Pucón - Volcan Villarica - Trek

Introduction:
Volcan Villarica is one of the most active volcanoes in the region of South America. Pucón is one of the beautiful cities in the south of Chile - Region IX or Araucanía. 5 of us decided and in just 2 weeks bus tickets and accommodation was booked. The troupe consisted of Carla,Militza,Vinayak,Louis & Rohit.

Day 1 [2011-01-22]:
1. Lago Azul:
Lago Azul has numerous small waterfalls with a difference. The water here is distinctly deep blue in colour.

Pucón Lago Azul

The place is clean and camping is permitted. We spent about 2 hours and left to Caburgua

2. Lago Caburgua:
This is one of the most popular lakes in Pucón only to Villarica Lake. The specialty out here is that the lake bed has sand. The sand is black at one stretch and white at the other stretch. Surrounded by huge mountains and thick forest tree cover.

3. Playa Blanca @ Lago Caburga [White Beach]:
While on our Boat ride we past by Playa Blanca.

Pucón Playa Blanca

The place was overcrowded with Tourists sun bathing.

4. Playa Negra @ Lago Caburga [Black Beach]:
We spent a while here walked along the sandy beach stretch had lunch and left to the Hot water spring.

Pucón Lago Caburga - Volcan Villarica in the backdrop and Playa Negra

5. Terma Quimey-Co:
Quimey-Co is a private hot water spring with water maintained at 3 different temperatures. The coolest of the lot is outdoor with open roof.

Pucón Quimey-Co - Wrist Band

The other is outdoor with a sun-roof and the final one is indoor with the warmest waters.
We spent considerable time in each of the pools playing and relaxing.

Pucón Hostel - Victor

Our day ended with preparation for the Volcan trek and a dinner party at a local restaurant includes Kuntsman Beer, Pisco Sour & Melon juice.

Pucón Salud Volcan!

Day 2 [2011-01-23]: Volcan Villarica Trek:
We were given strict instructions not to eat anything heavy the previous night and the day of the trek just 2 Bannanas. We were given heavy back packs with snow gear and each carried atleast 2 litres of water accompanied with light lunch.

Pucón Slopes of Volcan Villarica

The weather report was clear skies but strong winds. The ski station had shutdown lift service and that meant we had to trek an additional 1 hour. From here on the hike gets tougher and we start to use the Ice-Pick.

Pucón Tour Operator Uniform

We were given brief lessons on how to use them and we took off after a brief snack break. Carla found it very hard and gave up.

Pucón Various other Groups racing Ahead

From here on it meant no rocks to rest on and snow everywhere. The climb gets steeper and the ice had turned slippery. I kept falling the ice pick saved me from dying atleast a 6 times! Vinayak too felt it very strenuous and took a break. It was just Militza, Louis and Me.
Trekking on snow is atleast 3 times harder than trekking on normal rocky terrain. To add to it, we were carrying too much water and other accessories required for the descent.

Pucón Solitary Soul

The wind got stronger as we got higher and higher, I was just too dehydrated. I even began to eat the snow as i was too lazy to get the bottle out to sip. The Guide instructed me not to as it contained toxins from the volcano. Initially I began taking a lot of pictures, towards the end i had to pack it back in due to the terrain.

Pucón Fuming Volcan Crater - Rohit, Militza

The sun is pretty intense, burns any exposed part of the body. A lot of sun screen and full arm jacket/shirt recommended. We reached the summit at a snails pace. The sight on the top is just too good. I was all too excited to peep into the crater of the volcano. The place stinks of Sulphur, one cannot go too close as the terrain is dangerous, one could easily slip inside the crater :D.
I clicked a lot of pics and took 2 rock samples for my memories. Not sure how I will smuggle that back home to India :D.
The best part is the descent. We slide down the volcano on our asses. I could not take any pictures as it was too dangerous to get the camera out. We wore special gear to prevent our asses from frying along with special lower knee sheath to prevent snow wetting our pants down.

Pucón Volcan Vegetation!

We reached Pucón at 1700, just had time for our last Lunch-Dinner and ran to catch our buses to reach Santiago early next morning. We reported to work and did work the following Monday with our aching asses, knees, and backs :D

All in all it was a very special trek and experience. By Chilen Standards, we had covered a great deal of places in a very short period of time.

Pucón Lago Caburga - Louis,Carla,Militza,Vinayak

Finale:
1. Volcan trek cost ranges from 30,000 CLP to 45000 CLP. One has to bargain and strike a deal. We were initially asked to pay up 40000 CLP, after bargaining it was settled for 30000 CLP.
2. There are 2 timings for the trek, 0430 hours and 0730 hours; we weren't lucky for the 0430 hours trek.
3. Trekking on Snow is atleast 3 times harder than trekking on a rocky terrain.
4. You get dehydrated on snow very quickly, you need to keep drinking water.
5. The snow is slippery and hard to grip on, you must learn to use to ice-pick.
6. Sun screen is very much necessary, another pal did not use it, his face is burnt and skin's pealing.
7. Book bus tickets and accomodation atleast a month or couple of months earlier to get a good deal.

Pyramid Valley

Introduction

Pyramid Valley Front View of the Pyramid

This unheard place is just 35 kms from Bangalore. It is near Harohalli about 15 kms before Kanakapura via NH 209. It is believed to be the largest Meditation Pyramid in the world.

Preetham and myself decided to visit the place. Since we did not know the exact location, we overshot our destination and missed a very prominent land mark where we were to take a left deviation. We initially hit Harohalli city limits and had to back track.

Pyramid Valley Budha statue

The campus is pretty big which is yet to be completed, including the Pyramid. There is a big Amphitheatre, Canteen Facility, Library and the Pyramid Itself. Kids are strictly not permitted inside the Pyramid and visitors are expected to turn off cell phones inside the pyramid.

Pyramid Valley Pyramid Meditation hall entrance

Inside the Pyramid:
There is a huge meditation hall, it's got a King's chamber where it's believed to have the maximum concentration of cosmic energy however one's expected to spend at-least 30 minutes on entering the King's chamber meditating.

Pyramid Valley Pyramid Meditation hall entrance

People recommend Full moon day to experience highest doses of cosmic energy. The atmosphere inside is stuffy and I felt the heat as I kept getting closer to the King's chamber; however there's sufficient lighting. With construction activity still in progress, the environment is noisy and it's hard to meditate; when I was around, a worker was drilling holes with a high speed electrical drill gun inside the Pyramid's stairway :) I could not figure out the idea behind this.

Pyramid Valley The Pyramid Back view

Lunch is served to everyone, including visitors between 1300-1400 hours everyday. From the workers inside the facility, I understand weekend spiritual classes are conducted.

Finale:
1 - Nice place to spend a few hours seeing the architectural marvel.
2 - The best part - There's no one marketing around for taking up courses or into making donations.

Somanahalli Lake near Somanahalli

Muthodi Wildlife Reserve

2010-06-2010 - 13-06-2010 - Kemangundi,Baababudangiri,Muthodi WLR & Mulliyanagiri

Introduction:

We decided to hit the Western Ghats again. This itenary was finalised Thursday night. Harish did wonders and managed to arrange a Qualis Friday morning such that we start off Friday Evening - amazing guy. The troupe consided of Harish(KK), Jatin, Murali, Gururaj, Debjyothi,Vinesh & Rohit.

Muthodi Wildlife Safari Left to Right inorder: Jatin,Rohit,Debjyothi,Vignesh,Murali,Harish,Gururaj

The meeting point was Majestic Railway station at 2300 hours. Everyone made it on time.

Day 1 - 2010-06-12 - Z-point,Habbi Falls,Jagur View point,Gaali Kere,Manikya Dhara

Kemangundi Z-point

We reached Z-point at 0500 hours, we were the only souls out there. The view was berathtaking. There were clouds clearing up in the direction of the strong chilly winds, the surrounding landscapes had green cover with thick fog everywhere. The ones with cameras were busy clicking and rest were modelling.

Kemangundi Z-point Jatin left behind

We were done by 0800 hours, we had breakfast at Kemangundi and left to Habbi Falls. The only mode of transport is an off-road vehicle with 4x drive.

Kemangundi Flower @ Guest House

Its just about 10 kms and the joy ride will cost you INR 850.. He finally agreed upon INR 700; the ride was bumpy all the while with greenary everywhere.

Kemangundi Habbi Water Falls [Hebbe Falls]

After lunch at Kemangundi we left to Baababuddangiri. The drive to Baababudangiri is awesome through Muthodi Wildlife Reserve.

Muthodi Wildlife Reserve Jaguar View Point [Silver Oak Trees]

The terrain is mountainous with shola vegetation at higher altitudes and thick tree cover lower down.

Muthodi Wildlife Reserve Near Jaguar View Point

We halted by Jaguar view point took a few snaps and left soon after it started to rain. Next we hit this Manikya dhara, the place is a total mess with clothing thrown everywhere and extremely unhygenic.

Baababuddangiri View point at Manikyadhara

However the view from here is breathtaking. We next made it to Gaalikere temple (Anyaneya Temple).

Baababuddangiri Gaalikere

The place was clean but covered with thick clouds with poor visibility. We had to do a bit of jugglary to get our Qualis in making a U-Turn.

Baababudangiri Drive back to Chickmagalur

We then hit Chickmagalur for night stay. We checked into a couple of double bed rooms and had a great dinner.


Day 2 - 2010-06-13 - Sathodi Wildlife Reserve,Mulliyanagiri.

Sathodi Wildlife Safari Indian Gaur

We started our day at 0600 hours with Sathodi wildlife reserve jungle safari. We could spot just the herbivours - Gaurs, deers, peacocks, Kingfishers and a 400 year old teak tree. There is a drive through the wildlife reserve to Mulliyanagiri which we took.

Muthodi Wildlife Safari 400 year old Teak Tree

This route is very scenic and we stopped by a lot of places taking snaps. With every ascent the weather got harsher on the peak it was a storm. Very strong winds, thick fog and intermittent rainfall prevented us from playing around with our cameras.

Mulliyanagiri Mulliyanagiri temple in backdrop

We hurried up to the temple got wet and retured back to Chickmagalur. On reaching Chickmagalur we had a royal meal checked out of the lodge and headed back to Bangalore by 1500 hours. We reached homes by 2200 hours Sunday evening.

Finale -
-Total Expense per head worked out - INR 1550
-With heavy rains forcast not many tourists around

Appeal -
I see a lot of trashing at Habbi Falls/Inside the Wildlife Reserve - plastic Bottles, Glass bottles (broken)..etc, be responsible tourists and dispose them appropriately.

Kemangundi 2Near Jaguar View Point

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