Monsoon Adventure @ Kodachadri, Karnataka

More Kodachadri Trek Photos at BubbleShare

[travelogue of trek to Kodachadri Peak (near Kollur-Mookambika Temple, Coastal Karnataka)]

The gang of 3: Nara, Kamu and me (sumne), took the Sugama Travels “J” bus (why not just Kundapura bus, nearly missed the bus, when I thought it was the “G” bus) from Bangalore to Kundapura (Rs. 300 x 3) which left Jayanagar 4th block at 8:15 pm. The bus reached Kundapura at 11.30 am late by 3 hours. Blame it on the bad roads from Bangalore to Mangalore and the caravan of trucks parked on the ghat sections (of the all the places), while the truck drivers slept, causing massive traffic jams. And I thought, I had left the traffic-jams in bangalore

After refreshing ourselves and a quick breakfast, we took a local bus (Rs.25 x 3) to Kollur which reached there at around 1.30 pm. We then hoped on an autorickshaw, which dragged itself about 14 kms upto the starting point of our trek Gari-Katte (Rs. 170). The local bus would have been too late for us, which would have charged us Rs. 30 (Rs. 10 x 3). The Kodachadri peak is about 10 km from here.

The beginning part of the journey was a walk through a jeep-trail in jungle territory, which is quite comfortable and scenic. After about 3 kms you will find an Ashram and a school to the left. We were later told its a HareRama-HareKrishna ashram (probably belonging to Iskcon ?) But, keep walking along the jeep trail though. After another km, you will reach a “Malayali’s tea shop” and you can stop for tea (obviously) and snacks before the uphill journey after that. Reminds you of the “Malayali-tea shop on the moon/mt.everest” jokes.

This is monsoon season and we were prepared for it. In fact, we had taken up the trek even after warnings from lot of people about the rains and its peril. Anyways, the growing mist, rain showers and the leeches only added to the adventure. The lessening of any one of those only disappointed us, mainly Kamu who complained whenever the rain stopped

It was about 3.30 pm now. The hike up was now challenging since the rain-water flowing down had sometimes created multiple trails and fallen trees had blocked the trail. Our commander/leader Nara, like always had taken the lead to find the correct route to the top. Though we lost our way once, into a lone farm amidst the jungle, the tribal farmer there gladly helped us to get back to the trail.

At around 5.30 pm and still no sight of the top of the mountain due to the thick mist, the tension was building. Do we pitch our tent before it gets dark or keep walking towards whatever our current trail was taking us to ? We discussed the issue and took a call to keep going. Now, we never stopped to take photos or remove the leeches on our legs nor enjoy the amazing scenery of the lush green grass and clouds/mist below us. Our persistence paid off and we reached the Bhatra-Manne (Poojari’s house) at around 6.45 pm.

The poojari didn’t look very suprised, just welcomed us and asked us to wash-up and change to our dry clothes. On asking if we could pitch our tent, he laughed and told us “there is no way a tent could survive this extreme weather”. Soon we were having hot upit (upma) and chai. The whole house was covered in the mist and the smoke from the kitchen fire was burning our eyes. On asking about possibility of watching the famed kodachadri sunset, he laughed again and said “I don’t know where the sun is for these 3 months, the place is constantly covered by the mist and clouds”.

Over dinner, we met three malayali guys Rajiv, Ranjith and Sujith from Mallapuram, Kerala. They had done the same hike in their typical style, in rubber slippers and with black umbrellas. They had left their luggage with their family, who were visiting the Kollur temple. We were soon asleep in our rented sleeping bags (Rs. 50 per day).

As planned in the night before, we woke up early and started at 6.30 am towards “Sarvagya Peetta” which was still higher at a distance of about 1.5 km from Bhatra-Manne. The trail up was along a narrow ridge and we could only see misty-clouds below and around us. Visibility was upto about 5 metres. The beautiful mountain flowers only added to the “Stairway to Heaven” feeling. Soon we were at “Sarvagya Peetta”.

After a small prayer, we started towards “ChitraMoola“. Its a cave where the “Shankara Charya” did penance for Mookambika Devi. The view from this cave is famed for its breathtaking view of the Kollur forest, clouds and Mookambika temple itself during normal weather, I suppose

A caution: the path towards the “Chitramoola” cave is very steep, slippery and is not advised for unfit people.

On reaching the cave which is like half a km downhill from “Sarvagya Peetta”, we found the cave and suprisingly found a Sanyasini (old pious lady) in it. On conversing we found, she was from Kerala and came here once every year.

Back at Bhatra-Manne, we had dosa and paid him about Rs. 250 for the three of us (for the room and food). We started at around 9.45 am and aimed to reach the road (Gari-Katte) by 12.30 pm, when the shimoga bus comes by. The journey down was much faster, inspite of the rain, leeches etc. But even the record downhill walk was not enough. We reached at 12.35 pm and had justed missed the bus. We decided to walk down and were entertained by Ranjith, who was a good singer and had just released a Malayalam album. Later, we got the 2.00 pm bus and visited the Kollur Mookambika Devi temple to thank her for our safe journey.

We took the local bus to Kundapura and took the last 8.15 pm Rajahamsa bus to Bangalore. This bus was supposed to reach bangalore at 7.30 am, but reached the Jayanagar Depot at 3 pm the next day. A record 7.5 hours late. But we thanked the driver who kept his smile and patience through the ghat traffic jam (3 hrs at Sakleshpur), highway traffic jam (1 hr at Nellamangala) and lalbagh traffic jam due to IndependayDay flower show (30 minutes). Take my advice, take ur time, but please take the shimoga route to Bangalore from Kollur !!

All in all, an unforgettable monsoon adventure !!