were yelling around. We all fell silent. One of them spotted the moon on top of our heads. It stood with full Majesty in the middle of the sky with an army of stars guarding it in the sky. It was a spectacular scene. Below we could see the reflections of the moonlight which was dancing all the way to the tune of the wind. The water occasionally splashed the surface of the boat which sounded like applause to the performance which was being carried out in front of us. It was indeed a scene to watch. I was lost in thoughts admiring the scene. Some of them added some more music to the already wonderful scene by singing melodious songs. It was soothing to the ears. The whole night passed like that. By dawn we made it to our starting point. We all alighted the boat and bid a good bye to it and the river.

Our next destination was the beach. We travelled by jeep to reach a temple in Apsare konda. Behind that is a path which would take you to the beach. It was very hot and we all were waiting to get into the water. As soon as we reached the beach, we all got into the water without a second thought. It felt so nice. We played tug of war in the water with the team divided into two and each of them trying to prove their strength. Most of the times we used to fall off at just one pull cause we couldn't balance ourselves in the water. A while later it was time for us to move, we realized how much salty we were smelling only when we got out of water. we took a circuitous route to reach the temple for which we had to walk on the sand on the beach. We were made to walk bare foot. Initially all were cool about it. I knew how it is to walk on hot sand, it's as good as walking on hot charcoal. Though I had done it the last time, I didn't say a word cause I wanted to watch the fun. They all started slowly, a few steps later, the heat started travelling to their heels and then the inevitable happened. It was unbearable for many of them, they started running to find some shade which was a luxury next to the beach. Where ever they found a shade of a small bush, they rested and then sprinted again. It was fun. I managed to walk 90% of it and then I couldn't manage and started sprinting towards the shade. All of them were looking at their heels to find if they had any boils, but none of them had any.

Just behind the temple where we started earlier, there is a water fall which has a height of about 50 feet. We all got into the water here to take a bath. Standing just at the place where the water falls was simply amazing. It gave a nice body massage which we were all striving for. The force at which the water fell on our body made us forget all the pain which we had developed in the last two days. Our lunch was ready at the temple. Once we were done with that, we all proceeded to the bus stand to start our return journey.

Gokharna Beach trek

I was all excited. Three pass outs of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were going on their first trek all on their own. No guides, no one to organize, it was just the three of us. It was very thrilling since this was something which I was going to do for the first time ever. Narayan had done these kind of treks before unlike Anirudh and myself. He took charge and prepared a plan before we left. We had two options, either to start from Ankola and proceed towards Gokharana or vice-versa. We decided to start from Ankola for the reason that it would be easy to get a bus from Gokharna. The first trek entirely on our own and that too a beach trek. I was just waiting to start.

Friday night we boarded a bus which dropped us off some where near Ankola the next day morning. We had to board another local bus which took us to Ankola which is very close to the shore. Once we got down the bus we checked with the villagers for the way to the shore. One of them guided us and then we were there. The majestic Arabian Sea stood in front of us. We were waiting for it; we started our walk with the sea on the right of us which meant we were heading south. We just walked for ten minutes and we started feeling the heat. It was very sunny. October Sky was crystal clear. Walking on the sand isn't easy as done on normal ground. As we take a step, the sand would sink which meant it required extra effort. I couldn't stand the heat anymore. I took my umbrella out. The shade provided by it was very helpful. Otherwise the sun would have had a good day by sucking out all the water from our body. En-route we found many fishing boats which were being readied by the fishermen. We happened to interact with a few and learnt some stories of the sea which were mind blowing. Every now and then we crossed small villages which were on the sea shore most of whose livelihood was fishing.

As the day went by we were more and more eagerly looking for some shade which we could hardly find. It was a long path with no shade any where in sight. Though we found some plantations along side the shore, we couldn't reach them as they were fenced. We had little option so we decided to proceed further. A lot of shells were found all along the way. We spotted a few crabs too. Sadly we found a few dead fish also. Every time we entered a village we checked with the villagers how far was our first halt, the name of the village which I forget. They promptly used to give us directions for the bus stand. It used to take time for us to tell them that we were there for a trek and would want to walk the stretch, they would stare at each other. There expressions conveyed just one thing, "you guys are crazy". They don't understand the plight of the urban lads, how much we crave to get into such patches to walk around. Yes, that only an urbanite would understand. Finally we reached our halting village by little over noon. We checked with the locals for some shelter as we weren't carrying tents. They gave us two options: 1. Indo-Denmark collaboration office; 2. Govt School. We proceeded towards the Indo-Denmark office as one of the village folk said it would be ideal place for us to stay and we would like it. He sold it well. Listening to him we headed that way. It was at the end of the village. Fishermen were stitching their fishing nets as it was still early evening. They enquired about us and they said they would leave by nightfall. We walked around the place for a minute and then the three of us looked at each other. Just one thing could be read on our faces – 'lets get out of here'. It was stinking hell of fish. I wonder how they manage to work there. We just informed them and moved out of that place. We were back to the village and then reached the school.

A quick bath felt so good in the scorching heat. We had nothing to do so were just loafing around the village. A lady had a small tea stall just opposite the school. Three of us gathered there and had rounds and rounds of tea with some biscuits and returned back to the school.

It was a Saturday, all the village kids gathered in the school to watch a movie in the TV. The number was easily above 50. Once they were done, the women folk of the village gathered at the school. We were wondering what they were upto. Surprisingly, we realized that they had gathered there for a weekly meeting. All of them were self – employed and were helping out each other, say something like a group of individuals working together. It was something which I had unheard. India is indeed moving forward.

Day 2, we started towards Gokharna. Here we had to climb a small hill and deviate a little as there was no route which we could take along the beach. A while later we reached the other end of the hill where we saw a river joining the sea. How do we cross it? Well, good question. Of course we can't swim across. We had to walk almost a kilometer along the river bed away from the sea to the ferry point. We spotted a ferry leaving as we reached the assembly point which we happened to miss by few seconds. Now we had to wait for almost an hour as we had no other option. Meanwhile Anirudh picked up a water melon. That would be our breakfast. We boarded the ferry as soon as it arrived and within a few minutes we were on the other side of the river. Getting into a farm we had our breakfast – water melon. Today was nothing less, it was the same heat and the water which we were consuming was no where helping us. One more village was crossed and then an estuary came up. It looked very small but as we went nearer we realized the actual size of it. It was easily some 20 feet. How do we cross this? It looked easy but when we got into the water we could feel the high current. The current could drag us easily with our rucksacks on our back. We looked out for some boat to cross, but couldn't find any.

Twenty minutes went by and we had no solution to the problem which stood in front of us. Various alternatives were thought of but were ruled out. Finally one seemed to work, hence we decided to test it. Anirudh was the tallest one, 6 feet something. He would carry the rucksack on his head, Narayan would hold him for support and move along with him. I would move along to hold them just in case if they fall. It was a tough job. One sack was picked up and then the attempt was made. All the three stepped into the water, the high current could be felt as the sand underneath our feet just vanished and we felt the feeling of sinking. Slowly we moved withstanding the current and finally we made it without drenching the bag. We were all so happy and relieved. Two more rucksacks were left, each time we crossed it, it was more challenging than the previous attempt. Finally all three rucksacks were moved on the other side safely without drenching them. Now, it was time to relax, we got into the water in the estuary and spent some time.

Small star fish were spotted very frequently in this patch. The rest of the journey was more or less the same. It was only getting hotter and hotter as every hour passed with the sun showing no mercy. At certain point of time the heat was unbearable and we decided to take a break. The coconut trees gave us some shade as we relaxed and watched the never ending sea. By noon we were in Gokharna. We checked into a hotel, dumped our rucksacks and headed towards Om beach. It felt so nice to walk without the rucksacks. The sun finally was kind enough and bid a nice good bye while setting down.

Ideal time to trek this patch would be monsoon season which would avoid the heat. We heard that it's a frequented path but couldn't find any trekkers through out.