[VindyWheels]

But if one is going from Bangalore, is it a good idea to go to cbe?

Personally we had taken out Ooty from our list as the garden, lake are all crowded and even 2nd mile (shooting location, I'm not sure abt the name) and the dam where one can do boating+a waterfall nearby is not as pristine as it used to be. But this avalance and bhavany looks interesting. Waiting for the pics. Where is our man?

Originally Posted by ampere

@devrajman Sorry for this set of notes. Since you started this TL, I realized though I have been to these places, but there remains many much more to be seen!

Eagerly waiting for more of your logs.


I was trying to Google about the location of these places. What I realized is that if one is not interested to go to Ooty but to these places alone, it can done from CBE as well. From the NH67, getaway from Karmadai and come up via Manjoor/Kundah Dam.

This way one needs to base at CBE to go around these places and come back.


And since these places form a part of the Mukurthi National Park (or border close to it), it would also be a nice idea to plan a trek in the park alone. I found quite many TL/Blogs on the net about it. Has anyone more details regarding the same?

[ampere]

I did not mean about Bangalore-Ooty at all. What I meant was, if trek is the target, there are other ways as well. The park is closer from CBE. But yes the drive from Ooty does make it good.

[Fauji]

@ vindy wheels and Ampere
I agree Ooty is crowded but there are some nice places around it to savour and one of it is Avalanche which "sight seeing types" generally don't go. If you are a trekker, there are some trails as well. Another thing to do is nilgiri rail track trek which is nice. Aslo enjoy some glorius views of sun set in Kotagiri. You don't have to go to CBE to go to Ooty. Here is another option since NH 209 is nicely done. Go via Mysore and return via Coonoor, Mettupalyam, sathyamangalam, chamarajnagar on NH 209. You will through beautiful ghats at Sathyamangalam - some 3 0 odd hairpin curves - which looks heavenly after rains. All our hill stations get crowded and trick is to get out of main town and look for nice places around
(Replying from my Blakberry. Please excuse typos)

[laluks]

@Ampere your observation from the Coimbatore side is valid. If having the right set of wheels, permissions etc, the place is a delight.

Regarding the permissions to Avalanche, I guess the thread owner is not mentioning about the lakes Avalanche and Emerald, but the route after the place Avalanche, which is another 5 to 7km ahead from the turn to the lakes.

I was told recently by a friend of mine that he had gone all the way upto upper bhavani and the checkpost guy allowed him to go further. He told the road was bad, had a guy from the checkpost in his car and he did not allow him to take any pictures.

[ampere]

Yes @Laluks, even I suspected that. Just wanted to confirm. The log reminded me of the lakes and rekindled the idea of a trek to the peak along with seeing the Mukurthi lake and Porthimund reservoir.

(Not to miss the dam at UB for sure!)

EDIT: By the way, where is the thread starter?

[royalcruiser]

My wife n I were in the same place this weekend. In fact, we completely skipped Ooty and instead headed out to a small resort/homestay further ahead from the bridge (separating Avalanchi and Emerald). The roads are horrible, but the peace and calm and more importantly the views the location offers is something to look forward to.
I do not want to hijack this thread with pics and am too tired to write up the travelogue today. Will post mine in a couple of days and hopefully later this evening will post a coupla pics into this thread if devraj doesn't mind

[ampere]

That is the Destiny Farm stay, I think.
Amazing place and so is the route.

[royalcruiser]

A little ahead of Destiny Farm - place called Red Hills.

[VindyWheels]

Very interesting! Pls post "comprehensive" details - route, condition (is a SUV required, whats the max speed), rate for the home stay, no of rooms, food....obviously I'm excited

[Ride_4_Fortune]

@ampere and laluks : you are correct regarding the route from Coimbatore. The route from Karamadai to Manjoor via Veliankadu, Mulli, Gedhai goes through reserve forests, power station and ghat terrain with 43 hair pin bends. You might also spot wild life in this route. Also there are entry timing restriction due to the check posts. So when trying out this route one has to plan accordingly not to arrive at the check post late in the evening.

[devrajman]

Apologies for the delay. Had a roller-coaster over the weekend.... Also attended MRF MotoCross Championship held at Hebbal on Sunday. It was great fun!

We had taken permission on Day 1 from DFO - South Division. When we asked for Avalanchee, he also gave Upper Bhavani. He issued a notice and took my signature on zerox of it. He gave original to me.

Day 2: Avalanche --> Kundah --> Conoor (Lamb's Rock, Dolphin Nose) --> Ooty

We started from our resort at 9:45AM. Is was pretty late however you all know Ooty weather, Somehow feel very sleepy. We had a very pleasant drive till Avalanchee check post. Road till Emerald and diversion to Avalanchee is excellent. It has amazing view of farms, tea estates, Good Shepherd School, etc. Road from diversion to check post is Ok-Ok. We showed permission letter at check post and they let us in. However they said please dont try to go to upper bhavani, your car may not take it. I told him, I do not have any plans for Upper Bhavani anyways! Then he said, OK, but go very slow. Road is very bad. I said, Ok. Thx.

As soon as we crossed check post and proceedded further. Road just went from OK-OK to bad and then worst. I was like Hell No!! However just a few meters and we get to see glimse of Emerald Lake. It was just beautiful!! Vegetation got thicker and thicker. Few patches there was almost no sunlight and damp roads! I was going only in 1 or 2nd gear doing only 5-20kms/h! Those ~7kms looked like never ending! Once we reached Avalanche power house/ Post office. We stopped our car and asked for details. They said, there is a small trek to lake and then trek to falls. We were thrilled and geared up. After trekking for 15 mins downhill in forests, we reached an open area, barren! It was dry lake bed. On my left is power house pipes running down the hill and on my right was beautiful blue lake!!

We saw the falls right opp. We had to cross 2 small streams over the stones. Once we reached falls there were huge number of people. I was shocked! they were playing, swimming, jumping from mid-falls into water. I was like, man, this isnt what i expected, People!! However i spoke to them, they were from some 3 day trek. They left in 20 mins and then it was only me and my wife!

We took many snaps, and then started our trek over the falls. There was a path way to go above the falls. Once over it, we saw there were multiple steps of falls! We didnt venture much and started climing down. We were very hungry as it was 1:30PM. We walked back to our car. Had some snacks and started for Lunch Hunt. This time my wife was on the wheel! I was scared for some idiotic stone hurting my XM1+. She drove very well. And then got hang of finding safer path across. Later on the way I met another ZEN guy, he had been to Upper Bhavani and was looking way to Avalanchee. I told him the route and he left. We crossed the checkpoint and were on the main road. We decided to have lunch on the way to Conoor and finish all the points in Conoor and return back to Ooty in night.

We luckily met a very knowledgeable guy who was Senior Manager Marketing in LIC ooty. He gave us exact route with distance to Conoor. It was ~35kms to Conoor. My wife at wheel i was expecting an hour! It was 3PM and we were hungry!!! We started however told my wife to drive patiently. She was getting better and better in those roads.

We reached Conoor at 4:30PM and parked our car near bus-stand and went directly to some Pure Veg Restaurant near Conoor circle. Food was great (may be due to our hunger :-) )

Started at 5:00PM from there. With full stomach and 13kms for Dolphin, I took over the wheel and went into overdrive mode. Reached Lambs Rock at 5:35 PM, stopped for 5 mins and started for Dolphin Nose. Reached at 6:00PM.

There was still some light. Sun was almost set. We went to nose with tea and hot peanuts. Just stood there, took pics and peacefully talking about the day. It was very calming. We went up the small viewing place and sat there till night falls on town below. We started from there. Our car was second last to start. We stopped at a perfect place just couple of kms from there to take night light shots of town below. Prepared my tripod and started taking pics of town, car, etc. Moon was half however its light was very bright. It was just heaven experience. We started from there, drove straight to Resort. However we called resort from ooty and they said, its too late to order.. So we had dinner in nearby hotel. Opp Dhaba, its called Preeti Palace. Food was Ok-OK. Reached resort, thinking to crash into bed. However we got fresh and went to central lawn where resort guys arranged camp fire and free hot tea! It was so relaxing. I and my wife kept talking pass mid-night and then went to sleep.

What a day....Just Awesome! Who said Ooty is commercialized and not worth going! I say plan and enjoy the Perfect Essence of Ooty!

Even after having such a beautiful day, i felt, i would have done some more reading about Avalanchee, and visited more places around including dams around. May be its left for my next visit with a bigger gang!

Pic 1: Route from Resort to Avalanchee Post Office
Pic 2: Zoomed Route from Avalanchee Diversion to Avalanchee
Pic 3: Route from Avalanchee to Conoor

Day 3: Ooty -> Pykara -> Blore

[Cntd....]

[ampere]

The water level seems to have gone down drastically.
The place also looks dry now! Not like what it used to be !

[Travel_newbie]

With your permission and without any intention of hijacking your thread.... allow me to post a couple of pics of Avalanchi lake, Mar 2011 - these pics show that the lake was brimming with water.... dont know how the water levels decreased so rapidly

Avalanchi lake


Avalanchi lake


Avalanchi lake

[devrajman]

One thing I forgot to mention,

There were couple of cars at check post during exiting it. The check post guy wasnt allowing them to pass it as they entered from different check post and wanted to exit from this one. Dont know what happened. He told me to go and I left.

[ampere]

Wow! 2-3 months and so much difference? Something is definitely wrong here.
Hope we are looking at the same water body!