Finally managed to update the video.
The first video is the one which shows us extracting Mukund's gypsy. Its a 23 min video.
Solgere OTR Part1
Once we were able to extract Mukund's (Ragpicker) Gypsy, Khan_Sultan (Shahnawaz) and Suresh drove the other 2 vehicles carefully negotiating around the trees.
Finally at a point 2 Kms from the top, we reached a point where we had the track littered with pebbles.
At this point, we heard a elephant trumphet. Quiet possibly it was walking on the path and had to make a quick dash into the forest after hearing the noice being made by our vehicles.
All of us assumed it to be a herd of elephants possibly with calves due to the way in which they were trumpheting to show their displeasure at us for invading their domain.
Chennappa informed us that we might be able to track the elephants once we negotiate this track and reach the top.
The pathway was littered with dried elephant dung which made it all the more clear that the path we were using was frequented by elephants.
At this point i have shot a video of us negotiating the trail. I am not sure if you guys can hear it or not, but in the background we can hear the elephant trumpheting. Also we can see the path taken by elephants to dash into the forest.
Solgere OTR Part2
Once we reached the top, we could still hear the elephant trumpheting and Chennappa offered to track the elephant.
So we parked our jeeps and started to track the elephant on foot. Now i must say with some dried leaves we found it very difficult to follow the elephant without making any noise.
Then we reached a left hand curve.
I was the last one in the group and when i reached the curve, i see the rest of the guys running back at me with Jammy (MM440) looking dead serious and telling me to get the hell out of there.
The minute he said it i knew that the elephant must have either tried to unnerve us with a mock charge or must have really charged. I didnt want to stand there and verify either of the 2 things.
Thats it i started running as fast as i could over the rocky and uneven terrain trying to keep up with the guys as best as i could.
Finally after running a safe distance, Chennappa stopped as did the rest of the guys.
It is here that Mukund, Anand Chennappa, Suresh and Shahnawaz informed me that what we thought to be a herd of elephants turned out to be infact a solitary elephant ("Makhna") which had infact earned a bad reputation after having trampling an unsuspecting villager on his thigh.
We stood there on top of a couple of boulders for a bit waiting to make sure that the elephant was not going to follow us.
Once we got the all clear, we slowly headed back to our steeds and got going.
Although i had the camera with me i didnt take any snaps at this point as running was of paramount importance when compared to taking snaps.
After another 2 kms, we reached the top of the Solgere hills.
The time at this point was around 05:30 P.M and we were really really starved.
We went to the end point there and sat down on the rocks and "watered and fed" ourselves. The idea of keeping the "RAJMA" next to the radiator was outstanding
one as it kept the "Rajma" really hot. We ate the rajma along with the Poori's and "Vangibath" which we also shared along with Channappa and "Tiger" an adorable stray mutt which has been around for quiet some time and seems familier with Mukund and Jammy.
The hot "rajma"
Quenching our thirst.
Cauvery river from top of the Solgere betta.
One more on the opposite side.
Sun set.
We sat on top until 6:50 and then decided to get down using the normal easy trail and also it was getting pretty dark.
Once down we hit the highway we reached the Kanakpura town in no time at all.
After we crossed the Kanakpura town, Shahnawaz informed us that he would be rushing home. So our convoy of 3 jeeps was now reduced to a convoy of 2 jeeps.
Another 10 minutes later, we saw Mukund slowing down and informing us that there was a problem with his gypsy but then continued driving at a much reduced speed. Then after a couple of 100's of meters, Mukund stopped the jeep again.
The problem was determined as a T-case failure. Since it was around 8 we decided to tow the gypsy with my MM540.
We towed the gypsy for some distance when Anand and Suresh stopped the MM540 and informed us that they would try and fix the problem.
[Guys i am not very sure about the problem with Mukund's jeep as i dont still understand lots of things about jeeps]
MM440, Khan_Sultan, Ragpicker are requested to explain this part in detail to the rest of them.
Finally the problem got fixed and i hitched a ride along with Mukund back home along with Mukund and reached home by around 11:00 P.M.
This ends the travelogue of my first OTR,
One of the main thing that i learnt from the OTR is that the satisfaction that one achieves after completing a tough trail and then reaching a destination that others would not be able to do on normal vehicles is something that has to be experienced and cannot be expressed with words or through pictures.
I felt on top of the world once we reached the top spot. We had the whole place for ourselves (Just the 5 of us).
Offroading is a very serious thing and should not be attempted alone unless the person attempting is an experienced offroader who knows the mechanicals of his jeep in and out and also has a winch or something mounted on his vehicle to be able to get out of a "Sticky" situation.
Hope you guys enjoyed this little travelogue. Sorry for the limited numbers of pictures that were taken. Next OTR that i goto will have more pictures.