Oct 2-3-4
This trek was organized by Yhai-chandru.As usual set out in the TT,we arrived early morning at Doddamane -a homestay.The place is said to be about 120 years old ,it is looked after by Kasturamma The place is quite huge ,has got a tiled roof,lots of wooden pillars.We quickly got freshed up .By then breakfast was ready-Ricebath.Had them and we were ready to head towards our first point - Barkana falls view-point.
As we reached the point it started raining heavily,it was indeed a sight to be enjoyed.the whole place was green.We initially had to cross a waist high stream which was flowing in full throttle.Enroute we encountered several small and big streams.the water in the streams is worth drinking and had quite a few gulps enroute. It took us a little over an hour to cover the 6km stretch.The entire valley was covered with mist and we couldnt see anything,but
the walk through this decent stretch was quite a good experience.We returned back and then headed towards Jogi-gundi-another water falls.This was just about 2 kms of walk and the falls was just awesome in the monsoon.The water increased by almost 30% in the 15 minutes we stayed there.There was no way we could enter the falls area ,we soaked in the moment and started back.
We walked backed to the homestay.i bought myself a new umbrella nearby since the umbrella i bought was leaking due the heavy rain.We had lunch and rested for a while .We then headed to the Agumbe rainforest research station.Vipul gave us quite a bit of information about the research they undertake and what sort of work they are into.We decided to head toward the famous sunset point -again we were dissapointed due to the heavy fog-but all the while
enjoying the rain in Agumbe.
The next day we headed towards Kundadri betta-a jain shrine is said to be atop this scenic hill.The trek was along the winding road and the vistas as we walked ahead to the summit was worth watching.The summit has a jain shrine which remains locked.For a brief moment we
got a view of the plains from here since the entire area was covered by fog till then.The scenary from here will just blow you off your feet.Contended we headed to Sirimane falls-A good shallow
place for people to enjoy bathing in the falls.Even this falls was overflowing with heavy water output.I had a bath since the next destination was shringeri.Visited the temple ,had a fanstastic
darshan of sharadadevi and then headed for lunch at the temple.
Next destination was Mulyangiri ,we decided to halt at the sethalyanagiri devasthana.Travelling under heavy fog with zero visibility was quite a task.We hit the bit and it was raining heavily.The next morning was no better ,covered by thick fog.We decided to trek through the hills for a bit before we realized it would be futile ,we ended up trekking on the road.Soon after we again hit the grasslands up a decent hill.Here we were caught with winds of over 60 kmph and it was raining as well.People couldnt stand their ground.Finally we reached the summit with great
difficulty.The return back was uneventful -peppered with heavy rain and wind.We decided that it was time to head back home.Enroute we managed to stop at Belur-any number of visits to this place does not bore me at all.
The best part of this trip was rain-my favourite season.One has to experience the rains in the malnad region to know what monsoon really is.Hospitality of Kasturamma makes the homestay a really good experience
