Mission: Trek to Dabbe falls and Kanoor kote in Sharavathi valley in 2 days and encounter as many leeches and rain as possible
Prologue:
Himalayas...is where I thought I'll head this summer but found myself making plans alone and going no-where . The endless wait for monsoon was finally over and it started raining in western ghats. After 5 months of inactivity finally a plan to trek in Sharavathi valley emerged and this time it drew a huge crowd in the begining but finally settled to a descent fit 8 people (Me, Raghu L, Vamsi, Suny, Vasanath, Murali, Hari and Sachin). We travelled to Kargal town beyond Jog falls on a Linganmakki bound Rajahamsa bus after leaving KSRTC bus-stand at 9.45 pm on Fri.
Our plan was to trek from a village Hosagadde on Kargal-Bhatkal route visit Dabbe falls, Kanoor kote enroute and wind-up at Gerusoppa on the banks of Sharavathi river covering ~30 kms through paddy fields, lush green meadows, dense tropical forests while crossing innumerable streams. Mahesh was our trek guide and he got into our bus at Sagar. We reached Kargal at 7.15 am. We didn't want to waste our time to freshen-up this time as we had run short of it last year and had to change our plans by ditching Kanoor kote. Because of this Mahesh insisted on taking the 8 am bus to Hosagadde which was 15 km from Kargal but we missed the bus since one of us spent a little extra time in the toilet at the hotel where we had breakfast ! So we had to hire a jeep to Hosagadde and started our trek to Dabbe falls at 9.30 am after distributing grocery, food items amongst ourselves.
Day 1
Our plan on day 1 was to
reach Doctor's house near Kanoor kote which is ~16 kms from Hosagadde before nightfall which would take 7-8 hrs if we didn't loose our way. Weather forecast indicated intermittent thundershowers unlike last time when there was a continous downpour. Trek upto Gowdara Mane near Dabbe falls which was ~3 km was no different than last time. Half the distance upto Gowdara mane was a jeep track. Rest of the half we walked through a path that went adjacent to a stream, crossed few streams with one over a wooden-pole bridge, passed a mini-waterfall and we reached Gowdara mane at 10.45 am with minimum leech bites inspite of having n
o anti-leech stuff on our legs. Few fellows who hadn't seen leeches before, started feaking out. We went to Dabbe falls immediately which took us 30 min from Gowdara mane along a 85 deg slippery slope holding roots, stones and what-not and reached the platform where only 4-5 people could stand and watch Dabbe falls. Unlike last year it was not raining and was considerably less misty, so we could shoot Dabbe falls in all its glory. The only way to reach Dabbe falls is 
by walking. So Dabbe is one of the few waterfalls where one doesn't find trash of junk which is found at all popular waterfalls ! It is very risky to go to base of Dabbe falls during monsoon . So we got back to Gowdara mane by 11.45 am and started towards Kanoor kote immediately. The lush green paddy-fields with distant mountains with even greener tropical forests on them were a treat to eyes. Sharavathi valley receives 300-600 cm of rainfall every year and is even home to few tigers.After sometime we were walking inside dense forest. For most of the time there was no path and it was just intuitiveness from Mahesh which made us head along the right direction. There are houses every ~2 km inside the forest but if you loose the track you may end-up wandering inside the forest untill you are rescued by a miracle. My crib about not being able to sight any wildlife in any of the treks came to an end as Mahesh caught a green-tree-snake by its throat and couple of us had the privilege to hold it by its throat and pose in front of the camera. Mahesh released back the snake carefully by suddenly taking his hand from its throat. We stopped at a house by 1.30 pm and we decided to take a break here to cook and have lunch. We removed all the leeches with Mahesh 
being the worst hit since he was wearing chappal and sat down to have delicious maggie in 30 mins. Me and Raghu were sitting together on the steps in the verandah having Maggie when Hari spotted something moving behind Raghu. We jumped up immediately and saw a snake which was less than a feet long. One look at it and I was sure it was poisonous with its bright colours and activity (I thought it was pit-viper). It was a baby nevertheless poisonous. Even more surprising was Mahesh who came out and held the snake by its throat with bare hands and released it at some distance from the house. I asked Mahesh about the type of the snake which he told much later. It was a Krait and we had almost sat on it !
We left the house at 3 pm and realising that we had much distance to cover, increased our pace. We crosse
d few streams, walked across paddy fields, streams and hillocks and joined the tar road which leads to Kaanur. There were lot of streams we had crossed which fortunately had lower water currents and we could cross them without any fuss. We reached the house in Kanoor where we had spent a night last year at 4.30 pm. After a small break where we cursed Vamsi for not bringing potato chips, we started towards Doctor's house which was 8 kms from here. There is a jeep track all the way till Doctor's house but Mahesh wanted to take a short cut. This short-cut was probably not a w
ell-trodden one in monsoon. It was slippery and had dense forest so was naturally infested with leeches and abundant thorns. The combination of all these made Vasanth completely freak out and started cribbing about everything. Almost everyone had a slip and a fall here and it meant a thought of few leeches inside your body ! This agony came to an end in 30-45 mins when we reached jeep track. Another 1-1.5 hr along the jeep track, Mahesh decided to halt at one Ramachandra's house as the next house which was Doctor's house was still 1 hr uphill hike and it was getting dark. The inmate of the Ramachandra's house were simple and friendly folks who were displaced during Linganmakki dam construction 20 years ago. They had basic lighting in the house by means of a dynamo against running wa
ter as no electricity exists in this part of the world. The house had no toilet either but had a telephone. Murali who went out to answer nature's call came back with few leeches on his legs ! We even got hot water to take bath and refresh from 9 hr walk. With an excellent dinner of rice, sambhar and pickle finished we slept at 11 pm with a note from Mahesh about next day's trek being even more strenous and we had to start early by 8 am.
Day 2
The early start never came and by the time we got ready after having breakfast in the form of Upma was
hed with tea, cooking and getting lunch in the form of Puliyogure parcelled and accessing everyone's fitness it was 10 am. For today's trek we applied tobacco-powder mixed with coconut oil against leeches. Vasanth greedily applied half of that into his legs even though for all he had freaked out yesterday he hadn't got a single bite. We reached Doctors's house in an hour where we were served pupoya and lemon tea. Another 45 mins of hike in dense forest, encountered by leeches and rain we reached Kanoor kote by 12 pm. The route from Doctor's house to Kanoor
kote gave excellent views of Sharavathi valley. We spent 1 hr visiting remnants of this 400 year ruined fort which was slowly getting occupied by the sorrounding jungle. The fort consisted of a queen's swimming pool, couple of temples, secret passages but there was not a single place where we could stand and watch as leeches made us jump now and then. The ruined but beautiful temple is almost 1 km from the fort entrance and the zig-zag path inside the dense jungle is bound to confuse anyone. It was Mahesh who dared to enter the secret passages first lest it harbours snakes. We started towards Gerusoppa at 1 pm.
The path to Gerusoppa (~12 km) was almost downhill hike through dense jungle. It was slippery for half of the distance due to rains but was almost dry for the rest half till Gerusoppa. Mahesh who was walking in fr
ont almost hit a giant (poisonous) spider which had created a huge web right on the path. After sometime we even spotted a couple of peacocks but they were too camera-shy and disappeared within seconds. At ~2.30 pm we crossed a hanging bridge over a wide stream and halted for lunch along the banks of the stream. We even jumped into the stream to have a much needed break. Hari had his shoe sole opened at front during this part of the hike which gave ample opportunity for leeches to get in and suck blood and he painted a sorry picture. Lunch in the form of 
Puliyogure and mangoes which we had collected along the trail finished, we started towards Gerusoppa at 3.30 pm. The rest of the path was jeep track. We had to catch the bus from Gerusoppa at 5.30 pm to be on time at Sagar to catch the Sagar-Bangalore bus at 10 pm in which we had reserved tickets. We increased our pace along the jeep track which culminated at the banks of Sharavathi river at 5 pm. We had to cross the river on a small boat to reach Gerusoppa. One notable incident was Vasanth who fell flat in the river with his face upwards while get into the boat. After cross
ing the river we took one bus from Gerusoppa to Gerusoppa cross. The bus to Sagar arrived at 6.45 pm and a 2 hr journey bought us to Sagar. We had dinner and parted with Mahesh who stays near Sagar and runs a local newspaper called 'Vanaraja'. Rajahamsa brought us to Bangalore at 6 am and it concluded one of the memorable trek. This is moderate trek if done in 3 days, but a bit strenous to do in 2 days and monsoon is the best season to view 'Mungaru Male' kind of panoramic views irrespective of leeches.
Cost per person : Rs 1500
