The Kemmanagundi experience

The day started at 3:30AM for me. We had decided to assemble at the starting point at 4 in the morning. I reached at exact 4, to find no one there. Slowly people started coming in and finally we could start out at 5:30AM.
I was expecting the 6 hour journey to be a boring and tiring one, but thanks to our enthusiastic event-coordination team, the travel seemed brisk. Me, Pradeep,Vaibhav and others in the backseats tried to keep to ourselves, playing card games and avoiding the ruckus in the front. But soon we were ‘pulled’ in.

After having a small Idli-dosa session at a place near Tumkur, we continued our journey.

First stop was at Kalahatti falls. This is about 10km before Kemmanagundi. At first the spot didn’t appeal as scenic as it looked in the images we had googled out before the trip. There was this small temple which we had to wade through ice cold water to reach. Srinidhi couldn’t control himself and plunged right into the small water drop nearby. Me and Pradeep as adventurous as we are, went out to explore and lookout for a better place. As luck has it, we found a higher water-drop upstream. Simply put, it was just an awesome place. Water theme park , courtesy yours truly : Mother nature. There was herbal water which felt fresh as never before. Pradeep claimed this is the same water which Mineral water companies bottle and sell for 20 bucks a bottle. Almost all of us had a bath here. Me tore my banyan while trying to pull it out, while it was still wet. (I’ll try and put a pic of the rags, if someone’s interested). After an hour of pure thrill and amusement, we packed up and boarded bus again. I didn’t know how, but apparently time was moving very slow for us in the time-crunched one day trip.

We move on to Kemmanagundi. Enroute, we see a board which says “Hebbe falls – 14km”. Me and Pradeep giggle at each other, while nibbling at Prashant’s jackfruit pieces.

At around 1PM, we reached the KR Hill station base in Kemmanagundi, and were appalled by the cool weather and picture-postcard views offered by the nearby hills and valleys. People scattered here and there, and soon there was call for lunch. After having a light meal, we set out to explore the nearby parks and lawns. Meanwhile Sudhansu inaugurated the ‘leech’ phenomena. This one had got him by his ankles. For the rest of the trip, he was itching for imaginary little lively creatures frantically sipping his blood all over his body. When I say “all-over” I mean “all-over”.





We move on after a short-stint of kidding around, in a kid’s park. We were enthralled at the exquisite view of a nearby hill. We spotted a blue scorpio at the base of the hill and several tiny specks which were moving around at the top of the hill. The specks turned out to be people. We decided - this is it. We started on our trek to that hill which we approximated to be around 3 km away. “We” included Me, Pradeep, Prashant, Vaibhav and Venkat. The rest of the people somehow were content with the view from below I guess. Half way through, Srinidhi and co called at us,from across the valley to come back. Taking advantage of the poor cellphone network and pretending not to hear him, we decided to move on. There just might not be a second-chance, we thought.

And boy was it worth it! The trek through the slippery and narrow passage, filled with leeches turned out to be a thrilling one. The view from top was mind-blowing. The gushing wind at 100kmph struck us from the north. We felt like we were getting blown away. After doing a Titanic and Fake Skydiving photo-sessions, we set our eyes on the nearby peak which was even higher. But then, heavy rain started lashing on us. Clouds swept over the hills and visibility dropped to just 20m ahead of view. We took refuge behind a rock, to keep ourselves dry and avoid the hard-stinging raindrops. I’m sure no one will ever forget those moments. After spending about 20 minutes like that the rain showed no signs of calming down. It was 5 and it already felt late. So we decided to move on.
The trek back was even tougher with the passages water-logged and deadly slippery. But then, somehow we made all the way back to the Bus. (And, hence you read this post). We touched base in Bangalore at 10:45.
It was truly a trip to cherish.




Trivia:
Kemmanagundi = Kempu(red) + Mann(soil) + gundi(ditch)
Distance from Bangalore = 260 km, Chikmagalur is 55km away from here.
Stay = dormitories available.
Make sure you get your jacket, as it can get real cold there during the monsoons.