[wind_rider]

Itching , or was it more , dont know .

Came to know that there was Sooper discount on Camping gear , always wanted to own one , had camped only few times and felt it was fun to pursue it some time .

Monday - Deciding on buying the gear ....
Tuesday - Deciding on the model...
Wednesday - Finished work.
Thursday - Gear Purchased .

Ok , where do i go now ? well blog after blog was read about all the trekking places in karnataka , was confused .

Coorg was a place i knew pretty well , and someone suggested " Tadiyandamol @ 1675 Mts Asl it was a decent first trek .

Wanted to go solo , but when my friend heard of the plan he parked himself right into my escapade plan , alas there goes my solitude i felt , but at least i had a partner in crime .

As with all great plans , our plan of leaving B'lore on Friday by 5 PM , just didnt happen @ 09:00 PM we were still in Bidadi having dinner , No more KFC i had decided , yes sir gotta get rid of this beer belly , no i am not pregnant .

Our original plan was Bangalore - Mysore [ Bypass ] - Hunsur - Tithimathi - Gonikoppal [ Stay ]
Wake up in the morning and do : Virajpet - Kabbinakadu-Kaikamba-kakkabbe- Tadiyandamol .

Ok so we crash in Mysore @ 11:30 , home sweet home .

Early morning , misty and nice . and special chai from moms hands , this is life i say , this is .

Okay everything was just crammed in the car and i wanted to pack , my colleague / friend Loki is instructed to pull out all the stuff from the boot and arrange it properly so that i can pack ..

Ok okay , gotta make a mental checklist .

Big Backpack - Check !
Quechua T3+ Tent - Check !
Sleeping Bag - Check !
Torches - Check !
Medicine Kit - Check !
Knife - Check !
Water 6 Ltrs - Check !

And ACDC highway to hell is playing to soothe my soul .



All right , we were supposed to leave by 07:00 Hrs , but all the packing and my car cleaning + visit to service center for a quick clean of the air-filter and
tyre pressure , okay we are on the highway .

Lunch in virajpet @ 02:00 Pm , some basic shopping for food , energy bar &
drink and off i go .. Thud ! and a small scratch to the bumper while reversing,

i felt sad , not a good omen i thought , not a good one .

Nice roads after the bad hunsur - Virajpet stretch [ it is bad as in crater bad ]

Now quiet frankly , all this time i felt this was easy , Andy had suggested the importance of loosing extra weight , but we thought we are better , stronger and younger . yeah right .

Rode ahead from Nalknad palace upto the jeep trail and just parked the vehicle , wanted to go on foot from there on .



Oh And then i realized what smoking , junk food , no exercise has done to me , i was panting in just a few paces ...

but the cool mountain air , somehow worked as a turbo and lugged me ahead on that steep climb .


Into the jungle i went , drawn in ...



And we got a royal welcome from this bull and its heard , lucky fellas roaming and eating around , but unlike city cows were very very alert to sounds & sights .



Ah , then we found a neat camping ground , neat enough to just plonk my heavy gear and catch my breath .


Continues....

[kaushik_s]

Hey that's a nice start to the trekkalog and nice photos too. Please post the next part fast. Waiting.

[Ragul]

This place is a great choice for the soloist or otherwise. No pesky forest guards trailing you like in forest reserves.

Highly recommended for warming up your trekking legs

Good to read your travelouge

[maddy42]

Wow nice. Did you visit the palace and the honey society there?

[wind_rider]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Hey that's a nice start to the trekkalog and nice photos too. Please post the next part fast. Waiting.

HI , just woke up , will do this ASAP.

Originally Posted by Ragul

This place is a great choice for the soloist or otherwise. No pesky forest guards trailing you like in forest reserves.

Highly recommended for warming up your trekking legs

Good to read your travelouge

That is the best part of trekking @ Tadiyandamol i guess , no pesky forest guards , no issues , just nature & you .
Next time surely will go solo , well its tempting to rope in my GF , but dunno if she would be game for this ?

Originally Posted by maddy42

Wow nice. Did you visit the palace and the honey society there?

Nope , unluckily was on a very tight schedule , so kept that for the next trek .

So , we were not alone , a group from Bangalore had also come and there were 4 guys in it , lucky .
Because in the whole excitement of trekking my companion had forgotten to carry the cooking pot & the fuel canister , which of course the others had .

SO on we went with the rest of them climbing the mountains .... and my god what picturesque scenery it was .

Just run along this fence till it ends and voila you come to the base of the mountain .




And the next day , what a sunrise , what a sunrise ...!




Me and my mate , fooling around .



And now for the capture .


And the capturer , yours truly


Now , these were just some photos taken from the P&S | Sony Cybershot CZ lens 10 MP | The picks from the big gun is yet to be loaded ie my Nikon D3K .

All these pictures are more of a teaser for whats coming up PPL.

The night was wonderful , cold , fun ......!
Could hear , the barking deer , wild board & baby elephants also [ YEs our campsite is 200 Mts to an elephant crossing and about 300 Mts to a water hole .

let me continue with that story when i go to office .

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by wind_rider

The night was wonderful , cold , fun ......!
Could hear , the barking deer , wild board & baby elephants also [ YEs our campsite is 200 Mts to an elephant crossing and about 300 Mts to a water hole .

let me continue with that story when i go to office .

On a general note, an advise to trekkers - never setup camp next to a water hole. This is like setting yourself up for encounters with wild animals. and it can become fatal when you are rudely awoken at 4am when you badly need rest and recuperation after a hard days walk.

Good thing you were 300mtr away.

cheers

[MohsinRoadster]

Your write up is brilliant. I usually skip a few lines/paras while reading logs but not this one.
Bring then ON..

[wind_rider]

Originally Posted by Ragul

On a general note, an advise to trekkers - never setup camp next to a water hole. This is like setting yourself up for encounters with wild animals. and it can become fatal when you are rudely awoken at 4am when you badly need rest and recuperation after a hard days walk.

Good thing you were 300mtr away.

cheers

Thank you , guess all the time spent in the jungle gave me some common sense .
Also the fact that 3o0 mtrs is on a average a decent space + our campfire was a comforting factor .


One of the guys that we met up , posing for a nice shot .

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

Your write up is brilliant. I usually skip a few lines/paras while reading logs but not this one.
Bring then ON..

So we went ahead with the traditional lighting the campfire & trying to cook scenario .
Unluckily last weeks showers ensured damp wood , which took a lot of time and attention to get up and running .
Sensing some trouble i polled in all the ration i had / knorr soup / noodles / corn i was carrying and made quick a soup and noodles in the fire as burnable wood was limited .



After the wafting cold was fought with nice soup it was time to attempt fresh kebabs to compliment our Vodka & of course OM rum that one of the guys had got .

It took such a long time for the chicken to cook , plus the fire struggling to come alive with 6 hungry guys around .....

Somehow pulled through the night , had a small tipple [ yes it feels good in the cold ] took a leak and retreated to my palatial tent .


Tossing & Turning [ yes couldnt sleep properly for we had pitched the tent on a slope , and the floor [ polyester & the sleeping bad kept skidding ]

but still caught 3 ~ 4 hrs of shut eye .


to be continued...

[informmaha]

Ohh man.. thats really nice.. just thinking of this place for trek on the new year.. so eagerly awaiting your story and snaps..