Thursday, February 05, 2009

Yettina Bhuja, Sheshila Gudda, Ox Hump

Introduction:
As usual after very little planning it was decided four of us trek Yettina Bhuja.
Yettina Bhuja Yettina Bhuja and the Pefect Blue Sky
Our initial plan was, "Destination Get-lost finding new routes to Ombattu Gudde". Yettina Bhuja is the heart of Western Ghats. The closest Village is Bhairapur. The team consisted of Anand (new recruit), Purushottam (Iron Man), Gururaj (RJ) and me.
Troupe Purushottam,Gururaj,Anand,Rohit


We Boarded our usual RED Bus to Dharmasthala and bought tickets to place called "Kokkada" 16km before Dharmasthala. Not much is known about this place but you get jeeps and bus service to "Sheshila" (about 13 kms) from where our trek begins. The locals & jeep driver insisted on taking a guide, but I strongly don't suggest a guide. The route is clear and straight forward. The jeep journey was quite expensive and we ended up paying up INR 450.
Sheshila Trek Begins on crossing this stream

By the time we were done with our breakfast and started the trek it was about 10:00 hours. The initial part of the trek was in thick forest with a lot of tree cover. We did not have shortage of water, as we pass by a lot of streams. We ended up taking long breaks of 20 mins ~ 40 mins and made it to the top by 16:00 hours!
Yettina Bhuja Early Morning Mist over Dipadkallu gudd, Janekallu Gudda & Peak 1252

The final 10% was extremely tiring, it was uphill and we were trekking in the open.
since it was already 16:00 hours we were searching for water and place to camp. We had trekked about 10 kms. We heard water flowing nearby and filled up all our empty bottles and settled down in the adjacent forest pathway leading to Bairapur.
Yettina Bhuja Amedikallu and Yettina Bhuja in order

We had plenty of fire wood, but still we went around looking for more. We took turns and kept the fire fuming all night. dinner was hot hot MTR ready to eat stuff, Fruits, Soup and Gururaj's secret recipe of "Tandoori Aloos".
Shadow Shadow of Yettina Bhuja over adjacent Forest

Breakfast was kesaribath and upama which we cooked. We then hit the peak and headed down towards Bairapura.
Peaked Ha ha haaa..

We reached Bairapura at 12:00 hours. We had trekked about 5kms and waited for an hour for the jeep to pick us up and drop us at Mudigere [Jayanna's contact: 9448872054 -> you need to contact him for the Jeep]. We had lunch at Mudigere and left to Sakleshpur and from there back to Bangalore.

Panorama Three Shot Panorama.....

Finale:
#1 Guide not needed.
#2 Amediakallu is close by, looks pretty inviting should be treking that soon.
#3 On getting the first glimpse of Yettina bhuja be prepared to save water, the next known souce of water is only near to the peak.
#4 Trekking from Bairapur side is a lot easier and shorter.
#5 This place is kept clean, no plastics, tins, bottles etc.. if you're trekking here, keep it clean!

2 comments:

Sandeep Shande said...

nice photos sir .. esp shadow of the peak :)

ynsimhan said...

yettina bhuja its my dream track my brother was sead it is very difficult trek in our karnataka is it right sir. then ur uploaded photos enormous......

ynsimhan