Its a lazy sunday afternoon, I hadn’t taken a ride on the bullet for almost 3 weeks now.

Two options: Take a well-deserved good nap or take-off on an unplanned ride:

Obviously decided to go for the ride. Most minimum gear: Mandatory helmet, Leather gloves and a rain-coat, coz its the monsoon season.

View Sunday Ride #1 in a larger map

Leaving Home

NICE Rd Toll Gate

Bullet against NICE Rd

Link Rd overbridge on Uttarahalli Rd

Uttarahalli Lake fully dried due to delayed monsoons

Kids playing cricket on the lakebed in the distance

TODO: Find new route, fix the bike and buy better gear (maybe a cramster jacket)..

“Sun Soaked Departure – Rain Lashed Arrival”

Any trip log starts with the description of an ‘itch for a ride’ reason. So, lets go ahead and say that a bunch of bikers/wannabes wanted to ride and ride long.

[image above: the team]

Introducing the riders (from right to left)
1) Kamlesh aka ‘Sherpa Kamli’ –> the snow trekker –> Bullet 350 (Standard)
2) Guru aka ‘Guru bhai’ –> ice cool biker –> Bullet Machismo 500
3) Sai aka ?? –> Pulsar 180 (UG3)
4) Nasir aka ‘Nazi bhai’ –> team photographer, fog clearer, super entertainer, official account keeper (MBA works!!) –> Pillion on Kallu’s bike
5) Joe aka ‘Joe Rocket’ –> globe trotting navy man –> Bullet 350 (Electra)
6) Calvin aka ‘Kallu mama’ –> true dreamer (the one responsible for all 7 of us in the above frame) –> Bullet 350 (Electra) (getting a pillion who does not happen to be your girlfriend is a true achievement … its friendship … hats off to you)
7) Sumesh aka ‘somer sault man’ –> official timekeeper –> Bullet 350 (Electra 5S)

Life is very funny.
It gives you a lot of friends and lot of TIME to play around with when you are studying (ie., not financially INdependent). And now, you have a decent sum in your pocket not knowing how to get back those engineering times.
We are a lucky group (touch wood) and this discussion would always happen when we met at least twice a month. This trip is a very pleasing conclusion to that question and i pray that i keep concluding like this frequently on our future trips.

Kallu and Joe took the initiative and planned out the trip. The below power point presentation being a testimonial to that.
[slideshare id=210601&doc=cut-thru-breeze-part2-119835783220189-2&w=425]

Day 1 (15th December)

Me, Joe, Kallu+Nasir and Kamli meet up at HAL and ride to Madivala to meet the others (Sumesh and Guru). After an initial chat we start our road trip at 5:30 AM.

[image above: Band of bikers (including the photographer) at the starting point at madivala]

The ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri was very flat & smooth (literally speaking). A very well maintained road. Nice cruising, being invited by the dawn. Calls for another butt break right?

[image above: "N the road becomes my bride", the bikes thundering down hosur road]

[image above: We cross Krishnagiri where Joe, 'rocketed' ahead and found us a good place to have hot hot breakfast for the morning]

Finish breakfast and head out towards Salem. The road WERE GOOD (more on that later). We keep a good pace and stop for narial pani + celebrate a milestone.

[image above: Guru's 500 doing a 1000 for the first time]

This is the point where the evolution of ‘seating arrangements’ begin.

[image above: Nasir being coaxed to reinvent the wheel again - a butt cooling mechanism for our only pillion rider]

Once we get moving, we observe that the road widening has forced everybody to ride only on one side of the road and given the TN bus drivers’ penchant to push off the bikers from the road (yes i am stereotyping… any body want to refute?) one bullet goes tumbling to the ground while trying to avoid a beast bus coming head-on trying to overtake and being very indecent to the oncoming traffic.

We all stop to comfort the rider, access the damage, thank God that nothing serious happened. We resume our ride, simultaneously planning the stuff to be taken care of regarding the damaged bike – a completely broken left footrest and a cracked crash guard.

Destination Salem. Bike repair and food.

[image above: Happy biker without any postoperative trauma]

[image above: "Chilli Parota.... WHAT THE HELL..." the waiter chewed on it before it reached our table???? (pardon me... still a n00b, learning photography)]

A pretty uneventful ride till the foot hills of Yercaud. Then starts a very pleasant, cherish able ride uphill through the 20 hairpin bends to the top.

[video above: riding up to yercaud]

[image above: Mother nature, view from road leading up to yercaud]

[image above: Reached the top before the mist descended on the hill, to be invited by eager eyes who thought we were a "bunch of insanes coming on bikes to this place"]

Now, what happened after we checked in…
What would you guess a group of friends on bikes would indulge in? Lots of food and lots of liquid to quench our thirst!

Day 2.

Ready to go!!

[image above: Glued to the TV and sharing a good moment before we left..]

[video above: warming up the engines in the very chilly morning at yercaud]

The ride to Munnar was stop go, stop go, since it involved a lot of enquiring for directions. Scorching heat of TN, to the point of driving us to dehydration. Our average speed dips and gives rise to the general apprehension regarding our arrival time at munnar. Hence the group decides to ride nonstop through udmalpet (the awesome swarms of wind mills) all the way to Munnar. I did not like the sudden rushing up. But an individual decision comes second when compared to a team decision.

The uncomfortable heat is replaced by a pleasant chilly green atmosphere of the Chinnar forest. The best forest road i’ve travelled on. Till now i had only heard of the good Kerala roads. Now, i’ve experienced it first hand.

Lots of ‘picture postcard’ moments lost.
The mix of the setting sun, the mist, the mountains, the forest and then the small waterfalls here and there was just divine. Wish i had a cycle and stamina to ride through this stretch all the way to munnar. The waterfalls were like these gold watches embellished with diamonds. Sometimes the clouds focused the sun rays on some mountains as though God held a flash light in a dim surrounding to show us the beauty of nature. Also spotted some black faced langurs waiting to be snapped on camera, but alas, i aint stoppin now monkeys

[image above: An unsatisfactory try to quench my thirst]

Once you cross the chinnar forest, there is another check post after which you reach Munnar through the tea estates of Kannandevan. The good roads don’t seem to end at all. They keep getting more and more twisty turvy but the grip and quality of the roads were worth applauding.

[video above: ride to munnar]

We reached Munnar by 6.

[video above: reached munnar & view from balcony of our home stay]

We walk through the temporarily put up weekend eating stalls of munnar and purchased some food. The night spent on food and some hydrating and dehydrating liquids The round table discussions were full of things ranging from Joe’s foreign escapades and other stuff… no details, censored you see.

Day 3.

Kallu comes back from the Mass in a church at the foot of the hill we stayed on. I am basking in the sun to get off some hangover. Every one else is asleep, its 7 and the sunlight is playing with green tea estates and white mist, which made us pull out our bikes and go out on a small ride. By the time we started our bikes there were two more companions on the mini ride. So, 4 bikes head out.

[image above: Our home stay bungalow basking in the morning sun]

One of the bullets makes the cardinal sin of using the front disk brakes on a high speed, super leaning, tempting, well-tarred corner. The fall was a scary one, the first one i’ve seen first hand. The bike takes a lot of damage and luckily the rider is safe. We cut short the ride and get back to the lodge to find to our surprise that there is a small tin hut with a bullet and its internals opened up for repair.

out comes Jerry, a student of MS Ramaiah college and a very knowledgeable mechanic. All of a sudden everybody start seeing problems in their bikes which weren’t talked about till then. He gets on with every body’s problems patiently while i take a tablet to stop the headache and dose off for an hour or two. Getup after that to watch the group still with Jerry, in the hot afternoon sun.

A proposed short munnar trip got postponed from 11 to 4:30 due to the heat.

We take a beautiful ride through Munnar – Madupetty – Eco Point – Palar – Kundala – Top Station and back. The view at the Dam was amazing and so was our group dynamics while on the ghats…. evenly paced and evenly distanced, with every bike in view and riding up and down the roads like a snake with red dots on its body (our tail lights!).

[video above: Ride on amazing roads from Munnar to Mattupetty dam]

[image above: view of mattupetty dam]

[image above: "Nature's playground", anaimudi peak in the distance]

While biking back from the ‘Top Station’, there was one sunset, which was half visible due to the tall trees. This was the only time my mind got into destructive mode … it wanted to chop down the trees so that the view was a complete one. I can understand why heavy pocketed celebrities buy villas and want to cut down trees for a better view.

[video above: Night ride from Mattupetty dam to Munnar]

[video above: Dinner at "Lonely planet recommended Rapsy Restaurant", Munnar]

Day 4.

The sun bathing ends here. Give way to the rain lashing!

I decide to leave a bit early than the others so that i can catch up with the lost opportunities on my way to munnar. Kamli and Sumesh agree to do the same.

We leave Munnar at 6:15. The weather is dry and we cross the first hill. All of a sudden we are in the mist of munnar and getting pretty wet too. I am confused, we were not mentally prepared for a rainy weather. We still force ourselves into assuming that its just mist charged with water… hence the wetness.

We cross two more hills and the truth finally hits us. I forgot that there was a camera pouch dangling on my shoulder. Take a quick stop, and put it inside the saddlebag which i always water proof from inside no matter where i go.

Now, when its raining cats and dogs in a beautiful forest, what do you do…. i saw a sign board reading the direction to a water falls 2 Km ahead and i grabbed this opportunity with both hands!

A wonderful experience. Thigh deep, crystal clear water… all the pebbles washed and laid out as in a costly aquarium. I always think twice before getting my feet wet (given the distance we have to cover in a wet sock and wet shoe). But here? No second thoughts. I readily jumped into the stream, which initially sent a shock through my spine due the chillness. Enjoyed the water while Sumesh was mobbed by a big band of monkeys… it had spooked him enough… he was ready to hurl his helmet at them in case they had come anymore closer to him.

Me at the falls (shot on a K750i)

By the time we were out of the falls and heading to the check post at the tea estate we see the rest of the bikes already heading towards us… we were overjoyed since it was raining heavy and now the group is complete.

We had the best breakfast of trip in the smallest of the huts with the smallest expenditure.

Freshly made vada… what more can you ask for when you are soaking wet and a hotelier is ready to entertain you with hot crispy food. The icing on the cake was ‘Palam Puri’ which Nasir’s probing eyes discovered. They are hot crispy banana fry whose taste cannot by described.

Holla?! Whose there??

A camera less journey ahead.
We take nearly 13 hours to cover the total 336 Km to our destination – Yercaud.
You would ask, why come back again? Well i asked myself the same question even before the trip started. You need to look logical, so i put it this way. Every good place has to be visited twice no?

Destination Yercaud. Every body is wet to the bone. The only consolation till then was a very good food served at a ‘irani hotel’. Me, Kamli and Sumesh had waterproofed our luggage. The same was not the case for the rest. We immidiately ordered for room heaters and then for an iron box.

Kallu gave us a scare by showing us black fingers when he pulled out his biking gloves. And to our relief, it was no frost bite or what ever, it was just that the new glove’s color had given way and got on his skin

We get warm, have food, no one wanted to have a conversation … so we hit the bed pretty fast.

Googled up the weather map for that day (thanks Sumesh)

Day 5.
I had enjoyed every bit of the rain infested ride, but was feeling bad for the group who were shivering with no dry clothes to wear. I can understand the discomfort they have been through. I just hoped that every thing would be back to normal by the morning and i was right. Every body woke up with a smile and determination enough to get us back to Bangalore even though we knew that the rain would not stop.

A chilly one, tough to capture on camera

Joe, Nasir and Kallu went out shopping for raincoats and were back by 10:30. We decided to leave by 11 since the checkout time was 12 noon. But to our surprise we find that the checkout was 24 hours from checkin. Hence we decide to leave Yercaud at 3 in the noon so that we dont have to bear with the traffic after hosur towards madivala. We did this factoring in the ok experience we had with the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

After having the most comfortable lunch of the trip at the hotel itself. We leave Yercaud as planned and reach Salem.

We did not expect the roads on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch to change so drastically in a matter of two days. It’s surprising that all the seven of us had a doubt that we had chosen the wrong route. This niggling thought was despite watching the same landmarks on our way. The stretch has changed that bad.

The roads looked like mine fields laid out for the bikers riding it. Again the rash TN bus drivers gave us a hard time. I say hard because, you are not riding alone, but are riding as a team. Any bodies weakness is your weakness. This stretch, with the rash driving busses were hell bent on exposing those weaknesses… and adding to the complexity was darkness.

You had only two options:
1) Ride with the helmet visor down…. find yourself in a pothole.
2) Ride without the visor down…. bear with the slush hitting your face when you overtake or get passed by an oncoming vehicle.

Obviously, we chose option 2.
We took nearly 6 hours to cover the first 100 Km (all the way to Krishnagiri). But even the good roads ahead did not help and we took three hours to cover the second 150 Km.

Reached Bangalore at 11 in the night. Exchanged celebratory hugs and headed back home. Not a memorable way to call it a day. But we were tired and shivering, and could manage only that much jubilation.

A lot of firsts on the trip.

1. Group dynamics. It gave me a good perspective of team work, role of a leader, what it takes to keep a team as one. The birth and death of conflicts. Importance of formation riding, laying out the basic rules, forcing to conform to it (i am much better prepared for all the three in future). The importance of a close interaction b/w the first and the last person in the formation – i was ten minutes from peeing in my pants since we lost contact with one bullet while on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

2. The joy and scares of riding on a fog filled ghat section with visibility to less than 5 meters.

3. Stretching my mileage in the rain. New experience with the hostile bus drivers. Hadn’t done a 13 hr bone drenched trip so far.

4. A journey covering three states (my previous being only two)

5. A trip that gave me many more biking buddies

6. Finding the weak links in my waterproofing armour. The cramster jacket needs a lot of tinkering around and so does the saddle bag. Finally found out a comfortable way to protect my neck using a muffler – 5 days gave me a lot of time to ‘live test’ my ideas.

The ‘dry feet’ idea – contributed by guru and sumesh

7. Need for new methods of cleaning my visor quickly for improved low light visibility. I will have to purchase an AGV due to the famed protection and the ease with which you can pluck out and snap the visor back in. This way i can keep the tinted visor on the present helmet and use an AGV with a clear visor.

8. Need for a spare camera (the best would be a mobile phone camera – water proofing would be very easy).

9. Importance of a small umbrella in case main camera is required.

10. Pair of sandals. Without them on a rainy day and a wet floor in the hotel, you are screwed.

————————————————————————————-
Trip Stats.
————————————————————————————-

14th Dec
Filled 11.65L of fuel (Rs 600 @ Shell)
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km

15th Dec
Odo Reading 28594.8 Km
Started the trip at 5:31 AM
Reached Yercaud at 4:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 261.3 Km
Distance travelled – 261.3 Km
Time taken – 10 and 30 Minutes

16th Dec
Left Yercaud to Munnar at 8:02 AM
Reached Munnar at 6:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 571.5
Distance travelled – 310.2 Km
Time taken – 10 Hours

17th Dec
Second day in Munnar
One trip in the morning
One trip in the evening
Tripmeter reading – 653 Km
Distance travelled – 81.5 Km

18th Dec
Left Munnar to Yercaud at 6:25 AM
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 2.17L (Rs 100 @ Maryoor, Kerala)
Tripmeter reading – 113.3 Km
Reset trip to 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 6.32L (Rs 300 @ Palladam, TN)
Reached Yercaud at 7:15 PM
Tripmeter reading – 223.0 Km
Distance travelled – 336.3 Km
Time taken – 12 Hours and 45 Minutes

19th Dec
Left Yercaud to Bangalore at 3:05 PM
Refuelled for 4.2L (Rs 200 @ Yercaud)
Reached Bangalore (Madivala junction) at 11 PM
Tripmeter reading – 476.6 Km (Including the distance to my house from madivala)
Distance travelled – 253.6 Km
Time taken – 9 Hours

Total Distance Travelled –> 1242.9 Km
Total Time Taken –> 42 Hours
Average –> 27.7 Km/H

Pulsar Mileage Statistics
Mileage for the initial full tank
Fuel 11.65 Liters
Distance 653 Km
Mileage 56.1 Km

Mileage for the second refuel
Fuel 2.17 Liters
Distance 113.3 Km
Mileage 52.2 Km

Mileage for the third and fourth refuel put together
Fuel 10.52 Liters
Distance 476.6 and counting

Projected average mileage (worst case scenario for the third refuel) – 51.2 Km

In-bound product management deals with product planning:

● market analysis
● product features

etc.

Out-bound product management deals with product marketing:

● pricing
● promotion-mix

etc.

Mullayanagiri is part of the the Baba Budan Giri Hill Ranges. It stands at 1930 meters and is the tallest peak in Karnataka. There is a small temple (matta) on top of the hill. The small hillock in the temple compound is the highest point in Karnataka. It is around 250 kms from bangalore and 12 kms from Chikmagalur.

Baba Budan Giri : takes its name from the Muslim saint, Baba Budan, who resided here more than 150 years ago and reared coffee from the seeds he had secured from Yemen. The Baba-Budan range has taken its name from the 1895 meters high Baba-Budan Giri, situated just 28 kms north of Chikmagalur town. [source: wikipedia]

Baba Budangiri shrine is also called Dattatreya Peeta. It has been controversial due to communal tension (claimed by both hindus and muslim groups). [source: wikipedia]

[Image above: Bus-Top ride from Chikmagalur to mullayanagiri]

[Image above: Sarpa Dhare, starting point of trek]

[Image above: steep climb-up mullayangiri]

[Video above: Height sickness at mullayanagiri ]

[Image above: explorable bat cave (obv. beware of bats) just few steps before mullayanagiri temple]

[Image above: Mullyanagiri Matta /Temple where free lunch was given to us by the very sweet temple care-takers (obv. don't demand one)]

[Image above: Scenic route from mullayanagiri to baba budhanagiri/dhathatreya peeta]

[Image above: Be very careful while using petrol for camp fires (notice the bottle lid that caught fire in his hand while spilling some petrol into the fire) ]

[Image above: Tent at Gaali Kere, which is at a small distance away from baba budangiri shrine]

[Image above: Jeep-top Ride to Manikya Dhare waterfall]

[Image above: The very badly maintained, but religiously important Manikya-Dhare Water fall, Tip: there is nothing to see at this place, so avoid it]

[Image above: Chilled-out bath in a chilled-out stream, that we found while exploring a stream when we were waiting for a bus somewhere between baba budangiri & chikmagalur]

Other links:

1. http://usandeep.com/trekking/mullayanagiri.html

2. http://www.dreamroutes.org/dreams/mullainagiri_kiran.html

3. http://purana.csa.iisc.ernet.in/~mbk/Mul/Mullayanagiri-Bababudangiri/

[NOTE: I did this trek in May, 2006]

As usual we took the Rajahamsa bus of KSRTC to Virajpet (a town in kodagu district). We started from bangalore at 10:30 pm and reached Virajpet at 4:30 am. We checked into a local hotel to freshen and take a small nap. However, due to few people oversleeping, we checked out of the hotel, quite late at 8 am. Sorry about that, I had to work late the previous night.

[Image above: Trail towards Tandiyandimol Peak, see dried up paddy fields]

From Virajpet, you need to take the bus towards Nakoplu and get down at the Armanne (kannada word for palace) bus stop just before Kakkabe. From the bus stop, take the road towards Honey Valley Resort (which is also takes you towards the palace and other resorts). At Coffee Country Home Stay, we took the road going up which takes you past few drying paddy fields.

[Image above: All geared for the "attack"]

[Image above: Local hockey team]

On the way, we saw few kids playing “rural hockey” just like we had read on the dreamroutes site. What is rural hockey anyway ?? Do let me know.

[Image above: beautiful lotus in a local's garden]

Further up, on the side of winding tarred roads (suprisingly) , we saw a house with a well-maintained garden (see lotus above). We replenished our water bottles here.

[Image above: Nalina and bodyguards]

There is a well-defined trail all the way to the peak. So, we found it very easy to just walk slowly and take in the scenery. Of course, we could have done without the intense heat.

[Image above: The last attack]

We found a small stream near a sholl forest just before the final ascent. Here, we had our lunch (packed chapattis with chuttney) and also parked our rug sacks behind a rock. The last ascent towards the peak is quite steep and took us about an hour.

The scene at the peak is worth the sweat and weight lost. After taking rest by quite literally sleeping on the rocks like logs of wood and surveying the layers of mountain ranges seen from there, we took few photos, which came out quite well (see below).

[Image above: Kamalesh on the peak]

[Image above: Thinking Man / Mr. Lonely ?? ]

Wish we could have stayed there for the sunset and sunrise. But, we had to descend towards the stream to pitch our tents before it got dark. [Tip: There is a very good spot for pitching tents behind the huge boulder next to the stream. The same can be easily identified by campfires left by previous trekkers. However, please refrain from starting even a small campfire in the summer. The dry grass and trees could easily catch fire and start a massive forest fire]

[Image above: Pitching tent, see clouds covering peak behind]

[Image above: cooking dinner (pulliyogare)]

We cooked our dinner that night on a portable gas stove (quite controlled in a corner behind the rock) and was quite tasty and spicy. Mmm.. my mouth is watering even now, maybe coz I haven’t had my dinner yet.. Darn !!

We spent a lot of time in the night on top of the huge boulder next to our tents. The scene of the sky and silhouetted forest and the mountains in the full moon night was quite amazing.

[Image above: sunrise at Tadiyendamol]

In the morning, after tea and a quick breakfast, we left Tadiyandimol. We took a bus to Mercara (Madikeri) and checked into a hotel for freshening up. Later, we headed towards the East End Hotel and had a chilling time where we drank and laughed for hours.

[Image above: Chilling at East End, Mercara]

The journey started from New Delhi, after waiting for 3 hrs at the bus terminal in the dead of the night. We parked ourselves in the front seats of the bus to Haridwar and had the scariest bus journeys of our lives. After a bit of clear roads, the fog literally started to flow onto the roads. Our driver turned out to be a brave one (to our shock) and drove with ease even without a metre of visibility. His plan was simple, watch for the dim lights of the vehicles from the opposite direction and just pass to the left of them (in the process, sometimes confusing two truck headlights for two bikes and just managing to steer away in time). Once, he even tried to chase down a car which managed to overtake him (and piss him off) in this extreme weather. I hereby, nominate him for the national stupidity award and request the Uttarakhand Govt to please take him off the force. Add the bitter cold to all this and this bus journey was quite an adventure in itself.

[Image above: The gang geared for the fogged-out bus journey]

The bus journey from Haridwar to Uttarkashi, thankfully was much more relaxed and enjoyable, coz it was along the (curvy blueish green coloured) river Ganga. At Uttarkashi, we stayed for one night at Hotel Bhandari. The next day morning, after a bath (last one for the next five days) and breakfast (Alloo Paratha), we started the onward journey to Barasu (Base-camp) in a Mahindra hardtop (4 wheel drive).

Barasu, a small village on the foothills of the (Kumao) himalayan range was very picturesque with prettier villagers. Here, our leader, Lakshmi Narayan Rao (Lacchi) taught us the basics of pitching a tent. Here, we also met our guide Kishan Bhaiyya(a local) and our cook Dipender (a Nepali).

[Image above: View from Barasu]

[Image above: Cricket in Himalayas]

[Image above: Bhadal, the shepherd dog which followed and sometimes led us from Barasu to Dayara Bugyal to Raithal]

[Image above: Waterfall on a stream from a glacier, near Barasu Village]

The trek started at around 8 am with a steady hike up, till we saw our first snow. First response was obvious excitement and throwing of snowballs at each other. Even more excitement, on first snowfall (a light one though). But later, we were walking in about 2 feet of fresh snow and were struggling. Our guide had walked ahead of us and had created a path of big “footstep-holes” in the snow for us to walk in. Even then, snow was getting into our shoes and our feet were getting numb.

[Images above: snow trekking]

[Video above: snow trekking]

The view around us was great and we were all very surprised to get so much snow on the first day of our trek. We reached the huts at Dayara Bugyal at around 12 pm after about an hour of good snow trekking. Here we were told to warm up our feet over the fire immediately to avoid “frostbite”. Later, we came out of the huts to realize that we were on a mountain surrounded by snow covered peaks and.. I have no words to describe the view. Maybe the picture below will help.

[Image above: View of the peaks surrounding our huts at Dayara Bugyal]

At night, it was -10°c outside and inside the hut, we managed to get some sleep thanks to the fire, our thermals, woolens, jackets and the thick sleeping bags. In the morning, I realized that I had forgotten to put my shoes in the sleeping bag and it was as stiff and hard as a brick and the water in the bottles had frozen. We ran to the neighbouring hut to warm ourselves over the fire.

On the second day, we went for a small walk around dayara bugyal and take in a 360 view of the mountain range around us. We had a good photo session and was a defining moment of the trip. We were surrounded by a 28 square km snowfield. My only regret was that weren’t skiing. I was told by our guide Kishan Bhaiyya, that it was fresh snow and we wouldn’t be able to ski on it yet. He said during summer, lot of tourists come here for skiing. He was surprised that we had planned to come here in the winter, because the weather was very harsh then.

[Image above: Photosession at Dayara]

[Video above: 360° view of Dayara Bugyal]

Due to the heavy snowfall, we decided to take a detour and walked down from the mountains towards a village called Raithal . We were back on solid ground (land ahoy!!).

[Image above: On the way to Raithal]

From Raithal, we took a taxi to Sangam Chetty. On the way, the nepali porters sang few nepali folk songs for us. I was amazed at the pitches, they were singing at. I suppose, the folk song was a type of story telling.

[Video above: Nepali folk song by our porter friends]

[Image above: Scenic Road]

At Sangam Chetty, we were told that it was a 22km hike to our destination, Dodi Thal. So, with a challenge our hands, we started the hike towards our first stop, Agoda (distance of 7 km from Sangam Chetty). Agoda, was an isolated village with about 30-40 houses built on the steep mountain slopes. On the way to Agoda, we had a lot of fun playing “20 questions” and hardly felt the steep hike.

[Image above: Our tough porter team]

At Agoda, I was surprised to find a very well built building for the guest house. We stayed at this guest house and had a good sleep after a long time.

[Image above: Bed (sleeping bag) Tea]

Next day, we started towards Maajji (distance of 10 km from Agoda). Maajji, was an uninhabited (for the winter) village, very close to the snow line. On asking about the path ahead, our guide told us that it was only slightly steep. But, he had only tricked us, to build confidence for the path ahead. The path towards Maajji was actually was very steep for a about 2-3 kms. But I feel, we all did quite well to not lose confidence and we kept climbing up. At Maajji, we stayed in huts again for the night. At night, Dipendra, our cook told us a lot of strange stories about foreign trekkers. We felt that these guys were really professional and humble at the same time. They took good care of us. They also managed to have something different for our meals: from fruit salads to Pakodas to even Jelly (even at this heights and extreme weather).

[Image above: Yummy pakodas at Maajji village]

Next day, we walked for about 5 kms towards our final destination, Dodi Thal. Dodi Thal is a partly frozen lake and is the source of Assi-Ganga, a tributary of Ganga. It is also a religiously relevant place for it is the “Ganesh Janma-bhumi”, where according to mythology: Lord Shiva is said to have beheaded Lord Ganesha and later given him the elephant head.

[Image above: Ganesh Janma-Bhumi temple]

[Image above: Dodi Thal Lake]

[Image above: Team, victorious at final destination of trek]

[video above: Ganesh Janma Bhumi @ Dodi Thal]

After praying at the temple, a walk around the lake, an attempt at fishing, snowball fights, sliding ice over the surface of the lake and a photo session, we made a quick return journey (As Kishan Bhaiyya says, donne-donne-donne = down-down-down)

We did the return journey from Dodi Thal to Agoda in one day itself. At Agoda, my friends made me a birthday cake and I had a memorable birthday celebration. Thanks Guys !!

[Image above: Cutting Birthday Cake at Dayara Bugyal]

[Image above: Full team photo]

Next day, we returned to Sangam Chetty and took a taxi to Uttarkashi. At uttarkashi, we celebrated the new year by screaming “Happy New Year” at 12 am on our hotel balcony, even though the whole town of Uttarkashi seemed to be asleep.

From Uttarkashi, we returned to Haridwar. At Haridwar, we witnessed the Maha-Aarthi on the banks of river Ganga. At 6pm everyday, all the priests of all the small and big temples together worship the Goddess Ganga with huge aarthis (holy flames) with the song “Jai Jagdisha Hare” being played aloud. The sight is quite an experience. However, I was not very pleased at the large-scale commercialization of such a historic holy place.

[Image above: Maha-Aarthi at Haridwar]

Later, we found the New Delhi airport fogged-out. The spicejet flight at 8 am was delayed by 4 hours. However, I was quite satisfied with the spicejet people, who had called and texted us before hand to inform us about the delay.

Finally, after a most memorable ten day adventure, we were back home, Bangalore (home sweet home..) Back in the best weather of the world !!

Last, but not the least.. We have to thank Lacchi (Lakhmi Narayan) for organizing the trek and being the humble and fun person he is.

On request uploading Trekking map of DodiTal:

We took the bangalore trekker’s official transport the (KSRTC) Rajahamsa to Kozhikode, Kerala and got down at Kalpetta, Wayanad District, Kerala. There, we checked into the PPS Tourist Home for freshening up, where we also met our guide for the trip, Mr. Pavithran.We took a jeep down to the chembra estate which was the starting point of the trek, which is about one hour from the hotel. The trek starts through a route which was a beautiful valley on one side and a lush green tea estate on the other.

[Image above: Chembra Estate (starting point)]

[Image above: Hiking through tall grass]

[Image above: One of the several beautiful scenes on the way up]

[Image above: The gang resting, with the heart-shaped lake visible in the background]

After a hiking up for a while, we found a heart-shaped lake. I really wonder, how such a large natural perfect heart shaped lake was formed. I won’t be suprised, if I get to know that it’s man-made, coz the sight is unbelievable.

[Image above: The gang taking a timeout on a rocky cliff]

After a brief rest and unloading our gear, we climbed up towards the chembra peak. The path from the lake towards the peak is quite steep. So, we stopped every 15-20 minutes to take in the amazing scenery behind us. Also, the heart-shape of the lake was much more clear from up there. [Tip: Take atleast 2 bottles for every 3 people, coz you would get really dehydrated during this hike, preferably avoid carrying heavy food, fruits like oranges would be a better idea]

[Video above: The last part of the hike, very close to the peak]

The view from the peak too is quite amazing and only adds to your sense of achievment (course, this was my second time on the peak) In the monsoon season, you would find the clouds kissing the peak and is quite a sight to see.

[Image above: On the way down]

[Video above: On the way down]

[Image above: Victorious and ready to "retreat"]

Later after getting down and a good rest next to the lake, we got down to the chembra estate and returned to the hotel.

[Video above: Amazing view from the cliff next to the lake]

[Image above: chilling next to soojipaara waterfalls]

The next day we visited Soojipaara Waterfalls, which was about 2 hour drive from hotel. (Sooji-paara translates to needle rock in malayalam, named after a vertical needle shaped rock in the vicinity)

The return journey was unexpectedly quite eventful too. We footboarded on a crowded bus from Kalpetta to Kozhikode, which passed through the breath-taking ghat section called “Thamarasheri Chorum”. I was lucky to be on the footboard to take in the full view of the ghat section and the thick rainforest.

Other attractions of Wayanad: Edakkal Caves, Kuruva Dweep (Island), Pookote Lake, Banasura Sagar Dam. For more details: http://www.wayanad.org/

Journey Begins:

Two buses started from our office at around 10 pm. One of the buses, watched the movie X-Men2, while the people in the other bus partied and danced to kannada, tamil, telugu and hindi songs. The bus route was Bangalore – Hassan – Belur – Mudigere – Kalasa – Kudremukh. The morning mist and cloud covered valley was just amazing.

photo: mist covered mountains

Silent Valley Resort:

We reached silent valley resort, kudremukh at around 8 am. We checked into our cottages which could comfortably accomodate three persons per cottage and had attached bathrooms. The whole resort could accomodate around 50 people, i was told. The cottages are ethnic styled and had tribal paintings on the walls.

Breakfast at 9 am was herbal dosa, shavige bath and strawberry juice. The pool along the sky-light cafeteria was quite relaxing.

photo: cafeteria
River-Crossing:

Around 11 am, we left for river crossing over the river bhadra. On the way, we stopped at the picturesque tea estate for few photos. The river crossing was organised by Dev Balaji from Nature Admire. However, we realised that river-crossing had turned into “river-landing”. The video below should explain it better.

video: River-Crossing over river bhadra

video: kudremukh road

View-Point:

We returned to the resort for lunch and went for local sight-seeing. First stop was the banks of river bhadra, where we took few photos sitting on the rocks in between the river. Next stop was a view-point, from where we searched for the setting-sun which was hidden behind the clouds. However, the sight of the whole kudremukh moutain range from this point was quite awe-inspiring.

photo: View-Point & Shambu Maharaj

Camp-Fire:

Later around 8 pm, we had camp-fire with dance music. Most of them screamed & danced with few hiccups during music selection by our in-house “DJs” Raja, Siva & Satish. Tip for others: Plan your dance music and burn your audio/mp3 cds before you come to the resort. You will save a lot of time.

The first day thus ended with dinner and a good sleep in our cottages.

Hannumangundi waterfalls:

Day 2 began around 8.30 am when we left for Hannumangundi waterfalls. The falls is located around 32 Km (One & half hour drive) from the resort. Water falls from a height of more than 100 feet. Reaching the falls involves walking down about 500 steps and takes a bit of effort while coming back up. We were not allowed to take bath in the water because of excess of water in the stream and very slippery rocks.

After few photosessions, dipping our legs in the chill water and bombing each other with huge water splashes using rocks, we climbed back up.

video: WaterFall

Lakya Dam:

Next stop was Lakya Dam which is a pollution control dam used by the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL). However after stiff agitation by environmentalists, the supreme court of india had ordered the closure of mining activities by KIOCL by Dec 31, 2005. So, the Lakya Dam had no water but had tons of tailings (Mud) from the mining activity.

photo: KIOCL

Forest Walk:

Post lunch, few of us headed for a forest walk (3km) up some mountain close to the resort. The walk was a first leech-experience for many. The highlight of the walk was the view from the hill-top of the cloud covered kudremukh peak at a distance. In the meantime, the others enjoyed a game of volleyball, badminton & rope walking.

photo: forest walk

photo: on the mountain-top

Pool:

Later all of us, had the grand finale of the trip by jumping into the swimming pool. Shambu entertained the group with acrobatics like reverse-somersault jump into the water. Later, everyone joined in games like swimming race, walking race (in the water), coin finding (with the feet), tube capsizing and breath-holding contest.

video: group diving into pool
video: walking race in the pool
At 8 pm, we had checked out and assembled for dinner. Finally, Prashant Chawda gave the vote of thanks to all and to Raghavendar & Rohit Chaudhary, who had put in quite an effort to plan and arrange the whole trip. Thanks Guys !!

Other places to visit at kudremukh:

http://www.silentvalley.net/places.htm

Kumara Parvatha peak with a height of about 4000 ft is the second highest peak in Karnataka after Mullayanagiri, but is said to be the toughest trek in karnataka.

The trek starts from Kukke Subrahmanya, which is an important hindu pilgrimage center.

Kukke Subramanya can be reached by road (we took a KSRTC special dasara bus) from bangalore. The route to Kukke is off NH-48 at Sakleshpur. We reached Kukke around 7.00 am. After freshening up and an idli-vada breakfast, we started the trek at around 9.00 am.

This was our first trek along with KMA (Karnataka Mountaineering Association)
KMA Office Address: No 6, Gurunanak Bhavan Complex, Jasma Bhavan Road, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore-560 052

[PHOTO ABOVE: The beginning of the trek]

During the introduction circle, we met the whole team. There were techies from SAP-labs, HP & Infosys, two lawyers, few students, a business-woman, a HR consultant, a B-school teacher, a guy who was after the leeches, a man with one-wife and of-course experienced KMA trekkers Lakshmi Narayan, Mohan Rao, Prasanna and Ravi.

[PHOTO ABOVE: On the way up the stairway to heaven]

The journey through this part was beautiful, lush green grass everywhere and thick sholl forests between the mountains. We were all really eager to reach the cloud-covered peaks. Our encounters with leeches had already started, most people were armed with hunter boots and salt. So, the leeches didn’t bother us much.

Bhattra Manne at Girigaddhe (half-way point to kp peak) was the destination for the first day. Bhattra Manne is the only accomodation in these hills, if you don’t have tents of your own. The Bhattra Manne can accomodate a maximum of about 30 people.

We reached Bhattra Manne around 1 pm, just before the rain got really heavy. After taking bath at a close-by stream, we had a stomach-full of rice-sambhar lunch, courtesy: the ever smiling, very-friendly Bhat household.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Outside Bhattra Manne]

Post-lunch, Ravi kept us busy with games like Pointing Game (“This is a pointing game…”, never figured out the solution though), Stick (number) Game and Johny-Johny

In the evening, we all sat around chit-chatting and singing songs led by Prasanna & Kamalesh. Later, the Bhat household performed few devotional songs. They sang with great devotion and was a great experience (even for the people who dozed-off). The candle-lit ambience only added to it.

After dinner, the tired lot slept in their sleeping bags with only the soothing musical snores disturbing the pitch dark silence.

We woke up in the morning around 5.30 am. “Ma, can you believe it ??” After a chitra-anna breakfast, the whole team was ready for the trek to the peak by around 7 am. The path to the peak was through the clouds and was literally a heavenly experience.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Among the clouds and almost on the peak]

On the way, we stopped for rest at a small rock-contructed “Mantappa”. Here, Sumathi was very brave to decide to keep going up, inspite of developing cramps in the leg, the night before.

The next stop was at a rock cliff, which was good photo-op point. However I believe that the mist and nature there has to experienced in self and can hardly be covered enough by the photos. This was called “Shesh-Parvatha”, if I remember correctly.

Next the path took us through what we called “leech jungle”, a very dense and moist forest heavily infested with bigger than usual leeches. But to our relief, it ended with a mountain stream where chill water can be collected in bottles.

The last leg of the trek to the peak involves a very steep rock face, which was very slippery in this monsoon season. After carefully maneuvering around the lose rocks and large boulders, we reached the Kumara Parvatha Peak. The peak was covered with a number of man-made stone conical pyramids called “cairns”, made for the purpose of giving directions to people who lose their way.

[PHOTO ABOVE: The gang leaving Bhattra Manne]

After a 20 minute rest and refreshments close to the shiv-ling temples, we returned to the Bhattra Manne. On reaching and after lunch at around 3.30 pm, we left for Kukke. We reached Kukke at around 6.30 pm. After a refreshing bath at Anugraha Lodge (Rs. 25 per head), we went to pray at the Kukke Subramanya temple at 8pm, but it had just closed by then.

After dinner, we boarded the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus to bangalore at around 10 pm and reached majestic bus station in bangalore at 6.30 am.

Overall, we made a lot of new friends at KMA and the Kumara Parvatha trek itself was one heck of a challenge.

Till the next time when we push our limits again, take care.

More photos of trek at http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/71333.f71db471c09/overview

More Kodachadri Trek Photos at BubbleShare

[travelogue of trek to Kodachadri Peak (near Kollur-Mookambika Temple, Coastal Karnataka)]

The gang of 3: Nara, Kamu and me (sumne), took the Sugama Travels “J” bus (why not just Kundapura bus, nearly missed the bus, when I thought it was the “G” bus) from Bangalore to Kundapura (Rs. 300 x 3) which left Jayanagar 4th block at 8:15 pm. The bus reached Kundapura at 11.30 am late by 3 hours. Blame it on the bad roads from Bangalore to Mangalore and the caravan of trucks parked on the ghat sections (of the all the places), while the truck drivers slept, causing massive traffic jams. And I thought, I had left the traffic-jams in bangalore

After refreshing ourselves and a quick breakfast, we took a local bus (Rs.25 x 3) to Kollur which reached there at around 1.30 pm. We then hoped on an autorickshaw, which dragged itself about 14 kms upto the starting point of our trek Gari-Katte (Rs. 170). The local bus would have been too late for us, which would have charged us Rs. 30 (Rs. 10 x 3). The Kodachadri peak is about 10 km from here.

The beginning part of the journey was a walk through a jeep-trail in jungle territory, which is quite comfortable and scenic. After about 3 kms you will find an Ashram and a school to the left. We were later told its a HareRama-HareKrishna ashram (probably belonging to Iskcon ?) But, keep walking along the jeep trail though. After another km, you will reach a “Malayali’s tea shop” and you can stop for tea (obviously) and snacks before the uphill journey after that. Reminds you of the “Malayali-tea shop on the moon/mt.everest” jokes.

This is monsoon season and we were prepared for it. In fact, we had taken up the trek even after warnings from lot of people about the rains and its peril. Anyways, the growing mist, rain showers and the leeches only added to the adventure. The lessening of any one of those only disappointed us, mainly Kamu who complained whenever the rain stopped

It was about 3.30 pm now. The hike up was now challenging since the rain-water flowing down had sometimes created multiple trails and fallen trees had blocked the trail. Our commander/leader Nara, like always had taken the lead to find the correct route to the top. Though we lost our way once, into a lone farm amidst the jungle, the tribal farmer there gladly helped us to get back to the trail.

At around 5.30 pm and still no sight of the top of the mountain due to the thick mist, the tension was building. Do we pitch our tent before it gets dark or keep walking towards whatever our current trail was taking us to ? We discussed the issue and took a call to keep going. Now, we never stopped to take photos or remove the leeches on our legs nor enjoy the amazing scenery of the lush green grass and clouds/mist below us. Our persistence paid off and we reached the Bhatra-Manne (Poojari’s house) at around 6.45 pm.

The poojari didn’t look very suprised, just welcomed us and asked us to wash-up and change to our dry clothes. On asking if we could pitch our tent, he laughed and told us “there is no way a tent could survive this extreme weather”. Soon we were having hot upit (upma) and chai. The whole house was covered in the mist and the smoke from the kitchen fire was burning our eyes. On asking about possibility of watching the famed kodachadri sunset, he laughed again and said “I don’t know where the sun is for these 3 months, the place is constantly covered by the mist and clouds”.

Over dinner, we met three malayali guys Rajiv, Ranjith and Sujith from Mallapuram, Kerala. They had done the same hike in their typical style, in rubber slippers and with black umbrellas. They had left their luggage with their family, who were visiting the Kollur temple. We were soon asleep in our rented sleeping bags (Rs. 50 per day).

As planned in the night before, we woke up early and started at 6.30 am towards “Sarvagya Peetta” which was still higher at a distance of about 1.5 km from Bhatra-Manne. The trail up was along a narrow ridge and we could only see misty-clouds below and around us. Visibility was upto about 5 metres. The beautiful mountain flowers only added to the “Stairway to Heaven” feeling. Soon we were at “Sarvagya Peetta”.

After a small prayer, we started towards “ChitraMoola“. Its a cave where the “Shankara Charya” did penance for Mookambika Devi. The view from this cave is famed for its breathtaking view of the Kollur forest, clouds and Mookambika temple itself during normal weather, I suppose

A caution: the path towards the “Chitramoola” cave is very steep, slippery and is not advised for unfit people.

On reaching the cave which is like half a km downhill from “Sarvagya Peetta”, we found the cave and suprisingly found a Sanyasini (old pious lady) in it. On conversing we found, she was from Kerala and came here once every year.

Back at Bhatra-Manne, we had dosa and paid him about Rs. 250 for the three of us (for the room and food). We started at around 9.45 am and aimed to reach the road (Gari-Katte) by 12.30 pm, when the shimoga bus comes by. The journey down was much faster, inspite of the rain, leeches etc. But even the record downhill walk was not enough. We reached at 12.35 pm and had justed missed the bus. We decided to walk down and were entertained by Ranjith, who was a good singer and had just released a Malayalam album. Later, we got the 2.00 pm bus and visited the Kollur Mookambika Devi temple to thank her for our safe journey.

We took the local bus to Kundapura and took the last 8.15 pm Rajahamsa bus to Bangalore. This bus was supposed to reach bangalore at 7.30 am, but reached the Jayanagar Depot at 3 pm the next day. A record 7.5 hours late. But we thanked the driver who kept his smile and patience through the ghat traffic jam (3 hrs at Sakleshpur), highway traffic jam (1 hr at Nellamangala) and lalbagh traffic jam due to IndependayDay flower show (30 minutes). Take my advice, take ur time, but please take the shimoga route to Bangalore from Kollur !!

All in all, an unforgettable monsoon adventure !!