Khudremukh Trek

Introduction:
This trek & tour was an accident...
The original destination was one of
#1 Silent Valley [4 day trek] or
#2 Ombattu gudde from Deepadakallu gudde or
#3 Biking in Khudremukh forest ranges
When Preetham The man who lives horrific Dreams ditched us last minute I had no options but to start marketting & plan a trek cum tour.
There were just too many people who joined in and out on various days so I wont name them all.. Here are the ones i remember - ..............someone fill this up

Khudremukh Getting there [1st October 2008]
To begin with, the bad girls occupied the most comfortable front seats [3 Nos. Mamtha(M), Rashmi(M) & Soumya(S) (not sure of her real name, she had many nicks);M=>Married!].

View from Kalasha just before Sun Rise

Sun Rise view from Kalasha again ...

Gangatikal Peak [2nd October 2008]We were late and left with no other choice and had to trek gagatikal peak [4km from Bhagavathi Guest house]. The trek starts from the state highway connecting khudremukh - karkala route.

Gangatikal Trek Mid way

One needs to take permission from Karkala Forest Range officer before attempting this trek (It was a costly affair, better be students you get 50% off, carry college id cards etc to claim this benefit).

Ladies First

The trek was over in no time at all, it ended with light showers. The best part of this trek was - from the peak we got to see great panoromic view of the entire Khudremukh Forest Range. We missed Nagappa all along this trek. This is not very popular among trekkers but i must say its better than Khudremukh Peak....

Panorama from Gangatial Peak - 4 photos conjoined

Hanumangundi & Lakya Dam
Since it was a small trek we had time to cover 2 more places Hanumangundi and Lakya dam. We had a lot of tax-free entertainment at Hanumangundi falls. We just went on a brief walk over Lakya dam and head back to the dorm.
We spent the night at Bhadra Dormitory with Onion Free Lunch and played poker - Mamtha seemed to be an addict now and we hit the bed when she Won!

Kurinjal Peak [3rd October 2008]
Day 2 Nagappa, Gururaj and Harish (guru's cousin) joined in.

Vivek Mari River Crossing

Well as always Nagappa had an intersting overnight journey.

Back View of Nagappa.....

This time Nagappa sat with an aunty and ajji, the aunty & ajji found Nagappa pretty interesting offered him Chocolates and put him to sleep... :). Nagappa also bought an intersting monkey cap which looked more like an undy. My breakfast was affected due to too much laughing.. however the trek began at 9:30 am from the Bhagavati Guest house Gate.
The trek was a good one, we had to first cross a stream. The terrain was beautiful but leach infested.. Dettol seemed to work wonders, we soaked our socks and shoes with dettol and kept going. Just below the peak was an abandonded guest house in ruins, further up we hit the peak where the terrain suddenly changed from elephant grass to short shrubs with strange insects. It was a 7Km * 2 trek overall. At one point nearing the peak we had to take the route cutting across and leading us Uphill..this was the only point of confusion, the rest seemed pretty staright forward. On our way back we took a slightly differnt route and accidently hit a bridge that lead us to the main road and we had to walk slightly more to get back to the guest house but saved effort removing shoes.
ಮಾಂಸ ಪರ್ವಥ Harish, Kulla [Vinay] & Venkat[from CISCO] decided to head back to Bangalore, I guess they had enough... We did not get accomodation in Bhagavti guest house and we left early to Karkala. We halted at a lodge beside the bus stop, it was my day at poker.

Karkala - Udupi - Malpe - St. Mary's Island - Kaapu [4th October 2008]:
We visited the nearby Karkala Gomateshwara, spent a couple of hours before leaving to Upupi Krishna Temple and checked out "Outlook Dosa" -> Well the dosa is just a media hype as the hotel server himself admits, it tastes no extra-ordinary but one good thing is that all food items served don't have onion n Garlic in them... Meanwhile Ashwin [Prosperous Architect] & Sameer [Pakka Hindu] escaped...

Three Blind Sailors..

Not much has changed in and around Malpe and St. Mary's Island except that the tickets cost more 70 Bucks per head.

Ravi Posing

The island has not changed much except that beer cans and plastics have increased. Kaapu beach had a good crowd and tax free entertainment. The lighhouse and view atop was too good.. We left after sunset and halted at Udupi.

Stay at Udupi:
The lodge was too good and we got every bit of 1.5K we paid for it. The room was called "Honeymoon Special with AC". It had 2 big rooms, 2 double cots with attached bath, a royal swing, 2 plush sofa sets, a fridge and a Bathtub! However the swinging event stopped soon after Harish and me in a joint operation brought it down:D, everyone waited eagerly to swim around in the bath tub. I was lucky to go 2 rounds! The AC was over used and started getting on Jatin's sleep, he sleep walked and put it off.. the room got stuffy, vivek woke up and turn on fan.. Someone else woke up and swithed the AC on again... I wasn't aware of these happenings I slept away from both the Fan & AC blast. However Nagappa slept peacefully inbetween both Jatin and Vivek sharing the same bed and had no complaints...

Koodalteertha - Augumbe - Sringeri [5th October 2008]:
One needs to take a right-diversion while going towards Augumbe from Hebri to Koodalteertha water falls. Its a 13km drive and a 5 km * 2 trek in thick forests infested with leeches. The trek's a good one. We started early to reach early hence we were to first set of people to make it.

Awesome Water Fall - 2 photos joined

One doesn't need to take permission to trek around in this Someshwara wildlife reserve. The waterfall is amazing with a very different terrain around it. The water falls staright down without being cut down by any projecting rocks all along. The impact is pretty hard with literally no boulders around, you find only fine powdered rocks all around the fall. However the lazy ladies decided to terminate the trek pre-maturely for reasons unknown, I suspect lack of will and moral support from guys as well, but they missed the very best part of the trek! While crossing a stream Nagappa got excited and lost once of his slippers,
before he got to it, the currents washed it away, he was lucky I was around, I managed to throw a few rocks and twigs and slow it down and Nagappa managed to get a hold back of his slippers.

Ravi Strips..

Augumbe was cloudy and we could not see the sun set, however a pretty gal in pink and black kept us waiting and we soon left to Sringeri.
Sringeri was crowded on account of Navarathi celebrations. After a brief visit we had dinner and head straight to Bangalore via Balehonur ->Chickmagalur.
The drive was bumpy with everyone having puking sensation.
We reached home by 5:00 hours. The total expenses worked out to be around 2k.

Finale:
#1 No Nagappa No entertainment, Know Nagappa know entertainment...
#2 After effects -> Nagappa on his way to office on the 6th morning dozed off in a Volvo bus facing him was a pretty lady, the driver accidently braked suddenly... Guess what happened next [:D], well it didn't end here, same day while heading back home, he again dozed off and got off 3 stops later :D...

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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Nijagal Betta

Grasshopper on Nijagal Betta

Chameleon Smiling
Introduction:
After a lot of hasty decision it was decided we head off to Nijagal Betta after hari-sadu shared a blog about nijagal betta, even though it lagged detailed directional information we decided to find out on the way. Just 5 showed up on Saturday morning. Preetham(the man who lives horrific dreams :P), Vinay(‘Kulla’ – the short one), Ravi (‘mari’- small boy), Jatin(my nephew) & Rohit(myself).

Hard Dive!
Breakfast:
We had a quick breakfast at a local restaurant on Tumkur road within city limits, we left the place soon after having parceled 3 idlis each for lunch. Our next stop was Dobespet for directions at the local post office.

Shivagange view
Nijagal Betta:
Nijagal Betta is not popular; it’s got a Dargha on top with a temple in ruins at the base and a twin-kalyani. Nice place for photographing birds, monkeys, insects and reptiles. The climb to the top was not tiring at all. The peak had flat land and seems like a natural stone maze. We saw 3 stone enclosures what looked like a pre-historic temple shelter & temple ruins. On the way up we stopped by the Dharga, the place did not look inviting and we left soon. On the way back we also got into a cave. Its cold and dark inside with limited access. We also found a lot of beehives clinging dangerously to the rock surfaces over the cave entrance.

Stone Enclosure on the Peak
The view of the NH7 from the peak is excellent; a railway track runs parallel to the road. We saw a couple of passenger trains and goods trains pass by. After a bit of photography we left the place by 17:00 hours.

Reliance Petrol Pump & Resturant
We stopped by A1 Plaza Resturant (Affiliated to Reliance) adjacent to Nijagal Betta.

How to get there?
The place is 65 km from Bangalore city. To get there, take the NICE Road [Nandi Infrastructure Corridor] Once on Tumkur Road soon after Dobespet look for Reliance Petrol pump on the Right hand side of the Road. The hillock on the Left side facing it is Nijagal Betta. To get to the peak we took our bikes under the railway pass and parked bikes adjacent to the path leading to the peak.

Tripple Engine powered Goods Train [@300mm Zoom]
MORE PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/rohitc/NijagalBetta

Rs.100/- Wired Remote for Canon 350/400D

Canon camera 350D the one I own does not come with a 2 sec timer as its competitors. The other problem is taking photos in the bulb mode without introducing shakes. Hence it made sense to wire out a simple wired remote with parts locally available. The only problem I faced while buying out raw materials was the 2.5mm Stereo Male Jack. It’s pretty unpopular and difficult to find. With a lot of searching in and around Bangalore I found only a 2.5mm to 3.5mm male to female converter.

The assembly was pretty easy it took about 3 hours including digging out my old Soldering Iron, wires and a suitable plastic casing to mount the assembly.

Raw Materials:
1. 2.5mm stereo male jack or 2.5mm male to 3.5 mm female converter.
2. 1+ mts of 3 channel insulated copper wire or old stereo headphone
3. 1 double-pole-single-throw switch [DP switch] – Panel mount type
4. 2 Click-Effect Push Switches – Panel mount type
5. A plastic or metal casing

Wiring Diagram:





End Result:

Costing:
1. 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo male to female jack converter - Rs.40
2. Double pole single throw switch - Rs.20
3. 2 click effect push switches 20 * 2 - Rs.40
Total : Rs.100

*Grass - North Karnataka & Goa in Tempo Traveller

Introduction:
Twin Tunnel

North Karnataka was in my mind for a very long time. Harish did the marketing and got the head count to 12. On the 21st of December we managed to head out of Bangalore by 21:00 hours for the Christmas weekend. One of the items banned in this trip was ‘grass’, which was quite promptly followed by all. The team consisted of:
Harish alias Hari Sadu, the organizer and chief accountant; Guru, gym body curly hair and a proud Nokia Express Music mobile owner;
Roti and Magod Falls in the Backdrop
Vivek, this man can eat absolutely anything and is most of the time munching something; Jatin, loves to photograph anything that moves; Nagesh, this man’s the only one who can do a bit of lateral thinking, most entertaining of the lot; Devadatt, very happy thing, this thing needs to get hooked up to something real fast, Homo’s seem to get attracted to it; Sreeni / Srinivas the most quietest of the lot, I hardly heard them ever speak or say a thing all along the journey, yea but I guess they have a lot of complaints now; Preetham, the man who lives his horrific dreams, you need to consult him to know misfortune coming your way. Praveen, this guy reminds me of ‘Rocky’; Arun, the guys secretly call him ‘Rowdy’, I don’t know why, this guy’s quite interested in talking about `grass`, drinks and is a good sport; Roti finally the only good guy of the lot.
Day 1:
Magod was the 1st destination, which should have been quite easily accessible via Yellapur, which gave us the 1st twist. After breakfast at 10:30 near Yellapur we head off to Magod.

Magod Falls Full PreviewIt’s awesome just that one can’t get to the water. Well nothing interesting happened till we figured out our ‘Snake man’ had a ravenous thirst for water. This man had emptied Half of our packaged drinking-water reserves!
Our next destination for the day was Kavala caves after much confusion; a guide accompanied us too. The hike was a 2 hour uphill-cement stairway without railings. A pretty good hike up landed us in an amazing cave. The naturally formed linga is 2 meters in diameter & is 1.5 meters in height.
Cavala Caves Natural Limestone Cave Formation
There are sharp pointed limestone formations on top as well. Torch is a must, watch your head as you move about, each of the 12 got hit at least once.
Moon Peeping, shot during the hike back from Kavala Caves
Day 2:
Previous night we had each signed up for Rafting in `Kaali nadi` @ 900 per person for the 1st batch & we had to miss breakfast. Rafting was instructed by a British national -> John who claimed to have settled in India after marrying an Indian Journalist/Teacher/Naturalist -> multitalented lady. He had another female accomplice from New Zeland[HOT Chick] Devadatta was quite excited riding with her getting to the rafting site, he even managed to get her personal cell number, now claims to have lost it(forget it I know he hasn’t lost it, it’s just possessiveness!). Well one thing to appreciate about John is that he had picked up Kannada and was quite fluent with that! Back to rafting, instructions were given and we were we started off, the event was over in about 45 minutes; during the course of the event we were allowed to float in water. This is supposed to be a Level - #3.
We next head off to Syntheri Rocks.
Syntheri Rocks withouth the Falls
By the time we hit this place It was 17:00 hours, we got to spend 2 hours here. The rock formation is quite different here and has a stream that flows nearby, the valley is pretty good and clean, most visitors here are Marathi speaking. The best part is this is in a Thick forest with thick tree cover and we could spot wild life crossing the roads. These roads are deserted at night. The worst part in our entire journey is both Lunch and Dinner were never addressed with importance. We ate in all kinds of places and luckily didn’t fall sick. During Day 2 dinner there was a very interesting lateral thinking by `Snake man`; it was about a `Toy Train` plying between Castle Rock and Doodhsagar Railway station. He seemed more interested in the Size of the train rather than -> fare, stops, journey time etc…
Night of misery
Thanks to me for the night’s stay @ Castle Rock Railway station; the idea was to save about 2 hours of journey time the following day by not staying at Ambaiwaad. I managed to convince the guys about castle rock railway station, the guys after much growling and no much option agreed. The ticket counter personal at Londa railway station suggested us to halt in Castle rock Railway waiting room. On reach the station we figured out the waiting room meant 1 open room without beds and 4 rocking chairs that don’t rock; including a Round table. The arm rest broken, chilly weather conditions made sleeping a life time experience. On seeing the conditions inside half the guys decided to lock themselves up in the TT (Good idea). The rest decided to try out the waiting room. I obviously had no choice but to rock the night out. By the time I picked up my shawl and other necessities the rocking chairs were all occupied, left with no choice I hit the Round table. I had a broken sleep, but never complained. `Snake man` had the sleep of his life…. He had chosen to keep the Door wide open and the chilly winds straight at him. He slept on the floor over a sleeping bag (not inside!) I believe he even sleep walked at various intervals to the nearby fire to warm him up. It was decided that we cross over to Goa to hit Doodsagar, by a goods train.
I Love this Job!
The Train was to depart at 7:00 hours, but some engine problems and wait for another train delayed it by an hour. The goods train experience was quite different. The train transported Hematite Ore from Goa to Karnataka and the entire train was quite polluted with fine powder which got on us everywhere.
I still Can't find the last boggie
The scenery is excellent and I recommend every one must do this once. We could reach the falls quite comfortably as per directions given by the engine driver. It’s not actually a trek it’s just a 1 km downhill descent.
Three of my GFs
This place has a hippie crowd, gals in bikini’s wow quite awesome.
Naughty Red Santa
Dev n other bad guys couldn’t resist capturing their every move. Dev I suggest you buy yourself a bigger cam!
Train and Falls in back drop
There were a few desi chicks not to mention. However the journey back wasn’t quite pleasant it was a 14km jeep track trek with the last 6 kms on rail track leading us to Polem Railway station. From Polem we hit Molem Bus stop (last town on Goa Side) and we crossed over to `Anmod` where our TT was waiting. We spent the night in an Udupi lodge in Karwar. The sweet memories of Toy Train and lateral thinking gave us a hard stomach ache but we finally managed to sleep real well.
Day 4:
Our initial plan was to boat to Kumargad island; which did not happen we ended up at Devbagh beach. Before that we visited some ancient fort that had been captured by shivaji during his reign.
NH17 Off Karwar Fort
The place is well maintained and one gets a good view of NH17 Bridge and all islands around Karwar. Devabagh beach is good.
Clint Eastwood in Devabagh Beach Resort
We made best of the resources out there and at free of expense. We played Kabbadi in the `Gali mara` tree shades, Hari Sadu pounced on Vivek when he got excited. Me Roti attacked Vivek in the melee Vivek’s buniyan tore into two, it seemed as though he was raped* real baad. On low tide we could walk upto a nearby island where we made Praveen lie down and carved out a caricature of a sexy woman.
Ready to Eat Fresh Fish
Every guy took turns and finally the thing even got Pregnant. Well we had too much fun and 6 guys decided to stay back the rest a small shower and back before sun-set. However we were too late for the sun set. After the shower we were late and decided to get off the bridge and take snaps of the crimson sky. Meanwhile disaster struck soon when the TT was reversing in the beach area; 2 wheels sunk in sand. Run out of options they had to seek help from local fishermen, who made quick bucks ->500! The journey back turned out to be a 14+ hour drive we reached Bangalore at 14:00 hours.
Finale:
#1 No toy trains ply between Castle Rock and Doodhsagar
#2 Lunches and Dinners are both important plan accordingly.
#3 managing a big group and addressing every man’s concern is not possible.
#4 When you don’t get sleep play POKER 
#5 ‘Snake man’ is offended; no offence meant
#6 TT is not very comfortable its cramped; the legs hurt the most esp. if you have long legs
#7 Rafting is very expensive, 1/3rd the expense of our whole trip!
#8 The Night spent at Castle Rock was my best experience in the whole trip.

Bandaje

Introduction:


Four members showed up at Majestic KSRTC Platform 2, it was decided we trek from Bandaje and complete the trek by getting off at Shankashale. The team consisted of Ganesh, Ashutosh, Venkat and Roti the greatest. We boarded a bus to Dharmasthala at around 23:30 hours and got the last seat as usual. The ride was not really all that bumpy, it was pretty pleasant.

Day 1:
We reached Dharmasthala at around 6 and left from there at around 7:30 to Ujire[8km from Dharmasthala] from here we hired a jeep to take us to Bandaje via Mundaje[The foothills from where the trek begins]. The shared jeep ride was amazing with 19 people on board at one point it time, the driver drove safely with just one half of his ass on the seat. We started trekking at 8:30.
We hit the stream at 10:30 took a bath and after breakfast we resumed the trek up. The climb gets steeper as you go higher up. After a while you reach open space and this is the toughest part of the trek. You get a sneak peek of the falls from the edge of the steep ascent.


Once you make it to the top you get to hear the falls, taking a steep ascent down you get to the cliff of the water fall. This reminds me of Onake Abbi falls in Augumbe(not very popular, did not find any write-up on the net as well); however Bandaje is not all that majestic, but it’s still a tougher hike up when compared to Onake Abbi falls. There was a light downpour, after the sun came out again we saw a herd of 8 Bison on the adjacent mountain. Venkat and myself had a sleeping bag, we slept without much complaints. Ganesh and Ashutosh had problems with the cool night breeze. I had missed dinner due to some stomach upset.


Day 2:
I woke up at 4:00 and had the campfire burning till 7:00. With a lot of mist and cloud cover it was not very tough to make the steep ascent.

We planned to get off Shankashale after trekking past


Ballala-rayana-durga. The ascent was pretty strenuous; we took a lot of breaks to get on top. We were trekking past all the high mountains. The view was majestic and pretty hot as well as there was no tree cover all through. We were lucky again to spot a heard of wild bison. The final part of the trek has a lot of tree cover and is a steep downhill ascent in most cases. Its rocky and you need to watch your step.
The locals here helped us with water. To get the auto to pick us up we had to call from sultanpet(4 km from Shankashale). Everyone had lunch at a local Non-Vegetarian restaurant. However I preferred to drink something to cool down my stomach and restore my body fluids.


I had puked at least 3 times during the ascent to sultanpet. After lunch we took a small nap upto 14:00 hours. The bus to Kottigehara was scheduled to arrive at 14:45 hoursand was pretty much on time we had a tough time standing for 45 minutes. At 15:30 we reached Kottigehara. The bus to Hassan arrived at 16:00 hours. We reached Hassan at 18:45 hours. After a mini meal we left hassan at 19:30 hours to reach Bangalore at 00.15 hours. By then I had missed my last bus. Whereas the others managed to get some bus to take them home.

Total Expense Sheet:
#1 Packaged Food – 87
#2 Bus Ticket to Majestic – 09
#3 Tickets to Dharmasthala – 154
#4 Dharmasthala to Ujire – 10
#5 Shared travel by jeep to bandaje – 20
#6 Sultanpet to Shankashale – 25
#7 Shankashale to Kottigehara – 10
#8 Kottigehara to Hassan – 45
#9 Hassan to Bangalore – 90
#10 Bangalore city to my home – 110 !
#11 Misc. expenses(food) – 110
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Grand total: 670

Grand Finale:
#1 Bandaje trek is amazing, its challenging to ascend from Bandaje side and get off at Shankashale side
#2 Carry some chocolates & Glucose, its pretty energising
#3 Make sure you reach Bangalore by 00:00 hours else you will end up paying heavily on autos
#4 Carry some basic medicines

Ombattu Gudde – One neat trek!

 

Introduction:
The troupe consisted of Reem, Santana, Venkat & Rohit. Well Reem initially wanted to make the Kodai-Munnar trek, but I managed to convince her for this trek. Well Reem had flown all the way from Dubai. Shantanu accompanied Reem. Venkat was one of my old trek mates. The long Christmas weekend was chosen as we had 1 day to spare incase we got lost, as old pals in their previous attempt had taken 3 days after having lost their way. Besides there is a history of 3 trekkers who got lost in the same Shiradi Ghats a few months ago.
 

After meeting up at Majestic bus stand we realize that all busses are full with no room to accommodate 4 people in any bus heading past Gundia junction on NH 48 [The trek begins 2km from here]. We ended up taking private transport which cost us 250! (That was quite expensive ..:); KSRTC would cost 150).

Trek begins:
We touched down on Gundia 6am. We started off with the trek after a brief break soon after entering the village limits of the Shiradi Ghats beside the river. By 10 am we made it to the first river crossing. We stopped by for breakfast and a long break taking a lot of snaps and resumed trek till we hit a fork. The one that goes left takes us to the Ombattu Gudde, the other takes us to the river. We continued our trek, the trail often vanishes and re-surfaces suddenly.

Trails of confusion:
The confusion starts soon after hitting the last source of water. Here there are neither visible trails nor any clue.  You will need to open your compass box and start heading in North or 30Degrees north East. Initially you could climb up the water stream vertically up till you realise you are find various forks of dried up streams. Take the one that takes you north till the trail vanishes. At this point you need to cut through shrubs and thorns to get on top of Obattu Gudde ridge. As you get closer to the top the climb gets steeper and you need to grip on to whatever you find. We occasionally slipped and found things to grab onto. We made it to the ridge at 17:00 hours. We had no choice but to halt for the night and start collecting wood for forest fire and flattening ground for pitching the tent.
 

Sounds of horror:
Shantu who enjoyed the maximum sleep made sure we kept guarding the tent by occasional grunts and snores. It got on Reem’s nerves at times… Venkat our sleep talker had a lot of office thoughts was working hard on some “Department ID”. It was actually an interactive discussion we participated in his discussions. The guy even mistook Reem to be his darling… :p his words were however coded in Tamil, none of us knew it and he was lucky to get away with it.
 
Reem had to keep someone awake on guard, well Rohit had to stay awake, and Reem had interesting stories that got over by 1am. I got sleep for 2 hours and got back into guarding. Shantu preferred to sleep with the snakes got to the darkest of places to guard or what I don’t know :) I had to keep calling on him, till Reem woke up and got him back to visibility. The camp fire was amazing which lasted all night with no problem at all.. Thanks to Reem who started the fire in first place!
 

 

Next day:
With not much water to spare we had breakfast without brushing teeth and washing faces. On reaching one of the higher peaks on Obattu Gudde we got to see the first trail of human life around. We saw some cattle and a Shepard. By now all water reserves were over in spite of stocking sufficient water. We kept going till we go on top of the highest peaks of Obattu Gudde. By now the cattle looked like food calling..:) I had plans to suck milk straight out of the cows. Reem just had to smile over the petty joke.  Reem who got the least water to drink did a good job in carrying on without cribbing or sulking!!! Trust me Reem rocks!
 

 
H2O:
Reem and I who got out of the forest first got to the jeep track. We see a jeep pass by stopped them for water. We got real lucky the guys promised more water and drive back to Hosadurga, well I guess the guy was the estate owner one Mr.Bhat. By then Venkat and Shantu got out of the forest and joined in and all made it out safe.

Expenses Chart:
1. Home – Bus Stand - Rs.8 (BMTC – 21:45 hours)
2. Bangalore – Gundia - Rs.250 (Private tx – 00:00)
3. Hoskere – Mudigere - Rs.14 (KSRTC – 14:30 hours)
4. Light snacks - Rs.10
5. Mudigere – Hassan - Rs.35 (KSRTC – 16:15 hours)
6. Light snacks - Rs.35
7. Hassan – Bangalore - Rs.93 (KSRTC – 18:00 hours)
8. Bangalore – Home - Rs.100(Auto Exp.23:00 hours)
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Total Expenses: Rs.545
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Finale:
1. Carry Empty water Bottles 2-3 litres per person and fill them all at the last known water source
2. Tents and sleeping bags are unnecessary burden; I feel you can still make it without those.
3. Compass is required to ensure you are on track.
4. The last bit of the forest is too thick and you could get lost, make sure you are traveling in the direction of jeep trail.