Monsoon Trek to Kodachadri via Hidlumane Falls

Adventure group: Bangalore AdvenTurers (BAT) – Website link: www.bangaloreadventurers.com

Event date: 18th & 19th July 2015

Team size: 22 Adventurers

Trek distance: Around 20 to 23 Kms. in 2 days.

Trek Plan:  Leave Bengaluru around 9:00 PM on Friday night.

First day itinerary:

• Reach Nagara Fort early in the morning and explore the Fort.
• Have breakfast in a hotel and take parcel for lunch.
• Start trek and take bath in Hidlumane falls.
• Reach the peak around 4:00 PM.
• Dump the backpacks and head towards peak for sunset.
• Come back and have some fun activities.
• Dinner and sleep.

Second Day itinerary:

• Have breakfast at 7:00 AM.
• Start trekking down around 8:00 AM.
• Take bath on the way in a stream or in Hidlumane falls.
• Head towards Kollur Mookambika temple.
• After darshan, have dinner at the temple.
• Leave around 9:00 PM and Reach Bengaluru around 5:00 – 6:00 AM.

Difficulty level: Moderate to difficult since we are trekking in monsoon

Nearest town is Nittur (Around 8.7 Kms. from Kattinahole)

Distance from Bengaluru: Around 406.5 Kms. (Bengaluru to Kattinahole)

How to reach the place: From Bengaluru, Take following route to trek start point Kattinahole.

• Route: Bengaluru –> Bhadaravatai –> Hosanagara –> Nagara –>Sampe katte–> Kattinahole
• Via Sampe Katte:
  Reach Sampe Katte, then move towards Kattinahole which is 6.2 Kms. from Sampe Katte.
• Via Nittur:
  Reach Nittur, then move towards Sampe katte which is 8.7 Kms. from Nittur

KMs distances noted for the reference:

1. Bengaluru –>Bhadravati–>Hosanagara –>Nagara is 385 Kms.
2. Nagara to Sampe Katte is 15.3 Kms.
3. Sampe Katte to kodachadri is 14.5 Kms.
4. Sampe Katte to Kattinahole is 6.2 Kms.
5. Kattinahole to Nittur is 8.7 Kms.
6. Kattinahole to Kollur is 29.5 Kms.

Best time to trek: Anytime of the year. Depends on weather conditions.

Trekking in western ghats is always a great experience. If it is monsoon, it will add more fun to your adventure with heavy rain, green meadows, filled streams, slippery rocks, misty weather at valley, enchanting waterfalls, finally leech bites.

I have agenda of doing many monsoon treks this season in and around western ghats because i love rains and monsoon weather. Also few trails of western ghats still pending in my to do bucket list, Kodachadri is one of them. My good old trekking friend Niranjan started his own adventure group with his friends and named the group as BANGALORE ADVENTURERS (BAT). Monsoon trek to Kodachadri was first event of BAT and Niranjan is the organizer of first event. As i know Niranjan very well since i did many treks with him in past & Kodachadri trek also in my to do bucket list – I never had been to Kodachadri so registered for this event. I was trekking in western ghats after 16 months, last time i did trek in western ghats in March 2014. Thereafter i was busy with cycling and personal things. Also didn’t got time in weekends to do western ghats treks. For me, it was trek after 2 years with Nirnajan. Last time we did trek together was in June 2013.

About the Place:
Kodachadri is a mountain peak with dense forests (elevation – 1,343 metres above sea level)[2] in the Western Ghats in South India (Shimoga Dist., Karnataka State). It is declared as natural heritage site by Government Karnataka.[3] and it is 10th highest peak of Karnataka..

For more information, visit the link : Kodachadri

Trekking experience:

As mentioned in preparation mail, I was reached Shantal silk point by 8:45 PM. Niranjan mentioned to reach early so we can start early and reach Nagara town by 6:30 AM. It will give time for us to roam around Nagara Fort in the early morning. But as usual, most of registered people came late and we started by 10:00 PM from Majestsic. Total 22 Adventurers turned up for this event and Mini Bus was booked.

I known there will be self-intro session in the Mini bus cos i know Nirnajan events very well. He always does self-intro session in the beginning while travelling to destination and feedback session while returning. Since it is first event of BAT, Niranjan distributed sweets(Dudhpeda) to each team member. After self-intro session, he explained about BAT and its agenda. Finally, all of us rested for the day. Since Mini bus was 21 seater, i took volunteering and took rest beside driver.

Day 1: 18th July 2015 (Saturday)

Day in brief:

Plan for the day to reach Nagara village early and roam Nagara Fort. Since we all started late from Bengaluru, thought we will reach late in the morning but our driver was experienced and good at driving so we made it Nagara Fort by 6:15 AM. Even after delayed start from Bengaluru, we reached early and it was ideal time to roam around Fort. Nagara Fort was famous with name Shivappa Nayaka Fort.

Shivappa Nayaka Fort: Nagara is a historic village in the Shimoga district of the state of Karnataka, India. It is 17 Kms. from Hosanagara or 84 Kms. from Shimoga. This was called “Bidanur” or “Bidnur” earlier during the 16th century, this was the last capital city of Keladi rulers.

For more informtion, visit the link: Nagara Fort

Greenery around the place and it started to drizzle. Weather was awesome to explore the place. Explored the fort around half an hour and captured beauty of fort in my Nikon. Took many group pics.

Note: Myself n Gauri missing in all group pics at Nagara fort cos we are photographers for the event 😛

It was started to rain heavily so left the place around 7:15-7:30 AM and reached Sampe Katte  for break fast.

All of us freshen up at Pai Hotel at Sampe Katte and had breakfast. Puliyogare, Idli and Poori was the menu for breakfast. It was lovely weather in offering for us in the weekend due to monsoon. As planned, took Puliyogare as parcel for the lunch.

Started towards trek start point Kattinahole at 9:00 AM. Reached trek start point around 9:20 AM since it was not far from Sampe Katte (hardly 6 to 7 Kms).

Note: Kodachadri peak is around 9 Kms. from Kattinahole. One can trek from here to Kodachadri peak on jeep trail or Jeep’s available to take us till the top. Also we can trek via Hidlumane falls to the top inside Mookambika reserve forest.

All of us geared up for amazing trekking experience of monsoon and started around 10:00 AM. There is clear sign of rain, my fellow trekkers dressed with poncho & it is monsoon trek leech biting is added experience so all of us geared up for escapism from leech’s.

Initially, we walked on jeep trail for 1 and half Kms. Took right after half Kms. of walk on jeep trail from starting point Kattinahole and immediate right we got to witness stream. Crossing stream was funny experience due to presence of rain water 🙂

Rain was playing hide n seek game at the forest. Then we walked another 1 Kms. on jeep trail after crossing the stream. Took right turn at some point after 1 and half Kms. walk on jeep trail.

Another half Kms. of trek inside dense forest took us to open ground. Open ground is totally green and best place to take much needed break. Spent time here and took group photos.

Had majjige at nearby shop and took one more group pic. It was amazing feeling for each and everyone. All of us capturing the beauty of nature either on smart phone or camera 🙂

Started trek towards Hidlumane waterfalls. It was started to rain badly while nearing the falls. Slippery rocks, filled streams, 70 degree rock climbing around falls made our trek adventuresome!

Hidlumane falls at its best with view of water falling from top is magnificent!!! It was already afternoon by the time we reached the falls and clock was showing 1:00 PM. As planned earlier by our organizer, we had had lunch at falls premises and few of them took bath also in falls. It was amazing experience to spend time by the falls with monsoon at peak. Truly unforgettable experience!!!

After spending almost 1 hour at falls, started towards Kodachadri peak from Hidlumane falls. Second part of the climb is more challenging then first part. Heavy rain, leeches bites, Slippery rocks made this part of climb bit challenging one. After another 1 hour of walk inside dense forest, we all reached open space which is nothing but trails for Kodachadri peak.

Trails on top of the hill was not visible since place covered with fog all over the valley. We all walked till the top and took right deviation on jeep trail to reach Inspection Bungalow(IB) around Kodachadri peak. It was misty weather at the top also and nothing was visible. Reached IB around 5:00 PM and dumped our backpacks. With that 9 Kms. of trek for the day comes to end. Niranjan distributed Bajji’s to team mates. With lot of time in store to kill, all of us played Dumb charades at IB. It was funniest part of the event and all of us enjoyed to core 😛

Had dinner around 8:00 PM and rested for the day.

Highlights  for the day:

• Exploration of Nagara Fort
• Walk on Jeep trail
• Crossing the streams
• Slippery rocks, filled streams, 70 degree rock climbing around Hidlumane falls.
• Hidlumane falls at its glory!
• Walk on trails of Kodachadri at top in foggy climate. Nothing is visible.
• Heavy rain which is playing hide n seek throughout the day.
• Drenching in the rain and leech bites.
• Playing dumb charades at IB.

Day 2: 19th July 2015 (Sunday)

Day in brief:

As planned, we couldn’t able to view sunset on previous day due to fog covered across the valley. From IB, another 1 Kms. of trek will take us to Kodachadri peak (Sarvajna Peeta). Plan for the day is to trek till Kodachadri peak then get back to starting point via jeep trail. All of us got up around 6:30 AM, freshen up and started from IB at 8:30 AM. Had Biscuits, Chapatis, sandwiches, etc… as breakfast for the day.

Nothing was visible around the valley and we trekked to the top. Spent some time on top of the hill.

Rain god was again shown his anger while descending from the top. Started back around 10:00 AM from the top. It was slow and easy walk on Jeep trail for all of us.

Reached starting point around 12:45 PM.  With that 10 – 11 Kms. of trek on jeep trail come to end. It was started to rain heavily by 1:00 PM. Started towards Nittur around 2:00 PM for lunch from Kattinahole. Had lunch in Hotel Sri Devi at Nittur and started towards Kollur Mookambika Temple around 3:45 PM.

Distance from Kattinahole to Kollur Mookambika Temple via Nittur : Around  29.5 Kms.

Has planned earlier, had darshan of Kollur Mookambika Devi in the evening. Since enough time left for Anna santarpane at temple, decided to have feed back session in the Mini bus to kill the time. By 7:15 PM, Feedback session was concluded. All of us had Prasadam at temple and left for Bengaluru around 9:00 PM. Returning journey was scary one till Nagara town due to heavy rain, tree falling and frequent landslides at main road.

Reached Bengaluru around 7:30 AM and left for our places.

Highlights  for the day:

• Trek to Kodachadri peak
• 10 Kms. walk on jeep trail to descend down from Kodachadri peak.
• Kollur Mookambika Temple
• Non stop heavy rains from afternoon.
• Drenching in the heavy rain.
• scary return journey on Mini bus while getting back from Kollur to Nagara village.

Thanksgiving:

It was trekking in Western ghats for me after 16 months. One of toughest monsoon treks i ever experienced with raining heavily throughout the weekend and best part of the trek is Hidlumane falls stretch with slippery rocks, filled  streams, 70 degree rock climbing, finally leech bites.

• Thanks to Niranajan Kumar for organizing monsoon hike to Kodachadri and it was one of memorable events for me. A very well organised first event event of BAT under extreme weather conditions.
• I would like to congratulate Niranjan Kumar on completing first event of BAT successfully and looking forward to more events with you in future.

Long way to go buddy. All the Best!!!