Monday, October 25, 2010

Peaceful Retreat...

Words cannot describe how one feels to see the majestic work of nature staring right at your face. Every time I would feel better when I spend my time with nature Life in the mountains, forest can be really better getting up close and personal to nature is an experience unlike no other, it would freshen up our body & soul.
Last weakened once again I got the chance to reclaim to enjoy the beauty of these places which I had in the past. Every time on my visit I got struck by its raw and genuine beauty. After a few hours of driving, we approached Agumbe range & one point we started to walk into the forest. Trekking through wet, tropical rainforests, get to tiptoe right up to a dense chilly forest were a delightful experience ever.
Till the vista point, it was smooth sailing with a well defined and easy trail without much steep climbs. Standing right in the heart of the forest, facing the shimmering silver painted falls & luxuriant extensive tree-plant at one glance, your heart and the sound of nature would beat as one it feels like an illusional paradise –water gushing down in a melodic chant. It truly is jaw-dropping to see it upfront, where you can feel the rush of the water in your face.
On our return we added a scenic beauty of JogiGundi Waterfalls & one more hidden stunning Dam to our journey, if only time could stand still and prolong the moment of awe and ecstasy would we require anything more to go on in life, well but everything has its way of ending and looking forward to many more endeavors we returned back from our pleasant journey.....

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Moving towards an indefinite treasure….

To journey beyond travel, add a tinge of adventure and the voyage becomes an incredible one for intrepid trekkers. In each episode of Treks in a WesternGhat We travel to far-flung regions where they embark on incredible journeys combining ecology, anthropology and history with outdoor pursuits while providing a panoramic view of some of the most beautiful and remote places in the WesternGhat.
After finishing my company meeting late night I joined Rajesh Sir who was a coordinator of this great trip & we both started our journey at mid night. In an old KSRTC bus drizzling rain very unconditional N H 17 road uneven time our journey started but it wouldn’t stop my sleep. We spent some time in bus stop after reaching early morning we caught the first bus to reach our Base team.

After 1 hour comfortable journey had our breakfast and started our next journey in wild both teams together. In Vivek Sir's Team except him almost all others were new to me. So there was lot of pleasantry chat and our journey ahead became interesting & easy.
We parked our vehicle few kilometers before the village because the roads were very slippery so after a few minutes of calm walk in jungle we reached one small hamlet & Rajesh sir started to search for a guide (He had visited this place few years back to find one waterfalls nearby) after few minutes of searching he was able to find a suitable one who could guide and had very good knowledge & idea about this forest range. Our guide looked very old but more than that he looked very strong for his age.

He took the initiative for our team, first 1k.m. walk was not much tough but after that we faced a deep valley started to climb down a valley carefully. After a tough attempt we were able to reach bottom but our next journey was more exciting but little dangerous too.

We walked in a very thick forest towards backwater which was 60-80degrees steep dicey slope our guide was able to find some pathway between deep forests it was very dangerous if we slipped we would directly fall below into deep water.

Finally we reached a brook & started to walk against the water flow. I was always contented to walk in back stream waters. As usual our next journey was climbing jumping walking on the fallen trees helping each other like more adventurists. At last climbing one big rock I was able to see the main step of the waterfalls. It’s was terrific we hastily reach the bottom of this big mysterious waterfall.

We took bath for a long time & enjoyed this beautiful place in our own way. On our return because of heavy rain & continues hiking our journey become tougher but everyone still enjoyed & After reaching my home next day early morning all I could do was climb into my cozy bed snuggling inside my warm blanket could just keep dreaming of the lovely place and wonderful adventure.....

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Yerikallu (HuliDanaBetta)

Yerikallu is one of the significant peaks of Charmadi range & one of the tremendous examples for a Shola forest. Each time hiking in this place was memorable.. During my last trek it was very adventurous.
I reached base camp late night & after morning freshening up we started our journey. As usual we had comfortable journey in a Jeep & started to walk in a dense forest for next 1hour. Walking in forest during morning session is always relaxing. A big crowd without much noise walking together & enjoying the nature quietly was a nice experience.
After sometime the forest cover increased and the climb became steeper. The weather was humid as expected and by the time we took our first break, we were sweating profusely completely drenched. When we crossed the grassland we were able to see the peak and with a new spirit we moved towards the steep peak. Last few stretches was very steep & very dangerous too. But finally whole team reached the peak, reaching the peak is one big experience you feel one with nature
This peak has 2 big special sharp rocks. If we want to see it we have to take big risk on the edge of the first rock then only it’s possible to reach between these two rocks. In my first visit me & my friend Ashok did this attempt without any help we climbed the rock too I know this attempt was very dangerous but we enjoyed it. Even these 2 rocks locales called as “Huli (Tiger) Dana (Cow) Betta(Mountain)”. It looks like Tiger attacking a cow.
But this time I couldn’t attempt like past, we spent so much time on the other side of the peak & slowly stepped back. On our return like always we got lost again and after a tough trek and going around we reached the bottom, every time Yerikallu has a surprise in store making it different trek all the time but that's what trekking is all about when we go into the unknown to explore.....

Monday, October 4, 2010

JoyisaraGundi Waterfalls

These days going to the same place again and again has become a habit, because of the attraction of such places or sometimes obligation and some times both, though this trip started with a limp later it proved to be good. Few days back me & my 2 regular trekkers decided we would to go Joyisaragundi waterfalls nearby to our place though I had not enjoyed this place much during my previous visit we still decided to give it another try.
As luck would have it I forgot my rain coat and half way through it started raining heavily and to add to the misery I had a flat tyre may be my mindset things were moving awkwardly not having much idea as how to replace my tyre I was thankful I had friends who helped me with this, Sudheer Kumar & Rajesh Sir helped me lot ,we removed the wheel & started searching for a repair shop, after a little effort Sudheer sir & me were able to find one shop,since it was Sunday and this was the only shop available there was heavy rush and a single person was managing the whole show after waiting for some time we finally got it repaired and started on our journey again.
After a few minutes hike crossing an elegant estate we reached the top of the waterfalls. Compared to last time water level was little less. But I felt this is the best time to visit this place, we spent a lot of time at the bottom of the first step but next part was very difficult, we did small trek inside the thick forest stepped down towards half of the next step.
Here water plunges beautifully & this step is much bigger than the first one. This time we were able to climb down half of the second step which was little risky but everyone enjoyed it, standing on the steep slippery rocks & enjoying the beauty of the valley below which was covered by Rocky Mountains from both side which gave us a tremendous happiness. Bottom of this falls we saw a big pond but because of rain we were not able to reach it.
We spent lot of time here and enjoyed in our own way. I decided I should visit this place once again in next season. On our return we visited one smaller waterfall Sirikalagundi which was a very easy approach by road, after spending some time at this place we started back with initial hiccups our trek did end in a nice way and monsoon has its own way of healing mind and body.......