Ascending Savandurga monolithic rock hill

It has been long time since we climbed the monolithic rock hill. Finally here are some ramblings from our experiences :-). Hope you enjoy the same!

23 Nov 2013,

Following our candid visit to Hogenakal waterfalls, this was another one. People in internet world were commenting about complexity of the hill climb and many of them had retreated. We were bit skeptical again as to go or not suspecting our own strength. However Rajesh was still confident of making it and we decided to give it try. Since distance from city was mere 50-60kms, we planned to commute by bike. Eventually it was climbing the one of largest monolithic rock hills of Asia this saturday. The Saturday morning was unusually cloudy. I believe it was effect of cyclone 'HELEN'. The calm snippy weather from past few days was masked by somewhat humid and gloomy weather all of sudden. We planned to reach early since the rocks get heated up as day prolongs to noon. However the cloudy weather provided some favorable conditions to climb during odd hours of day. Even this time, me and Rajesh were the only candidates for travel.

Myself and Rajesh started our journey towards Mysore road around 9AM. As expected, the city roads were already clogged with vehicular traffic and we had snail ride till Mysore road. Later on, the ride was very smooth and reached Macnhinbele Dam around 10:45AM. The reservoir did not seem to have water storage as compared to our last visit. I took some shots here and we moved on. The day was very hazy due to presence of clouds and consequently bad day for photo shoots. Despite having good CPL filter this time, the photos turned out to be too much hazy :-(.

MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR

From here Savandurga is 13kms. There is proper signboard which guides vehicles to divert along appropriate route. After manchinbele reservoir, keep watching for signboards installed by Tourism department. The last 13kms is ride along the forest. The forest is moderately dense with feeble civilization. This area is marked as reserved forest which mean no agricultural, plantation or human related activities are permitted. Some people have also spotted leopards and bears along this route. The road is tortured with humongous amount of potholes. It was not at all smooth ride till we reached Magadi main road. The road from Manchinbele dam meets Magadi Road 2kms just before Savandurga. From this junction, the diversion point is half a kilometer away. One can spot arch leading to Savandurga with many shops as landmark. From here 2kms along the muddy road, leads to foothill of Savanadurga. Around 11:30PM, we were in Savandurga and ready to climb!

FOREST ROUTE

WE ARE READY TO CLIMB

Savandurga is one of Asia's largest monolith rock hill. The peak is around 1200m above sea level. This is prominent among adventurous rock climbers. There are many paths leading to peak however we moved along designated trail where one can climb without any gears. The department has marked the trail on the rocks and boulders and hence no question of losing direction. As we started our climb, we could see many people climbing down. It means that people prefer early morning trek to avoid heating up of rocks by Sun. The cloudy weather provided conducive environment to climb the rocky hill. At times, I felt only two of us were climbing and others have already finished the trail :-). Just before the climb, we enquired the people who had already the finished the climb. On an average it was 90mins as we heard from people.

We started climbing slowly towards our destination. May be I started in hustle and consequently got tired at early stages itself. Rajesh suggested me to climb the grade comfortably so that I don't suffer early tiredness. That worked out as well. Within few moments I converged :-). Since Rajesh is experienced trekker, his heuristics had helped me here ;-). We were slowly climbing towards the peak. There is nothing on the way except for boulders and tiny protective walls. These structures were constructed early during Magadi Kempegowda regime to combat enemy lines. The structure is made of red stones and stones are bound using mixture of egg, limestone and other ingredients. It is really surprising to note as how materials were transported in olden days. We finished the first stage of climb and here comes toughest among all stretches! The gradient is bit steep here and authorities have carved small imprints of foot to allow smooth climb. Still I had to  crawl for some distance to reach the finishing line ;-). It does not end here :-). Later on, one has to careful walk through narrow lines to reach peak of second level! Do not dare to look behind. It will be too much intimidating and earth's gravity tends to pull you down ;-). Along the journey, we came across group of kids belonging to scouts and guides returning back from successful climb. Rajesh warned me not to compare ourselves with kids since they can easily climb up and down due to lesser weight :-). Even my nephew climbs these grades pretty easily :-).

GRASS ON ROCKS

CACTUS

We were toiling towards peak and sweating hard. Even in cloudy and bit cool weather, the river of sweat was all over body. By the time we reached second stage, entire shirt was under sweat. At times we felt like removing the shirt and progress further :-). The ridge before second stage was bit difficult to negotiate since it was very narrow. At last we managed to reach second stage. Our only concern was now the return journey. We were quite mystical about climbing down the steep grade. Eventually we threw our anxiety and decided to think about it during return journey.

The third stage is much easier than rest of two. The steep is around 60degree in slope and can be managed very easily. After you climb this stage, you will find abandoned structures and small pond. This is not the last point :D. From here one can view the Nandi temple. There is proper marking and trail to reach the place. This path not so straight forward too! We need to walk through the narrow boulder openings sometimes [bit hard for heavyweights like me ;-)]. There are also chances of sliding! Again a healthy 20 minutes walk+climb for short distance. Just before we reach the nandi, there is again small steep slope one has to cross and narrow passes.

GUARD WALL BEING USED DURING BATTLES

ONE OF THE STRUCTURE

POND WITH MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR VIEW

NARROW PASS

WE ARE ALMOST THRE!

At last here we are in peak and there were good number of people resting at this place. Rajesh checked the time and it was 12:50PM. Wow! We had reached finishing line in 80 minutes which was less time than normal person takes ;-). To be honest, we would have reached early if I had climbed sanely :-). My pit-stops added bit of delay ;-). Nevertheless, we were happy to reach the peak since many had retreated in middle ;-). The view from top is breathtaking with earth's gravity tempting you to jump ;-). But please do not jump or else you will end up in heaven :-). I took some pictures but again haze added too much noise to photographs. We also enjoyed the view of Manchinbele reservoir and Thippegondanahalli reservoir which are clearly visible from peak along with cool breeze. We had oranges and water after reaching peak. After some time, myself and Rajesh were the only people left in peak. We had healthy 60 minutes break in solitude and sky showed signs of downpour. 2:10PM sharp we started climbing down. It was slightly drizzling too! Even gentle drizzle will jeopardize down-hilling. There are also marshy regions along the way at some places. Beware of them and avoid since they tend to cause slippery. Good thing about the place is the rocks itself have so much grip on them. Unlike smooth rocks found in waterfall area, the asperity on rocks here adds much more grip to your footwear.

WE REACHED TOP :-)

NANDI TEMPLE

NANDI STATUE

While climbing down, huge boulders once again attracted us. Also there were marks of desperate lovers craving for attention :-). It is difficult to understand psychology of such stupid attention seekers spoiling beautiful nature. Moving on, climbing down was pretty much easy that we easily went past the steep grades. We never felt fatigue too! All our worries were rendered futile :D. A smooth crawl along steep slope will easily get through them. We had unnecessary apprehensions about the same and eventually nothing was complicated as predicted. I remembered sayings of my father to never regret past and not to worry much about future. Everything takes its own time to calm down! Even Rajesh is such calm and down-to-earth person who never hesitates to criticize even me :-). I have learned lot from him (and still learning) to be yourself than impressing others.

Enough of fable :D. There are so many lizards matching the texture and color of rocks and difficult to spot unless they are moving. Nothing to worry since they are harmless and run away seeing humans. The last stage of journey, we spotted monkeys looking out for food :-). They are fun to watch unless not attacking you ;-). Overall, a moderate trek altogether despite of above mentioned complications (do not compare with Kumara-Parvata or Kodachadri ranges). The only lamenting part was the haze which provided untidy atmosphere for photography. Not a good for photography at all since most of them were filled with tremendous amount of haze. End of day the climb, crawl and bend provided great workout for entire body and we were excited after returning successfully. Also we were thankful to mother nature for holding natural umbrella for us by covering sky with clouds without any rains.

Beneath the hills there are two temples. One is Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple situated right beneath while other is Veerabhadraswamy temple situated a few meters away. Most of the people usually visit Savandurga for temples than climbing. There are many petty shops nearby foothill selling tender coconut, liquid stuffs and light food items. Gift your body with refreshing tender coconut after completing the trek ;-) and we had it too! Myself gifted with churmuri as bonus item :-). There are no hotels nearby. If you finish the trek by 3PM, it is possible to have free meals in Veerabhadraswamy temple. We were slightly late around 3:15PM. Prior to that we had consumed good amount of season's fruit which was orange. Again it was Rajesh's suggestion to have season fruit. He was right when said, it is healthy to have particular season's fruit which grows in abundant naturally. Nature yields proper fruits for respective seasons to counter seasonal changes.

LAKSHMI NARASIMHASWAMY TEMPLE

VEERABHADRASWAMY TEMPLE

Some tips:

1) Rajesh had good grip shoes while I was wearing chappals. But do avoid chappals and get good grip shoes if you wish to climb. I did that mistake but got through smoothly but please do not commit that mistake.
2) Avoid rainy season and hot Sun. Rains transform the rock to marshy surface and it will be too mcuh slippery. Start as early as possible and target to finish by 11AM.
3) Many vendors sell glucose powder here. If you foresee energy drain, please carry one for you!
4) Carry your own lunch if you do not wish to have it in temple.
5) Last but not least, there is no trash bin atop hills or along the way. Please carry the garbage back and dump in the garbage area near foothill.

We started back towards Bangalore at 3:45PM along Magadi route to visit Tippegondanahalli Dam. Unfortunately, the place is closed for public visit and we had no choice to contiue our journey towards the city. The state highway is from Kunigal to Sunkadakatte which was very evenly laid. We use to take this road during the time of NH-4 6 lane construction near Nelamangala junction to avoid traffic. As expected we faced traffic snarls. It started raining near Nagashettihalli and took shelter for sometime nearby a shop. The rain gained intensity as we neared BEL circle and one more shelter under the underpass. Furthermore, we rode with the drizzle and it persisted till K R Puram. Later on, there was no rain at all. Next day was all history which was Bangalore's highest rain in Novemeber after 44 years recording 106mm. Fortunately for us, there was no rain past KR Puram and we reached niche pretty comfortably.

The blog turned out to be pretty quite lengthy. Even though I strive to trim it down, I cannot refrain from scribbling those unique moments of journey. Finally the integration of small things creates a lengthy writeup. Hope you enjoyed the write-up. Any constructive critiques are always welcome [images + literature]. Since the day was full of haze not much things could be done. Here is a HDR and panorama composed during the journey. Most of the part is covered with haze and nothing much to brag about! I did capture timelapse but went in vain due to presence of haze.

HDR ENROUTE

PANORAMIC VIEW FROM TOP OF HILL

Time taken for trek:
2hours (80minutes for ascend and 40minutes for descend)

Credits:

• One more time Rajesh for his thorough review and riding majority of distance.
• Also my beautiful and sturdy bike for bearing the journey despite not being overhauled for many months
• All those rural people who guided us to find the route.

Route:

To:

SilkBoard->Mysore-Road->Big-Banyan-Tree->Manchinbele->Savandurga (60 kms)

Fro: Savandurga->Magadi->Sunkadakatte->Gorugontepalya->Hebbala->Marathahalli->SilkBoard (80kms)
Total Distance covered: 140kms (80kms Rajesh + 60kms myself)

Divine nature, Desperate leeches, Adamant serpent - An unfinished trek to Arishinagundi Waterfalls

Today I would like to narrate some of our experiences of trek to Arishinagundi Waterfalls visited a month back. Hope you will enjoy our experiences :-)

16-Nov-2013

Arishinagundi waterfalls is situated in exotic location amidst western ghats. It was well known for me from past 2 years, however lack of partners inhibited me from visiting this beautiful waterfall. In addition to that I also knew that there is no roadway to waterfall and need to trek from kollur for 6kms in dense rain forests. Not to forget, the region is home to wide variety of serpents :D. This time two of my office colleagues showed interest to visit the waterfalls and we planned just 2-3 days before commencement of journey. Rajesh booked Rajahamsa which was the only bus option available to Kollur. Since we decided just few days back, we ended up reserving last rows of bus :D. We were foreseeing a great trek along with bumpy journey :D.

We three congregated at Majestic bus stop and the bus started journey around 8:40PM. Looking at the condition of bus, we were sure of having good gymanstics inside the bus. We had preamble of what is going to happen further with greetings from poor suspension. We were getting massaged across every humps and bumps and sometimes high jumps! The bus stopped at Kamat hotel near Dabaspet and fortunately Rajesh occupied vacant seat in front row. Now myself and Amit were left stranded in last row. The bus resumed the journey and I was able to get good sleep till Shimoga. Like pitching the ball, we were getting pitched high by bus :D. A passenger alighted at Shimoga bus stand and Amit grabbed the middle seat immediately. Even though it was Friday, the off-season kept bus relatively empty at last rows. Also to my knowledge, people ply to kollur mostly by private vehicles. From Shimoga onwards, roads are simply ridiculous. Also the last seat added more pain to journey. I was the only now left in last row. After many hours of wobbling and jumping we are here in Kollur at 6AM. Ourselves found a room to refresh and ready by 7:30AM

We left to Mookambika temple to seek blessings before we could start. There was small queue and main door of temple was supposed to open by 8AM. We had to wait for 30 minutes before door could open. It was open exactly at 8AM and crowd had gathered by that time. Since we occupied the queue very early, it was going inside. We had darshan of mother mookambika and were out in matter of 15mins. Later Rajesh and Amit had blessings from the temple elephant :-). We had breakfast nearby hotel and then ready to start :-).

KOLLUR MOOKAMBIKA TEMPLE

Walk along rail tracks from Castle-Rock to Dudhsagar waterfalls - Part 2

Continued from here

This is the concluding part of our walk towards Dudhsagar waterfalls.

After few more hard walk, we reached the Dudhsagar station and we could hear the plunge of waterfalls from station itself! People who have visited during peak monsoon season describe it as sound of ocean from station :-). But we heard the normal sound of plummet. The sound  indicated that there is considerable flow of water :-). We also enjoyed the view of beautiful western ghats from Dudhsagar station.

ATLAST, WE ARE IN DUDHSAGAR STATION!

MAY BE OUR LAST TUNNEL

WE ARE ALMOST THERE :-)

Walk along rail tracks from Castle-Rock to Dudhsaagar waterfalls - Part 1

Three of my company staff including me had booked trek to Dudhsaagar falls organized by Bangalore Mountaineering Club. The trek was scheduled on 19th of October while the journey had to happen the previous day. We had packed all necessary stuffs required for the trek (as prescribed by club) and ready to cruise :-). Even though we were aware that the waterfalls will not be at full energy as July monsoon, the main interest was to walk for 15kms from Castle Rock to Dudhsaagar falls. This walk is on railway tracks and cannot be called as trek technically since most part is straighter without any grades. Nevertheless it is unique experience altogether. I have split the blog two 3 sections to depict the three day activity. The volume of sections will vary as per the activity during corresponding day. Get ready to start the walk along beautiful briganza ghats towards the ocean of milk. Hope you will enjoy the virtual stroll ;-)

18 Oct 2013

My friend who booked the trek, had received a mail with list of items to be carried for the walk. Accordingly we 3 distributed ourselves some of the items since 2 of us had heavy camera luggage. Main items were food and water to sustain the long walk under the Sun. We reached Domlur bus stop around 5:30PM and had snacks nearby restaurant to satisfy our hunger. There were many people who planned to alight here. We also had nice chat with canadian friend who also had booked the same. It seems he had trekked in four continents :D including the ice trekking. We were having good times with our co-passengers and introduced ourselves.  The trip was scheduled to start at 6:15PM at Domlur bus stop. Rajesh did proper prediction that it would start exactly start with minimum 30 minutes delay as per Indian standards and it happened too :-). The bus arrived around 6:45PM and we were ready to start :-). Some more pickups along the way and we had one more friend from Australia with heavy backpack who joined us for trek. That was mighty backpack weighing more than 20KG I believe. He had carried his own tents and food and also seemed to be more experienced trekker. 9PM sharp, we were in Jalahalli cross toll gate and bus stopped at one of the hotel along NH-4 near Dabaspet. After having good dinner, it was time to sleep and get ready for next day. Altogether we were batch of 32 people + 2 co-ordinators + 1 driver.

19 Oct 2013

We reached Ramangar around 5:30AM. The club people had booked small lodging nearby the place to refresh ourselves before we could start the trek. Castle Rock railway station is about 30kms from here. We refreshed ourselves here for 90minutes and had decent breakfast. We also bought few water bottles required for the long walk. The bus started heading towards CastleRock railway station. It seemed like the rains have receded completely in this region. The water streams with no intensity were examples for the same. However, the extended monsoon is keeping water streams of Shiraadi ghats and Kuduremukh ghats still alive! The road is National Highway 4A which runs between Panaji and Belgaum. The condition of highway was really bad mainly because of torrential monsoon season but not as worse as shiraadi ghat road. Few kms later, we reached Castle rock cross. From here, 5-6kms interior along narrow ghat road is CastleRock railway station. The road is very narrow that it is difficult even for 2 LMVs to negotiate. We were stuck in between when our bus encountered brick loaded truck. He was adamant to avoid slipping down the road due to heavy load and we were facing a tree. Somehow after reverse and forward, both could negotiate. At some places there are steep hairpins and one has to honk gently to get rid of surprises. 9:30AM, we were in Castle Rock. The sky was crystal clear and Sun was striking the place with full energy. The weather was similar to coastal weather during summer with high humidity. We had small gathering and introduced one another. Later it was time to start :-). Exactly at 10AM, we started walking towards Dudhsaagar. Our baggage seemed to be very heavy (may be exceeding 8KGs) which included camera pack, necessary stuffs, sleeping bags and lunch food. The other stuffs like dinner and camping materials were carried in Chennai-Vasco express from CastleRock which briefly halts at Dudhsaagar station.

Sunrise at Ramanagar

There are two options altogether to walk. One from Kulem which is around 11kms and other from Castle Rock which is 15kms. Most people prefer the latter since transport is good enough. Few people from Goa, take Kulem route. Our walk began with normal pace and we kept moving on. It is pretty much uncomfortable to walk on tracks due to presence of ballast. At some place, trails are present as a brief comfort. As our walk progressed, we encountered our first train which is Chennai-Vasco express :-). After the train passed, we had energy bar before we could proceed. Now comes the first tunnel :-). Had this been monsoon season, there would have been water flowing from top of tunnel. That would have been great experience :-). Nevertheless, watching those tunnels cannot deter excitement! Few photographs here, we moved on. At middle of tunnel, it was complete darkness. We had torches to walk along the darkness. Few people were screaming with joy as they walked along the tunnel. Even inside tunnel, there is small area besides railway track to have safe stay in case one encounters train. Not sure what how will be the condition during monsoon season since water falls from everywhere from nook and corner of tunnel :D. It was really unique experience under darkness without any ghosts ;-). Watch out for human waste along the tracks. They can be surprsing while you walk along the tunnels. In monsoon season, they would be automatically cleaned up by heavy rains and streams ;-). There were many groups who had planned the walk along with us. There were considerable crowd all along the track. I was even surprised see the enthusiam of people with varying age. There were people from kids as young as 10yrs to elders as old as 50yrs :-).

Castle Rock Railway Station

The tracks

One more view!

Few kms later, there we see the glorious vistas of western ghats. We enjoyed the distant view of beautiful rain forests and grabbed pictures too! Western ghats are never boring place to visit and they are paradise on earth during monsoon season. Be it trekking, driving or train journeys whatever you think of, the western ghats are the best place to rejoice. Wherever we had to enjoy the beautiful hillocks, we stopped by and grabbed some snaps. You may stumble if you need to enjoy the hillocks while walking ;-) basically due to uneven surface and scattered ballast. Few more kms, we came across the first alive water spot which had considerable flow. It was flowing behind a small arch. With this we were relieved that we could see considerable amount of water in Dudhsaagar. Till here, all along we could only spot dead water spots. Meanwhile, due to humid weather we had exhausted 2ltrs of water already and there was still around 9kms to walk. Myself and Rajesh drank water here and filled our bottle. That was so great in taste and pure which was straight out of western ghats :-). Rajesh said that this was far better than mineral water! All along the journey we could spot beautiful/colorful butterflies but did not take any pictures :-(. They were pretty much larger in size than which we see in town limits. May be these are kind which could be spotted only in jungles.

THE VISTAS OF WESTERN GHATS

OUR FIRST TUNNEL ;-)

exit(first_tunnel) ;-)

One more!

Out again!

Finally some water! Phew...

Amazing rain forests

After first tunnel, here comes the first viaduct :-). There are trails along these viaducts to cross them safely in case we encounter a train. Small platforms are also constructed to have safer distance too! We encountered a cascaded 3 engine loco honking loudly and I grabbed a video too ;-). We encountered few more tunnels and viaducts during our walk. I guess there were about 10 tunnels in number and may be 4-5 viaducts. In one of the major viaduct with tunnel, there was full flowing water spring. It was nearly small waterfalls plummeting through the rocks. Some people were having cool afternoon bath here. After crossing the tunnel cum viaduct we encountered our second train Amaravati express which runs from Howrah to Vasco. I shot video of even that and people were screaming on board to have their presence in video :D. We later resumed our journey and I was photographing both railway tracks and western ghats. Whenever I got opportunity, I shot water springs as well tunnels. In middle of walk, we reached station called Caranzol. I had friendly chat with one of the gangmen of station and he suggested us to plan during 1st or 2nd week of August. Dudhsaagar was around 6.84kms from here as per label painted on station walls. From Dudhsaagar station, the waterfall is around 0.5 to 1km. Few kms back from here starts the Goa state jurisdiction. There was also a welcome board erected by Goa administration. So it is clear that Dudhsaagar lies in Goa state.

Welcome to GOA state!

The Hillock again!

The side view with tracks

Still so much :-( from caranzol

How do you describe :-)

And this one ;-)

The Viaduct

The major water spot

There is always light at end of dark tunnel if it not monsoon season :-)

5kms before Dudhsaagar, hunger started haunting us and we were only 2. We had lost the other person behind. We thought of having food and sync up with him before we could get started. Just before we were having apples. By the time I could eat 25%, a monkey snatched my apple :-). There is no point in fighting with them :D. Even Rajesh lost it but after healthy 60% consumption! My deep photography session had eaten up time more than eating and consequently monkey ate majority of apple :(. Moral of story is finish off eating before you do any activity or else monkeys will finish for you ;-). One can spot myriad of monkeys all along the tracks. I guess they are well aware of trekkers and people who throw food items from train. May be they want different taste of food than what is available in jungles :-). Back to lunch break, the packed food provided by club members was hell spicy with water spots originating from our eyes :-(. Unfortunately we could not finish the lunch due to terrible spiciness :-(. Fortunately for us, monkey nearby started eating them and we were relieved that food was not wasted. We tried to eat as much we can but eventually gave up since it may lead to adverse health problems. There was no possibility to have any emergency health facility nearby here in middle of jungle too! In middle of lunch, we encountered mighty goods train with clanky engine sound. Of-course there were more engines fit to the train (front and back) to power it up the ghats. Usually in ghat areas, trains are fit with engines front and back. They are basically to power the train up the ghats and act as automatic breakers while down-hilling to limit the speed.

You enjoy watching me snatch other's food and now enjoy for yourself :D

Amaravati express along briganza ghats!

The remnants of dead bogie

Once third member arrived and after he had short break, we resumed our walk towards dudhsaagar falls. Hereafter we could see actual signs of water with water dripping from top of tunnel! Their intensity will be very high during monsoon season. The intensity was reduced to droplets now mainly due to feeble moisture content in hills and lack of rain. The spicy food had increased our thirst and we filled our bottles with water dripping from hills. Infact they were really good and tasty. We had plenty of water and kept on constantly re-filling ;-).

FROM HERE, TRACK TO NOWHERE :-)

Where is Dudhsaagar waterfalls? Its here!