I never thought it would be so exciting! (I didn’t think it would be so exhausting either). But it was worth the effort of climbing for around 5 kms, the effort of walking 30 kms in 2 days, carrying a backpack weighing around 20 kgs. Anyways, at the end of the day, what I remember is only the pleasure, and not the pain.
Kodachadri is the highest peak in Shimoga District. At the peak it is believed that 'Shankaracharya' did meditation. There is a small temple called 'Sarvajna Peetha' at the top. The peak presents a not to be missed life-time opportunity in the evening as the sun sets in the west. You can also have a golden glimpse of the Arabian Sea for a moment. Our main intention was to see both sunrise and sunset from the peak. It’s a beginner level trek.
There were seven of us. Three of them were novices. Though it was my third trek, I barely had any idea how it would be. But with sufficient storage of food and water, we all started from Mangalore at early morning 5o’clock. En route, we filled our stomach. We reached Kollur at 10 am. From there we caught a bus which was going to Shimoga.
The place where the trek begins is around 45 mins from Kollur. It is called Karyakatta, was in the midst of dense forest not a man to be seen around. But the sound of beetles and birds in the absolute silence can never be matched by the best music system in the world. You, just have to experience it by yourself.
After dressing up for the event, we started walking. Really we had no idea how far did we have to walk. After walking for an hour and a half, nearly 7 kms, we found a hotel (there!). From there the actual climb started.
We climbed the hill for around 2 hours, to reach the guest house at 4 pm noon. (There was one on there for the visitors). There are also some houses (Bhatra mane) which give you accommodation and food for a nominal amount. But this is not the peak; we still have to climb 2 kms to reach it. Again we started climbing and were on the top at 6 pm. Sun had slowly started settling down. The slash of colors on the horizon was so soothing; we forgot all the pain we took till coming here. I took out my cam to take as many pics as possible. It was absolutely stunning scenery.
After sunset, we again climbed down to reach Bhatra mane. There we had our acco. for the evening. The rice and rasam(it seems) tasted like the best food in the world to me on that night.
Waking up to the sound of the alarm at 5.30 am, we again went on the peak (this was another peak, which is on the east-side). Sounds of bird chirping in the early morning were echoing through the forest. We also saw some wild buffaloes there. The sunrise was worth sacrificing the early morning sleep. It was really beautiful.
After having breakfast, we started walking down. We reached the base of the hill. From there our plan was to go to ‘Arisinagundi falls’. It is a waterfall in the middle of the dense jungle, 5 kms from the base of the hill. We took a localite as guide and went there.
In fact this was the most part of the journey. Some places were so steep that the fattest in our team kept falling down and sliding on the slope! At places, we had to take rest every 10 steps, so exhausting. The waterfall was a big one, around 300 mtr tall.
After getting refreshed, we started moving towards Kollur through the forest. Our water reserve was getting over, since this was a long route of 8 kms.
Anyways, we enjoyed it a lot. After reaching Kollur, we filled our stomach, boarded the bus to Mangalore. Planning for the next one.
