Trek to Tadiyandamol

Date: Jan 26, 2007

Mission: Trek to Tadiyandamol (~1700 mts), the highest peak in Coorg in one day.

Prologue: What started as a preparation to trek to Kumara Parvatha ended up in a trek to Tadiyandamol. Due to a long weekend we (me, Suny and Karthik) could get reservation only in an ordinary express KSRTC bus to Madikeri on 25th night. The bus was at 10.30 pm from Majestic. By the time we reached corporation at 9.30 there was a complete chaos. It looked like everyone wanted to get out of Blore and traffic was moving at snails pace. It was 10.15 pm by the time we reached Mysore Bank and we had to get down from the BMTC bus and almost run till KSRTC bus-stand to catch the KSRTC bus. Karthik had no clue where we were headed and kept pronouncing Madikeri as Matthikere which happens to be a place in Blore itself.

The bus we had booked was going via Channarayapatna-HoleNarsipura. From Channarayapatna till Kushalnagara, the (in)efficiency of the road department was at full display. I guess no politician of any considerable power lives on this road and made me think that this would be the most difficult part of the trek than any hiking that we were going to do. The bus finally landed at Madikeri at 5.45 am. I was relieved and swore never to travel along this damned stretch again. We caught a local private bus to Kakkabe which was ~35 kms from Madikeri from the private bus-stand at 6.45 am. We had to get down at Kaikamba (Nalaknad palace) just after Kakkabe. The winding roads between Madikeri to Kakkabe with a mix of coffee estates and forests on either side made me forget the sleepless journey from Blore to Madikeri. On the way we had Kodagu style breakfast at Napoklu when the bus had stopped for 30 mins. The bus dropped us at Kaikamba at 8.45 am.

Day 1

Another motivation for this trek was I had bought a new digicam (Canon A530) just a day before and wanted to test my nature photography skills. There were 3 more guys who were going to Tadiyandamol and we went together through a steep path to palace estate. Historical Nalknaad palace was just beside the palace estate but we didn't go there. From the estate there is a jeep track almost till half the distance to Tadiyandamol. Tadiyandamol peak would be visible only once we reach the end of jeep track. This track was very steep but offered shades with thick canopy of forest and coffee estates. The only point of confusion along this is a fork along the road after ~30 mins walk from the estate. We had to take the left one going upwards. I was exhausted as I had no sleep during the previous night and had to take short breaks. We reached the end of jeep track by 10.15 am and the Tadiyandamol peak was visible now. We reached another fork after ~15 mins. I had read somewhere that we had to take the straight one to the peak and the left one took us to a small stream. There was a big boulder near the fork and camping activity was very evident with lots of junk thrown around. The stream was just 2 mins from the fork. It had little water but there was a big group of people there and we beat a hasty retreat.

After the fork the path got steeper. For ~30 mins thick forest gave us cover from sun as the path went through it. We hit the peak at ~12 pm. Karthik who expects to find a temple or a house on each and every peak on the Earth was dissapointed. There was hardly enough space to build a room ! Forest fires (maybe started by smart trekkers who forget to douse the camping fire completely) had burnt down most of the grass around the peak. No comments if the forest deptartment puts up a check post and bans all camping near the peak. But still there was lot greenery. At the peak there was another big group who were making lot of noises. Some of them had even entered the adjoining forest and were behaving crazily. Fortunately they left in ~15 mins and we got a chance to enjoy the natural beauty in solitude. The view from the peak was awesome and made me wonder how it would look soon after monsoon. There were green canopy of forest cover as far as our eyes could stretch in all directions and I saw a peak which was higher than Tadiyandamol at a long distance to the north. I happily thought that it was Kumara Parvatha which was where we had planned initially and now we could alteast get a glimpse of it !

We had bread slices with jam for lunch. We left the peak at 1.30 pm. The descent till the forest cover was slow as there were loose stones on the way. We reached the fork in 45 mins and went to stream. Here there was another big group. So we went further up to enjoy the stream. We stayed here for ~30 mins and again started down towards the Nalknaad palace. We collected lot of chocolate wrappers, plastics on the way back which were not there when we had trekked up. Along the jeep track there were trenches with proper boards just to throw the junk but still people found pleasure to throw junk in this pristine stretch. After some amateur photography on the way we reached Nalknaad palace at ~3.30 pm. No one else were there in the palace and we stayed there for ~15 mins. We were on the road at 4.30 pm trying to get a bus to Madikeri. There was a German who had hiked to Tadiyandamol as part of his 'Incredible India' experience and was waiting for the bus. The bus arrived at 5.15 pm and we were hunting for a decent restaurant for dinner in Madikeri by ~7 pm.

We found a restaurant although I can't say whether the food was descent. Seats were available in 9 pm Rajahamsa bus to Blore that was going via Mysore. The bus started at 9.30 pm and when I woke up it was in Majestic at 3.30 am. This is a trek which gives maximum reward for minimum effort.

Cost per person : Rs 550

Trek on Green Route

Date: Dec 9-10, 06

Mission: Walk 40+ kms on a rail track known as Green route between Kukke Subramanya and Donigal in 1.5 days.

Prologue: This trek had to be done before Blore-Mlore train commences. After postponing it few times we had 4 guys (Me, L Raghuram, Gins, Sandeep CE) ready to take the challenge. We decided to trek upwards from from Kukke to Donigal while most of the people do it from Donigal to Yedakumeri (17 kms). Last minute ticket booking meant we had to be content with a special express KSRTC bus at 10.15 pm from Majestic to Subramanya. Raghuram appeared at the KSRTC bus stand with a hand bag which had utencils, maggie which I thought was unnecessary. The bus driver showed little respect to the lives of passengers and bad roads between Sakleshpur and Gundya didn't make our lives easier either. The bumpy journey came to an end at 6 am when the bus reached Subramanya. We had breakfast at a hotel in Kukke. I also saw the majestic Kumara Parvatha behind the Subramanya temple and formed a plan to do it in near future. We hired an auto to the track intersection along the Gundya-Subramanya route. The auto fellow left us with a wierd look perhaps thinking us as some insane, jobless guys who had no other work to do in their lives other than walk on the tracks and reach Donigal while one could sit and go comfortably in a bus.

Day 1

Our trek started at 7.45 am. Green route has 4 stations between Subramanya and Sakleshpur: Shiribagilu, Arebetta, Yedakumeri and Donigal. These stations are meant only as crossings as hardly any human habitation is present around them. Our plan was to trek till Arebetta, halt there overnight, continue till Donigal next day, reach Sakaleshpur by evening and Bangalore by night. For the first 15-30 mins of the trek, the sorroundings consisted of plain lands with dry sparse jungles. Raghuram managed to get a leech bite here too. In 10-15 mins we passed the first tunnel which was numberd around 50. After this the scenary changed. Now we were walking with dense jungle on both sides with tall peaks visible in front. We met a railway employee who gave us info about distance to different stations. After this we changed our plan and decided to trek till Yedakumeri (26 km from starting point) on that day. A goods train running down passed us at ~9.30 am. We crossed some bridges where there were metal plates over the sleepers and begun to think that they were not as scary as described by others! We reached Shiribagilu station at 10.30 am. Here there was a tea-shop out of no-where apart from few workers.

After a brief halt we started again at 10.45 am. At 12 pm we were on the longest bridge (~500 m long). Here Raghuram dropped one of the two torches (mine!) we had, on the bridge which fell down and crashed to pieces. Some tunnels were long (300-500 mts) and it was pitch dark inside. There was also danger of us stepping on a snake. So it is a must to have a powerful torch while walking through these and now we had t o manage with the remaining one. It was getting hot now and walking on the rail track with jelly stones all over the place was becoming tiresome. We reached Arebetta station which was under construction at 2.15 pm. The scenary around the station was fantstic. Potable water was available here. We munched some bread slices and started again at 2.45 pm towards Yedakumeri which was 8 kms from here. We had to reach there before dark as walking on the bridges and elephants moving around was dangerous.

The longest tunnel (~1 km long) along this route was soon after Arebetta. There were some dried up elephant dungs which indicated elephant activity along the tracks. The strech between Arebetta and Yedakumeri is the most beautiful one. Most of the trekkers do the mistake of trekking from Donigal to Yedakumeri and missing this one. Did I say bridges were not scary ! We crossed a bridge without any plates which scared the shit out of us. There were 5 to 6 similar bridges between Arebetta and Yedakumeri. I felt that once we started on a bridge there was no guarantee that we'll reach the other end ! Gins and Raghuram slipped on one of these but fortunately nothing happened. The gap between the sleepers were wide enough for one person to go down and disappear. Added to that sleepers were slippery. People with vertigo problem should not do this trek at all. On the way we met two groups who had been kicked out of Yedakumeri station. It seems the station master (SM) was adamant on not letting anyone stay at the station ! It was ~5 pm and we decided to carry on till Yedakumeri as we didn't want to go back and cross those damn bridges again that too probably in the dark. I thought that facing SM was a better option than camping in the jungle but I was to be proved wrong. Just a km to the station an engine on trial run passed us. Some 0.5 km before Yedakumeri we crossed a bridge which had stream running below which had enough water flowing in it. We left the track and went into the stream. The water was cold and clean and it was fun. I got a leech bite here !

We reached Yedakumeri station at 6 pm. We guessed that SM can't throw us out at this time as we had nowhere to go. But as soon as we met the SM and his subordinate, they told us to get the hell out of the station and reminded us of snakes, leapords..which come in the night. They mentioned that if something happens to us due to wild animals they will be held responsible. He was right and we were wrong as trekking was banned by the Railway Protection Force, Sakleshpur on this sterch and we had to listen what he was saying. Finally after an hour the SM agreed thru his subordinate expecting a small sum of money from us. We got an open room in the station. We again had cold bread slices for dinner as we couldn't collect wood and lit the fire in the dark to cook maggie. The night sky was clear with innumerable stars and we saw some shooting stars. Donigal was 17 kms from here and we were tired of walking on the tracks. So we decided to cut short that part and instead trek to Blore-Mlore NH48 which was 1 hr trek from here via KempHole river. The bridge to cross KempHole had been removed by forest officials to prevent wood theft. I had walked 26 km on that day on rail track without any sleep the previous night and went to sleep immediately. People complained that I was snoring ! I was woken up at 12.15 am by Sandeep who had kept his mobile outside and was searching for it.

Day 2

When we woke up in the morning it was clear that Sandeep had lost his mobile. A quick enquiry gave us the fact that some railway workers had also shared our room in the night. All evidence pointed to them. However they totally disagreed when we put the evidence before them and the mobile was all lost. We cooked maggie for breakfast in the station. With damp woods and no kersoine we took 30 mins to start the fire ! We paid a small amount to SM & his subordinate for our stay. SMs subordinate who was hostile to us till now suddenly became a dear friend and gave us a pack of salt to prevent leech bites on the way to Kemphole. We left the station at 10 am.

The downward path towards KempHole was very steep untill a small stream. Here there were leeches all around. We had to take the path to the right after the stream in order to reach KempHole. The path from stream to KempHole had dense jungle around, was very damp with hundreds of leeches and fresh elephant dungs. Elephant activity was very evident and we were alert. At the stream everyone had applied dettol to their legs to prevent leech bites except Raghuram. When we reached KempHole, Raghuram who was wearing chappal had 15-20 leech bites on each leg and none on us even though there were 10-15 leeches inside everbody's shoes.

During evening when the dam water is released to the KempHole it is dangerous to cross. This river is known to have carried some trekkers along with it when they had tried to cross it during monsoon ! It was 11 am now and it was safe with maximum of waist deep water but the bed rocks would be very slippery. We crossed the river and had an unforgettable bath in the wilderness in cold and clean water. I guess wild elephants frequently take bath in this river but they were not there now to give us company. The NH48 is just after the river and we were on the road at 1 pm trying to get a lift to Sakleshpur. A lorry gave us a lift till Saklespur. We had lunch at KSRTC canteen. No seats were available in Blore buses. So we took a local KSRTC bus till Hassan, got into an express KSRTC bus to Blore from there. We were in Majestic by 9 pm. I should conclude that this one of the most beautiful stretch and any times better than Konkan railway or Lonavala-Kandala stretch.

Cost per person: Rs ~600 /-

Trek to Mullayanagiri-BabaBudangiri

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 than 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 track. 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 /-

Trek to Kodachadri

Date: Sometime in Oct, 06

Mission: Trek to Kodachadri peak (~1400 mts) and Arsingundi falls

Prologue: This was my first trek after I relocated in Blore if I don't consider the walk down to Jog falls in september. Also this was the peak trekking season with monsoon in last stages with intermittent downpours expected and this was supposed to be my third trek to Kodachadri (two times I had done it during Btech days). Since number of people was not decided till the end, we didn't get tickets in the only rajahamsa to kollur via shimoga. We ditched plans of going thru m'lore due to bad roads between sakleshpur and gundya. So 7 of us (Me, Suny, Karthik, Raghuram.l and three of his friends) caught 11.10 pm train to shimoga..reached shimoga at 5 am..took 6 am private bus to kollur. The memorable part of the 3.45 hrs journey from shimoga was an excellent breakfast at Rippanpete.

Day 1

There are two main routes to reach Kodachadri. One a 18 km jeep track from nittur (~25 kms before kollur) and another a 8 kms path (half of which is a jeep track and rest a well trodden path) from karekatte (~12 kms before kollur). We took the later since we wanted to visit Arsingundi waterfalls. Tea shop is 4-5 kms from karekatte and there were few leeches on the way. We reached the tea shop at 11 am. The thick forest cover was lush green with overnight rains. Here we had to ditch our plan of going to Arsingundi falls as people suggested it takes atleast 6 hrs to and fro and we wanted to be at Sarvajna Peetha (Kodachadri peak) to watch sunset. Another 2 hours of uphill climb frequently encountered by leeches we reached Kodachadri at ~2.30 pm. We rested for a while after having lunch at the first Bhattara mane. By now the whole area was covered by thick rain clouds. We decided to go to the peak which is 30 mins hike from there.

We walked in the midst of thick rain clouds and drizzle with visibility dropping to less than 10 mts. Near the peak we were greeted with ear splitting thunders. We ran back for safety and while running a thunder struck a small tree just 5 mts beside us. That was the closest I came to experience lightning. During monsoon lightning kills scores of people particularly who till the land in open area where you can't find vegetation for long distance. After it stopped raining we reached peak at ~5.30 pm. It is a treat to watch western ghats tropical forests soon after rains. As said many times before photos don't do justice. We ditched plans to goto the place of origin of river sowparnika due to leeches. Reached back Bhattara mane at 6.30 pm, played cards, had a nice dinner and went to sleep. There was no power (No Electricity lines are there. They use solar or generate it by a small turbine which was not working). I also saw the largest lizard in the house which was atleast 1 feet long.

Day 2

Next day only raghu went to the peak to view sunrise while I went half way, took a left deviation to reach a nearby peak. Sunrise was awesome. We left from Kodachadri at 8 am after the breakfast. Reached karekatte at 11 am after a brief halt at tea shop. We spotted a sleek small snake (must be poisonous since it looked very active) on the way back from tea shop and karekatte. We reached shimoga at 3 pm and were back in majestic by 10 pm. It can be noted that Arsingundi falls can be done during 2nd day. One can reach kollur by evening and be back in blore by next day morning. To reach Arsingundi falls itz better to take guide from tea shop since it is easy to get lost in the forest. I had this experience on my first Kodachadri trek and had to return back after wandering in the forest for 2-3 hrs. Since folks in our groups wanted to be in blore by sunday evening we had to abandon that plan. But I'm sure to do this part during my next trek to Kodachadri.

Cost per person: Rs 700 /-