My treks: November 2011

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