SubbichenDguDDa!

As in the previous post, I am writing this blog in the present tense. Don't ask me why.

We have finished EttinaBhuja yesterday and we intend to conquer Deepadakallu and JenkalGudda today. We have had two unsuccessful plans to conquer these twin peaks (here and here). Both of them were thwarted by an enigma of a peak called Ombattugudda.

After EttinaBhuja yesterday we came to Mudigere for overnight halt. Today we are fresh and ready to go. We have enough time on our hands to conquer both the peaks. Also, we are not tired (as what had happened after Ombattugudda-1).

We have our breakfast at Mudigere and leave for Lakshmi Saraswathi estate (Hoskere), which is the starting point of the trek. Everytime we have come to this estate, the workers here have recognised us. Hope they don't get irritated by our frequent visits to the place. We reach the estate at 1100 hours and find nobody at the estate. Everyone has gone off to work. We are already running late and we don't know where to start from within the estate! Me and Subbu scout around a little and find a carpenter who is overjoyed to see someone come and talk to him. He tells us that we need to take the left turn (going down) just before the estate workers' house where will cross a stream. So we head in that direction. We also have in mind the piece of advice Mithun has given us: "There is a highway to the peak!".

The jeep track which didn't let us take the right route.

Look. We do know that there can't be a 4 lane highway or even a jeep track till the peak. But somehow none of us are willing to take any deviation from the jeep track which is stretching in front of us in a very winding and inviting manner! After a certain point, we are constantly moving in the opposite direction of the peak and somehow none of us is stong-willed enough to move away from the jeep track. So we keep on going until everyone of us agrees what we know for quite some time now - yep, we are lost, we have headed in the wrong direction. Now now, what's a trek without a little "getting-lost" business? Meandering in the forest not knowing what to do, we come across a mango tree, the ground beneath which is strewn with ripe mangoes! So what if we are lost?! We indulge ourselves like kids and after about half an hour, standing right below the mango tree, Jitha comes up with this gem: "Where is the mango tree btws?!"

Mangoes!

Getting to a clear patch of land, we spot a peak to our right side, which looks steep and inviting. It's already 3 in the afternoon and it looks like we have a fat chance of getting to Dipadakallu. So what? We'll get to the top of this arbit peak, get a sense of direction and head back.. simple! Anyways, we haven't heard the mention of this peak anywhere and we decide to name it... SubbichenDguDDa!

On top of SubbichenDguDDa

We get to the peak of SubbichenDguDDa and we get a magnificient view of the surroundings. We spot Dipadakallu which is about 3 kms off from this place. We also realize where we went wrong in our mission to get to Dipadakallu. We also get to see EttinaBhuja and Amedikallu. Conspicuous by it's absence is the OmbattuGudda. We also, surprisingly, spot the temple of Bhairapura just below the peak! The temple, as we saw yesterday, is very close to EttinaBhuja, which, now, is in a completely different direction! In utter disbelief, we look at Ettinabhuja in one direction and Bhairapura-like temple in the other direction which are, atleast, 10 kms apart. Then we realize this is some other similar-looking temple and we name the place "duplicate Bhairapura" (thank God we are not chemists stumbling upon new compounds every now and then).

Getting down SubbichenDguDDa

We have missed Dipadakallu again. Damn it! How can one simple peak evade us on three successive attempts? Anyways, we get down the peak and get back to the estate well past sunset. We reach the estate and see a strange phenomenon: all the fireflies around us are flashing simultaneously in a burst! Have never seen this phenomenon and we are quite fascinated by it. This phenomenon is called "phase synchronization". Read more on it here.

The photos are here.

Thus continues the quest...