Trek to Kodchadri: K/3

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Blood donation camp: 1

Every 3 seconds someone needs blood, yet less than 5% of the eligible population donates blood which isn’t enough.

Blood Donors Save Lives:
Healthy donors are needed every day to ensure blood and blood components are available for the patients who need them. Children and adults undergoing surgery, victims of trauma, newborn infants, persons  with cancer and leukemia, transplant recipients – these are just a few of the patients who may need blood or blood components to survive. These patients depend on healthy blood donors every day to provide life-giving blood and blood components. Donate blood and save lives.
Blood donation is a gesture of goodwill and care for the fellow human beings. There is no gift more valuable than a Gift of Blood, as it is actually a Gift of Life for the person who receives it.A safe blood is the one that does not harm the donor, is free from infection or other harmful agents, that does no harm to the recipient and that is used for the benefit of the patients health and well being.The slogan Safe Blood Starts With Me denotes that it is me who is the donor of safe blood. One unit of your blood will save life of more than one patient. As a member of the society it is your responsibility to donate blood.You can go to the nearest government approved blood centre, which is based on voluntary non/remunerated blood donation and make your significant contribution to saving life of a patient by donating blood. Your contribution is extremely valuable. 
Words of appreciation...
"Kudos for this noble cause. I am a new member in this group . I happen to see this post and I wanted to be part of it  as well but I didn't register as  I was out of station and my return wasn't confirmed.Thankfully enough I came back yesterday and  went ahead and donated the blood."       Swaroop Bhandary

Blood Banks...
Indian Blood Donors
Bharat Blood Bank
e-Blood Donors
Friends 2 Support
India Blood Bank

"96% of us rely on the other 4% to give blood. Please don't leave it up to someone else" - National Blood Service.

Compiled by: Mudassar
Event co-ordinated by: Mudassar
Image Gallery:
Jayloknath and Mudassar

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Trek to 9 hills Ombattu Gudda OG/5

Destination - Ombattu Gudda (OG), the reverse way (Lakshmi estate to Gundya village)
Gang - Mudassar, Sumon, Vishal, Karthik, Karthikeyan, Rajiv, Srinidhi & Mithun
Equipment - Food, water, sleeping bag/mat, toiletries

Highlights -

* Srinidhi almost ended up not coming for the trek. We had to plead with the bus driver to wait a while. We finally left Rajajinagar, Bangalore 20 mts late.

* Reached Mudigere town around 5 am & ended up spending 90 mts in the bus stand looking for a loo - unsuccessfully.

* Because of no jeep availability, bargained with an auto chap for dropping us off at Lakshmi estate gate. The bumpy auto ride with 8 of us crammed inside along with our big rucksacks remains one of the memorable points of this trip.

* We got off at the gate itself & walked the remaining 2 kms to the estate. Negotiating the bumpy uneven 'road' in an overloaded auto was deemed way too risky - even for OG trekkers!

* Freshened up & had breakfast at the small waterfall inside Lakshmi estate & started the trek towards Saraswati estate on the jeep track around 11 am.

* Reached Saraswati estate around 1pm. The sun beat down hard & it was very hot. There is no water source between these 2 places. Recommend trekkers to carry 2 ltrs at the very minimum.

* Cooled off at Saraswati estate , finished lunch & had a short nap.Few took bath to cool the temperature.

* Re trekked around 1.5 kms for the diversion to OG. Had to literally squat our way through some thick brushwood.

* Finally reached the grasslands near OG around 4 pm.

* Scaled all peaks (I could count only 7 though) of OG. The view was good but nothing spectacular. In other words, not worth the trouble.

* Because of a darken ing sky & clouds drifting in, decided to abandon hopes of catching the sunset on peak. Started descending towards the smaller peaks & the campsite.

* Reached the campsite & could start a camp fire,which went down when it started raining.

* Lightning at first n then got steadily heavier. Light ning & thunderstorms followed.

* We were sitting under the tallest tree in the vicinity. Science told us to move to more open ground but the legs disagreed.

* Lightning struck three or four times somewhere very close to where we sat huddled. A few of us in fact felt some electricity!   trust me it wasn't funny, but was scary. This remains the high/low point of the trek depending on which way you look at it.

* Darkness fell & the rain showed no signs of abating. The only sounds were raindrops on dry leaves, thunderclaps & Mudassar's vomiting.

* It finally reduced to a drizzle. We had the cold MTR packets n hit the sack. Only to be woken up in a couple of hours for another heavy drizzle. Add wet sleeping bags, wet forest floor & invisible insects & the misery seemed complete. The only good part then were the fireflies which were all over the place.

* Got up early next day to a bright sun shine. Started descending towards the rivulet by 7am. The ground was very slippery owing to the rain. The descent was very steep at places n we finally made it after many cuts, gashes n twisted ankles around 9 am.

* Mudassar continued vomiting :)

* Spent a good 1 hr by the stream. Refilled the water bottles & spirits & started off around 10 am.

* The next 4 hours were along the stream, over n around the rocks n partly through the f orest.

* Negotiating the for est path was a little tricky. To the naked eye, there appeared no path at all. All credit to Mudassar & Rajiv for spotting a beer can, a pair of shoes etc that they recalled from previous treks.

* The heat was brutal & the humidity was unforgiving. We took periodic breaks by the stream. We had to.

* Finally hit the jeep track around 3. Came across Kabbinale river crossing within an hour. Rested for a while.

* Post this final pit stop, it still took us almost 2 hours to negotiate our way to the village.

* First sighting of areca nut plantations breathed new life into our bodies. It was good seeing civilization after more than 28 hours.

* Jumped into Addahole river right beside the bridge n spent a good length of time scrubbing ourselves clean. This was the 3rd highlight of the trek. Changed into a fres h dry pair of clothes n went to the shack next to the bridge. Downed tea, omelets, dosas, biscuits n bananas n what not.

* Mudassar stopped vomiting.

* It started raining.

* Caught an auto to Gundya check-post & caught the 9 pm bus to Bangalore.

* The return leg was worse than the auto ride. The bus driver accelerated n braked like a maniac. Finally, it took a backseat guy to issue a death threat - 'bevarsi, saaysbidtini' to ensure an uneventful journey back to B’lore.

Wildlife sightings: Nothing more than a scorpion, a tortoise & lots of elephant dung.
Mobile coverage: Very good on/near the peak. Zilch inside the forest, by the river & in Gundya town.

Verdict: Mudassar said Reverse OG would be moderate n even first timers could join. Having gone through the grind, I can emphatically state that it wasn't moderate at all. It was as difficult n took as much time as the traditional route.

PS: Mudassar vomited whatever he ate & survived for the next 30 hours on half an apple, an orange, some glucose n lots of water. He still managed to be among the first few to finish the trek. How on earth???????

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Written by: Mithun hegde
Event organized by: Mudassar
Image Gallery:
Sumon, Srinidhi, Vishal, Karthik

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Bike Trip-Bangalore-Ooty-Wayanad-Madikeri-Bangalore: BT/1

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Trek to Kudremukha March 2010

Kudremukha….just came to my mind in a flash I had been to this place some 7 years ago. Still the lush green grassland is afresh in my mind.After establishing contacts in kudremukha & knowing real time situation their, invitation was sent out through our trek group Bangalore ASCENDers.
We were told that the trek route is likely to be closed in summer & it is better we do this trek ASAP. Date was finalized as march 06^th & 07^th. After last minutes drop outs, the team size was blocked to 13.
Team – Ameet Pai, Arunkanthan, Mithun, Rajesh, Ranjith, Sathish, Snehal, Sushil, Saurab, Srikanth, Sreedhar, Tanoy and Vineeth.

A 13 seater tempo traveler was hired & decided that all will meet in front of City railway station (Majestic). We all met in majestic as planned @ 10.30pm. It did not take my much effort to introduce everyone to each other. This enthusiastic ramblers were all set to go. By 11pm we started our journey. To avoid the traffic on Tumkur road till Nelamangala,  our driver Raghu took magadi route. The plan was to reach kunigal by magadi road. Our main idea was to reach kalasa first & then check out the nearest tourist spots & then head to Kudremukha peak on day-2. Kudremukha in Chikamagalur is a hill station overlooking the Arabian Sea, 1894 meters above sea level and surrounded by mountain ranges. The distinct shaped peak after which the place is named, (Kudremukha means horse face in Kannada) is home to one of the biggest reserve of tropical evergreen forests in Karnataka. Retaining its natural beauty, with perfect grassy slopes, abundant green forests and sinuous streams, Kudremukha is untouched and unspoiled by pollution and external influences. You can enjoy trekking through the forests, sighting birds and wildlife.

Day –1:
By early morning we reached Kalasa. It was decided that we visit Horanadu Annapoorneshwari temple in the morning & then head towards other places.On the way to Horanadu by 8am we halted near a river bridge to freshen up. But the river did not seem fresh at this spot & we were reluctant to get in to water. As we were thinking what to do, the petty shop guy near the bridge told us about Ambha Theertha. This place can be reached either by vehicle (3-4 kms) or walk along the river upstream 2 kms. We started to walk along the river, 15 mins of walk & we couldn’t believe our eyes, we were in a totally dif ferent world. We couldn’t believe that this was summer. The place was awesome; the whole place was covered with fog. Just a kilometer away from the bridge the world seems so different & this was the best place to get freshen up. After mast-bath in river & photo session we headed to Horanadu temple for Annapoorneshwari devi darshan. After a peaceful darshan had break fast in the near by hotel. (Additional info : Free Break fast in temple is served between 7 – 8.30 am & lunch starts at 11 am) By 11 am we reached Kalasa. The next plan was to cover Hanumanagundi falls , Gangamoola, Lakya dam & by evening reach Mullodi. Kalasa (0 kms) – Samse (8kms) –Balgad/Mullodi (9kms) -Kudremukha (20kms) –Lakya dam – Ganagmoola (36kms) -Hanumanagundi falls (38 kms)

Our next spot was Hanumana gundi falls. As there are no hotels & not even shops near the falls, we decided to get our lunch packed from Kalasa. This falls also known as Soothanabbi falls is 38 kms away from kalasa. We reached Hanumanagundi falls by 1.30 pm . The waterfall was heavily guarded as it was a naxalite affected area. I would say summer is the best time to visit this falls, as this is the only time one could reach the rock bottom of the falls. The water was falling from about 50 ft, but it was gushing down with vengeance. As we stand under the falls, It was as if we were caught between a soft hammer & anvil, enjoyed this wonderful mother nature’s water massage. After a nice bath, showed some concern to the stomach, emptied all our lunch packets . Then we headed back towards kudremukha, en route covered Gangamoola & lakya dam. Gangamoola is few kilometers from Hanumanagundi falls & it is said to be the birth place for river Tunga, Bhadra & Netravathi. A kilometer walk from the road we reached Gangamoola, as it was summer the place was totally dry. Then we reached Lakya dam by 4pm. This dam was built by kudremukha iron ore company (KIOCL) to collect the waste materials from the mining operations and it is a dam of silt not water. From far the view of dam was just like a desert & it is surrounded by hills. The view just seemed like all the hills are holding together & hugging this dam. It was time now to head towards for what we have come for, to conquer kudremukha peak. Kudremukha peak can be reached by Mullodi from Samse side or by Naavuru from Belathangadi side. But the trek route to peak from Navuru is around 17kms & since it is banned to night camp in peak, this trek route is almost abandoned. The only feasible option is by mullodi as the trek route is around 10kms. By 5 pm we reached Balgal, (a kilometer before Samse) from here we have to reach Mullodi village which is 7kms away. The only option to reach this village is by Jeep or by walk. We parked our vehicle(TT) in Balagal as we were trek thirsty from morning, decided to trek from Balgal to Mullodi. After some refreshments & tender coconuts, started our trek to by 5.45 pm & reached Mullodi by 7.15pm. Our guide Arun was waiting for us. The night halt was planned in Arun’s house. He took good care of everyone & even hot water was available for bathing in the night. But most of then enjoyed the normal water bath. We all had a small song/dance session & mean while Arun (guide) helped us to cook the mixed vegetable soup we carried. The soup was yummy, perfect body warmer for chilly mullodi climate. Then dinner was served in tra ditional banana leaves. Dinner was great & the ripe jack fruit palya was superb. Then it was time for our intro session. All trek mates gave their intro in detail. Although Mithun’s intro was long (very long..) it was interesting. Ranjith menon’s “Baa Baa Black sheep” in carnatic style was entertaining great improvisation. Our chocolate hero Snehal let everyone know that he was engaged. Congrats mate..! Everyone was surprised to hear Srikanth’s encounter with wild animals in his trekking career. As usual Amit was a great entertainer,forgot to mention he has brought his laptop to trek to complete some office assignment. Guess appraisal time. Is his manager listening??? helloooooo…( but I did not see doing much work , again….. is his manager around & listening) After all this intro entertainment, finally it was time to take a nap. Saurab & mithun would have cursed me for telling people that sleeping bag was not necessary as it was march summer. But the reality was totally different, it was damn cold in mullodi, as this guys were near to window there were shivering. However I sneaked into Vineeth bed sheet since I missed mine at home.

Day –2:
Woke up early morning, got freshen up & had hot tea. Arun was ready with freshly cooked dosa in a big carrier. By6.45 am we started our trek. All were busy with their morning photo session & trying to capture the foggy hills. We crossed the Onti-mara on the w ay, trekking was mostly  through jungle & open area. By 9 am we halted for breakfast; the dosas made their way to our stomach, by 9.45 am resumed our trekking. As we were nearing the peak the common question was. Why this is called Kudrermukha(Horse face)? We tried to convince ourselves by matching peak top portion to a horse face as shown in wikimapia. Then it was time to climb the steep grasslands. Although it was sunny, the cool gust constantly blowing made the things easy. The views of the surrounding hills were splendid. Water is available all the way right almost up to the peak.The last water source available closest to the peak is roughly few 200-300 meters before the peak. Although the stream is very tiny, it is enough to fill the bottles. On the hill top before few hundred meters from peak, there is an old church. Myself, Shreedhar & Arunkanthan went near & spent time for our photo session. As we came out Saurab & Rajesh told us that they saw brown bear running in to the jungle. As we stand their, we all could hear the bear voice from the jungle. We just prayed & thought lucky to be safe. It was very close to the old church & lucky it did not come out. By 11.4 5 am we reached the peak. The only next thing we could do from here was to get in to the cloud. Captured the views all around in our camera. It was breath taking to look down from edge of the hill. A strong wind then we may have to parasail down to the ground without parachute. The peak was spread across wide & we could see one more peak with a flag. This was kilometer away from the peak we were standing & almost at the same altitude.

Saurab, Rajesh, Sridhar Srikanth & my self headed towards the other peak in curiosity. On the way to the other peak, in the mid way we just turned back,We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Rajesh & Saurab was the one to notice this one. The peak we came from is the actual Kudremukha peak, but it has to be seen from the other side. It is very clear that our picture shows the actual Kudremukha peak. BASC is the first to post the actual Kudremukha photo online & we are proud of it. An extra mile is always worth it & special thanks to Rajesh/Saurab. Hearing this Mithun & Arun ran to see the actual Kudremukha. Although cloud had covered by then, they just could get a glimpse. By 2 pm we started our descend. We braked for lunch at 3pm. Started  cooking our MTR ready to eat food. In the meantime Srikanth was preparing cucumber salad. All was well till this time, little did we know that this guy has added lot of chilly in the salad. Many got their stomach upset & ran in to woods. We resumed our trek & reached Mullodi by 6 pm.Jeep was waiting for us to drop to Balgal. 13 of us were packed in this jeep & headed towards balgal. Had great fun session in the short journey. In Balgal got back in to our vehicle(TT), on the way back decided to visit Horanadu again. Took bath in Horanadu public bathrooms (well maintained & clean) & had darshan of Annapoorneshwari devi. Had free dinner/prasada in temple. The bisi bisi rice , sambhar , butter milked filled our bellies, with great satisfaction we headed back to Bangalore & reached majestic by 7am.

Summary:
Destination – Kudremukha peak
Nearest KSRTC Reach – Kalasa/Horanadu
Nearest Spots – Horanadu Temple, Hanumanagundi falls, Gangamoola, Lakya dam.
Bangalore – Kalasa = 300 kms
Local Route details:
Kalasa (0 kms) – Samse (8kms) –Balgad/Mullodi (9kms) -Kudremukha (20kms) –Lakya dam (30kms) – Gangamoola (36kms) -Hanumanagundi falls (38 kms)
Day 1 – Kalasa – Horanadu – Hanumanagundi falls – Gangamoola-Lakyadam – Mullodi(home stay/Night camp)
Day 2 – Kudremukha peak – Mullodi village water falls & river
Economics/expenses – Roughly 1000Rs/head. (Includes Transportation,Home stay charges,Guide charges,Forest entry fee & others).
Home stay details – Arun - 08263214235/9481578065

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Written by: Satish (Courtesy: http://alibaba-and-thieves.blogspot.com/)
Event organized by: Satish
Image Gallery:
Satish, Srikanth, Shreedhar, Mithun

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The end of an Obsession-Ombattu Gudda: OG/4

Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast, how
Can I escape this irresistible grasp?

How does a 971m peak (that too not the tallest) in a range of 9 hills become an obsession? It does when you have faced situations wherein you were not sure that you would see civilization again. The dense forests, non-existent trails, leeches, insects of all varieties, venomous snakes, stingy scorpions, slippery rocks while walking into the river, 80 degree climbs in side forests and grasslands: you have it all during this trek. The next thing you do after failing and returning is you plot again to overcome this peak. A willingness to overcome the pain of failure and a love for spending another night in Kabbinale reserved forest range were at the heart of my desire to summit this peak.

11th of Feb, Ram sent out the mail for the trek to be organized by Bangalore Ascenders on 27th and 28th of the same month. I was unsure about joining till 3 days before the actual date, partly because of a few personal commitments and partly because of the ankle injury caused by the silly scooterist who rammed into me a couple of weeks before. But, as destiny plays out its part, X-ray revealed nothing serious and I was done with my commitments before the week was out. So, I was all set for this trek.26th of Feb, I ran around for the supplies and was all set by 7 PM, when Mudassar sent out the GPS log for the 2nd route (the one that runs along the Addahole river) before it takes a deviation on left to take the forest route to the OG ridge. I downloaded the trail onto my GPS along with the first route (for backup :-o). The first route deviates from water source early and with the humidity and heat of Feb-end, not a very advisable route to take.

26th Feb , 10.30 PM: The group of 23 gathered at platform 1A of KBS. A few were excited about OG, a couple looked apprehensive . I was more worried about the bus :-D. The bus was a Rajhamasa type. Since I booked separately and at the last moment, I paid for my procrastination with a left-window seat on the last row in the bus. My fellow last-row-mates were from a rock band, going for playing in a gig. The usual jams at Jalahalli cross and near the intersection for the flyover being constructed not withstanding, I hoped to gather some good sleep till the infamous Shiradi ghats. My hopes were dashed when I got the first bump on the road to Hassan. The road was being widened. It was a non-stop clatter for around 40 minutes. Hassan-Sakleshpur was pretty good route, except for the driver, who decided to step onto the gas and nearly hit a santro. Come Shiradi ghats, and only men with solid arses survive this test of endurance and with the driver refusing to step off the paddle, the experience separated the boys from the men. My co-sufferers in pain, the rockers, had a good time swearing at the roads, the driver and the political system :-D .

27th Feb, 4.30 AM: Addahole bridge, 1km from Gundya checkpost. Dark highway, trucks passing by, a full-moon night and then as a God-send: a tea-stall nearby. The tea was good and we waited till dawn-break to make our entry into the forest area. At around 6.50 AM, we started off for our first pit-stop (the Kabbinahole river crossing) after a group photo. The weather was pleasant, the pace was good. I was at the front of the pack. Met Harish there, nice bloke, who was still sore that he looked drunk in his first tryst with fame, a picture in Bangalore Mirror, as part of the article on Bangalore Ascenders. Nothing much to say about this rather boring part of the trek. The path first crosses the village houses, then the plantations and then leads into the forest. Never take a deviation here. Just keep going on the broader trail. We reached the Kabinahole river crossing at 8.45 AM, very much on our estimated time of 2 hours for this stretch. We were joined at this point by Naresh, making the group a pack of 24. The water of the river, true to its name, was very sweet.

After an hour of freshening up and breakfast, we were ready to move to our next destination, the falls created by Addahole river. At this point, we had an introduction session whereby people became aware of the others’ trek record , names etc before we again set off. The pace of the group was very good and we were near the falls in another 45 minutes. The falls provided an ample opportunity for people to get profile pictures clicked. Nice flat rock, beautiful falls nearby and since life is short and such views are hard to come by, we spent more time here than usual. I somehow managed to attract a couple of large butterflies, who kept on hovering over me but as life has its own way of playing out things, I had kept the camera in my bag, which was about 60m up on the trail above the waterfalls. Soon, we moved on from the falls to the Addahole river. Here, myself & Mudassar had a few deliberations on whether to cross the river. Ultimately we decided to stick to following the river and not take diversions away from it. It turned out to be a wise decision as when I tried to walk in the forest instead of the rocks on the river bed, I got a lot of thorns and binders around me. A slight mistake on my part disturbed a few bees nearby and I hit the ground for sometime. Once I was sure they were away, I got down to join the rest of the group and did the remaining part of the river walk on the rocks. There were rocks of different sizes, and we criss-crossed the river numerous times to get around. The humidity level was very high and all of us were in deep sweat. Very soon, we came across a good clearing besides the river, with enough shade for having our lunch at 12.30 PM. People had a royal time, scavenging on the food. I dozed off after lunch, only to find half the team in the same state after I woke up. This is what a good lunch does to you.

We started off around 1.30 PM. By this team, the sun was unbearably hot and most of us were walking in the shade whenever possible. The rocks became larger as we moved upstream. I got quite interested in a few of the bigger rocks, and tested out the Weinbrenner brand fully. The grip is awesome, dry or wet rocks, even on green fossils, especially when I was carrying the backpack which pulled/pushed me. Tried out a few difficult stunts, felt good to came off with them. One guy was not so lucky. He felt head backwards with his bag onto the river. Lucky escape, son. It could have been worse. The team now got split into 2-3 groups as the direction was known to all and everybody moved at his and her pace. Finally after around 2.5 hours of walking, we reached a junction point where the others were sitting. Naresh and Mudassar had gone to search for the camp site. Naresh came back and we collected firewood on the way to set up a campfire. After another 20 minutes of walking, we reached the camp site, which was a little flattish ground, with thick cover of big trees but ground was clear enough to lay sleeping mats and bags. Dinesh and m yself found the big rock more appealing for the night and made that our sleeping spot. Soon, we had hot soup as appetizer. I finished a full course with rajma chawal and dal fry followed by kesari bath. Talk about surviving on meager means in the jungle :o). The night was lovely and the fire was out by 8 PM. It was a full moon night and the sounds of the jungle took over. I did not get much sleep again, interrupted by the slide down on the rock as well as by my habit of staying up late. The jungle looked lit with a layer of white.

28th Feb, 4 AM: I gave up on sleep now and decided to do some star gazing. Rest were fast asleep. Snoring from Dinesh was the only noise in the jungle now :-P. About an hour later, I got up and did some stretches before the pressure turned on and I had to run with a bottle in hand. I am always wary about dry wood and rocks because of the possibility of snakes. Found a 4-feet snake :-D (too bad buddy, could not identify you, was trying to identify by the bands when you slid away) , the only wild life I encountered in this 2-day trek. Around 6, people started waking  up, freshening et al. By 7, most of us were ready and finished our breakfast. Mudassar, Naresh and myself were the first ones to move for the exploration of the deviation from the river on the right that takes one up the forest. After a few deliberations, we kept on moving as the deviation was 300m from the camp-site and we still had not covered that distance yet. At this time, the people behind were whistling. So, I waited for them(while Mudassar & Naresh moved on) to ensure that the groups are not split. Once they were there, I took off with Ganapathy. We made very good progress but both of us ended up too far away from the group. After around 15 mins, we backtraced and came back to see a path to the left going up and Mudassar waiting nearby. More discussions followed as I was a little apprehensive at taking the deviation earlier than what the gps trail showed. But since we would hit the ridge anyhow if we maintain the general direction of south-east for sometime, we decided to proceed. The initial jungle ascent is a little steep and that ascent later transforms into a crawling exercise where one has to employ all fours to pull one-self up. Loose rocks and thorny plants dominate this section. Best way to survive this section is to believe in your instincts only and not a nything external. So, if a rock/person is sliding down, just make way else you end up increasing the headcount. I got cut by  thorns numerous times in this section of the trail, in order to take the shortest route up, a not-so-wise decision in hindsight. However worse was in store for Ram, who unfortunately got hit by a stone and ended up with a deep cut. It took us around 30 minutes to settle down after this climb.

The forest section stretches further and takes a more north-east direction now and we end up aligning ourself towards the plotted trail. This section was much less steep and had good number of trees to hold onto and make our way ahead. I spr ained my ankle here while trying to dodge a vine and this made sure that I performed the role of a sweeper till the end of the trek. Very soon, we were out of the woods and into the grasslands around 11.45 AM. Grasslands are my worst nightmare at noon time. I along with Abhi, Hari, Adarsh, Jagy & Varun survived the worst of it. On every hump, we used to rest under a tree, even though the shade might hardly cover 2 persons. Can’t help – swalpa adjust maadi boys. Since there was enough time at our disposal, we had a royale time gulping on chocolates, grapes, dates and what not on almost each break. The views were good, but not stupendous and awe-inspiring.

The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win 

Finally, after a lot of leisurely talk, we reached the OG peak at 1615 hours. A few missed high-fives were followed by chest pumping and congratulating each other. Then the customary orkut/FB/matrimonial solo pictures followed. Lastly, a group picture of us 6 and a brief video followed. The images of previous failures and those nights in the wild with no clue what the next day will be, hovered across my mind while I was at the peak. These brief 15 minutes at OG peak injected new life into us and we crossed the next few humps without taking any break(co-incidence that there were no trees either :o)). Soon, we entered the forest section and came out in 10 minutes to meet the rest of the group. They were tired and without water. Soon, a few of them came back with water from Saraswati estate and we had water to the fill. Next up, were a few group pictures and the long walk to Lakshmi estate, 6 kms away from the start of the jeep track. Long, painful and boring walk interspersed with cool breeze and the evening coolness. We reached Lakshmi estate around 6.30 and after some really sweet tea, started on the hired bus from estate to Chikmagalur, stopping on the way for dinner in Mudigere.
Return journey was uneventful with good roads except the stretch of road widening after Hassan.

Highlights of the trek:
1. Excellent group dynamics and collaboration in each stage of the trek.
2. Good pace of the group, finished well within schedule.
3. Great soup in the evening on the first day.
4. Good organization and planning done by Ram.
5. Decisive inputs by Mudassar while making the decision to deviate at that point from the river while I thought that we should do it a little further ahead. Hats off.
6. Met quite a few interesting people in the group.
7. And the 5 amigoes as we moved from the beginning of the grassland to the end of the forest section near estate – you guys rock! Apologies if I was a little pushy on time management .
8. Hardly took any photos this time :-) . Good break after Raichur :-) trip.
9. High time a PIL is filed to close down Shiradi ghats for repair. Nobody has died of arse pain, but why take the risk?
10. Garmin GPS was like Moses :-) . It did not give up even in the thickest of forest canopies. So always go for a high sensitivity receiver GPS. And lastly, I have become a fan of Quechua backpacks now. This was the first time I used their 70-L backpack and the carrying comfort was far better than the other reputed brands I have used.
11. OG trek is not difficult if you know the route. Its more a moderate trek. But if you don't have much idea about the route and want to decide on the ground, then be prepared for the trek of a life.

For Future trekkers:
1. Don’t venture without proper information such as maps and compass or GPS.
2. Don’t litter the trail as has already been done in bits and pieces. Carry your garbage home and burn.
3. If you want to successfully conquer OG, stick to Addahole river (2nd route) as plenty of water will be available. There will be a meeting point of another stream. From there , the deviation up is just 100m away. You can camp opposite to the deviation if only 4-5 people are there. For groups of large size, need to go further around 400m from the meeting point and 300m from the deviation up to reach a bigger camp-site.

The important coordinates to note are:
Meeting point of stream : 12degrees 55 minutes 28 seconds North 75degrees36minutes 15 seconds East
Deviation point towards forest : 12degrees 56 minutes 01 seconds North 75degrees36minutes 28 seconds East

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Written by: Pranjal (Courtesy: SINDBAD – THE SAILOR )
Event organized by: Ram
Image Gallery:
Aashna,Adarsh,Mahesh,Jeevan,Vivek,Guru,Sujith,Nanne naanu,

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Kumara Parvatha: KP/2

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Walk the Ghat/1-Hulikal, for Trident team: E/1

     We a team of five Myself, Ganesh, Murali, Sanjay & Siva left majestic on Friday (5th Feb 2010) night in Kuppalli rajahamsa bus to Thirthahalli. For every one of us this Ghat was new. So not-much information was available about Ghat, route, lunch point, camping point, etc.

     By 7AM we reached Thirthahalli, which a typical Malnad town. It was a beautiful clear sunny morning. Behind bus-stand, there is neatly maintained public toilet, where we finished our morning activities and opposite to Bus stand there is a hotel, where we had Coffee & Buns (local delicacies, it’s really good). And we walked to Mayura hotel to have breakfast. This on Agumbe Road, 10 mints walk from Bus stand.Breakfast was really good. (Road opposite of Hotel will lead to Thunga river. But it is not a good place for bathing).
Our next destination was Mastikatte. Not many busses are there in that route. 7:15am, 7:45am, 9:10am, 10:10am, 11:30am & 1:00pm. So please plan accordingly. To Mastikatte its around 35km, 75mins journey. We caught 10:10am bus, and reached Mastikatte by 11:30am journey was too good, as road was between jungle and we could see many big lakes/dam backwater. From Mastikatte it is only 1.5km walk to Hulikal, but it was difficult under sun as there was no tree cover. In Hulikal, we went to Ganesh Bhat hotel, it is like a village home restaurant. We ordered (gave our Menu) lunch and went for bath at Varahi river, which is just 10-mint walk from Hotel. It is backwater of Varahi Project. Actually around that area there are 18 dams built for Varahi Hydroelectric Project. Advised not go deep in water, because of silt. We finished lunch by 2pm. It was home meal on banana leaf. We started our trek to Hulikal Ghat @ 2:15pm.  Hulikal Ghat starts from Hulikal and ends in Hosangadi. Total Ghat distance is 15km. Just 2km walk from hotel, we got Forest check post. Road left to check post will go to Dam (8km one way).  Forest Officer Manjunath gave some info about the Ghat, and wished us for safe journey. Two more km walk leads to Chandikamba Temple. This place called Balebare, so the Balebare Ghat. It is a beautiful temple which surrounds thick forest. Avalakki Prasada is available for 10\- which is really superb. Also free Lunch is available here. From here it is just 10km to Hosangadi (Ghat end point). We went down by 5:30pm. In Hosangadi entrance left road will go to Varahi Project , but now-a-days due to terrorist threat, entry is blocked for public. Hosangadi is a small town, and entrance to South Kendra. From here we caught a bus back to Hulikal, and ordered dinner (chapattis) in Bhattre Mane. We went to River side to set up campfire. We had chapattis in front for camp fire and enjoyed the night in open nature.Morning, we got up late. We had bath in Varahi river. By 10am we finished breakfast in Battara Mane. We had Avalakki, Khali Dosa and Neer Dosa for breakfast. Always we have to try local delicacies, which will be really good.We walked 1.5km to Mastikatte. From Mastikatte we got bus to ‘Nagara’. And in one more bus to ‘Sigandoor’ (via Nittur and Marakut aka, which is starting point of Kodachadri Trek). Sigandoor is a famous place because of Chamundi Temple. Sigandoor is just 60km from Nagara, but takes 2hours to reach. There is a Hotel here to have Lunch.  From here we caught one more bus to ‘Sagara’. This route is very special as bus will be loaded on a barge to cross Sharavathi river. Just 2km from Sigandoor, we get Sharavathi river. Due to very big Linganamakki Dam, Sharavathi river back water has submerged thousands of acres of forest. And this Sagara road is also cut by Sharavathi backwater. River here is more than 2km wide, which we will cross on a Barge (busses, cars etc will be loaded on barge), which takes 15-20mints. A really superb view, which cant be explained in words. Wherever we see, its full blue water, like a sea. One can spend time in Sharavathi backwater, but we should not go further into river, as it is extremely dangerous (it is 124feet deep in the middle). We boarded same bus to Sagara, from here it is 2hours journey.
By 4pm we were in Sagara., which is a big town. We reserved our return  journey tickets to Bangalore, in night bus from Shimoga. We had Lunch here. As we had time we visited Keladi, there is a famous Shiva Temple and a very big pond. We reached Shimoga, got our night bus to Bangalore. Totally this was a very different trek covering many new things. Many thanks for all, making this a memorable event.
Best plan is to go to Hulikal directly in Night Bus, put all your luggage @ Bhattre Mane (house), order Breakfast, go to River for Bath. After bath one can visit famous Lakshminarasimha Temple (opposite to Hotel). After breakfast you can start Hulikal Ghat trek only with water bottle. Do down to Hosangadi. Then again walk back to Balebare Temple, have Lunch at Bale Bare Temple ( or catch a bus to Temple). Spend time in Varahi Back water, have dinner at Battra Mane. Put a camp fire near river and enjoy nature. Next day morning leave early, proceed to Sigandoor (Sharavathi Backwaters), via Mastikatte, Nagara, and Nittur. Spend time in Sharavathi River, and by evening go to Sagara. From here back to Bangalore on night bus via Shimoga. Direct Busses are also available to Bangalore from Sagara. Both onward and backward journey tickets can be booked accordingly.
     Keladi is a special place in the history of Karnataka. Keladi dynasty, starting from 1499, they ruled for 263 years, under example set by Vijayanagar rulers. Famous ruler Dodda Sankanna Nayaka took pilgrimage to North India, where he took possession of Kashi Viswanatha Temple from Muslim Officers, got rebuild the Kashi Viswanatha Temple in 1585. He built many Mutts in Delhi, Kapiladhara, Gaya, Nepal. (In many mutts even today Kannada epigraphs can be seen). One more famous ruler Shivappa Nayaka, known for his efficiency and diplomacy. He introduced tax system, was known for “Shivappa’s Shistu”. Famous Queen Chennamma was a ruler of Keladi, known for intelligence, foresight, courage and bravery. In 1763 Hyder Ali of Mysore attacked and accessed Keladi. There were many Capitals, first was Keladi, then Ikkeri, Nagara, Bidanur, and Bhuvanagiridurga or Kavaludurga.)

Next Ghat walk to explore Bisile Ghat……coming soon…

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Written by: Ambareesh Karanth 
Event organized by: Ambareesh Karanth
Image Gallery: Ambareesh

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