[addyhemmige]

One hour after we left the third group behind, we reached a small clearing on top of a hill. We hoped to see some landmarks in the direction in which we were going, but could not do because of the thick vegetation and the very high tree line. Moving on, the path again disappeared. We somehow moved in the direction of the heading and found another trail (or so we thought). The truth was, we were lost. We were lost and did not know where to go. Anywhere we looked, it all looked the same.

Then we saw another clearing ahead and scooted over there. It somewhat resembled a path along the side of a mountain. We could hear water flowing some where, but could not see it at all. We went along the so called path cutting down fallen branches and bushes on the way. It was obvious that no man had come in this route/trail (at least in this season). So, we were quite apprehensive even though we were moving forward. There was another group who were ahead of us and we did not know which route they took or where they were. We tried whistling and shouting hoping they could hear us and respond. But, we did not hear anything apart from the water flowing somewhere below. At this point we were around 340 meters above sea level according to my GPS reading.

We moved on in the trail till we could no longer hear the sound of the water flowing. We continued and found a huge thorny bush blocking our path. There was no way we could get through to the other side without going through it. So, we started cutting the branches carefully so as to create some sort of a path through it. But, it was not as easy as it looked. Now, we were faced with a decision. It was already 4.30 pm and it would get dark soon. We had to find a camping spot as early as possible. I was thinking, now is the best time to use the GPS. For a moment, we all thought of turning back and reach the river to camp for the night by using the GPS tracks. The reason we wanted to go to the river is that water is very important. Our water bottles were almost empty and we also needed water to cook our food. And there was no suitable campsite at that point, because it was the edge of a mountain and there was no water nearby. After some discussions, we thought we will move ahead and camp at the first place we find water.

Again, we started cutting the thorny bush and somehow cleared enough space for a person to scrape through. We all scraped through to the other side and moved on. It had already started to get dark by the time we crossed the bush. Some 10 mins after the bush, we found a small flat clearing and again a small trail leading out of it went downhill. Again at this place, we could hear a stream flowing. We went down the trail and found a small stream flowing nearby. We immediately rushed to the stream, refreshed ourselves in the cool water and refilled our bottles. After having our fill of water, we started on only to find that the trail had disappeared again. And since the light was fading fast, we decided to look for a camping spot here itself. Then we remembered the small flat area just before the stream. (I don’t have pictures of this place, as we were too busy thinking/discussing to click pictures)

This is how our path looked like. You can see the stream below.


Just above this place, it looked like a big clearing


But, the forest can deceive you in many ways. I went over there to do a recce and found that it was denser than ever.


Finally, after deciding the place, we started to clear our campsite. One guy went to get firewood, another one went to collect rocks (for the stove) and the remaining two started setting up the tent. The time was around 6 pm by the time we had our camp set up.

At our camp, we were approx 400 meters above sea level. OG Peak was 971 msl. So, we still had to climb approx 571 msl to reach the peak.

Our camp site



The collected firewood


There was another major problem. The firewood was not dry. Since it had rained the previous night, all the wood was damp. It became a major headache for us to start the fire. We had a little bit of petrol (bought in the last minute for these types of situations) with us and tried to use it to start the fire. Now, we did not know that it was a mistake to bring petrol. Petrol, although highly inflammable is very ineffective when you need to sustain a flame. So when ever we poured petrol on the wood and set it on fire, it would just light up and extinguish. What could we do now? Somehow we managed to find a semi damp branch and lighted it up using the help of newspapers. It was a tough task to keep it going too as it was very windy at that place (despite the dense vegetation around the place). Out came the staple diet of trekkers: Instant Noodles. Instant Noodles have become a boon to the trekking community as it is fast and easy to prepare. I don’t know how much nutrition it provides, but it surely fills the stomach .

Cooking the noodles


After Dinner, we initially planned to keep watch over the fire so that no animal would want to surprise us that night. But, the fire was barely enough to cook the noodles, let alone burn through the night. So, we chucked the plan and retired into the tent.

Back in the tent after dinner




It was a scary night. The wind was howling badly and we heard an animal move somewhere near our campsite. We got up and shone our torches all around, but could not see anything. Again, sometime in the middle of the night, the rain cover we had put on our tent was almost blown off by the wind. We were lucky that it did not rain though. And it was pretty cold out there. Somehow we survived the night.

Our camp early in the morning


The Stream near our camp



Checking our location and heading before we leave camp


Starting off from the camp site



Continued....

Originally Posted by C300

..thats sad. I remember we did the trek over weekend and there was hardly anyone apart from local villagers. Cant imagine the damage these picnic crowds will cause to the local environment.

It is very bad actually. The day I went there, there were more than 50 people camping on the peak and some 80 more camping in and around Bhattara Mane. I also wrote to the DCFs of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu about the need to regulate trekking on the mountain, but never received any response from them.

Originally Posted by 370Z

Thanks for the info. I presume you took Adda HoLe and Devara HaLLa route as per SoI map? We tried to take this route when we went in April, but had to return because of billions of leeches (no "clean space" for camping) and indications of heavy rains.
Yes. I hope OG remains pristine. Elephants and venoums pit vipers are enough to scare away "picnic crowd"

Initially, we had not decided which route to take. Somehow, we followed what looked like a trail and ended up walking beside the Addahole for some time. Then we mistook a dry stream bed as out deviation point and deviated from the actual route shown on the map.

Even OG too will go the KP way. It has been a popular trail for quite sometime and it will continue to be so. I read a blog wherein a trekking club took 30 people for this trek. 30 people!!!! I don't know why these guys take so many people. How on earth will they manage 30 people? What will be the impact of 30 people together inside a forest? Nobody seems to care :(

[Fauji]

This is real adventure Addy!!! To go on your own without any guide from forest department is quite a risk as the maps wil not be well updated and latest. Hats off to you guys pulling it off.

BTW, did you spot any animals?

[MohsinRoadster]

5 Start Addy. This is true adventure.

Brilliant pics and excellent narration.

[EARTHed]

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

5 Start Addy. This is true adventure.

Brilliant pics and excellent narration.

Truly agree.

Need to visit these 9 Hills ASAP.

[RROD]

Bookmarked for future reference.
Excelllent write up.

[airguitar]

The sad state of things is that on a number of occassions, an empty plastic bottle that someone has thrown or an empty Pan Parag packet lying on the road side is an indication that you're on the right direction. Unfortunate, but true.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by Fauji

This is real adventure Addy!!! To go on your own without any guide from forest department is quite a risk as the maps wil not be well updated and latest. Hats off to you guys pulling it off.

BTW, did you spot any animals?

True. The maps we get from the Survey of India are published in 1985. So, it will never show the changes which might have occurred to the place in the past 26 years, but it will give us a general idea of what we can expect ahead and a probable location of landmarks.

Nope, apart from the 2 cats which I have mentioned at the start, we never did see any other wildlife. We did hear some animal moving around near our camp at night (I guess it was a jackal). Luckily, it never came near us.

Oh and there was this bull which almost charged at us, when we were passing through the Saraswati Estate.

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

5 Start Addy. This is true adventure.

Brilliant pics and excellent narration.

Thanks Mohsin

Originally Posted by EARTHed

Truly agree.

Need to visit these 9 Hills ASAP.

It is one of the must do places, if you are a trekker. December should be the right time to do it.

Originally Posted by RROD

Bookmarked for future reference.
Excelllent write up.

Thanks a lot RROD.

Originally Posted by airguitar

The sad state of things is that on a number of occassions, an empty plastic bottle that someone has thrown or an empty Pan Parag packet lying on the road side is an indication that you're on the right direction. Unfortunate, but true.

Very true. Even we found chocolate wrappers, pan parag packets and similar stuff deep inside the forest.

@all, Sorry, for the delay (again). This delay was due to the weekend. Will continue tomorrow.

[addyhemmige]

We started off at approx 8.30 am from our camp. We were still lost, but were moving blindly in the direction of our heading. After about 45 mins we came across another campsite. The first group of trekkers had camped here for the night. They had left though and were ahead of us. We still did not know in which direction they had gone. We were climbing gradually but seemed to go nowhere. We were just moving from hill to hill with no sign of getting a clear view. At this point we even contemplated moving back towards Addahole and then to Gundya from there. After some discussions, we stopped at a dried up stream and then decided to climb up the stream. We did this because, if we could reach the top of the hill, we could have a clear view of the surrounding area and then look for landmarks. This stream was very steep and we had to climb straight up. This was very very tiring. Sometimes we had to take help by holding trees and pull ourselves up. At around 11 am, we reached the top of the tree line and now only grass lay ahead of us. We had made it to a clear point. The elevation was 660msl.

View from this point – The peaks of Shiradi ghat. Notice the treeline to the right. We were just above the treeline.




Although we had reached the grass, we still had a lot more to do. We still did not know where we were and the climb ahead was steep. This time we did not even have something to hold on to when we were climbing. And to top it all, we were climbing directly under the hot sun, with no shade whatsoever.

Steep climb


While climbing ahead, we saw a couple of people on the adjacent mountain. We shouted, whistled and waved at them. They too heard us and responded. It was the first group of trekkers. They were a good hour ahead of us though. Another 10 minutes later, we reached the peak of the mountain we were climbing. It was a huge relief to get out of the forest and reach a peak where we could see far and wide.

Relief


We did not notice it then but, to our luck we had climbed a peak adjacent to the one we were supposed to climb. It was such a good feeling that we had almost reached our destination. But we still had a long way to go. Although OG was adjacent to the one we were on, we had to walk on the ridge and gain some altitude. Our current altitude was 685 msl and our destination altitude was 971 msl.


The co-ordinates to our first peak 12.9349N 75.5936E


Windy at the top. The peak on the right is Deepadakallu (See 1st pic of the travelogue)


Views from the small peak



Checking maps and coordinates again


Deepadakallu Gudda and Jenukallu Gudda



Somewhere in those mountains is the famous Shiradi Ghat



Our destination – Ombattu Gudda

[MohsinRoadster]

It must have been such a satisfying moment when you finally learnt that you are almost at the destination. A typical lost and found feeling.

[rjstyles69]

addy brilliant man, you just made my afternoon which otherwise is a sulking one at office. Am glued to your thread and yeah I can understand what one feels like when lost in thick vegetation. Been there once and the worst is arriving at a decision. Everyone thinks they are right and have to voice their opinion about finding the right trail.

Good on you chaps man, even though lost you all decided to sweat it out and find the right path in a group.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

It must have been such a satisfying moment when you finally learnt that you are almost at the destination. A typical lost and found feeling.

Oh yes!!! We were so happy when we climbed the first hill, you can see the relief on our faces. We were going to be on top of OG this time after all!!!

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

addy brilliant man, you just made my afternoon which otherwise is a sulking one at office. Am glued to your thread and yeah I can understand what one feels like when lost in thick vegetation. Been there once and the worst is arriving at a decision. Everyone thinks they are right and have to voice their opinion about finding the right trail.

Good on you chaps man, even though lost you all decided to sweat it out and find the right path in a group.

Thanks rjstyles!!! You have hit the nail right on the head. In times of crisis, everyone will have a hundred opinions and it is very difficult to get a consensus. Our decision to climb up the stream bed was a very good one because if we hadn't, we would have had to roam around in the forest for probably one more day (if not more). The good thing was that all the 4 of us stuck to a decision which was practical at that point.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

@addy,
nice treklogue i must say.

Is GPS useful for such trek?

waiting for aage kya hua?

[subs]

Hi guru

Great adventure and superb pictures to complement your writing skills. I dont know about others, but i actually enjoy getting lost on a holiday. I enjoy the suspense of not knowing whats going to happen next, especially when you are not with wife and kid, but with similar thinking crazy adventure enthusiasts. I dont like a planned holiday, I prefer a take-it-as-it-comes trip.

How many of you support me on this?

Cheers
Subs

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@addy,
nice treklogue i must say.

Is GPS useful for such trek?

waiting for aage kya hua?

Thank you AP.

GPS may not be entirely useful unless you get lost. Sometimes map and compass are sufficient enough provided you know how to read them and identify landmarks. In case you get lost, a GPS can atleast help you to retrace your route, so there it is useful.

But without a map and compass, it is a complete no no.

Originally Posted by subs

Hi guru

Great adventure and superb pictures to complement your writing skills. I dont know about others, but i actually enjoy getting lost on a holiday. I enjoy the suspense of not knowing whats going to happen next, especially when you are not with wife and kid, but with similar thinking crazy adventure enthusiasts. I dont like a planned holiday, I prefer a take-it-as-it-comes trip.

How many of you support me on this?

Cheers
Subs

Count me in buddy!! I don't exactly enjoy the getting lost part, but to the take-it-as-it-comes part.

[shazikon]

Nice trek addy..am planning this trek in Oct Nov.. your info would be of great help