Madhugiri Climb

Madhugiri

Madhugiri is a town in Tumkur district in the Indian state of Karnataka.
At 3930 feet elevation, Madhugiri is a single hill. It is the largest in Asia and second largest in the world. Nestled in its steep slopes is a fort, once credited to Hyderaali. Antaralada Bagilu, Diddibagilu, and Mysore Gate are the three gateways of the fort. A series of doorways leads to the hillock. The ruined temple of Gopalakrishna is located at the top.
Madhugiri is not so commercialised place; Tourists should not have any problem finding light food. It is much better to carry food and lots of water.
Madhugiri, or also known as Maddagiri, is located around 43 km north to Tumkur town. Madhugiri is famous for its giant rock overlooking the town and the fort nestling in its steep slopes. The giant rock is the second largest monolith of Asia. This monolith and the surrounding greenery of Madhugiri are the main attractions. The place has old temples of Venkataramanaswami and Malleshwara built by the Vijayanagara feudatories in the Dravidian style.
The highlight is the rock dome, atop which stands a fort, once attributed to Hyderaali. There are a series of doorways leading to the top and the climb is steep and exposed in some places.On the top is ruined Gopalakrishna temple.

This place is nearly 20kms off tumkur road. Bets think is to hire an cab to drive to this place.
we had nice mid day meal at Kamat on tumkur road. and started with our trek just before 12:00.

we were 6 of us, me yatin, sinari,niketa, bhagyesh and sonal. 

Ladies did find some difficulty in climbing but overall they made to fort base. 

ruins of fort.

 Yes fort indeed has a touch of mougal architecture, and looks like ruled by hayder Ali.

Ascending to the next level from fort base.

 Madhugiri climb is very deceptive. One can get feeling that top is just there and can exhaust the energy going behind it only to find that there is lot more left to cover.

This peak has lot of phases and every phase has nice beautiful view to capture.

 second castle phase. This place one can get some shade to relax a bit.

After the phase 2 ascend is quite steep and there are chiseled steps made to make climb easy.
At the end of this phase there will be small dead fountain. Sometimes water flowing through this fountain can make rock slippery. Be careful at this place as this has reported some nasty cases.

Look at the anle of the climb. Note this is not trick photography.

most dangerou climb of madhugiri.

 Crossing dead fountain gives a further glimpse of next phase of castle. This time it's bit scary as the climb is quite steep. Yes there is a protection on either side which gives bit of confidence.
Though acrophobic guys will have bit of tough time contouring this climb.  

Crossing phase 2 of castle will provide a good view of entire madhugiri town. Its like small matchbox houses. 

Yatin relaxing

Final Phase

 Just near the peak there are huge boulders and can give the trekkers some shade or cool place to relax.

 After crossing the boulders there is gradual climb to peak and this is very easy.

View from peak.

Final entry point in castle.

Peak seen in backdrop.

 On entering the castle door at peak one can notice the ruins of the palace or may be a temple. Mostly deserted surroundings. Since climbing to this point is bit of tough thing and no one wanders to this place to kill time.

Room to store grains.

Back door of the palace.

Big Huge water tanks at top

Entry to the grain store

 we spent about 1 hour on top before we were forced to get down due to heavy downpour about 20kms from this place. This place will be difficult to climb down if it started pours.

 winters is the best time to visit this place.

crater lake

                                                              Crater Lake

Summary 
Crater Lake is a Caldera Lake located in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fills a nearly 2,148-foot (655 m) deep caldera that was formed around 7,700 (± 150) years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama There are no rivers flowing into or out of the lake; the evaporation is compensated for by rain and snowfall at a rate such that the total amount of water is replaced every 250 years.

Journey

  Out of sheer boredom in USA, I planned to visit Pooja in oragon. She was happy to see me as I was visiting here for the first time after her wedding. She planned for outing to see placed around. 

I was picked up from airport directly and we headed to this lake. I had little idea about the lake and few round of driving Vaibhav passed the baton to pooja. 

Little wonder may be right name to describe pooja and with that car she was looking tiny. 

Pooja and car

We had lots to talk from bangalore and our common friends. And suddenly there was a mishap. we had hit stag. No idea where it came from or where did it go. But certainly there was big damage to car. 

We repaired the broken bumper with tapes

At night 1.00Pm we were on middle of road analyzing the damages..It took us some time to get back to normal. We reached the destination at around early morning. they had booked nice cottage for us. 

our cottage

After a breakfast we headed to crate lake which is about 30 mins drive from here. It was cold and day old snow fall was evident. 

AT crater lake 

Place is unique and had lot to see. What I like about USA is their taste to project the history and monuments. 

It was bright and sunny but chilly cold due to fresh snow. 

we returned back to cottage after few hours of stint. 

canoeing in river 

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Cottage had its own canoe's with life jackets. Without wasting any more time we pulled one boat in water and  rowed it till we were tired. It was sheer rough ride on calm waters.  
After about 3hours of fun we finally headed back to the base.

Tadiyandemol

Tadiyandamol means highest point in Kodava language, this peak is the highest one in the Coorg district situated near Virajpet about a 30kms away on the way to Napoklu, Bhagamandala. This peak just adjacent to the Makutta forest. On the way you also get a old palace called 'Nalku Naadu Aramane'. There are apparently 18 trek routes to get to the peak, the most common one's being the 'Honey Valley route' and the 'Palace route'. The former being a longer and scenic route and the later the shorter version that leads you straight to the peak. The 'Honey Valley' route is not open to back packers and other trekking enthusiasts unless and until you have a reservation at their home stay.

At a height 1740m, Tadiyandamol is the second highest peak in Karnataka. The peak belongs to the group of taller peaks between Himalayas in the north and Nilgiris in the South. Tadiyendamol is a part of the range of Western Ghats that lie in Coorg District of Karnataka. This range experiences a salubrious climate through out the year. Elephants, bison, tigers, wild cats, and variety of birds habitat the thick vegetation. Plenty of waterfalls and natural springs adorn the valleys. The flora & fauna of Coorg add to the beauty of the valley. Most of the natural vegetation around the peak in this range is taken over by Plantation growers and converted to Plantations of coffee, pepper, cardamom, beetle leaves, and areca nut. The forest department well maintains the forest range with early burning of weeds and shrubs, planting trees to re-grow the forest and maintenance of trees. The effort of the association of forest guards and local people in maintaining this forest range is commendable

we started from bangalore at around 5:00PM due to delay by prithvi and sandeep tuppad.

Along with me, were bhagyesh and gowtham to join trek.we were late by a hour and we had to pay the price for it. By the time we reached the base of the peak it was already 11:30 AM.

To gain some distance we too the car uphill through plantation route. That saved us valuable 1and 1/2 hour climb and lot of energy too. Yes my cars clutch plate was smelling big time on uphill.

we started from bangalore at around 5:00PM due to delay by prithvi and sandeep tuppad.

Along with me, were bhagyesh and gowtham to join trek.we were late by a hour and we had to pay the price for it. By the time we reached the base of the peak it was already 11:30 AM.

To gain some distance we too the car uphill through plantation route. That saved us valuable 1and 1/2 hour climb and lot of energy too. Yes my cars clutch plate was smelling big time on uphill.

Initial climb was gradual and we too it casual thinking its too easy. I was tired of driving and no sleep and it started reflecting on my body. I had to take frequent stops even on these easy route.

From L to R  Gowtham, Tuppad and Me.

Bhagyesh,tuppad and gowtham were enjoying the climb. We still had one guy who did'nt cared for anyone and went to top alone.

Trail to the peak initially is very easy.

We used Bhagyesh's GPS unit. We marked the hieghest point of the peak from google earth. Though it will not be accurate but can give some fair idea.

By the time it was 1:00PM I was tired of sun and was lagging behind big time

It was 1:00Pm and I started getting cramps, I drank enough of water but it was too hot to try this peak. On top of that I have been driving from 3:00AM. 

After some good amount of walk there is sudden ascent through forest cover. This part protects from sun but the climb is so steep that it nullifies the effect of shade. I took more breaks in this part than usual.

After some half an hour climb through forest, gives you the glimpse of final peak. From here on it will be just grass land and direct sun and indeed quite steep.

Gowtham was with me throught and he too was tired.

Me and Gowtham resting en route.

And finally we got glimpse of our guy who ran to top.

Tuppad and prithvi just at summit.

After struggling for another 1 hour me and gowtham reached to top. It was indeed a herculean task for both of us. I was weighing 93Kgs for this trek and with luggage and water would have mde me touch 100Kg.

final summit

At last we made it with great difficulty

This place is not suitable for camping on top. No water availability and heavy winds will ruin entire night. No firewood is available at near top. We started our descend at about 4:30PM which was exactly 45 minutes from arrival to peak by final guy.

it took us more 1 and half hour to reach to the place where car was parked.

Overall experience great and would like to attempt this trek in future again.

team without me.

Har Ki Dun

Har Ki Dun was our first trek to Middle Himalayas. This was the toughest trek of Youth Hostel Association India (YHAI). So people were advised to be fit and healthy.

Our Start:
we started our chapter 1 with trying to run 2kms continiuesly. I was the slowest amoung them. Just has been recovered from tragic accident on my bike. As the days progressed things were looking fine for me and now I could cross 6kms with ease.

Journey:
we booked our journey tickets from Bangalore to dehradun. from dehradun we went to Mausoorie at youth hostel base. we had a days halt in hostel and next day we were transported to the base cmap in sankri. This is close to nepal border.

Day 1 & 2:
Sankri base camp Sankri base camp we were trained for stamina and mountain walking and climbing techniques. They also tought us how to save energy or rather how not to waste energy. rappeling was part of our course as there were chances of getting struck in mountains. we were made to run 2kms at high altitude. all this was just a fun for us but we saw most of our batchmates were struggeling.



(Sankri Villege)
( My tent mates )


(Juda Talao)
Day 3: sankri to juda Talao
we headed to Juda talao camp at 6AM. it was bit chilly but all the chill disappered as we started climbing with our backpack. withing few 100 ft of climb 90 % of the people gave up.
Only we three and few more people were ok. Now our group got divided. Six of us got the order of keeping the fleet moving and help the slow members.
Since we trio were together, we were given job of being at the end of the group and look after the people who are lagging behind.
First day trek was 4Kms but it took sap out of us.

Day 4: Juda Talao to Kedarkanta base camp.
(En route to Kedar kanta base camp)
Juda talao to kedarkanta base camp is moderate trek of 9 kms in length. we encounter the glipse snow on the way. People were so much excited to see the sno. I still remember our guide's voice "Now you guys are loving it, in few days you will hate it to core"This was a easy day and we managed to finish it in mere 4 hours. scene at the base camp was awesome. we played cricket on the top for 4 hours. we had to sleep early as next day was tough one.
Day 5: Kedarkanta Base to Dhoonda
(Climbing Kedarkanta peak)


(Crossing ridge to reach dhoonda)
Aa-haa this was the most tiring trek I ever had anywhere in my life. we had to cover 2000 ft starting from 11,000 ft. day was very chilling and snow covered peak was left to us for climbing.
I gulped over 2 liters of water to the climb. Rest all were nice decend. This day we faced natures wrath. There was a heavy snow showers for us to welcome in himalayas.
we realised why our guides used to push us to be in the camp before 1PM. heavy showers drenched us from top to toe. We were shivering in sheer pain. people were scared to step on the snow. with rain and showers snow deposit had grown over to two feet. walking in the snow is very painful. I suddenly remembered my guides words. There was no sound other then rumble of the snow below the feet. finally we reached the camp site. we all were given hot water to wash our hands and feet. I nearly had frost bite my hands were pale blue. we crashed early that day.

Day 6: Dhoonda to Talhouti

(Dhooda to talhouti ridge)

(Arrival at talhouti camp site)
Dhoonda to talhouti is full snow covered way. My trek pal was fed up of snow already and he was not enjoying it. he was walking for the sake of it. This day we had to cross snow covered ridges.
First ridge we cross it was all okay. Next ridge we say one girl sliding down the ridge. one of the guide caught her or else she would have been in valley 400 ft below.
Then they decided to give us harness. With that also people were not comfortable. there were lot of screams and it took us 9 hours to reach the talhouti camp. Final part to talhouti was nice 100ft slide. I enjoyed it.

Day 7: Talhouti to seema
(School in Talhouti)
(Duryodhan Temple)
Talhoutie to seema was very easy and we finished it in just two hours. we saw few houses on the way and intersting Duryodhan temple. Question was who will worship duryodhan?

Day 8 : Seema to Har ki dun valley
(Crossing bridge at osla)
(Crossing glacier near to har ki dun valley )


(Snow covered har ki dun valley )
Seema to harkidhun valley was 11kms climb. we were greeted my heavy snow fall. It was not at all easy to walk in the snow fall. we took couple of stops and manage to reach the valley in mere 3 and half hours.
Har ki dun means Shiva's own valley. It is starting point of Yamunotri and base of swargarohini ranges. there is jaundhar glacier which melts to form yamunotri.
Time we reached the valley it was fully covered by snow. Even our camps were camofluged with snow. After two hours with sunlight all the snow got melted and there were lot of greenary around. I tried to put my hand in yamunotri but it was freezing cold.
Day 9 : Har ki dun valley to seema


(Origin of Yamunotri around swargrohini ranges)
From the valley to Seema was nice fun. we managed to do it in two hours. we were in hunt of good food. we were bored of dal and rice everyday. soon we realised that there is nothing out there from where we can get good food. by this time I was bit desparate to get good food. Some of us were home sick. Just two days to finish the track was looking like 2 years.

Day 10 : Seema to Sankri base camp
seema we walked for 3 kms and then we heard jeep sound. few of my female friends started crying as if they are been realesed from jail. we reached the road and took jeep to sankri base camp.
I was not at all happy after returning to base camp. I wanted more time out there. But thing started has to end or else there is no fun.

River rafting.

I was not keen in river rafting. Actually I was scared as I did't know swiming. my othe friends wanted to do rafting. we all wentto rishikesh and did rafting. It was a thrilling moment with grade 4+ rapids. I was trown out in the river twice.

Overall it was really great time we had.

GREEN ROUTE

(mangalore - bangalore green route)

The Subrahmanya Hills lying to the north of Coorg form a part of the Western Ghats. There is a meter-gauge railway line from Hassan via Sakleshpura and Subrahmanya Road to Mangalore passing through this beautiful part of Karnataka. Currently the line is closed for traffic, and is being converted to broad-gauge. This place is feast for nature admirers. This place is full of lush green mountains and plenty of waterfalls.

Mode of Transport:
We started from Bangalore on Friday 18th September at around 10PM. WE had booked the 9 tickets to sakleshpura for the people. But to our fate only 3 were traveling and we had to hurry up in canceling the tickets. With loss of 50% on tickets and less people to travel bus we were suppose to travel was cancelled. We were told to board another bus. With this hectic start we started from bangalore at around 11.45Pm. Reached Sakleshpura at around 3AM Saturday early morning. We took a room in sakleshpura had a tea and headed to the railway trek.

DAY 1:
Our day was greeted by the low sunlight and mild fog. We had the breakfast in the sakleshpura town . We started our trek by trucking to village about 10 Km from Sakleshpura. Distance from Sakleshpura to the nearest halt(Yedkumeri) along the railway track is around 30Km. So we thought it will be too log for us for the day. Trucking helped us to reduce 30 Km to around 22 Km.




(Group photo)
Eventhough the track is close to the road at the beginning of the journey near Sakleshpura, access becomes rare once one goes farther from there. We started on track about 8AM on Saturday. railway track has over 60 bridges and same amount of tunnels.

Bridges are not at all scary. Two meter wide bridge is very safe to cross. Forget about walking on the bridge we ran on the bridge. if you have acrophobia then do not look down. repeted rail plates tend to dissapear due to illusion. that might scare you a bit. Bridges are the most beautiful part of this trek. Most of it will be having a typical water fall below it.
Lush green valley on the either side of the bridge will be feast to the nature lovers. Second best thing is the dark long tunnels. we had hat on our head to protect from wrath of bats in tunnels. Good spread type flash light with spare cells will do it for you. Tunnels are very dark and often loose damp soil becomes nightmare to walk on it without light.

When you exit out of the tunnel you see a different scenery from the place you entered the tunnel. And most of the tunnel exist will be followed by the bridge and a waterfall. There are more then 30 bridges and 25 tunnels we saw on the way. Shorted tunnel is just 20 Mts in length and longest one is 991Mts long.

(river at Yedkumeri)
Lunch Break Day 1
We cooked the lunch for 6 took bath in the freezing water two three cramps and rest for an hour we were ready to launch for the second half. We started from there at around 3.00Pm on Saturday. Now our destination was to reach the Yedkumeri(abandoned railway station ) before the dusk. We stopped on the way as we saw few Hunters with the multi shot gun. They were in search of the wild cats. Just as we were getting bored walking over the trek we saw a green snake. This is non poisonous often bites if stamped on. Bite seems to be painful. Railway track is broken at some parts due to landslide. We had to maneuver our way out of the rumble. Sometimes we took way through the jungle or sometimes we succeeded to cross the big obstruction.

It was just 4.00Pm Saturday evening when light started to fade in valley . We were scared as crossing the bridge will be problem. But just as we crossed a tunnel no. 14 it was bright as we found ourselves on the brighter side of the mountain. We could see the peaks on the other side of the valley. Few leeches on my shoes at one halt made me little bit nervous. But nothing brave me, I killed’ em all.

(We Running on Bridge)
Yedkumeri Day 1 Halt.
Dose of the glucose with the spring water we were at the Yedkumeri station at 4.30PM staurday. Station is just like one of the station seen in the client Eastwoods cowboy action series. You can still see the fare rates of the train to travel to Bangalore or Mysore and the station masters equipments. There are few abandoned cottages of the workers. Garden of the cottages still blossoms with flowers. We stopped at the station knowing the availability of the water. Now nature was getting king of rude on us, Clouds started to gather and we had to think a alternate place for shelter. We guys often sleep in the open with the most expensive roof of the starts over our head. Suddenly Uncle got the idea of getting all our luggage’s inside the cottage hall. But the hall was so dirty by the left over of the people. Sunil and Kau went ahead and started to clean the room. I was chopping the onions for the Dinner. Room that kau and sunil was cleaning was equipped with the poisonous guard.
First Encounter With Snake and Scorpian
after a good amount of survey we realised that room has few scorpians! I had lost the hope of even entering the room and made up my mind that I am not going to sleep inside the room. Just as we were cleaning the platform we saw a green snake on the platform. That was enough for me to stay awake whole night. But after the 8 hrs trek it was not possible to be awake whole night. Two pants shirt and Jacket was on my body in fear I buried myself in the sleeping bag. Dinner was no success this time as we screwed on the rice. Tonic(Vodka & wine) was at the lips of the five with me sipping the pestiside(pepsi). Dinner got over at 9.00Pm and small walk in the darkness to collect the firewood was all it required. We had a campfire lit few bombs on station. Pulling legs of each other we ended our day 1 of the trek.

(Messy Tunnels)

DAY2

We got up at 6.00AM Sunday prepared the breakfast had a quick grub on it and started to head on to Gundya that was our destination. This again was 23 Km long and One should Gundya is not a station. It is a village situated at the bottom of the hill at about 4 Km from the railway track. So altogether we had to travel 27 Km. This route is more difficult then day 1 route.
This is because the landslide and fountains have cleared the way to such a extent that one need to take a long detour to cross the tunnels. Bridges over here are long and broken. The longest bridge that we saw was between Tunnel No. 10 and 11, and had a sharp curve to the right side. It was over a deep valley, and there was a small water-fall right beneath it. It began at the exit of Tunnel No. 10, landed in the mouth of Tunnel No. 11, which was 572 metres long, with a steady rightward curve. Little did we knew about the magnitude of the curve, till long after the curve we saw a bridge on a hill on other side of the valley, when we realised that the bridge and the tunnel had made us take almost a U-turn in those hills.

Exit:
While walking over the track you can peep over to the opposite mountain ranges and one can spot easily 6 to 7 waterfalls. Huge waterfalls seems to be unexplored. On day two we took a detour once we crossed the longest tunnel(991Mteres in length). We climbed down to Gundya.It took us almost one hour to reach the village. Ah Ha my favorite Fish fry was waiting for me in the villege. Me alone consumed two with pepsi and rest seeping chilled King Fisher. From Gundya to sakleshpura we did trucking. Sakleshpura we boarded “lal Dabba” to our way back to Bangalore.

kabalidurga - strange and steap

The 26th day of June 2004 saw two enthusiasts climbing the Kabbali Durga. Me and Bhagyesh exactly knew that it takes two to tango( read enjoy the trek). Situated around 75 kms from bangalore , it provides raw thrill to the uninitiated and the "never say die" climber.
To see it for yourself and get to the summit, first, get your ass out of bangalore and reach kanakapura. Continue for another 10 kms to a village called Sathanur. And look to your right. Just point to the mountain and ask your way to the foot of that hill.Or you can also ask for a village called kabbal which is situated at the foot of this mountain.