It all started a week ago when a very good friend of mine asked me if I was going to make this trip to Mulayangiri near Chickmagalur. Though I was not too keen to make this trip as I was scared of heights I let my instincts take a call on this. "Yes I am in" is what I told him over phone and left the rest to fate.
Thursday Night, well as it is I don't sleep much during the night the very thought of scaling this peak gave me jitters. I remember doing a research on this peak the previous day and found out that this is the tallest peak in Western Ghats and its height(6317ft) lies between the Nilgiris and the Himalayas. Also this being a rainy season I read its probably not the best time to visit the place. So I spent the entire night wondering whether to make this trip. Though deep inside I wasn't too keen the very thought of committing to this trip verbally and financially left me with no choice.
Friday -D Day. There were warnings from my colleague who gave a vague picture of what to expect during this trek. Though she hadn't scaled this peak she told me about the presence of leeches in hilly areas especially during monsoon season. The last time I saw a leech was when I was in school and had a picture of it in my mind. Little did I know about the different types of Leeches nature had to offer and I believe I saw all of them. More on that later.
We had a bus scheduled at 10:30 PM from Majestic Bus stand. I took off early from work and reached home by 8:30 PM to pack stuff. I tagged my roommate along with me for this trip and we both planned to go to the bus stop by his Bike. The Bus stop is like an hour's ride from our house considering the mad traffic in Bangalore. So we decided to start from our house around 9:30 PM after having our dinner. After meandering for about 10 mins I realized I had nothing to pack except take a set of clothes and tooth brush. It was almost 9 PM and still our dinner wasn't ready. It was only after a while we realized that we hadn't turned the electric cooker ON for the rice to cook. Minutes later our rice cooker finally gave us our dinner around 9:30 PM and I probably had the quickest dinner of my life. Not the case with my roomie though. Roger Moore on Star Movies kept him occupied for around 20 mins and we finally managed to get out of the house at around 9:50 PM. Though I knew we were late I never really complained cuz I always, I repeat ALWAYS love to do things in the last minute. It was one hell of a ride and we reached the stop in 25 mins. We met another 16 of our fellow trekkers in the stop and we all sat inside this 21 seater Van which took us to Chickmagalur the Next early morning.....
Road to Chickamagalur, Unfortunately I dint get the best seat in the Van and the road wasn't at its best. It was like we were experiencing earth quakes every 5 minutes. The gifted sleeper that I am NOT managed to stay awake during the entire journey. Around 4:50 am we reached Chickamaglur. Temperature must have been around 16 to 18 degrees. It was not the typical Hill station climate one would expect though. But it was cool enough. We stopped by a nearby lodge to freshen ourselves and our plan was to start the trekking around 8 am. We had our breakfast at a local restaurant and began our Journey to what I would describe as an once in a lifetime experience.
Our guide to this trek was late and it gave us enough time to take a few snaps at the starting point of Mullayangiri foothills. There was inconsistent drizzle in the air and it gave a glimpse of what to expect further ahead. The sight of clouds hovering over the top of hills got us all excited. It was one of the few breathtaking sights I have ever seen in my Life. There were constant shouts of Wow, Woah, Look at that, etc. Trust me there was no exaggeration in our shouts. Moments later the guide arrived and then started the most memorable moment in my Life.
I had no Trekking experience prior to this one and I had no idea what to expect. I just told myself not to get too adventurous and decided to follow the people ahead of me. Initial part of the trek was a bit scary as it was the first time I was climbling a mountain. The rains made the path slippery and I had to be very cautious. Over caution could also lead to lot of leech bites so I made sure my caution was calculated. Only ten minutes into the trek I already started gasping for breath. The pathway was very narrow and the slope steep. That did not deter my mind. I just kept following the people above me and there were few people behind me as well. 30 minutes into the trek I got used to the terrain and started moving with much better confidence. It was around there I got my First leech attack for the day. It tried entering my shoe and I pushed it away with the help of a stone which was lying around. After struggling for a few moments I finally managed to throw the leech away. Then I decided not to stay in one position for more than 10 seconds. It was only there I realized climbing faster was the only way to go.
The path though narrow wasn't really difficult to climb until we faced a rock which kinda stopped the pathway. Though the rock wasn't a big one I had to be really careful while climbing it. Somehow I managed to climb past that rock and was glad to see the pathway continue. I was experiencing inconsistent rains and it added to the thrill of mountain climbing. Only then I realized that I was amongst the clouds and when I tried to catch a glimpse of the place below I could see nothing but a whole white blanket of clouds. It was a phenomenal experience. I was totally Flabbergasted by the sight and its only then I felt that I made the decision of my life by saying yes to this trip. The climbing went on and on and I gasped for breath even more. Quite understandable considering the level of Oxygen going down as we climb up.
I took pictures whenever and wherever possible and was enjoying the strong winds which was trying to push me to the other end. The experience was over the top. I could see dew drops everywhere. Plants, mountain grasses, my coat, my face, my hair, etc were covered with dew drops and I was loving every moment of the Journey. I could not thank the nature and god enough to give me this opportunity of a Lifetime. It was like I was given a Lifetime achievement award though I very well know I have achieved nothing in life.
After 2 hours and 4 kilometers into the trek I was in for a surprise when I saw Cow dung along the pathway. Made me realize that I was reaching the top. Made me feel really happy. There was a Nandhi statue covered with pink flowers all around. It was like somebody had decorated the whole place however it wasn't the case. My Love and respect for nature kept on increasing as I was reaching the stop. There were two black cows over seeing us and I was very surprised to notice such balance maintained by the cows in such a terrain. I was very happy for myself as I overcame fear of heights and jitters when I reached the Top. Words cannot describe what I experienced. You have got to see it to believe it.
I knew I was almost there when I heard people screaming in Joy from the top of the mountain. "Must be some other batch of fellow trekkers" I told myself. When I reached the top I stood for a moment and enjoyed the sense of achievement. Here I was standing on top of Mulayangiri hills enjoying nature at its best. With winds and clouds striking my face I was celebrating one of the most memorable moment in my life. There was a Shiva temple on top of the hill and I was waiting for my fellow trekkers to join me in the temple. It was then I removed my shoe and socks and much to my surprise I found two bloated leeches full of O+ve blood in its body. Managed to remove both of them and went inside the temple. After offering prayers to God we had to scale down the mountain for another4-5 kms to reach our destination.
Though the difficulty level of this trek was moderate to difficult I couldn't really classify them in any status as it was my first trek. It was indeed difficult initially but once I got the hang of the terrain it became easy for me to climb up. Little did I know what I was going to experience while scaling down the mountain. I decided not to wear my socks as there were blood stains and I felt leeches could sneak into my legs if I wore socks. Walking through the clouds with winds pushing us to the other end was quite an experience. Never have I been pushed by wind like the way I was pushed in that hill. The guide who was leading us told that its only during this month you'll have all this cloud coverage and rains and he said the best time to come to this place is during August. But who would want to miss an experience to walk along the clouds beats me. Though scaling down was easier initially it became hard when the slopes were steep. Had to make use of the rocks near by and scale down. I kept telling myself to respect nature and was trying to be over careful as the terrain became slippery due to incessant rains. After a point of time over confidence got to me and thats when I had my first fall of the day. Had a thorn stuck to my thumb after the fall and I was told by roomie that this mite probably be my trekkers mark.
While scaling down there were a gang of girls who were lost and I was pretty amazed to notice that they managed to scale the distance without any guide. Girl Power I thought. After guiding them for a while we managed to scaled down through the slippery terrain very slowly. There was this part of the trek which had no pathway and one had to hang on to the rocks and reach the other end. It was an amazing experience. For once I felt this was going to be the most adventurous day of my life. It was a break I needed the most. A break from the mundane work I do every week. The break I would cherish for the rest of my Life.
I was able to breathe a lot better as I scaled down as there wasn't much of pressure needed to go down. The wind was getting stronger and there were inconsistent rains around. Life cant get better I thought. Was gasping at natures' beauty all throughout and I did fear fear for the Blood donation camp that mite have been taking place in my shoes. After scaling down another 4 kilometers we finally reached our spot. We tried removing all the leeches from our legs and walked towards our van to have our lunch. Though I so badly wanted to sit down and eat the very thought of leeches sneaking into my pants gave me a scare. After having our lunch we got inside our Van and decided to head to our next stop, The Dabdabba Falls.
Just when you think what a wonderful day you are having there is always this moment that kinda acts as a spoiler. This spoiler moment took place for me, my roomie Alagiri and my Colleague Ramkumar. We were the last ones to get out of the Van and the path to Dabdabba falls had a phenomenal look. It reminded me of one of those shots from a Mani Ratnam Movie. So the the three of us started scaling down the path to reach the Waterfall. The path had a lot of S Bends and we managed to click a few pictures as we walked down the path.We did notice few leeches here and there. But that did not deter our minds. We just kept walking and we were caught in a position where there were two pathways. Not knowing what to choose we just went along with the flow. And as you we took the wrong path. We would have walked around 1 kilometer downwards and I was quite glad to catch 2 sets of chappals on the ground. Only when I reached closer to the Chappals I realized I was in Leech Paradise. There were hundreds of leeches on the ground and around 10 of them on my shoes already. 4 of them started sucking blood already. The problem about that place was when you try to remove one the other one sneaks in and starts sucking blood. It was a scary and an irritating experience. Alagiri and Ramkumar were equally attacked and we all decided against going to falls. We decided to run for our blood and legs. Running upwards a hill was a real pain. We were deprived from taking breaks as leeches would start sneaking in. Every time we stopped there were 3-4 leeches getting in. That really gave us the creeps. We ran our lives out through those 5 S bends. It was like running a marathon. We cursed our lives out of that Dabdabba falls trek area and were so glad when we came out of that place. We removed all the leeches from our legs. I removed around 10 of them.
Too bad that the Paradise visited earlier during the day was lost in the evening. They must have some demolition squad to destroy all the leeches around I thought. But whats nature without all this? I took this experience in my stride and got inside the van. Told the experience we got to the Van driver. It was only then he told us that this falls was aka Leech Falls. "Tell me about it" I told myself and from there we started travelling back to our accommodation in Chickamaglur. The other 15 trekkers stopped by a placed called Bababudanagiri but I was so damn beat and decided to stay back in the Van. Tried to catch my lost sleep and we got back to our accommodation in an hours time.
We started from Chickamaglur around 10:30 PM and I made sure I got a proper seat this time around. I managed to catch some much needed sleep and we reached Bangalore around 4 am. After waving good byes to all my fellow trekkers, Alagiri and I rode back home reminiscing the wonderful spectacle we experienced yesterday. The experience that would remain etched in our memories for a lifetime. I am quite sure I am going to be talking about this trip for many years to come. I hear by take this opportunity to thank my colleague and a good friend Hitesh who introduced me to this wonderful bunch of people who made this trip a memorable experience. Long Live Team Xplore nature!!
