TREK TO HIGHEST PEAK OF KARNATAKA –(FAST TREK 1)

Shadowed  last peak is Mullayanagiri  from where we started in morning.completed this long within half day.
Hitting the trail – Hard & Fast
The Trail: Sarpanadari Arch – Mullayanagiri - Baba Budanagiri - Kemmanagundi – Hebbe Falls – Kemmanagundi
The Distance: 60+ Kms in 1.5 days
The Team: Santhosh (Me), Patrick, Satya, Jijo, Anil

So, it all started with a call from Patrick. All he said was, we would be doing a fast hiking and it would be Mullayanagiri – Baba Budanagiri trail. While the first proposal was exciting, the second one made me agree as I already had an unfinished business in this trail. Of course, who could deny such a plan that’s both intriguing as well as interesting? I was itching to get back to my trekking ways after a three-month exile and there couldn’t have been a better way to start again.

On Friday, we gathered at Majestic and after the initial round of introductions, we boarded the bus to Chikmagalur. While we spent a large part of the time talking various topics, we did get some rest to prepare ourselves for the big day. Once at Chikmagalur, we hired 2 Autos, to reach our entry point for the hike.

Oh, and now I was excited, so.. damn.. excited at 4.30 in the morning. Soon we got into the trail and started walking upwards. Within 5 mins, Anil twisted his ankles and was in agony. He asked us to move ahead while he would return back. But we encouraged him to come up with us till Mullayanagiri and then re-evaluate his condition. 60 mins later, when the clock struck 6, we were at the peak. And waited for Anil to come. The peak was cold and breezy and refreshing, needless to say, early in the morning.

Read More >>

“Between lives & leeches” Trek to Kallathigiri and Kemmangundi :KK/2

“... Maheshwari-ge namane... blah blah” blared the stereo systems of the white bus at 5 am on the 25th of June 2011, rudely and deafeningly shaking awake the 22 souls who had settled for a deep sleep inside it. We had reached Kalathigiri informs the driver, with considerable glee (from having jerked us out from our sleep, I presume :| ). And hence began the two day trek in Kemmangundi...
Kalahatti falls is very beautiful, all the more so if you visit it in the June-July season when the coffee plantations (interspersed with tall trees) that you need to walk through come alive after the ceaseless drizzles  that the place gets in this season. The trek to this beautiful falls begins from the Veerabhadra temple, a legendary temple supposed to have been built during the Vijayanagar times. We followed the water stream that flows in front of this temple uphill for a few kilometers to reach the Kalahatti falls, which is made by waters that flow across the supposedly medicinal Bhadra forests when they fall from a staggering height of about 400 feet from the ground. The falls is quite unlike any other that one may have visited in the sense that it has the water falling in a weird way, quite like streams of watery needles being shot down.
We trekked in fairly good time, considering that most of the 22 member team were near novices. The climb was fun, but falls was certainly the cream of it all. Most of us got into the water despite the bone-chilling temperature of the water and the sharp rocks that the water fell onto. Nithya and Vinay, I remember, never got into water. Guys, you really missed it! Trust me! Jinu had forewarned that going shirtless was a bad idea, but there were many brave guys who experimented that all the same. The small fishes in the pool of water below, the rainbow, the winds that increased the pressure of the fall s, the beautiful green spread of trees in the front... Well, bless nature!
We took an alternative route downhill and since it was slippery, most of us slipped and slided, much to the amusement and entertainment of the rest of us (I saw Sravanthi fall and do a small slide down... was hilarious :D )! And then, a few of us folks (Mahesh, Vishnu, Yogesh, Sreeni, Sravanthi, etc) who were going ahead happily got lost and took some other route and ended up reaching the base earlier than the others. I heard the other team again got split and all of them came down in different batches. A heavy tasty lunch (and multiple cups of tea, in Mayuri's case) later, we found ourselves on the way to Kemmangundi.
Kemmangundi dormitory. Looks fairly like a cross between ancient cottages and recent guest houses and is covered with so much moss, one could say it was nearly camouflaged! We reached the dorms at around 3 pm, and I suppose most guys just hit the bed. Sra, Jinu and I went for a casual stroll, and it was fun. We were just in time to start to the Kemmangundi Horticultural gardens, or, to be more honest, to their canteen!
We reached the canteen (with Jinu shuttling many times, unfortunately) in time for a nice evening tea / coffee. And then it started raining. The rain never stopped. That was the end of our plans for the evening, or so we thought until some blessed creature suggested we could play dumb charades!
I bet the canteen guy would've thrown us out, had we not been keeping hsi business up by ordering those yummy hot spicy chilly bajjis and beverages every now and then! The amount of noise we made!! And the sort of movie names people came up with!! (I'm looking up that Salim langda stuff x-( , Ashwini, really!!) With Bernard trying to get us spit out an Albert Pinto, Hasnain trying to get his team say Julie-and-Julia and Amith doing that ridiculous Jal-bin-machli-Nritya-bin-bijli sending us into splits of laughter, I'm sure the dumb charades is what really broke the ice between us. And then there was Phani with his Lemony Snicket's!! I think he could have gone on forever had it not been for Nithya and Ashwini! And yeah, while we were at it, the eskimos (Suresh and Vinay, I suppose) and a few others went out with Jinu to see the gardens. I never asked them how it was! How was it, guys?
The plan was that we would wake up early next morning, say at 5, check if it was raining and then continue sleeping if it was or go to Z-point if it wasn't. Thankfully for us, it wasn't. So, Z-point it was. After an early morning tea / coffee session and some spicy news about Phani's 'Who-let-the-dogs-in' episode, we left for the Z-point. Z-point is about an hour trek from our dorms; it is an extraordinary sight in this season with the powerful gusts that are sure to pin you down if you don't sit down (like Jinu got tired of saying to many people including Faizal, Nithya, Vinay, Karthik, Suresh and so many others); it is a leech-predominant territory (much to leech-terminator / leech-yamaraj a.k.a Bernard's delight and to Nithya and Phani's dismay). The trek was beautiful, with those jeep tracks giving way to the narrow slippery paths (where the priority abruptly shifts from saving your feet from leeches to saving y our ass from falling off the cliff, hence the name of the write-up... *brain-wave courtesy: Vinay :D ) and the valley-filled-with-clouds view everywhere. The Shanti falls that comes halfway through the trek looked great though we never halted there. But the sad part was that due to the winds and the dismal visibility we never negotiated the Z-point fully. However, the tradeoff was fair, I suppose, because the sensation of being overpowered by the winds was worth anything! I wish Yogesh hadn't got fever, for I'm sure he'd have loved this trek! Bad luck, buddy...
After returning to the canteen to consume a breakfast of hot idlies and vada, we rushed back to the dorms to pack up and move out. While Sanja na was busy negotiating and nursing a nasty leech bite, the rest of us got the luggage stocked up in the bus and we geared up for the Hebbe with as little to carry as possible (with the exception of packets of salt and snuff, maybe :| ). Most of us even chose to get drenched over carrying rain jackets or umbrellas! Led by Jinu, a pack of dogs and us started out for Hebbbe. A 13 km jeep track exists to Hebbe, but we took a couple of shortcuts that effectively reduced the distance to about 7-8 km. The fog was thick, the wind was chilly, the rain was persistant and the spirit of life was flourishing everywhere. Even the dogs seemed as excited as us! So were the innumerable leeches that got to feed themselves. Nithya's phenomenal leech dance, leech breaks and leech weapons were put to the best of use, I hope...  The trek was downhill and was fun. The few of us who survived to overcome the panic Jinu tried to create about his mysterious 'alternative shortcut'  took that route, and I must say, I'd pin this decision down as one of the best decisions of my life! :D Beautiful slope, and the perfectly lined plantations made the sight picture perfect.
Hebbe is breathtaking. It must be, considering it falls in two stages (Dodda Hebbe and Chikka Hebbe) from a height of 551 feet! A majestic piece of aquatic work placed in the serenity of a lush green backdrop... That's Hebbe Falls for you. The pool of water below that the Hebbe leaves is not very deep in most regions affording everybody the luxury of safely climbing right to the foot of the fall. And those who could swim made the most of their skill here! Feeling the force and the pressure that the falls exerts is quite an experience in itself. I'm sure the puppy Faizal managed to 'help' agrees, eh, Faizal? :D
Climbing up was not quite as easy as climbing down the hill, as most of us found out later. And the fact that the water had made starved hungry folks of us didn't quite improve the situation. The tea-break near the base of the hill which we were supposed to climb was splendid. It was probably here that Suresh gained his 'Leech-Brahma' title when he repeatedly tried rescuing the poor creatures from the torture unleashed by the terminator. Anyway, eventually all of us made it uphill (taking Jinu's steep route this time). And then the hunger started.
The bread-omelettes never could taste better. Neither could tea. The packets of snacks from various people's bag were emptied in a matter of seconds and if anybody were to make a documentary showing similarities between hungry wolves catching prey and hungry people eating food, then this is where they should've shot it! Corn mixture, groundnuts, chips packets, kodubale, kobri burfi, Perk, dry fruits, EVERYTHING, ANYTHING!
The fog at any given instant of time in this season make sure you lose track of time. Morning  5 am looks nearly the same as 12 noon or like 5 pm. But the visibility was getting poor. Much poorer than normal, and that meant serious concern for the bus driver. He suggested we should start immediately and that's exactly what we did, started back without halting for lunch in Kemmangundi.
The return journey started with a ungodly chorus of antyakshari. Special mention must be made of Ashok for the wonderful songs he sang. Amith, Vishnu and Nithya were on a roll... I think somebody even gave a brief lecture to poor Vijay who tried to catch a few winks of sleep. The drive was going with perfect sanity until somebody started with teasing Sreeni for something. One thing led to another and to be very brief and not very explicit, a lot of people ended up getting a lot of nick-names including ISI bombers, chemical weapons, ISI agents, Osamas and Obamas, TV9 reporters, AXE effect, etc. This went on till the bus driver decided it had gone far enough and played the “Hale patre, hale kabna” song.
We eventually arrived at Chikmanglur, which was a welcome news as it meant food. A heavy dinner followed by the Mysore Pak that Jinu bought us was all one could hope for at that hour. A bumpy slow ride with a few breaks brought us back to namma Bengaluru at 3:30 am. Majestic bus stop was not deserted even at that hour! People are sure busy in Bengaluru... Anyway, thus ended the Kemmangundi trek.
I don't know about others, but I enjoyed the trek thoroughly. So I may probably be excused for the abnormally long write-up as well. (And just so I may add to Bernard, Amith and Sreeni, I as good as volunteered for write-up :D ; Not for carrying non-existant ropes and not for some other random volunteering stuff). Thanks folks. Brilliant trip. Refreshing company and a gentleman of an organizer! Cheers to all! :)

Visit our Group @ CLICK HERE

Written by: Aparana
Event organized by: Jinu John
Image Galleries:Jinu, Suresh, Vishnu, Bala, Faizal

Read More >>

Trekking to Kalathgiri and Kemmangundi: KK/1

Its past a month and I can still feel the gush of the mighty Hebbe and not so calm Kalahatti in my veins. Yes the terrain reaching up to them is traversed by lots of episodes of chatter, clutter, murmur, screams and peals of laughter which started on Friday 25th at 10.30pm..a la..Majestic. I was a reservation against cancellation member of this vociferous team of 12, lesser known, less prepared and less capable. Ultimately I emerged as the most cared for..:P
Jinu, I applaud you for the way you started breaking the ice amidst the group. Nitin and Meetu replying the most unconventional way that they are serpentines-Ichha Dhari Nag Nagin opened up a host of other introductions..everybody obliged and we kickstarted well. I do not remember the time when we stopped for a cuppa at a roadside hotel..but I remember that I took my chance to have another good look at the motley crowd with whom I had set off to spend the weekend. Here I would add a note..I was little apprehensive towards joining a crowd of whom I do not know anyone..But then I thought I need to start..Click Click went some shots..and we hurriedly packed up again to continue with the rest of the journey.
It was barely 5am at Kalahattigiri..and our event manager had already started hoarding..as if we were supposed to queue up for a parade..Jinu..I wonder where was the whistle on the 1st day..it only made an appearance on the 2nd day to Hebbe..!!! I felt a little chill when I alighted from the TT. It was uneven, dusty and shoddily green here and there. I quickly picked up some snaps, the board reading Kalahatti Falls..yess..now I can boast I went there..We ambled towards the foothills..I was having queer feelings, little streaks of tensions and some high tides and low tides with each cycle of pumping of blood into my heart and this never stopped through out the odyssey..We climbed steadily towards a smaller base of Kalahatti Falls and I was already feeling tired..took mini breaks..Veeru's omnipresent hands pulling me out of every possible down strides and then I felt better. I was already munching on a chocolate bar Kiran had advised and offered me during the walk..Have it..You will get instant energy..I am not a big lover of chocolates..but Kiran..Many Thanks..I needed it.. We freshened up at the first smaller base..everybody enjoyed the rushing falls except me..Alas! I wasnt carrying extra pair of clothing..You all called me so many times to come inside water and I had to stay away from it..Missed it there.. The strides continued with trampling over dry leaves..I was slipping tad bit..soon I realized I do not have the right pair of shoes and it is going to be difficult further. I am glad I could be back to Bangalore with the same pair of shoes. Veeru the saviour never left me alone and thus I could keep up with my expeditions. Some time later we had breakfast guarding each pick towards the mouth from the monkeys. They were springing from one branch to another but we managed to quench our hunger and thirst by ditching them. Jinu and Veeu had by the time disappeared to discover route towards the main base. I have rightly names Veeru as Jungle Boy..he screeched like the monkeys and was as fast as them while crossing the grounds...amazing!! We embarked on the next part of the journey, to the main base of Kalahatti. It was a roller coaster..climbing, holding tree branches for support, guarding against rough bushes and a real tour towards the top. I do not know how many mini breaks I took along this path, but it was worth everytime..I ran short of breath, thanks to my sedentary life style back at Bangalore..promised myself..I would work to keep fit. The murmur of the stream gradually and eventually magnified into the beautiful sound and we knew we have reached Kalahatti. There were huge boulders strewn and one by one all of us resigned to one or the other to savour up some rest and sunlight. We did a lot of photo session over here..I posed a lot and assured myself..it was worth the ascend to view such a picaresque bounty of nature..We experienced leisure at the base with another round of water bath and sun bath. Little did I know that we would pick up the most alien route to descend after this..
If I say most alien route..I can still see so many hands up in consent..slipping, falling, bruising, trembling..we underwent all and it was not only me..Jinu might have posted some pictures of sturdy travellers..but all that is showing up is not true, not at least for the descent from Kalahatti. But we revelled together and covered quite a distance in lesser time, thanks to the uncanny short cuts we took...Then it was a combination of plain walk and some slides that we reached to the starting point. Battered and hungry, we gorged on rice and watery sambar, hankered for a second piece of papad and had the most memorable lunch of our lives, the simplest and humblest way. It was time to bid goodbye to Kalahatti and we were driving to Kemmangundi now. Kemmangundi, the land of the red soil..this is what I heard from my team and after a short journey of less than an hour we arrived at Raj Bhawan where we were booked for the stay. A good round of tea and the next deadline of 5pm for sunset given, we headed to catch up on a little rest in our guest house rooms.
Sunset from Raja's Bhawan was worth every drop of sweat that might have dripped across our faces on that day. I have never witnessed such mesmerising playfulness of colours while sun bids goodbye for the day. Dusk set in and we were suddenly not so tired for the day. I bet the most beautiful set of pictures from the albums of all of us belong to sunset on 26th evening. Kushal pushing the sun towards Srini's mouth, Kushal as statue of liberty, Remo, Srini, Aneesha and the rest of us lapped on every drop of sunset happiness at that moment. Soon after it was dinner time and veg thali seemed to be the best food in the world by then. By the time we had finished, another deadline, next day morning 5.30am, sunrise from Z point. I did not get enough time to curse Jinu on that...rushed and retired to room..luckily could charge my cell and camera for the next day. Nobody could tell at that time if sleeping was important or resting our legs and backs were even more important. No point on debating that.
Jet set 5.30am next dawn, Jinu the human alarm knocked through our doors and we did not want to wake up for sure. Aneesha wasnt feeling all confident to go for it..she was given a dose of apple and there she was ready for the go..Hurriedly we readied up and the morning blanket of clouds was all set to embrace us. Briskly we reached the point to bless ourselves with the sunrise. Had we been even a little late, we would have missed it. For a while it was a hide and seek of the sun and then we finally caught good glimpse of it from different peaks of the Z point. This also consumed little bit more time than might have been thought of. So we returned back to guest house to fill ourselves with breakfast and then head towards Hebbe Falls...our last agenda of the tour.
After a verbal tug of war of starting to walk from there itself or to travel by TT to the farthest point where it can reach, we zeroed in on the latter, of course, I was the major factor voting for it. But could not reap much advantage from it, TT soon huddled and stopped and off we went towards the majestic sight of Hebbe. Through grasslands, burnt ashes, uneven rocky ground, tethering bushes and overhead sun making it difficult by the day we followed the trail lead by Jinu. He seemes to be vanished from time to time..I realized later on it was his usual way to search for a short cut to the ultimate destination. And what discoveries he made while on it!!! I descended in a tumbling fashion, all the while Veeru holding my hand and carrying my bag too. I was feeling as if I belong to a super heavy weight group of human being, forwarding each step was as heavy as the previous one. I wondered..have I expanded so much.......After a stark downhill and a gradual walk..we could hear the flow of the streams..there were 3...studded with small pebbles to moderately sized ones..we rolled up our tracks, folded our sleeves for one more time to wade through the clear water. I guess I was the last person from the team to reach the base of Hebbe. My feet were immensely paining by then, struck by pebbles so many times. So I decided to relax on the boulder lining for a while before plunging into the roaring water of the falls. It was astounding, tall, heavy and gorgeous. So I did not waste much time, quickly took some snaps and dipped myself into the water. I could soon join others in the game of splashing water at each other. Needless to say all handfuls were directed to me for most of the time. I was almost blinded by rushing water. Happy wanderers enjoyed solace in water.
Our return to the TT was the most clamouring one for me. All the while I felt I would collapse. Doses of electral finally helped me to complete the walk back. Climbs seemed to be never ending, common bends also seemed to be rebelling. I kept pushing myself..kept walking..Veeru showed me a distant pole at one point and said it ends there...with measured steps I followed him and thus could finally complete the loop. The smile of a wary but triumphant soldier was smeared on the face of everybody. We were a victorious troupe. We bid goodbye to Hebbe and our TT started to drive back. We had an early dinner at a Dhaba, relished the spicy curries and Naans. Reminisced all that have happened throughout the ridges and grooves of the journey and peacefully consumed the food. Since I had already accepted to do the write up, convoluted thoughts were making appearance in my mind. After a lot of tour and detour, dropping people to their respective locality, I was the 2nd last person left to be dropped at NGV. I felt like a satisfied trotter...brimming with stories to tell to my roommates..famished but still going great guns...Perhaps these 2 days have infused a different grade of power in me. I learnt so much from all you people...Jinu, Aneesha, Kushal, Kiran, Karthikeyan, Veeru, Srini, Sujeevan, Remo, Nitin, Meetu..the strength of sharing and caring and being together...We need this each instant of our lives..Hope to catch up with you all in some or the other sphere of life..Terrific team!

Visit our Group @ CLICK HERE
Join Bangalore ASCENDers @CLICK HERE
Written by: Chandreyee
Event organized by: Jinu John Image Galleries:Sujeevan, Srinivasan, Jinu

Read More >>