Posted by Prashanth, on June 21st, 2007
Posted by Prashanth, on June 18th, 2007
Beginning of the story - Beginning & Bheemeshwara
 Click here for the bigger version of the photo
Dabbe falls, our destination on day two. The water fall is 300 ft. high. And there is only one accessible route, that too one has to climb down on a slope of 75-80 degrees with only tree branches & roots for support. This photo is 2 photos stitched together.
Detailed log to come soon
Posted by Prashanth, on June 15th, 2007
Beginning of the story - Beginning & Bheemeshwara
 Sampath & Nayana pored a bucketfull of water on our hopes of taking a quick nap. They urged us to start immediately. Time was slipping by. It was already 5PM, the race was on between us and the Sun God. We packed quickly and our second leg of the day started. Initial stretch was a pretty steep hike. With filled stomach, weary legs, heavy backpack, we progressed slowly. Our intention was to cover the steep stretch before sunset. We hiked non-stop amidst dense forest for half an hour to reach the peak. From then onwards it was almost flat land with small gradients going up and down. We stopped for 5 minutes at the peak, sat silently listening to the natural sounds around. Ah! what a bliss it was!
 Energy recharged, we continued. From then onwards it was like a jeep track till the village Mayyalli, our next pit-stop. We walked leisurely as we had no other major steep hike to be covered. The lone house @ Mayyalli village was like visiting a relative after a long time. They spoke with us as if we knew them from ages. I was bowled by the hospitality of the people over there in Sharavathi valley. Sampath & Nayana knew them since they are regular trekkers in that region. We spent a good 20 minutes there. Few photos clicked and we were on our way.
 En route, we had to cross paddy fields walking through them. In one place moving like a train one behind the other for almost 400-500 meters. Rest of the journey was similar, slow paced, walking through fields - paddy, sugarcane. We passed 3-4 villages on the way, where villagers spoke to us very nicely. Many of them enquirred our route and asked us to take rest & offered water - which you never find in any of bigger towns in India. 7.45 PM, finally reached our destination - Halgodu village. Village comprising of just one house of Mr. Jinadatta Gowdaru.
  The house was full with family members & relatives, with marriage preparations of daughter of Jinadatta Gowdaru. Though they were busy with marriage work, they still offered us place to sleep & to cook food. Nayana & Umapathi got busy with tea preparation & dinner. We sat massaging our foot, chatting with the kids & waiting for the tea. The wait seemed eternal, though it was 15 mins. After tea & snacks, we headed towards Aalemane (small scale jaggery preparation). Walking without torches in moonlight was a great experience. A short walk of 15 minutes, we were there. Tasted jaggery, drank sugarcane juice, ate sugarcane - and there was no space for dinner! Jaggery in these parts is bit different. It will be in a semi liquid state and not hard jaggery. It was like munching a chocolate bar. While chatting with the ‘aalemane’ owner, I found out that he is a relative of me - he is my cousin brother’s wife’s grandma’s brother! Small world, huh!!
Back to Halgodu home for dinner. By the time we reached home. I was hungry! After a sumptuous food, we spread our sleeping mats. It was not much cold and thin blankets that we had carried were sufficient. In less than 5 minutes, Sampath woke me up and it was 6 in the morning & time for us to start towards Dabbe falls.
Posted by Prashanth, on June 6th, 2007
After all additions & drop-outs, reducing trek duration from 4 days to 3 to finally 2, 10 of us were waiting in the crowded KSRTC bus stand at 10.30 PM to board the bus to Sagar. We reached Sagar bit late by 8AM to miss our direct bus to our trek starting point. Mahesh & our guides for two days Nayana & Umapathi (the cook) were waiting for us in the bus stand. After a quick refresh & breakfast, we started towards Kargal (not to be confused with Kargil :). We took a bus to Kargal and then hired a jeep to Channekallu. Beginning itself was adventurous as 12 of us crammed inside the jeep with our backpacks, sleeping mats, groceries for 2 days & cooking utensils. Jeep journey went on for an hour in the twisties of western ghats. By the time we reached Channekallu it was already noon. Sampath & Nayana distributed groceries to be carried by the individuals. Umapathi took responsibility of carrying cooking utensils.
 The Gang
L to R: Nayana, Manju, Ganesh Kuduwa, Srikanth, Dattu, Nithin, Sampath, Manpreet, Nishanth, Umapathi & Skandesh.
12.15, we set-off after a quick photo session. Our destination number one - Bheemeshwara (again not to be confused with Bheemeshwari near Bangalore). What started as a jeep track narrowed into a single path. It took us less than half an hour to get into deep jungles of Evergreen forests of Sharavathi valley. Intial stretch was almost flat with very less gradient ups and downs. We walked silently listening to chirping of the birds and continuous chirping of crickets. Stopping to take breaths & for photos we were aliens in jungle world. We stopped after an hour’s continus trek near a small stream. After a round of introduction, Nayana explained rules, Dos & Don’ts during the trek to the group.
  Journey continued after we filled stream water in to our water bottles. Ups & downs and flat ground here & there. We moved on slowly with Nayana leading the group & Umapathi at the end. Afternoon heat & humidity was troubling us. Another hour’s trek, we reached a village - a single house village (forgot the villge name). The kids in the house gathered around, looking at us curiously from a distance. The house owner Chikkayya, treated us very nicely - one of the specialities of Sharavathi valley - the hospitality & humbleness of the people. Short break there and we started towards Bheemeshwara. The real trek began - stretch from the village to Bheemeshwara is very steep. And luckly we were completely under the shade of dense trees for most of the stretch. Short breaks here & there to catch our breath, to sip glucose water. And finally reached Bheemeshwara by 2.45.
 Priest’s house @ Bheemshwara. Waterfalls is just behind this house.
Bheemeshwara or Bheemalingeshwara is well known in the vicinity for the Shiva temple. Mythological story goes like, the Shiva linga was established by Bheema of Mahabharatha during Pandavas’ agnaatavasa*. There is waterfall next to the temple called Bheemeshwara falls. And same mythological story says that the waterfall formed when Arjuna used his arrow to extract water from the rocks. We got these information from the priest who stays there near the falls in a lone house. End of rainy season is worth a visit to Bheemeshwara falls. As per the story, water in that falls never drains out. There will be water 365 days a year and local people confirm that. And to our bad luck when we reached the falls water was as if someone had opened a sink tap above. And it was mere drops. To get rid of sweat & heat we sat under the falls for half an hour.
 After taking bath & then blessings from Bheemalingeshwara, we returned to priest’s house where lunch was waiting for us. Umapathi had prepared delicious lunch for us. We gobbled up the food in no time & spread our sleeping mats for a quick nap, to get recharged for the next leg of trek to Halgodu village.
PS: Thanks everyone for patiently waiting for the log. Rest of the story to follow soon.
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Sunrise at Halgodu
Thick forest just behind the house 
The group with hosts
Along the muddy track, through thick forest
Ganesh posing on the empty road.
First break for the day after a long walk .
Break #2 - at a small stream en route.
Along the twisty road, we are almost there. Finally there it is, the Dabbe house.
