[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by laluks

Theoretically you can. But you will need a vehicle that can do water crossings, that is snorkel and all that stuff in this season.

Thank you for input. Yes all these vehicles have snorkel, winch, mud terrain tyres, lifted for more height etc.
Let me try my luck in September first week.

Shubhendra

[Harry Iyer]

Hi Laluks,

Excellent Travelogue. It has insipired my friends & I to drive from Bangalore to castle rock and trek to Dudhsagar from there. We are planning to leave on Friday, August 8th immediately after finishing office. But we highly doubt whether we'd be able to trek 14 kms from Castle Rock to Dudhsagar after an overnight drive? Are there any cheap lodges/hotels available in Castle Rock if we start from Bangalore on Saturday morning and stay overnight and start our trek fresh on Sunday morning? I am unable to find any such place on Google... Kindly help :-(

[swapnilup]

Originally Posted by Shubhendra

A noob query to all who have been there. I have heard from many people that 4x4 vehicles are allowed to go till fall ?

There is a road that goes to the top of the falls from Castlerock. The roads are mostly closed when there is a continuous downpour. If you want more details I can try and get the number of the person who operates a home stay in Castlerock.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Harry Iyer

Hi Laluks,

Excellent Travelogue. It has insipired my friends & I to drive from Bangalore to castle rock and trek to Dudhsagar from there. We are planning to leave on Friday, August 8th immediately after finishing office. But we highly doubt whether we'd be able to trek 14 kms from Castle Rock to Dudhsagar after an overnight drive? Are there any cheap lodges/hotels available in Castle Rock if we start from Bangalore on Saturday morning and stay overnight and start our trek fresh on Sunday morning? I am unable to find any such place on Google... Kindly help :-(

Ideally, stay in Dudhagar Resort & Spa at Molem and drive 6 kms to Colem station.

From there, you can walk to Dudh Sagar or take a train (check on timings of specific trains that stop in Dudh Sagar)

Castle Rock Station is not a viable idea, too far away.

AFAIK, there is no road during the rainy season to connect to Dudh Sagar Falls.

The easiest way to reach the Falls is to take a bike (sitting pillon) from Colem. Takes 40 minutes one-way. The bikes ride along the side of the railway track.

This is the view you will get - this was taken by my son On Jul 12, 2014

[Karthik Gullu]

Excellent travelogue, Nice pictures and you have provided exact details what generally people want before starting for the trip may be here for Doodhsagar falls .

I had been to that place month ago and the weather was awesome, it was drizzling there. We started from Bangalore ,stayed in Dandeli and next day we went to Castle Rock and started trekking all the way to Doodhsagar falls.

Water levels was pretty decent since it is a monsoon. Generally train stops in Doodhsagar station,there is a train at 10am Chennai express from Castle rock and while coming back train is at 5.15pm from Doodhsagar station to castle rock.

[Harry Iyer]

Which of the following routes is best (NOT for the scenery - but in terms of ROAD CONDITION) from Bangalore to Castle Rock/Dudhsagar?

1) Bankapur >> Mundgod >> Yellapura >> Ganeshgudi (numerous posts in Team-BHP actually suggest avoiding this road at all costs)

2) Kalghatgi >> Haliyal >> Ganeshgudi

3) Dharwad >> Haliyal >> Ganeshgudi

4) Dharwad >> Alnavar >> Ramnagar (most direct route - but somebody here mentioned this road to be an "unqualified disaster :-( )

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Harry Iyer

Which of the following routes is best (NOT for the scenery - but in terms of ROAD CONDITION) from Bangalore to Castle Rock/Dudhsagar?

1) Bankapur >> Mundgod >> Yellapura >> Ganeshgudi (numerous posts in Team-BHP actually suggest avoiding this road at all costs)

2) Kalghatgi >> Haliyal >> Ganeshgudi

3) Dharwad >> Haliyal >> Ganeshgudi

4) Dharwad >> Alnavar >> Ramnagar (most direct route - but somebody here mentioned this road to be an "unqualified disaster :-( )

You will enjoy the last one - Route 4 - the most.
It has been repaired quite some time ago and is a fantastic road now

[Auswechseln]

Originally Posted by Harry Iyer

Hi Laluks,

Excellent Travelogue. It has insipired my friends & I to drive from Bangalore to castle rock and trek to Dudhsagar from there. We are planning to leave on Friday, August 8th immediately after finishing office. But we highly doubt whether we'd be able to trek 14 kms from Castle Rock to Dudhsagar after an overnight drive? Are there any cheap lodges/hotels available in Castle Rock if we start from Bangalore on Saturday morning and stay overnight and start our trek fresh on Sunday morning? I am unable to find any such place on Google... Kindly help :-(

We have just returned from a trip to Dudhsagar and Goa.

It is impossible to trek after an overnight drive. You will need some sleep before the trek.

There is a PWD guest house (near Castle Rock adventure club) in Castle Rock. I can PM you the contact if you want. You can call and book in advance. It is close to the station and the old couple maintaining it are very helpful. The cost for a room including breakfast and lunch (we had parceled) was around INR850. It was completely worth it.

We stayed there overnight after reaching Castle Rock at 12.30PM. Woke up at 7.30. Had breakfast and parceled chapatis and left at 9.00AM.

We were told that there was a goods train at 11.00AM. So we trekked from Castle Rock to Carzole, the next station. We were right on time for the train.

Took the train and reached Dudhsagar by 11.30AM. The return train was at 5.30PM. Reached Caste Rock by 6.15PM.

Some points from my side:

1) Take a lot of plastic covers to store your gadgets and wet clothes. The rain never stops.

2) Take umbrellas, one each of you. We forgot this at the last moment.

3) You cannot buy any tickets for the trains, since the Dudhsagar station is an unscheduled stop. For goods train(s) you need to ask permission of the Guard.

4) Enquire for the train timings multiple times and plan accordingly. Its okay if you miss the train to the falls since you can trek. But do not miss the return train to Castle Rock.

We saw two couples trekking to the falls at 6.00PM while we were returning . God only knows how they managed.

Which of the following routes is best (NOT for the scenery - but in terms of ROAD CONDITION) from Bangalore to Castle Rock/Dudhsagar?

We took the Dharwad/Hubli--->Alnavar---> Ramnagar--->Castle Rock route. It was excellent.

[laluks]

We took this route for a drive two weeks back. The route marked inside the box is a disaster


Ask my co passenger Ddrive, how he felt about the drive

[Ddrive]

Yes, We were there.
The same is well explained by Laluks himself in this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post3487481

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Auswechseln

We have. We were right on time for the train.

Took the train and reached Dudhsagar by 11.30AM. The return train was at 5.30PM. Reached Caste Rock by 6.15PM.

Some points from my side:

.

Hey, could you please PM the contact details of the guest house? And another piece of info I wanted is if there were any options for food in castle rock? It would be of great help. And are there any restrictions as such on trekkers imposed? The last time I went there was nothing but after the recent surge in tourists, have they taken any measures to curb them?

[yo222]

Hey Friends!

While my wish to visit this heaven is still unfulfilled... just came across this bit of news that says that very soon there will be lifeguards deployed at Dudhsagar Falls

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/39190740.cms

Though it may sound foolish, but I want to take my parents (aged 62 & 63) if possible.

[Auswechseln]

Hey, could you please PM the contact details of the guest house? And another piece of info I wanted is if there were any options for food in castle rock? It would be of great help.

I have PM'ed you the number.

The location: Take a left from the Ramnagar-Ponda-Panaji highway towards Castle Rock (there will be a board of Karnataka Tourism). The road will be a bit narrow. Proceed until you see a board saying "Castle Rock Adventure club", follow it, you will come across the club in some time. Then you can call the number. He will guide to the guest house.

Rough guide:

The road after the diversion will seem a bit remote, but nothing to worry.

About the food: You may get something in the market in Castle Rock. What we did was, we had breakfast at the guest house and parceled some 20 chapatis for the trek. You don't get anything on the way. Only near the falls you can have some bread omelets, chips and stuff.

And are there any restrictions as such on trekkers imposed? The last time I went there was nothing but after the recent surge in tourists, have they taken any measures to curb them?

Restrictions like ?

While my wish to visit this heaven is still unfulfilled... just came across this bit of news that says that very soon there will be lifeguards deployed at Dudhsagar Falls

Even if lifeguards are deployed, I don't think you would ever contemplate getting down into the water in this season.

Though it may sound foolish, but I want to take my parents (aged 62 & 63) if possible.

IMHO, it will be stressful. But that's just me.

[Auswechseln]

By the way, i recently had one of my friends pointing out to me an article in Bangalore Mirror that said that there are no trains stopping at CLR at all!!! and in fact, that has led to visitors risking their life by either jumping in the ponds (created from the DDS water) from the moving train or getting knocked off in their attempts to stop an oncoming train

5. Jumping down to the falls is an exaggerated statement I must say. Both sides of the bridge are wide enough and well barricaded which makes jumping impossible, except if they had a expert on board.he wouldn't have survived for sure, even if he did. Maybe they jumped off the train thats it.

I had imagined exactly the same thing after reading the article.

Only when you are at the location, you realize how moronic the article is.

As audioholic has said, you cannot jump into the falls. There are no placid pools as well. Only full fledged, turbulent waters. If anybody is brave enough to jump, they will find themselves in Arabian sea.

I wonder people who write the article have even visited the place before doing so.

Note to Mods: Please do merge my posts. I didn't come across these posts before my 'edit' time got over.

[laluks]

Civvy was at Castle Rock on Independence day, as a part of a 3 day 2200Km adventure