Tadiyandmol trek (Dec 9th and 10th, 2006)

I have been trekking from a long time, but this trek has been first in a number of ways. Following are a few:

• This is the first time I am blogging my experience.
• Going on an organised trek and not as a solo trekker
• My cooking food on the trek
• An innovative plate used for having our tiffin (a huge banana leaf)

I had heard a lot about the Tadiyandamol trek from my other trek friends, and was in a way craving to go. My last trek before the Tadiayandamol, was to Mulliangiri - back in September.

This was the first organised trek that I had been to, Arun the person who runs RHM (Rambling Holiday Makers) was my "orkut" friend. This trek had been organised by RHM. We where 10 members for his trek - Arun, Subbu, Saravan, Venu, Srikanth, Shushruth, Praveen, Vinay, Satwik, and myself (Sachi) . We all had to met up on the 8th at the KSRTC, bus stand at 9:45.
We all where from diffrent places from bangalore. All except Arun were Software Professional. Arun is a Jounalist, and an avid trekker.

Trek Plan was as follows:
travel from Bangalore to Virajpet, in KSRTC bus.
Day 1:
travel in a local bus from Virajpet to Kakabe (actually we have to get down around 1 km before the actual town of Kakabe)
trek to base camp some 6km - on the way visit to a old palace.
then trek to Madanadabbi near Tadiyandamol.
trek back to base camp
trek from base camp to Tadiyandamol trek.
night trek back from Tadiyandamol peak to base camp
Day 2.
trek from Base camp to Kakabe
travel to Chelvara Falls
travel back to Virajpet
travel back to Bangalore

We all reached KSRTC bus stand at around 10 pm, completed our first round of introduction. We went to platform number 6. From here we got into the bus that was scheduled to leave at 10:30 pm. We all set out breaking the ice (most of us did not know about each other earlier.) and by the time the bus set out delayed by 15 min we where in our own deep discussion about our intrests and all those stuff, slowly we all slept.

The bus reached Virajpet quite early (at 4:30a.m.) We all got our self settled in the KSRTC bus stand at Virajpet. Some of us dozed off for another session of sleep, before sunrise and we start off with the trek, others just held on to crack PJ's make and then making calls back home. We also finished out daily chores before 6:30 am.

We started off to have our morning tiffin, we went to a hotel some distance away; had our tiffin and browzed through a magazine that had some pics of the falls, and the trek that we where going to enjoy in the next 2 days. We had some Uppit (its a local version of pudding is it??)
and Idli (the boiled rice cake), the taste was very nice one.

Geared up we left the hotel to the juntion from where we get private bus that would take us to Kakabe. The journey is around 45 min to 1 hour, after which we reached a small bus stand. We have a distance diplay board that gives the distances from this bus stop to the near by major towns.

With a fromal introduction before the start of the trek, and a set of "code of conduct" to be followed in the wild being given we began our trek. We were also given a packet of dates that would serve the purpose of "emergency food" in case we ran out of food and needed an instant release of energy. (Some people had completed this as any other food once they got it - and some also had a nice competition in nibling these away.)

We started of on our actual trek from the bus-stop, out first stop was to be at a palace, some 3km from the start of our trek. We walked along slowly, and steadily watching the nature, its beauty that doesn't seem to be present in busy cities. Just this clean and fresh air is enough to make us healthy. We had some photo sessions, some attempts to get the Spider web by me, with the new camera that I had purchased some days back turned out to be flop (I was just trying out the variour options so that I get to know my camera better. ) Vinay on the other hand never gave up, and photographed a spider in his Camera - good pic Vinay.

This 3km trek was majorly though the road that passed through the coffee plantations that are so very abundant in this Coffee land of "Coorg" (also known as Kodagu). We reached the Palace, which had a school nearby. We found some school children waiting for their teacher there having fun. We entered into the palace, that was under maintenance at that time. We took some pics there and then moved on. I could hear a stream flow near the school, I dont think it was making some huge falls, but ya the sound quite audible from a distance.

We started off further ahead after the palace, and trekked for about 3km more, before we reachd the forestguard's house. There are 2 small streams that cross the road after the falls. After the second stream, a little uphill climb along the Jeep track will take us to a Y cross (One to the left, one going staight ahead, and the other the one we came). This junction is a nice sceninc spot. To go to the Tadiyandamol peak we have to take the left road, this is the same route that also takes us to the Forest guard's home. The forest guard's home was a small little cottage, which was built in the middle of some mixed varites of trees, I cant say it was just wild growth, around the house but it was nice vegetation near the house ( wish I could stay in such a house :-) ). We all rested for some 45 min at that place.

We set out from the forestguard's house to the Falls called Madanadabbi, this is around 20 min trek from the house. We went to the top of the falls, and tried descending as far as we could. We all stoped at the point where we could not descend further the falls. The falls, was a beautiful one. The point we stopped was the edge of the falls from where the falls made a fall of around 200ft (that is my wild guess). The surroungings were very scenic, we rested there for around 20 min, took photographic memories and then where back on the track to reach the forest guard's house. After around 30 min we where at the house, waiting for our food to be ready, once ready we all where immediately at it :-). After food we took as small nap for aroung 15 min before we decided to keep all our belongings, in the spot where we would spend the night (Arun already had the informed, the forest guard & his family that we would be coming to stay at the small rooms that where there a little distance away from the forest guard's house). We dumped our luggage here and then did some repacking of the materials that we would need for the trek to the Tadiyandamol peak (this was a 4km trek if I guess it right.) We filled in abundant water, as we knew that we would not get water as we neared the peak.

We all set out slowly an steadily to the peak. The trek was initially via a jeep route, which later converged into a small foot trail. This then continued through some wild growth for a small distance, after which it opened up into a clear plateau. All along the side we (Vinay and me) would have some awesome scenary and where busy taking the pics.

Ya, one funny part I would like to tell you. Before we started off on the trek we had decided that we would do a late evening-early night trek back to our base camp. We just wanted to ensure that we would not encounter elephant herd while we where returning, so we asked the lady in the forest guard's home, if she had any information about the elepahant activity reported. There came a funny reply (excuse me if u loose some fun in the translation, but it was just unressistably funny :)) ) - "There are no elephants now, but there is a tiger, don't worry it will run off if it sees you" [The fun!! do we city hunks look so dreaded??, well not actually, the tiger is a lone hunter and a shy animal. It generally plans its attack (the point is that if it attacked it would attack on the last being as far as possible.) ]. Srikanth was the last person while we where getting down from the trek and we would call his name to ensure that we was not carried away by the tiger :). Subbu was feeling bad that he could not look into the eyes of any tiger all through the trek. The moment the lady made the statement, Vinay was out with his typical "aBbba" and a peculiar face - oh what a moment!!.Thanks Tiger for all the fun.

Till the open patch my intrest was mostly captivated by the serene and beautiful mountains to the right (on the way up), then slowly the scenic mountainic beauty, shifted to the left. We could hear a stream flow towards our left. There was a large boulder besides which some trekkers do pitch for the night. Its a nice place to camp as it has a natural water source near by.
Just then we realised that we had a buffalo (domesticated one) staring at us (who are these, crazy ppl tresspassing my territory!!!! - that was the expression). We continued ahead cousiously, ensuring that we did not provoke it to attack us. It realized that we meant no harm to it and went ahead to join its heard.
We continued out trek ahead, Venu and Satwik where begining to get tiered so we just slowed down our pace (myself and Vinay were at the end as we where trying to get some good photos at each location that we spotted.). At that moment, I dont exactly know why but I recalled some dialogues form a "Yakshagana"(the local folk dance drama of Karnataka) and started giving some entertainment to the group that was climbing. We were left behind by Srikanth, Subbu, Saravan, Praveen, Sushruth who did not wait to take many snaps as they wanted to reach the peak as early as possible, others were with us till then. Subbu, was fatigued by the steep climb that he had to do, so he dropped out from the first team and was waiting to join us, to continue.
Once subbu joined us there was no dearth of PJ's we would climb a few steps, wait crack some PJ, and then continue with enthu further. We slowly made it to the top. Srikanth and others were wating for us at the peak.

Praveen who had joined as first time trekker, was not feeling too comfortable(I guess he had overworked himself during the climb.). He later told us that he used all his dates to reach there - he would move some 34 steps (he counted them literally), then eat a date, then continued. He says he doesn't know how he made it back to the base. We could read he was completely exhausted.

At the peak, the sun was not yet low, he was giving off a lot of heat - but the altitude seemed to have been cooling the heat. We found a few stones at the peak, which we used as shade, and had a quick nap. Arun was busy replying queries about the height of various mountains. He had the height displayed in his watch!!!.

We all had a nice little nap, before we got up, and started munching the food that we had carried along to the peak. We made sure we did not leave back any plastic as would spoil the delicate balance that existed in the place. Just as we had completed our stock of food that we had carried along to the peak, We found another group of 3 trekkers who had come to camp at the peak. They where searching for a good place to pitch their tents, they asked us pointing to an open space that had been used by earlier team. We said we would return and not stay at the peak. We continued our wait for the sunset....

Slowly, the sun started to descend, towards its home for the night. The temperature began to drop. At a distance we could spot some mist formation -- thought for a moment, that we would not be able to see the sunset due to the mist. We just began taking pics of the distant mountains, which where looking much more beautiful now. As the sun move down, the yellow sun began changing into an orange ball, we tried a few "gimiks" with the Camera, - as though we would catch the him, eat the him... ha ha. (We are no Hanumans here)

We took some very beautiful snaps of the sunset, then having made a camera copy of this beautiful sunset, we decided we would have to get as close as possible to the open plateau region before it would get completely dark. We decided Arun would lead the trek, and Srikanth would be the last person. I was just in front of Srikanth. We had decided that the any person must be able to see the Arun, or atleast his immediate front companion just in case the visibility became very bad due to the mist -- we did not find any situatation like that.

We got down the peak as quickly as possible, but not too fast. We were careful not ot injure ourselves on the way back. We had torches to be used on the way back. As we came down to the flat land (reminds me of the book "The world is Flat"), it was completely dark. At a distance we could some lights, may be some city in the distance. Srikanth and I made some wild guess about the city , then just ditched it. Immediately my attention shifted to the sky that had innumerable stars, being in a city like Bangalore the lights in the city would not let us see such a sky :( . This will remain in the memories of all 10 of us for quiet sometime.

We continued our trek down to the base camp, we did get confused for sometime, but some good memory helped us stay on the track. We finally reached the base camp. We already had the food ready with us . So having the night dinner was not a major issue.

Arun wanted to make a camp fire, and enjoy ourself for some time. Praveen who was completely exhausted, and had his legs paining immediately got into his sleeping bag and dozed off. After Arun, Subbu made a gallant effort to light up the fire - gosh was not lighting up. I tried my hand along with Saravan's assistance but could not make much good. The fire did burn for sometime but was not as we expected. We finally decided that we leave it aside and finish our dinner. We had our dinner, then a small round of Pj's then went to sleep.

Or base camp was a nice one. We had a sound sleep. Arun wanted some assistance to get the "2 min maggi noodles" to be cooked, I voulanteered. The two of us had real good time, cooking the noodles. It was the first time i had cooked using firewood -- I will not forget the experience.. (the 2 min noodles had to have hot water which took more than 1 hour to boil, thanks to our in experience with fire wood cooking) Having the noodles ready, we wanted to get our tiffin as quickly as possible. Subbu's presence of mind struck with an excellent idea of using the large plantain leaf that was readily available in the compound. The experience of sharing this large plantain leaf was a great and a memorable one, for all of us.

Once done with the tiffin we all got ready to have our adventures for the day.

Arun asked us we where ready for an exploration, for a lot of us it was the first time. Arun wanted to reach a falls called "Baliyedra" trekking from the base camp and then from there to the "Chelvara falls". Arun would have taken us to the falls if he could have some assistance from the forest guard's home, unfortunately for us the forestguard and his family had to go out to some other place.

Arun took us for a trek into the wild, we where very excited. Arun was in the lead, and Srikanth as usual was to be the last person. We walked through the wild forest, till we reached the open side of the mountain. We could see the Tadiyandamol peak from there. Once in the open, we checked to see if any leeches had climbed on. For many of us it was the first time the leeches had bitten us. (Leeches, reminds me that Srikanth was plannig to tame a few. He loved the leeches, and the leeches loved him as well.)

Then we took a right and started moving, there was no trail as such, just that we tried finding out or own way. As we moved ahead we realised that, we had made a mistake by taking the right at that junction. The right turn took us to the open place near the Tadiyandamol peak.

We all quickly decided that we would choose to goback to Kakabe and from there tavel by local bus to "Cheyannane" (I may have got the spelling wrong, but its something similar...). At one point we did contemplate about going to Kannor in Kerala, then travel from there to Virajpet, it was ruled out as the village that we had to pass through would be completely blocked by the local function (I think it was Huttari).

On the way back, I challenged Arun to test if he could hold a "dry grape" in his mouth, for the trek to Kakabe. It was a nice challenge- he could do it. Arun, Shushruth and myself reached Kakkabe first -- actually we wanted to see if could reach before a stipulated time that we had set. It finally turned out that we could do it with much ease. We reched the small bus stand and waited for the others to turn up. We rested in the shade of the bus stand. In about half an hour we had all the people come. We had some small, food packets that we had packed, we had them.
In a short while after our mini lunch, we found a bus that would take us to "Cheyyanane". Praveen was completely exhausted, and opted to stay back. Arun did some emergency damage control and insted of trekking to the "Chelvara falls" we decided to go by the jeep.

The jeep journey was exciting, infact Venu was always wanting to stand on the foot stand of the jeep. I calls it "Safari style Jeep Drive" haha this one was no safari drive, though the road was dusty, it was though coffee plantations.

The driver dropped us to a place from where we could reach the falls. This beautiful falls is inside an estate. The main porition of the falls is around 20-25 feet in height. It forms a nice reservoir, that is very inviting to swim. Note, that the depth of this small reservoir that is formed is not uniform, and not advisible if you are not a good swimmer.
I took photos of the falls in every possible angle (thatz the way it is called when you take a large number of photos!!! - water falls are my crush). We spent about 1 and half hour at the falls before we set back in the Jeep.

We reached Cheyyanane, had our lunch in a small hotel there. We then went to the bus stand after our lunch. Sat there and waited for the bus that would take us to Virajpet. In the mean time we all exchanged our experiences about the trek. It was nice noting each others experiences in the trek.

We waited a long time, finally we climbed the bus. It took around 45 min to reach Virajpet. We spent some time at the KSRTC bus stand, then had a good dinner at a hotel. We reached back to the bus stand and finally waited. Once the bus came in we all climbed. I sat beside Venu. I think I might have given him an over doze of some adventure that I had earlier (I had lost my route on a trek to Bandaje abbi, and had literally survived the night to reach out safely).
Ok thatz all about this trek, will hit back with some old treks details the next time.