Mysterious Ombattu gudda

At rooftop of Ombattu Gudda

Route: Bangalore>Sakleshpur>Gundiya check post>Ombattu Gudde>Hosakere>Mudigere>Bangalore

From Bangalore to Gundya checkpost (overnight journey). All buses going toward Mangalore and Dramstala will go via Gundya. From this check post , take . Just after crossing it you will see a trail on right (village side). Trial is available will Sangama (river) but after you cross the river there is no trail.

Camping Sites: Grass lands on the hill top.

Trek Length: 24Km or 8 Hours up hill and 2 hours downhill.

Difficulty Level: Difficult


Summary: Ombattu Gudde is a peak at about 971 meters above sea level, and at a distance of about 20 kms from Gundiya Checkpost, inside the Kabbinale Reserved Forest. The peak is so named because there are 9 prominent humps on top, almost in a straight line (Ombattu in Kannada means nine, while Gudda means hill).



What we will avoid ?  Trekking at night  time 

What we will carry ? 
 Rucksack with pair of clothes, 2 liter of drinking water, sleeping bag, good trekking shoes, leech tretment medicines.

Additional equipments for safety :- 
 1. GPS unit with battery 
 2. Compass magnetic 
 3. Entire terrain Map (No. 48 P/9/NW) 
 4. Army knife to cut through the forest.


Our Plan was shaky with nearly 70% of people dropping out of the plan. Every one had a reason to opt out. It was no stopping for Me and Sachin. Planning went in full swing and we procured much needed Map 48/P/9/NW. Some essential equipments were part of my belongings such as Army knife, GPS device borrowed from my friend Bhagyesh and pair of radio sets.
    We planned out each and every logistics as how our approach and time pace should be. 
Important: this trek is not for Amateurs. No one can save you here if you are lost. Prepare well for every bit of risk and venture in these forest. 

Click on map to zoom

After procuring map and compass, I started my phase of marking co-ordinates on GPS. Marking and reading the map and compass practice took toll on my sleep for entire week. But after all it paid off.
My aim to teach every one in the group about map reading and taking bearing on compass.
With lot of people opting out I could just teach Sachin about it.

At final stages Sathya confirmed for the trek along with one of my colleague Nikhil. Sathya had prior experience of trekking  while nikhil was total novice.
Due to some mishaps and time crunch we all could not meet before trek. Our first meet happened at majestic bus station just before 10minutes to bus departure.
We needed water for the trek and Gudya is not a destination we would have found bottled water. Nihil with the help of Sachin got entire crate of bottled water. Finally with lot of wrath of KSRTC driver we started our journey to Gundya check post. We landed gundya at 4:30AM and soon checked in Forest Guest house at Gundya.

Forest Guest House at Gundya

Everyone got ready within half an hour with delicious breakfast served by forest guest house care taker. We have strong coffee, breakfast and usage of room all for 500/-.
We soon distributed food packs and chocolates. Our last minute entry Sharad had not come with rucksack. Penalty was rest had to carry extra load which sharad's bag could not hold. Sathya along with me carried tent in our bag while nikhil and sachin took share of food items.

Food items getting distributed

Sathya, Pravin, Nikhil and Sachin. 

 With all the fingers crossed we started our journey from Forest guest house.   

Sharad and rest

  few meters walk from the forest guest house is the gundya checkpost and about 2.5 kms on mangalore highway is entry point to ombattu gudde trek. After getting good drop to start of tle trail by Jeep guy for 100/- rested for a while to check our gear and GPS sync. 

At the entry of the trail.

 We just checked our position on Map with GPS co-ordinates and kept the bearing on first mile stone along the trail MS01 (visible in MAP). I had planned these milestones according to the density of the jungle and total altitude change. Again Hats of to survey of india, Map is very detailed with each and every small detail.

Day 1:- 
  Initial route is on the trail set by locals towards the plantation on either side. Canopy of trees covering thought the trail is nature's cap to protect from sun.  Well everyone talks about the mysterious trails in Ombattu gudda, but initial walk along the trail never made us feel we are off trek. We were right on trek with GPS bearing to next milestone pointing Geographic north. After half an hour we had Y junction on trail. we looked at the bearing and took appropriate trail.

On jeep trail infected with leeches

Just before bifurcation.

We were still not sure if we had taken correct route. in search of the first mile stone made us cross our first stream. I was sure we had to cross so many of them, myself, Nikhil and Sachin decided to cross the stream with shoes on while Sharad approached the problem with exactly opposite way.
Yes we did spot some "Gutkha" sachets while crossing the stream and did find few foot marks to make us feel confident about the correctness of trail.
Mind was still skeptical whether the guys before are heading in wrong direction preceding us. Had alook at GPS reading and it was showing we are little off from our first mile stone.

Resting at first river bank of Adi hole

By the time we realized that we are on wrong trail, we had already crossed the first mile stone by a difference of nearly 100meters. So no point of going towrds that point and I took next bearding for first split track (SPL 01 on Map)
with walk of few yards trail again divided with one trail pointing in west direction while other pointing to north. Checking the bearing on GPS we too trail to north and with no surprises trail ended abruptly in a open space. With no place to go we thought of returning to the junction and suddenly sachin spotted small trail leading through thick forest. Yes trail did have small plantation on the way. We took the trail and reached our first rest point along the banks of river Adi hole. 

path through thick jungle

Spent about half an hour at this place for almost no reason. Just the people wanted to get rid of leeches. Some thought of having food which I refused and got every one on feet. May be no one knew haw far is the destination. With loosing trails I wanted to be out of Forest before night falls, only reasone for me to push every one.

at river bank for GPS sync

Our split track point had not come and we were walking along the river bank and that's were I experienced first loss of satellite signal. I took little off in open space to sync GPS. By the time we were inside core jungle dropping off of GPS signal was common phenomenon.
 by this time we had missed out first split track and we were off the trail.

Cutting through the forest.

  In few minutes we headed a small grass land with lot of elephant dung and at this point again trail had split. Took reading on GPS about of location on map and compass showed us the true north and we took trail to north leaving very beautiful trail to east.
Trail leading to north took us back in forest. But trail gave us assurance to proceed. Soon trail got very narrow and had new split. Well thi split is unmarked on map.

After going wrong way we too these strem to take us to river bank.

Mistake we did was to take proceed on existing beautiful trail and leave out small trail which could have lead us to the river cross anyway. While both the trails got us to river crossing, but I thought of going to the original point marked on map. Little walk back along the river for 5 minutes lead us to the point of river crossing on the map.

Aligning the map with terrain

After crossing the river we cleared of leeches and took hold of map to pin point our location. We were exactly at the point we were suppose to be. Now the quest remained was to find the way out to next mile stone on map. I took bearing for next mile stone and we started towrds the north.

With few yards of walk we got small trail. Which took us very close to our mile stone and at that sam time I lost my signal.

We had to cut through these foliage to get to our trail

Trail en route

I took my time to reach out for open to get my readings and had a stop for 5 minutes and took off. With jungle getting denser frequency of signal dropping increased and here we took longer break for about 10 minutes. There we found another group who had lost in jungle. After brief conversation with them we found that that had started hour and half before us and had got lost in jungle. Finally they joined us and we headed for our next  destination. Trail finally ended a a small waterfall.

Waterfall

Pravin Taking new reading for position on map and new bearing.

 Though others were enjoying the falls I was busy marking the position and finding out new route. Brief chat with other group reveled that they had come with loaded trail from some other group. At this water fall we were not sure how to proceed. My map calculation was showing that we need to go little west for the trail while trail on GPS of other group was showing trail on north east side.

All of us with new group.

Other group was dead sure about following their trail on GPS. Sathya took lead and walked up the hill to see if any trail exists. Soon rest of our members followed and with no time to waste other group came behind us. May be they were not sure about the trail. After a climb of about 10 minutes we found the trail we wanted. Trail went on through thick forest cover with on and off, signal being caught by GPS

Resting at the point where two streams meet.

After walking for another 20 minutes we reached a place where we thought it's dead end. About to return we spotted a small opening in forest which lead to a unseen trail in the valley. Well no path to go and bearing pointing in the direction of valley we took chance and descended in valley. To our surprise it was vast opening  where two streams were crossing. This place had camping ground which enough of firewood around. It was 2:10PM when we reached this place. This place demanded much awaited lunch, though I was not keen on having lunch here.

Roti with Chutney was our lunch!

At last the place to rest!

By the time our start, we had bad encounter with leeches, concentrated mob of insects or mosquitoes flying all over your body and face, much needed break was waiting for us. we rested for 45 minutes. In meanwhile I got bearing for next mile stone and had a good look of terrain on just a walk towards the stream meeting point. At around 3:15PM we started for our next point. we had to find trail as it would have lead us to grassland. Our search for next trail was failure as we were heading in wrong
direction. I asked for the map to check the position, only to find out we were nearly 80 meters away from trail. Since we were gaining height we had left behind the trail which would have been very gradual. Wrong path was challenge to conquer, quite a few bushes had to be chopped off in order to make way. thorny bushes made our way next to impossible. But leading the way satya made it clear to every one to walk past dense forest. We took one more reading in between only to find our we were heading grassland and deviating big time from actual trail. It was 4:15Pm and Sharad was not at all happy as we were not showing any intentions of camping. I never wanted to camp in virgin forest. It's a big Risk!

Stopped to take new reading and find position on map.

On our climb we saw a camping ground in mid of forest. Location was pretty good. we marked the position.At the same time Sachin got signal on his mobile and he could see terrain on google earth it looks like. Map showed good amount of grassland on east side. we confirmed it on google map. And changed our bearing to East. Little more climb lead us to a valley which we avoided by climbing further more. Next reading showed us that grassland is just  next door and so it was.. we had hit grassland at

Glimpse of Grassland and open spaces.

around 4:30PM. Sharad had immediate reaction, he never wanted grass land to camp as there are heavy winds. I thought if we could gain height in day light then  it would be good for next day.

Tired Nikhil and Sachin

 We crossed two potential camp sites in grassland, mostly discarded due to Elephants dung. We did a slight deviation from usual route to grassland. Sathya adviced me to take lead towards the top to find out for any potential campsite. I don't know what was going in the mind of group that accompanied us.

Satya and Me

 By this time they were totally off the track which their GPS had shown. Final climb to grassland of camp site was difficult and we were still not sure to find out proper camp site. we were just trying our luck.
 Due to tall grass and big rocks underneath rout to top was very difficult to conquer. We made it to top at half past 5.00.  

Having some snacks before light out

 Scene from top was breath taking. We could get first glimpse of ombattu gudde from here. We had made it to comfortable place and there were ample amount of camping ground. But still me and satya went on to find out more. finally We found a suitable place and camped for the day.

Nikhil and Me taking new bearing for OG peak while Sachin busy showing his google earth terrain and position.

 We pitched the tents for the night and transfered all out belongings in the tents. Other group pitched their tent few meters away from our tent. Everone were out to take view of sunset. 

Getting ready to Pitch tent after cleaning the camp site.

 Me and nikhil took some time to mark our next destination and to find our way to top.More challenge was to find out the route to top from topographical map we possessed. Now from this place there were no defined trails.

Distant view of ombattu Gudde from our camp site.

From the topographic map we found that only way to the top was from straight path which was visible from camp site. This path was very steep as per topographic map and quite risky too.

Sunset view from Camp site

Pitching tents

Ranges in background after sunset.

At Dusk

After chatting for a hour or so we felt we should have our dinner and go to bed. Roti's and chutney which was remaining was the menu of our dinner. It was indeed tasty. It was half moon night and twinkling carpet of stars was moment to capture. We even spotted distant moving satelite and bright venus towrads north east. 

crashed for the day!.

We got to our tents by 9:00PM. Night was quite windy and we dropped the idea of camp fire as it would have spread across  in the wind.



DAY 2:-

Next day morning Sachin, me and Sharad

Sharad was the first one to get up followed by me and sathya. Nikhil was made to wake up as we had to pack the tents. Sathya and sachin were busy taking shots of sunrise.

Sunrise

Sachin trying to convice me about real OG peak location.

We started out final climb at around 8:30AM. Sun was very bright and with limited water of about just 4 liters for 5 people we headed for the peak. Initial climb was quite gradual. and we covered lot of distance to make it to final climb of so called Ombattu Gudda.

Sathya, Sharad and Nikhil before the start

Me and nikhil on the final climb.

  We could spot the tent of other group pitched at our camp site from here. out of three guys two were fast asleep. 

Forest underneath

We stopped every 10 minutes to conserve our energy in order to keep well hydrated.

Sathya and nikhil

Steep climb to OG peak

 Final climb was very steep and risky. It's full grass;land with occasional stones underneath. some are loose and some are firmly grounded. We took proper care to avoid any injuries due to falling stones.

After about a climb of 1 hour 45 minutes we could get a place which was level surface. From here we could see two prominent humps at about 80 ft in height. My GPS showed one of the peak as Ombattu gudde. We stopped at this point to relax for a while. Sure of bieng casy walk to the top we thought of waiting for rest of our members and take up final climb together.

just before the final climb to peak.

It wa a great achivement to be on top of ombattu gudde. Knowing the time we had in jungle this was sure huge achievement.

On top of ombattu gudde we spend significant time to get our near perfect pictures. While some bared and dared, I took up the map again to check our location and marked our next topint of interest on GPS.

All of us on Top.

victory!

From Top of Ombattu Gudde, on your north is very famous jeep track leading all the way to saraswati estate. on right hand side or east is Deepankalu betta and Jenkal betta, While on west side is beatiful view of Amedikallu and on south west is valley we cam through. 

On left Deepankallu and on right Jenkal Betta

This is what we crossed to be here

Small peaks on west of OG.

Group Snap.

GPS was correct and it did say OG peak to correct location.

 With no time to waste we started our downhill journey about 10:30AM. By this time sun was harsh and literally no shade on the way and with very less amount of water we were getting very thirsty.

Dead north for Jeep track.

Just before entering the forest

Resting in forest

soon Grassland changed to forest cover and we stopped for another reading to jeep track.  After this place next milestone was just few 100 meters away and we mangaed to clock it within 5 minutes.

Last one to enter forest

Still in the forest

Finally on jeep track.

 We had reached the so called Jeep track and now the quest was to walk for another 9 Kms on this jeep track to reach Hoskere or laxmi estate, either place we would have found water. Sachin did bit brave act over here. with his all energy and bit of high from his bare act on top shouted top of his voice "Is there water out there" and to our surprise we got answer yes.

Yes we had Hit Saraswati estate unknowingly.

Villager

We were greeted by one villager, He gave us  little hope of being trasported from here by jeep if we manage to convince estate drive for drop. while me and sharad stayed on top to see if we can find any jeep going to Hoskere or Laxmi estate, rest of our guys went down to fetch water.

Sachin filling his hydration pack.

 Failed attempt to convince jeep driver for drop till laxmi estate made Sathya nd rest to walk up to the point where we were waiting. It wa quite a streneous climb back with bottles filled with water.

By this I saw other group arriving. They greeted us with pleasure. They could spot us climbing and took same route as us to be on track.

We took break at saraswati estate for our lunch and cleared of some load of Sachin.After a splendid meal we headed towards hoskere via Jeep track. Map showed a trail which was shortcut to hoskere and would bypass laxmi estate. We confirmed it with villager with some added information about detour.

Heading back to the Jeep trail to Hoskere

Nice landscape at backdrop.

 As sharad was way ahead of us and did't know about the diversion point for shortcut, satya went ahead to sync up with him. Lunc had paid the toll on us, Nikhil was not at all comfortable while Sachins pace wel further low. 

Trail at detour

With all such difficulties we finally managed to get the right diversion and from here path was steady without much of climb or descend. Beatiful landscape, clear water and blooming flowers were in abundance on this trail.With time close to 4:30 we made it to tarmac road.  

Perfect camping group

Satya and me at small stream.

Sharad and Nikhil at exit

 We sat exausted at the exit point, while ever energetic Sachin had his audacious plan to make it to ethina bhuja ticking. After a short break we too next bearing for hoskere on GPS to find out which direction of road we should take. walk for 20 minutes got us to Hoskere bus stop and to our surprise bus was late and we were just at bus stop and bus arrived.
We boarded bus to mudegere, which is an hours journey through forest patch. 

 
In Little town of  mudegere we had our evening snacks and boarded direct bus to bangalore..
little I could sleep in the bus, as my mind was not yet out of those mysterious jungles.

Will visit these jungles again..