Trek in Charmadi Ghat

Trek in Charmadi Ghat

My First two day trek with BASC.

Charmadi ghat is around 300 KMs drive from Bangalore. It is a part of Western Ghats and located in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. It is a unique place as you can find variety of rare medicinal plants and rare animal species in the world. But for a nature lover, this Ghat is just a package of unlimited natural beauty. The real beauty of Charmadi can be seen only during the monsoon season.

Tired of waiting?? at Total Mall, Madiwala.

The Tempo Traveller reached Madiwala Total Mall around 10:45pm. With all our trekking gears, we got into the TT and settled down in convenient seats. We started off with cheers and enthusiasm. We got introduced to one another and started off with the usual dumb charades. Meanwhile, all of us filled up the BASC indemnity form and handed over them to Patrick. We played until it was 00:30am and we then decided to rest our body.

Day 1:

Waiting to take bath

We reached mudigere around 6:00 am in the morning and it was too early for a bath. We had to climb down from the place where our TT was parked to see the waterfall. But when all of us saw the water fall, we were ready to get all wet. The water jumps from almost 50ft high and we easily got wet before we could even enter the water. The waterfall was furious making roaring sound and it resisted us getting too close to it. We went as close as we could go and played there was sometime.

Magnificent water falls

After the chill bath, I noticed that one leech was ready to suck my blood, but I wasn't ready to donate any. Chandan lent me salt which I let the leech taste some after which it agreed to fall off my feet. Later we climbed up, got ready and started our first day trek with mindset of covering atleast three peaks.

We had to walk through the woods to reach the base camp for peak 1

We started around 7:30 am and as we entered the backwoods, we were welcomed by many leeches; and each one of us helping the other in getting rid off them. We had to walk almost 2 to 3 KMs through a village to reach the base camp. We could find a lots of leeches and as soon as you stop, 3 to 5 leeches easily cling on your shoes. Everyone paused here and there checking for any leeches and getting rid off them.

Peak 1 base camp

We reached the base camp, and took rest for 5 minutes meanwhile Patrick was enquiring a villager about wild animals we could encounter on the way. After the starters/sweepers were chosen, we started around 8:30am marching towards the first peak (Ramakal Gudda). With the help of GPS,  Patrick started leading us all to Peak 1 which is 1350 meters above the sea level.

Yes, we are going there

The pathway was fairly easy but too steep and easily tiring too. We rested here and there gasping air and waiting for fellow trekkers before they could remain far behind. After trekking for almost an hour and half or so, it was time for breakfast. We stopped at a place where we found tree shade. We rested there for 5 minutes and then started having breakfast. As planned, all of them had got their breakfast and all of us shared it. Rajesh had got a container full of tomato curry which was very tasty and could contend everyone of us.

Sharing our breakfast

The peak was covered with fog and we were attracted towards conquering it. Without wasting much time, we started off soon after our breakfast. Even though the weather was cool and pleasant, we were all sweating as our path was getting more steeper towards the peak. Finally we conquered peak 1 at around 11:30am. It looked like Peak 1 is not explored by many as it was clean and plastic free. We also couldn't find any man made path uptill the peak.

View from Peak 1

We could see layers and layers of mountains in the far distance and I would say, those who manage to rise high, rise above the clouds, can enjoy the magnificient view of western ghats. We took lot of pics with different poses and different backgrounds. Infact we could even see Windows XP background look like view on the top. We definitely needed lot of rest here to re-energise ourselves. During the rest period, Akshata gave us all cucumber that rejuvenated our energy. With the group pic on the top, we started to descend down. As mentioned, Peak 1 was quiet steep and we had to carefully climb down. Finally, we reached the base camp around 1:30pm.

Busy cutting cucumber

Windows XP background look like

Group pic on peak 1

We walked towards the village and filled our water bottles as soon as we found a tap. It was lunch time and we settled in a suitable place. But soon, it started pouring and one of the villager offered us shelter. We all went insider their home and comforted ourselves. Again everyone of us shared our lunch and the villager offered us ghee. After our peaceful lunch session, we thanked her and left the village for conquering the second peak.

Are you ready for lunch?

Again with the help of GPS and Patrick's experience, Patrick lead us to Peak 2 which is around 1200 meters above sea level. Again we could find lots of leeches and as we ascended and came out of moist land towards grasslands, it was free of leeches. To conquer peak 2, we had to jump over the forest fence and ascend for almost an hour. With little effort, we easily conquered peak 2. We took rest for 15 minutes, took few snaps and finally took the group pic.

View from peak 2 

Group pic, peak 2

Seemed like peak 2 too is known only to a few. It was 3:30 pm and we were all exhausted but ready to conquer one another peak. After taking the majority opinion and later convincing others, we started towards peak 3. Similar to peak 2, we had to enter the forest by crossing the fence. It took us less than 30 minutes and there we were on top of peak 3.

Enjoying Charmadi, peak 3

After spending a while on peak 3, we decided to descend through the Jeep track. As soon as we crossed the fence, it started drizzling and getting dark too. To avoid getting late and putting ourselves into trouble, we briskly walked on the Jeep path towards the village. It took us nearly 2 and half hours to reach the place where our TT was parked. Few folks went and took a dip in the water fall while others chose to rest. When everyone of us had arrived at the common point, we started towards Charmadi Village which is around 1 hour drive from Mudigere. Most of us slept while Patrick and Rajesh were busy figuring out the place where we had to halt.

At the restaurant

We stopped at a restaurant where we met our second day trek guide. He suggested us a nearby temple where we could spend our night. Few of us stayed at the restaurant while others went to check out the temple. Meanwhile, we at the restaurant refreshed the whole day event and ate chakuli. When others were back, each one of us ordered variety of dinner like Parota, Neer Dosa, Kerala meals and shared amongst ourselves. After the dinner, we went straight to temple. The temple premises was tidy and was peaceful since the temple was quiet far from the village. Everyone started to settle down and rest while Patrick, Rajesh and myself went to checkout the place for fire camp. After finding a clean place for camping, we came back and informed others. In spite of being tired, all were excited about the fire camp. We had taken corn and potato and with the help of camp fire, each one of us helped roasting the corn and potato.

Roasting Corn and potatoes

Corn tasted well but potatoes were not that great. We sung songs, danced for sometime and then left to temple to take complete rest.

Second day:

Early in the morning on the second day, we heard something. We heard a group of boys exercising in the temple premises? They weren't the regular exercises, few exercises were being played in the form of games. Along with getting ready for the second day event, we started gazing at their games. It was getting late, but we couldn't take our eyes away.

Morning exercise is good for health

With the help of fuel tablet, Chandan and Rajesh prepared hot vegetable soup and we all enjoyed the early morning hot soup.

Rajesh preparing soup

We packed up all our things and kept them in the TT. After all were done, we took a group snap in temple and went to the restaurant for breakfast. After the breakfast, we ordered pushkar(rice bath) for lunch and took it with us.

How did it taste?? Yummy!

Group snap at the temple.

We started off from the restaurant around 9:30 am in the morning. This time Rajesh chose lead and Patrick chose to sweep. The guide took us into the dense woods. We could find more number of leeches compared to the previous day. The path was dense and only little sun light entered.

On the way to Peak 4

We walked for about an hour fighting leeches on the way and came out of the dense woods to check that lots of leeches on our legs. Everyone were busy removing their shoes and checking for leeches and we found that most of them had many leech bites. Then as suggested by the guide, we mixed coconut oil with tobacco powder and applied on our legs and shoes.

Getting rid of leeches and applying tobacco powder

Then without resting there, we moved again into the thick dense woods. There was no path at all and the guide made some marks on the trees with his machet to help identify the path we came from. While trekking, we heard water stream nearby. Few of us went there, washed our faces and then later filled our water bottles. The water was cool and it contended our thirst.

We trekked for almost two hours and came out of the dense forest region. We were already so tired and the sun was on our head. We rested under little shade for a while here. We could see the peak from here and Patrick now chose to lead us. Without wasting much time, Patrick, Chiranjeevi, Chandan and Jijo moved towards the peak. Sometime later, myself, Swetha, Shaunak followed them while others rested.

Resting for sometime

The path started becoming more and more interesting and we could see the other beautiful part of Western Ghats. The peak looked close by but infact it was quiet far. We ascended for almost an hour and half and I was so glad to reach the peak first.

The feel of conquering day 2

We made it through all the obstacles with great energy and enthusiasm. It was 1:30 pm when myself, Chiranjeevi and Patrick reached. We sat there down waiting for others to come. One after the other everyone started coming and we started clicking photographs with different poses and different backgrounds.

View from Erikal gudda, peak 4

Small cave exploration

Patrick later discovered that we could go towards other part of the peak through a small cave. After having lunch, we explored that and it started raining heavily as soon as we reached the cave.

Cave where we took shelter from rain

We took shelter of the cave from rain and took snaps here. The rain stopped after sometime and it already 3:00 pm. We finally decided to descend and Patrick chose to lead again. We took around 45 minutes to carefully reach the woods. Our guide was waiting for us here.

Descending

Few folks who didn't have their lunch at the peak took some time to have it meanwhile others were resting. After their lunch, we entered the thick woods. The path was slippery as it had rained and we had to be even more careful. We climbed down for almost an hour and it started pouring very heavily. We didn't have any shelter there and we had to trek in the rain and it was getting dark too.

Our guide

Trekking now became more exciting, we used our rain ponchos and walked briskly without worrying about leeches at all. We lost our path once but soon we found it back. We had to keep each other is sight as anybody could get lost and finding path to the base camp would be very difficult. We trekked in rain for almost an hour and half. It stopped raining as we got closer to the base camp and we were all happy to have made it.

Back to base camp, Day 2

We reached the restaurant around 6:30 pm, paid the guide his fees and went to the temple we stayed in for an after trek bath. After getting freshened, we planned to go to Dharmastala which is around 25 KMs. The temple was about to close and luckily we got the dharshan of Sri Dharmastala Manjunatha Swamy.

At Sri Dharmastala Manjunatha Swamy Temple

We had our dinner in a nearby restaurant and left for Bangalore around 10:30 pm. Everyone was tired after fun filled two day trekking and we rested until we reached Bangalore. Around 5:00 am in the morning, we reached Bangalore. After dividing the left over money amongst ourselves, we all departed at suitable points.

Thanks to Patrick for organising such a memorable trek and other for making it fun filled and exciting.

Organiser: Patrick.

Participants: Rajesh, Akshata, Kiran, Chiranjeevi, Chandan, Ajay, Shamanth, Shaunak, Jijo, Swetha, Partrick, Arun, Shiva.

Photo Courtesy: Shiva, Ajay, Jijo, Akshata.

Writeup: Shamanth Prem Kumar.

Kunti betta trek, Mandya, Karnataka.

Another wonderful trekking experience to my trek list. 

Kunti betta is around 130 KMs drive from Bangalore. On the way to Mysore, we need to take a diversion at Mandya towards Pandavapura. Mandya is called "The Sugar City of Karnataka" and hence you will find lots of sugarcane plantations and factories that prepare jaggaries. The trek difficulty level is easy and it is just 2 KMs trek. 

                  Playing dumb charades

Seventeen of us led by Patrick started off from Bangalore at 6:30am. On the way, we had lots of fun playing dumb charades and being totally dumb for Patrick's performance :). We had our breakfast at Mandya and ordered for lunch in the same hotel. At Mandya we have to take a right turn to reach Pandavapura. There is a railway crossing on the way and we had to wait for the train to pass. The railway station is very close and I guess we can get a train from Bangalore (Unfortunately, I don't remember the railway station). 

                               Introduction session at the base camp.

From Pandavapura, Kunti betta is around 6KMs. We reached the base camp around 9:30am and started ascending after having an introductory session. Santhosh and Ambika were the leaders while Ajay and Karthik were the sweepers. The terrain is rocky but an easy one. We could see lot of village people along with their small kids climbing the hill. While ascending, we could see the magnificient Tonnuru kere (Tonnuru Lake), coconut plantation, pandavapura village, and sugarcane feilds. 

 

               View while ascending

There is a stone pillar on top of the hill. And it took us very less time to reach the summit. But we spent most of the time waiting for photograph freaks. After the group photographs and profile pics, we started to descend. We reached the base camp at 2:00pm and had some good time sliding on the rock and living our childhood again ;). Once everyone reached the base camp, we had lunch in the nearby temple. 

 

                       Group pic

               Pic at stone pillar

There is another hill adjacent to Kunti betta which we called Gandhari betta. Behind the so called Gandhari betta, we walked through the fields towards the lake. We cannot enter the lake from this side as it is swampy. With the opinion of all, few of us agreed to trek Gandhari betta while others chose to stay. The terrain is comparatively difficult and more sloppy. It easily took us 1.5 hours to reach the summit. We didn't spend much time on the top as we had plans to go to Tonnuru Lake. We took rest for 10 minutes and started to descend. We were almost done and it started to rain so we made quickly towards our TT. After we reached the other side, we freshened up and got into our TT.

 

               We had our lunch here

We left Kunti betta at around 5:00 pm and headed towards Tonnuru lake. Other side of Tonnuru lake is safer to enter in the water. As soon as we reached, it started raining heavily. We waited for the rain God to stop pouring. After the rain stopped, few of the them entered water and others enjoyed by wetting their legs in the water. We left Tonnuru lake around 6:00 pm as it was time to come home. Thanks to Jijo for hot bhajjis he brought for all of us. Later, I mostly enjoyed talking to talking kitty (Android App) while others urged me to stop.

 

                 Modern Hanumantha crossing water stream.

              

                 Tonnuru lake

We stopped at Mandya for high tea. Meanwhile Bhargava and Santhosh brought us hot jilebees. We were all very tired and after having hot jilebees, most of them rested. It was dark in the TT so we could not play dumb charades. Sometime later, Santhosh and Karthik played songs on their cell phones meanwhile Patrick and myself started to dance and others savored our amateur dance. The dance program got over very soon as we were very tired and then we rested for a while. Later, few of the mischievous us (Patrick, Swetha, Kiran, Akash, Santhosh, Karthik and myself) started pulling legs of each other leaving others irritated by our loud voice. With some rubbish and sub-conscious thought talks finally everyone of us stopped. Myself and Swetha calculated the total trip expenditure and divided the excess amount among all.

 

               This is patrick.

We reached Bangalore around 9:00pm and it was time to say goodbye to all. With lovely memories to cherish, everyone of us alighted close to our homes.

I am thankful to all of them who made the trek memorable to me.

Bananthimari betta trekking - Kanakapura, Karnataka.

With more excitement and energy, I had geared up for another exploration :). I registered for the event as soon as I checked my mailbox. I was very happy to see my name getting selected. I was ready to volunteer for any task and was given the responsibility of finance management.

Along with Shalini I reached KR Market (our assembly point) around 6:50am. After meeting old buddies and getting introduced to new ones, I started collecting money and Swetha noted it down. Our team of 21 crew lead by Patrick and Durgacharan, started off from Bangalore Kalasipalya bus stop around 7:30 am.

As we all settled in the bus, I took the count of number. Then sat in the last row of the bus with Patrick, Swetha, Shalini and Chiru. The bus started moving and it was time for some munching. We had biscuits, chocolates, chikki and kaccha mango. Our bus journey consisted of pestering, commenting, chattering (and ofcourse eating :)) and we didn't even realise we reached Kanakapura.


(Shalini, Myself and Swetha)

Chandan, native of Kanakapura had made arrangements for food and local transport (Thank you Chandan on behalf of everyone). We had our breakfast and packed our lunch from Vasu hotel (renowned hotel in Kanakapura). Then we started off to the base camp in minidor (Not to forget the bakwas talks we had while travelling :P and dog that followed us).


(Our introductory session.)

With the introductory session and after signing the BASC form, we started ascending. The initial part was rocky and then came the thick thorny way through the bushes. It was an exploratory trek, Patrick and few others carefully directed fellow trekkers. Walking under the trees was a fantastic experience. It seemed like we were a part of some English movie like the 'Jurassic park'. We carefully moved forward bending, crouching and moving between the thorns. The dog (called by different names Scooby, rocky, ramu, tommy) followed wherever we went. We were all attacked by thorns and mosquitos which left few of us with cuts, bruises and itches. Even though it was not sunny, we were all sweating and we took rest here and there along with snaps :-), doing masti and eating.


(Some snaps here and there.)

After succeding through the bushes, we came across a rocky region. Few enthusiasts started climbing the rocks and found no way further. Then later they climbed down and we followed the directions that were painted on the rocks(The dog also directed us in the same way). To replenish our energy, we ate chocolates, pepper mints and chikki. From there we climbed through the greens, rocks with beautiiful view of the nearby villages, hills, water reservoir, clouds. We reached the top and had conquered the hill around 1:30pm.


(View from top. You need to be there to enjoy the beauty :))

On top of the hill, we had a brief session on Yoga from Shalini with everyone having their eyes, ears and mind open to know on how to reduce weight, how to get sleep and many more questions running in their minds. During the Yoga session, we ate fresh oranges, plum cakes, salt biscuits, salted peanuts, kodbele, fried peas and biscuits. After some time, we had lunch and took rest for a while. Then with the group pic, we started descending. Almost after 50% of our journey back, rain God poured but we were all ready with jackets, rain coats, wind cheaters and hats. It was another lovely view with foggy clouds, bosky bushes and shining rocks. We slowly climbed down and reached a place where we could all sit. Again it was time for some snaps and munching.


(inspired by Shalini.)



(another group pic).


(Group pic on top of the hill)

Later we reached the base camp and started off to nearby water stream. Soon we found that the water was not fit for water games so we returned to the bus stand. We then had juice, butter milk and coffee. We departed from Kanakapura around 6:30pm. Myself and Swetha were busy in calculating the total trip cost and returning the extra money to all. Meanwhile others were playing dumb charades. We reached Banashankari around 8:00pm, said good bye to all and departed.

I thank each and everyone for making this trekking a memorable one. Do keep in touch :)

Trek to Rayakkottai Fort, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.

Being a beginner in trekking, I was waiting for something easy to start with and then it came, the Rayakkottai trekking. After getting selected, I was so delighted that I reached the railway station half an hour before the train schedule as I did not want to miss this one.

With a team of 26 people lead by Pallavi and Nagesh, we started from Bangalore railway station around 7:30 am. As people were dispersed in different bogies and compartments, I got introduced only to a few. We had light breakfast and some general talks while travelling. After reaching the Rayakkottai railway station around 10:00 am, everyone was given the BASC forms (the first timers were asked to read the rules of BASC carefully and then sign the form). After being instructed about the plan, everyone had their breakfast in the railway station and we started off.
 
On the way to the foot of the fort, we purchased sweet delicious jackfruits, puffed rice (kalle puri) for keeping our mouths engaged and water bottles to energize us and keep everyone moving. It took us around 15 to 20 minutes from the railway station to reach the start point. The trek started with starters leading and sweepers at the end.

On the way to the top, we stopped here and there filling our hearts with the scenic beauty, taking snaps, enjoying the cool breeze, climbing rocks and waiting for others.

We reached the top around 1:00 pm and the feeling of conquering the fort was just amazing. We had jackfruits, fanta, methi sticks, kajoor obbat, nippat and the list goes on. After taking the group snap, we headed towards the caves. Sitting near the caves for lunch, we shared puliogre, palav, chole, parata, chapathi, sprouts and again the list goes on. After gratifying our stomachs, we had a really good time with the introduction session. Since we almost knew most of the folks, we did not find it difficult in introducing ourselves or getting to know more about others, teasing and pulling each other’s legs.
 
We started descending around 3:30 pm and by 4:15 pm or so we reached the railway station. To our amazement, the train was delayed by almost 45 minutes. We had a pleasant evening in the railway station refreshing our trek, laughing on PJs, making fun, challenging on several activities and of course eating. We boarded the train around 5:30 pm and played dumb charades with each one fighting for their turn to enact. At around 8:00 pm we reached Bangalore station which was the saddest part of the day. We said goodbye to each other, hugged and promised to keep in touch forever and left.

I would like to thank each and everyone for making this trek a memorable one. Hope to see you all again and have much more fun with you guys. Keep in touch .