This year after January we had not got 3 days long weekend. As we got Aug 15th on Friday, we thought of utilizing it in a effective way and planned to escape to the wild.I planned a beautiful trek route for 3 days from Channekal falls to Murudeshwar beech and also to spend some time in the beech. I thought of sending the circular among only our repeated trekkers, so i sent out to sharavathi@googlegroup. Initial response was good but later many dropped off. So i decide to have a trek to our regular route which is from hogevaddi to goodanagundi falls.
Even for this trek, after lots of addition, deletion, finally there were 11 trekkers. As this was a long weekend with festivals lined up, we did not have option of going in a public transport as every mode of transport was full. So we hired Tempo Traveler. We started off from bangalore at around 10 PM. reached Kattinakaru by 8:30AM. Immediately we trekked about 2 KM to tribals house where breakfast was ready. Hot poori saagu-palya was waiting for us...had nicely and started off the trek to Basavana baayi through hogevaddi. The srteach had really eye catching, mesmerizing landscapes. After a small river cross we stopped for a formal introductory session. I requested Evryone to circle up and I briefed about the trek roules and asked everyone to introduce themselves. After the brief session we trekked towards Basavana baayi.
On the way there were superb landscapes , which were looking like man made GOLF course ...!!! Trekkers had lots of photo shoot. Finally we reached Basavana baayi. After a brief de-leeching session, we moved towards the falls.
Falls was full..and was awesome to see the beauty. Trekkers wasted no time..everyone stripped and jumped in to falls with the joy!!. Everyone had a great time in the falls, some had a nice swim too in the falls. After a nice play, got back and it was time for the grub..By the time we were back, food was ready. Had stomach full and rested for couple mins and started off trek again.
As the team was full of enthu guys, i had decided to have solid trek session. So planned for a couple of peaks than the usual foot hills trek path. Deviated out of path after basavana baayi and started the trek towards first peak called "Kendollare". After a plain landscape, we got the dense forest. After about half an hour trek in this dense forest, we were through to half of the peak. By then leeches had a feast day!!!. Everyone was ok with them baring few. One thing i noticed is the leech in this part is different from the usual leech i was coming across. There was white line on them and these were very ferocious. Ultimately we were on the peak, and what a view...! It was stunning moment. After Kumar parvatha view experience this was the first time i had such a great view. Could not longer view as it was covered by fog. Nevertheless it was great a summit. After reaching peak, we trekked towards 'Athi mane' on a ridge. Both sides of the peak had a magnificent view. Finally near 'athi mane' we started claimbing down the peak and reached athi mane.After athi mane, it was plain walk till padubeedu. Reached padubeedu and de-leeched ourselves and got in to 'Giriyanna' a local tribal's house. Immediately some of us tried to put up camp fire, but rain god did not like the idea. So he doused it with a drizzle!. By then our cook dharmanna had prepared a "khashaya" a local herbal drink and mirchi bonda. The dish was apt for that weather :). Then some of us settled down on the mat and started off heated debate on 'godmen' and 'religeon' etc ...! some time pass...!. Had dinner and retired for the day.
We woke up to some injuries with trekkers. Vishal had swolen leg and Naren had neck issues!. They asked me to spare them, but i did not leave them!! After a 1 round of tea, everybody finished daily routine, and had breakfast. Immediately we started off trek to Belligundi. On the way as usual we came across a nice landscapes. Bad luck was waiting for us as soon as we reached the belligundi view point. Valley view point was full of mist so could not see the Belligundi falls. But after some photo shoot of the valley we trekked towards Goodanagundi.
Goodanagundi has no path. We have make way and move, very dense forest. We came across lots of VIPORs. Finally we reached Goodananagundi to see the fury!. oh what a breath taking view! It was scarry..whater droplets were thrown to the distance of nearly100ft. Everyone went crazy looking at the view. We spent about 15 mins watching the fury and started trek back. We trekked along with the river and at one point this river is awesome to play. So again many guys got in to swimming session and had a gala time. After spending some time in the river, got out of it and trekked back to Padubeedu. By then Lunch was ready, had lunch and started off from there to Kattinakaru, where we were supposed to end the trek. On the way we spotted a black Cobra. Everyone was thrilled. 
On the we again we came accross lot of landscapes. Finally reached by then our vehicle was ready. Everyone thanked Guides Narayana and Sridhara, got in to vehicle started off journey towards Bangalore. On the way some guy had quick view of JOG falls. Traveled back to Bangalore with sweet memories and reached Bangalore by 3:30 AM.Trekkers:- Sampath, Raghu, Arjun, Shashidhar Gadad, Krishna, Shashidhar H B, Varun, Abhaya, Naren,Vaibhav,Vishal,Prashanth.
Photos by different trekkers:-
Photos by Shashidhar Gadad
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Photos by Dheeraj Singh
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Photos by Shashidhar H B
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Photos by Raghu
http://picasaweb.google.com/
