Monday October 11, 2004
Drive to Mangalore and Coorg
Drive on 1st, 2nd and 3rd October 2004
Drive -- Bangalore - Hassan - Managalore
Managalore - Puttur - Talkakaveri (Coorg)
Coorg - Madkheri - Virajpet - Mysore - Bangalore
Total Kms = 942 in 40L petrol
Members = Saurabh Mishra (Driver) and Dipankar
Stayed in car for two days in western ghat of Managalore and Coorg
2nd October
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I had a dream to drive on NH48 (Bangalore - Mangalore) at night. This came true today and we started from office at 3.00 pm. As usaul traffic was high before we could get to NH48. I think it took more than an hour to reach Nelamangala. Anyway we started flying on the roads at 4.15 pm. It had started pouring also. So the drive had started becoming challanging and full of fun. My car stero wasn't able to play cassettes. So we had to use Discman to hear some music. But we couldn't listen because of the noise and all. We took our first break at CRpatna. I think it must have been 5.30 pm at that time. We had tea and started again. The target was to reach Hassan by 7.00 pm and we were on our plan. We stopped after Sakaleshpur (at Donigal) and had tea. We came to know that there is a massive traffic jam further and it could take hours to get clear. But we didn't stop. It was raining (in fact pouring) when I had got into the ghat roads of NH48. It was simply fantastic and very challanging. Soon we stopped again and decided to have dinner and stay there in the dhaba. But as soon as we saw few trucks moving towards Managalore, we again started flying on the ghat. In about half an hour we stopped again, but this time in a traffic jam. The roads were horrible. My car would have almost topple if I were not so careful. It's all because of heavy trucks those who ply on NH48. We got into the traffic jam at 9.00 pm and came out of this mess at 1.30 am. The traffic used to stop after every 100 meters of move on the ghat and it used to halt for minutes. We could not sleep also because of the fear of getting into the massive traffic jam. We were just crawling at time now and then and that too with heavy trucks, buses, volvo's and all. When we got out of the traffic jam at 1.30 am, we started zooming again. We drove at 70/80 to go as close to Managalore. We decide to take halt at 2.30 am and Mangalore was just about 80 kms from there. For dinner we had tea and bandh. BTW we slept in the car.
3rd October
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I got up at 5.00 am and started driving. I setup up a target to reach Mangalore by 7.00 am and in fact we were right on target. We first in Mangalore for having breakfast at 7.00 am and Dipankar didn't like it because coconut oil was used to prepare the dosa's. Anyway, we started heading towards Ullal Beach (about 12kms from Mangalore City Centre). Ullal beach doesn't attract much crowd. We walked for an hour and had rest there. We decided to leave Mangalore by 9.30 am and started heading towards Puttur (towards Coorg). In-between we had paratha's at Kamat hotel on B.S Road on NH48. There is a deviation towards Puttur from NH48 and we could spot that deivation well. We continued for about two hours and stopped at a place for having some snacks at 12.00 noon. We refereshed ourself with banana and some exercises. We started again and stopped in Coorg for having Lunch. We had South Indian meals just about 8 kms before Talkaveri. We were in Talkaveri by 2.00 pm. This 8 kms stretch is quite steep. In fact the road is quite narrow from Madiheri. We didn't go to Madiheri, rather we took a deviation. Madiheri is about 140 kms from Mangalore and Talkaveri is about 42 kms from Madiheri. It was all misty and cloudy by the time we had reached Talkaveri. We could get glimpse of few lush green peaks and forest areas. We were just chilling out at the peak and in the temple. We wanted to camp outside, but because it was raining all the time, we decided to take shelter. But temple guys said that we can't stay here, so we eventually stayed in the car. It became very dark in the evening because of cloudy and mist. For a brief period, it had cleared so we can see the Coorg Valleyes. We had bought bandh because I knew that there aren't any shops at the peak. There is just one temply and no one is allowed to stay there. We had to just sit inside the car and listen to Discman for about three hours because it was pouring. I had slept by 9.00 pm because I was little tired after driving. The roads aren't all that great in Coorg. We had gotten up at night just to figure out whether the skies are clearing up or not, and guess what it had cleared up. We could see moon. Yahooooo!.
4th October
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I got up at 5.30 am and saw that it was all misty and cloudy. I was little disappointed, but what the hell. We took an early morning walk in the forest range and we would have walk for about an hour. We could see few ranges because it had started clearing up a bit. We stopped at a place when we saw a board saying "no addmission without permission". So we started coming back. We came back to the temple by 7.30 and took blessings. So went to the Bhrimgiri Peak. Becauseof heavy misty we could not see anything. We stayed at the peak for an hour and when there were no signs of mist going away, we decended. Few minutes later, we decided to return to Virajpet via Madiheri. We could see the lush green forest ranges while decending down. In fact there are few good view points on the way to Talkaveri. We stopped after 8 kms of decent to have breakfast. We ate two dosa's because we didn't had anything in the dinner. The plan was to reach Bangalore in the evening via Virajpet-Mysore. As soon as we reached Madikeri, we asked someone about the routes. We were suggested to take Virajpet (mainly because its good and scenic). First the desent is quite good. I mean sharp turns and narrow road. Virajpet state highway is quite scenic because of the beauity in paddy field and lush green mountains. The valleys are also quite spectacular. I think one should drive on this state highway, NH48 and on Kudremukh National Park if you are interested in seeing beauty of western ghats without climbing the peaks. The roads aren't great from Virajpet to Hunsar. The roads are okay upto Mysore from Hunsar. We also crossed Rajive Gandhi National Park on the way. We took a deviation just before Mysore to avoid city traffic. Since there were constructions happening on Bangalore-Mysore highway, we had to slow down a bit at times. But I loved driving on Mysore-Bangalore highway mainly because of high traffic and that's when the actual challange kiks in. We had reached Bangalore by 5.00 pm (right on time).
In this whole 950 kms drive, my car didn't broke down. So thanks to my little car (Maruti 800-DX).
Happy Trekking!
--
Saurabh Mishra
(2004-10-11 23:13:06.0)
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Thursday September 30, 2004
Trekking Diaries of three treks
I'm back with some diaries of mine :-
(a) Trek in Forest of Kudremukh Region (alone on 13th and 14th Dec 2003)
(b) Trek in Kudremukh April 2004
(c) Long drive in Mullangiri March 2004
I promise to put the photographs of a trek in glacier of Himachal Pradesh back in May 2004. I'll also put my diary on Mountaineering in coming days. So stay tuned.
As far as work is concerned, I'm working on bugs and few escalations. I'm also parallely looking at few performance problems.
Trek in Kudremukh Region (alone on 13th and 14th Dec 2003)
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13th Dec :- 22 kms Trek (to fort and nearby places on the peak)
14th Dec :- 10 kms Trek to River Belt and 4 kms walk in Tea Estates.
I started from Bangalore at 9.00 pm on 12th Dec night. The Bus to Kalasa was at 10.25 pm. So, I had to wait at the bus stand for 45 minutes. It was a Ultra Deluxe bus. Bus started at 10.30 pm. I was feeling sleepy so I think I would have slept until 12.00 midnight when I started listening to music (I was carrying my MP3 Discman). I had good collections of songs from all the latest movies. The bus stopped at some place at 2.00 am and that's when I came to know that this bus isn't going to Kudremukh. Instead it is going to Hornadu (20 kms away). I told the bus driver that I want to get down at Sunkasale, and the reply was "no..this bus wouldn't go that way". He suggested me to get down at Kalasa and take a local bus to Sunkasale. Anyway, I was at Kalasa around 6.30. Mist welcomed me in Kudremukh region. Yeah! I love MIST!. I took another red bus to Sunkasale village from where the trek is suppose to start. I was in Sunkasale at 7.30 am. I didn't brush my teeth and didn't take breakfast also. I immediatly started the trek. I am suppose to trek to a place called "Bandajje Arbbe Water falls". And on the route I should find a fort called "Ball Rayana Durga Fort". I had this much information and it is close to 30 kms which is a two day trek. However, I wanted to finish it in one day (just like that). BTW, I was alone on this trek. I passed through four-five villages. I asked couple of people about the fort and I was heading in the right direction. I stopped at 9.00 am for breakfast. The break was for 5 minutes only. I immediatly started towards the fort. First initial 4 kms is simple and it goes through forest (quite dense).
There was a small trail towards my left and that's when I decided to take the deviation. That's when good climb started. It went through thick forest and twice I would have come to the open space (those green hills on the top). The green hills were looking awesome. Actually twice I was scared with the noise in the jungle. Anyway, I continuted without stopping. And finally I was at the top corner of a peak and that's when I could see the fort. It was 9.45 am (9kms from the point I started). Well! I didn't stop. I had to find the way to water falls. There were three deviations from this point. I was totally confused. So, I decided to explore all the three trails one by one. I took the middle trail because it was going along the fort. I must have gone two kms and realized that this is going nowhere. So I came back to that point. I then started exploring the trail towards my exterme right and after going one/two kms I again realized that this may not be correct too. The decisions were based on the available information from Madhu, S Raj and Geroge. They had told me that I will get a forest on my right. So, I had kept that thing in mind. BTW, they did the trek (6/7 Dec 2003) from the other side of mountain i.e from the water fall side and I was doing this trek from the opposite side. I couldn't see/hear the water fall. So I gave up at 11.00 am. I started taking the photographs because the place was really beautiful. I got to see 360 degree view of green mountains (hills) with forest in the centre position.I had never seen such a beautiful place in the western ghats. I wanted to camp, but had no choice than to go back (no tent). The place comes under Kudremukh national park, so there is a danger of wild animals also. Well! I started back at 11.30 am and lost my way on the way back. It took me half an hour to discover the correct route in the jungle. Ah! really bad. Anyway I managed to come to the correct trail and that's when one villager said "don't ever come alone on this trail". He warned me. I didn't have answer to this. I wanted to clean the trail on the way back. So I removed a huge polythene cover from the rucksack and started cleaning the trail. The majority of polythene covers were Gutka. Bad! People like Gutka here. Anyway I was at the Sunkasale village by 2.00 pm and that's where I had lunch. I immediately started for Kudremukh town and went there to see National Park and Dam. By evening (7.00 pm), I came back to Kalasa by Bus. One can't stay in Kudremukh town. Found a place (Yatri Niwas). The next day's plan (14th Dec) was to see River Belt (5 kms Trek) and a Tea Estate (Samsa, 7 kms). I woke up at 5.00 am and took bath. By 6.00 am, I must have started the trek to river belt. It was totally MISTY. The trek to the place was again good, but not demanding at all. Anyway, I reached there at 6.45 am. Mist covered the view of river and I couldn't see parts of the river. So I decided to wait there for two hours. And when the mist started going away (as Sun came up), I got the complete view of river belt with a mountain facing the river. Watching the mist going away is really something people shouldn't miss in their life. It was really a good view. I started back at 8.45 am and after reaching Kalasa I had breakfast. By 10.00 am, I started for a walk in the Tea Estate. Woh! I must have walked around 4 kms inside the Tea Estate.Took 8 photographs and came back to Kalasa at 12.00 noon. Now time to leave Saurabh!. I left for Bangalore at 12.30 pm and I was at Bangalore by 10.00 pm on Sunday (14th Dec 2003).
My friends during this trek were Discman (CD/MP3 player), Camera, Mountains and forest.
It was really a nice experience in the sense that I didn't have to wait for anybody and I was _always_ on time everywhere. I don't like to delay even for a minute when on a trek (or trip). Weather was clear and in the morning it used to be misty there.
Yeah! more such treks to come in future.
--
Saurabh Mishra (Mountaineer)
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The Journey :-
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Bangalore - Kalasa (Kudremukh) - Horandu - Bangalore
Trek :- 18 kms
Forest :- Reserved, quite thick and dense
Hill :- Hills are like golf course. Should be awesome
just after monsoon.
Date :- 2nd, 3rd and 4th April 2004
Yeah! - the trip was fabulous and fantastic. Three of us took a bus to Kalasa (near Kudremukh) on Friday and got down at a village about 10km before Kalasa. It was raining whole night. I mostly don't get sleep in the bus so I was following traffic and rain. We started the trek at around 6.00 am and had breakfast at 8.00 am. The trek was of 9 kms which goes through
thick and dense forest. We also heard rattle snake sound. We were little scared though, but who cares. I think we were at the top by 11.30 am. Pradeep and Hemant were really tired. I could make out from their face. They just fell at the top of the peak. We got to see 360 degree view of the forest range in that area. As usaul - I started roaming around the place and found couple of good view points. We had slept for a while before having lunch. No - we didn't prepare food rather we had cooked stuff. In fact we slept again for about an hour and then started roaming around. Saw loads of cattle. The place was looking as if it is a golf course. By evening thick clouds had come, so we thought we should pitch tent (I have a four man tent). By evening, mist and cloud had covered us. Wow! I simply loved the view. It was totally misty and for a brief period Sun had come out. When the rays of sun passed through the mist, it looked as if somebody has put orange colour sheet. In fact this orange colour eflection made the green grass look slight orange'ish. Overall - the Sun set was fabulous.
By 7.00 pm - I had put campfire. I had also started preparing soup and then maggy. By 8.00 pm - moon had come out. It was partly cloudy also. So the moonlight and cloud were looking great. After an hour, the misty came but mist had settlted in the valley and we were above the valley. So the whole view was as if you are above the clouds/mist and moon light made it white'ish. Surrouding peaks and the mist were playing game in the moonlight. It was mind blowing view. I think a poet would have explain'ed this much better. I had never seen such a great view at night. We also took walk in the moonlight.
Okay - the night was quite uncomfortable mainly because of high wind. I had put tent just below the trees so that we can avoid wind to some extend. However, the wind had taken its anger by 11.30 pm and I think none of us could get sleep until 3.00 am.
We were wondering about the tent falling also. I had used my tent for the first time since Nagi (office) had got it from USA. Anyway - finally wind was little less by 3.00 am and then we could get sleep. Pradeep said that he felt as if an animal had come near the tent and that animal used an object to poke his leg. Pradeep didn't wake me up. Bad!. Anyway - nothing
happened.
I woke up at 6.00 am while these two folks were still sleeping. I saw the sunrise and just fell in love as I had fell in love with Moon, moonlight and mist yesterday night. The sunrise was awesome. Partly cloudy, sun (orange colour rays), and mist settled in the valley was looking amazing. I have captured all this in my little camera. Lets see how it comes out. After some exercises in the morning - I decided to wake up these folks. It was around 7.30 when we had left this place. We started descending by 7.45 and took a rest near the stream to have breakfast. We were back to the village by 11.00 am and had taken bus to Horandu. Horandu is famous for (a) a temple (b) place is closed by hills and its like a valley. We took a room and after
taking bath we went into the temple. We also had lunch in the temple. By afternoon - it had started pouring in Horandu. I simply came out and started watching the rain pouring in the valley. The valley was quite green. Once the rain had stopped, we took an evening walk and shot (camera) quite a lot of birds. The bus to Bangalore was at 9.15 pm so we decided to have dinner in the temple and take prayers in the evening. Few local people had played drums in front of the temple. It was quite relaxing. Finally the great journey came to an end. We were in Bangalore at 6.00 am on Monday.
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Members :- Saurabh Mishra (Driver)
Pramod Batni
Date :- 12th/13th/14th March 2004
Route :- Bangalore - Hassan - Mullangiri - Kemmangundi
- Hassan - Bangalore
Total kms driven :- 700 kms in 30L petrol
Night Driving :- 400 kms (7.30 pm to 11.30 pm)
Ghat driving :- 110 lms (morning and noon time)
Max speed :- 95 kms
Max speed in ghat section :- 60 kms in Kemmangundi region.
Number of close calls (manage to save myself)
in ghat sections :- 2
at night :- 2
others :- 1 (quite close with Jeep).
Breakdown :- NIL
Mileage :- 23 kms per litre.
Any damage to the car :- No. In perfect condition
Toll bridge :- 2 (Rs 5 * 2 = Rs 10)
Drive :- Fantastic and fabulous
Road :- Good.
How is the place :- Place is awesome and should be
beautifuljust after monsoon.
In fact we had taken car to the top of the peak and even through 'muddy' ghat roads. Car wheels were spinning while climbing in
the ghat region of Mullangiri. It was a good fun with risk. We had camped on top of the peak, but had taken shelter inside the temple at 1.00 am. We had also made campfire. Yeah! - night driving in ghat sections of Bangalore - Managalore is still on the cards.
(2004-09-30 03:41:36.0)
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