It’s been completely busy days for the past two months. Heavy work load at office and weekends getting occupied with other high priority tasks. I had planned for two ride plans in May, but somehow managed to miss both of them. First one was a day’s lazy ride - send-off ride to Kam, a crazy fellow rider who relocated to Delhi from Bangalore. A last minute call from home made me to drop that plan. Next one was a three day solo ride to Moodabidri, covering around 800KMs. After a lot of pestering & convincing got green signal from both my parents & sister whom I was planning to visit. But rain god played spoilsport. Just two days before the ride, it started pouring in around Mangalore & Moodabidri. Resulting in a red signal from sister. :(

Those were the missed chances and still amidst busy schedule I managed to travel a bit over weekends. But, not getting time to write down the experiences. These trips are in the queue to be logged -

# Trekking in Kuduremukha National Park - weekend spent trekking in Western ghats
# A short ride to Kambadahalli - A visit to a little known Jain pilgrimage
# Bike trip to Himavad Gopalaswamy betta - whirlwind ride of 430 KMs in a day

Hoping for a less burdened month ahead.

tchau

When I started writing trek log of our three day venture in Sharavathy valley, I never thought this would go so detailed. Here is compilation of the logs of Sharavathi valley trek for your easy reading & navigation -

• Beginning & Bheemeshwara
• Bheemeshwara to Halgodu
• Halgodu to Dabbe mane
• The majestic Dabbe falls
• A dip in Dabbe falls
• Travelling on the bus top
• Biking around Jog falls

Je voyage, donc je suis ;)

We were tired. Trek of 25KMs in todays. Just when we were about to call it a day, Bharath (my sister-in-law’s brother) asked whether we want join him to the nearby temple. We were about to say no, but changed our minds as the temple is inside the power generation plant in Jog. Access to that place is restricted and is allowed only for local people. It was half an hour’s drive to the temple along almost deserted twisty roads. View along was amazing. Roamed around the temple which was getting ready for a function next day. Reached home by 8PM. Dinner and soon we surrundered to sleep.

Next day started early and we were ready for the long day. My sister-in-law’s house is amidst fields and we roamed for an hour enjoying nature. And then went for a walk, eating mouthful of jamoon fruit (plums). Then a quick bath, breakfast, a visit to near by friend’s house (my colleague Pradeep’s house). Pradeep’s brother Prashanth (a namesake :) was expecting us. A cup of tea and we started towards Jog falls on bikes. Prashanth & Srikanth on Prashanth’s bike and me on Mahaveer’s bike (My SIL’s younger brother).

Bird’s eye view - at top og Jog fallsTaking lots of stops for photos sessions, we reached Jog falls. We had plans of first going to the top of the falls and also to the foot. Standing at the top of the falls and looking down 900 ft was making me dizzy. It was a mesmerizing view from there. People playing in water down below were smaller than ants. We spent a good hour their enjoying the view. And then back on steeds, riding towards the other end to trek down to the foot of the falls. After parking our bikes we started trekking down on a hot summer noon. 40 minutes, we were down at the bottom. There is a huge difference in looking down from top of the falls and looking up from the bottom. The latter one makes you humble and gives an inferiority complex of good-for-nothing-human-being, which is true. But both views are amazing. We sat there silently facing the drizzles from the falls. And moved our position under the falls :)

    After a refreshing bath and an hour’s exhausting climb, we emptied two tumblers of masala sodas each. Rode back home & reached by 4PM. After a heavy lunch, we got readied for our return journey. Got into a bus which took us to Shimogga from Kargal via Sagar. We waited for almost for an hour in Shimogga for the bus as it was completely crowded. Finally got into a Bangalore bound KSRTC bus. Around 3.45 in the morning I got down at Tumkur while Srik continued to Bangalore. After waiting for an hour and donating half litre of blood to musquitos, I flagged down a truck. Hitched ride till Kunigal to reach home by 6AM.

So that was the end of a long weekend. Let me take a break and come back with more travel stories. Till then enjoy the rains with a cup of coffee :)

Beginning of the story - Beginning & Bheemeshwara

By the time we reached Dabbe mane (Dabbe house), all of us were exhausted, completely drenched with sweat. All we wanted was to just sit under water falls. After a quick break at the Dabbe mane we started towards the falls. A short walk through paddy fields for 200-300 meters, we were standing on a cliff and there is no way to continue. It was as if we had missed the route and there was no path ahead. At that time Nayana started climbing down the cliff using tree trunks, branches & roots for grip. And I was informed that that’s the only way to reach Dabbe falls. The real adventure started for us, climbing down a cliff of almost 80 degrees steep, down 300 ft. We moved slowly one behind the other for almost half an hour without sight of the waterfalls and just roaring sound reaching us from somewhere far. En route there was a huge fallen tree almost 100 meters long. Walking on the big tree trunk was like cruising on a NH, we moved faster during that stretch. We were half way down and we sighted the majestic Dabbe falls, with water falling from a height of 300ft. It took us an hour to reach the foot of the falls from Dabbe mane.

Only route that takes us to Dabbe falls. And first sight of the falls.
Without any delay we jumped into the water while Umapathi got busy preparing lunch for us. We sat under the falls and played on water for for an hour. Came out of the water refreshed and hungry. Delicious pulav was waiting for us. Lunch & a short break/nap. We were back on the track by 1.45PM. Climbing up the cliff was easier, but progress was slow. Reason heavy stomach, tired legs, sleepy eyes. We climbed lugging our backpacks. Took us just 40 minutes to be back at Dabbe mane.

By the time we reached Dabbe house, we had another bath with sweat. And from then onwards the race began, us and the time. Last bus from the main road, Hosagadde to Kargal was at 3.45PM. Missing that bus meant complete change of plans in return journey. By camera went inside my backpack as there was no time to stop & take picture. We dragged our legs as fast as possible. We walked through grass lands, paddy fields, along small canals, through sholas. With just stopping for water at a village, we reached Hosagadde in time. Within 2 minutes the bus came honking down the road.

Bus was almost empty and we could have got seats also. But we needed fresh air and chose bus top instead. Hosagadde to Kargal was a breeze. At Kargal, Srik & I got down as we had a day off next day and plans of roaming around Jog falls. Rest of the gang continued to Sagar and then to Bangalore. Both of us reached my relatives’ house near Kargal by 5.30.