Trip to Tadiandamol
Tadiandamol : Located in
Karnataka, its about 40kms from Madikere- Coorg. About 6000ft above sea level,
it is somewhere in the middle of Mangalore & Kannur. Tadiandamol is the 2nd
highest peak in Karnataka and not to mention, paradise for trekkers.
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| Tadiandamol Hills covered under clouds |
Tadiandamol trek was planned
almost a year back during one of the long weekends. For some unavoidable work,
we cancelled the trip and Chengu (Chengappa) went ahead with some other plans.
Unfortunately God had something else in mind. This trek is dedicated to Chengu
, whom we all miss and is with us in memories.
Route : Bangalore, Srirangapatna,
Power Grid, Hunsur, Madikere (take deviation towards Mangalore road. Avoid
Virajpet road), Kakkabbe, Tadiandamol
There is another route via
Virajpet which is about 40kms less in distance but the road is really bad from
Virajpet till Tadiandamol. So avoid that.
Day 1 : Damn…. Woke up late..
Had to rush and pack my bags. I realized that my tent and sleeping bag itself
was occupying almost 80% of the space. I knew that it’s going to be a tough and
steep trek so wanted to carry small rucksack and be as light as possible, so
that it will not be that difficult while trekking up. I removed most of my
change of clothes so that I could go ahead with the same bag.
It was cloudy and I was sure that I will have trouble with rains on the
way. Even the weather forecast was not giving very promising pictures. I did
check with Prasad (owner of Palace Estate at base of Tadiandamol) and he too
confirmed that it was raining in Tadiandamol.
Option of cancelling the trip was not in my mind, but I did want to
make a choice between whether to go ahead on Bullet or to take Scorpio. I
smiled at the thought and 0730hrs, my bag was firm on my Bullet and we were
ready to ride.
Took my first break after 90kms (my usual breakfast point), McDonalds J. The traffic for some
reason was more and it took me almost 2+ hours to cover that distance. As soon
as I crossed Mandya, my luck turned the other side when it started raining.
There was no point stopping and waiting for rains to get over so I continued
riding in the rains for almost 1+hrs. Took my next break near Power Grid, when
the rains eased a bit. Must say, I fail to understand what does it takes for
the State Govt. to fix that stretch of road.
Ride till Madikere was awesome. Not sure if there was some cycling
event planned the same day, but there were lot of cyclists I saw on the way.
Was good to see them all with their weird looking bicycles J.
It takes about 2.5-3 hrs to trek till the peak of Tadiandamol. I was
super excited about trekking the same day to the peak or atleast near the peak
and camp there. Unfortunately the rains on the way had really slowed me down
and it was already 1430hrs when I reached Madikere. Didn’t want to waste much
time for lunch, I took the directions from Prasad and started riding again to
finish the last 40kms stretch to Tadiandamol base. Prasad warned me about the
road being bad. But trust me. It was really bad :-))
I reached the base, Prasad’s estate around 1600hrs and drizzle over
there turned all my hopes down about trekking the same day. Even though it was
almost 380kms ride, I wasn’t really tired that day. I went out to explore areas
around . I could hear some stream/ waterfall nearby and while I got the first
glimpse of it, I was all thrilled. It was about 15-18meters high, with such
delicious, refreshing cold water. This was the second time in my life that I
was at a waterfall “in India” and there was no crowd around shouting or
littering (earlier experience was at Agumbe). I sat there for almost an hour
listening to the music of water falling over those beautiful rocks.
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| Palacce Estate Homestay - Prasad's House |
Prasad, who is the owner of 30 acres of “Palace Estate Home Stay” is a
very nice gentleman with good knowledge about the roads, forest and places
nearby. He was kind enough to let me stay in one of the small rooms in his
homestay (which is good enough for back packers like me J ). The other regular rooms
are really nice and worth the amount he charges. He usually requests his guests
to have dinner by 2030hrs as the food is cooked in his own house kitchen. I too
decided to have early dinner and take rest. I wanted to be fresh and prepared
for the trek next day J.
It rained the entire night and must say, it rained heavily. Prasad
suggested me multiple times, not to camp at the peak as with rains it becomes extremely
difficult. I got the point he was trying to make and left my tent and sleeping
bag in the room itself before I went out for trek L
Day 2
Trek Route
Total trek distance was about 7kms. Initial 2 kms though its uphill,
but there is proper narrow path with some tar as well. On the way there were 2
beautiful small streams, which again had nice cold refreshing water flowing.
Tarred path ends and next 1Kms was mud path but little more steep now. Another
1-1.5Kms there is no proper path but the route is visible and not so steep. Its
over here that one can actually see 2 hills right in front and it appears that
it’s the peak. The view from there is awesome.
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| Snail on the way. Guess even he was trying to trek ;-) |
Towards the end of this section is a huge rock which one cannot miss.
Bypass that and keep going straight towards the left hill. Towards left from
the rock, there is a small stream. That’s the last water point. Next mark is a
small stone wall. Its only after I reached there, I realized that all the while
the hill which was looking like to be the peak is not. There is another huge
hill behind which is the peak. Took left from the stone wall. Now this was a
stretch of almost 3kms which really does not have any proper path and is full
of rocks. After some distance, there is thick jungle of almost 1km which is
really really steep. But I was happy that after the jungle its only a matter of
short distance before I reach the peak.
I could not believe my eyes. As soon as I came out of the jungle, there
was this another huge hill in front now, which was not visible when I entered
the jungle. I was dead tired by then and really could not feel my legs anymore.
This last stretch of almost 1 km is quite steep again with no clear path.
It took me around 2.5 hours before I could reach the peak. While I was
crossing the rocky area it kept raining for more than an hour. But it was quite
fun trekking in the rains J.
The distance from jungle to the peak, I am never going to forget in my life. I
was walking over the clouds and suddenly I could see all the other surrounding
hills below me. There were few other trekkers as well (some of them real idiots
who were littering over there). I sat there for almost 1.5 hours looking at
this beautiful creation of God.
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| Almost the Top |
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| Finally the Top |
I could see 100s of Kms in all the directions. I was told by one of the
locals, that on a clear bright sunny day, one could even see Arabian Sea water
shining, which is almost140kms away. While I was there for 1.5 hours, I experienced
this awesome feel of how big the mother nature is and how great it is to be a
small part of it. Rest entire world appeared so fake at that time.
Rains kept showering almost entire way down the hill. By the time I
reached back Prasad’s estate I could barely feel my legs. I went back to the
same waterfall for a nice refreshing dip. Had my drink in the evening and I was
ready for another trek :-))
Day 3 : Had my breakfast in the morning, packed my bags, water and was
ready to hit the road again. I did not encounter much rains while riding back
but the weather throughout was nice and cold. It took my about 6.5 hours to
reach back Bangalore.
Even though it rained for most of the time during my trek and made it
more difficult to proceed, but I must admit, it was one of my best treks ever.
We miss you Chengu.
