Kodachadri II

Manju wanted to go to Kodachadri again along with his cousin. He had planned it on Nov 4th weekend. I had assignment due on 6th so I dropped out. But he could not get tickets for that weekend, so it was postponed to 11th weekend.
So I too joined the group along with Kiran. This time 2 new people(Kiran, my manager/colleague and Manju's Cousin) joined our trio group.

This time we had booked bus via Shimoga route since Mangalore route is so hopeless. Though a bridge had collapsed on this road recently, there was a makeshift road through villages. The bus left Bangalore at 8:30PM sharp. Conductor was a chatter box he was talking non-stop throughout the journey(a good thing to keep our driver awake!!!). He was very co-operative, he enquired others if the place we were alighting was correct.

Jeep Trail

Morning sunrays

Where is the path?!?!

Jungle Trail

Since the bus goes through Kaari Katte, no need to go to Kollur. We were at Kaari katte at around 7:45AM. Weather was perfect, not too hot nor too chilly. Absolutely no fog, so one could see Kodachadri peak clearly. During my previous trip we never saw the peak because of the fog. Reached Hotel Santosh(Kaaka hotel!!) by 9:00AM. After finishing morning routines and breakfast, we started our climb at 9:30. We were at the government guest house(temple) by 12:30PM.

View of Mountain Range - on the way

Into clearing

Rentry into woods

We ordered for lunch at the guest house itself(Bhatta's cook was not feeling well) and headed to take bath. Last time there was a small stream that jumps over a small rock forms a mini-waterfalls. This time the jungle path was covered by thick green plants and there was no sign of water at all. This is when Saravana knocked down a pipeline while trying to get down along a dangerous slope. It was a metal pipe and fell down towards the valley and we couldn't pull it. We got back to guest house to find that the pipeline was indeed connected to our guest house only!!! We lied to the guest house guy that the pipeline is damaged. Well, it was not a lie, it was half truth!!!

After the pipeline was repaired, it leads to a man-made-waterfall behind the guest house building(water falls from the pipe from about 15 feet). It was refreshing bath, with free hydro-massaging. After lunch majority of the group wanted to take a nap. I started to look at the beautyful nature through my camera...

Overview - from top of Kodachadri

We headed for the peak. There are many changes from last time. There is a pujari at the shankaracharya mantapa at the peak and a store that sells biscuits and chakkuli. It was very cloudy evening and sunset view was not possible. But we could get glimpse of Arabian sea for few minutes. That sight was amazing.

Linganamakki backwaters

Shankaracharya mantapa at the peak(one can see our shadow on the otherside)

Reflection of arabian sea - a rare sight!!!

Only camera can see this!!!

Another glimpse of sea!!!!

Everything in red tinge - sunset

It became very dark in a very short time. We had not taken torch. So it was a bit tough for Kiran to walk in darkness. Somehow we managed to get back safely.

Stargazing : It was amazing to see millions of stars in the sky. In Bangalore we hardly see any stars. Kiran was identifying different clusters as usual. I also saw galactic dust...
Dinner was arranged at the hotel, where we had dinner last time too. They gave curd rice and chapati.

Next morning, I woke up to the familar sound and as a habbit I stopped the sound and went to sound sleep. It was at 5:45AM I realized that I had switched off my mobile phone alarm. We all hurried to the sun-rise point. Sun was just coming out from the eastern sky. It was a good sun-rise view(better than last time). Sun was coloring the vast backwaters of linganamakki reservoir.

Sunrise

Everything in Red tinge - sunrise

Till this point we were in a known territory. After breakfast we headed for the unknown. The Hidlumane falls. The jeep driver dropped us to a trail that is supposed to take us to the hidlumane falls. Shortly after following the trail, we were deceived by the usual network of trails. At a Y junction, we took the one(right) that seemed more used and fresh. But at the end it took us to the peak and dead end. In fact it turned out that it was a path taken bisons.

Hide n seek path!!!

Finally on right track....

Later we followed that other one at Y junction that was taking us downhill. It seemed to be correct one and we were heading towards the sound of water. At the bottom, we were again given choice. Towards our left was a trail less frequently used going around the peak uphill. To the Right was a more prominent trail going around the same peak. It was decided to take the left one since it was going towards the sound of waterfall. After walking for some distance, another trail joined ours. I think it was probably the right side one, which was coming around the peak. After a while we entered into woods, where those ravenous, ever hungry creatures were waiting for us. After a while the sound of water falls was fading off. We could definitely not go back because we had descended enough, that would take off all our energy to go back. We kept on descending discussing our options. Suddenly we could see some paddy fields and thought at least we were heading to some civilization. Woods became thick and wet leaves on ground. It was a heaven for leeches. Though it was long after rainy season, still ground was wet and there were leeches(Not so many as in my last adventrue). In the woods there was again a Y junction. We took that right one, since it was taking us to our paddy fields. By the way there was no more sight of the paddy fields after we entered thick wooks. We reached the bottom of the valley and decided to walk to our left side. After a few minutes of walking, we saw the tiled roof of a house. Incidentally, it happened to be the house of Mr Gururaj, whose family is called Hidlumane and hence the falls at there backyard(abt 1 km) Hidlumane falls. At Gururaj's house all of us quenched our thirst. Falls is about 1 km from here and the bare foot walk through paddy fields was wonderful.

It consists of 7 waterfalls, last one being the best one. One just has to walk along the falls to go to the last and final one. To reach 3rd falls, was tricky. The rocks are very steem and one can not walk up the rocks. We had to climb up the steep, slippery muddy path, holding the roots of trees and other small plants. Remember, I was bare foot and this was leeche's territory. Anyway, I was helpless. I couldn't worry about leeches anymore as I had to used both hands and legs to maintain balance. Kiran was ahead of me and dropped a rock while he struggled to balance. And it fell on my both legs before going down. After climbing up we had to come down a bit to reach 3rd falls. Finally, we made it. I was worried about going back the same way!!! I stayed back with Kiran here and rest of the gang went up to the last falls. I don't know why I stayed back(definitely fear is not the reason). After taking bath here it was pretty relaxing.

Waterfall No 2

Waterfall No 4

Gururaj's paddy fields

End of unforgettable adventure...

Here ends our adventure and the rest of the story is boring. So I will make it short. We could reach main road in just less than 1.5 hours. As soon as we reached Nittur, we got the bus to Kollur. Had lunch, visited temple and we were ready to head back to our concrete jungle, Bangalore. Bus journey was smooth and we were in Bangalore at around 7:00AM.