(Subbu+Quacks)* On the Rocks==Kodachadri +bountiful wilderness

After last weekend’s drive to bluff and mekedatu , me and my friend after a short discussion finalized on kodachadri and arshinagundi falls trek for the 3 day diwali weeeknd. Since we had monday off we thought of either covering jog or head to udupi and cover a few places before heading back to bangalore.

When I went to book the tickets to shimoga , i got a rude shock when the guy at the ticket counter told me there was no return tickets back to bangalore on monday night as everything was booked. This prompted a change in plans as I didnt want to get stuck in sagar/udupi.

Since only me and my friend were goin for the trek we decided to first climb kodachadri and then decide later on what has to be done. With this in mind I booked the last available bus to shimoga.

I reached majestic bus stand at 10.30 after walking from corporation as the bus had broke down at corporation signal . I was amazed the line of buses and chaos that was present there and I decided to walk as it would have been a better option rather than getting stuck at in the bus. Managed to reached the bus stand and by the time me and my friend could search our bus it took us another 15 min as all buses in majestic seemed to be heading towards shimoga . By the time we left bangalore it was 11.30.

Further misery was in store for us as we were caught in yet another traffic jam near jallahalli cross. By the time we were out of all this traffic it was around 1.30 in the morning. From there on it was smooth sailing till shimoga.

We reached shimoga at 7.30 and after finishing our morning duties we headed to the private bus stand to catch a bus to kollur. The bus was however packed to the brim and with our heavy luggage we decided not to take it. The conductor of another bus told us to take the bus to samipgekatte which would arrive in a few min. Since we were already late we decided to do what the conductor said. The bus soon arrived and we headed out to samipgekatte

The drive which we thought would be a short one turned out to be a 3 hour drive and by the time we reached samipgekatte it was 12.30. After redistributing the food items which consisted of buns we started the trek.

We happened to see some magnificent scenary just as we started the trek, and we knew we would get better ones as we ascended the peak

Scenary enroute to kodachadri

With scenic views unfolding at every corner which were captured duly, we made good progress as we didnt want to miss the sunset. With the sun beating down mercilessly the progress was slow considering the fact that i hadnt done any treks since ettinabuja in june.

With small breaks in between we reached the peak at 5.30. The views got better as we gained altitiude and frequent stops were made to capture the scenic beauty.

Lush green forests

We reached the IB around 6 and we were just in time for the sunset and immediately rushed to sunset point to capture the sunset in all its glory. With the clouds playing hide n seek we were treated with a surreal sunset. After a photoshoot we headed back to the IB.

Sunset @ Kodachadri

Sky after sunset

The next morning we woke up at 5 and rushed to sanjeevai peetha to see the sunrise. With the sun coming out from behind the clouds was simply amazing. An hour or so was spent taking snaps.

Sunrise

Now that plan of scaling kodachadri was done. We were wondering what to do next. Since there were no guides available we werent intent on doing arshinagundi falls by ourselves as the route is quite risky without a guy. We decided to head down via karikatte route and catch a bus to kollur and then to udupi.

Descent was swift and we were at the santosh malliu hotel by 10.30. A quick stop there for a couple of lime soda’s we headed to karikatte gate. The bus to kollur arrived at 11.30. After reaching kollur we took a connecting bus to kundapur and hopped to another bus to reach udupi by 2 in the afternoon.

Evening was spent in kapu beach photographing the sunset. Lazing around for some more time and having ice creams in diana’s ice cream parlour we caught the 10pm bus to bangalore which we had booked upon arriving in udupi.

Kapu Sunset

The journey was spent hanging on to ur lives as the driver drove like a man possesed on the crater ridden roads in the charmadi ghats. We spent the night being thrown out of our seats as we had booked the last row .

Reached home at 8.30 on monday morning

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Snaps can be found here