Date: Sometime in Nov, 06
Mission: Trek to Mullayanagiri the highest peak in Karnataka (~1912 mts) and BabaBudangiri in the Budangiri ranges in Chikmagalur.
Prologue: As said countless times before too much preparation will spoil the trek. For Mullayanagiri there was absolutely no preparation. One Thursday I got a scrap from G Raghuram asking whether I was interested for Mullayanagiri. An invitation to trek to the highest peak between Himalayas and Nilgiris cannot be turned down. So I hurriedly read some blogs about Mullayanagiri and was at KSRTC bus stand at 10 pm on Friday. No tickets were booked and we forgot the most important thing...........camera. Raghuram who had a digicam promptly left it at home thinking that others will bring theirs. Communication gap I must say ! We 4 of us (Me, Raghuram, Karthik and Suny) got into a express KSRTC bus to Chikamagalur. I hardly slept in that damn bus. It reached Chikamagalur at 4.30 am. We had our breakfast at the govt bus stand canteen and serviced our nature calls.
Day 1
Starting point of the trek is called Sarpadari which is ~15 kms from Chikmagalur. We had to take a bus towards Kemmangundi. It was 6 am now and the first bus was at 8 am. So we thought of hiring an auto. After much bargain one fellow agreed for Rs.120. We also bought monkey caps in front of bus stand without which I should say we couldn't have done the trek at all. 30 mins of journey with lush green tea estates and tropical forest on either side brought us to Sarpadari. A well trodden path snakes thru the mountain to reach the Mulaianagiri peak. The climate was damp and cloudy but it was not raining.
After 15 mins of hike we felt what people had written in blogs about Mullayanagiri....The wind. With visibility less t
han 10 mts the winds started hitting us with at all its power. Trees which were few in between were swaying madly. While hiking my legs hit a sharp stone somewhere and I had a small bleed. We didn't meet anyone on the way or rather who would do hiking in this weather ! We emptied some biscuits on the way. After sometime we were near the temple entrance. Here it was very windy. We were at the top at 8.15 am. We didn't go to the caves which was written in almost all blogs. So I should say it takes ~1.5 hrs if you are a medium trekker to reach Mullayanagiri from Sarpadari. From Sarpadari it is steep climb all the way and at one point you will get a 60 deg incline. The situation at the top was fantastic. Visibility was less than 10 mts and winds were hitting us at 40-50 km/hr I should say. The temperature must have been less than 10 deg. There is a priests house beside the temple and we had what tasted like coffee there. Karthik and Raghuram had tamarind rice the only available food there while me and Suny emptied some slices of bread we had carried. No comments as any nearest shop from that place must be atleast 15-20 kms and these people have to get everything from there. Raghuram took couple of snaps from his mobile which we received after 8 months ! We had removed our shoes to enter temple and while walking outside it was so cold that I thought our feet had become numb ! When we came there was already a group of 7 people (which included a German) from Blore and after we arrived another group of 10-12 people which included 2 girls arrived. The first group was headed towards BabaBudangiri which is 4-5 hrs trek from Mullayanagiri. After taking a nap in the temple we decided to go with them to BabaBudangiri.
We left Mullayanagiri at 10 am and soon after we left, the wind speed increased. I guess it were the rain clouds which were moving at that speed which also accounted for the poor visibility. Now we were moving along the mountain ridges. I had no idea about the depth on the either side as visibility was less than 10 mts. The group of 10-12 people who had left before us had halted as
one girl had twisted her ankle. We also met a group of children who were hiking to Mullayanagiri. They were moving in a chain by holding to a wooden pole. This must be due to the wind speed which could have carried any child with it to the abyss. Our progress was slow due to wind and poor visibility and we reached the tar road intersection at 12 pm. Here the clouds cleared a bit and we could see the awesome lush green valleys. This was the same road where we started at Sarpadari but at a later point. Here we had an option of walking along the road for ~10 kms or hiking along the mountain ridges for another 3-4 hrs to reach Bababudangiri. The group of 7 left to BabaBudangiri by hiking rather than walking on the road and we decided to do that too. We didn't have any idea about the path or direction and I should say it was a stupid decision as we didn't have any tents, food or sleeping accessories while they had.
20 mins after starting, the path disappeared. I guess this is not the path taken regularly. After another 10 mins we came across the trickiest part of the trek. We were on the ridge of the mountain and a big rock confronted us. We had to move on one side while holding to whatever was available for grip. Any slip would mean a free fall of ~1000 mts ! We somehow overcame this obstacle. After this another 30 mins of trek brought us to a small valley. Here everybody lost the plot. During clear skies a tower near Bababudangiri is visible which can be fixed as a target. Visibility was less than ~10 mts even at 1 pm, so we searched for any paths. We found one and walked by that for another hour. We crossed 3 to 4 mountains and then suddenly the obscure path came to a dead end ! We had taken the wrong path. It was 2 pm and it started raining. One guy amongst the group of 7 went ahead climbed a steep incline to search for paths. He came back perturbed telling us that it lead to a suicide point ! I suggested to go back to the road where we started at 12 pm. We had 3-4 hrs before sunset and we had trekked for 2.5 hrs. So we could reach the road by 5 pm. Tracing back an unclear path with poor visibility is no joke. It was a bit scary experience and I felt like lost in midst of an ocean. Even if there was a house or a road within 100 mts it was difficult to locate with that kind of visibility. Added to that without any sleeping accessories and food, sleeping in the night on these mountains with wind, rain and coldness meant a permanent sleep.
We traced back our path while the German in the group kept murmuring that we were taking the wrong path. I thought we were on the right tr
ack. After 45 mins we were back at the valley were we had taken the wrong path. Here we met the group of 10-12 who were searching for paths and had decided to take the one we took ! Now suddenly the clouds got cleared and we could see the road which runs in parallel to the mountains below at a distance of ~1km. We also saw the tower near BabaBudangiri for a brief period of time. But nobody wanted to take the risk of going to Bababudangiri with darkness soon approaching. So we decided to head towards the road. People took different paths as we didn't know the easiest way to the road. The mountain slope had loose rocks all over covered by grass. With many slips and falls we reached the road at 4.30 pm after passing through a tea estate. No treks can be done in the Western ghats particularly in Karnataka & Kerala without leech bites at this time of the year and Suny got one ! That was the end of the Mulianagiri trek and we were unlucky to miss BabaBudangiri.
A jeep gave us a lift to Chikmagalur. After having dinner there we took an express KSRTC bus from Chikmagalur at 9 pm and were in majestic by 3 am. I should say this was the best trek I have had and I'm waiting to do it again in similar weather but with a camera and reach Bababudangiri !
Cost per person: Rs 550 /-
Mission: Trek to Mullayanagiri the highest peak in Karnataka (~1912 mts) and BabaBudangiri in the Budangiri ranges in Chikmagalur.
Prologue: As said countless times before too much preparation will spoil the trek. For Mullayanagiri there was absolutely no preparation. One Thursday I got a scrap from G Raghuram asking whether I was interested for Mullayanagiri. An invitation to trek to the highest peak between Himalayas and Nilgiris cannot be turned down. So I hurriedly read some blogs about Mullayanagiri and was at KSRTC bus stand at 10 pm on Friday. No tickets were booked and we forgot the most important thing...........camera. Raghuram who had a digicam promptly left it at home thinking that others will bring theirs. Communication gap I must say ! We 4 of us (Me, Raghuram, Karthik and Suny) got into a express KSRTC bus to Chikamagalur. I hardly slept in that damn bus. It reached Chikamagalur at 4.30 am. We had our breakfast at the govt bus stand canteen and serviced our nature calls.
Day 1
Starting point of the trek is called Sarpadari which is ~15 kms from Chikmagalur. We had to take a bus towards Kemmangundi. It was 6 am now and the first bus was at 8 am. So we thought of hiring an auto. After much bargain one fellow agreed for Rs.120. We also bought monkey caps in front of bus stand without which I should say we couldn't have done the trek at all. 30 mins of journey with lush green tea estates and tropical forest on either side brought us to Sarpadari. A well trodden path snakes thru the mountain to reach the Mulaianagiri peak. The climate was damp and cloudy but it was not raining.
After 15 mins of hike we felt what people had written in blogs about Mullayanagiri....The wind. With visibility less t
han 10 mts the winds started hitting us with at all its power. Trees which were few in between were swaying madly. While hiking my legs hit a sharp stone somewhere and I had a small bleed. We didn't meet anyone on the way or rather who would do hiking in this weather ! We emptied some biscuits on the way. After sometime we were near the temple entrance. Here it was very windy. We were at the top at 8.15 am. We didn't go to the caves which was written in almost all blogs. So I should say it takes ~1.5 hrs if you are a medium trekker to reach Mullayanagiri from Sarpadari. From Sarpadari it is steep climb all the way and at one point you will get a 60 deg incline. The situation at the top was fantastic. Visibility was less than 10 mts and winds were hitting us at 40-50 km/hr I should say. The temperature must have been less than 10 deg. There is a priests house beside the temple and we had what tasted like coffee there. Karthik and Raghuram had tamarind rice the only available food there while me and Suny emptied some slices of bread we had carried. No comments as any nearest shop from that place must be atleast 15-20 kms and these people have to get everything from there. Raghuram took couple of snaps from his mobile which we received after 8 months ! We had removed our shoes to enter temple and while walking outside it was so cold that I thought our feet had become numb ! When we came there was already a group of 7 people (which included a German) from Blore and after we arrived another group of 10-12 people which included 2 girls arrived. The first group was headed towards BabaBudangiri which is 4-5 hrs trek from Mullayanagiri. After taking a nap in the temple we decided to go with them to BabaBudangiri.We left Mullayanagiri at 10 am and soon after we left, the wind speed increased. I guess it were the rain clouds which were moving at that speed which also accounted for the poor visibility. Now we were moving along the mountain ridges. I had no idea about the depth on the either side as visibility was less than 10 mts. The group of 10-12 people who had left before us had halted as
one girl had twisted her ankle. We also met a group of children who were hiking to Mullayanagiri. They were moving in a chain by holding to a wooden pole. This must be due to the wind speed which could have carried any child with it to the abyss. Our progress was slow due to wind and poor visibility and we reached the tar road intersection at 12 pm. Here the clouds cleared a bit and we could see the awesome lush green valleys. This was the same road where we started at Sarpadari but at a later point. Here we had an option of walking along the road for ~10 kms or hiking along the mountain ridges for another 3-4 hrs to reach Bababudangiri. The group of 7 left to BabaBudangiri by hiking rather than walking on the road and we decided to do that too. We didn't have any idea about the path or direction and I should say it was a stupid decision as we didn't have any tents, food or sleeping accessories while they had.20 mins after starting, the path disappeared. I guess this is not the path taken regularly. After another 10 mins we came across the trickiest part of the trek. We were on the ridge of the mountain and a big rock confronted us. We had to move on one side while holding to whatever was available for grip. Any slip would mean a free fall of ~1000 mts ! We somehow overcame this obstacle. After this another 30 mins of trek brought us to a small valley. Here everybody lost the plot. During clear skies a tower near Bababudangiri is visible which can be fixed as a target. Visibility was less than ~10 mts even at 1 pm, so we searched for any paths. We found one and walked by that for another hour. We crossed 3 to 4 mountains and then suddenly the obscure path came to a dead end ! We had taken the wrong path. It was 2 pm and it started raining. One guy amongst the group of 7 went ahead climbed a steep incline to search for paths. He came back perturbed telling us that it lead to a suicide point ! I suggested to go back to the road where we started at 12 pm. We had 3-4 hrs before sunset and we had trekked for 2.5 hrs. So we could reach the road by 5 pm. Tracing back an unclear path with poor visibility is no joke. It was a bit scary experience and I felt like lost in midst of an ocean. Even if there was a house or a road within 100 mts it was difficult to locate with that kind of visibility. Added to that without any sleeping accessories and food, sleeping in the night on these mountains with wind, rain and coldness meant a permanent sleep.
We traced back our path while the German in the group kept murmuring that we were taking the wrong path. I thought we were on the right tr
ack. After 45 mins we were back at the valley were we had taken the wrong path. Here we met the group of 10-12 who were searching for paths and had decided to take the one we took ! Now suddenly the clouds got cleared and we could see the road which runs in parallel to the mountains below at a distance of ~1km. We also saw the tower near BabaBudangiri for a brief period of time. But nobody wanted to take the risk of going to Bababudangiri with darkness soon approaching. So we decided to head towards the road. People took different paths as we didn't know the easiest way to the road. The mountain slope had loose rocks all over covered by grass. With many slips and falls we reached the road at 4.30 pm after passing through a tea estate. No treks can be done in the Western ghats particularly in Karnataka & Kerala without leech bites at this time of the year and Suny got one ! That was the end of the Mulianagiri trek and we were unlucky to miss BabaBudangiri.A jeep gave us a lift to Chikmagalur. After having dinner there we took an express KSRTC bus from Chikmagalur at 9 pm and were in majestic by 3 am. I should say this was the best trek I have had and I'm waiting to do it again in similar weather but with a camera and reach Bababudangiri !
Cost per person: Rs 550 /-
