Fall into the falls - Bangalore to Didupe to Ermai Falls

It had been quite some time since I wanted to go on a trek with my colleagues, but I never got the right group apart from Neha. The long pause came to limelight when I started work on a new project with a crazy bunch of people. As much I started liking to come to office every day, I loved hanging out and spending most of my time with them. This lead to the idea of pulling them out on a trek, which finally ended in a treknic to Didupe & Ermai falls in Chikmagalur district organized by Bangalore Trekking Club!

March 22, Friday:

The plan was to meet at the usual Shanthala Silk house in Majestic and leave around 9.45 PM. Metro helped us to reach on time. Huge backpacks loaded with sleeping bag and jacket and my favourite people – A long time plan was on action. 21 people were geared for the enthusiastic weekend. We boarded our TT around 10.30 AM and the trek officially began!

The usual BTC-style introduction started. We had to enact our names and the rest of the crowd should guess it. While this had become a routine for me since I’ve been enacting the same way in all the prior treks, Sanjay and Ajay (my team mates) didn’t disappoint us and Sanjay, as always, exceeded our expectations. While the laughter continued till midnight, we took a break when the van stopped for a quick dinner.

March 23, Saturday:

Amidst the continuous chattering from Ajay & Neha, I managed to get some sleep with the little space in my seat (No Sanjay! The person next to me didn’t occupy a lot of space :P ) My alarm went at 6AM and I woke up to the picturesque mountains of the Western Ghats. While the steep roads with a lot of hairpin bends made the ride scary, the green environment made us to disappear into the magic world. We reached Didupe village around 6.30AM and a huge waterfall was visible from one end and the horse-face (Kudremukh) hill on the other.

The guide was waiting to receive his guests and he took us to his house situated amidst the forest. Initially, it started off as a plain stony path, but eventually, we crossed multiple streams to reach the house. We didn’t bother to get our shoes since the slippery rocks posed more challenges. Couldn’t ask for a better start of the trek.

After quickly refreshing, hot steaming idlies waited for breakfast. The guide took us though the day’s itinerary and we hopped out with our day packs. Hidden paths; Improper terrain; Unknown destination; Slippery stones; Yet, I enjoyed every second, mainly because of the people and the unexpected challenges that popped up as we progressed. Leeches, of course added to the adventure!

The entire trek path was inside the dense forest, which was supposed to be elephant’s backyard in the past. The steep ascent drained out the energy right from the start of the trek. In a couple of hours, we reached our first halting point – a beautiful valley which descended into a steep fall. This nameless place was hidden from the external world, and thus the beauty remained undisturbed. Everyone jumped into the water mainly to clear away the leeches that had been sucking our blood inside the shoes and pants, and we spent some time chatting and taking pictures.

After multiple ascend and descend with the removal of thorn pricks clinging to my hair and spotting snakes and weird creatures on our path, we reached our next destination – the next level of the waterfall, which happened to our lunch spot, but also looked like the perfect suicide spot :P One wrong step and you might land up into pieces! Yet, you could have loads of fun if you are careful and our people are extra-cautious bunch of enthusiasts. In no time, people slowly started getting into the falls and everyone hopped in. Savige bath packed for lunch turned out to be devamirtham after playing inside the water. Bidding good bye to the beautiful falls, we moved to our next destination.

This is when we started going down the path to the base, and it was a complete steep. With the help of the trees and stones, we managed to get our grip. As always, people fell down and got bum hits, yet, we were grateful that it didn’t rain, else our path would have become miserable. Although going down didn’t drain out our energy, the sound of our heart beat kept pumping fast due to the continuous adrenaline rush. The only rule of thumb is to sit and slide if you are not confident about the path! We kept moving down parallel to the falls, hence it was a treat to watch the ambience despite the tricky route. And after one final super steep descend came the surprise element of the day – the majestic Didupe falls!

I was stunned at the first look of it – of course love at first sight and the best part was the presence of the rainbow. Even without bothering to remove our shoes, we merged with the mesmerizing beauty. The water force was so harsh that we struggled to move closer to the falls, yet nothing stopped us. At the end of the day, the free massage from the falls and the photo shoot session was worth the pain of reaching it!

We started our way back to the homestay after completely getting drenched in the beauty of the falls and fancy snacks made of jackfruit pappad and hot bajji was waiting for us. As the night fell, it was time for some games. Mafia came to entertain us and of course, it was fun as always with arguments and quarrel and the night ended with a lavish dinner – special mention to the amazing kesari bath I’ve ever had in my life!

March 24, Sunday:

It was a cold morning and I woke up to the view of misty mountains. Idiyappam with milk made of palm jaggery and gravy filled our stomach for morning breakfast. While we waited for our coffee, party time began with people dancing crazily for kuthu songs and not to forget the eye-to-eye romantic dance performance by Sanjay and the doctor in the group!  We set out on our next adventure with all the laughter to the mud games arena. None of us knew what was waiting for us, apart from the fact that we were going to get ourselves dirty. We walked across the lawns and meadows to reach our mud pond spot. Basically, it was the season where the farmers will start sowing their seeds and the land was hydrated and strengthened for a better harvest.

By the time, the entire team reached the mud pond, Vikram and few exuberant people got into the water. It wasn’t attractive at the first look, yet, the minute we stepped into water, the cold waves brought goose bumps and we merged with the enthusiastic crowd. Beach volleyball turned into a mud volley ball and it was fun watching people dive into the dirt water to get hold of the ball.  While the pros got into the game so quickly, novice like me became a spectator despite being part of the team. This didn’t last too long when people voluntarily made us to get into the water and made us look ugly. It ended up in a tit for tat game, people running around and chasing each other with hand full of mud and beating each other.

Next, the stage was set for a game of tug of war – the team was split into two. We used our complete force and tried our best to place our legs firmly and eventually lied down completely in the slippery mud as the pull from the other team increased. After a couple of amateur games, we had a competition between the pro in the village and our strong BTC people. As a spectator, we became the cheer girls for our team and motivated, yet, you know what would have been the result? 😊 Cold buttermilk came to our rescue to quench our thirst. Then one group started to play kabaddi and the rest of us played dodge ball. As always, crazy photo sessions brought an end to our mud game time.

After refreshing, we took a jeep ride to the place where our TT was waiting, which happened to be another adventure. It was a roller coaster ride with crazy bumps and forceful water streams across our way. The other group had also noticed a huge snake. Then we went to our next mane – where our lunch was getting ready for us. We were offered a variety of items – huge ladies finger sambhar, salad, rasam, payasam, appalam and ended with the amazing sukku kaapi. Since we reached the place very late, we missed the chance to go on a paddy field visit.

We took a walk to the Ermai falls where we got an opportunity to do some social work of cleaning the area around the falls – thanks to our cleanliness-friendly people who never bother to use dustbin to dump the waste. The entire place looked so different and free from plastic after the clean-up and I could only wish if people took small efforts to not to ruin the public places and teach the same to the next generation! While the clean-up drive brought mental satisfaction, we were mesmerized with the beauty of the multi-level Ermai falls. Since it was too deep, we did not take extra effort to get into the water, but the swimmers didn’t spare this waterfall too.

As the place started getting darker, we returned our way to the home. Our next task was to prepare our own dinner – the best part of the entire trip! Although I cook just for fun, I’ve never made anything for a huge group. My chapattis had never been round and I was sitting there kneading the dough! :D Vikram was the highlight in our group – he managed most of the cooking himself – special mention to the yummy potato subzi. We started back to Bangalore by 10PM.

Bidding good bye to the amazing group, we departed our ways at 4AM. It was one another awesome weekend with my people. TGTC begins here!

Nishani motte to Kurudi – The Less-Explored Paradise

I never thought that I would do this trek because my name was not in the BTC shortlist and the reason being a woman. Silly, isn’t it? Since very few girls registered and those few backed out in the last minute, I was forced to drop out. While I was planning to head home over the weekend, Ameer called me on Thursday afternoon and gave a green signal to join the trek as another female had registered. With full excitement, I was waiting for Friday evening. As usual, I had researched about the place in advance, but every blog pointed to a common word - LEECHES!

Nishani motte is a beautiful hillock in Coorg lying in the borders of Karnataka and Kerala. As you might be aware, Coorg is very close to Bangalore, you will reach this Scotland in 3 - 4 hours. After meeting our fellow trekkers in Shanthala, we were killing time to start little late. That was the first time I met the trending photographer in BTC - Saroj Baniya! Of course, who would tell NO if someone captures your beautiful moments and gets good dp and I'm no exception to it😉 The intro session to the group of 10 was not required as we started to mingle in no time. While our organiser briefed the group through the plan, a sub-group realised that they didn't get their food packets as described in the mail and they bought all the Maggi from a nearby shop. While few planned to not to sleep throughout the night, we started our mission to the leech paradise by 11pm. 

Reached Bhagmandala by 6 AM and it was freaking cold when I stepped outside. The place was covered with mist and the long fought Kaveri was flowing in front of us. There was also a beautiful temple structured differently next to the Triveni Sangama, the small pond filled with the pure Kaveri where the devotees take a dip here before entering the temple. Few from the group also dived into the cold water. Once all were set for the expedition, we headed to a small restaurant near the temple for a quick breakfast and packed our lunch. Dosa was too yummy that we kept ordering for more.

Once our forest guard was here, we packed our food items. The TT rode in the muddy routes and dropped us in the middle of a village. Our trekking expedition started by 9.30 which wasn't a bad start, but the forest guard told that we were running late by an hour as we had to cover longer distance by 6 PM. Since we had an amazing group of enthusiastic people, the trek wasn't tiring at any point. Our first pitstop was the anti-poaching camp, beyond which we will not see any village. Basically it means that we were entering the forest zone which is prone to encounter any animal. On reaching APC only, we realized the probability of leeches that are going to attack us in the two days. As Prasanna was wearing his sandals, he was the first one to get attacked quickly, however we were no exceptions. The forest guard quickly gave a leech remedy by mixing tobacco and some random oil. Hoping that this would reduce the probability, we applied the smelly oil to our legs. Bidding goodbye to APC, we started our expedition to Nishani motte.

The path wasn't steep, but the backpacks came as a burden as we had to carry our tents and sleeping bags. Although I didn't hold the tents, thanks to the guys who carried it all the way throughout the trek. The route to Nishani was the same as any green mountain in Karnataka with tall grasses spread across the top, but this one had few dense forests in the middle which we didn't enter.

It was just 11am and hunger panic began as I didn't have proper breakfast in the name of diet. Suresh helped me to survive with multiple chocolates coming out of his bag everytime I complained. We were in the top of the mountain in no time with Karnataka on one side and Kerala on the other. While Karnataka had grassy mountains, Kerala was filled with dense forests.

After a quick lollipop break (thank you Prasanna!) We left our bags and headed to the tall Nishani motte. Even though the hill seemed to look a little far away, we reached the peak in no time.

As the sun was scorching bright on our faces, Ameer gave a fake hope that we would enter the forest in 30 minutes and then have our lunch. Half hour came to 1.5 hours and we stepped into the dense Kurudi forest at 2 PM. The path was no joke as we were descending continuously and a slip can lead you into the dense forest. We heard a sound of a small valley as we entered the greens and it became a pit stop to enjoy our lunch. And the mobiles started to vibrate – ‘Welcome to Kerala!’

Hunger and tiredness made us to quickly grab a seat either on the broken tree branch or on some giant stone and the packed biriyani tasted the best in the entire world. I have never asked for more food, but this time, I just hoped if we had some extra rice. We rested for some time as it was entertaining to hear the BOSCHians discuss about the popular things (not to be disclosed! :P ) in their company. Then the forest guards pushed us to vacate the place as we had to reach our homestay before dusk, else we might encounter unexpected creatures. Lunch gave us an unlimited amount of energy and we walked in full enthusiasm inside the deep jungle.

As we were the first batch of people to explore the Kurudi forest after this year’s monsoon, there was no trail and we walked across the trees and broken branches and wild animal’s huge lumps of dung. The forest guard at the front cleared the trail at certain areas which made us to escape the scratches from thorny plants. At times we had to cling to the branches as the path was slippery. The adventure didn’t end there. The trail was filled with bloody creatures, popularly called as LEECHES! Yes, you heard it right! I don’t remember how many leeches climbed on me, but they have definitely left marks on my body and memories for a lifetime to share with everyone, because they weren’t normal leeches.

We kept moving at a faster pace as the leeches might attack you in an exponential rate if you stop even for a second. If you stop somewhere to remove the leeches which succeeded to climb on you, then you will encounter 5 more new leeches on removing one. What would you prefer – let the one leech to suck your blood completely or attract 5 new leeches and keep repeating it? I stuck to the former option, but people in the group also clung to the latter option. At the end of the day, it depends on your fate. If you had to get leech bites, you will end up getting them, irrespective of the option that you choose. There were occasions where you might get those leeches sticking to your fingers when you remove them and you need special forces to let them go away. It is the worst feeling in the world to stay calm when you know that there are dozens of creatures in your body crawling for food and you still keep walking. I was happy and proud at the end of the day that I conquered my fear of leeches and made my mind to stand strong in front of elephants too (of course I am kidding!).

We halted near two streams which mostly ended up being our leech clearing areas. We climbed up and down and moved across flat surfaces without knowing what was happening outside this dense forest. Disconnected from our phones, we lived every moment to ourselves, removing the leeches now and then. It was getting darker and the beautiful homestay is out of our sight. We were walking swiftly, yet consciously, as the path was slippery. I realized this only after falling twice on the wet ground. We were in a dilemma if we need to take our torches out, as Ameer started giving fake hopes again that we were closer to the homestay. At last, around 6PM, we saw a beautiful haunted house in front of us.

Covered by trees around, the 2BHK house stood strong in front of a valley. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the 2BHK had only two multi-purpose rooms, which could be considered as bedroom or hall or kitchen at the same time. We didn’t bother about any of these after finishing our trek, as the creepy creatures were sucking almost all the blood out of our body. The fun started as we removed our socks and shoes, just to find a family of leeches sucking blood in groups everywhere. At the first sight, my legs looked yuck with black ugly things everywhere. A big thanks to Naveen and Ameer, who removed the leeches patiently out of my legs. The salt did its magic and the worms rolled out of my legs, but they left strong marks that blood kept flowing uncontrollably. As we knew that it would take some time for the blood to clot and considering the multiple bites in my legs, I knew I had to be mentally prepared to let the blood flow out of my body.

While the rest of the group survived with fewer marks, I became the proud winner to get the maximum leech bites. The innocent Hari stood second, who also let leeches to suck his blood. We were thoroughly checked for any leeches in our body before entering the house, as we didn’t want them to suck the blood during our sleep. Even after everyone got their approval to get inside the house, my blood kept pouring continuously. Thank you Saroj for being my doctor at the right time, as he used small bits of tissues to stop the flow. The tissues worked like a magic, reducing the flow immediately, yet certain spots remained uncontrollable. Saroj constantly checked my legs and changed the tissues and saved my blood :D. Lucky him, he survived without any leech marks, apart from one mark at his head, which climbed unexpectedly after we entered the house.

It was dinner time and our cooks (Bala, Prasanna and Ameer) burnt the stove to make hot water for us (of course a difficult item :P ) We finished our cup noodles and conversations followed in the dark night. There were lizards and rats moving around, yet we weren’t scared to sleep, because we were so tired after the 18KM trek. None of us wished to step outside this house, as we were in the middle of a forest where elephants and other animals could come and greet us anytime. We wrapped ourselves inside the sleeping bag and went to sound sleep, hoping the doors will not be knocked in the middle of the night ;)

It was a bright morning when I woke up at 6AM to sounds of people who didn’t sleep due to few people’s sound sleep :D Being a morning person, I ran outside to enjoy the beauty of the nature. It was freezing, yet it was beautiful. There was no one, just me and the nature. The birds were singing enjoying this morning and yet, the leeches were also having fun trying to attack our legs. Mornings are incomplete without a hot chai and we were fortunate to enjoy them too in the middle of the forest. Haseena and Naveen took the extra effort to prepare amazing tea and the rest of us filled our stomach with bread & jam to fill our stomach in the name of breakfast. We packed our things and bade goodbye to the haunted house and the ghosts, if there were any, and started our expedition. The path became even more dangerous as we were walking across the edge and it was too slippery after the morning fog.

With everyone’s help, I managed to cross the steep descend without breaking my legs, special mention to Bala! Amidst all these, I admired Haseena as she kept walking confidently without anyone’s help in front of me. In no time, we reached another unoccupied camp and quickly moved forward. Then the path became normal and we started to hear some sounds of the flowing water. Hoooo… We removed our shoes and threw the bags and jumped into the pure water. The water was so clean that we were able to see through it, like a glass, with fishes moving around and attacking our legs. We had the best time of the trek, splashing water and playing like little kids and got free massages sitting on the fast-flowing water.

Bidding goodbye to the waters, we hurried to get out of the jungle, to enter Kerala and eat a good stomach-filling lunch. We were not spared of leeches during our return journey too, yet these were of different kind than the previous day. Also, Bala’s idea of applying the leech repellent to the shoes worked like a magic, in getting lesser bites. It was around 1PM when we reached Kerala’s APC and this marked the end of our expedition and the end to the bloody leeches.

After removing all the leeches, we moved forward to enter the beautiful villages of Kerala. Grabbed fresh lemon juice in a small shop and hopped into a jeep to reach the Kerala-Karnataka border, where our TT was waiting for us. We halted for lunch in a non-veg restaurant and filled ourselves with everything that we wished to eat.

On my return travel to the TT, I got to talk to Saroj about his passion towards photography and realized that it is not an easy profession at the end of the day even if you are passionate about it :D Best part about treks is meeting people and getting inspired from their them and this trek was no exception to it. We settled in our TT and tried to get into a deep sleep, but the van driver was against our wish as he rode the vehicle in zig-zag manner. Despite the multiple warnings, his harsh driving didn’t end but we reached Madikeri safe and sound. It was 8PM and we wandered around the streets of Madikeri aimlessly killing time as we planned to leave late so that we could reach Bangalore around 5AM, considering the driver’s amazing skills. After finishing our dinner followed by the feedback session, we started around 11PM and an enthusiastic weekend came to an end as we bade goodbye to each other on Monday morning, with the hope that we will meet again.

A special mention to the man who led the team single-handed, thank you Ameer for introducing us to this amazing paradise and bringing us back safe and secured. The long trek wouldn’t have been possible without the energetic group, as everyone contributed to its success. The trek ended and the blog might end here, but the leech marks are going to remind us about this place forever. Nishani motte to Kurudi – A journey less taken and not only a paradise for leeches, but heaven for all the trek enthusiasts. If you were one, don’t miss this place!

Total Expense including travel, stay, tent & sleeping bag (rent) - Rs.3000/-

People in the group : Ameer, Bala. Prasanna, Hari, Saroj, Naveen * 2, Haseena, Suresh and me :D

Kudremukh – A walk in the green carpet

Kudremukh had been in my to-do list for a long time and I knew that monsoon is the only season to witness the best views of this trek. With July disappearing along with my best friend's wedding preparations, I finally made my mind to resume my trekking expeditions and Kudremukh popped in the BTC events. One of my colleague pinged me and said "Hey! Look out.. there's a trek to Kudremukh" My mind didn't think for a minute and I decided to register. 

I was mentally prepared to convince my dad about the trek. While he was under the impression that I wouldn't go on treks after my best friend (my companion in any treks or trips) got married, I broke the rules and requested for the trek. Surprisingly there was no arguments and he was fine with it. With high hopes about the trek, I was waiting for the weekend.

After a long struggle in getting a raincoat, I managed to grab one just 2 hours before the start of the trek. Thanks to the awesome metro that I managed to reach Majestic from Indiranagar in 20 minutes. The organisers and few other co-trekkers were waiting in the Shanthala silk house meeting point. I joined the group and met a familiar face Pralov, but either of us didn't remember our names or where we met. There were also few whom I've met during the plantation drives. 

We started our travel by 10.30pm in the tempo traveller and everyone tried their best to get some sleep despite all the obstacles. The van came to a halt around 4am and again resumed at 6 where the zig zag ride started around the Western Ghats. The views were getting cleared as the sun popped out of the clouds. In another 2 hours, we reached our destination, which was not the actual destination though. We had to walk for another 7km as the homestay can be reached only by jeeps/walk. Since we were full of energy in the early hours, 7km didn't seem to be difficult.

The best part about the 7km route is that you get to encounter a beautiful waterfall (my favourite part in the entire trip), which overflows in the roads. Words are not enough to describe the beauty of it, with the pure water quenching our thirst every time we crossed the pool of water. Whether you come in a jeep or motorbike, you cannot escape this beauty.

Apart from this falls, the path had some amazing roads, oops, they are not roads, just mud covered paths which are usable only by the forest jeeps and two-wheelers at their own risk. Since we were walking across the stretch, we had to find a safe place to protect ourselves from the mud being splashed on us during a vehicle movement.

After a long walk with our backpacks, we reached the homestay. Breakfast was waiting for us and in no time, we were attacking them. While the guys took the entire hall, the girls got hold of the small bed room. Initially the plan was to visit a falls but it was called off due to the lack of forest officer's permission. Yet, we didn't give up and planned to conquer the Baavikonda peak. Conquer might sound a little too much as it was a relatively smaller trek with 5kms one-way.

Got our packed lunch and headed out on our first mission to Baavikonda, which was a warm-up for the bigger Kudremukha trek. With Sambha, the sambhar, heading our group along with the chotu Sanjay, the guide, the trek began. As the rain Goddess was showering her blessings all the time, the route was pretty messed up and if your shoes don't have a grip, then you are prone to slip.

We managed to reach the peak with few leech bites. Overall it wasn't a difficult trek and the last stretch was to just walk across the grass to reach the top. A dog accompanied us and guided with the route for some food in return, but unfortunately we didn't have anything apart from puliyogare which the dog hated😂 Vijaya had a pack of cream biscuits and the dog ate it with full excitement.

After clicking few pictures and selfies and a short break, we started to descend. As none of us were hungry, we had the packed lunch in the middle of the descend near a creative grassland carved by the local farmers.

Returned to our homestay by 3.30 pm and looked out for the bloody leeches who might have jumped inside our shoes during the trek. While the leeches ignored our blood, they didn't leave our HR Saptha, who was struggling to stop the blood outflow from her legs.

After a quick break, we headed to a small waterfall near the homestay. The water flow was relatively higher due to continuous rains and teamwork helped to cross the stream. The rocks were too slippery that Vijaya fell and hurt her hand, luckily it was a minor wound. Then the guys went to explore the waterfalls, while Sushma motivated me to experience the cold waters. With the help of the branches of trees and Sushma's tips, I managed to touch the falls without getting hurt. I was fighting between my heart and mind to leave the support of the branches and get into the water, and when I finally did, it was worth the risk. The super cold waters splashing on your head will definitely bring the child in you. Again, I clinged to the branches like a monkey and came back to the shore.

Hot pakodas were waiting for us in the homestay and we wanted to grab them before Sambha as he was planning to attack them even without having lunch. After a quick hot bath, we gathered and munched the pakodas. Then we settled in the hall and Sambha took us through the game of Mafia. While only few of us knew the game, it was fun to make others understand the concepts around the whole world of doctor, police and mafia. The laughter continued further when the newbies were reacting incorrectly on the call for mafia or police. Then it was dinner time where we had roti with cabbage curry and hot rice with sambhar and appalam, followed by a long never-ending game of UNO. While the experts were playing one round of demo game to teach the beginners, it extended beyond the limits. Then all joined the game but as most of us were sleepy, we paused the game and bid good night for the day.

Being an early to rise woman, I woke up at an unusual time of 4.30am. I was surprised to see the family up so soon, just to start preparing food for their guests. Even the little kids were up by 5am and they started screaming. Since it was damn cold outside, I stayed inside my blanket until everyone got up. 

It was an early Sunday morning for everyone as we were geared up for the main 22km long Kudremukh trek. After a quick breakfast of hot idlis, the entire group was ready and we started our mission at 7am. Within few steps from the homestay, we reached the forest office. Luckily we were the first group of the day to enter the forest. The trek's challenge started in the initial few steps only, that our Sambha wanted to go back to the homestay and have extra idlis despite having 8 idlis for breakfast.

The path was straight-forward, apart from two to three places. We kept walking and walking, crossing mountains and streams, but each view was different, which added up to additional photo sessions. There were few ascends which drained out the energy completely, yet we kept progressing with minimal halts to escape from the bloody leeches.

Rain too didn't let us live in peace, but luckily there were not heavy showers. Even if it had rained, there were no options to run and hide below the trees as most of our paths were only filled with grass and leeches. The forest officers had kept boards at regular intervals, which were assigned to be resting spots. The first resting point was supposed to be the only view point where we could get the complete picture of the kudre-mukha, but we weren't fortunate to witness it as the entire place was covered in mists.

Among the entire stretch, the zig-zag trail was the most challenging one, yet you could capture lot of good photographs! 😉 Our guide advised us to keep taking the left here because a wrong turn might lead you inside the forest and you'll be lost. After a bit of struggle and lot of breathless breaks, we reached the end of zig zag route and a compliment of appreciation was waiting from our guide on achieving the mission 😃 and then all of us were walking on top of the horse's face and we reached our final destination by 11.

  

I've never experienced so much wind in my entire life, it was just freezing and I wrapped myself inside the jacket. We were lucky to witness few sambhar deer running from the forest. Then it was time for lunch where murukkus and kadala came for our rescue in finishing the chithranna. After few photograph sessions, we started the descend. The best part was that no groups reached the peak until we left the spot.

While getting down on our zig zag route, we witnessed another small group and that was it! Sundays seemed to be a holiday for mountains as well 😂 we were lucky to get good views while returning as the sun popped out at times and cleared the clouds. However, I felt that the downward stretch was too tiring as we kept walking and walking. The fellow guys were only numbering the streams incorrectly and lied to me about the remaining distance to be covered. Finally, we managed to reach our homestay by 4.30. 

Salute to the lady who managed to finish the trek with a swollen hand. Hats off, Vijayalakshmi miss! Oh yeah, she is a Sanskrit teacher. After coming back to the homestay, our first step was to look out for the leeches and multiple leech bites, but to my surprise, I didn't have even a single one. Thanks to my shoes which safeguarded in some way. But the happiness didn't last long when I noticed a leech bite in the top of my leg, yet it wasn't bleeding continuously as Chaitanya's who donated blood to all the places inside the house. With a big round of farewell to the people in the homestay, we started back in a jeep by 6pm after a final round of photo sessions.

Little did we know that the jeep ride would end up being a roller coaster ride, the path was so muddy that the vehicle rotated in every possible angle to move forward. Reached the base point where our van was parked and after a quick lemonade, we bade goodbye to the magnificent green carpet. Started off with thalaivar Kabali songs and followed by a mix of Tamil and Hindi, our DJ Pralov created a big chaos in the van. This was followed by a game of food antaksharie and we stopped at Annapoorni temple. 

The temple was crowded even on a Sunday. The speciality of this temple is that they provide free food to everyone. After a quick prasadham for dinner, a beautiful day came to an end. In no time, our van also came to a halt by 3.30am and I was shocked to see that we were outside Shanthala silk house.

Two days wouldn't have been so amazing without the enthusiastic people in the group and the energetic organisers Chaitanya and Sushma. A big thanks to everyone for making it a memorable one!

 No of people in the group : 12 

 Destination : Kudremukh and Baavikonda trek

 Total trek distance : around 40km 

 Stay in Kudremukh : Raje Gowda homestay

 Expense : 2300 per head including travel, stay and food