Kodachadri

About

Kodachadri is located close to Kollur,which is located close to Mangalore.
It stands approximately 1400mts tall.It is said to be the peak where Shankaracharya did penance and a Sarvagna Peetha stands testimony.

How to get there

From Bangalore :
1.Take the Bangalore-Shimoga-Hosanagara-Nittur route
2.Take the Bangalore-Mangalore-Udupi-Kollur-Nittur route
Ample KSRTC Buses ply on both the routes
One can also hire your own ride

When

25-26-27th Dec,2009

Who

Soumyak,Bikash,Lalit and Me(Deepak)

*****************Some Fundaes on the Trekking Routes******************

-> Route #1 : Sampekatte , Gowrikatte , Nittur, Kollur are points where a jeep ride all the way to the top is available. Takes ~~Rs.200 per person one way

-> Route #2 : This starts at Karakatte Gate , passes through Santosh Cafe and is a an easy-moderate way to reach the peak..Best Part about this is that the IB (more on this later) and its beacon bulb is visible all the way till the top.So you know how much more to go rather than be fooled by the locals whose only intent is to motivate you by specifying some random distances :) . Nothing more to describe about this route which also has some pretty ridges along the way.

-> Route #3 : This is by far the most challenging,tiring and a breathtaking route.It starts off from Nittur where you follow the jeep track for a while till you reach a hut on your left.Then follow the mud trail on your right. This route joins the trail from Marakuttaka. You will then reach Yemmehonda village and further on Yemmehonda School.This means your on the right path.The first landmark here is Hidlumane Hut.From here you have 2 paths :

--> Path #1 ( This is taken during the rainy season ) goes by the hut and finally reaches the jeep trail further up

--> Path #2 goes through Hidlumane Falls.You need to hop - skip - jump your up 5-6 falls till you reach the actual Hidlumane Falls. There is a trail to the right of this which you need to carefully take and this leads you all the way to the top after passing through a steep terrain consiting of grasslands,narrow ridges.But this is very tricky and having a local guide is advisable as there are too many forks enroute and you dont want to spend the night with the inmates of the jungle here..Though thats a tempting option too!

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A year had gone by and bereft of any treks and replete with checkins,deadlines,meetings and more such hard stops,everything seemed black and white.So finally one fine winter evening , just a few days before Christmas, a plan for a plan was made.Post a few phone calls,plan and re-plan a place was decided upon and then again this was changed and we zeroe'd in on Kodachadri.

On Christmas Eve, the four of us left Bangalore in an Indica.It was 11ish or so when we left Malleswaram(my home).But what awaited us was a massive traffic jam right from Yeshvantpur..stretching across Peenya.It was only 12:30am when we could see a clear road..What a start!! Post that it was clear road and we were off..After exhausting what ever little energy we had in some small talk most of the people drifted off..I was by the driver and so kept awake lest I became the driver :-).We kept each other awake by putting arbit fundaes off n on..Tumkur zoomed by and we hit the slightly bumpy Bangalore-Honnavar (BH Road) route , which would take us to Shimoga.I knew this road and the life in its little towns well, having taken it a hazaar times on my umpteen trips to Shimoga as a kid.. After driving along for a few hours the driver could have it no more..At one point I actually had to hold the steering wheel..So we came to a stop on a sunsaan (read isolated) point where we dozed off reminding ourselves to wake up post 15mins..

It was 5am and a good 1 hr when we awoke from the little slumber..Shimoga beckoned us and off we were.We managed to reach Shimoga around 5:45 am and headed straight to the circle near the bus stand for further directions.After the chai break, we started asking junta around..Lo n behold we had people pointing us in 2 opposite directions with each one claiming his was the shorter route.Finally we decided to 'trust' one bus driver and headed on the route towards Sagar(another familiar place for me). We were told to keep left post a certain pillar and thats what we did.Meanwhile people in the cab started waking up and we were greeted by the rising 'Sun'.My rising 'Sun' :). We drove along ...Hosanagar->Nagara went past and the road had become real bumpy..We suffered the first flat tyre enroute too.Finally we reached Nittur by 9:00am , the base camp for the trek.
(Route : Bangalore-Shimoga-Hosanagara-Nagara-Sampekatte-Gowrikatte-Nittur-Marakuttaka-Nagodi Check Post-Karakatte Gate-Kollur)



Nittur Village..where only BSNL rings..

Being a long weekend , the crowd at the base camp made us prepare for what awaited us.It was a basic hall available here.Post freshening up, a quick breakfast at Nittur consisting of Puris and Rava Idlis wolfed down, we started off with a guide to accompany us.We took the path up the jeep trail for a while and then entered the mud trail which took us to Hidlumane Hut..



Hidlumane Hut

No sweat and the world seemed good till now.Post relaxing a while and making some talk with other fellow trekker junta we climbed down ??? the path to the Hidlumane Falls.We had to scale small rapids to reach the actual falls..Being winter the path alongside the rapids was not that slippery (Tho i mananged a fall once ..Blame it on my Centre of Gravity shifting and my shoe giving haath) and we made good progress till we reached the actual Hidlumane Falls.



Hidlumane Falls

The Falls was good but we werent in a mood to get under the water given the amount of distance we had to cover.The trail from here was a little tricky and also steep,laden with stones and needing real patience and grip.The glucose packets came out and were getting devoured real rapid.The rocky , slippery path seemed to be going on and on while the guide just kept saying 5km more!! Bikash had a fall once and thankfully he wasnt badly hurt and could continue.This was his first trek and boy did he get to climb some mountain!! Finally we hit the 1st stretch of grasslands where we took a slightly longish break consisting of cake-glucose-cake ..



Change in Vegetation

When we thought the road ahead was smooth,we hit another steep stretch of grassland where it was just a steep path up..No zig-zag,no smooth trails! This was the beginning of my climb for 2mins-relax for 3mins sessions.However this path also brought with it some stunning views of the landscape.We seemed to have reached some sort of a peak..Suddenly cell phone connectivity seemed to have come back..But then our joy was short lived as the guide showed us a peak yonder and said "Allige hogbeku" (read : We need to reach there)!! Now that was easily another 1.5hr climb. We were fast running out of water too and had just about a litre of water for 4 of us.





We hit a narrow ridge..To one side was the steep abyss presenting a straight 1 way ticket to the nether land and the other side was loose grass to hold on to.Though a trifle scary,this was one of the best parts of the trek and culminated at the foot of the final climb to the top..View from here was something which I cannot do justice to in words..Needs to be seen-felt-captured-sensed and etched in memory forever.The sharp contrast in landscape was something which amazed me..What seemed dense green vegetation comprising tress , shrubs gave way to tall grasses in a rather abrupt manner..There are lots of metaphors to compare it to..Hmm..Imagine a head gone bald just at the top :-)..By now we were dead tired and without any water ,with only glucose to chew on,we crashed on the smooth grass and slept amidst the grass for a while.Being dead tired,,to crash in the grass and gaze at the sky over you while the wind swept the grass off your face,just felt divine.This was life!

Anyways coming back to reality , we could see the destination now.Now this is surprising but on treks when the final frontier appears,a hitherto hidden energy manifests out of nowhere n so we finally hit the jeep trail in no time.This was the good ol 'On Top Of the World' feeling which all of us experience..The sheer height which we had covered seemed breathtaking.The hut which we hit on the route up seemed but like a small dot in the landscape.Post the customary 'we reached the top' snaps we started ambling along merrily along the jeep trail.It was as if the mighty powers above had seen our quest that a resourceful 'Majjige(read ButterMilk) guy appeared out of nowhere and lo-behold , in the next few minutes he was left with no stock!But the cold buttermilk touching the parched throat was insulin to the tired soul..Our luck only got better as a jeep stopped by and it had enough seats for us n some fellow buddies from RV..The reminder of the path was done in the jeep and we finally reached the temple.



Bhattra Mane

Post catching our breath,gloating over our 'achievement' we were back to reality..The place resembled a near 'Halli (read Village) Santhe (read Fair)..Lots of junta (mostly from Bengaluru..mostly people rotting away most of their time in front of PC's..coding..) around. Lunch awaited us at Bhattra Mane (house of the temple priest) and was simple fare comprising Rice-Rasam/Sambhar-ButterMilk but yet felt divine. Post lunch,fruity n some random banter, we headed up to catch the sunset. We trekked along a 'short cut' as mentioned by our guide 'Raghavendra' and stumbled upon a Ganesh gudi along the way and finally reached the summit of Kodachadri..The Sarvagna Peetha was also visible close by..It was slightly misty and hence the horizon did not extend far.Nevertheless seeing the orange sun set to culminate a tiring but a breathtaking trek was picture perfect.The view from the top extended to as far as the waters of the Linganamakki Reservoir
(Sharavathi River)



Sarvagna Peetha..yonder..,at the Summit




Sitting there watching the sun set admist the picture postcard landscape on Christmas Day, personally was a humbling experience.I do not know what triggered the feeling but I felt humble,small before mighty 'Mother Nature' and her rules of life of which we are just puppets..Oh man Philosophy and here I digress again..Happens when you start writing after a long break..Anywas, we spent a good hour there soaking in everything there to offer.It was way beyond what the 2 eyes we have been endowed with can soak in..Something so beautiful ,that only a lady could come close to matching it but definitely this would win hands down.

We then descended from the sunset point to the Inspection Bungalow(IB) a.k.a PWD Guest House.This was under repair and we were given tents to sleep for in the night.A campfire was lit and we spend the next few hours warming ourselves and making small talk , before the tent was set up.Somehow the tents were not large enough for our liking and hence we decided to sleep in the IB itself.The rest of the junta could be heard singing and dancing away the night..Post a quick dinner at Bhattra Mane (which a few skipped) we crashed for the day.In between I heard from the old lady at Bhattra Mane on how they got 'no' electricity from the govt n generated their own hydel power! A small note on the residents on Bhattra Mane. Whatever people might say of the Bhattra Mane(read house) and the food ..blah.., I felt they were a bunch of kind souls serving the tired trekkers with hot food and giving them shelter in the night in the cold peak.One doesnt need more than the essential "Food-Water-Shelter" and this they provide.No compliants..A humbing and satisfying Day 1 came to an end and Kodachadri had made me happy.Extremely happy..Yay :) !

It seemed like only a few minutes back that I had slept when Bikash woke me up.Time to leave..Sigh..Eyes did not open at all (6am wake up time was something unheard of in Bangalore with its divine winters and cozy beds ) and so I missed the sunrise..It was a cool-fresh winter morning as we descended down to Bhattra Mane.Post freshening up,some tea, we contemplated what next..Bikash n Lalit decided to take the jeep down.They had 'had' enough.Soumyak n Me decided to trek down the Karkatte gate route.



Inspection Bungalow..Visible as we descend




I did not want to leave Kodachadri! in The sun was slowly coming up and we embarked on the way down..The way down seemed a hop-skip-jump cake walk compared to the ascent path.We ambled along..taking pics..indulging in some light banter..One notable thing is that the IB at the top is visible all along this route..The trail passed along the ridge by the grasslands and post that was a well sheltered trail with hardly any sun creeping in.Post a relaxed 1.5hr descent we reached Santosh Cafe!



Santosh Cafe

Dead hungry , a plate of Idli-Kadla Curry (watever) and lemon soda devoured , we were thinking if its worth it to walk along the jeep trail to Karakatte gate..Lo n Behold a jeep metamorphosed out of nowhere and we rode all the way till the gate,hopped onto a passing bus and reached Nittur. Reaching Nittur , we waited for the cab driver (who had gone for tiffan(read breakfast) alongwith Bikash,Lalit).

Post completing the formalities at Nittur,came the question what next! It was just about 10:30am and there was no way we were heading back to Bangalore.Post some discussion with fellow trekker junta and locals, we closed on reaching Udupi (~~100Km away on a decent road) and so we hit the road again,with some unheard of Hindi Songs playing in the cab and making an attempt to sing along some very random lyrics.Post a traffic jam in Kollur( near the Mookambika Temple) , which seemed more like Mallu land , we hit Kundapura and finally Udupi..Deciding quickly we reached Malpe Beach.The sand was golden here but the beach was a victim of crass commercialization with Water Sports et all..Definitely not my kind of beach!!We reached the harbour to catch the ferry to St.Mary's Island.The ride to the island took us 30mins.



St.Mary's Island

The island actually surprised as I had expected the place to be another commercial disaster.The waters were actually clean and the beach had more shells than sand.Playing in the water for sometime(darn we forgot to bring a change of clothes and hence could not swim here), a few pictures,collecting shells, it was time to bade goodbye.The thought of spending a night on St.Mary's Island suddenly came to me n passed by :) . On the way back , there was suddenly a commotion on the otherwise calm ferry..To my amazement,there were 2 dolphins in the sea who came up.



The dolphins were here :) ..

Now this was out of the blue as I had heard of dolphin visits off Malpe's Beach.Having reached the short , we headed out for lunch in the nearest close we could find.We had 2 course meal (sort of ) in a place called Hotel Sunshine consisting of Dosas for course , Dosas for course 2 :) and coffee for dessert.Actually there was just 1 waiter serving the whole section and he was a hassled man as everyone in the section seemed super hungry and made him run to n fro.Lunch polished off..Kaup Beach beckoned us.A friend of mine had also recommended it amongst the beaches there and with the sun also coming down,it seemed like the perfect way to end the day.



Lighthouse,Kaup(Kapu) Beach



Kaup Beach was exactly the way I had imagined it.A qaint village beach with a lighthouse(though off late its slowly becoming a commercial one is what I felt and I hope it retains its charm). We spend a good hour there playing in the clean waters of Kaup(or Kapu??) Beach , which was I must say was pretty rough for the Arabian Sea,which is generally calmer compared to the Bay of Bengal, a personal observation.
It was dark now and the light house shone majestically , the beacon for the ships in far seas..Pity I could not climb it and catch the view of the coast line..Save it for the next visit I thought..Had a 'Mango Dolly' ice cream standing by the sea and then it was time to say bye to this pretty lil beach..I wanted to stay along ,sit by the sea,walk along the beach and then..then gaze at the pretty star struck sky..A night by the beach is always on my 'Must Do' things each time..Triggers a lot of feelings inside (ahem..Reminded me of Gokarna too)..To be honest,I did not want to leave this leave but coming back to reality , we had a long drive back..

There were multiple options on the route back and we finally zeroed in the Mangalore-Madikeri-Srirangapatna-Bangalore route after the hazaar advice from fellow cab drivers n locals about the pathetic condition of the other routes.We hit the NH17 towards Mangalore..Passed by Surathkal(where we caught a glimpse of NITK by the highway..This college has its own private beach!) and then headed towards Madikeri.The so-called good road was a patch work of sorts and we bade our time with Bikash telling us about his 'Pursuits' and adventures..We took a pit stop at some random non-descript restaurant where I was forced to call some huge looking rice grains as food..What saved me was the super hot 'Black Lemon Tea' and that served as my dinner in that cold winter night!

The journey towards Madikeri continued and I should say you need to be real careful as this road has numerous Y Forks and one can lose their way easily.But as we started ascending and the familiar tall,dense 'Coorgi' trees alongside the road started showing up alongwith the magical mountain scent of Coorg, I was pretty sure we were on our way to Coorg..People were drifting in and out of sleep though I somehow never got a wink of sleep..It started raining and rain on a cold winter night with the sights,sounds,smells of the rain laden forest replete with mountain streams flowing by making a 'sweet ruckus', while going through the wilderness of Coorg,you simply cannot 'sleep' on such a magical night.We stopped by here n there to heard the sound of water gushing through the mountain streams..It had suddenly gotten cold too.One point to note is "Never honk while driving through the ghat sections in Coorg". (Source : Cab Driver's fundaes to the sleepy me :)).Honking would attract the elephants..Now this was something I wanted to see happen..Apparently our driver has seen it happen a few times too..The journey continued till we reached Madikeri at midnight.
Walked on the roads,stretched for a while ,catching in the moist air and then continued on..The descending road towards Mysore was pathetic (to sound politically modest/diplomatic) as it could not be described as a road at all..The driver started playing the 'Bad Songs' again and I let it be just to keep him awake!Kushalnagar(known for its Majestic Buddhist Monastery in Bylakuppa settlement) passed by and as we approaced Hunsur , the road morphed into a smooth 4lane highway..We stopped by for a quick 1 hr sleep as all of us were dead tired.It was 5am when we continued on..The road ahead was smooth and we bypassed Mysore..A small section prior to Srirangapatna was described by the driver (Fundae session again!!) as robbery prone as the 'gabbars' of the area block the road with boulders, sit on the small hillocks on either side of the road and then make their move :) .

We went the Mysore-Bangalore Highway and the journey here on was uneventful and smooth..Cruising along,the sun rose when we touched Ramnagara.Finally passing along the outer ring road we reached Malleswaram where I bid "Tata" to the gang.

This sums up my 'Date with the Wilderness' , a time well spent.. .. ..