Trek to Kodachadri Peak

I had been pretty much frustrated with my work lately and badly needed this break.That’s when I decided that I want to go somewhere and after a week-long discussion with my friends ,we decided that we’d go trekking to the Kodachadri peak. So,it was decided that 12 of us would go on this trek.Many of them were first-time trekkers.This was the 3^rd time I was going on  a trek . The first one was when in my school days – Gangamoola Peak near Kudremukh.The 2^nd one was 2 years ago – to Chembra peak in Wayanad. I was very much excited for this trek as this was  going to be the longest trek so far .

On the previous day of the trip , I left office at 7. 30 p.m. and went to the nearby Supermarket  with  my friend to get food and other necessary items for the trek. We checked the weather forecast for the next day and it said – ‘Part cloudy and part rainy’ . This made us a little apprehensive as we were worried about leech attacks. So we brought salt,lime and tobacco too to fight  the leeches :-P

Day 1 -

Saturday , 4^th November 2017

Kodachadri Peak

Total trekking distance – Approximately 18 km

The plan was to leave Mangalore at 6 in the morning. But the schedule got delayed for about an hour and we left Mangalore by 7. We had breakfast at Shanthi Sagar restaurant at Udupi. We reached Nittur ,which is about 20 km from Kollur at 10.15 a.m.  The homestay manager Mr Rajendra was waiting for us near Canara Bank ATM and he showed us the way to the homestay which is about 3 kms away from Nittur . There is no mobile network here which is a good thing if you want to break away from the daily routine. The homestay was pretty neat .We freshened up and started the trek at 11.15 a.m.  Mr.Rajendra sent one of his guys to accompany us as  a guide during this trek.The initial 3  km walk was through kuchcha roads and through paddy and sugarcane fields.We walked through several bridges,streams ,Government Higher Primary school at Kumble and a couple of  huts and traditional Malnad-style houses to reach the check post. It was a bit sunny so we stopped at the check post to drink butter milk . Then we went alongside the backyard of the hut and entered the thick forest terrain.The path was slippery . We carefully marched forward through steep paths,streams and  fallen tree trunks. We saw several streams and waterfalls on the way.While we got tired,we settled on the rocks to catch our breath.

 

After a 4 km steep walk, we reached Hidlumane falls. It felt so good when the water spashed on our faces.There were few leeches near the falls. We were lucky to not have encountered leeches elsewhere.We stopped by  the waterfalls  for sometime and continued through the trail at the right side of the waterfall.The trek got more difficult with more steep and narrow paths.We had to use our hands to climb over the roots and steep paths. 

We climbed for another 2 kms and reached a grassy terrain.The meadows were inclined at 60 degrees and we could see the village and the huts that we passed through .  The sun was hitting right at our faces.The view from here was picturesque .This kind of terrain went on for another 2 kms and then we reached the point where we we had our lunch. The guide had arranged lunch for us.  We had buttermilk to quench our thirst. We stopped at this point for about 30 min.The guide informed us that we need to return back to the homestay as camping was not allowed at the peak after an unfortunate fire accident that occurred a few years ago as the fire from the camp fire left over by the trekkers ended up destroying a vast stretch of trees.It was sad to see how trekkers carelessly throw away plastics and litter the place. 

We continued on a jeep trail alongside the hill for about 2 kms.We were chatting with our guide on the way. He told us about the significance of each of the hills that we could see. He also told that we would come across wild buffaloes, rabbits and deers. As this path is regularly visited by trekkers, the predators don't venture into this stretch. 

We reached the Traveller’s Bungalow at 4.30 p.m . From here, the next 2 km walk alongside the hill to reach the Kodachadri sunset point was the most beautiful part of this trek. It was around 5 p.m. We could see the bright orange sun disappear amongst the clouds against the backdrop of a chain of hills. This was one of the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen and it was simply worth the trek. We reached the Sarvajna Peeta .It was here that Adi Shankara had meditated. It was 5.30 p.m .Few of them were very tired by then and rested at this point but as some of us wanted to finish the last 1 km stretch till the end point of the peak ,we sprinted towards the peak as it was getting darker and this was the most thrilling part of the entire trek. We were at 1343 m above sea level with wind blowing so hard that I felt like I will be carried away along with the wind. We spent a good 10 mins at the peak enjoying the moment. 

As it got darker,we paced faster down towards Inspection Bungalow point .We had to use our torches to make our way down the hill. As camping is not permitted in the peak nowadays,we had to return back to the homestay via Jeep. The jeep ride was a 40 min- bumpy ride through steep curves down the hill.As we descended the hill, we could see a beautiful view of the moonlight across the hills as it was a full moon night. We could also see few rabbits on our way back.

We reached Kattinahole at 8 p.m. where we stopped for sometime to have tea.

We reached back at the homestay at 8.30 p.m.We had dinner at the homestay and called it a day after singing songs and playing  a round of dumb charades around the camp fire and after endless talking and chit chatting ,we returned back to the tent  to sleep by  1 a.m. But the cries of the peacocks from the forest, kept waking us up throughout the night.It was around 3 or 4 in the morning when I could finally manage to get some peaceful sleep. I could sleep barely for 1.5 to 2 hours.  

I got up at around 6.30 a.m . Three of my friends had already woken up. We freshened up and decided to go to nearby stream.

The early morning walk was truly refreshing. We had a nice time crossing the streams and chasing fishes and playing in water.

While we returned, the rest of them had woken up. We had breakfast,packed up and left the homestay by 11 a.m. We visited a fort that was in ruins  - Nagara fort. The view from the top of the fort was beautiful.

Next , we visited the Kollur temple and had Darshan of the Goddess Mookambika , the deity who killed the demon ,Mookasura ( The mute demon).

We had lunch and started towards Mangalore. We reached at 6.30 p.m.

I was still lost in the solace that I could find at the peak.

And that's to an amazing trek!!