Gokarna to Karki beach trek

The monsoon is here so are our trekking plans. The funda was to go to a place where none of us have been before. The plans were being formulated from a long time though, the reason that the four inmates of Gurukula and the rest of the seven of us were to go together leaving no one behind. The rains had cut off many routes this season so we settled in for a beach trek after considering various alternatives and many deliberations. Next was the stretch to be considered. We decided to start from Gokarna and end in Haldipur near Honnavar the next day.

The D day had arrived and we all met up in Gurukula on the Sunday late noon and headed to Gokarna. Once we reached there in the morning the next day, we freshened up and headed for breakfast in one of the hotels on the beach side. Our plans to start the trek early morning didn't materialize for obvious reasons, so we as usual had a late start when the sun was up almost on our heads. The never ending ocean on one side and the greenish patch of land on the other helped us to get going. Kudle beach was the first we hit. The resonating sound of the ocean waves was soothing to our otherwise blunt ears. Walking around in the beach for a while and gazing at the water eased our minds. The clouds hovered around shielding us from the sun.

Heading further south we climbed a small hillock to reach the Om beach which was at the other side. The top resembled more of meadows, with cattle grazing all over. Half way while descending the hill we happened to see the Om beach which was quiet outstanding. The natural formation of the Om shape was a rare sight to see. I had missed this beach the last time when I had trekked the other side of Gokarna cause of my leg injury. Crossing this beach took quite a while for us. At times we had to take off the shoes so that they don't get wet wherever small streams were flowing into the ocean. There was another Hillock at the end of this beach. The actual view of the Om was seen from here. Ascending slowly on a beaten path which is a common passage for the villagers, we happened to encounter cattle. This was at a place where the path was at the edge of the hill with a slope on one side which leads to the ocean. A small wrong move would just mean a dive into the ocean. Though a few of us were scared to take the step we managed to cross the hurdle.

Half moon beach was waiting for our arrival as we were the only souls on it. The roaring of the waves were only trying to match the speed of the wind. The weather was all cool and pleasant as the clouds refused to move away providing us a blanket of shelter throughout. The drizzle was an icing on the cake. It was just mild which still kept our clothes dry. Drona was very excited to get into the water but Srinivas used to pull him just at the right time. He kept him busy all day. Each of us were walking at our own pace, some looking at the sea, some fishing for some shells, some lost in talks and some totally lost in thoughts. Nevertheless none complained as none were in a hurry.Further up the coast line we made it to the next beach called as the Paradise beach. This was indeed a man's paradise. Just a perfect setting to have a small house on the beach side with a small private beach. You have the right company and your life is made. It was noon, so we decided to have lunch and then continue our march. We settled in a small coconut farm and started with our meals. The owner was delighted to host us and gave us tender coconuts which reenergized our otherwise tired bodies; of course at an exorbitant cost. Resting for a while we started moving out of the paradise to reach Belikan village. The rest of the journey was more or less the same with hillocks separating the beaches. The size of the beaches also varied from a few meters to a few kilometers. Kirubaile was a dead end for us. If we had to proceed further we had to hire a boat to cross Anganashini River. Looking out for a boat man in the village was tough. Once they saw the urbanites, they quoted a very high price to take us to Barka beach. The actual journey on the boat was for 5 mins. But the preparation for it took more than an hour. We had to push the parked boat into the water which itself took quite a while. We too had to show our strength in pulling and pushing the boat along with the villagers. The boat man had agreed to drop us on an adjacent beach to Barka beach reasoning that it's dangerous to go there since the tides are high. We had to accept whatever offer he made and got into the boat finally. Once we were out in the sea we did realize that the boat man was right. The swaying of the boat testified the boatman's claim. Getting off the boat we bid adieu to the boatman and his associates. Our walk continued. This area has hardly seen the movement of people. I believe other than the trekkers, the localites hardly come here. The rocks and boulders on which we were to climb in order to move ahead were damp and slippery. Slow movements were made with care to avoid slipping. Another hillock stood in front of us. Finding a path took a while and once we did, we were glad to move. On top it was a beautiful meadow with lush green grass. It was too tempting to take a nap on the natural bed. Instead we settled to rest for a while. It wasn't surprising to see a Fort on top. Which king would afford to lose such a scenic beauty?

A while passed and it was time for us to reach Sangam beach. We had decided to camp here. To look out for an ideal place to camp took us a lot of time. We checked in a village if they would allow us to utilize the Government school premise to spend the night, but none gave us an optimistic response. A small discussion among the team gave a clear mandate that it's best to move out of the village and so we did walking further ahead. In one of the many coconut farms which run along the coast we decided to camp. There was a house adjacent to the farm. We sought there help for cooking and they offered us their kitchen itself which surprised us. A quick bath freshened us and then dinner was cooked. On the beach side, under the tall coconut trees amidst the darkness with dim light surrounding us, cool breeze along with the rattle of the waves, we had our dinner.

Day 2 started late as the breakfast took a while. The people at the house offered us breakfast. Hot idlis kept flowing into our plates as we hogged them. Unpitching the tents, we started our day 2 march around 8. The walk on the rest of the beach side gave the warm up required for ours legs to climb a small hillock. Once we descended we approached Magodu beach. This beach is ideal for a camp ground as there is a well and a stream. The beach did end again and as usual there was another hillock ahead of us. Most of these were slippery due to heavy moisture on its surface. Honnali village was the next landmark we crossed. It is located along a small beach side. Another hillock later we came across backwaters which again needed a boat to cross. But we decided to call in for our tempo traveler to transport us to the other side. We were dropped off on the other side and we continued our walk to Dhareshwar beach. This stretch is another long one; it took time for us to reach the huge hill on the other side. En-route we found carcasses of many dolphins and the bones of a whale, the size of which we couldn't imagine. The kinds of bones which we saw were much taller than any of us! Dhareshwar hill was probably the highest in this stretch. It wasn't that difficult to climb it though. Descending was a little jittery cause of the slippery ground, the soil used to simply give away causing us to lose our step. Negotiating the descent, we dropped at Ramanagindi. Yet another hill was spotted a little ahead. By now our legs were all used to the multi terrain of sand, water, soil and hillocks. Getting this hillock was even more challenging as it was more slippery than the previous one. We could see Haldipura beach much before we got down. This too was almost the same size of Dhareshwar beach. It was a long walk of another 4 to 5 kms at the end of which was Karki village. Our transport was all ready and waiting for our arrival. We could see the vehicle at a distance and were about to reach when it started pouring. This time we weren't spared as we were all wet by the time we got into the vehicle. I was somewhat spared cause of my umbrella. This marked the completion of the beach trek.

Overall the pleasant weather made our trek very easy which otherwise would have been a tough terrain given the humidity with no shelter anywhere nearby.

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/GokharnaHonnavarBeachTrek20090831#

Getting there: Buses head to Gokarna from Bangalore during nights. Its a one night journey.

Food will have to be carried along & carrying tents also would be a viable option

Sabarimalai

Getting there:

Nearest Airport – Kochi International Airport

Nearest railway station – Chenganur, from where plenty of buses take you to Pamba

2145 hrs – Kanyakumari Express departed from Bangalore city railway station on dot surprisingly at the scheduled time. A trust mainly set up by the Shopkeepers in the APMC Yard organizes a small pilgrimage to Sabarimalai every month where the temple of Lord Ayyappa is situated. My father and his friends had approached them if they could accommodate us in any month. They were more than eager and happily accepted our names. They charged us only for the transportation from BLR to Pamba and then back to BLR, most of it by train and the last leg by a bus. The food, accommodation was all a contribution from the donors. The train journey was to last for almost 17 hours as we had to get down in Kottayam where a bus would be awaiting for our arrival to take us to Pamba, the base of the Sabarimalai hill which is again 4 hours away by road. A long journey though but we had no reasons to complain. Thanks to the Trust who ensured that we were well taken care of.

The train had just left the station; we were being served with dinner which was relishing. A while later we all retired for the night only to be woken up in the morning by the locals who were bombarding our sleeper coaches though all our seats were reserved. They simply refused to listen and even the Travel Ticket Examiner(TTE) wasn't of much help. 4 or 5 of us were found sitting in the seats meant for 3. Sandwiches, tikki puris and others were served for breakfast which was partly filling. Surprisingly the pantry guys never came to sell any food throughout the journey.

The train reached Kottayam at 1200 hrs, which was late by 35 mins. though none of us complained. Immediately we were shifted to a bus which was waiting outside the station. The rest of the journey kicked off in no time. Almost 4 hours later we arrived at Pamba. The place gets its name from the river which flows across the small village. The Sabarimalai has no road access which is located on top of the hill. All pilgrims have to walk up a shabbily made path which leads you to the temple town. For the elderly and the people who cannot walk, a service called 'Dolly' is available. 4 men carry a person on a chair to the top and get them down as well for which they charge anywhere between Rs.1500/- to Rs.2000/-. I chose to walk bare foot which I felt was a grave mistake much later. Women aged between 10 to 50 aren't allowed in the temple.

The Pamba river needs to be crossed from where the path to Sabarimalai starts. Lord Ganesha's temple is located just at the start of the path where his blessings are sought by all the devotees. A few other temples of Goddess Parvathi, Lord Hanuman and others are all located next to each other. Once we were done with taking their blessings we kick started our walk up the hill. 7 of us, my father, his friends and I went along together. One of my uncle's chose to make use of the dolly. I was told that the path is very slushy and is slippery. Since I was walking barefoot I had to be extra careful from slipping. The information received was from the people who had walked this path several years ago. While we were walking we came across a few stairs in the beginning and then a patch of big pebbles which are arranged almost flat on the ground. A steep climb started from then on. The path was made out of concrete which had a rough surface with an intention that it doesn't slip while it rains as this place receives very heavy rainfall in a year.

Half way through we heard crackers being burst. I was wondering it could be used to chase the elephants away as this hill falls in the forest area. When I enquired, I was told that the devotees burst crackers and is part of a seva to the God. Each God and the place have their own tradition. Logically if seen, it is for the same reason as I mentioned before i.e., to chase the elephants away. The noise of these crackers is deafening and travels several miles due to the proximity of the forest area where the sound waves aren't obstructed. We came across the place where the crackers were being burst. From this place it's almost a normal walk almost the same distance which we climbed till now. The path almost flattens gradually. This patch gave me all the trouble as the slush which they were talking about was very much there. The work on concretizing the path was on the way which added to the misery of the devotees. As if that wasn't enough it started raining which only made things worse. Each step was carefully taken considering that I am not used to walking barefoot though I slipped many a times. In some time we were almost on top as we could see the temple town from the path. Once we reached there we quickly moved to the accommodation office to enquire about renting a room for a day which we were allotted. Since I am a frequenter to Tirumala, I expected the rooms to be on the same lines; which wasn't to our surprise. They were worse than godowns which resembled dark dungeons. The accommodation arranged by the organizers was chosen eventually which was much better.

The temple is open only for 5 days in a month other than the seasons during Mandal Pooja when its open for almost 40 days. Prior information about the temple being open would be useful if one decides to visit the place. Freshening up we decided to have a darshan of the God. As the June month is off-season, there was hardly any crowd. In less than 2 minutes we could have the Darshan of the Lord Ayyappa. It was my first visit and I was very much impressed looking at the beauty of the idol which has a gold covering. The temple which itself is very small has a gold plating through out including the roof which makes it look spectacular. There were many lamps which were placed one next to the other of various heights in an ascending order starting from the door till the idol of the God. Receiving his blessings we decided to go around the town which is relatively very small. In a few minutes we were done. 8 of us retired in a two bed room.

Early morning, before descending we went to the temple for darshan. The crowd was much bigger than what we witnessed the previous day. It almost took half an hour for us to have the first darshan. Once we were done with that we came around the Dwajastamb and had a second darshan. We did this several times as the Abhisheka of the Lord was happening with ghee(The idol is bathed with ghee every day during the Abhisheka). It was a sight to be watched which is difficult to witness otherwise. Once our souls were satisfied, we decided to descend. There are two paths which lead to the temple town from the half way through where they burst the crackers. We realized about it only when we finished the climb the day before as they merge at the entrance to the temple town. The path was completely concretized and had a roof. Hence we had decided to take this to descend. While we took this path which was much better than the slushy one through which we had climbed the day before, we realized that the concrete base was only for a few meters after which it was a usual foot trail walking on which was a terrible thing in barefoot. Cursing myself for having chosen this path I continued further until we reached the original path. I was much relieved once we were there as it was much easier to climb down.

The bus was waiting for our arrival. We started our return journey and reached Kottayam station where we waited for the train. It arrived on time at 1645 hrs which we boarded. We arrived in BLR the next day morning at 0700 hrs.

The overall journey was indeed very good. Thanks to the Trust who organized the pilgrimage to which we are indebted. It was the 213^th pilgrimage for the Guruswamy who organizes every month. The experience itself does the talking.

Tadiandamol trek

I logged into my orkut profile as usual, in the updates I happened to see some pictures with green pastures all around with mist engulfed. The curiosity made me get into Raghavendra's profile and check them. He had been to Tadiandamol a few days back. I was shocked and took some time to actually believe that these pictures were taken just days before. Its summer and seeing such green pastures is a rare sight. I immediately thought of making it to that place and gathered more info. I spoke to Vivek, Munielgappa sir and then to Raghavendra regarding the same. I checked with my usual trekking pals and some of whom who had shown interest in treks earlier. None of them could make it for various reasons. I am grateful to the gurukula team for coming along. Vivek was the only one who couldn't make it sadly.

The plan was to leave early morning by 0600 hrs but as always we got delayed for reasons best known to us and kicked off our journey an hour later in my truck. Mysore road was more than willing to welcome us with light traffic. Driving through the road was a pleasure indeed. The first pit stop was Maddur Coffee day as its my tradition to visit that place. Quick breakfast was had and then the journey was resumed. After Srirangapatna, there is a deviation which leads to Rangantittu bird sanctuary. This is a short route to Hunsur road which could be taken to avoid going all the way to Mysore and then deviating. 20 kms later we hit the 4 lane Hunsur road and a few minutes later we reached the town. A left turn after the bus stand leads to Irupu Falls and Nagarahole which we happened to take. This was a circuitous route to Gonikoppulu.

In Nagarahole range many deer were spotted on the roadside. Since it was noon time we couldn't see any other animal. The extra distance travelled was realized only when we reached Gonikoppulu. From there we headed to Virajpet and kakkabe. Nalaknad Palace is at the base of Tadiandamol peak. The peak is the highest at 1745 meters MSL. It was 1500 hrs and we kick started our trek from the palace itself. There is a tar road which leads upto Jungle Boot camp which is about 2 kms. We chose to walk that distance though the road was very steep. After the boot camp, a jeep track goes upwards for a distance of about 1.5kms up to the second stream. Mid-way we stopped to have lunch with the view of the never ending green hillocks. While we were about to resume our walk, I saw a black snake cross the jeep track. It was easily 6 to 7 feet long. When I described about it to my co-trekkers, they said it was a rat snake. An attempt to look for it turned futile as it got into the nearby bushes. Once the second stream was crossed, the track narrowed down to a foot trail which looked like a path taken very often. It was an easy walk to the open grasslands. A pointed hill stood ahead of us which we assumed to be the peak. Another group was camping at the base of that hill. Since it was pointed, we too chose to camp at the base. Sam and Shankar went up to have a look if there is a possibility to camp on top. Shoba too joined them. While they returned, they came along with some of the other trekkers who had camped nearby. Among them there was Uma Shankar, an avid trekker and a naturist who resides in Hebbal, BLR. A conversation with him was indeed interesting and educative.

It was cloudy and misty, so there could be a possibility of rain. 6 people in a 4 man tent was not a good idea. Thanks to Sam for getting it. Shankar, Sam and I decided to sleep out while Abhishek, Prarthana and Shoba were to sleep inside. It was cold though it was summer. All jackets were out. We hit the bed pretty early. Middle of the night I woke up cause it was very warm inside the sleeping bag. I just happened to touch the sleeping bag outside, it had dew deposited on it and was all wet but surprisingly it was warm inside.

Day 2 started a little late. By 8 we began to ascend. All bags were packed and the tent was removed by then. We had company that early in the morning. It's a frequented hill cause it can be climbed in a day. Prarthana hurt her knee unfortunately while climbing up. Some how she managed to come along with us. Every time I looked back while climbing my eyes were overwhelmed with joy looking at the remarkable hill ranges. The hillocks continued to fade till it reached the horizon. In an hour or so we were on top of the peak. Our hearts were exhilarated standing tall on the highest peak in the midst of the Coorg range. Having breakfast at this height was a nostalgic experience. It's a feel good factor when you know that you are on top of the highest peak (though only 1745 mtrs above MSL) in coorg. A good one hour was spent admiring the encompassing hill ranges. A trail of humans could be seen in the path which we took which extended as far as a kilometer. It wasn't a good sign and hence we began to descend.

Abhishek and Shankar literally were running down hill. Greeting other trekkers who were on their way up became a routine. All had one question to ask. "How long would it take to reach on top?". We did reply to them politely but then some faces were happy while the rest were somber hearing to the approximate time which they would require to reach on top. Where you find humans frequenting, there you would find their traces which is evident. How? Litter everywhere. Many plastic bottles, wrappers and covers were picked up. By 1200 hrs we were down at the palace.

The Nalaknad summer palace though small had its own beauty. The rooms were inter-linked like a maze, one after the other. The walls were all artistically painted with human figures, but sadly many of it was whitewashed. The roof was nothing less; it was decorated in length and breadth with beautiful carvings. A two storey palace had a Darbar in the second floor where the king used to have his meetings with the courtisans.

Time to leave. We headed straight to virajpet and then got into some other route to Mysore. We decided to turn back though we had covered close to 10 kms as the roads were very narrow. Gonikoppulu was the next stop where we had a relishing lunch. The return journey couldn't have been better if not for the rains which cooled down the weather completely and made it pleasant. Driving through heavy rain is something which I always crave for. Maddur Coffee day refreshed our tired souls as usual. Reaching BLR by night completed the weekend programme.

Getting there: Bangalore – Srirangapatna – Hunsur – Gonikoppulu – Virajpet – Kakkabe – Nalaknad Palace. Bus frequency from BLR to Virajpet is good enough, however from Virajpet to Nalaknad Palace the frequency is very low.

Night Navigation

Visiting Gurukula is a weekend routine for us since we were on training. Rock climbing, bouldering, navigation were some of the activities which we have been learning to improve our capabilities and techniques. It was just another week was my assumption and thought we would most probably be doing some climbing or bouldering. We were surprised when we were told by Munielgappa sir that we would be sent out for night navigation on that Saturday. A session explaining the ways to use the maps and the Silva compass was carried out by him in the evening. All of us did learn much of it and were about to put it to use very shortly. We had a quick dinner and were all eagerly waiting for the navigation.

We were split into two teams. Abhishek, Rupendra, Sam and Shoba were in one team; Pallavi, Prarthana, Shankar, Vivek and myself in another. "Target is a hill at 108 degrees 4 kms away from here" said Munielgappa sir. We noted as many landmarks he gave so that we didn't miss any. Shankar and I had missed our first night navigation almost 7 years ago; we didn't want to do the same again as well. Notes read: from Gurukula. 1. You will find a hill which has to be on the left side as we pass. 2. Cultivation fields. 3. Mud road. 4. Temple and a village which has to be on the right side. Elephant pit 5. Cross the ditch and get into the forest. Move along the valley of two hills. 6. Climb the hill in front of you. (From the elephant pit a distance of 2 kms need to be travelled). 7. Watch tower on the top of the hill is the target. If we fail to reach before the deadline of 0000 hrs a search light signal would be given at 0005 hrs and a second signal at 0030 hrs so that we could move in that direction.

With so many landmarks, we were under the impression that it would be a cake walk. We started our navigation with Vivek leading our team. The start time was 2030 hrs. We had to reach the target before 0000 hrs. The total distance to be covered was 4 kms. We thought we would be able to cover it in a very short time. Exiting the Gurukula campus we could see the hill right in front of us with the moon light. Our first landmark we crossed as said, keeping the hill to our left. The usage of torches was bare minimum because the moon light was bright enough. The second team was spotted just behind us after which we never met them again nor could we see their torch lights anywhere.

We came across lots of fields, crossing them was easy as there were no crops grown. At times we had to hop, but then most of it was a normal walk amidst the rubbles. A mud road was spotted next, the 3^rd landmark. We continued to proceed in the same direction of 108 degrees. A good pace was maintained as the team moved swiftly without any issues. A little confusion emerged here as we saw a fencing of a farm. Crossing it was slightly challenging, so we decided to go around. A while later we could spot street lights on our right, the village which we were supposed to keep on our right. The temple also fell to our sight as we moved. We rested for a few minutes and hydrated ourselves. Just after the road we found the elephant pit and then on the Bannerugatta forest range began.

We stepped in one after the other and followed each other like ants at close proximity. Navigating across huge trees which themselves acted like natural fence around the forest was exciting. Two hills stood on either side of us which formed a silhouette in the darkness caused by the moon light. A deep valley in between the hills gave us an impression that it would be an avoidable challenge of maneuvering in the thorny bushes as this area is known for the same. A look around the place revealed a rocky surface on the hill right of us. Consensus was achieved to traverse along this rocky patch and get back to the end of the valley once we cross the hill. Heading further we walked along the side of the ridge on the rock which looked like a miniature of the monolith in Savanadurga. Once we were at the corner we were unable to locate the target hill anywhere nearby. A quick discussion was commenced and possible options were considered. Since we were to cover 2 kms in the jungle we decided to continue further ahead as we had just walked 500 mtrs. Tall trees stood as though they were staring at the intruders of their territory. We silently went past them to come across a mud road. Our minds were puzzled as our sir never referred to any road in the jungle. Discussions were happening as we walked in our direction. A range of hillocks were found right in front of us, which were faintly visible at a far off distance. Convincing ourselves that we hadn't covered enough distance and the hillocks visible in front could be our target we continued ahead.

Bending, crawling, duck walks and alike were the ways we had to adopt to move in the thick shrubs. The paths made by the wild boars and other animals were the ones which we had to use to move. None of us were spared the wrath of the thorny bushes though we had dressed adequately. It was quiet tough for us to save our faces from them as well. Torches were used extensively to find possible routes. Fire was spotted on one side of the hill which we assumed was our target. Forest fires had been very common this season so there was no reason for us to backtrack and hence moved forward. It was almost 2330 hrs by the time we reached the base of the hill and were wondering why we weren't able to spot the other team anywhere. Climbing up the hill we reached a rocky patch en-route. Our bodies were given some rest here for a while and then we decided to wait there for the search light signal which would be given by 0005 hrs. Even after 0010 hrs, no where could a search light be seen. Climbing up the hill was the only option to figure out if that was the target hill. In less than 10mins we were on top and to our surprise we found a watch tower. We were glad that we made it but then none were around! Sir had told us that he and Momili ma'am would be on top waiting for us!

Our minds contemplated in deciding if this was the target hill or if we had missed it. However we thought to rest till 1330 hrs and then head back to Gurukula. Carrying mobile phones was strictly prohibited so we were virtually cut off from the Gurukula, so the only way to find out if we were on target or not was to return and find out. In the meantime while we were resting we heard strange noises all around. A kind of a trumpeting noise was heard at frequent intervals which we believed to be of an elephant's and thought it could be taking a bath by splashing water from its trunk (it was learnt later that the noise was from lose metal sheets on top of the watch towers which were swaying because of heavy winds). It was time to leave. Returning in the same path as we came was not possible cause we ourselves didn't remember much of it though we had a vague idea as to which direction we were heading.

Maneuvering across the shrubs was an uphill task which was inevitable and unavoidable. Finally we were out of these shrubs and approached the open land. A mud road was visible meters away. All of us decided to take the mud road assuming that it would take us out of the jungle; it was our exhausted selves which were making the decisions instead. Blame it on the thorny bushes which we had to cross twice. As we walked we were able to recall the places which we crossed while going upwards. Almost a kilometer of walk later we saw the road passing adjacent to a hill. I told my team we should climb up and check if this could possibly be the target hill. Almost on top but it was flat and wide. I insisted on checking out for the tower but then the tired souls were reluctant and I too gave up. Back to the road and walk and walk was the only thing we did. A road barricade was seen which was unmanned crossing which we were out of the forest area. The road was no good. The gravel on the road was hurting our heels big time cause of the continuous walk. Suddenly we happened to see Gurukula's jeep. We all jumped with excitement. We could still see the hill which we had half climbed but decided to continue to Gurukula. Walking down the road we crossed many villages and finally came near the temple which we had crossed in the beginning. From this location we took the same route as we had taken to come here and then finally reached Gurukula at 0430 hrs. First thing we did was to make a call to them saying that we are back. Then we realized that we had overshot the target. After an hour they arrived too.

Post breakfast we had a de-briefing session in which we explained the route which we took to reach the wrong hill. Sir could make out how we had missed and where we had been and told us that we had overshot by 2 kms cause we didn't get into the valley in between the hills. Shankar and I looked at each other with dismay and each of us questioning the same thing "why did our night navigation go so bad?" The other team had reached the target well before time.

We have taken it as a challenge to make our next navigation a success, even if we have to continue till day break to reach the target.

Ragihalli Betta trek

Shankar gave me a call and informed me that the Gurukula team would be heading to Bannerghatta National Park(BNP) for a trek to Ragihalli betta. It was close to 7 years since I last visted. One memorable place where, I had spent a night camping. The experience then was very exhilarating. It was the first time ever I had ventured into a jungle. It was with the same Nataraja Gurukula people we had been there then. I wanted to revive those nostalgic memories. One would seldom get such opportunities. Also it was quiet a while since I had been to a tiger safari. So thought could take some pics with my digicam. We were to rendezvous at the BNP gate on Saturday evening.

Post noon on Saturday, Prarthana, Shoba, Abhishek, Shankar and I set upon for a short ride to BNP. In no time we were there much ahead of the scheduled time of 1730 hrs. Mala maam, Momili maam, Munielgappa Sir, Pallavi and Rupendra happened to join us after a short while. On the way to Tiger safari, just behind the butterfly park is Mr. Suresh's farm. He had invited us to come down for an over night stay and for a trek to ragihalli betta. With all intros done, he was showing us the place and then we heard some kind of roaring. Mr. Suresh said that's the roar of a lion. All our faces lit up listening to him. I just rubbished what he said and didn't give much importance. He offered to take us to the rehabilitation center where these lions were given shelter. His farm is just adjacent to that center. We chose to see it immediately and proceeded that way. A lion was seen first, I couldn't believe my eyes looking at the massive creature in front of us. Entering inside the center, the guard took us to one of the buildings which had cages. 6 cages were in a row, 3 on the right and 3 on the left.

I just entered and looked at the left side and saw a huge lion. I was dumbstruck viewing at the magnificent beast at such close proximity. The lion in the second cage was even bigger and the third one had a lioness. They were enjoying their supper. We were glad to see them. They were just a few inches away from us. It was just a gate which separated us. Slowly we moved on to the right side to have a look at the other cages. A tiger stood there majestically staring at us. His head was huge, his paws massive and his coat vibrant. I had no words to say but to admire his beauty and valor. The next cage too had a tiger in it which was busy munching his meal and he was least bothered of our presence.

Prarthana, Abhishek and I headed to another building further down to have a look at the other cages. As we approached, one lion started roaring and soon the rest of them joined. It was deafening as all the 6 lions roared in chorus. What a welcome!!!. As we entered, one lion looked at us and opened his mouth wide open and yawned wondering it's the same old humans. The lions and lionesses were more gigantic than the ones which we saw earlier. They made our day! Soon the rest of the team joined in to have a look at the beasts. We thanked the guards and returned to the farm. The roaring continued in the background. Unfortunately, I could hardly take any pictures because it was already evening.

Upon returning, we were discussing about the wild cats which we saw and realized that Munielgappa sir and Pallavi never saw those tigers which were in the cages on the right side of the first building. They really missed it even though they were very much with us. Vivek joined in by 2000 hrs. Around 2200 hrs in the night, we headed for a drive towards Ragihalli village hoping to spot some wild animals. To our bad luck, we didn't spot any animal, not even an elephant. Probably we were little early or there could have been a probable migration of animals to a colder place for its being summer. However I happened to see a mongoose and a hare, thanks to my torch. We returned to the farm with disappointed faces.

Briefing session started almost immediately on our return. Had to get up early in the morning and be ready by 5:30 am so that we could have an advantage of time and we could be there early by noon. All retired to bed, some in the farm house, some in the car and some on the top of the jeep. One mosquito was enough to disturb my sleep as no repellant worked that night. I just felt I had closed my eyes just then, when I was woken up in the morning.

At 6 in the morning we started our walk towards Ragihalli betta.  Munielgappa sir knew the forest in and out as he had been here many a times since childhood. He took us by road which leads to the tiger safari. We reached one of the watch towers at Udaga bande, adjacent to a road. Shankar and my brains started digging out memories. We had camped here half night after the night navigation. We took a deviation from there and got into the valley as we spotted the elephant tank. The water was filthy. I really wonder how we managed to swim there 7 years ago. But it did look clean then.

The dried thorny bushes and shrubs kept us busy throughout as we had to scrape through a lot to cross. Many of us were still with scratches and thorns on our soft and tender skin even though dressed with full sleeves T-shirts/shirts. It was a scorching Sunday and the water we carried wasn't helping us much to quench our thirst. Every now and then we had to take a sip to maintain the hydration levels in our body. The sun was as usual sucking out all our energy.

Munielgappa sir took us to a bear cave which was some 30 meters long. Without a torch it was difficult to navigate inside. Initial plan of having breakfast inside the cave was shelved as it was pitch dark. We climbed up those huge boulders on top of the cave and then settled in for a yummy refreshing breakfast with a beautiful view of the range in the west. Bottles and bottles of water and juice ran through our food pipes which hardly helped us beat the heat.

Gathering our things we started climbing up the hill. It took about some 30 minutes for us to reach as we were already at the base where we had our breakfast. Once we reached on top of the hill, we went around looking at places and recalled our camp days. We had spent a night here when it rained like hell, which we will never fail to forget. The top of Ragihalli betta gives you a 360 degree view of the entire range if you walk around a little. The entire BNP can be seen. A while later we descended towards Ragihalli village which falls on the North East side of the hill. It was an easy walk as it was a bridal path. An hour later we hit the road before the village. People in one car and a tractor were kind enough to drop us till Bannerghatta circle which was around 8 kms away from where we happened to walk back to the farm house. The water melon pieces were damn relishing as they quenched our thirst finally. It was time to return and we started heading back.

Getting there: Bannerghatta National park is around 30 kms away from Bangalore city with very good bus services. Prior permission taken with the concerned authorities would be helpful during.

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/RagihalliBettaGkl#

Ooty & Gopalaswamy betta trek

Ooty is a place I always wanted to visit from a long time. I heard from my parents that we all had been there when we were kids, which I fail to recall. I had heard a lot about ooty and the ever beautiful botanical garden. Thanks to the people at Nataraja gurukula, they asked us to come along for a recce near their campus in Kalhatti which is 18 kms away from the ooty town. 11 of us in total made up the team and not to forget Drona-Mala maam’s pet. Four of us-Shankar, Muneilgappa sir, Mala maam with Drona and myself in my truck started a day early while the  rest of the team traveled by bus that night. Friday morning we hit Mysore road and headed towards Ooty via Bandipur and Mudumalai range. It was noon time, so we hardly had any surprises, we didn’t spot any animals. 

Driving on the ghat section was just amazing. We took the short route uphill as the gurukula campus is located near the 9^th hair pin bend. The route is so steep, the vehicle's engine was crying to pull us up. But the curves were so tempting to drive again and again. Sadly the route happened to be a very short one, probably a distance of 8 kms and then we were there at the 9^th hair pin bend. Even though the sun was burning our skins, the cool breeze chose to give us some reprieve. The weather was as good as Bangalore's, very pleasant. Evening we happened to visit Raman's house at Akoni village, the care taker of Kalhatti campus. An evening walk was much desired, so Raman took us around on a jeep track. A lot of elephant dung was seen through out, we were just hoping to spot a few wild elephants. Instead we saw Bisons, that too huge ones. We mistook them for elephants; forgive the distance they were at. Munielgappa sir confirmed to me that they were bisons. Curse our luck, I didn't carry my telephoto lens, and he didn't carry the binoculars. We never expected to spot wild animals as it was just an evening walk in the country side but returned in disappointment. We retired for the night in a tent which kept us warm in the night.

Saturday early morning I happened to go to thalaikunda to pick up the rest of the team coming by bus. I happily stood near the check post waiting. Ooty showed me that it is no way like Bangalore. It was so damn cold, I was literally freezing standing in open. The bus came down and we all headed to the campus. We went for a stroll to Krishna Kumar's estate which is close by. En-route we crossed kalhatti water falls. Its summer so we got very little water to see, or rather very insignificant. We Proceeded further to Krishna Kumar estate where we happened to go around the vast estate which is beautifully maintained. Apparently he does allow people to camp in his estate. A few of them went up the hill to check out possible recce routes. They saw a huge water fall on the face of a hill which was quiet far off. The name which we came to know by the locals as Sollur water falls. Planning was done to start off at day break as we didn't know the terrain, the route, possible time taken, possible threats by wild animals and various other factors. Come what may we thought of returning to Gurukula even if we had to navigate in the night. I was carrying my GPS just in case if we got lost so that we could track back our route.

Early morning we all got ready and 10 of us were all set to leave for a recce to Sollur water falls. As we had no plans of spending the night in the jungle, few of us carried rucksacks with water, food and some warm clothing. At day break we set foot and hit the jeep track which would take us to one of the hill tops from where we would start off into the jungle. The warm up was good enough on the track. Once we were on top of the hill, the planning of the route was to be made. We had to cross a valley, get on to a ridge of a hill and yet again get into the valley of the water fall from where we had to climb up along the valley to reach the Sollur water falls. Distance wasn't easy to gauge cause of the hilly region. We already had covered 2.5 kms. Munielgappa sir and Vivek took the lead. The forest resembled a bed of thorny shrubs. No where could we find a foot trail, but the wild animals had made a lot of paths criss crossing. This helped us in getting down into the valley. Yet again we found a lot of elephant and bison dung. We were only hoping that we could spot a few. The training at the obstacle course came handy for all of us. Sometimes, duck walking, sometimes crawling, crossing the twigs, using creepers as ropes to swing across. Most of all, it was our rucksacks which came in handy. They were used as shields to get through the thorny bushes. Huge boulders and wonderful rock faces were found at different locations suitable for climbing and rappelling. I wish we could do it soon.

Since it was summer, we could cross some of the dried or semi-dried streams easily. At places, we had to struggle crossing through the black slush. You step on it and your foot goes down half feet under dirtying your boots. Very few open places were found from where we could figure out the direction we are heading and the direction we were supposed to go. Continuing further we happened to go down and reached the first valley. Close to 2 hours were spent in getting down this slope which meant we were slow, blame it on the thorny shrubs.

On the first ridge, we traversed to reach the end. Once we were there, we could spot the water fall. Our eyes were delighted to see the first glimpse. The height of the water fall was very evident cause we were still at a great distance away but could still spot the splendid view. It was close to 9:30 AM and we hadn't eaten anything as yet. Breakfast packets were out. Bread, jam, cheese, paratas, pooris, eggs, ooty apples, oranges, dry fruits, tetra pack fruit drinks, butter milk packs. It was like we were having a party up there. Our hike started again, we had to reach the other side of the ridge which was easy cause of the grassy patch. Then we descended to the valley. The sound of water gushing in the stream was heard. The first encounter with the stream was good, but slightly disappointed me due to the colour of the water, it was muddy. Criss crossing the stream was the only option many a times as we could not climb out of the valley. At times we had to climb many boulders which were located in between the streams, our rock climbing techniques helped us here. The right side of the stream had the same thorny shrubs, thus we stuck to the left side to climb up instead.

 En-route we saw many small water falls which was indeed a spectacular vision. At times some of the water falls which were of a good height were very deceiving to our eyes, wondering if it was the Sollur water falls but each time we had some more distance to go. We continued climbing and then we spotted a huge water fall hidden behind trees. Only when we reached near the falls we were able to see the height at which the water was falling. It was easily more than 150 feet high. Without a second thought all of us got into the water. The force and pressure at which water was falling was like falling rocks. It was like a good massage which refreshed us. Later we proceeded to have lunch and then we split up into 3 teams to go back. The reason was to find out other possible easy routes.

Alpha team which included Momili mam, Prarthana, Shoba and shankar went up the hill to reach the top of the hill, from where they were supposed to head towards Sollur village and then to gurukula. The Bravo team included Munielgappa sir, Abhishek and Vivek who were to descend down the hill along left side of the stream. The Charlie team included Sam, Rupendra and then me who were supposed to descend along the right side of the stream. Bravo and Charlie were to rendezvous down the hill in an open valley and then proceed towards road head to reach Gurukula.

We had no time to spare as we had to reach Gurukula before night fall. We had torches for navigating in the night, but we never carried warm clothes, tents and sleeping bags to stay over night. Exchanging greetings we all split up into teams and then proceeded in the decided directions. Since we were split up, I would give you details only about the Charlie team and try to fill in some details of the Alpha and Bravo as well.

It was just a few minutes since we started our return journey and then we heard thunderstorms. It wasn't a good sign at all as we were walking in the path of the stream. Little water is enough to wet the normal rocks and make them slippery. Imagine our plight as we were walking on those smooth rock surfaces and to our dismay it started raining. There was zero grip. We were literally crawling many a times on all our fours which seldom helped. We could neither take the right or the left of the stream as we were in a deep valley. Sam and I decided to continue further down. Both of us were slipping almost every step. At one point I was almost going to fall 10 feet down from a boulder had the branch which I held snapped completely. Luckily I could hold myself and stay put. That is when we firmly decided to move out on the side of the stream as originally planned. We managed to make it to the right side of the stream and a while later found a foot trail along the grassy patch. We took that route to walk down hill.

Bravo team also decided to cross the stream and then move on to the right side of the stream as they could not proceed further as planned. We happened to meet much before descending the hill. Our rendezvous point changed mid way. Both the teams ran down the hill and made it to the valley in time, thanks to the open grasslands. Yet another stream was crossed and then we started climbing the hill opposite to us. A while later we were on the road at the 33^rd hair pin bend much before the night fall. Almost 6 more kilometers uphill was left. None of us had the patience to climb that distance. A passing truck filled with a touring team was flagged down who agreed to drop us to our destination. Through out, they were singing and dancing. Abhisek, Sam and Vivek too joined them and rejoiced. It was a perfect ending of a day long trek. The route taken by Alpha team was considered to be the easiest as they approached the Sollur village and then returned to gurukula avoiding all the thorny bushes.

On day 5 we left for Gopalaswamy betta at noon. Once we crossed the ghat section and entered the Mudumalai forest range, it greeted us with heavy downpour. Driving in such heavy rain was simply superb. I couldn't enjoy it for long as the heavy rains were concentrated in a small area and we were moving away. But the pleasant weather made us feel good. A few peacocks and deer were spotted en-route. While ascending the Gopalaswamy betta, we happened to spot an elephant family far away. We could see two huge elephants and two babies walking. Thanks to Munielgappa sir for spotting them. Mala mam knew the peishkar of the temple on top. He was kind enough to accommodate us for the night and arranged for dinner. We could feel the chill weather literally here even though it was supposed to be summer.

Early morning, Munielgappa sir, Shankar and I went for a morning walk along with Drona. We spotted a lot of deer gazing very close to the temple. Looking at Drona, the deer were wondering what kind of a strange animal it was which was never seen around before. He in fact helped us to have a better look at them as the deer stood staring at him out of curiousity. We kept moving from one hill top to the other looking for some more wild animals. We reached the top of a hill from where we couldn't move further as there was a vast valley ahead. The forest area stretched that far till our eyes could cover them. It was too tempting for a trek in that forest. But since we had no permission from the Forest Dept. we chose to return. A few more wild buffaloes were seen. We returned to the temple and then headed back home.

For more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/OotyGopalaswamyBetta20090320

Green route trek

If you are a trekker based in BLR, am sure you would have heard about this particular stretch. Every trekker desires to walk on this path, or rather the railway track. The stretch stands to its name “Green route”. Forgive the sun and the gravel on the track; you would enjoy every step of it. There is so much info on the web regarding the stretch that, if one were to compile them, a fat book can be made out of it. We happened to choose the 3 day weekend to trek this track, unfortunately I didn’t foresee that we would have company. There were more teams on the track than the trains which run on this stretch. We were lucky enough to have had all decent teams.

My home was the rendezvous point. Abhishek, Anirudh, Arun, Pramod, Shankar and myself were the team. Our journey began from the Bus stand. The bus journey is worth remembering till Sakaleshpura. The windows of the bus simply weren’t cooperating with us. They had more fun making us shiver in the cold weather. As we were thanking the Almighty for helping us reach the destination early, we had some surprise in store. We got down in the bus station. A few seconds later, the surprise became more evident, the chill weather gave us a nice hug. Quickly we had a glass of hot tea which warmed our body to some extent. We flagged down a bus which took us to Donigal village which is around 10 kms . A road side hotel employee gave us the directions to the track. We walked down 2 more kms on the highway to reach the Donigal station situated on the right side of the road.

The first sight of the track charged up our minds. The Donigal station hosted us breakfast (mind you, it was carried by us). In the mean time, two more teams arrived in the station. We started our walk. The initial walk of close to 2 kms wasn’t exciting as we always found ourselves in a sort of a valley with the hills covered on both sides.

Spotting the first tunnel excited us. Quickly we all got into shooting mode with our cameras out. The length of the tunnels varies from 50 meters to some 700 and odd meters. Some straight, some curved, some stinking. We spotted a lot of gang men who were working on the railway track. Many of whom were surprised or rather puzzled on our appearance with heavy rucksacks.

A worker did ask why we do this, our team got into education mode and enlightened him with the trekking gyaan. Throughout our walk we saw many birds of varied sizes and colour. Capturing them on the frame was a challenging task as they constantly moved from one place to the other. The sounds made by the birds were pleasant to hear which created a good atmosphere.

In the midst of all this we realized that we were walking at a speed of 3 kms per hour. The speed was too low; blame it on the rubble on the track. It wasn’t easy walking on the track, so we managed to maintain half the normal speed. After a walk of 17 kms, we happened to see the yedakumari station. Finally we were at our first day’s target. Every soul was hungry as it was well past 3PM. Quickly we had our lunch and took a nap. When we got up we saw the crowd of the size of Cantonment station, thanks to the 3 day weekend. It seemed to me that every trekker of BLR was here. The whole evening was left for us to relax.

The day 2 started by preparing hot tea and noodles for breakfast. It was yummy, thanks to Pramod, Shankar and Abhishek who cooked. We set out for the second leg of the trek. Our target was much the same. 18 kms to reach Shiribagilu station. Many more bridges and tunnels greeted us every now and then. Some tunnels were pitch dark, without a torch it was impossible to move around. Birds number was higher than yesterday. We happened to take many pics of them.

While crossing the longest bridge, a spectacular scene of the landscape was in waiting. I spent a few minutes admiring the beauty of the nature. Anirudh and myself were lagging behind as we were busy capturing the birds in our cameras, surprisingly none of the other team members complained. Thanks to their co-operation. We did a lot of photo shoots en-route, while doing so we realized that we were slower than yesterday. We were covering 2 kms an hour. None of us were in a hurry as we had decided to halt in Shiribagilu. We took our own sweet time. We were the only team which halted here.

The night sky was very clear. We decided to sleep in the open and do some star gazing. The other team members were trying to figure out which constellation they belong to of which I had no clue. A long night passed by. It was very warm than yedakumari as this station’s Mean Sea Level (MSL) is much lower.

Day 3 was the Republic Day. Believe me, this Republic Day would be remembered for long. We hoisted the Flag in the station. I mean, who would get an opportunity to do that. The staff brought the Flag, the pole was ready, We prepared the Flag for hoisting and requested the station master to do so. The labourers were keen to see the hoisting. The staff distributed chocolates and then we thanked them all. We started our descent to the road on a jeep track which was around an hours walk. All of us were delighted to trek on normal ground. The two day’s walk on the track was indeed a pain in the heels. By early noon we were down. A tea stall on the road side near the exit of the jeep track tempted us to visit. Surprisingly we found a yellow coloured tender coconut. When asked about it, the vendor called it “Ganga Yelneeru”. He said they are grown in the Mangalore region. The water was very sweet. Each of us had two. We boarded a bus to head towards the river near Subramanya. The bath was very refreshing though the water was cold. The rest of the day we spent loitering around the temple town and boarded our bus in the night for our return journey.

Note: Most of the blogs say that there are missing planks on the bridges and it is quiet dangerous to walk on them. We never found any missing planks as all the bridges had metal sheets in the middle which assist you in walking. The concrete slabs which hold the rails do hurt when you walk on it for a long time. Make sure that your shoes are intact, as they are put to high end test (mine almost gave up). We saw a few teams who didn’t carry any food along with them. Remember that there is no source of food anywhere nearby. Two day meals have to be carried along.

Click on the link below for more pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/YedakumeriTrackTrek20090124#

Kudremukha

I wasnt sure until I got a call from Kiran and Prasanna on friday night. We were still contemplating whether to go to Kudremukha or Yercaud. We decided Kudremukha. We hit the road on Saturday early morning at 4. The drive was simply superb throughout barring a few patches which were littered with potholes. Our friend Raj helped us in getting the accomodation at the Government guest house. They were very hospitable.

We had just 2 places to see. Lakya dam - this was built to store the residue of the ore post processing. It resembles a dam but is filled with sand and it runs to several miles criss cross. It is indeed a sight to watch. Unfortunately we werent allowed to take photographs. Ironically the guard said there was a film shoot a month back. If that is the case, then why not allow photography for people like us. Strange rules I’ll tell you. The view from this dam is breath taking. It's a valley completely surrounded by hill ranges. Simply put, it resembled a bowl.

The other place to look out is Hanumanagundi falls which is 17 kms from the town. The gates are open from 0900 to 1600 hrs. We decided we will hit that place first thing in the morning. This route also takes you to Dharmastala. More and more green was a sight to watch. The roads were quiet and the surroundings were calm. We stopped to relax and take a few shots.

Since we hardly found anything to shoot, we made it an outdoor shooting camp…our model was ready, location was ready, cameras were ready(Kiran and mine). Prasanna never gets tired posing for photographs. It was one of a kind of an experience. Probably we can do more of these, of course if people are willing to get their portfolios done.

We reached the entrance of the waterfall. When you are looking for a spectacular waterfall, you simply cant expect it on the road side, right? We had to get down close to 300 steps and then there it was.

The height of the waterfall was barely 25 metres, but it had its own beauty. I was just imagining how it would be in monsoon. We spent a couple of hours near the waterfall doing some more photo shoots. By early noon we saw a big gang of college students engulfing the waterfall from all sides. Looking at each other we all knew what each of us had to say. Move out. Slowly we climbed up those 300 steps and then we started our return journey.