Sunday, May 09, 2010

Mogala Betta [Virgin Trek]

Introduction:
From Mogala Betta [Virgin Trek Route]


Two Day Trek [2010-05-08 - 2010-05-09]

It had been quite sometime before a Virgin Trek was planned out. I decided it must happen over this weekend. About 10-15 showed interest and 6 showed up off which just 4 completed it. Among the people who made it - Purushottam, Gururaj,Srikanth and Rohit.
From My new avatar - Naxal

We reached Gundia 0700 hours, freshened up had Tea and started the trek. The forest isn't thick we could lock our compasses North-East and kept going. The humidity was pretty high and water consumption was high too. By the time we made it to open grasslands it was Noon. By now Sandeep and Ravi dropped out. Srikanth could not take it and ended up taking a very long nap.
From In the Jungle

Soon it was 1500 hours and started to pour down heavily. By now we were dangerously low on water; we ended up drinking rain water droplets, and it was pretty evident no water ahead as well. The rains gave no respite, the humidity was still very high we kept going.
From Bisle Ghat in the background

Only purushottam made it to the sumit. We were short by 300 meters! => I still have unfinished business will come back for it soon!!! However I did not want to re-trace the serpentine route we took to get here, we took another path which seemed more easier to reach the nearest water source. To do that we had to cut through a dense jungle starting 1900 hours with a pair of torches.
From View down Mogala Betta
The dense jungle had wild thorny shrubs and gigantic trees. We also found a dried up stream which we followed till 2100 hours and decided to spend the night beside it.
From Prominent Peaks from Left to Right -> Amedikallu,Yettina Bhuja,OG in front of it,Dipadkal Gudda, Jenkallu gudda(Mist covered)

Due to damp forest floor no dry wood was available for camp fire. We had some Diesel which we sprinkled around and slept. At 2300 hours it suddenly started to rain down heavy. The rains wouldn't stop, it poured down heavy till about 0300 hours. The umbrella we carried helped us protect our bags and our heads from drowning :)
From Mogala Betta after rains


After about 0100 hours I was out of my sense and had gone to deep deep sleep, I don't recollect how the umbrella got off my head. We woke up at 0600 hours and waited for sunlight to penetrate the thick forest. We started our trek at 0700 hours. We reached Gundia by 1030 hours.

Gururaj, Purushottam and Srikanth decided to visit Kukke temple I decided to head back to Bangalore. Reached back home at 1800 hours.

Finale:
1. Water ~> Most important on any trek
2. Make sure you have determined and brave people while attempting something like this.
3. Compass helped us a lot, I am now confident of compass reading
4. I will re-visit this place sometime soon......

From We Made it out alive! - Gururaj,Purushottam,Srikanth & Rohit.



More Pix here:
2010-05-08 - 2010-05-09 - Mogala Betta [Virgin Trek]

Channa Giri [Biking + Trek]

Introduction:

From Chikballapur Lighting...

[1 Day Biking + Trekking]
After seeing a few great pix off Pranjal, I decided to bike and trek this place. Vishnu and his friends showed interest and joined in. I do not recollect the group size :) we were about 13.
From Partial Group: Rohit,Jatin,Arpita,Manisha,Tarun,Rahul,Ritu,idplz,Aadarsh,Vishnu; the rest were sleeping:)


We biked on International Airport till we hit Nandi hills crossing. After much confusion and inquiry we made it to the place. We started our Trek at 0030 hours. We reached the peak by 0330 hours.
From Skandagiri? Not sure which place it is..

We were all set and we started preparing hot hot Bajji's. The guys were the cooks and the girls were just complaining. The bajji episode ended at 0500 hours. It was time for sunrise. We got onto the other side [East] took a few snaps till sunrise.
From Sunrise Channagiri

We soon started our downward journey and made it back to civilisation by 1100 hours.

Finale:
1. Preparing Bajji's all night was a great experience.
2. Biking Friday night's a good idea not much traffic.

Waynaad ~ Mysore [Trip]

Introduction:
From Mysore Palace at 0300 hours :)

2010-02-26 - 2010-03-01 [3 Day TT Trip]

1st March holi - And a long weekend. We decided we go out on a trip to Waynaad covering Masinagudi and Gopalswamy Betta. Initially 8+ showed interest finally 7 showed up. Fuel prices were hiked at the stoke of Midnight. To our fate, our driver was unaware of this. Starting right from 0030 hours we were on the look out for Diesel on the outskirts of Maddur. We were kept waiting till the new price was formally announced and the equipments re-calibrated We spent about 2 hours doing nothing. Girish and his accomplice deserted the group on reaching Mysore.

The road to Waynaad via Bandipur National Park is closed between 2100 hours & 0600 hours for animal safety. We ended up waiting b/w 0400 to 0600 hours. We freshened up at "Way to Life" in Kalepta. We visited Pookat lake -> Meenumuthy falls -> Kuruva Island in order and finally halted for the night back in Gundlepet.
From Chembra Peaks as seen near Meenumutty Falls..


Pookat Lake is just another lake, the only entertainment here is boating, it's more of a hype. Meenumutty Falls is in a Reserve Forest. One has to trek 2 kms starting from a Private Tea estate and then through a forest. The fall is pretty good but the visit comes at a premium. There is a INR 300 for entry for a group of <=10.
From Meenumutty Falls

Kuruva Island is again a hype, reminds me of Cauvery Nisarga Dhama in Coorg, with the exception that there's no rope bridge here instead we have a bamboo raft to cross over. However this place closes down by 1630 hours for fear of Wild Elephants; we reached here at 1700 hours and weren't allowed to cross over to the adjacent island.
From Rohit @ Kuruva Island


Day 2 - Mysore ~ Madhumalay

Next morning we headed off to Gopalswamy betta, by the time we reached the top it was 1000 hours and we weren't lucky and din't spot wildlife. We trekked into the forests of Bandipur upto 1500 hours after a brief visit to Himavad Gopalswamy Betta.
From Drive Down Gopalswamy Betta

We next got to Madhumalay Wildlife reserve. We went on a safari tour. The safari put me to sleep, it was even hard to spot even deers and elephants. The best part is this entire stretch had no crows.

Our next destination was Nanjangud temple. Since it was Sunday a big crowd had gathered and we eneded up waiting an hour. It was too late and we missed Palace lighting.

We next head off the Pizza Corner for dinner. Dinner went on for 2 hours after a long wait. We next need pan, our driver misunderstood it as pawn and took us to Cauvery Emporium. We finally got the pan we were after near St. Philominas Church. By the time we made it home it was 2 am.

Finale:
1. Total Expense per person worked out to INR 2050.
2. No crows in and around Gopalswamy Hills