Exploring Kabinnale Forest - Ameidikallu Peak

ಸಕತ್  ಅಮೆಧಿಕ್ಕಲ್ಲು 

Summary: Amedikallu (height 4000 ft), near village Shishila in Dharmasthala is one of the significant peaks of Charmadi range and there are three approaches to this peak. The name Amedikallu is a combination of two words: Ame - Turtle and dikkel - Tulu word for Stove. Amedikallu has a huge monolith at the top which appears like a giant turtle and 3 huge stones which give an appearance of a stove. This peak is surrounded by many other important peaks of Western Ghats.

Amedikallu is considered to be one of the toughest in Karnataka and is a two day trek if one wants to make it to the peak comfortably. Shishila is a small village near Dharmastala.The starting point is Shishila village where from the trail starts. One has to take a jeep from Shishila (शिशिला) bus stand to reach the start of trail (Kombaru  कुम्भारू ) which is at about 3 km from bus stand and jeep charges Rs 100. The initial trail is through a fairly dense forest, but the trail itself was pretty wide. Then the forest cover disappears slowly and grassland starts to appear which continues almost till you get 3 stones, the dikkels. The monolithic peak is almost 90-degrees, one needs to go around in a spiral to reach the peak and this part of the trek is through a very very dense vegetation and narrow trail which probably becomes waterfall during monsoon. Post-monsoon, one would need to clear vegetation using knife to make way.

Water is not available at the peak and last water source is at the base of the peak which is 3 km from trek starting point. One has to carry at least 3 L of water to be comfortable.


Start:
It all started with a call from "तुप्पद ". Usual call for my confirmation to be part of long drive in new car of sandeep K. At first I was not interested for long drive, but second part of the plan soon followed. Plan was to drive to Madikeri and trek the heights of Tadiyandemol.
In November peak of Tadiyandemol can go as low as 8 degrees. Well at first I was fascinated.
Initially trek was planned with 5 people on board accounting to number of people a family car can accommodate in India.
It was Me, Tuppad, Sandeep K, Sachin and Sathya. before we could do any advancement on plan, we had changing plan with dropouts.
with Satya having social commitments and non availability of mode of travel "the car", we were forced to rethink on the trek aspect. While some struck to original plan with mode of transport being bus, others started thinking about alternative to trek.
With Ombattu Gudde trek still fresh in minds and those virgin kabinalle forest range being one hell of place, it struck to me about Ameidikallu.
Few meets in an around MG road we finally nailed down our plan to attempt Ameidikallu. And Soon we found our fifth member.

Friday Night:
Entire Thursday I was grasping for breath due to flue and nasal congestion. While my plan was looking skeptical. Due to bad heath I could not join the pre trek meet. Thought would recover on friday. With running nose, picked up sleeping bags and took a half day off from office. with some hot steam and 2 hours of sleep little I felt better.
We needed Map detailing the topography of terrain. But "survey of India" refrained for such map due to non availability of coastal belt to general public. With all such setbacks, finally we decided to meet at Majestic bus station for lovely dinner. dinner served as first meeting ground or kind of pre trek meeting.

DAY 1:

                                     At Dharmasthala early morning in search of hotel.
            (Left 2 Right : Tuppad, Sandeep K, Me and RaviKiran. Pic Taken by Sachin)

Finally we boarded bus to Dharmasthala (धर्मस्थला ) and at around 6:00Am we were in temple town Dharmasthala.
We could not find decent hotel or lodge in Dharmasthala, All we could find was dormitories with common bathroom. Common for entire floor! huh!!
With no choice we checked in to one of the dorm and first mishap happened. Tuppad realized that he has misplaced his camera somewhere in dorm room. While Tuppad was busy searching his camera or may be only camera on our trip, rest were busy packing and distributing food items. Finally after 1hour of packing, everyone were refreshed and we were ready to go. There were couple of task to be done before we head to our breakfast. We had to book Jeep to Kumbharu and pick up water bottles. Tuppad was not in good action due to setback of his loss.

Miracle:- 
About to head for the transport and breakfast from "धर्मशाला " in "धर्मस्थला " , I casually asked Tuppad to check with lodge manager if anyone had returned lost camera. Bit reluctant, he made his way to manager. Little he posted his query and boy we had found it. Some one had returned the cam to manager. Perplexed Tuppad created a little bit of aftermath by ignoring positive gesture to manager. Transition of cam from manager to Tuppad was made smooth, thanks to Sachin, sandeep and Ravi Kiran.

Yes bit of smile on everyone's face we headed for nice breakfast and en route got required water bottles and jeep to kumbharu

Sachin and Sandeep enjoying jeep ride hanging behind

At Kumbharu:- 


                                                   Start of trail @ Kumbharu
                        (L2R: Tuppad, SandeepK , Ravi Kiran, Me and SACHIN!)

We got the start of trail after couple of up down the tarmac in kumbharu, We got help from local villager and he showed us the way to the trail. It's bit difficult to find for first timers.
Initial climb is quite steep for the trek and can take out some sap if body is not warmed up. After about 15 minutes we could feel relaxed a bit on the gradual climb.
Sandeep K (gadget Boy) had his set of radio's and he paired them with Tuppad as he was behind everyone to take care of last person. After about 30 minutes climb Ravi Kiran decided to go half monty. His jeans was becoming liability for his climb.

Ravi stopping to change his gear

Sandeep K and Me checking trail

And Tupps boy Did it again.... And Tupps boy did it again.. oooh la la laa 

Tuppad en route

All these while sachin took some vivid angle photographs and finally handed the camera to Tuppad. You call it a good luck of Sachin or bad luck of Tuppad, but result was devastating. Yes he had lost the camera second time. And soon smile got turned out to be misery. Yes he had did it again and within the span of 3 hours.
Without wasting anymore time tuppad offloaded his carriage and headed back some distance to see if he can spot the cam anywhere.
He returned empty handed after some time.

SACHIN, Sandeep and Ravi Kiran relaxing a bit during camera hunt

Miracle 2:- 

Happy again 

I gave it a try and back traced the path bit and Eureka I found it again in bushes lying quietly. And yes we did notice some fresh smile on Tuppads face.

Final Climb: 

Final Climb to Summit

After long walk in the thick forest we made our way out in grassland. From here we could get first view of Ameidikallu peak in whole. From here we were looking like at the base of peak. we were late by 1 hour due to long breaks.
We did't waste the time and kept on walking. We had prior information that two groups are already ahead of us by 40 minutes. We had to be in time to get good camping ground. At ameidikallu peak  there is little place for camping .

Sachin and his love ethina Bhuja (small hump in backdrop)

Climb was steep from here on and we had to take a frequent breaks. But nevertheless all these breaks were utilized efficiently by Sachin. Some what he has fascination for Kabinalle forest range and can pin point his love amides the forest. While people were stopping for fresh air, Sachin was busy showing ethina bhuja and Ombattu Gudde to everyone.

Some fast climb got us in par with first two groups

After some quick sprint upwards we made it past other groups, but had to wait for rest of us to assemble. final summit is a huge monolith and can be attacked by going around it. Path leads through dense forest and looks like small trail for waterfall.
just before the final top we tool halt for sync up. while Tuppad was fascinated with rock wall for climbing, Sachin was in romantic mood and enjoying cool breeze caressing his cheeks (these are his own words)

@ top

 It was overcast and windy and with no sense of time we made to the peak about 5:00PM. And soon our quest began to find location for tent. There are no clear areas to pitch the tent atop. Moreover the worry was how to light fire when it is so windy outside. Along with us there was other group of Doctors with their Guide Balanna.

pitching tent was difficult task due to heavy wind.

We had casual chat with Balanna and offered him some chocolates. In return he promised us share fire.
Pitching the tent was proving to be difficult task in windy weather and we were looking novice.

Tuppad and me struggling  to pitch the tent.

   soon our tents were up and we headed for the toast. we had good amount of food with Chapati chutney powder and Ghee.

Camp Fire

We all had trekkers diet "MTR Ready To Eat" while flavors were different, but at the top for hungry souls it was a delicacy. We had chapati and few gravy dishes as our dinner while Tuppad roasted few "papad". dinner was let down bit by paper thin and weak plates, which could not hold the liquid gravy at one place..
Night was cold, windy and slight drizzle was enough to freeze anyone. We all got into our gear to protect from cold.
After some chat with other group and some mimicry of legends we finally crashed. There was drizzle entire night with very heavy winds. One of our tent could not sustain the wind pressure and broke. But we manage to sleep with peace inside the broken tent.

Day 2

campsite in morning

at peak Sachin and sandeep 

 while Tuppad prefered to sleep little longer, Me, Sachin, sandeep and Ravi kiran headed for peak about 25 feet higher then camping ground. After some difficulty to cross rock face we manage to reach top. Well thanks to ravi kiran for his heroic act in showing us the way.

View of MinchKallu peak from Top

 From Top we could locate all the peaks in vicinity, including Ethina bhuja! the favorite's
Tuppad arrived late taking most difficult route. reason he was wearing rock climbing shoes.He had carried them especially for this part.

Tuppad

Ravi Kiran, Sachin and ME

Sandeep K

While tuppad was busy practicing wall climbing we rested on top for small get together. Feeling on top of mountain can never be explained in words. since it was getting little overcast we decided to climb down to camp site.

Tuppad climbing small monolith at peak. 

Unanimous decision was to prepare tea and we did it in style and non availability of cups did hinder our goal. We made cups out of used water bottles. Indeed tea was good with right amount of milk and sugar.

TEA TIME!

Boys sipping tea in glass made by cutting used bottles.

Morning chat with other group over the tea proved beneficial for Sachin. In few minutes after exchanging the emails other group started their downward journey. In about and hour or 45 minutes we wrapped up everything and started for ground zero..

other group

Climb down was difficult and steep. Had to be more careful about loose rocks. We started slowly on our downward journey. Thought we got little help from long grass to hold on to but holding wild grass proved bit dangerous as it had left  bruises on hand.

On way down.

Pair of radio sets proved to be useful. Tuppad had bleeding finger. His failed attempt to cut beautiful bamboo branch proved very costly. We were informed by sachin over radio about this mishap.

Tuppad with radio sets

Ravi Kiran after his early morning nature call had largest empty stomach and his hunger was reaching the boiling point. Our breakfast just tea and some biscuits were not enough.
Ravi raised the first flag at water point, and we parked for beautiful lunch. At same time we refilled our canteen and relished on delicious chapati, chutney and ghee.. Slurrrppp!!!!

Demonstration of How to protect trees

 From here on our journey was slow and steady. My mind was infested with fish fry while Ravi wanted to have royal bath in river. Sachin still had his plan intact about his love ethina bhuja.
Ravi's first time on difficult trek was getting reflected on his pace. We took frequent breaks in order to sync.

As sun was getting bright, day was getting heated up and humidity was bit high. we had to change our gear at one point. Trail was quite clear and visible and we left everything for Ravi to guide as we had kept him in front of everyone.
After a small climb of hillock we realized that we are off the trail. There was a clear offset on GPS track log from current position. We tried to approach the GPS track by advancing in the track direction. To our surprise, there was a valley on either side. We thought for a while to continue on the same way, but my mind was not sure.
Entire topography map on my GPS was showing steep undulation on the path. We unanimously decided to return back and retrace the trail.
Nearly 3-4 minutes of return from hillock we spotted the trail. Confirming with GPS track long we had confidence we were on right trail.

Lost on hillock and searching the way

From here on the journey was smooth and big huge trail was a easy walk for all, except Ravi. This time he took out his shirt in memory of "Salman Ji". We finally made it to ground zero by 3:30PM.
It was fun filled walk down the mountain. We did spot terrified green snake on the way.
Yes! Snake can get terrified, if they face Sachin. May be we can have practical demonstration of this on next trek.

At ground Zero

A great Welcome:- 
Just before we hit civilization Balanna was present to welcome us. He took us to his home where we rested for some time. Tuppad took "Shahi bath" in secluded place hiding behind the rock while Ravi struck to his offload mission.
Sandeep and Sachin were enjoying the cold water. I had no choice to be there in water with these people. I thought of giving it a try to bath after trek in river.
Sparkling water was quite inviting for a dip but it sheer chill kept my body away from it. I was given holy shower by Sachin and Sandeep by splashing water on me. I had my share and it was indeed a mini bath for me.
Balanna was very informative about the place and helped us booking auto to take us back to Dharmasthala.
For second time I felt the need to know kannada.

Sachin explaining map reading to Balanna and rest..

 Sachin had developed expertise in Map reading from his previous Ombattu gudde trek was eager to explain to Balanna and his family. It was like mini classroom
While Tuppad was busy playing with Ballana's kids, me and sandeep were thinking what to eat when we reach Dharmasthala.
In due course Ravi and Tuppad too joined classroom of Sachin on map reading
After the bath and rest we were feeling hungry and wanted a quick meal other than chocolates. At 6 PM Auto appeared and we parked ourselves to head to Dharmasthala.

Tuppad playing with ballana's kids

 Post trek feast:
"Fish fry/ Chiken tandoorie or equivalent is something I always crave for after the trek. I know tuppad will second my thought.
Reaching dharmasthala would have never given me what I desired being temple town. We took break in Kokkada. It took us 30 minutes in auto to reach the distance of 19Kms to Kokkada from Kumbharu.

Note all Non vegiterians :: There is one  Bar and restaurant in Kokkada which served beautiful chilly chicken" 

Sachin and Sandeep ventured out in search of "dosa" while me , Tuppad and Ravi feasted on all Non veg delicacies.
After the delicious dinner we headed our way to Dharmasthala by bus and called it night after having light snack in Dharmasthala bus stand cafe.

It's indeed a wonderful experience to be at such places. But the moment forever lives in your heart when you have friends like Sachin, Tuppad, Sandeep and Ravi.
Well we did certainly miss Sathya and Nikhil.


Important contacts:-

Mr. Balanna : can arrange for two days hike to Ameidikallu with food and stay and transport.
                        contact details : +918762058142
                       
IMP: TRAIL TO AMEIDIKALLU START IN FRONT OF BALANNA'S HOUSE 
on return one can have nice bath in the river flowing through Balanna's courtyard.