DAY 3 - CHIKMAGALUR

DAY  3: CHIKMAGALUR

• Destination 1: Bababudangiri
• Destination 2: Mullayanagiri
• Destination 3: Honnama temple & falls
  
  

Our 3rd day's list  had  Dattagiri or Baba Budan Giri Range, which includes Mullayanagiri (height 1930 m) and Dattagiri/Baba Budan Giri (height 1895 m),  both are highest peaks of  karnataka and are  trekkers paradise.  We had breakfast and started around  10:00 am. Even around  10:00, it was extremely cold.  I requested driver to close all the windows of car, and enjoyed the beautiful view sitting inside:).   Once we reached  Baba-Budan-giri mountain range, roads are very narrow and scary. Even a single mis-step would lead the car to 1895m down the hills :). 

Bababudangiri:
Baba Budan Giri peak is one the highest peaks of  karnataka. Baba Budangiri, also called  Dattatreya Peeta, is  hill Range, of the Western Ghats of  India. This hill is considered sacred for both Hindus and Muslims. As it inhouses Sufi shrine devoted to the  Baba Budan, and  Hindu God Guru Dattatreya. It has been controversial due to political and religious tension over its status as a syncretic shrine.Baba Budan Giri represents a unique syncretic culture of Hindus and Muslims where both offer prayers in a cave-like structure.Car  is allowed directly to top of the Bababudan giri.  When we got down from the car, wind was blowing so fast, pushing us backwards.. We  had to walk ahead fighting with the wind :). We saw a  Sufi shrine (revered by Muslims), and few  tombs at the entrance.. Lot of muslims  were offering prayers near the entrance of the shrine. (Shrine was closed though) According to legend, saint called Baba budan introduced coffee to India by bringing beans from the port of Mocha, Yemen. We just took snap from outside and walked towards Manikyadhara falls..

Manikyadhara falls:
Manikyadhara Waterfalls also known as Nellikayi Theertha is situated 1 km from Baba Budan Giri/Dattatreya Peetha.  Both Hindus and Muslims believe that they are relieved of ailments if
they bathe under this falls.It is also believed that the person who takes a bath here has to leave one piece of garment for the  wishes to be fulfilled.

Beliefs apart, but place was total mess, with Clothes all around. And so many people(esplly muslims) were taking bath under this small falls, which had very  thin water flow, worse then tap flow.(Not sure if flow is always like this, or coz of April month).  We came out of there as soon as possible.

Sitalyangiri:Sitallayangiri is 2km before Mullayanagiri. Car is allowed all the way till Sitalayangiri. There is a temple called Sitalaya-mallikarjuna. But more than a shiva temple, it looked like a mutt.   It also had couple of houses, for Priests  and also for visitors, who wish to stay there(But you have to inform them earlier, so they can arrange for Food and Accomodation). Mainly trekkers would do that.. They can start trekking from base of mountain, trekking all the way to  Sitalayangiri and Mullayangiri . That trekking path is called as Sarpa Dhari (Cobra path). But we decided to go to Sitalayangiri and Mullayangiri in Car, and only climb the Mullayangiri peak from Mullayangiri Base...  View from this sitalayangiri is awesome. We spent few minutes there and , headed to mullayangiri.

Mullayanagiri:
Our next destination was  Mullayangiri.Mullayangiri is the highest peak in Karnataka. With a height of 6300 ft. Driver parked the car  at base of Mullayangiri and told, we need to  climb around 200+ steps to reach the top.  We started climbing steps,  as and when we climbed up, it started getting cold. Once we reached around 100 steps, we get to see awesome view of places around.. Cold and fast blowing Wind makes it more difficult to climb... .

I had to rest couple of times, before reaching the top. We finally reached the top, and was totally amazed to see fog all round the peak. It was 12:00pm, and it looked like it 5am. Weather was awesome, with cool brezze, fog all around, and we were at so height place, it was looking as if we can touch the clouds :).  We could see the roads  from  this peak, which looked like a line drawn in between a peak . People and  roads looked so small, and sometimes, the view was totally blocked by Fog, so we sat there for a while for fog to clear, once it was cleared we took  some snaps, then visited temple, and sat there for a while again, before we climbed down..

Honnama temple, Attingundi:
 One the way back to Hotel, we passed through a village called Attingundi , which is some 6 km before Baba Budan Giri peak.  There a small falls here, which is made to flow on few steps... We climbed the steps, and looked for the source of the falls, but  it was flowing from long distance, beyond our eyes to locate it... Water in this falls was real cold. We washed our face, freshened up, had tea in near by small chai shop. It was awesome to drink tea in that cold.. Finally left back to our hotel by 2:00pm..

Checked-out from Hotel immediately ,and asked driver to drop us at  Chikmagalur Bus stop. We had bus to Blore @ 3pm.. Well we could make it to reach bus stop by 2:30pm, ate something in near by hotel. Bus started sharp 3:00pm. We could reach bangalore by 9:30pm..

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DAY 2 - KEMMANGUNDI

DAY 2: KEMMANGUNDI

Next day we decided to start around 10:00 as we had only 2 places on our List. Also kemmangundi is only 30kms from Chikmagalur...Kemmenagundi is a scenic hill station which is situated about 1434 meters above sea level, in the Tarikere taluk,Chikmagalur. Kemmenagundi is famous for its pleasant weather, serene ambiance, and beautiful environment.

• Destination 1: Kalhati Falls
• Destination 2: Kemmangundi

Coffee Flowers: On the way stopped by seeing lots of  white flowers.. When i asked driver, what flowers are they. He told it is cofee flowers, we were astonished as we thought coffee powder is got through cofee seeds:). when asked him the same, he explained, Once the Coffee seeds is planted, after three or four years, rains triggers  blossoming of  white flowers with a  jasmine fragrance. Which forms  dense clusters of  white  flowers  enriching the entire plantation with their perfume.Coffee flowers are short-lived and after a few days, turns into fruit which are green in colour and later change color from green to red as they ripen.. we stopped by and took some snaps of  Cofee flowers and headed to kalhati falls.

Destination 1: Kalhati Falls
 
Kalhati falls is  located at Kallattipura in chikmagalur district of  karnataka.  After a small trek we reached the falls. The falls is said to be cascaded  from the Chandra Drona Hill from 122 meters (400 ft). But  at  this point of trek we could just see Veerabhadra Temple, which is  constructed in a gap between two rocks.It is a cave temple,built during Vijayanagara period. The entrance of this temple is flanked by the carved figures of three elephants.  Water falls, flows right  between this elephants carvings, giving an illusion, as if it flows from its mouth....It is believed that Sage Agasthya’s ashram was located here. One  can trek further to the top of the falls through the stone steps placed next to the falls to get picturesque view of the falls and the valley. We visited temple. Took some snaps and decided to  return back. (people were taking bath and garbage were thrown here and there.)

Destination 2:  Kemmangundi

Trek to Kemmangundi Z point
We reached kemmangundi around 11:30, Cars are not allowed after Raj Bhavan and one has to trek from Raj bhavan to Zpoint, the highest point of Kemmangundi..

Raj Bhavan: 
Raj Bhavan  is a guest house in  in Kemmangundi which offers a spectacular view of the surrounding hills. This is starting point of trek. On the way, we saw lot of people already coming back from there trek, guess they had started early morning.. It was pleasant walk till we reached Rock Garden..

Rose Garden:
Rose Garden, is maintained by  karnataka ,Horticulture Department  which houses several  plant species. The garden is beautifully landscaped and also has a theme of  Sita showing Maya jinke to Rama. We took some snaps here and walked further..

Shanti Falls:
On the way to Z-point we find a small falls called shanti falls.  The water flows all the way from top of the hill, creating a spectacular view. We took snaps and headed further..

 

Trek to Zpoint:
The route  further is  very scenic with deep valleys on one side and hills cover on the other. It is really scary, and a small  mis-step  would lead us to deep valleys. Some paths are very narrow and literally, only one person can walk at a time. Though we were tired after walking so long, there is no place to rest, all we could do is walk, walk and walk.. As we walk further, the route is totally zig-zag, some places, i had to literally sit and get down in the pathway. Finally after an hour, we reached the peak point, the Zpoint.. Not sure why it is named as Zpoint, but yeah it looked like End point :)  Again there is no place to sit or rest, and  wind was blowing so high, as if it  would blow us away with it. We took some snaps, and decided to walk back, as we were hungry, and it was already 1:00 by then... We reached Raj Bhavan around 3:00pm, we dint find any lunch and had to  compromise on some snacks.  From Raj bhavan its a km to reach Car, we were totally tired when we reached car, and returned back to Chikmagalur..

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DAY 1 - KUDREMUKH

DAY 1: KUDREMUKH:

Driver was ready by 9:00am. We had breakfast in near by restaurant and started to kudremukh, which is around 100kms from Chikmagalur.. Below were the places on our Itinerary in Kudremukh..

• Destination 1: Lakya Dam
• Destination 2:Ganga moola
• Destination 3: Hanuman Gundi Falls.
• Destination 4: Kudremukh National park.

Kudremukh lies in the Chikmagalur district at an altitude of 1894 meters. Kudremukh means “Horse face”. (In kannada).  This hill town derived its name from a mountain range in the region that  looks like the face of a horse.Kudremukh was once very famous for it's splendid beauty.  These days  because of  Iron ore reserves and it's mining,  beauty is spoiled.

Destination 1: Lakya Dam 

This dam was built to collect the waste tailings from the mining operations. So this dam does not have any water  but only waste. The dam is at scenic location surrounded by Shola Mountains.  Guards of KIOCL stopped us at the Dam gate saying, tourists are not allowed inside. (Earlier  tourists  were let in, who can  walk on bridge of the dam  and enjoy the  Scenic beauty offered by Peaks of  Shola mountain) God knows why it is stopped now.. Also these days mining activity is stopped here, to save further spoiling of environment through mining. So we had to just take snaps and return seeing closed Gates....

 Destination 2:Ganga moola -  
The Leech Experience....

Our next destination was Ganga moola. I was very eager about visiting this place as  my trekking friends  had told  Ganga moola   is a 1458m high mountain , which is the origin of the rivers Tunga,   Bhadra and Netravathi. And gangamoola has  a cave which has a 6ft tall image of Varaha and a shrine of Goddess Bhagawati. 

We stopped car, seeing a  Sign board "Ganga moola"  and asked driver to  drive in that direction, after going a far long, driver gave up saying there is no roads further and we have to walk  around 1km to reach the starting point of trek, and further trek  to reach Caves & Shrine. We started walking, and finally reached the Starting point of trek.  There was literally no one there, and  was not sure about the route further, also there were couple of deviations, so we decided to go back. That is when we saw a group of  guys coming towards us.. Even they were not sure of the route, but they all decided to walk in a path, which looked like the route :), since we had company now, we also decided to go.. We along with that group of boys started walking. Place was very moist  with full of earth worms.

I  told Ramesh "yeah its full of  earth worms be careful" , before i could complete this sentence, One of the boy ran  back shouting its full of Leeches... I was totally puzzled, because i had never seen or heard much about  this Leeches thing. But  since they all started running back, we also followed them back. Only then i realized it was not just normal earth worms but Leeches, which feeds on blood of other living beings.. Each of us checked ourselves for any leeches stuck on us. I had lots of them as i was wearing Slippers, and could remove few easily as they had still not stuck completely. But couple of leeches was struck between my toes, and i had  to spray perfume on them to release. Which was followed by Blood.. I washed of my legs, and then went to next destination..

 
Destination 3: Hanuman Gundi Falls.

Our next destination was  Hanuman gundi falls. We reached the place in next 30mins.. The place was totally cold. Lots of eatables were  sold near the Entrance of falls...We were about to buy entrance ticket, then i saw couple of people trying to get rid of  Leeches stuck on them, I asked them if there are more leeches. They told  there are around 400 steps, there are leeches only on the way,  and once u reach water there is no Leeches... I told Ramesh i want to skip this place.  It was at this moment,  I realized this phobia of mine - leeches!  Ramesh agreed, we just  ate some chats there and left to next destination.

 
Destination 4: Kudremukh National park.

Next destination on our itinerary was "Jamalabad fort" .  Driver dint know about this place, and it was strange that  none of the locals knew or had any information about this fort. We had to skip this tooo.  Only kudremukh park was left for day,  we took a stroll in the park, only to find swings, slides n stuff..Also  It started drizzling, so we decided to return back.. We had skipped lots of things today. And felt like we saw nothing today.. We were hoping to have better day tommorrow..

Destination 5:  Chickmagalur Tea Estate:

One the way back to Chikmagalur, we got a great view of tea estates all along, the roads were totally empty . And was a Picturesuque view  with green lush on either sides of the roads.. We got down from car,  spent some time taking snaps.. It was so chill with evening breeze and it was drizzling again!.

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CHIKMAGALUR - KUDREMUKH - KEMMANGUNDI

As usual while looking for some places for week-end trip, we got couple of choices, but we finalized on Chikmagalur. 

Its not only near by (only 6hrs journey from Blore) but also is one of the famous hill stations and tourist destination in karnataka. We booked tickets to/fro Volvo from k.s.r.t.c.  We had booked   fri late nite bus, so we could  reach  Chikmagalur around 6:00am.. I had  booked a cab from local travels, he picked us up, and showed  couple of hotels. Unfortunately most of good hotels were booked, as there were many marriages on that day, and were booked by them.. Without much option we had to settle for some medium hotel, that too non-a/c room. Hotel guy promised to get us some good A/C room by evening.(A/C rooms are little better in condition). We freshened up and started to Kudremukh, our first destination..


We had decided to make Chikmagalur as Base and visit Kudremukh one day, Kemmangundi one day and  Chikmagalur on final day.. As chikmagalur has best climate to stay...Meaning of Chikmagalur  in kannada  is "Younger daughter's town - Chikka + Magala + Ooru).  It is believed  to have been given as a dowry to the younger daughter of Rukmangada, the legendary chief of Sakrepatna. Located at an elevation of 1037 meters, and near by hill stations, offer spectacular views and excellent climate... 

 
DAY 1 - KUDREMUKH 

DAY 2 - KEMMANGUNDI  

DAY 3 - CHIKMAGALUR