Mullyangiri to Kemmangundi – A walk through heaven

I’ve been wanting to do the Mullyangiri – Bababudangiri trek since I heard about this scenic route. I had initially planned to do this in mid-late November with some friends. However, as best laid plans go, this one kind of unravelled as the date drew near. However, when I learned that Bangalore Ascenders would be also attempting the trail (with the added incentive of trekking all the way to Kemmangundi), I quickly signed up for the trek. The weekend before the trek was spent in getting the necessary supplies (food, sleeping mats etc.) as I didn’t want to leave anything to the last minute.

                                                                                      The View from Mullyangiri

Day 0 – Leaving Bangalore

We had planned to leave on Friday night and reach Chikmaglur by early morning on Saturday. By Wednesday we had all received details on the pick-up points. As planned I reached my pickup spot at Domlur at about 10:15 in the night. I met up with one of the participants, Omendra there. We spent quite some time waiting there as the Tempo Traveler was delayed. At long last, the much awaited TT arrived and we got in. We started moving to the next pick up point near Majestic and picked up the tents along the way. Finally the rest of the team boarded at Majestic and we started on what would prove to be an adventure of epic proportions.

 

Day 1- Of Tall Mountains, Dark Caves, abandoned towers and scary winds

We awoke on Saturday to find ourselves at Chikmagalur. After freshening up at the bus stand, we then went on to have a sumptuous breakfast and pack some Pulav for lunch. After Breakfast we boarded the TT and went on to the start of the trail. Since the TT could go to the camping site, we just needed to take some snacks and water along. Once again the lightweight daypack that I bought turned out to be quite handy. Pretty soon we had all picked up our day packs and were ready. The TT left for the camp site and we were ready to start the trek.

First we had a quick round of introductions. There were 13 of us in all: Ranjan, Muthukumar, Kiran, me, Tanoy, Karan, Nagarjuna, Praveen, Ganesh, Deepak, Omendra, Bharath and Girish. I had previously trekked with Girish and Muthu on the Kudremukh trek and with Karan on the leech ridden Kumara Parvatha trek. Also Deepak was a colleague of mine from work. The rest of the people were new faces to me and overall it was a pretty diverse group. After introductions we began climbing up the trail. That’s when someone realized that for some reason Muthu’s daypack as well as the main backpack were out on the road. Eventually, Girish agreed to pick up the main bag and carry it along. Our first destination was Mullyangiri. Mullyangiri which is 1930m tall is the highest peak in Karnatka. The trail that we took up was one with a slightly steep ascent, where we needed to climb up for about 2 hours to reach the top. The journey up was quick and we didn’t take too many breaks on the way up. Along the way up we were treated to beautiful views of the valley below and the surrounding hills. We also spotted some raptors (falcons) and were treated to their aerial acrobatics as they hovered in mid-air before diving down to snare their prey.
After about 2 hours we were almost at the top. Just as we were reaching the top, Deepak had a minor stumble. While he was alright, we definitely didn’t waste time pulling his leg about the minor “earthquake” that we had just witnessed. Just before the Mullyangiri peak, there is small cave structure and a bunch of us ventured into the caves to explore. The cave exploration party returned with interesting tales to tell of the almost 1km long cave, including those of spotting bats in the caves.

In another 10 minutes or so we reached the top of the peak. At the top of the peak there is a small temple. We spent some time exploring the temple and seeing the views from the temple. After we were done with our exploration we began our onwards to journey towards Galikere which was to be our camping spot.

                                                                                      The trail

This trail was more of a ridge walk that involved climbing and descending a few hills. We initially lost the trail a bit, but some quick back tracking had us back on the path in no time. The next few hours were spent walking along a beautiful trail that weaved over some jaw-dropping landscapes.

                                                            Climbing up the Hill

                                                                Resting on the Trail

After some time we began descending towards a road that we needed to cross. Just before the road we found a film unit shooting some scenes from a movie. We spent some time at the shoot, with Girish taking pictures of the lead actress – “Neetu”. We then started on the trail again. Before ascending, we stopped at an abandoned house to have our lunch. The pulav tasted delicious after our long hike to this spot. Nagarjuna had also bought along some chappatis and pickle that he shared. After we had filled our stomachs we started back on the trail. The trail once again began ascending and after a somewhat precarious climb we finally reached the final ridge that we needed to climb onto. At the top of this mountain was an abandoned BSNL tower, which was one of the landmarks on our trail. After resting here for some time we finished the remaining of the trail and reached Manikyadhara Falls which marked the end of the day’s trekking.
All of us were famished by then and we attacked one of the local food stalls. In no time plates upon plates of bread-omelette and parathas were devoured followed by some tea and coffee. By this time our TT had also come and after finishing our snack (and soon to be dinner) we began our journey to our camp site. We had decided to camp at Galikere which was about 7km from Manikyadhara Falls. We reached there just as the sun was beginning to set. After somehow reversing the TT on the narrow precarious road we started unloading the camping gear to set up camp.

                                                                           Sunset at Galikere

Galikere is actually a small heart-ish shaped lake on top of a hill with some flat area near the lake where one can set up camp. Apparently Gali-kere means “Windy-Lake” in Kannada, and we soon found out how apt this description was. We had a few T-2 tents and a T-3 tents which would be enough to house all of us for the night. We quickly set up the tents. Since it was very calm, Girish was of the opinion that we wouldn’t need to weigh down the tents. So we just weighed down the larger tent and moved to the campfire spot where Bharath had gathered some twigs and branches to set up a small campfire. By now it was becoming dark and quite cold. Already the night sky was lit up with thousands of stars and one could clearly see the Milky Way. Of late I have been obsessed with shooting the night sky, and I thought I’d take this opportunity. I set up my tripod and began taking some test shots. After a little tinkering, I managed to get one halfway-decent shot. Pretty sure that I had nailed the technical aspects of the shot, I packed away the tripod thinking I’d finish shooting after dinner and joined the rest of the people round the campfire. A lively session of introductions was on, and we had a wonderful time pulling each other’s legs in a nice session of bonhomie and camaraderie around the camp fire. After the fire had died down, we started preparing soup on the small stove that we had bought along. One of the guys got some water from the lake and we started boiling it. I had decided I’d have a pack of ready to eat cup noodles for dinner and was waiting with for the water to boil. The water was taking too long to boil so we thought of putting it over the embers of the fire and adding some more fuel to it. We moved the utensil to the campfire. After a little while the water had boiled and I added some to my noodle cup. That’s when all hell broke loose.
Suddenly the wind picked up and started blowing like crazy. So we huddled round the fire to keep it burning. That’s when someone noticed that the tents had started to become balloons and fly in the wind. With that started a mad scramble to weigh down the tents and keep them attached to the ground. We first put in all the bags into the tents, and weighed down the tents with rocks. When even that didn’t help, we just got into the tents!!
I had hoped that the wind would stop blowing after some time, but it didn’t. Thanks to the wonderful weather, I had to scrap my plans of shooting the night sky. We spent the rest of the night listening to the wind howling outside the tent, wondering whether the tent will fly away or collapse on us.

Day 2 – The long trek to Kemmangundi

The next day we woke up to the howling wind outside. It still hadn’t stopped blowing. In fact the wind was so fierce that we had difficulty moving around freely. A small mis-step and the wind would blow you away with it. After struggling with the wind, we finally managed to freshen up and wrap up the camp. Taking the tents etc back to the TT we realized to our surprise that it was absolutely calm near the TT !!!
Once again, we just needed to carry some food and water for the remainder of our journey and left most of our luggage in the TT which then made it’s way to Kemmangundi. We then started on the trail to Kemmangundi. The trail to Kemmangundi from Galikere is about 16-17 km in length and it passes over several small hills before descending from Kemmangundi through a coffee estate and passing by Kallathi Falls. This trail is not frequented that often by trekkers and the trail sometimes vanishes. Thankfully, Girish had the entire trail mapped on his phone. Armed with this info we started on the trail.

                                                           Sambhar running on the hills

The trail as usual was extremely scenic, more so with views of the forests in the valley below. As we trekked we came across several groups of Sambhar running on the hills. We also found some porcupine quills and an antler of a deer. After some time we stopped in a small clearing in the forest and heated some water from a nearby stream to cook our breakfast of cup noodles. Having done with the breakfast, we started again on the trail. By now it was fast approaching mid-day and it seemed that we had not made much progress. Thankfully the sun was not that sharp and the cool mountain air and breeze made trekking very enjoyable.

                                                   Hills on the way to Kemmangundi

In our endeavour to finish the trail, we took quite a few shortcuts down some steep hills and thick forests. After much walking we finally spotted some signs of civilization. We passed some houses where we met some folks who told us to quickly finish the trail as this was a reserve forest and we were not supposed to be there. We crossed the houses and began our steep descent to the coffee plantation. After some time we had reached the bottom of the hill and began the descent into the coffee plantation. We crossed several small streams and waterfalls along the way before finally reaching Kallathi waterfalls and exiting out of the coffee estate. After having a quick dip at the waterfalls we started back for Bangalore. On the way we had an excellent dinner at a dhabha. We finally reached Bangalore at about 4 the next morning ending a wonderful adventure made memorable by some great company.

Event Name: Trek from Mullayanagiri to Kemmannugundi: M2K/1_Nov_19-20-2011

Original Writeup by: Elroy

Event organized by: Girish

Image Galleries: Tanoy, Girish, Nagarjun, Muthu, Karan

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Kudremukh Trek – Oct 22nd & 23rd

Kudremukh was a long awaited trek of mine and badly wanted to go  there. Bangalore ASCenders came up with a great itinerary and 13 of us left to Kalasa, the nearest town which is 11 kms away from Mullodi village, which is the starting point of the trek. I had read some blogs n Newspaper articles saying that the National park will be converted into a tiger reserve and trekking will not be allowed and stuff like that but its still possible if you go through locals/guides. Getting permission is also not easy so its better to contact the guides n go.

Kudremukh is at approx height of 1890mts [internet] and according to our guide its somewhere around 1700mts above MSL. There are as many as 13 routes to the peak [some say 18]. The name is derived from the shape of the peak which looks like Horse’s face. You can’t get to know it looks like that unless you go to another peak next to it. Some say it looks like that from Kemmangundi too. It comes under Chikmangalore Dist near the Udupi n Dakshina Kannada borders. It is very famous for its flora & fauna and the Shola forests.

Day 1 –

After a decent sleep, we were in search of a place where we could freshen up. A local suggested us to go to Ambu/AmbaTheertha [A river]. It was supposed to be half a km walk but we screwed up the route n after much roaming around we found another local who lead us to the place. It is an accident prone area. It is a very nice place where the water was at its full flow. We went a little away where the water was gentle n freshened up. It was a foggy morning and we went back to Kalasa in search of food. We got a pretty good breakfast and headed inside the Kudremukh National Park to Hanumanagundi Falls [Also called Suthanabbe]. Was passed through Samse village which looked like Munnar to most of us. There were beautiful tea gardens.  We also went to Lakya dam on the way which is not in use now so nothing to see. HanumanaGundi is a pretty small falls where the water plunges down from around 40ft. Nice place to take a dip and most of us were inside the chill water soon. The water is not flowing down but the drops with full flow were hitting you like pins. Nobody cared for it, Standing under a fall is an amazing feeling anyway! Couple of pics and we were going back. We went to a place called Ganga Moola, a place where Bhadra&Thunga rivers are supposed to originate. It’s a kms walk in the grasslands and into the forests. We didn’t find the place we wanted but found the leeches instead! I had already got four for the day with more expected the next day.

It was noon by then and we headed to Mullodi where Rajappa, our homestay guy was waiting. We got into a jeep and headed to his place. It’s a bumpy ride of 6kms on the jeep track. Just a km by, we saw a snake live& it was first time in life it happened but it just swiveled away as we stopped. We were really hungry by then so we had lunch in Rajappa’s place as soon as we reached. You can hear the sound of water from his place and we headed to the Somavathy falls, just 5mins walk away from where we stayed. Most of them got into the water but I planned to do it after the trek and also due to shortage of clothes :P
  We had to leave very early the next morning so we hit the bed pretty soon.

Day 2 –

It was early morning around 6.10 by the time we left. We had packed Breakfast & lunch and I felt this was the right time to leave to avoid the evening rains and the heat of the noon. You need to walk for half a km to see the peak and once you see, it looks a really long way. We were accompanied by our guide Arun who was friendly. The trek is 10kms one way and it takes 3-4 hours to reach the top according to your speed.

You go through varied vegetations in the first half. There are forests, tall bushes, little patches of plains and grasslands. All of them are really different from what you find in other treks. You cross a number of streams throughout the route so there is no problem for water. The currents will be very high in monsoon but it was pretty easy now. As your move further, you move into the bushes which are as high as you and then you start ascending small lush green hills which take you to the other side of the valley. It was around 7.30 by then and the sun was shining in all its glory and it was giving a beautiful touch of gold to the green hills. It was a really soothing view to your eyes and it looked the same all through the ascent. The farther gigantic mountains were still a little misty to give a really good view but you knew, it was big and you are heading there!

  You could see the TirumalaGuppi peak behind which too was covered by mist most of the time. A little further before the Onti Mara [Stand Alone tree], we stopped for breakfast and it was 8 by then. We had to make it really quickly for the leeches weren’t allowing us to take our time. A quick bite into some Rice Kadabu [local idlys] and we started again. The next patch of around two kms is through forests and bushes. The bushes were all over you and it is itchy. The next patch of forests was filled with bamboos and more so with wet leaves which are home for the leeches. I could see so many and most of them were huge. You need to be really quick to avoid them. I almost hit out 10-15 leeches form my legs. Once you get through this, you would be at the absolute base of the peak. You could go in the actual route which goes round the peak but some in our group wanted to cut through to the left where there is no route but it leads you to the main route very near to the peak. Its pretty steep but you can save a good 30mins if you go that way. We saw only a single deer far away but the guys who went the other way spotted a bunch of them. The last stretch is full of ascending but it gives breathtaking views of the valley and you can see the route you came along. The last 500mts is a kinda flat. You can see an abandoned Church built by the britishers just a little before the peak. It was starting to get misty by the time we reached the peak.

   It was 10 by the time we reached the top. You couldn’t actually get to know the horse’s face unless you are too imaginative. You can actually see it from the peak to the right of KM but since it was too misty, we didn’t go. At the top, looks were as if the clouds we kissing the peak often. A pretty sight! We spent good 40mins at the peak, clicking snaps & munching snacks and headed back to a small stream 100mts away, where we had kept out lunch [only if you can call it so] to eat some more and start descending.

After that quick meal we headed back. It is not easy to descend quickly as the path is steep and slippery. Guide told us it would take 3 hours usually but we did it much before that.

We spotted huge group of bisons but it was too far for us to get a good pic of it. As we were getting down, the background we getting engulfed by the mist. All the way while getting back it was completely misty behind us. It was as if the mist was trying to catch us but we were too quick ;) Though there was no hurry we literally ran back. We were back by two itself and we badly wanted a dip again after a sweaty day. Except for the late comers, everybody jumped in and it was much needed. We were really hungry and Rajappa was ready with hot lunch and everybody hogged on and we bid adieu to Rajappa and Arun who gave us good facilities. We visited the famous Hornadu temple and headed back to Bangalore!It was a wonderful trek. Kudremukh lived upto all my expectations. This is the right time to trek here like most other places.  The route is long and it might drain you if you’re not fit or a regular trekker. It was a much awaited trek and it was worth all the wait. Special mention of a young & enthusiastic Tanish, 7^thstd guy who came along with his dad & completed the trek. Usually I would be the youngest among the lot but felt really happy that a guy 5 years younger to me also had the passion to trek. The group too was great & thanx to Girish for organizing the event. Will surely do this peak again from a different route even if its after a long time. Kudremukha is really different & a must on a Trekker’s CV ;)

Event Name: Trek to Kudhremukha Peak: K/2_Oct-22-23-2011

Written by: Sharath

Event organized by: Girish

Image Galleries: Muthu, Prabhakar, Karthik, Suresh, Elroy part 1, part 2, Sharath, Girish, Naveen, Santhi

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Social Responsibility- Joy of Giving week

Let’s celebrate India’s giving festival together…Yes BASC celebrated the Joy of Giving Week i.e. from Oct 2 to Oct 8 with under privileged aged women from a Day care centre

Likely questions:
1. Is Joy of week a western trend ? Are we just following westerners?
Ans - No , We believe its a Indian initiative. Also how does it matter (Indian or Western) when the idea is to help someone.

2. Why old women & that too take them to malls , instead of wasting money we can contribute the same to their basic
    things? Are u crazy ?
Ans -  YES I’m. They are old, if they don't see Bangalore malls & multiplex now……THEN WHEN ???????????
We are also looking to contribute for the basic , but let us make them happy first.

3. Can we help children instead?
Ans - Yes we will. But lets help aged people now.

Thanks Jayshree for reminding about joy of giving week. Thanks Champa & Soumya for the leads. Thanks to all the contributors and supporters without whose support the event wld not have been successful. Hope to take forward this tradition in the coming years.

Here are the details of Day care center.
http://shankaricare.in/

What did the participants from BASC had to say….

Pradeep,
I had a wonderful time last Saturday, The energy and enthusiasm among the old(well not the right word in this context) left many of us spell-bound.

Sreedevi
If i’m to say..'njoyed the day out'...it would be an understatement for what I experienced this Saturday. Thanks to BASC for organizing this outing, a great gesture of love and affection for the aged. also to all who volunteered to come in support for this.

Tejaswini
I am glad that I joined you guys for the social responsibility activity on Oct 8th. I got to meet so many new people especially the dear Ajjis. :)  It was a wonderful and fulfilling experience. I hope we get to do more such activities on a regular basis. Thanks for organizing this amazing event.
 

Visit our Group @ CLICK HERE

Event organized by: Satish
Compiled by: Mudassar
Image Galleries:
Satish, Pradeep, Sreedevi

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Hercules City Challenge 2011 - Bengaluru

Four out of the top 10 finishers were from our club (30kms in less than 60 minutes with mountain bikes).

1) Nagaraj Cannondale Harsha (First MTB rider who reached the destination - 50 min)
2) Rajesh P Nayak3) Vivek Kubaji4) Mohammad Rafi

Some tips to the first timers

Day Before Race Day:- Make sure your bike maintenance is complete at this point and don’t leave anything untested.   Clean your chain and wipe your bike down with babywipes. A clean bike is a happy bike.
- One of the most frequent questions beginners ask  is "what are you supposed to eat the day before a race ?"  The answer is: Nothing different that you’d usually eat the day before a ride.  Don’t go and eat a mountain of pasta the night before if you’re not used to it.   That’s the biggest wives tale in sports. If you’re going to carb load, do it right.
- Make sure you have all your water bottles filled, your energy foods organized and your equipment laid out, etc.  Get absolutely everything ready the night before so that you’re not stressing about it on race day.
- What do you eat and drink while racing you ask?  Well, if it’s a 1hr crit, I wouldn’t recommend having anything more than a bottle of energy drink and maybe a gel.  If you’re doing a long event, you might want to read this post .  Anything more than 70-90km for your first race is highly unlikely. Basically, try to eat and drink about 500 calories per hour after the first hour.  For example, a bottle of energy drink has ~200 calories, a gel has ~90 calories, and a powerbar has ~250-300 calories.  Mix and match based on preference and the length of the race.
- Don’t take a full rest day on the day directly before a race.  Do a race preparation ride to get the body used to recruiting those specific muscles that you’ll be using tomorrow.- Hydrate!- Get all the start times, directions and maps for the race printed out.  Know where the start line is and be there 100% ready to race 1/2hr before you need to.
- The preparation is the best part of the race.  All of the stuff above may seem overwhelming, but in my opinion it’s the most fun part of the process. Savor it!Race Day:- Since this is your first race, it’ll probably begin very early in the morning (most of the lower categories do).  Have a good breakfast about 3hrs before the race start if possible.     Eat either some toast, oatmeal or muesli along with some fruit, and juice and coffee.  Also have a small amount of protein (maybe an egg, yogurt,  or some peanut butter on your toast).  The protein will slow down the absorption of sugars into your bloodstream.  Nothing too massive or out of your ordinary routine.- Before the race make sure you have your race license.  Double and triple check this!  You won’t be able to race without it.- Check the forecast and make sure you’ve prepared the proper clothing.  Take a look at some of the A-grade or Cat1/2 riders and look at what they’re wearing.  Wear what most of them are wearing.- Once you get to the race, get signed in, and have your number pinned on your jersey, go and check out the stretch before the finish line.  If it’s a road race, check out the final kilometer.   See if there are any turns or round-abouts in the road, and get familiar with this stretch of the road. This is when things will really pick up and you need to be prepared for that.  You don’t want to be near the back of the bunch in the last km or lap.- Positioning plays a massive part of road racing.  Being at different places in the pack will require different amounts of energy to stay there.  Its not a good idea to be at the back of the bunch nor directly at the front (unless it’s 100m from the finish).   If you’re not a strong climber, make sure you’re one of the first people to start the climb so that you can slowly drift back and still be in the bunch by the time you’ve hit the top.  If you’re not good at accelerating, don’t be at the back of the bunch in a criterium.   There’s no better way to get the hang of this than experience. I could write for days on positioning.- try to drink one bottle of fluids every hour. If the race is a crit, eat your gel in the last 20 minutes of the race.  It’ll perk you up and give you some more energy for the finish.  It’s amazing what a little bit of sugar can do.
- The goal for your first race should not be to win.   I would not recommend trying to take part in the final sprint at this stage of your career.  These can be extremely dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.  You are also likely to be a danger to everyone else out there if you’re too eager.  Watch and learn.  The goal should be to gain the experience you need to eventually win.

Reference:http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/02/your-first-bike-race/

Race FAQ’s:Check here
Complied by: MudassarEvent coordinated by: RafiImage Galleries: Anand and Rafi

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Kashmir of South India- Munnar in Kerala:Treknic4

Munnar is an incredibly beautiful hill town positioned at a height of 6000ft in the Idukki district, Kerala. With an extensive stretch of tea plantations amidst the high mountains and unspoiled valleys, Munnar gives a very pleasant feeling. The scented cool air is filled with the aroma of spices. The rising and falling terrain of Munnar is covered with forests and grasslands. 

Day 0 - Preparation & Meet Up

Munnar has always there in my visiting list. All friends occupied themselves for Rakhi & Independence Day weekend and I was going through my options. However, nothing seems to be finalized until I received a mail from BASC regarding Munnar Trip. After few dropouts, I was accommodated.

We met on 12th Aug @7.30pm. A total of 20 BASC Members few known, many unknown started for the Journey.

DAY 1 - 13th Aug

When I woke up in the morning, we were in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. After some time we saw many windmills across the road... we were in Pollachi. A few hours later, the dry forest started with monkeys around :) and later we reached "Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary". 

After sorting, the permissions and taking pics of few monkey families around, a forest guide took us for a trek inside the sanctuary.

During the initial 150mts, we spotted some animal “pichvada”. I can only remember "yellow tail" :). The forest was full dry and we spotted nothing after day. The guide took us to a small river flowing down from Thoovanam waterfalls with a caution. We relaxed ourselves @river, doing eating / brushing / extra... (The other way around literally speaking). I also see "Tiger" (Nickname of My friend), doing monk eying around. Anyway, it soon ended and we started back. In the mean time, we visited a watchtower, took some snaps and went back to sanctuary base. We finished our lunch and started forward to Munnar our main destination.

On the way to Munnar, we visited Lakkam waterfall. Chk the pic to read its story :) Here few of us had "teetar" bird egg bhurji. It was OK, a litter bitter to my taste. Soon we started and we were presented with majestic tea garden across. A road in the middle, surrounded by Tea Garden.... It was beautiful to say the least. On the way, Jinu enquired about the timing of "Eravikulam National Park". He mentioned it as 7.00am. Anyway, through the scenic beauty of tea garden we reached our accommodation at AIDA by 5.30pm. We accommodated in three room. Few of the members opted to stay back and relax, few took their cameras and headed north/south/east/west.. I don't know the direction as I was busy sleeping. :)

Hang ON!!! Day 1 is still to be closed. My roommates and I started around 7.30pm for the dinner. In the market, we can see only Tea Shops... not for drinking but fresh tea for taking home. Infect, there are hardly any tea stalls. Ok.. Moving on.. we had our lunch in the outside dhaba (others No idea) and came back move to play cards. We played cards for 2-3hrs ... having blanket maar for winning/forcing others to loose. Thts it.. we retired for the day after spending not so amazing time outside as most of time we were in the bus :P

DAY 2 - Munnar Visit

The day started with the visit to "Eravikulam National Park". It opened @8.00am and we were the first batch to reach there. We were taken to the park base and left there to enjoy the scenic. We already knew there were no Animal sightings. Hence, we wandered through and came back with good pics.. thts it. It is told that blue blooms happens once in 12yrs and is worth a visit. During this visit, few of the members started proposing there places to visit but they themselves delayed and hence more places were not explored.

Hmm.. we then spend half-n-hour roaming around the market near the national park until Jinu figured the bus. In the mean time, we had fresh carrot, green mangoes, buttas to name a few. There were truly delicious :) Tht contributed to good breakfast since we were further delayed due too traffic jam. Anyway we reached Munnar by 11.00am, had our breakfast/lunch, and headed to Mattupetty Dam.

 

The dam was crowded. We parked our vehicle after few knots and headed for the river. Few clicks and again the journey started. This time to 'Kundala Dam'. Here, three of the gates were open however, there was hardly any water flowing through it. We thought of boating but being a Sunday, it was too rush.

Then, through "Lock Heart Gap" we traveled to the "echo point" and "Top Station". The trip through "Lock Heart Gap" unveiled the breathtaking panorama of evergreen tea estates, undulating valleys, a spine of hills in the horizon and streaks of cloud drifting over tea gardens. We traveled to "echo point" and then headed to "Top Station" for the final visit of the day. Some of the members decided not to visit the "Top Station" viewpoint because of Fog (better to say passing cloud), Rain and Crowd. For others those things contributed to disappointment especially there was hardly any view and they decided to stay back.

We came back and struck in traffic in crossing ourselves not bus (it was far ahead). On the way we stopped near Kannan Devan tea plantation and posted for pics :). Soubrab was left when we started from this place. In addition, here we saw Mandir, Majid and church location within 5KM giving the prospects of communal harmony.

Thts the end of Day 2 with more visits but for less time :( since the traffic was eating up the time. Similar to Day1, we had our dinner, cards playing and rest.

DAY 3 - Kolukkumalai Tea Estate

The initial plan was to keep our language at the hotel and come back for lunch & vacate it. However, Team decided to check out the hotel @morning only since checkout was possible within 12.00pm.

Anyway, we started for Chinnakkanal by 7.30am. On the way we halted near periyakanal waterfalls. It was one of source of drinking water for Munnar. He had our photo sessions before proceeding further. Here again Sourab and other person was left behind. Jinu had to go back around 500mts to get them... They didn't knew & were still busy photographing. Crazy guys!!!.

Next, we suddenly stopped somewhere and Jinu went and came back with three Jeeps.

Well.. It was to take us to 'Kolukkumalai Tea Estate', the highest organic tea garden. The ride to the estate about an Hour was one of the memorable experience to say the least. I definitely recommend a ride here for those think they are the best drivers.

The road to/from this tea estate is unpaved and very uncomfortable... It like getting free massage for your leg, body, silence mind. It was a horrible drive. I guessed I would have trekked in less time. Anywayz, the view from the top of the estate was zero  for the fact that huge cloud cover. We later went to estate tea estate company for a demo of the tea preparation. The tea factory is about 70+ old and still uses traditional method for tea preparation. Later after purchasing tea we came back to base where our bus was parked, again via un-describe road. My mind was roaming like anything once we came back. I had to take instant food & water to get going.

Anyway, we started back to Bangalore via Body-Theni-dindigal route.

Summary:

Day 1 - Chinnar Wild life Sanctuary , Thoovanam, Lakkom falls

Day 2 – Rajamala, Eravikulam National Park, mattupetty dam, Kundala dam, Echo point, Lock Heart Gap, Top Station

Day 3 – Chinnakkanal, Periyakanal waterfalls, sooryanelli, Anayirangal dam, Kolukkumalai Tea Estate

Pics  Courteousy: Tanoy, Girish, Debashish, Pratab, Gururaj, Jinu, Naveen

Original Writeup by: Tanoy

Event organized by: Jinu John

Image Galleries:Naveen, Debashish, Gururaj, Tanoy, Girish, Guruprasad S, Pratap,  Jinu John

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Gavi and Thekkady – a treknic to Kerala

Gavi..?? where in Kerala? Is it a tourist place? Which district it is? etc these were the queries i got after posting the event in the website. Monsoons in its peak time,bad time to visit the forests of Periyar tiger reserve. Good response and a bunch of people registered within the first week and was forced to close the registration within few dates.
So Friday night I reached Shanti Nagar bus stand from where our bus to Kumily was booked. People started coming and finally after all late comers majority seats of the bus were filled by the ascenders. We started of to Kumily, morning when woke up we were in the plains of Tamil Nadu near Kumbam. Hills far ahead, grape farms and drizzling, a good sign to start up with the day. We could see a waterfall sliding through the hills and I made an announcement its Chellarkovil waterfalls and we will be visiting that today. All heads out of windows to see it:):).
After 1 hour of climbing up from Cumbam we reached Kumily... cool and pleasant atmosphere welcomed we crossed the check post in border to Kerala. We checked in to hotel and decided to start by 10.00AM after breakfast with a Jeep ride. mean time went to the forest office and made the arrangements for Gavi passes. By 10.00AM 4 Jeeps were in front of the Hotel and all occupied the best seats and we headed off to Ottakathalamedu (camel head top, if I translated correct ) view point in Kumily. When we started climate was good but as we attained altitude it started drizzling.

We reached the peak and drivers showed doubt of going to the peak by vehicle through muddy paths. Rony chettan decided to give a try and after some struggling crossed the muddy area to reach the view point, followed by other Jeeps. Even tough drizzling, rain coats, umbrellas, click click click... click mine... see that peak, mist , people started framing the natures beauty. The view of the hills around and the Thekkady lake and forest all framed and captured well. A failure attempt to have an introduction section due to rains and we started to Chellarkovil waterfalls as promised in bus. Down pour was more and was non stop. We reached an estate and waited for the rain to stop. We had a nice lecture about the Chellarkovil waterfalls, the life around Kumily and the farming in the high range. Slowly rain reduced and we moved through the estates to the waterfall view point. Disappointment spreaded to all the faces... mist every where and cant even see anything, not even the plains down was visible. Waited for more than 1 hour and no chances of the villain moving out, we started back. Went back to the estate and climbed the tree house, and a call from the top.. "he's moving out lets go back.". Huge energy and all started running back to the view point... what a beauty the valley down and hills spreading across. The plains of Tamil Nadu in Cumbam and Theni down, the hills of  Kerala dividing it with Kerala. Chellarkovil waterfall going down to Tamil Nadu side was a fest for the eyes. Mist playing hide and seek and with lots of satisfaction we moved back to the tree house. Checked the time and its almost 3:00pm, all forgot about having lunch only and we headed towards Ampady hotel and had a tasty lunch and came out. Again some clicks around the hotel surrounding. We decided to walk towards Thekkady lake through forests dropping the boating plan, and it proved to be right decision thick forests in both sides and little wild life and some leach encounters we reached the Thekkady lake. Spent some time over there and headed back to Kumily where a martial arts show was going on. Got tickets and all occupied their seats and the show started, one by one the items were shown and was surprised to see their body language and the rhythm they followed in the show. They even performed some fire works in the dark which too  was a feast to the eyes.

The first day programs over and the gang dispersed for shopping and dinner.. Kumily being a good place to buy spices and handicrafts people got a lot to shop, and food of all types. All went to sleep as we have check out from hotel and start  early morning by 5:00 AM to Gavi.
Morning 4:00AM the annoying mobile alarm, snoozed and went back to sleep under the thick blanket. Again alarm, this time realizing the time got up and freshed up. Went to all other rooms and gained all the bad words for waking them up. Jeeps had come, chilling morning and all got into jeeps. 1,2,3...29 head counts, multiple times, 3 people are missing. Went every where searching and Rony chettan suggested to check the rooms. Got the key back from reception and opened the rooms one by one... what the hell... 3 Kumbakarnas still sleeping. All scoldings and a time line to reach reception with 15 minutes. By 5:40AM all started off to Gavi. Green carpet of tea plantations,civilization and all disappeared behind us and reached Vandiperiyar forest check post. Check post entries and the jeep roof tops opened we enter the forests of Gavi. Beautiful landscapes and streams flowing between them and the music from nature welcomed us. We climbed a small hill as instructed by the driver and spotted  some Indian Gaurs on a near by hill. These jeep drivers have a sharp eye in locating wild life, and they have some favorite spots and they tell that wild animals are usually spotted in those places. Time was 7:30AM still we had a feeling that it was only 6:00AM due to the mist and darkness in forest. green green every where we traveled and stopped at view points, pictures and finally reached Gavi.  The Gavi is an isolated village hamlet deep inside forest with very less population. Wildlife is abundant here. This area was unknown to the most of outside world before tourism started. The trek to wilderness, lake in Gavi and boating in that is a highlight of the place. The delicious breakfast from the canteen and guides were assigned to our team to trek in to the wild. We were given leach socks, rain coats and all all set ready. Rain gods having no mercy continued, but we couldn't stop trekking and followed the trail. Beautiful landscapes and mother nature in full glory, and no doubt it became a monsoon trek.

We descended to a hut deep inside the forest, the guide showed us a tiger pug mark. Just down the hut there was a stream and waterfall, visited that and here comes challenge.. we need to cross the stream. By forming human chain crossed the stream and ascended back to Gavi.  After a tiring trek had a delicious lunch there comes another news , elephants appeared near Pachakkanam forest.
We asked the guide and our drivers to take us there. Jeeps started and headed into wild routes again to Pachakkanam forests. Jeeps stopped and we could see a group of elephants in a distant peak. the guide advised its not safe to go near, on requesting again he asked people who's ready to run on being chased by elephants can come. I passed on the message and few of the people started hiking. By this time elephants realized our presence and started showing their digress of our approach. We went nearer to an adjacent hill and took photos. They again started showing their dislike to our presence , and our fear of having more elephants in the near by grasses made us to go down. We returned back as it was getting late and we need to finish our boating and exit the forest before 6:00PM.

Went back to the lake where boats were ready for us. We divided into 2groups as there were no sufficient boats and life jackets. A pleasant sail in the Gavi lake headed us to a surprise a waterfall on one edge of the lake. Got down and headed close to the waterfalls and lot of fun and bath in the ice cold water.

Headed back to the canteen where the next group was waiting. While the other group went to waterfalls we had a visit to the store room where lot of skulls and bones of elephants and other animals were kept. Surprised to see so huge elephants skulls and all.  All back and few of us climbed the hill behind to have a distant view of Shabarimala temple deep inside forest. When we were there our guide came and told its time to head back.
We sat in Jeeps and headed back to Kumily, on the way a sudden stop and shh..sh... See a step ahead in the forest. A group of elephants so close again.

Again clicks and clicks.... Satisfied all head back to Kumily. Reached Kumily and end of 2 days Treknic and truly a monsoon treknic with a bunch of  like minded friends.
This treknic was with Bangalore Ascenders, a non profitable trekking group based in Bangalore .
Video composed by Navendu,

Kumily and Thekkady:

Kumily is a town near Thekkady and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Idukki District, Kerala. Its one of the major tourist locations and main spices trade center.
Nearest Airport: Even tough Kumily is inKerala, nearest airport is in Madurai, which is some 120 Kms
Route : bangalore- Salem - Dindigul _ Theni - Cumbam - Kumily - Gavi
  : Cochin - Vandiperiyar -Gavi
Regular buses are there from Cumbam in Tamil Nadu. Also regular buses ply from Kottayam and Cochin in Kerala.
Gavi lying in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala is a must visit place where lot of eco tourism projects which you should book in advance. They have one day package and camping packages depending on season.
From Kumily Gavi is approachable via Vandiperiyar. The road continues via Pachakkanam, Kochu Pamba till Pathanamthitta which you may not be permitted to do by Forest officials. one or two KSRTC buses runs to and fro between Kumily and Pathanamthitta via Gavi which is a rewarding trip if you have time. It starts early morning and ends at evening.

Accomodation and Food: Gavi accommodation if required you should book well in advance. Kumily there are lot of options available for food and accommodation.

Write up: Jinu John

Orginal Post: http://www.jinujohn.com/2012/07/trekking-in-thekkady-and-gavi.html

Join Bangalore ASCENDers @ CLICK HERE
Event organized by: Jinu John
Image Galleries: Sreeraj , Pranjal , Pratap , Gururaj , Sanjana , Anusha , Sreevalli , Jinu

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