Among the clouds on Tadiandamol

After writing about KP2, I think I was stuck with writer’s block. While there are so many stories to share, I couldn’t just pen any more. The same applied to scientific papers where I am stuck with three half written manuscripts. At last, I am coming out with narration of our latest adventure, trekking Tadiandamol, the tallest peak in Kodagu (Coorg) and second highest peak in Karnataka after Mullayyanagiri.

After KP2 in the summer (when we climbed from Somavarpet in Kodagu, and descended to Kukke Subramanya via “Bhatra mane”) we were wondering where to go next.  One name that was lingering in the mind was Tadiandamol (Tadiyandamol).

About a month before I sent out mail to the most probable participants inviting to join the trek and 14 people responded affirmatively. We decided to trek during the weekend of 19^th and 20^th November 2011. It was a great time to trek as it was neither too hot nor rainy. The leechy experience of KP2 had made us very conscious. We also decided to camp on the peak during night as it is an unparalleled experience watching the sunset and sunrise from a mountain peak.

Tadiandamol is the highest mountain of Kodagu district located on the Western Ghats range, and reaches an elevation of 1,748 m. The Mountain has patches of shola forests in the valleys. There are many blogs on the net that explain the trekking experiences to Tadiandamol.

After few dropouts we were 11 of us who trekked Tadiandamol during the weekend of 19th November 2011. Many of had done several treks before. Sandesh, Vijender, Suresh, Vinay, Manish, Vijaykamal, Chandan, Rajendra Rane, Chaitanya, Vishwas and I were the lucky ones who remained in the list. After a couple of coffee lounge meetings and information exchanges via e mail, we were well prepared for the trek. We decided to leave Bangalore on Friday evening, hike on Saturday afternoon and descend on Sunday morning. We had found few home-stays at Napoklu (base of the mountain), but only the “Kings Cottage” number seemed to work. Sandesh booked a couple of rooms at Kings Cottage for freshening up, and asked them for two breakfasts, one lunch and a packed dinner for which they readily agreed. Vijender had arranged for a tempo (force) traveler and Sandesh painstakingly brought six tents (each would hold three people) from Outbacks, Chamarajapet.

The team started around 10.30pm from the office (AstraZeneca at Bellary Road, Hebbal). Chandan and I were picked up at Magadi Road. We realized that the vehicle was in bad shape though the driver looked decent. We decided to change the vehicle and fortunately got a replacement that reached us near Nayandhalli at 12.15am. This force traveler was new, but the driver appeared very strange (life is like that !).

We reached Madikeri around six AM and followed the directions given by the owner of Kings Cottage. The road till Madikeri is good and after that it is serpentine and not in great shape. The route to Napoklu is via Bettageri and Kakkabe. The route is very picturesque, with forests and coffee estates along the way. We reached Kings Cottage at 7.45AM.

Wild flowers

Kings Cottage is a home-stay which is very comfortable. All around it is very scenic. We freshened up, had a nice breakfast of tatte idly and wade and looked around, photographing the beautiful flowers in their garden. Around 10.30 we left for chelavara falls which was nearby. The falls is very beautiful. Many of us got into the water and enjoyed the shower. The experience of watching a circle of rainbow around you when you are under the falls is incomparable. We also got to photograph a bunch of butterflies that seemed to lay eggs near the water.

Ready to go

 


 

Break time

After returning, we had sumptuous lunch at Kings Cottage, the specialty being rice pooris called ‘pattal’. We picked up the food packets given by the home-stay (Puliyogare and chapati- playa) and set out of our adventure at 2.15 PM.  We had asked for a guide one way and we got three people (Manu and his friends) who walked with brisk pace ahead of us. Beginning of the trek was a steep climb on a tar road for about a kilometer. There is “Palace estate” on the way. Then it led to a dirt track and to a grassy trail that had a fence all along the path. There were a couple of forest trails, but mostly open grassy places with beautiful wild flowers around. The major land mark on the way is a large rock with graffiti, after which we turn left for the peak. The last source of water is close to this rock. We rested for few minutes here, filled up cool refreshing water, and munched some chocolates and candies. There was mobile phone signal in some places and Chaitanya never lost a chance to update his fiancée of how beautiful the surrounding was. The climb at the later part of the trek was steep and reminded us of Kumara Parvata.  We reached the peak at 5pm, well ahead of the sunset. 2 hours 45 minutes for a 7km distance, not bad at all, with no major hiccups. The best part was not seeing a single leech!

We were overwhelmed by what we saw all around us from the peak. Manu and his two friends collected firewood for us and left the place. We bid them adieu as we didn’t want them to climb down in the dark. We started pitching our tents in good day light. We had carried 5 tents up and one of them was wet from inside, so we used it to keep our back backs. It was fun getting all the five tents in place, well secured. The place beneath was uneven, making us feel that we should have carried sleeping bags.

The sunset was an amazing sight. What we could capture in our cameras doesn’t do justice to what we witnessed. The color of the sky was changing beautifully around us.

Next program was to light a camp fire. It didn’t take much of an effort as there was still some fire under the ash in the “fire place” on the peak. We made sure the tents were at a good distance from the fire place. Then we had the dinner which was too much for us. Some time was spent looking at the stars, singing our favorite lines and we tried to sleep in the tents. Though we were quite secure in the tents, it was not easy to catch sleep as the string cold wind was making lot of noise and hitting the tents constantly.

Next morning we were out of the tent by 5.45AM looking forward to the sunrise. The sky was changing in horizon indicating the event. It was very cold and windy, and we were struggling to hold on to our cameras. There was a constant rush of clouds from the valley below as if there was a cloud generator. The sunrise was a breathtaking sight. We were not getting tired of clicking the pictures. We made sure we cleaned up the place, collected the trash to be carried down, and started descending at 7.30 AM. It was very windy for the first half and hour through the steep descent, till we reached the forest area.  I wonder if we can have wind mills in that slope, they will generate enough power to cover all our state’s needs. Such was the power of the wind that was blowing across.

We reached down by 9.45AM (2 hours 15 mins) and visited the “Nalknad place”. This is a historic monument that is maintained decently.

Our home-stay was very close, we reached took bath, had dosas for breakfast and left for Bangalore at 11.30AM. We had lunch at Kushalnagar and headed for Bangalore. Though we were in Maddur by 6.30PM, it too four more hours to reach our destination, thanks to the traffic on Mysore road.

On the whole, the trek to Tadiandamol was a very fulfilling experience that made us to witness the unmatched beauty of nature.

Some information for fellow trekkers:

Address and details of place for hiring the tents:

Keerthi Pais

keerthi@outbackindia.com +91 988 600 94 88

Ajeet Singh Rathore

ajeet@outbackindia.com +91 953 538 32 72

#163, 5th A cross, 5th main Chamrajpet Bangalore – 560 018 INDIA

http://www.outbackindia.com/contact-us/

The very hospitable Home-Stay

Kings Cottage

Palace Estate

Kakkabe post

Coorg- 571 212

Telephone No. : 08272 238464 Mob : 9845963883

email : kingscottage1@rediffmail.com

Sunset

Manu and his friends

On top of the world

The team on top



Sunrise

Sunrise

Tents ready

Campfire

Nalknad Palace

Rushing clouds

Kodachadri, the beginning..

"Trekking means a travelling experience with a thrilling excitement" – Amit Kalantri

Kodachadri was my first real trek, though I had done some smaller ones before. Nine of us (Giri,  Rajkumar T, Chandrashekhar; Manoranjan; Halesha; Sujan; Naveen; Sandesh and I) trekked Kodachadri on 19^th and 20^th May 2007. Kodachadri is a part of Western Ghats in Shimoga district, 1343 meters above sea level. This is the highest peak in Shimoga District. It is known that Adi Shankaracharya meditated at the peak, and there is a 'Sarvajna Peetha' there. We approached it from Kundapur via the famous temple town of Kollur. 

We reached Kundapur in the morning, after bath and breakfast; we hired a vehicle to reach the trekking point. We were supposed to start trekking from a point about 11 kms from Kollur on the Kollur-Nagara road. From here the distance to the foothill is 9 Kms, via Vallur. We missed this while going and went ahead to Nittur and reached another point where a Jeep track to the right leads to Kodachadri. We started walking through the Jeep track at 11:15 am. Some students whom we met there said that this is not the right way to trek. Also the distance this way was 15 Kms. We had quite a lot of luggage apart from our backpacks, in terms of the tent, groceries and utensils. By the time we covered about 1 km, all of us were tired, by the hot sun as well as the dust that was rising when each Jeep passed us (which was very frequent). Rajkumar volunteered to get into a Jeep taking the entire luggage. Sandesh and Naveen also joined him. 

This really reduced our burden and we just had the water bottles with us. At this time we also discovered that there are jungle trails that run along, or rather intersecting the circuitous Jeep road. Since then, we stuck to the jungle routes. There was a world of difference between the two routes. While the road looked safe, it was sunny and dusty, where as the forest trail, though looked a bit tricky, was very cool and refreshing. It was very beautiful, and the bird songs made it very pleasant journey. We also got to try various fruits including Nerale (Jamun), Atti (Fig) and Eechalu. We could occasionally catch the glimpse of the Jeeps climbing up and down through the road carrying pilgrims who visit Kodachadri to see “Moola Mookambika”. The trek though the evergreen forest of Sahyadri was great. All the guys were very enthusiastic. We could use our cell phones at some places and called up Raju who had reached the foothill by the vehicle. He had arranged for our lunch. Mr. Rajendra, who is the chef at the IB provides simple, nice food at his home within a couple of hours intimation.

View as we started

We reached the place near the IB at 4:15 pm, after 5 hours from start and covering ~15 Kms. We could wash our faces using the very refreshing spring water that comes through a pipeline from “Agastya teertha”, a small waterfall at Kodachadri. The food at Rajendra’s place was very tasty. We were very keen to view the famous sun set, but we had had to finish building the tent before it was dark. Building the tent was a very nice experience. We built one single rectangular tent using five big sheets of plastic. This was enough for nine people sleeping. We chose a place just above the IB for our tent. Clearing the place before building the tent was a big challenge as there were lots of pieces of glass spilled around by liquor bottles thrown (It is high time for our people to learn enjoying without creating trouble to others and without spoiling the beauty of nature!).

After building the tent, some of us could get a glimpse of the last moments of sunset on the Western Ghats. Some of us took bath in Agastya teertha that evening. The night view of the sky overlooking the ghats was amazing.

Chandrashekhar, with help from the teammates, cooked delicious rice and sambar. It was a challenge to keep the fire burning in the strong wind. We lit a campfire after the dinner and sang old Kannada and Hindi songs.

The night in the tent was very interesting. I had offered to sleep at the entrance of the tent so that the others can feel secure. But it so happened that I slept peacefully and few others could not sleep well, as they are not used to such outdoors. I could feel the clouds touching me cooling from one side while I was sleeping.

Sunrise seen from the top

Next morning, the sunrise over the hills was a stunning sight. We trekked to the peak of Kodachadri, where there is a small temple, called “Sarvajna Peetha”. We could feel the clouds passing by while approaching the top. There is a small cave temple called “Ganapati Guhe”. The climb down from the hilltop in the opposite direction leads to “Chitramoola”caves, which we did not visit. On the hilltop, they sell refreshing butter milk and lemon juice. You can see Kollur from the hilltop and the sight all around is breath taking. You can also get a glimpse of the Arabian Sea from there. We spent some time there and then came down for break fast. Sujan had got puliavalakki that we devoured along with some fresh curds with great delight. Giri had got MTR kesari bath that some of us enjoyed. We made tea. While coming down, we were just wondering if we could just take a Jeep down. But Mano insisted that we should complete the full circle.  Six of us trekked and the others offered to come by Jeep to Maravante, a beach near Kundapur. This took the burden of luggage off our backs.

Sarvajna Peetha

At the top

This time we had learnt our lesson and chose the right path for trek. This involved steep descent from the hill for 5 Kms, to reach a tea shop at Vallur, where we had Upma and then walked through a dirt track in the forest for 5 Kms to the Ngara-Kollur Road. The coming down through the thick forest was very refreshing and easier than expected. Only thing is that we could not find any fruits on the way like we had on our way to the top. We reached downhill in about One and a half hours, refreshed for about half an hour at the kaka angadi and walked through the jungle for next two hours. We were anxious if we were on the right track till we saw first glance of people coming from the opposite side in a very thick forest. We waited on the Nagara-Kollur road for about an hour to get some vehicle, but ended up traveling by a lorry (standing back side-painful!) to Kollur. We paid a visit to the famous Mookambika temple and boarded a bus to Marvante, where we stayed in a resort. Marvante is famous for the sight of the sea and Souparnika River separated by the national highway 17. We took a boat ride on the river through picturesque scenes. The boatman stopped the boat in a place where we enjoyed diving, swimming (or playing in water for a non-swimmer like me). Evening we played in the waves of the Arabian Sea and witnessed sunset. We left for Bangalore that night from Kundapur.

Kodachdri trek was indeed very exciting. It provided us with an opportunity to explore one of the tallest peaks in Sahyadri, and be with nature for some time (hills, forest, clouds, river & sea- all in one trek!!!). The experience was overwhelming and all my friends decided to do at least one trek in every three months.