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.

Brahmagiri

Several attempts over a period of 6 months turned to be fruitful as we were able to secure the permission from the Forest Department for a trek to Brahmagiri, a peak located in South western part of the Coorg District, Karnataka. A maximum of two teams are allowed over a weekend.

The team consisted of seven members. Anirudh, Narayan, Pramod, Rajesh, Shankar, Sandeep and myself. There were no beginners in the team as all had some sort of trekking experience.

A huge amount had to be forked out to the Forest Dept. for gaining entry into the forest. We were charged entry, trekking, accommodation, guide, maintenance fees and what not. The Office is located in Srimangala town. The starting point of the trek is Irupu falls which is 12 kms away. A decision to walk was made instead of wasting time waiting for the bus. An hour and a half later we were in the forest Dept. check post near Irupu falls. We were forced to wait for more than an hour by the guide who said another team has to come. Finally we were able to convince him and started our walk without the other team.

The weather which plays a vital role in case of treks was very cooperative. It was cloudy throughout the day and pleasant. Our first stop was Narimalai Forest Guest House after a two and a half hour walk from Irupu Falls. We found no surprises enroute though the Dept. officials said we would find a lot of elephants. We had actually planned to go to Munikal caves and Narimalai hills on Day 1 and head to Brahmagiri on Day 2. The guide insisted on heading to Brahmagiri peak on Day 1. So, we had little option. We quickly finished our lunch in the Guest house which was carried by us. The rucksacks were dumped in the Guest House and we proceeded towards the peak which takes two hours.

I was the last person walking. The guide who was leading the team suddenly started running back. I was a little confused as I didn’t realize what was happening. We heard movements in the valley which was on our right. There were elephants. The trees obstructed the view of the elephants. We were all ready to run just in case the elephants decide to turn nasty. Luckily they all moved away from us. Unluckily we were not able to spot them clearly. The team proceeded further towards the peak. The peak was visible from a distance. It looked like a normal one. It was indeed deceiving. The last leg was very steep, almost at an angle of 75 to 80 degrees. The climb was extra strenuous. Once we reached the top, as usual it was heaven. A never ending range of forests could be seen from the top in all directions. Another significance of the Brahmagiri peak is that one side of it falls in Karnataka territory and the other side falls into Kerala territory. The boundary lines of the two states are clearly visible even from a long distance.

While we were heading back in the same route which we took, a herd of elephants were spotted in the same valley where we failed to see. Quickly a few photo shoots were made and then silently we took a deviation from the original route to the guest house. A few hundred meters later a solo elephant was spotted which was standing in the open grasslands.

Another deviation was inevitable. A ten minute walk would have taken us to the guest house. But, we ended up walking three times the distance. Visibility was reducing every minute due to the formation of mist. Finally we made it to the guest house. The other team had reached the Guest house by then. They never made to the peak. Had we waited for them, we would also have missed it for sure. We barely slept in the night as it was very cold.

Day 2 morning, Munikal caves was the first spot we visited. The lazy guides decided to take both the teams together which none of our team members liked. Spotting wild life was next to impossible because of the constant noise made by the other team. An hour’s walk later we reached the caves. The place is littered with a lot of huge boulders. Nowhere else will you find so many boulders. It’s a wonder as to how they were formed and accumulated in just one place. Locals believe that one Muni resided in these caves and that is how it earned its name. Muni(saint), kal (rock). The Muni had built a small house for himself in those caves, of course abandoned now.

We headed towards the Forest Guest house and then proceeded towards Narimalai Hills. The guide asked us to go on our own. We started our approach to Narimalai. It took a little over 45 minutes to reach the top. From the peak we could almost see the entire Brahmagiri range. It was almost in the centre and in an equally elevated position. Never ending grasslands on the hill locks was a good sight with patches of trees in the valleys. A water fall near the Guest house was visible from the peak which was inaccessible. In a land of green a white line in a corner was making all the difference.

As soon as we made it to the Guest house, we requested the guide that we would start heading down to Irupu Falls which was our start point. Packing was done quickly and then the return journey was initiated. A silent walk down the hills took us to the Shola forests. A not so dense forest but of course infested with leaches. The rain on the previous day’s night woke up all the sleeping little creatures (leaches). They were higher in number comparatively than on Day 1.

The guide was leading the team, behind him was Shankar and myself. The rest of the team was trailing behind a little. A constant pace was maintained while going down hill. I was in my own world following the guide and Shankar. Suddenly all hell broke lose. The guide pushed us and started running back, Shankar followed him behind. It took a while for me to understand what was happening. I never had time to have a second thought. I just ran backwards following them. I almost missed my step twice but managed to stand firm and ran a good 200 meters. We were literally gasping for breath. I checked with the guide and Shankar what happened. Shankar said they saw an elephant barely 20 meters in front of us heading in our direction. We had almost bumped into a herd of elephants. A few minutes later, the guide headed towards the direction of the elephants slowly. He couldn’t spot them anywhere. It is very risky to move ahead without the knowledge of the direction taken by the elephants. If they lose their mind and decide to chase to have some fun, we would end up being footballs for them to play around. The guide started shouting, yelling, clapping and making all possible noises to alert the elephants, so that they wouldn’t come near us. After a while he decided to move ahead and then asked us to follow. For almost 1000 meters through out we saw fresh Elephant dung which indicated that it was indeed a big herd. It was a lucky day for not having chased by the elephants. Had we been chased by them, no wonder it would have been a different story altogether.

As if that wasn’t enough. We had reached the checkpost near Irupu falls. There is a bus stop at a distance of 700 metres uphill from this place. We were relaxing and had ordered food in a small hotel when we heard the bus coming. We were forced to run again for that distance. The driver simply wouldn’t wait. He was accelerating and moving ahead even though he saw us running towards the bus. Finally we all made it to the bus, thanks to Narayan and Sandeep who ran fast enough to a distance from where the driver could here their yelling. Had we missed the bus we would have left with no option but to walk another 12 kms to Srimangala.

It is a combination of the right ingredients which makes the dish tasty. A different experience altogether. The main reason I would say that the team was very lively and cooperative.

Details:

For Permission:

1. Contact the Range Forest Officer, Srimangala Wildlife Range at 08274-246331 a good 15 days in advance for booking.

2. Contact Pramod who works for the forest Dept. at 9448813835.

Reaching there:

From Bangalore head to GoniKoppulu (Coorg District) 5 hours journey. KSRTC bus reservations can be made.

From Gonikoppulu a lot of buses take you to Srimangala – 1 hour journey.

Srimangala to Irupu Falls – buses available with very less frequency.

Returning from Irupu Falls

Last bus from Irupu falls to srimangala – 1530 hrs (This bus takes you to Gonikoppulu as well)

Last bus from Srimangala to Gonikoppulu – 1815 hrs

For more pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/Brahmagiri20081122#

Kumara Parvatha alias Pushapagiri

“Have you been To Kumara Parvatha?” was the usual question I was asked when ever I spoke about my treks. It was a pain to say “no, not yet”. But now I can boast that I too have been to KP. It was an urge from a long time. The team had four members. My trek buddy Anirudh, his friend Pruthvi who has been to a few treks and Shashi who is also his friend who happens to be a first timer.Anirudh took the trouble to find out the possible routes and finalize the plan. My intentions were to go completely unprepared so that I could enjoy to the fullest. 

There are two possible routes.1. From Kukke Subramanya(Kind of well connected from Bangalore). This is a circuitous route and it would take a longer while than the second route.2. From Hegde Mane side (A village 25 kms away from Somwarpet). This village is not well connected, infact hardly. There are 2 bus services one in the morning and one in the late noon from Somwarpet.We normally choose the route which is either tough or a long one. Naturally route 1 happened to be our choice. We reached Kukke at 0500 hrs. After that we freshened up in the bus terminal and we proceeded towards the temple. There were 2 hotels dead opposite to each other. A debate started as to which one would be better. Upon deciding, we moved in to have our breakfast. Breakfast at 530 in the morning! Which hotel would have prepared it so early? We ended up having idli in one hotel and vada in the other. The idea of visiting the temple had to be dropped as we didn’t want to spend much time here.

Without wasting a minute we started our ascent. Oh! By the way the trek starts immediately from the front of the temple. A perpendicular road (towards Anuradha lodge) from the Main road leads you to the foot trail. We almost walked close to a kilometer on asphalted road to reach the trail. The forest Department has been kind enough to erect a board which gives you directions to the foot trail. The canopy starts right from there. We had just done a100 meters and we had a few leaches on our legs already. Quickly we all poured loads of salt into our shoes and socks so that our legs would be spared by the leaches. The ascent was very strenuous. For the record we started our ascent at around 340 feet altitude. The peak has an altitude of 5615 feet. So, one can imagine how it would be to gain a height of 5300 feet in a few hours.

None of us were in a good shape. All of us had one thing in mind, we used to feel so nice to see a flat patch where there was no climbing. While we were dragging our feet and climbing up, a local happened to pass by. We quickly checked with him, how far the Battara mane was(that’s the second check point)? He said a 60 or 90 minute walk. “Then what about the water point?” one of us asked him. He said take a right here. We met him exactly at the junction where one had to take a deviation to go to the 1st check point Bhimana Kallu(water point)(remember to return back to the same junction to proceed to the next checkpoint). The water was so refreshing. It was cold and tasted good, probably very rich in minerals. We took a break for a while.Our assault began again of course after removing those tiny creatures on our legs(leaches). It had rained 3 days ago, so we were spared by the nature with less leaches around. “How far?” was the usual question which was raised every now and then. We had walked for more than 2 hours but the Battara mane was no where in sight. We finished the forest patch and entered the grasslands. The sun’s smile lasted forever looking us sweat. It was so hot. We walked for some more distance and then we spotted the plantations of Areka nut. 

Pruthvi was smart enough to guess that was the house. We made it at 1030. We checked with the house owner for lunch. He said he would prepare it by 1200. We had a very good time advantage, wasting more than 2 hours over here would not make any sense. We decided to have the packed food which we had carried. Anirudh requested for some butter milk. The person was very glad enough to give us. He also was kind enough to give us tobacco powder which we could use to stop the leaches from getting on our legs. We thanked him for hosting us and continued our journey upwards.After walking for a while we reached our 3rd Checkpoint, which was the Forest checkpost. Jairaj was the officer who was on duty. He charged Rs. 115/- as entry and trekking fee per head. 

Mind you, cameras cost extra. We had to pay. He showed a map which had the route marked and gave us some directions. There was no cover anywhere as we were walking on grasslands. Our next checkpoint was a Rock Mantap which is also a water point(checkpoint 4). The Forest dept has created an artificial water collection point here. Proceeding further from here, we took a long time to reach sheshaparvatha which was checkpoint 5. Enroute we found some directions written on a rock by the dept. I was shocked when I read it. It said “Bypass to Hegde mane(take left)”. Who on earth would make a bypass on a foot trail? Though it struck me late, I realized that it was for the locals. 

The Dept has marked the entire route. Every 100 meters you would find a red or a yellow marking showing directions. A good trekker would not lose his way.Clouds had begun to take their position which was not a good sign. 

We had one last patch of forest land to cross to reach the top of KP. The guard had warned us to look out for more leaches here. Stopping in this patch would be a suicide. We all decided to finish the stretch at one go.I took the lead. The environ here was entirely different. I had never seen such a forest patch. It was lush green everywhere. All the trees had the green fungus on their trunks which gave an entirely different look. The rocks had almost turned green. After a long walk we finally reached on top. The temperature dropped suddenly once we reached the south side of the hill. The wind speed was mild. We couldn’t find any flat patch on the west or the north side. We decided to pitch the tent on the south side which was a grave mistake.

Without wasting any time we started unpacking the tent and pitching it. There were all signs of rain. Time was short and it was getting dark as well. We finished pitching the tent just in time. Our packed food was out and we started to have our dinner at 7PM. Then the inevitable happened. It started raining. It rained and rained. We could feel the rain hit the tent as the roof was touching our head. The chill sent a shiver down the back bone. Sleep is a luxury when it rains like that. I was more worried about the tent giving away. If the roof falls we would not have good ventilation inside. Finally the rains stopped by 1:30AM. None of us slept till then. We thought we could sleep well now. But our beloved Mother Nature had something else in store for us. The wind speed gradually increased. It went upto almost 60 to 70KMPH(that’s my guess). They were blowing from South and South West. We had our tent exactly in that path. We were hardly spared. It blew non stop through out the night. Our souls were dead tired, one by one we stopped bothering about the tent and dozed off.

Early morning the wind hadn’t slowed down yet. It was very misty and cold. Visibility was barely 15 metres. Unpitching the tent took a while. We bid good bye to KP and started our descent. Since we had seen the route 1 from Kukke, we had decided to get down from the other route. So, we headed towards Hegde Mane. To go to hedge mane one has to reach a junction which is around 500 meters from the top in the north direction. The Northwest route takes you to Kukke from where we had come. The Northeast takes you to Hegde Mane. The forest patch had to be crossed. We applied tobacco and salt powder on our legs and shoes and started our descent. The fresh air from the woods makes you feel so good. We had to cross atleast 2 long rock patches.
As it had rained in the night, the ground was wet and very slippery. We had to move very slowly.I heard some growling sound faintly. It was too low to make out anything. The sound became more and more loud as we descended. It was easy to make out that it was 2 bears which were growling. We were dead silent and moved very slowly. Wild life is good in photographs but not at all good when you have a 10 kilo weight on your back. We were contemplating whether to move ahead or stay for a while. Wasting time wasn’t a good idea as we had an early bus to catch. We decided to talk loudly which would distract the bears and they would go away from us. We were talking with loud speakers on, that is how it sounded. After crossing a distance we could no more hear the bears. We relaxed a bit.

We spotted another team of four which was climbing up. We greeted each other and we proceeded towards the checkpoint. We took a break here. Anirudh sensed a movement in his shoes. On removing them he found some 5 or 6 leaches which had sucked a good amount of blood. We all had leach bites. We met Lala Prasad who hosts the trekkers in Hegde Mane in the checkpost itself. He took us to his home in a shortcut. We freshened up. A hot water bath is so relaxing. He served us delicious food which we relished. From there we proceeded to a junction where we had to catch the evening bus at 330PM which is the last one for the day. We had made no reservations, so we had to change almost 4 buses to reach Bangalore.

Route:

From Kukke –

Trail Starting point - N12 39.610 E75 37.277 486ft

1. Checkpoint 1 – Bhimanakallu(Water Point) N12 39.638 E75 38.259 1495ft

2. Checkpoint 2 – BattaraMane N12 40.157 E75 39.141 2751ft

3. Checkpoint 3 – Forest Checkpost N12 40.123 E75 39.258 2800ft

4. Checkpoint 4 – Rock Mantap(Water Point) N12 39.815 E75 40.132 3937ft

5. Checkpoint 5 – Seshcparvatha N12 39.896 E75 40.738 5165ft

6. Checkpoint 6 – Kumara Parvatha N12 39.684 E75 41.192 5590ft

Descending to Hegde mane village

1. Junction to take deviation to the route N12 39.782 E75 41.098 5416ft

2. Bypass Junction N12 40.093 E75 40.982 4681ft

3. Checkpost N12 39.669 E75 42.285 3564ft

4. Hegde Mane Village N12 39.963 E75 42.683 3181ft

Note: Altitude may not be accurate

Last bus from Hegde Mane village is at 330PM.

More Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/KumaraParvatha20081018#

Magod and Satoddi Falls 20080913

I had an opportunity to visit the Satoddi falls again. Previously i had visited in the month of March. Now that its monsoon, I was wondering to what level the water would have reached. The plan was to cover Satoddi Falls (already visited), Magod Falls and Hemavathi Backwaters.

This was an organized trek, so everything was planned unlike what we do normally. Magod Falls in Yellapura Taluk, Karnataka was the first stop. The water falls from a height of 650 feet. I was wondering how it would look like when the water falls from such a height. It indeed bet my expectation. If you happen to somehow try to reach the bottom of the waterfall, I am sure you would not survive at the immense force and pressure with which the water hits your body. Thanks to the Government, they had already taken preventive measures so that no one could reach the waterfall base.

Due to heavy rains the water had turned brown in colour which clearly exhibits the soil erosion.

Once we were done with that we headed towards Hemavathi backwaters. The actual start was about to begin.

We walked a kilometer to reach the backwaters. We were advised a raft would be available for us to cross the river. I had my own imagination of a raft. I was under the impression that the raft would resemble more or less a shape of a boat. But to my surprise, there was a wooden plank of a size of 5 by 20 feet with no supporting edges. How do you move it? Well, a huge loop was created with a rope with both ends tied to the either sides of the raft and then the rope was looped around two bike wheels which was placed on either river banks. A simple technique but of much use. Just pull the rope and the raft moves. It was an amazing experience.

Normally you don’t get to do this in all places. We later learnt that a hefty amount was spent by the localites to build this raft for their commute.

We were 13 in number. All of them got onto the raft, we realized it was submerged half feet under water. Considering it to be unsafe we decided to do two trips. The distance being more than 200 metres, we naturally took time to reach the other side. Then we started our approach which was a little over 5 kms. The walk in the forest was simply beautiful. The rain though wasn’t continuous was playing around with us with short frequent spells. Naturally we were digging for Jackets and umbrellas in our bags everytime it rained.

A few of our companions were first timers. They had an opportunity to trek with torches in the night as we took time to reach our destination for the stay. Our host served us hot dinner which we relished.

Soon after breakfast the next day morning we started our return march. It was no different than the previous day. The rains kept haunting us through out. Once we reached the road, our transport was waiting to take us to satoddi falls.

I was taken for a complete surprise when I saw the river which had swelled so much compared to the March levels.

In March we had a very good time at the base of the water fall. But now, the chances of reaching the base was very bleak. The boulders on which we walked to reach the base was completely submerged. The current of the water flow was very high so we spent some time in the water near the banks.

Best time to visit Satoddi falls would be summer, if you want to enjoy in the water, as the water flow would be manageable and more importantly it would allow you to reach the base of the water fall. That’s the prize of visiting the place.

A Small request - Please do not litter the forests or roads. Be kind to the forests.

More Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/MagodNSatoddiFalls20080913Pb#

Kodaikanal 20080815

It was time for another monsoon Trek, and we decided to head towards Tamil Nadu. The obvious location was Kodai Kanal. Initially when we were trying to find out the details of the possible trek routes, we realized there were 17 listed by the Department of Forests. Deciding the route to be taken was indeed a tough task.

Since we were spending 3 days in the region, we decided to head towards Perumar Malai which is the highest peak in the region. To climb this peak one needs to get down in the town Perumar Malai which is around 20 kms before reaching Kodai Kanal if you are heading from Dindigul. Immediately after alighting we quickly asked a localite about the terrain and the route to be taken.

A pukka road (jeep track) exists which heads for almost 2 kms uphill, then the Bridal path of the size of a jeep track continues further. This track has been rarely used by any vehicle. We found all kinds of weeds grown on the track and fallen trees blocking the path. Of course, for a trekker these are no hurdles. One needs to make a way through these weed patches. The path continued till we were almost on the top of the peak. We reached the dead end, a quick search on the left side of the jeep track revealed a hidden trail made of rocks which took us further up. Continuing for a while we felt that we are lost. No worries. We just headed straight uphill making our own way and reached the top. The upward journey took around 2 ½ hours since the distance travelled was 8 kms. It is an ideal place to camp on the top but since we trekked for a short while, we decided to descend. The descent took 2 hours. In the town we visited a small hotel named Hotel Johnson. The owner was kind enough to accommodate us for the night.

Day 2 morning, we headed to Kodai Kanal in a truck for a change. The Driver took us to the District Forest Office. Reaching the place we realized that we were too early. The office opens after 1030hrs. Once the office opened, the ACF told us that no permits were being given for the day to go to Berijam lake but we managed to get it for the next day. We quickly decided to reverse the route which we had actually planned for.

We headed towards Pumbarai by bus from Kodai Kanal. Alighting at this town we started our trek to Kukkal. Unfortunately the information which we had was more than 2 years old. We were told that it was a jeep track (kuchcha road). To our surprise we saw well tarred roads. Thanks to the Development in Tamil Nadu. Even though we were slightly disappointed, we moved on. The place is completely inhabited by people. Enroute to Kukkal you will find step cultivation every where. Potato, carrot and onion farms are a common sight. Upon reaching Kukkal, we had to look out for accommodation. Vinayagar, a localite was more than willing to offer us the accommodation. He indeed took us around the village showing us some worth seeing locations.

Day 3, We headed towards Berijam Lake. We had to again follow the road as there was no trail to the lake from Kukkal.

Mavanur is the village which we had to cross before reaching the lake.

While trekking this path we saw a few bison’s. While we were trying to take the pics, I realized that one of the bison’s was staring at me. Without uttering a word I just started heading ahead signaling my team that we should keep moving. You wouldn’t want a Bison chasing your back right. We reached the village Mavanur and then we proceeded towards Berijam lake intersection. We saw 2 forest guards. We informed them about the permit we had and enquired about the usual time taken to reach the lake and to return by foot. We realized we were short of time since we had a bus to catch from Kodai Kanal to Bangalore. So, we had to head back to Kodai kanal by boarding a bus from the intersection.

We were lucky enough to spot a few bison’s in this valley. Other than that we hardly had any surprises.

Getting a permit in this range would be indeed a challenging task. Intimating the DFO office, Kodai Kanal of your plans before hand would be advisable than walking in directly.

A small request – Please do not litter the forests or the roads. Be kind to the forests.