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-   -   S-Cross'd : Birthday Drive - BR Hills, MM Hills, Hogenakkal Falls, Stanley and Mettur (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/200582-s-crossd-birthday-drive-br-hills-mm-hills-hogenakkal-falls-stanley-mettur.html)

It was a Friday, a working day for me, college day for my Sr. PPG, and also her birthday. The infamous traffic snarls of Bangalore makes her stay in college hostel, to avoid the 4 plus hours of commuting up and down every day. Distance is not much, a mere 20Kms, but 4 plus hours phew!! She was supposed to be back in the evening home with her friends for the birthday cake cutting and some fun. It was not to be, an indecisive college administration kept changing college schedules and activities and by the time they were free, it was 19:30 in the evening. Tired and exhausted, Sr. PPG and her friends could not dare a trip home, spending another 2.5 hours to reach by 22:00 hours. Well it was not feasible.

Emotionally strained, I felt devastated. The birthday cake goes back to storage. And Saturday I left to the airport to leave my wifey on her trip to hometown to attend to some family matters. By the time I reached home, by noon, Sr. PPG has come in. Emotionally we all were down. A birthday, her day, lost to a confused college schedule, and sickening traffic of Bangalore.

Well yes, it did dampen our spirits. We took some time to sink it all in. People say an empty mind is a devils workshop, so is the case with an empty stomach. We decided to take care of that part first.

Ordered her favorite pizzas, one each for all of us. Jr. PPG is all hooha on the attention Sr. PPG gets


While we were munching on our pizzas, we have this bright idea, why don't we go for a drive and get our emotions sorted out! Well that was such an easy call, but where to go? And Sunday night I have to pick my wifey back from the airport. So off I went to my drawing board to chart out a plan.

Well my drawing board looks crazy enough :uncontrol



Kittu II, our home cat, making good use of my state of affairs



Finally after requesting Kittu to give me my lappie, I kind of made a plan! A plan to go on a drive to some hills, waterfalls a dam and finally Bangalore Airport.
A round trip of 771Kms in under 16 hours stupid:

The Plan

The plan that evolved was to start early, visit BR Hills some 200Kms away, then visit MM Hills some 150Kms from there, then visit Karnataka side of Hogenakkal Falls 50Kms away, and then Stanley Reservoir bed another 50Kms away, return via Mettur Dam some 20Kms away to Home which was 210Kms from Mettur, immediately followed by an airport run of 100kms up down :uncontrol

Drive Plan
Home - BR Hills - KGudi Forest - MM Hills - Hogenakkal - Stanley - Mettur - Home - Airport -Home (771 Kms)


We knew the distance, we knew the pickup time from Airport, and we did the reverse math, yes we need to start at least by 04:00AM on Sunday to execute this plan.

Yes, the decision is done. Schedules are known, we need to pack. Pack? What? Yes we need to get the birthday cake packed for our birthday drive.

The birthday cake


Yes the cake will be savored during our drive. Sunday is going to be an all cake day :D


Cake in lunch box


Once the cake was packed, we settled of to see some movies from our Roku stick. By 22:00 hours on Saturday we called it a day and our plan was to rise early by 03:00, get ready and start the drive at 04:00 sharp.

We woke up by 03:00, got all the stuff like camera, water, cake, etc. to the car.

Kungfu Panda all set and ready



By 04:00 we were all ready to roll. Our destination according to Google 4 hours away!



We took NICE road, exited at Kanakapura, and then uneventful drive to our destination. There were little or no traffic so early on a Sunday and it helped.

We reached the entrance of BR Hills by 07:15AM.

Reaching BR Hills Entrance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHKkvRQfuYM

We were asked to write down the vehicle and passenger details. The guy asked for some tips, I did not give. he was obviously not happy. Anyways we moved on. Our first destination for the day was BR hills temple.

The drive through BR Hills to the Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdRr0z1ibd4

We parked near the temple by 07:50AM.


PS : Video speed is advanced in all the videos to compress the duration of the video.


continued...

BR Temple

It was a peaceful drive all the way to the temple. After parking the car we realized we have to climb a few steps to reach the temple. Weather was very windy with slight drizzle. It was cold too. Colder than Bangalore.


We saw a chariot parked





Just next to the place the chariot was parked was the Post Office.






Stairs leading to the temple



PPGs loving the weather



The temple Gopura amidst the mist



I was caught clicking too :)



This tree looked like it came in through the rocks




continued...

BR Temple

It was an easy climb


A small structure near to the stairs


An idol made on the big rock




The Temple Gopura we saw from down. Seems like a modern creation


We were obsessed with the Door







continued...

BR Temple


Once we reach the temple, we see that the Gopura was indeed modern, but the temple itself is quite ancient




History of the temple






Peaceful






It was quite a feeling amidst the misty windy chill environment







There was an entrance to an open area from the temple




The howling winds and swaying branches welcomed us. It was surreal




continued...

BR Temple

The swaying trees will be etched in our memories for a long time to come



We went all the way to this corner


The sights we saw were to die for. Waiting for the imminent downpour amidst thick tree cover. Lovely















The howling winds added to the fun clap:


continued...

BR Temple

Howling winds, tree cover and rain clouds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWhyWdTqQjA


PPGs were struggling to stay on the ground while the winds were trying to sweep them off their feet




They loved the place



It was early morning fun, a welcome break. Our emotions were now at a high, that of happiness





It was indeed a good idea to have come out for this drive. The messy devastated Friday is long forgotten.

After a while, enjoying the peace we set out on our journey.

We found a few donkey on the way eating rice




Our next idea was a drive through KGudi forests, and exiting BR hill from the KGudi side.


continued...

BR Temple - KGudi Wilderness Camp - MM Hills - Hogenakkal

We did not stop anywhere to click any pictures, but just enjoyed the drive with the windows rolled down. Here are some videos from our GoPro.

BR Temple to KGudi Wilderness Camp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVJ5dKgcJc

We did not get out to check the camp area, it looked like a bunch of buildings, and a few safaris or so might be organized. We drove on.

KGudi to MM Hills entrance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTgYmqYxbIw

MM Hills entrance to MM Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz6DSkXgTXw

Quite an uninteresting drive to MM Hills, some 18 hairpins or so and mad traffic. We drove to MM Hills just to check out. After reaching the temple area of MM Hills, we immediately turned back for the next destination. Did not enjoy MM Hills much!! So we started off to Hogenakkal. It was almost noon by then.

MM temple to Hogenekkal Entry from Karnataka Side
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcMmlXeEegY

We were not even motivated once to click any pictures in this route!! It was fun to drive, but for the mad traffic.



PS: All video speeds are advanced for shorter duration


continued...

Hogenakkal Falls

Hogenakkal Karnataka Entry - Hogenakkal Falls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c7F3GRihuA

We reached the parking location by 13:00 hours.

PPGs enjoying the drive fully


The place looked peaceful, though many tourists were there.


We had to walk across somebody's fields to reach the river




First glimpse of the river


There was a bridge to reach the viewing platform built just over the creek. They charged 10 Rs per person for the entry.




It was a good platform to view the falls

continued...

Hogenekkal Falls

We took the bridge to the viewing platform


Views of Cauvery were so beautiful














You can spot a few falls in to the creek, water is so much that the creek itself is covered clap:





continued...

Hogenakkal Falls


PPGs at the falls near the Viewing platform



Views from the plaftorm

















PPGs enjoying the falls




Hogenekkal Falls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ4_DHRXMGA



By 13:30 we started our return from the falls


continued...

Hogenakkal Falls to Stanley Reservoir

Hogenakkal falls to Hogenakkal Entry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e_Lsjt3TWs

Hogenakkal Entry to Stanley Reservoir bed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlAlNY65yY
Some pictures from Stanley Reservoir Bed



And finally we have some pictures of our Kungfu Panda clap:















By 15:00 we were done with Stanley and we started our return via Mettur Dam.


continued...

Stanley - Mettur - Krishnagiri - Shoolagiri

Drive through the reservoir bed to the water and back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIKcYYCRIWE

Stanley to Mettur and joining NH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p11p4CShXIk


By 17:30 we were near Shoolagiri, and we wanted some junk food. Cake for the day gave us sugar shock, and we wanted some junk :D. So we stopped at McD.


We got our share of junk food





A visit to McD is not complete without a picture with McD Muthalali (Owner) :uncontrol





By 18:00 we were done with our fill of junk and drove towards home.


continued...

Shoolagiri - Bangalore

By 19:30 we reach home.


Kungfu Panda says 675Kms


My garmin etrex GPS says 675Kms


I can't but appreciate Suzuki for such a perfection. Normally we get GPS to actual errors to some +-3%. Here absolutely on dot. Delighted with such attention to the numbers.

We then took some supplies for Sr. PPGs hostel, and then drove to airport to pick up my wifey. After picking her up we left Sr.PPG to her hostel and after some liberal chit chats reached home by 01:10 to call it a day.

Kungfu Panda says 771Kms round trip and 14300 on Odo clap:


Kungfu Panda returned an overall mileage of 16.61 Kmpl on this trip.


And thus we were all emotionally charged and ready for the next working week :D