Mullayyanagiri, the tallest peak in Karnataka

This is not a recent trek, but is significant in making us regular trekkers. After our success with Kodachadri in May 2007, we were thinking of something more challenging. Mullayyanagiri was the obvious choice as it is the highest peak between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris with a height of 1,930 meters (6,330 ft). From the blogs we referred, we knew that it is not very much in terms of the climbing as we start at a higher altitude.

After the customary mail exchange among the AZIites, 13 (Sheshagiri, Rajkumar , Chandrashekhar B, Chandrashekar S.  Halesha, Sujan, Naveen, Sandesh, Shridhar, Sagnik, Samit, Raghuram and I) came forward for the trek. We chalked out a plan for a summer weekend for Kemmangundi and Mullayyanagiri. We decided to go to Tarikere by train and take a vehicle from there. We left from Bangalore by night train on 23^rd May 2008 and reached Tarikere early in the morning. As arranged, we left for Kemmangundi (Kemmannugundi, Krishnarajendra Hillstation) by a tempo traveler. Stay was arranged at the Dept. of Horticulture guest house with the help of one of our colleague (Gowri)’s husband.

Kalhatti falls

The view all around was beautiful. We visited kalhatti falls (Also called as Kalahasti falls, 12 kms from Kemmangundi) in the morning. Here water gushes at a height of 122 meters. A legend links this place with sage Agastya and the Veerabhadra temple in a gap between the rocks, is attributed to the Vijayanagar times. Devotees believe that the water can cure diseases.

After coming back to the guest house, we freshened up and had breakfast of Idli wadas. The sambar was delicious and some of us consumed more samabar than normal. After breakfast, we visited the rose garden and then went to Hebbe Falls. 

This was a few minutes’ drive followed by walk through coffee estates. The falls is really beautiful.  We spent good few hours there and returned to the guest house, had lunch and roamed around. The view of sunset was breathtaking. Next morning, we walked to Tanige bailu view point for the sunrise that was breathtaking. 

Hebbe Falls

We then proceeded for Z point that was about 45 minutes trek. The view of clouds below was amazing from here. We were at Z point till 8.15 and came down. On the way was Shanti falls, which was not full as it was summer. 

Z Point

Sea of clouds

Shanti Falls

Temple on top of the peak

We came back to the guest house, had breakfast, packed food and caught the vehicle to take us to the starting point of the trek at ‘Sarpadari’ (serpentine path), that was 49 kms from the guest house. The route was very scenic. It was about 1 pm when we were at the small metal gate of the entrance to trek, some walk, and five of us, who were already tired by the trek to Z point, pulled out. Eight of us continued in a very steep trail. At some point, the person in front was just above me! After about an hour, the trail almost disappeared and Samit told me that there was no ‘rasta’ in front as if he was expecting a highwayJ. Sagnik was very sure that we will take the steps while coming down. The climate was misty and getting cooler. Shekar was taking off his cloth and we wondered if he would reach ‘Nirvana’. After about 2 hours, there was no sight of the peak yet and we were getting desperate. Luckily couple of other trekkers coming down at that point told us that the peak is not very far. We climbed for next 15mins (total 2hours) to find a small Shiva temple that was at the highest point in the state! The feeling was wonderful. In some time, we were joined by the other five who took the steps to reach the top. We were told that there was food available at the priests place, but we preferred to finish the food that we had carried from the guest house. We also explored some caves around the peak. After spending about an hour there, we came down by the ~ 100 easy steps. We lit a camp fire after coming down before catching our vehicle. We roamed around in Tarikere. We thought we will see a movie – Galipata as the train was very late in the night, but then dropped the idea. We had dinner in the town, reached the railway station. rested there and caught the train around 3 pm. Next morning we were at Bangalore, back in the office to tell our story.

I feel Mullayyangiri trek is a must for enthusiastic trekkers. Though short, it is quite challenging and the view of the scenes below gets better as one goes up. I hope it has not changed much now, though during a recent drive I found the road leading to Mullayyanagiri to be in very bad condition.