Kodachadri and Hidlumane falls.

Subbu, all of 27 years old, had one regret in his life - he hadn't been to Kodachadri, although it's just a stone's throw away from his place. He decides to address this shortcoming during the second weekend of September. In an unrelated incident, Jithu, about to be married, decides to live his life to the full (before getting married) and plans to go to Kodachadri. In another world, Sirish, the grand old man, decides to go to Kodachadri one last time. Elsewhere, me, after being out of any sorts of action for close to two months, desperately wanted to get off my ass and head somewhere. No matter what the destination was. The trek to Kodachadri through Hidlumane falls is the story of coming together of these four people... :D

New raincoat?!

There are many trails that lead to Kodachadri and we decided to try the scenic Hidlumane falls route. How to get there?

Bangalore - Tumkur - Arsikere - Shimoga - Hosanagara - Nagara - Nittur.
About 3 kms from Nittur towards Kollur, there is a small bridge and a bus waiting shed and the place is called 'marakutuka'. Get down there and start walking on the jeep track. Hidlumane falls is about 6-7 kms from the main road and there are many forks on the road. It is nearly impossible to find your way here without the villagers' help.

Sirish, suffering from incurable Gaja Dosha, was saying something about elephants. The word 'elephant' had barely reached our ears, we hear a thudding sound and see Sirish resting on his buttocks! His Gaja Dosha continues...

Sirish's Gaja Dosha continues..

It was here, when we were on our way to Hidlumane falls, we stumbled upon the great idea of starting a club for all the singles in Bangalore... The "Hopelessly Singles-Bangalore Chapter" (HSBC). To know more abt the club, click here.

Hidlumane falls is a series of cascading falls with about 6 or 7 falls one after another. The beauty of these falls is that each of these falls are hidden from one another and they get better and better as you go up the cascade, culminating in a magnificient fall which is as secluded a waterfall as you can imagine! As we had gone in the monsoons, going up the cascade was anything but easy. The path was treacherously slippery with leeches feasting on you at every step. As we reached the main falls, the excitement was palpable as we began indulging..

Reminds you of Shawshank Redemption?

After about half an hour, we took a vague-looking path to the right side of the falls which eventually led us to an open grassland from where we could see the jeep track that leads to the Inspection Bungalow atop Kodachadri.

Jump up in joy!

Walking amidst clouds with green colour all around us, we reached the IB at around 5 in the evening. Hidlumane falls is without doubt a much better route than the more famous and commercialized route from Nagodi. Accomodation at the chaotic IB is not so great but then, what the heck. Its better than sleeping in the open, that too in biting cold. Plus you get food! What else one needs??

Jithu and Subbu

Since the visibility on the peak wasnt too great, we decided to make do withouth watching the famous Kodachadri sunrise. Also since we were told that the path to Arsinagundi falls will be really tricky because of the rains, we headed straight back to Kollur the next morning and then to Kundapur in desperate search of some sea-food! We kept ourselves hungry for most part of the day anticipating some yummy sea-food in the coastal town. But...

Evening 4 to 6 is not a good time for hungry souls to be in Kundapur, that too on Sundays. To our utter disappointment, there were hardly any restaurants open! Finally we managed to find a place which serves regular non-veg food, which was about to pull the shutters down. Luckily we reached there just in time as we hogged on some good chicken biryanis.

The contact numbers of the IB chap Rajendra are:
9480205657 (mobile)
08185-290368 (residence).

Photos of the trek are here.

All in all, for me, it was a birthday weekend well spent. :)

Thus continues the quest...