On the trail........
We got down near Chennappa’s house and he went off to get the water bottles and his bag. We started off, on the trail at exactly 9 am.
We deviated from the road at this point
Already the heat and humidity was building up. A walk of just a few minutes had our shirts soaking wet. One good thing was that we had to trek in the shade of the dense canopy for the initial part of the trek. Even though we were in the shade, the humidity was sapping the energy we had.
Our guide Chennappa sitting ahead and waiting for us, the lazy city boys
We trudged on and on and on under the canopy until suddenly we got a view of ‘Ettina Bhuja’ peak. Ettina Bhuja means Ox’s shoulder in Kannada and this peak is just to the east of Amedikallu. We can see Ettina Bhuja peak all through our trek. We can also see it from Shishila.
Ettina Bhuja
Couple of forest fires on the way
After a few minutes’ walk, we came out into the open and had our first glimpse of the majestic Amedikallu.
Tired by the time we came out of the canopy. Atleast we had some cool breeze now.
A fruit called 'Chatte Hannu' in Kannada. Tasted a bit like groundnuts. Our guide showed it to us.
A dry tree, but look at the grass below, it is green. That was because of the light drizzle which fell the previous week.
Amedikallu has one of the steepest climbs in the Western Ghats and now we had to face it. This was the toughest part of the trek since we had to climb in the open sun.
The red line is the route which we took to the peak
At this point our guide suggested that we deviate from the normal route and walk into the forest to fill up water.
By this time we had used up some water and needed the refill very much, since we had to last till the peak and also needed water for cooking dinner. We went into a patch of forest and stopped at a fork. The guide went down into the valley and refilled the water bottles. Took a few minutes rest and started again. Now, we headed onto the open grassland slopes.
View of Ettina Bhuja
Closer view of Ettina Bhuja (Pic courtesy: Google, Copyrights lie with the respective owner)
Although it was hot, the grasslands had a cool breeze coming from everywhere. The new grass had sprouted in the rains which had fallen the previous week
Ettina Bhuja peak is on the extreme left. Jenukallu gudda peak is on the extreme right
Continued......