Nine of us planned a trip to KODACHADRI, a trekking spot in western ghats, about 400 kms from Bangalore, near Kollur. We started our journey in an antique K.S.R.T.C bus to Kuntapura at 8.30P.M on 24/12/98.We did'nt know the exact place to get down, to start the trekking. When we asked the fellow passengers, most of them did'nt know the place and the rest gave contradicting replies. I got the recollection of the famous Goundamani - Senthil joke of bananas after this dialogue with one guy. we asked, "For going to Kodachadri, where should we get down between kuntapura and kollur?" He replied "kuntapura". We repeated the question thrice and he repeated the same answer thrice only to result in a burst of laughter. The journey was via Tumkur, Shimoga and Therthahalli. The mountaneous terrain started after Therthahalli. At 6.30 A.M the conductor got Gnanodaya as to where whe should get down and dumped us in a vague village called Mastikatte. We got down at that place like the hero in a Bharathiraja film, getting down from the bus. I could see nothing but a roadside hotel and an Arrack shop - No houses in the vicinity. ( Probably the workers of the hotel are customers of the Arrack shop and vice versa ). We got in to the next bus and told the destination. The driver and conductor discussed for 15 minutes on where to drop us. Finally they came to a conclusion and the bus started. It was a wonderful journey through Western Ghats with sparse inhabitation. Houses were mainly in kerala style with 2 tier architecture. Finally we reached the place Karakatte, from where we started our trekking.
We had to walk in the jungle for 5 kms before reaching the foothill of the mountains. By the time I reached the foot hill itself, I was exhausted. When I saw the gigantic mountain staring at me, my mind peeked on the negative side. We had a short break in the bunk and started our adventurous trek. The place where we were supposed to reach was about 3500 feet above. The 'Othaiadi pathai' was considerably steep and got me exhausted with in half an hour. I let others go and followed in my one pace. A major strip in the middle was uncovered exposing us to hot sun and was very steep too. It is a perfect tropical forest and the weather was also of that type - hot humid days and cold nights. The humidity was very high due to the proximity of Arabian sea ( on the other side of the mountain ). The arial distance of Arabian sea could be only 20 kms. The merciless sun along with the above factors kept plundering my energy and I had to take regular breaks once in 30 mins. Some of the stretches were indeed quite dangerous - narrow paths with slippery gravels and very deep valleys on the sides. Losing one's footage will have him packed as a pile of bones.
At one stage I went in a wrong route and I had to climb 10 feet at 80 deg. Finally I reached the top after 5 hours at the expense of 2 tender coconuts, 6 lime juices and a pack of glucose. Only two families live at the top - to give food and shelter to the trekkers. Our shelter was a modest tile house with no electricity. We had our lunch and collapsed to sleep. Evening, we went in search for the water fall inside the forest. After many backtrackings, we found the correct path to reach it and took bath in the ultra cold water. After that I trekked to the peak, which is about 4 kms from the place where we stayed, for enjoying the sunset. The view from the peak is breathtaking. Arabian sea on one side, River sharavathi and Lingamuke dam which caters to 50% of karnataka's water and power needs on another side, frightening deep valleys, thick evergreen forests everywhere, light green grasslands in some places... Everything except concrete forests, polluting automobiles and materialistic humans.
The very speciality of this place is that it is not commercialised like Ooty or kodaikkanal which has spared the place from devastation. The sunset in Arabian sea is worth seeing and clicking with the sun paint brushing the sky in wonderful colors. There is a lone 'Mandap' in shambles on the peak in which one saint resides, following our predecessors' resolve to build temples wherever they found peaks( Tiruppathi, kailash, palani... Why did they leave Mt. Everest?). I really wonder how he is killing all the time there. I trekked back to the shelter in a great hurry as it would be dangerous to trek there in pitch dark. To prevent forest fires, the forest dept set up a controlled fire all along the forest for a particular width. So, if forest fire emerges, since this region is charred, it wont spread to other regions. These kind of fires were set up in adjacent mountains at night. It was bright, visible from even long distances, like a golden ring around the mountains - quote an interesting scene to watch.
The food in the place is worth mentioning. Since there are no cows there, there is no sight of milk or buttermilk. I never had such a pure tea with only hot water, tea dust and sugar. Rice, Sambar and Rasam were served for lunch. Rasam had dynamic density with the content of hot water directly proportional to the number of people arriving for lunch. But we all were so tired state and we were ready to grab anything edible.
The next day we started trekking down. One should be more careful while trekking downhill as he has to control his speed and apply breaks after every step without hurry. One of my colleagues Pavamana Prasad, in his bid to catch up with the people trekking in front, lost his control - that too in a dangerous region. Fortunately he maneuvered to cross that region without falling, gained uncontrollable speed, toppled and hit the gravel at about 40 kmph. Result:- pavamana prasad became "Paavamaana prasad" - Jeans torn to enhance fashion, bad injury in face. It took 4 hrs. to reach the plains after which we went to Kollur and had dharshan in Mookambika temple, thanking her for bringing down safely. We took rest for sometime and started our journey towards bangalore.
And I can say is 'this is one of my great trips'. On the top, While seeing the adjacent peaks and the steep valleys, I couldn't help myself from taking pride in the sense that I was able to climb to such a height. Needless to say, the effects of the trekking was there for another two days with severe body ache.