Bike trip: Mookana mane falls & Herur hills

Saturday, 5.15 AM, a cold morning on a summer, Peenya junction, group of 8 guys, 6 bikes. All of us were set to ride towards Sakaleshpur. It was a diversified group – Dwarakaon his Yamaha RD 350, Srikanth on his Yezdi Road-king, Murali on his Suzuki Shogun, Ganesh on his Thunderbird with Sampath as pillion, Sandeep on his Pulsar 150 with another Sandeep as pillion and I on my Pulsar 150, all set to ride. Our first destination was Mookana mane abbi falls are simply called as ‘Mookana mane falls’. After coffee/break at Kunigal & breakfast at Kamat restaurant just after Channarayapatna, we were in Sakaleshpur by 10.30. Ganapathi alias Ganu joined us there and he was my pillion for the rest of the journey. We took a short break, while Sampath & Ganu went for shopping (groceries for the two days). By 11.30 we headed towards the water falls.

As we moved ahead, there was a change in the air. Roads got narrowed, filled with potholes. Green and green everywhere, pollution free air. Silence all over and thumps, roars & whoosh of the bikes breaking that silence. We crawled ahead as road condition was not that good. En route, Sampath’s friends Rajit, Ratish & Santhosh, the local lads joined us. We reached Mookana mane falls by 12.30 after an off-roading of about half a kilometer. It was a welcome break to sit in the water after 275 KMs of bike ride. All of us got free body massage under the water falls. The whole of water falls was ours for the next 2 hours as no other group/people were there. After a quick lunch – sandwich & salad prepared by Sampath & Ganu, we were all set to continue our journey.

We reached Bisle ghat view point by 4.30 PM after a bumpy ride of 30 KMs which took us more than an hour. Six of us rested there while other continued on the pot-hole filled road to another view point. Few took a power nap while others sat enjoying the nature. After half an hour, we started from Bisle ghat towards our next destination – Herur hills. Plan was to rid up the hill and camp atop.

By the time we reached the foot of the hill, Sun had already set. Off all of us only 2 knew the route up, Sampath, one among them was still behind fixing up Ganesh’s bike. Rest of the gang started our journey to the top with Rajith taking the lead. Semi dark, moon peaking out of clouds now & then, a jeep track (or rather say tractor track :P) with gradient up to 35-40 degrees, sand up to one foot deep. That explains our bike-trek up the Herur hills. En route, we lost Rajith, our lead who went way ahead of us & two bikes still long way behind us. After a bit waiting & searching we regrouped. By the time we reached our camping place & settled down around campfire, Sampath & Ganesh joined us.

Next 2 hours were spent in chatting/discussing sitting around the campfire. While we were chatting, snoozing, listening to natural sounds around, Ganu was busy preparing delicious dinner. After stomachs got filled up, one by one fell asleep & it was a sound sleep. Morning, we woke up to the chirping sound of the birds. After getting freshened up & with a cup of tea, we went for a short trek to the ridge, the view point. It was wonderful sight from top. From there we trekked down a bit to checkout the Herur hill cave, which made us to crawl on all four to enter the cave.

Back to campsite by 9 and after breakfast we were all set to ride back. Riding down the hill on the sand filled road was fun, but not at all same to the onward journey we did at night. At the foothill we bid adieu to Rajit, Santosh & Ganu. Ratish was with us till Shanivara santhe. After filling up fuel & stomach-full of tender coconut and fruit juice, it was whirlwind ride back. Next stop was at Kamat near Chennarayapatna for lunch. Reached home (Kunigal) by 3PM content & tired, while rest of the gang continued to Bangalore.

Trip route:

Bangalore -> Kunigal -> Hassan -> Sakaleshpur -> Mookanamane falls -> Bisle view pint -> Herur hills -> Shanivara santhe -> Arakalagudu -> Hassan -> Kunigal.

Trip meter: 520 KMs