Charmadi ~ Alekhan,Anandaka falls Jenkallu,KodaiKallu,Baalekallu betta

Introduction:

From Kodai Kallu Gudda - Rohit,Satya,Jayashree,Purushottam,Gururaj

With just a 4 day gap from a trip to Kanyakumari it was too early to think of another outing. I need to get out on a trek as I had missed the quota for the month. After a bit of research we decided on Baalekallu gudda in Charmadi Ranges. Five planned and all five showed up something strange, generally there are dropouts.. The same troupe showed up the ones at Kanyakumari. We board the red bus to Dharmasthala.

The initial plan
Dharmasthala ~> Ujjire ~> Charmadi ~> Balekallu Gudda (halt and return next day)

From Anekan falls - Off Charmadi Ghats

Day 1 [10th Oct. 2009]:
Reached Dharmasthala at around 700 hours, most people in bus seem to have put up "omelettes"(puke) in and around the bus. The roads screwed up big time, high time the roads are re-laid. Soon after breakfast we left to Ujjire from where we got into a bus to take us to "Anekan falls" (road side falls).

From Jeep track to Bidrutale Village

I had been there before, i felt the water was more this time; thanks to the rains. Good that we did not get into the water, we soon hitch-hiked to Bidrutale cross by a KSRTC bus.

From ID Please... what the hell is this?

The Trek finally begins:
We began our trek finally, it was quite late 1100 hours. On our way up we met up a localite who told us to take a deviation sharp left [ಕಾಲ್ ದಾರಿ] on seeing the first fork. We kept going on and on along the mountain ridges.

From Kodai kallu Gudda to the Right

We soon passed Jenkallu gudda (which we did not realise :)) and continued our journey till we saw Baale kallu gudda, which we thought was just another peak initially. We had lunch and decided to scale it.

From Baalekallu Gudda Conquered

This was the best part of the whole trek. The Western slopes of this peak are lush green and seem virgin.... We knew we were on the highest peak in the vicinity we had conquered Baale kallu gudda.

From Western Face of Baale kallu Gudda

We next checked out Kodai Kallu gudda, which was inviting. We later decided to camp close to water source below baalekallu gudda. We had plans for camp fire, with no dry wood around we just hit our sleeping bags

From Northern Ridges of Baalekallu Gudda

Day 2 [11th Oct 2009]:
We woke up intime to see sunrise behind us. It was an awesome sight, we freshened up and left to Kodai kallu gudda again as Jayashree had missed it the previous evening.

From View down Kodaikallu gudda

We decided to make our own path down to the road below. It took us about a couple of hours and we made it down in 1 piece each!

From Amedikallu Peak (Centre Right)

We did run into what looked like a rat snake during our descent.

From View while getting off Kodai kallu gudda

I had my camera tightly packed in and was too lazy to get down to photograph him.

From ID Please... Minchkallu gudda ?

Getting to Anandaka Falls:
Well our next destination was "Anandaka Falls" in "Didupe". We hitch hiked a vegetable tempo who dropped us at didupe village crossing.

From Trek to Anandaka Falls along Khudremuk Wild Life Reserve

Here we hired an Auto to take us near to Anandaka Falls. He dropped us at a jeep trail and left. From here on every person we ran into said its just a km away. we actually trekked for more than an Hour at a brisk pace! We finally saw the water off the falls and realised we were pretty close..

From Trek to Anandaka Falls through Private Estates

We dropped our luggage at the Brahmin's house and promptly followed their advice ! which was quite silly. We trekked straight up the flowing stream without realising we could have made our own path adjacent to the flowing water... Satya was a victim of 4 accidents, lucky to have survived having drowned a couple of times after sliding down slippery rocks. We soon realised there was a path along the falls and took that. On reaching the falls all our efforts had paid off! It's just too too good !!! one must not miss this awesome water fall it resembles koodalteertha water falls, but this fall has more water. Five minutes a 50 mts away from the fall and we were dripping wet top to bottom! It was like a few hundred jacuzzi pumps directed at you, mind blowing! This was our final destination, we soon moved out of from there to the place where the auto dropped us, freshened up in the flowing water and dialed a jeep. This man looted us INR 400 to drop us off at Ujjire, from where we again hit Dharmasthala and a night bus back to Bangalore... Again the bus smelt of Omelettes :), but we had no choice........

From Three Shot Panorama of Baalekallu Gudda

Finale:
#1 A guide is not required.
#2 Charmadi is Hot & Humid most of the year round, do not fear the leaches
#3 You find plenty of water, a 500ml reserve is sufficient to keep you going provided you refill at every water hole
#4 An umbrella helps, sunscreen must :), a hat too
#5 Very scenic, do carry your cam.

Narashima Parvatha

Introduciton:

Due to intense naxal activities in and around Narashima Parvatha, it is quite difficult to get people to accompany you for the trek. Well I managed to brain wash 3 people into this trek. The others dropped out after hearing stories about Naxals attacking a local Doctor / money lender. The group consisted of just Meeliya, Ganesh, Amar & Roti(me).


As usual we had not booked any tickets and had the freedom to reach majestic at our convenience. We made it to 21:15 hours Red bus to Sringeri. Reached Sringeri by 5.
After a brief visit to the temple complex (Amar took exceptionally a long time to complete eleven rounds in the temple complex) soon after we headed straight to Kigga [12 km from Sringeri].

Guide menace
On reaching Kigga, we found no guides who were willing to take us up. We had to wait till 11:00 to get hold of ಎಣ್ಣೆ ರಾಮಾ [Boozer Rama]. The best drink out here to beat the heat is a local lassi sold in Lolly kind plastic packing. We gulped down 4 each to beat the heat.

The Trek Begins:
The trek initially begins through small huts on level ground and soon turns into a 60Degree inclination. The climb to the top took us 2 hours. There have been other blogs where they mention it as 4-5 hours, but it does not take that much.

The view from the top is majestic as any other peak. You can spot Khudremuk peak from here. There is not much to see or do on the peak.
There is no portable water anywhere. There is a dirty twin pond on the peak which people use to bathe and drink from [:D].

On the peak you will find a solitary Forest guard house which is bound to collapse anymoment. There is also a small nandi further up. One can enter Augumbe Ghats, Bharkana Falls and then to Bharkana View Point. We could not do it as we were illegally trekking in the forests. I also understand that this trek has been closed due to frequent naxal - police encounters.

Trek Ends:After lunch we soon started get down the same way back down. It took us about an hour to reach the temple. We next went to Sirimane water falls which is 6 km from Kigga, it is a commercialised place but well maintained.
The bus back to Sringeri was at 18:45 hours. After reaching Sringeri we booked tickets for 20:45 hours, we werent lucky to get Rajahamsa tickets we had to settle down with Red bus. Meeliya, Ganesh & Amar tried some kind of `Sinus Killer` at a local shop in Sringeri, impressed by it they decided to buy it. Well everyone bought one or the other weird stuff from here.

The ride back home was bumpy and left us with no sleep. The leech bites started to get itchy too. We reached bangalore at 05:15 hours.

Panoramic view from Narashimaparvatha over Sringeri:


Expense Sheet:
Bangalore - Sringeri - 200 [Red Bus]
Food - 49
Sringeri - Kigga - 6 [Local transport]
Guide fees - 30 per head [120]
Kigga - Sirimane falls- 40 per head [160]
Sringeri - Bangalore - 200 [Red Bus]
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Total - 525
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