Monday 30 November 2015

Amedikallu Trek - November 21st and 22nd, 2015

I was long planning for one of the Western Ghats treks- It's monsoon and it is the best time to visit this range. I was yet to explore this part of Karnataka and all those awesome pics allured me. And thus I decided to go to one of them, and at the same time, I found this trek to Amedikallu organized by Bangalore AdvenTurers (BAT). I just made a call to my close buddy Raksha, who said a Yes to accompany me. So we registered for the event.

We were asked to gather in front of Shantala Silks in Majestic at 8:45 PM on Friday- 20th November. It started raining that evening, but still we made it at the right time. There were already 2 guys with backpack, so we knew they were in our group, and we introduced ourselves. One by one thus joined, and finally the group was all set to leave in a 21 seater Mini Bus at 10:15 PM. In the bus, we had an intro session, and our's was a group of 17- Niranjan (Organizer), Rashmi, Gautham, Narendran, Devendran, Rajesh, Bhavya, Sagar, Santosh, Sumesh, Manikantha, Vishwanath, Karthikeyini, Akshar, Subith, Raksha and I. We were also given general instructions by our organizer, and then we all slept, while the bus moved towards our destination.

We reached Shishila village pretty early, around 5:15 PM (Though we left Bengaluru late; Thanks to the driver :-P) and we had to wait until the clock ticked 6 AM, since we didn't want to disturb our host Mr. Gopu Gokhale. We were to freshen up at his guest house and he had arranged for the day's breakfast and lunch, and next days lunch. We all freshened up, one by one, and went for breakfast at 8:20 AM. Idly Chatni and Sambar it was, and it tasted great! We were given packed lunch, and we left in our bus with the guide to the starting point of our trek, which is about 6 km from Gopu Gokhale's house.



Gopu Gokhale's guest house


Group pic before the start of trek


Getting ready to trek

It was 9:40 AM when we started our trek. The group moved together, and the initial 2 hour path was inside a forest. At the end of this 2 km, we got the first glimpse of Amedikallu, an here we took our first break of about 20 minutes. We energized ourselves with chocolates, biscuits, fruits etc., and we also had Indian gooseberry from a nearby tree. We started again at 12 PM and now the path was in the grasslands. Walking amidst 2-3 feet tall grass was a good experience, but the sun made us a little tired, since there was no tree shade. So wherever we found trees, we stopped and just dropped on the grass to rest. We thus took about 3-4 breaks (which was unnecessary), and we finally arrived at the water place where we had to stop for lunch. 1:30 PM it was! We all freshened up, filled up our bottles and had lunch- Chapati and Bhindi sabzi and pickle, and we took good amount of rest.



Start of the trek


Spot from where we got first glimpse of Amedikallu
Trekking


Lunch packed by our host


Relaxing and chatting before lunch


We then started again at 2:15PM, and we were all exhausted, and kept asking the guide about the remaining distance, who simply kept saying 10 minutes (His measure of time was always 10 minutes or 30 minutes, even if it took hours :-P) and we finally made it to the rock shelter at 3:45 PM, where we would be camping for night. As soon as we saw this place, we just laid down happily (as though we made it to the peak :-P). Niranjan with the help of other guys set up 2 tents, and we kept our bags inside the tents, and we started again towards the peak.


Somewhere on the way, before the campsite


View of Western ghats


Effect of 8 km trek- at the camping site 


Setting up the tents


The walk now was completely amidst grasslands, from where we could already witness the Ghats range to some extent. We made it to a Huge stone, just beneath the huge rock that represents Ame's face, where few people thought of not continuing anymore. (One reason was that we were too tired, another reason being that it was already 4:20 PM and another 1 km to the peak and down would take atleast 2 hours, and it would get dark by then). Most of us wanted to make it to the peak since we had made it so long for now, and thus the organizer gave us the choice to make- to go or not. To go, we were suppose to walk continuously, without taking breaks, as fast as possible. It was a tough decision but then 11 of us did went along with the guide. This last 1 km walk was amidst wild jungle for 20 minutes, and then when we were almost at the peak, it was grassland for 10 minutes, and the last stretch was a huge rock to climb! We finally did it and made it to the peak at 5:10 PM.

Awesome view of Ghats


In front of Ame's head


Final stretch to the peak


Almost there..


Group along with our guide- at the peak


Group selfie on the peak



View from the peak



We were now on the Ame's head :-P, the tallest point of the peak, and all of us were very much happy that we finally made it to the peak, after a tiresome 9 km walk! We were glad that we didn't give up, and the view from the peak was mesmerizing. A 360 degree view, sunset, cool breeze was just amazing. We shouted on the top of our voices to experience the echo. We took a few pics and selfies, and we spent about 15 minutes there. It was time to move down now, though we had no heart of leaving so early. But sun was pacing down soon, and we had to make it to the camping site before it would become too dark. We thus started down at 5:30 PM and we reached the camping site at 6:45 PM.

It was now cooking time, and we required water. 4 people went with the guide to wash the vegetables and get water to cook. The rest sat under the rock, enjoying the moonlight and cool breeze, chit chatting, while Niranjan made arrangements of firewood and got the setup for cooking ready. Bisibelebath was the special tonight. Once the water was bought, we girls helped in chopping the vegetables, and the rest of the cooking was done by our Master Chef Niranjan. After about an hour, we got the smell of ghee and this made us feel hungry. We all gathered near the vessel and made a queue with our boxes, while our chef was perfecting the dish saying 5 more minutes. We were tired and hungry, and no requests made him feel pity on us, and we waited for about 10 minutes, after which hot Bisibelebath was served. It tasted awesome and couple of people even burnt their tongue in a hurry to taste it :-P Moonlight, cool breeze, Hot and tasty Bisibelebath was an awesome combination. After dinner, 2 more tents were laid, and we all crept into it to sleep.

Pre cooking preparations


Tasty Bisibelebath


Next  morning at 6:10 AM, Niranjan started to wake up people. We had to pack up and leave by 6:30 AM is what he had instructed us the previous night, and people were rather reluctant to wake up :-P We woke up, started getting ready and packed our bags and tents again, and at about 6:30, we witnessed the first rays of Sun. We started at 7 AM, and reached the water spot at 7:20 AM, where we freshened up, washed vessels, filled the bottles and had a light breakfast. We started again at 7:45, and made a long descend until we stopped again at 9:15 AM to have breakfast. People exchanged Biscuits, chocolates, cakes, kakhara, fruits etc. and we started again at 9:40. Without taking anymore breaks, we finally made it to the base at 10:40 AM.

First rays of Sun in the morning


Taking one last look at the peak we had conquered


Beautiful Clouds



We were now supposed to go to the river and then visit Shishila temple. We inquired the guide and our host and got to know that there were no changing rooms near the river, and thus all girls backed up, and all the guys left in the bus. We still got a chance to go to the river which was accessible from our host's farm, about 5 minutes walk, and thus Raksha, Karthikeyini and I left to the river, while the other two decided to take hot water bath in the guest house. Falling into the fresh water felt so much good and was so relaxing that all the tiredness of 18 km trek was gone. The water was only about 2 feet deep, and thus we just sat inside the water for about 40 minutes, and came to the house and changed into fresh clothes. It was 12:40 PM and the guys also came by this time, and we were called for lunch. Rice Sambar Rasam and butter milk- Awesome and satisfying lunch! We were told that the temple will be closed till 2:30, and we had no choice but to leave for Bangalore, and thus we started at 1:30 PM.

After 10 minutes of the start of journey, we had a feedback session. We all had had a great time,and each one of us thus shared their experience. We then started with dum charrads, which was equally fun, and we had some chit chatting, mocking and teasing each other. Some ghost stories were also discussed meanwhile. We all had become so close now, not even 48 hours of knowing each other! We gave a break for tea at 4:30 PM and stopped for too long, chit chatting :P Starting our journey again, Sagar and Santosh bid goodbye to us and got down at Hassan (They were Arasikere brothers) and then we continued further, and stopped for dinner at 7:15 PM at Adiga's.  We then made the final journey, and reached Nelamangala at about 9:20 PM. From here goodbyes started, and one by one got down at major landmarks like Nelamangala, Navarang, and then we reached Majestic at 10:15 PM. We got down here and we bid goodbye to the rest of the group, cherishing the sweet memories of last two days.

It was a great time with new bunch of folks, and two days seemed like too long of having spent it so nicely. Thanks to BAT- it was a very good experience and of course an awesome organizer Niranjan planned it all so well. Looking forward to more and more adventures..



Tuesday 3 November 2015

Ganalu Falls Outing - October 31st, 2015

It was a month ago that we fixed the date "31st October" for all 6 of us to go for a small trip. Every other weekend till then, at least one of us wouldn't make it, and the plan of we 6 meeting kept postponing for almost a month since our Himalayan trek, and that's when we fixed a date, or more like an appointment :-P A day before, it was decided that we will go to Bheemeshwari water sport resort and we were set to leave in a car and a bike.

Shreya and I were picked up by Suchith in his car around 7:30 AM in the morning, near my place (Marathalli Bridge). We then left to pick up Akshata at her PG in Electronic City and then we headed to Kanakapura-Nice Road junction where we would be meeting the other two- Kiran and Aravind. Initially it was planned that we all would meet in this junction at 7:45 AM, but we were late by an hour :-P We then had coffee which was prepared and bought by Suchith in a flask, and we started a search for a hotel to have our breakfast- our girls were hungry and it was 8:45. We found a decent hotel not so far from the nice road junction, and had our breakfast. It was around 10 AM now, and we started our ride on the nice and country side Kanakapura road.

We came across the check-post of Bheemeshwari wildlife sanctuary and going further ahead, we stopped on the road for a photography session. We clicked a few random pics and left in search of a place where we could spend some time. We thus didn't stop at the resort and we went past, and found a riverside place, and there was a guard standing there. We requested him to let us spend some time, and he was kind enough to give us about 20 minutes, and we relaxed for a while.



Road to Bheemeshwari

Riverside spot

Relaxing near the riverside spot


We had to leave since we weren't allowed to sit there for a long time, and we went back to the resort hoping to find some nice deals with some activities. But the guard there at the resort said that we had to book the slots and sports in advance, and since it was a weekend, the bookings were full and we weren't even allowed inside the resort. We had to move on in search of a new place.
And now the title makes sense- you must have been wondering why I have put Ganalu falls and have been talking about Bheemeshwari all this time!

Suchith first mentioned about this place- Ganalu falls which is supposed to be very near to Bheemeshwari. Even I had read about this place on internet and we decided to go there. We went in search of this place now, inquiring the villagers, missing a few roads and then taking U turns again, and we entered a muddy road, wide enough only for a car to go. About 2 km and we reached a point where we stopped and found the falls hiding behind the bushes that was alongside the road. From here, we had to walk and get down, so we decided to take the road further, assuming the road will take us to the base of the falls. And another 2 or 3 more km with even worser road we went, only to end up at the entrance of the power generating station, and we were told by the guard that the initial point from where we could see the falls was the right stop!



Road to the falls
U turn again! It was a pathetic road, and we made it finally to the point where we were supposed to stop, and started getting down through the narrow pathway midst the trees and thorny bushes. After 5 minutes of walk, we were exposed to the falls midst huge and steep rocks. The water was not much there, but the falls was a little dangerous. Kiran started to move towards those rocks on the other side and Shreya, Aravind, Suchith and I followed. Akshata stayed back and sat there watching us climbing the rocks to reach the top of a relatively smaller stream. We made it till the top of the falls, while Suchith returned back and joined Akshatha to sit and rest. Kiran Shreya and I posed for some pics on the top (Thanks to Aravind for the clicks), and then all of us got down and joined Akshata and Suchith.
We now decided to take a group pic and leave for lunch, since it was already 2 PM. However, we took the group pic, and lingered around upon the rocks, and when we finally walked up to where we had parked the car, it was 2:30 PM. We started the ride again in search of a hotel, which we knew was not any near, and thus started looking for a stall which sold bananas so that we can defend our hunger for time being. We found one very quickly, and also found a Ice Cream guy on the road, and we had ice cream, faluda, banana and tea (awesome combination, I know :-P ) and spent some time chatting. We left at 3:15 heading towards Kanakapura road, and we stopped for lunch in a dhaba at 4:15 PM. We ordered food, and we got busy plucking the gasgasse fruit and clicked some pics of it. And when the food arrived, we were shocked with the quantity of the sabzi that he had given!  We had our lunch, and left at 5 PM heading back to Bangalore. Here I shifted my ride on Aravind's Thunderbird, and the ride was awesome!


One of the smaller streams of the falls

Posing from the tip of the smaller stream

The main stream of the falls

We 6 :)
The DSLR Effect

"Heavy" Lunch :P



We reached Kanakapura at 6 PM, and we stopped for tea at a roadside shop, and without delaying any further, we started again to make the final stretch to reach nice road junction at 7 PM. Here we bid goodbye to Aravind and Kiran and I shifted to car now. We continued on the same road to reach Banashankari, but the traffic was just so crazy that we took a U turn to take Nice road again. Even this road was a little crowded and we dropped off Akshata at 7:45. We then left for Marathalli Bridge, reaching at 8:30 PM where Shreya and I dropped off. Suchith continued further and he reached his home at 9:30 PM.

To put in a nutshell, It was a long day and most of it was only driving :-P But it was a great time with everyone, and even the place that we finally went too was a good one!