Adventurous Treks

The plan to trek Kodachadri happened all of a sudden. We were actually planning to go for one day trek around Bengaluru. But later, we decided to go for a long trek far from Bengaluru. Kodachadri was on top in our list. We were 4 in the group, Nanthan, Suresh, Prakash and Naveen. We assembled in KSRTC bus stand terminal 2(main portico) on Friday night(2nd Jan 2014) to begin our journey. Our itinerary to reach Kodachadri was as below: Bengaluru to Shivamogga(285 km): KSRTC bus Shivamogga to Sampekatte(~100 km): Local Bus Sampkatte to Kodachadri Base(4 km): Jeep One way trekking distance: 9 km through Idlumane falls. We reached Shivamogga at 5 AM the next day after six hours long journey. After taking a brief rest, we got into a private bus to reach Sampekatte which is about 100 Kms away. Upon reaching Sampekatte, we bought fruits and few other eateries to aid us in our upward journey. We hired a local jeep to reach Kodachadri trek starting point which was 30 mins away.

It was almost an year since my last trek and I was a little eager to go for a trek. I planned to go for one day trek with one of my colleagues, Nanthan Raj on 29th November, 2014. Here is the route: Bangalore to Dabaspet(51 KM) >> Pavagada bus from KSRTC bus stand terminal 1 Dabaspet to Shivagange >> Local Auto We got onto the bus at 9AM from KSRTC bus stand and it took us around 2 hrs to reach Dabaspet, thanks to Bangalore's nightmare traffic. Autos are aplenty near the dabaspet bus stand to reach Shivagange base. If you chose normal auto, you would be charged 60 rupees per head. There are other bulky autos available, which carry around 12 people, but charge you only 20 rs per head. You'll have to bear with the congestion inside the autos if you choose the latter. We took the bulky auto. The auto ride was a little bumpy and took around 20 mins to reach. Unlike other trekking spots, this trek starts through the temple. The temple architecture dates back

Before I write about our trekking experience, I would like to brief a little about the Kudremukh mountain range. Kudremukha National Park is one of the beautiful landscapes of the Western Ghats, located in Chickmagalur District in Karnataka. The name is derived from the shape of the peak which resembles the Horse's face, which in Kannada means Kudremukha. It is the second largest protected region in the Western Ghats that is spread over an area spanning 600 sq km. Image explaining the origin of the name.  Source: Wikipedia We had been planning to trek Kudremukh for quite some time. We finally decided to trek on January 11th, 2014 as this was within the ideal time to trek(The ideal time is between October and February). We were 5 in the group, Akshay, Dinesh, Naveen, Rajesh and Suresh, all in our 20's, awaiting a great trekking experience ahead. A week before, we had called a localite of Mullodi, named Rajappa, who is into the business of providing food,