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Trekking for me is the first option given a chance, and I would have not liked to miss the term break @ IIMB. My association with RHM has been quite old… I like the group that RHM has…so decided I would not spend time deciding on the trek, would just go ahead with them.

RHM had planned trek to Kote betta. As usual Arun had done all the ticket booking and food arrangements. We just had to accompany him to enjoy. To accompany all that we had Dean, who is another master at his PJs. After Edakumeri this was my next trek with RHM, almost after a gap of 3 months.

Arun had asked us to meet at the reception counter of the KSRTC bus stand at 10 pm. I was pretty much jobless so decided to set out from IIMB at 8 pm itself. I knew I would be early, but did not expect to be as early as 8:45pm. I had over an hour to spend at the reception. I decided to do some rounds on the bus stand and watch passengers in their hurry to get to their destination. KSRC bus stand was at its usual best with a lot of buzzing discussions by passengers some of them arguing with the ticket collector and loud announcements (I don’t even know who many will actually listen to it, when involved in their routine discussion.). Then there was the usual jam of busses in a hurry to leave the platform and get set to their destination.

I then spent some time looking at the road map that was painted on the wall of the bus stand. Looking at the approximate distances to each district head quarters from Bangalore… I still had some time to call my friends and discuss some nonsense. Finally at around 9:55pm Arun appeared, and we found our trek mates in some time. We had a round of introduction and then climbed the bus. We expected to reach Madikeri around 5:00 am.

The bus left the stand in about 10 min after we climbed and we engaged ourselves in routine discussions… some related to our experiences some relating to our beliefs… just a process of getting to know each other better. As time elapsed we were into deep slumber.

We reached Madikeri before the first rays if sun could touch upon the city, we were joined by another trek mate of ours there from Udupi. Our bus from Madikeri towards Somavarpet was @ 6:45 am. So we had some time to freshen up ourselves. We finished our usual round of freshening up and went to have our breakfast. I was quite hungry and had some good amount of breakfast. We also packed some for our journey later on.

We sat in the bus at 6:40 am and the bus started off as expected on time. Another around 30 minutes of journey and we were at “Hatty HoLe” meaning Hatti river. Our stop was just after a bridge, the river was flowing underneath the bridge in all might. We could spot some of the tree trunks it had pulled downstream after the heavy rains some days before. We took some snaps; the sun had just about risen above the mountains in the horizon and was shining in all might.

We had some coorg coffee at the hotel there, and then Arun started off with a formal round of introduction and some basic funda / plan for the trek. We were to walk along the road for most of the trek. Though the scenic beauty was too good the only thing I hated was trekking / walking on the well tarred road. We were to take a break at a hanging bridge which was around a couple odd kilometers from the starting point. We reached the hanging bridge at our own pace, and then decided to break for official breakfast of the trek. A couple of us were interested in photography and the hanging bridge provided a good position for photo shooting. We found some estate workers speaking to themselves and enjoying us take pics of them… they were so pleased to pose for our cameras… he what innocence in their looks… it was just too good the excitement on seeing us strangers. J

We got back to the road after about an hours break… a small distance further we got to a fork in the road; one was leading upwards towards an estate and the other to don’t know where it takes us. The river was flowing besides the road all along. We chose the right turn, we lost track of the busy running river from here. It was much silent trek from here. The asphalted road slowly turned into a mud road… did not even realize it. There were no vehicles this way.

We had all the time in the world to get the pictures we wanted. We were amazed by the numerous falls on the way to the peak of kote betta. We could not spot the peak from the place we began this trek. We could spot a not of mountains and clouds in the distance. I was a bit early to a fall on the road side and so decided to try and get some better pics of the falls. I had a small fall in the falls and so decided against the effort. After some good snaps from were I was, we realized there were leeches along the route. One of my trek mates had a leech on his feet. It hadn’t begun its job of sucking blood, just trying to figure out a suitable location and we spotted it… we removed away the leech and were happy about the achievement.

Another couple of small falls and some resting for the rest of the group to catch up we reached a much flatter range of the trek. Till now we were on a continuous ascent and were warned by localites of a bullock which would chase strangers – well we did not find any such bullock chasing us… but every time we spotted one we were discussing about a possibility.

We made our calls to our relatives form this open plain area. At a distance we could spot the telephone tower near the Raja Seat. We had a panoramic view of the mountainous beauty Coorg. I was missing the panoramic mode in my camera… cribbing I had brought a camera that had one. Leeches were once again on duty, biting a couple of our mates. After the exercise of leech removal we waited to catch up once again with our trek mates who had slowed down once again. We in the mean time we took some time off to make our calls back to our relatives in Bangalore.

We could spot the peak of Kote Betta from here, wow!! Was the expression I came out with as I could understand the reason the mountain was named so. Kote in Kannada means Fort. We could spot the mountains in a fort wall format. This might have been the reason these mountains be christened this name. We walked towards the visible peak. Each time we reached a certain height we would wait and look back to see the beauty all over… we could spot domestic cows grazing on adjacent peaks, some paddy fields at a distance, the river we left far behind, some smoke raising up from a distant village. The clouds would cover some of our view of the peak some time while at other times it would clear up and give us the majestic view of the “fort walls” of the mountain.

We continued on our journey, we could spot a group of people who were moving towards the peak as well making loud shouts, and running all the way up. We thought they might be some other group of trekker. We reached another small resting place and took some snaps till our ever slow trek mated could catch up. This we had decided would be our last stop before the summit near the temple atop the peak. As we rested we found clouds take over from clarity and cover the peak again. It was back to photography time, the wind pulling the clouds;
it was such a great sight.

We started on our final stretch to the peak… it was quite a steep ascent and a short one too. We reached the temple area and just had enough time to click some pics of the valley below; the clouds were backing again to blur the view. There was a route beside the temple to another peak, but again the clouds would not let us explore that. So after having our lunch at the peak we decided to walk back. We spent around three fourth of an hour here. We could spot the first group of trekkers who were ahead of us coming down at a distance. They spoke to us and told they were localites and had come there just for fun.

We set back on our way once we found some drizzling. The stones get slippery and it would be difficult to get down. We started off and in no time we were facing all the slippery stones on our way… it was nice fun descending these stones. We could a big group of school students who were on a school trip to the peak on our way back.

We were out of the cloud and could spot the sun again. All of us decided to take a small nap on our way back. I wasn’t feeling sleepy and decided to try out some nice pictures of the scenery around. About an hours rest and we were ready to get back on the track. We took some nice group snaps before we could get back to the back journey. Dean who was on of our trek mates wanted to go on a Himalayan trek in December and so was preparing for the same. He was on complete run from the word go. I was the next in line and it was fun running the slopes.

We finally hit the asphalted road and were searching of a good spot to in the river where some of our enthusiasts could have a quick bath and relax. We found one, and it was just awesome place. The river was taking a small turn and it had estate on one side beside the road while on the other we had dense forest. We could find some small birds enjoying their moments of Joy and fly. We spent around a couple of hours beside the river. Our janata which was late decided to take its own sweet time to get back and join us. While we had couple of hours of joy beside the river they could manage only around 45 minutes of fun. The sun in the meantime decided to give me some awesome snaps, with its interplay with the flowing river. Ah like it… may be you got to check the pics to understand what I mean… any description would not match the sight.

Another 15 min trek beside the road and we were back to hatti hole…a cup of coffee to relax and some sharing of experiences we were all ready to get back to Bangalore after a days trek. We were waiting for a bus to somavarpet. We reached somavarpet around 7:30 pm, we decided to rent a room for some time and freshen up.

Our bus was at 10:00 pm. We climbed the bus and it was just a short time before all of us were in deep sleep. I woke up just a couple of kilometer from the KSRTC bus stop. Here I was back to the huzzle and buzzle of Bangalore… back to same life of routine ness… the same campus the same busy life

You can find the snaps here…
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sachidananda.bs/KoteBetta02

The life at IIMB is one which keeps u really occupied. The usual quizzes (some surprise and some not), the assignments which we delay to the last minute for submission, the usual L^2 parties… all this just keep you really occupied. Being a trek enthusiast, I was missing trek and travel a lot here. On this particular Saturday, I just could not resist the temptation to go on a trek and decided to go on the trek. This was after the term one mid term exams, some time just after the heavy rains and the awesome flow of the Sharavathi at the jog.

As usual, I did no look for company and decided to go all alone on the trek/trip. I set out on Saturday evening and reached the Majestic Bus Stand from where the buses start off on their daily routine of plying passengers. I reached the stand at around 8:15 pm and as is the normal case is with me, I don’t book tickets. I began searching for a bus which could give me tickets to Jog; the destined bus was to leave at around 10:00 pm. I had a hard time and could not find a seat in the bus which would take me to Jog. Instead the conductor of the bus asked me to get into a Shirsi bus which would take me to Sagara and then climb their bus from there. I took the suggestion and decided to try my luck at any Shirsi bus which could take me to Sagara. The next bus to Shirsi was at 10:15pm. I could find a seat in the bus and so wasn’t a problem… 10min after I got into the bus I got a co passenger who sat in the seat beside me and we started speaking to each other, he told me that this bus might go till Jog, you can take the ticket till there if you want to… I thought Ah! What a co-incidence… well I will take this bus directly to jog then. I bought a ticket to Jog and it was a cool journey from then. I was quite tiered and went into deep slumber right form the moment the bus left the Bangalore station. I woke up only when my co-passenger decided to get down at Sagara and was getting his luggage ready. I thanked him for the suggestion and help that I received and began looking out of the window eagerly to get a glimpse of the awesome paddy fields which made a green sea beside the road the bus was moving on. Occasionally there was a mild drizzle… all this would just make me feel so very close to nature… I was waiting eagerly to get down form the bus and have a look at the falls.

Finally the bus decided to give a stop J just a couple of kilometers before the Falls. I got out of the bus, thanked the driver and the conductor, wished them a good morning and turned around. I was standing in front of a bridge and besides it was a board, which read… “Welcome to world famous Jog Falls”. World famous… hummm rt… really world famous… it reminded me of the wave that the recent Kannada movie “Mugaaru MaLe” had created. One of the dance-song sequences was picturised in this location and the photography had a chopper’s snap of the falls. This has really created the interest amongst a lot of people to visit the falls. The recent showers and the full flow of the falls – some videos wee already out showing Jog in its full glory. The first thought on seeing this Jog in full glory was – Now I understand the anecdote of Sir M V saying “What a waste of energy!!!”

A couple of minutes after the bus had dropped me the road was completely silent, all that I could here is the water fall at a distance, some birds chirping. The bus which I could not climb reached the spot a couple of minutes later. I did not want to climb it as there were a lot of scenic things which I could capture in my camera; I decided to do the walking. There was a mile stone which was to directing me to Jog saying… you have 2 km more dude… Just enjoy the scenery and the music… I did exactly that. I had the entire road for myself – some times some tourist van would come honking for space, there wasn’t anything else on the way that would stop me.

I started my road trek of 2 Km with the bridge, Far off I could see the Sharavathi river take a turn and come to the falls… there were a lot of stones which stood in its path not vertical but as though hit on the head and about to fall down. The river over years has make its own empire… which even the hard rocks could not challenge. I continued further, clicking snaps of the wet road, wetted by the drizzle that had occurred some time back. Around a kilometer and some distance ahead, I got to the first guest house. I could see some people standing just at the edge where the river is about to fall, I found some monkeys playing this early in the morning… They were at their usual best entertaining and troubling people.

After some snaps at the falls I walked further to the main reception of the Jog Falls. There is a big banner welcoming us to the falls. I met a few friends who had been to jog directly from Bangalore in their Sumo. I greeted them and went back to have my Breakfast. I wanted to get a glimpse of the falls before I start off with my breakfast. I went to the sight seeing point opposite the falls. The falls was visible, not flowing in its full glory but thanks to the dam Up-stream we still had some water. Occasionally the clouds would cover the falls and disappoint the on lookers.

After the first “darshan” of the falls, I walked towards the shopping complex where I could find some breakfast. I decided to get to the foot of the falls after my breakfast. I did not have a hat to cover my head from the rain, you don’t have to worry either, we can purchase plastic hats which are Rs. 5 (I know it wouldn’t even cost a couple of Rupees to make it… but still it serves the purpose which it has to do.) I wore the hat and started my trek to the base of the falls. The drizzle began again and this time there was no stopping me… I began my descent down the hill slope. The rocks that formed the hill slope were slippery; many people were finding it difficult. I could hear some one shouting out to some one else because some one else is missing. The ascenders were having a tough time as well. The steep climb had drained them out of energy and they were complaining about heaven, the hell, scolding God and some even remembering enemies. Well its nature of human to complain and scold anything and everything when it is just beyond their capacity to do things.

I reached the foot of the falls in some time… all along the route I had the pleasure of not having to wait for any one and the leisure of clicking as many snaps as I needed. When I reached the foot, of the falls, it was an awesome experience; for a moment I felt this is where I belong…. I just want to be here. I felt as though I was back into carefree childhood days. I could feel the falls spray water on us to wet us, the clouds provided a hiding to the people from the view above and the breeze created by the water fall. I stood there thinking how majestic it looks, how simple the principle that governs this falls. Yet what power it creates.

I spent around half an hour at the foot of the falls and decided to get back. I started the climb and reached the viewpoint without much effort. May be my regular tsepak games at IIMB had improved my stamina and this ascent was not so demanding. There I get
another realizations… regularity in what we do will improve our efficiency to levels which can marvel people.

The time was around 10 am. I had the whole day to get back to Bangalore. I decided to not worry too much about the travel time and just reach Bangalore. I reached back to Bangalore at 9:30 pm caught a bus to Jayanagar. A friend was there to pick me up reached the campus at 10:15pm..

I fell exhausted on the bed after the day long journey; I closed my eyes to relive the experience I had during the earlier half of the day. The 2 to 3 hours of pleasure I had spending at the falls, has given me enough enthusiasm for the remaining term. Wish I could have such experiences much more… well that is a trade off… I have to accept. My passion for treks and falls continue uninhibited at IIMB as well – I am happy about it.

some pics posted at
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sachidananda.bs/JogFalls02