That time of the year when the monsoons are in full force we decided to do a Monsoon trek in an area famously known as Malenadu (Rain Land). On our previous trek to Kudremukh we chanced upon a towering mountain behind Hornadu, upon enquiring we found out that it was known as Meruthi Gudda. Meruthi Gudda is a relative less explored region about 5Km from BasariKatte. Booked our tickets to and fro Bangalore-Hornadu without fixing the itinerary except our plans to climb Meruthi Gudda. Reading through the blogs found out that there was a waterfall near Kigga which was about 5Km from Sringeri. Couple of conference calls between Deepu, Albert (Pai) and me we decided on essential things to carry/buy, POA, etc
Everytime on the day of departure i usually end up late at office and reach home with just enough time to pack my luggage, transfer data from my GPS, grab a quick bit and dash towards the bus stop. Every single time i've missed out on having an evening bath, a nice clean shave and probably a power nap just before heading out. Looking at my past experience i decided to leave office by around 4pm, so that i have enough time on hand to do all the necessary things including catching up with a bit of sleep (yeah I've love sleeping) :). I get a call from my wifey saying that the cops had called her for passport verification and requested her to come to the police station with all the necessary documents scanned. hiccup!! You know how things work in india, the most certain thing about getting stuff done in india is its unpredictable. hmm...Things went well as planned reached home early from office, packed my backpack with tent and the usual stuff until we decided to go the police station, damn when we went to the station the person responsible for verifying the documents was out on rounds. while we waited for about 45mins one of the cops asked us to call the guy giving his number and this idiot was very close to my house verifying the references provided by others who had applied for their passport. A quick chat with him and we head home asking him to come home. An hour later he comes home collects the documents required and by then the time is 8.45pm. Everytime am short of time, had decided to download the data GPS but couldn't anyways after a few last minute checks pai arrived and we head out to majestic bus stand.
Boarded the bus at majestic, reached Kalasa and headed towards sringeri and got down at Billalkoppa. Thanks to Anil Kadsur who spoke to his uncle, who then offered us to stay at their place for the night. There is a total shift towards how people are treated back in the cities when compared to these small towns / villages.They didn't even know us except for the fact that we were Anil’s friends. The hospitality was amazing. Had a sumptuous Benne dosa breakfast. Dumped our backpacks and loaded our 20litre bags with apples, Gatorade, biscuits and hydration bladder. Time to conquer a mountain.
Started our trek at around 9.30am headed toward Kavanahole which was about 5Km from Billalkoppa stopped for a while at kavanahole enquiring about the alternate routes to the top of meruthi gudda.
Another 2-3km through Badnekhan estate we asked the manager at the estate office for permission,we were not exactly asking for permission but we were enquiring about the route to the top. Anyway with / without permission we were determined to climb the peak. The drizzle that started at kavanahole by now turned into a full blown torrential rain with strong gusts of wind. He warned us about snakes and tons of leeches. Both of which didn't bother us.
While walking towards the peak we had a general sense of direction of where we were heading, but when we entered the estate things were quite different, we were in the middle of a leech pool all of whom were waiting for a victim coupled with the downpour we were now trying to tackle all those bloodsuckers and the rain. We had our focus fixed towards the peak following the advice from the manager at the estate we followed estate fence. hmm..even though the route wasn't tough to navigate we got lost, retraced our route back and decided jump over the estate fences and moving out into the clearing with open grasslands on either side.
While the peak was to the left was us, we decided to walk right as there was the path assuming that the path would circle round the the peak and show us the way to the top. About 10mins later we were walking along the slopes of the mountain that was pretty steep and were completely soaked from behind as the rain was lashing from behind.
My new Vivobarefoot Neo Trail which resisted water until now gave in and i was completely wet from my knees down. We tread carefully along the slope turned left and walked along the trail to reach the top and moved over to the next peak. I knew there was something wrong, i ran around to find the ganesha Idol at the top but to my disappointment couldn't find the idol. That's when it struck us that we were on the wrong peak.
Down below when we got lost we were at the 2nd gate of the estate office and were contemplating whether to walk along the fence and towards the end jump over to the clearing or follow the trail that lay beyond the gates, since the manager told us to follow the estate fence we took his advice and arrived at the wrong peak. We thoroughly enjoyed our climb and brief stay at the peak.Deepu was carrying his Nikon DSLR but was tucked away because of the rain. Clicked a few photos with my most trusted Sony Ericsson Xperia Active which happens to be a waterproof mobile.
Walked back towards Kavanahole and made our first pit removed our soaked socks and shoes. A quick reality check and we were bitten all over by those bloody bloodsuckers. I wasn't too bothered about these guys tried removing a few when we were walking but eventually gave up. If you are too paranoid about leeches you have to either carry salt , tobacco or limestone paste. When these are on you or have bitten you all you have to do is pour one of these on the leeches and they release their bite and fall off.
Took a rick to basarikatte had a amazing lunch, then relaxed and goofed around in front of a locked house. An hour and a tea later we started walking back towards our temporary abode at billalkoppa. Reached billalkoppa some more tea and a conversation with Mr Bhaskar Rao (Anil’s uncle) made our evening memorable. A early dinner and we were ready to hit the sack. Pitched the tent outside. The next thing i remember was some dog barking outside and the weather was getting cold, went into my sleeping bag and woke up by around 7am.
Got ready, ate 2 cup noodles and bid good bye to a lovely family that hosted us and we were on our way towards Sirimane falls enroute sringeri. Visited Sirimane falls near kigga and sringeri mutt. By evening we were back to hornadu to catch our bus back to bangalore.
Complete set of photos - https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=696746832
This is route that we took starting from Kavanahole to reach the peak adjacent to Meruthi Gudda. If you need a GPX file of the trek route, send me a mail. Thanks
