huff - puff ... hurray finally completed my trek

well this time no bikes......all by foot.....more than 25 kms.....going up and down the hills for two days

if u happened to see my resume i wud have written one of my interests as trekking..... so i decided to give it a try last weekend......

the place i went to is a part of western ghats and our trek was from Mulayangiri to Kemenagundi via Baba Budhanagiri(never mind if u are not able to pronounce it properly)

so y this trek? well it all started with my plan to go a bike expedition to few famous heritages near bangalore....wen i suggested this idea to my cousin he gave an option of this trek.....the trek was organised by Bangalore Mountaineering Club......after a lot of discussion we chose to trek as we cud do the bike expedition any time later.......

friday night.....took all the neccessary accessories and packed a lots of snacks(in case we get lost somewhere)....wore my new Woodland shoes(it was a bad decision and u will come to know y soon) and got ready to be picked up by my cousin....and by the way my cousin's name is karthik and this guy has a lot more prior experience in such activities.....

left my home to the boardin point and on the way picked up a camera from my another cousin to capture the scenic beauty of the western ghats.....

reached the boardin point @9:45 pm...well ahead of time and waited patiently for the bus to pick us up........the bus came at 10:05pm.....it was a 20 seater bus and we took the seats near the door so that we cud get some extra legspace which turned out to be a wise decesion(well i gave the suggestion so it ought to be wise :).....picked up few more people on the way and it was almost 11:30pm when we hit the highway.......

reached chikmaglur at 4:30 am the next day that is saturday...we were expected to reach there ony at 6:00am....but thanks to the driver we reached there early......unfortunately the lodge that was booked by the organisers for our refreshment was given off to another big gang and we were left roomless :(

while our host(his name is Guru) accompanied by my cousin went in search for other lodges....the others continued their sleep in the bus.....it was quite uncomfortable inside so i joined Guru and Karthik who had returned back without any success....we spent some time talkin while others were snoring away to glory inside the bus....while Guru went ahead to find other possibilities me and karthik were roaming on the deserted streets waitin for it to dawn...we spent two hours on the streets and the those inside the bus started to emerge out one by one.....we had a quick meeting and decided to refresh ourselves in the bus stand nearby and head to the trek directly........

after refreshing we had our breakfast and headed to the base of Mulayangiri hill.....we took our lunch packets - readymade chapathi and MTR ready to eat Channa Masala and started to climb the hill at 9:30 am........

oh....forgot to mention about the group....we were 17 of us...most of them from IT industry......and the host Guru.....a helper Krishnapanna(a localite).....

It was drizling when we started our trek which made the trek much more interesting.....we proceeded along a route called Sarpadhari...the climb was steep and the path was quite slushy cos of the rains.......we took severals braeks to witness the slush green cover around us.....but we were a bit unfortunate as it was covered by mist most of the times.......@ 12 noon we reached the Mulayangiri peak where there was temple......there was also a cave and four of us took courage and went in to explore it and later one more joined.....probably this was the best part fo the entire trip......the cave was pitch dark and we had a very nice time exploring it.....it was very narrow at some places alowing only one person to pass at a time and there were areas where a group of four or five can sit comfortably had play a board game......the layers of metamorphic rocks neatly arranged added more beauty to it......

after our exploration we came back had lunch and started for the next leg......we had to wait some time for the rains to stop before we proceeded.....this part of the trek was quite streneous...we were heading to Baba Budhanagiri and the route was mostly uphill...this is when my shoes started givin me trouble......i was experiencing shoe bite as it was quite new......also these shoes are not much suited for climbing mountains...they are generally used for flatter terrains probably for forest trails.......it was quite uncomfortable to walk and to add on my weight was makin the climb more difficult(dont laugh).......finally we reached a road and thereon walked along the road for the next four kilometers.......we reached a small waterfall(was actually a hybrid of natural and manmade falls) and rested for some time.....again we took the hill route to climb up to Baba Budhanagiri....by this time everyone was totally exhausted and every step seemed to be a huge task.....meanwhile Guru left in a vehicle to arrange for our night accomodation.....after an hours long walk we reached another road where we met Guru again who was on the way to Baba Budhanagiri after arranging for accomodation.......it was 6:00 pm and was getting dark......so we decided to stop the trek there though the peak was jus a kilometer from there......the bus picked us up from there and reached the place were accomodation was arranged.......we took bath in the ice cold water and had our dinner(rice, sambhar and papad.....it was like havin amurtham).....finally we hit the bed at 9:00 pm and in few minutes evryone was fast asleep........


day 2....woke up 6:30am(beleive it) finished the morning routines and got ready for the day ahead.....the legs were in a bad shape and wudnt obey my commands......had our breakfast - cup noodles which gave some energy.......took some group photographs and finally boarded the bus to reach the Baba Budhanagiri peak......had a quick look around and strated walking towards Kaligere - a small lake......i was finding it very difficult to walk becos of the shoe bite and was laggin behind the group...finally we reached the lake but were unfortunate as the lake was filled with mist......we continued on our trail to Kemengundi....the trail was more flatter....the beauty of this part of the trek is that it was a mix of grasslands and very small forests.....these were called shola forests and were very small...the worse part was that the forests were covered with leeches...so ever time we entered the forest we ran through it to reach the grassland on the other side and removed the leeches from our legs......actually when all others had leeches on their legs i didnt get any...but they some how attacked my stomach and my back :)

we were told that the trek would be for almost 15 to 20 kms for that day........we continued to trek with small halts to capture the scenery.....we had a small break at 11:00 am for snacks......the journey after that was the most gruelling for me.......my legs were in a totally bad shape and i found it very difficult to walk .....my energy levels were dipping the halts became more frequent......there was a point when i started regrettin for takin up this trek......the trail was becoming more uphill and my feet started to fail becos of the shoes........thanks to the mental stamina i pushed my self beyond the limits to make to the last leg to Kemengundi.......the last was a deep downslope which i got down with the help of my body momentum(being a bit overweight also helps sometimes) and finally reached the road down ........the next one kilometer by road was covered at snail pace and finally reached the bus at 5 pm......

it was such a great relief when i removed my shoes and was bare foot for the rest of the day......we came down from Kemengundi to Begur, had our dinner and finally reached bangalore @ 1:30 am the next day.......from there again took a cab and went to Karthiks palce from where he dropped me home........it was 3:30 am when i finally hit the bed after having a good hot water bath.....

on a whole it was very good experience.......but again we have enuf time to admire the place....it was mere walking throughout with no time to enjoy.....i wud rather prefer smaller treks with ample time to enjoy yourself and with the group.....my previous two treks to Kemengundi while i was working in TCS was one such experience which i cherish till date.......

probably the next time i trek(who know cud happen next week itself) i will keep this in mind......

for pictures click here