[addyhemmige]

The next morning….

We had planned to leave the house by 6.30 am so that we could return early. By the time we woke up it was 6.30 and we hurriedly got ready. Our guide took our breakfast and we started off. We were to have breakfast somewhere on the way. We did not carry any lunch with us as we were supposed to come back by 2.

Ready to leave


Now started the long walk to the peak. There were no tough climbs or descents initially and we started in good pace.

The first view of the peak


On the way we found some fences which I assumed to be National Park boundaries. After a few minutes, we came to the edge of a valley and there was lone tree by the edge. There was platform constructed beneath the tree so that people could sit and take rest. Here we took our first break.

The lone tree and the valley behind us


We were expecting a lot of rain (since this was the rainy season), but the closest we came to getting wet was the morning dew on the grass. Our feet became wet in no time. As we trudged on, my friend who was walking ahead suddenly signaled to me. When I went to see what is was, there it was again. This time it looked like a juvenile rat snake (not sure though). It promptly tried to hide in the grass hoping its camouflage would help. But, luckily for us we had seen it move on to the grass and could easily find it.

The juvenile snake


We moved on and crossed plenty of streams. These streams always flow under the shola forests and whenever we entered the forests, there would have to be leeches. The only thing we could do is to start running as soon as we enter the shola and stop only after we came out of the shola.

A stream (sorry for the pic quality)






Another view of the peak


There is a good trail all the way to the peak. At some places, this trail merges with other animal trails and is confusing.


Another stream crossing


Some more views



Applying anti-leech solution. The anti-leech solution is mixture of snuff powder and coconut oil. We had to smear the solution on our legs and shoes. From what experience we've had with leeches, this solution was quite effective in preventing leech bites. We had our breakfast at this point and then applied the solution.


Some views after our breakfast point





Just 5 mins after we applied the anti-leech solution we had to cross a huge stream. Actually we were crossing at the confluence of 2-3 streams and there 3 crossings at a single location. We were worried that the solution would be washed off if we waded into the water and started hopping on the slippery rocks to get to the other side. Luckily, we came out unscathed.

The stream crossing







After crossing the streams we came across some flat lands. These lands looked like they had been cultivated. Then our guide pointed out a broken down house nearby. This was the ‘Lobo Mane’ (Lobo House). There are 3 houses in this area and all of them are called Lobo mane. The house which the guide showed us was the first Lobo Mane.

The Lobo Mane is called so because of a priest named Father Simon Lobo. Fr Lobo and his followers stayed in these houses and hence they were given his name.

The 1st Lobo Mane



View near the Lobo Mane


Near 1st Lobo Mane – these flat areas were cultivated and paddy was grown by the occupants of the house.


Apparently these fields are a favourite for the gaurs. There was plenty of proof that the gaurs were roaming around here. There were hoof marks and dung all over the place. And these fields had been converted into a swamp. We moved on and passed the second Lobo house. I could not take pics of the second Lobo Mane as it was overgrown with bushes. Apparently, the occupants of the house were evicted as soon as Kudremukh was notified as a National Park. Till recently, I was told that a caretaker was staying in one of the Lobo house. Not sure about that though.

This little fella was resting in a hoof mark of a gaur.


We moved on, crossed another stream and reached the third Lobo mane. This house was located amidst the fields and had orange and guava trees surrounding it. We had to pass through the broken down house to get back to our trail. The steep ascent started immediately after the 3rd Lobo house. As you can see in the picture, we had to climb the hill behind the house. It was an easy trek until this point and now the actual climbing had begun.

The 3rd lobo Mane


Continued…..

[nkrishnap]

Fantastic thread with some fantastic photographs. I remember that road, just too good, but I have done this road in my bike for majority of the times.

Loved the snake photographs.

Keep em coming

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

If so could you tell me where is the Bangalore office for KIOCL?

Near the Kormangala water tank signal, take a left leading towards Krupanidhi college. You will find it on the right hand side on the main road with a big board. If you are coming from Forum side, take the St. Johns hospital road and keep going straight until you get the office on the right side. This is the one I have seen. Might be there are others I am not aware of.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

@Addy, beautiful pics man ! I have been hearing about this place and wanted to visit; But never knew, its this beautiful!

By the way did you say that if we get permission from Bangalore for KIOCL, they will let you see the inside of the mining plant?

If so could you tell me where is the Bangalore office for KIOCL?

PS: 5 Star from my side too !

@kaushik - Thats a brilliant pic [Qualis in rains] ! SO beautiful!

Thanks a lot dude!! Yes, that is what they told us when we went there. Abhinav has answered your other question.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Fantastic thread with some fantastic photographs. I remember that road, just too good, but I have done this road in my bike for majority of the times.

Loved the snake photographs.

Keep em coming

Thank you Krishna. This road is a bikers paradise.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Near the Kormangala water tank signal, take a left leading towards Krupanidhi college. You will find it on the right hand side on the main road with a big board. If you are coming from Forum side, take the St. Johns hospital road and keep going straight until you get the office on the right side. This is the one I have seen. Might be there are others I am not aware of.

Yep, even I know only this place. This is next to the Survey of India campus.

[kaushik_s]

I always feel so jealous whenever I see the trekking photographs. You guys can be with the nature literally. And those untouched places are heaven for any photographer.
BTW, thanks for liking that rain shot. It was raining so heavily that day and it took us almost 7 hours to reach Belur from Udupi but it was one of the best drives that I did in my life. Amazingly stunning vistas all along the route. That part of Karnataka probably the most beautiful place in whole South and the rain just adds more magic to it. I'll try to write a travelogue if possible for that trip but seeing the level of so well written logs here I'm always scared.

[subs]

Guru

I must take some lessons from you on photography.
THose pics are awesome and I could feel the thrill of being stood there in the middle of all that beauty.

Cheers
Subs

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

I always feel so jealous whenever I see the trekking photographs. You guys can be with the nature literally. And those untouched places are heaven for any photographer.

That is one reason I go for treks. A trekker will have the best view nature has to offer.

Originally Posted by subs

Guru

I must take some lessons from you on photography.
THose pics are awesome and I could feel the thrill of being stood there in the middle of all that beauty.

Cheers
Subs

Ayyo Saar!! If you take lessons from me, you will probably mess whatever good shots you could have taken. Nature is like that. However you take the photos, it always looks good.

[rjstyles69]

addy pure nostalgia man looking at your thread. I did this trek about 7 years back and we among our group of friends called it the leech trek . I still remember we went shopping for mandaale just to save our heads being infested with leeches. I remember the vegetation was so thick and the local guide used always say " saar sunna haaki " . Sunna in kannada translates to Lime.

varun thanks for those images pal you brought back a lot of memories from my college days , the view from the Gangdikal peak is etched in my mind forever. Phew those were the days when you could do what you wanted to and go places where humans seldom went.

[ampere]

Addy are there places/hotels where one can stay?
I am thinking of visiting not a trekker but more a tourist.
(I have a 2 year old kid you see)

As long as there are decent places to stay, and there are places to eat (both for human and the car, there should be no problem ).

More than Kalasa and Horanadu, Kudremukh seems to be "THE PLACE" !

[vrprabhu]

AWESOME. period.

And it applies to all these - the place, the pictures and the people who undertook this

Honestly, after this trip did you feel like returning back to Bangalore?

The people working in the forest department surely a lucky few.... add varun to the list

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

addy pure nostalgia man looking at your thread. I did this trek about 7 years back and we among our group of friends called it the leech trek . I still remember we went shopping for mandaale just to save our heads being infested with leeches. I remember the vegetation was so thick and the local guide used always say " saar sunna haaki " . Sunna in kannada translates to Lime.

varun thanks for those images pal you brought back a lot of memories from my college days , the view from the Gangdikal peak is etched in my mind forever. Phew those were the days when you could do what you wanted to and go places where humans seldom went.

It is surely a leech trek. If you went anywhere under the tree cover, you are sure to find hundreds of leeches per square inch. Luckily, we had our anti-leech solution with us and that was quite effective. But that didn't stop us from running sprints from the start of the tree cover till the end

There was one long stretch of forest before the peak and even running did not prevent the leeches from getting on to us. But luckily none of them had bitten us and we could remove them easily. Unfortunately, one of my friend slipped and fell during the sprinting session. One of us had to go back and help him out. Even though he spent a few minutes among the leeches, he didn't suffer a single bite. How's that for lucky? and believe me, these were the longest leeches I had ever seen (in the forests).

Originally Posted by ampere

Addy are there places/hotels where one can stay?
I am thinking of visiting not a trekker but more a tourist.
(I have a 2 year old kid you see)

As long as there are decent places to stay, and there are places to eat (both for human and the car, there should be no problem ).

More than Kalasa and Horanadu, Kudremukh seems to be "THE PLACE" !

As Pramod and Abhinav have already mentioned, there is a camp called Bhagavathi Nature Camp inside the National Park. This is run by the Forest Dept. I don't know what facilities it has though. You can also try to contact KIOCL for their guest house in the Kudremukh Township. Other than these, you can try a couple of homestays near Kalasa.

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

AWESOME. period.

And it applies to all these - the place, the pictures and the people who undertook this

Honestly, after this trip did you feel like returning back to Bangalore?

The people working in the forest department surely a lucky few.... add varun to the list

Thanks a lot vrprabhu. We were actually feeling lousy as we had to go back to work on monday morning. The forest dept people are surely lucky to have such areas in close proxility. Who else can have the pleasure of getting unrestricted access to the jungles. They can go anywhere they want while we can't.

[ampere]

Or are there places in Kalasa, which one can use as base and go to these places and come back by the end of the day?

Even then it is fine. Kudremukh is about hardly 20-30 Km from Kalasa.

[Raghunath Singh]

Fantastic write up and amazing pics. KM has been on the list for some time now, not sure when I'll get a chance to do that. I also have few good trekking experiences and narrations like these encourage me to write one of my own. The trek should have been tiring, guess you are being modest by rating it 5/10 on difficulty. I have been looking around to pick up a nice pair of trekking shoes, which are the ones that you are wearing? Any recommendations?

[kaushik_s]

In one of my prev visit we stayed in a place called JainKhan Estate which is near to Hornadu. We kind of did a day trip from there to Horanadu (it was a Jeep trek and only 4WD Jeeps can go. The actual tarred road to Horanadu would be around 25-30km long but that Jeep trek made it only 5km) and then to Kalasa and to Kudremukh. We just went to the Lakya Dam and then came back. Couldn't see much of Kudremukh due to time constraint as we had to return before sunset because of that Jeep trek..

[srishiva]

If I remember correctly, isn't there a church with some paintings still to be seen? Great photos.