Ramnath Kamat

Top Station is a hill in the Kanan Devan Hills of Tamilnadu. Top station was the uppermost railway station in this region which was used to transport tea from Munnar. From Top station there was a ropeway to transport tea to Kottagudi.

We had booked return ticket from Munnar and hoping to book a tatkal ticket to Dindigal. But the tatkal tickets got booked in a flash. So, as a quick reroute, we booked KSRTC bus tickets to Theni. We gathered as much information as possible from Pavan who had been there before. He told us that he will join us at the top station in the evening.

The Rajahamsa bus left one hour late from Shantinagar but reached Theni on time by 7:30 am. From Theni to Kurangani(Trek starting point), the distance is about 30 kms. Vadya spoke to a rick in his broken Tamil and the rick guy agreed to take us to Kurangani for 500 Rs. He also agreed to stop for breakfast at point. After breakfast and the diesel rick which was climbing the hills at 10kmph, we reached Kurangani by 10 am. 

Top Station starting point

We got the information from the people at Kurangani and they showed us the starting point. They also told us that if you dont wander off the trail, its hard to get lost.

We started following the trail to be welcomed by much graciously by colorful butterflies  on the way.

A well defined trail

The Common Fivering (Ypthima baldus ) mating

Blue tiger

View on the left side

The lemon pansy.

Common jay

Stone Gods at the waterfall After the waterfall, there is a well laid stone path which will go through endless zig zag turns before you reach the middle station. One thing about the Top station trek is that there is no plains to walk unlike Kudremukha or Kumaraparvata treks. Here, you will always be climbing slowly steadily from 800 meters to 1800 meters.

The zigzag path to Kolukkumalai

Trek path to middle station

Few beauties I found in between..

Common tailorbird

Red whiskered bulbul

The Common Sailer

Nilgiri laughing thrush

We met many villagers who on the way were coming down from the middle station. When asked how far is the middle station their answers were just 2 more turns. But those two more turns turned out to be more than 2 kms and after a while when we had given up hope we saw a temple. The temple had water tap. Finally we had water to refill in bottles.  Soon after the temple is the middle station where there are around 10-15 houses and a shop where he sells only some local drink(sharbat) and nothing else.

After the middle station you will find a big water tank which is used to supply water to the village. You need go around this water tank to climb a pretty steep hill before you see the first glimpse of Top station.

On the way to Top station from middle station. You can see dam in the background.

Spotted dove

After 1km of walk from middle station you can see the top station and get excited that its just half an hour away but its not. It takes about one and half hours atleast before it drains out all the energy you have until you start to listen to vehicle noise. That means you are nearing the top station.





We had food at a hotel at the top station. It started raining. We had to find a place to pitch the tent, so we quickly moved out in search of tea estate  which Pavan had recommended.  After walking a mile in the tea trail we found a place which was cement floored. That was it, it was a perfect camping spot. We pitched tents quickly before one more round of shower poured in.

That's all of us. Pretty still for a long shutter

We put out a campfire cooked food and went to sleeeeeeeeep...



Day 2:

Woke up at 6 am but the sun was already up. Moreover, we couldnt see the sunrise as we had camped in the valley. I climbed a nearest tea hill and took some pictures none the less. 

Thats the cloud covering the whole mountain the background

We packed our tents and put off the fire and walked to the Top station. Had bread omelet and tea there. We enquired about a jeep there to Munnar. One guy agreed to take us for 700Rs. Sounded like a good deal. We hopped into it and drove to Munnar. On the way we had elephant sightings as well.





We reached Munnar by 10 am. Searched a hotel and crashed for the day. Our bus to Bangalore was at 5 pm. The bus was on time and so were we back to Bangalore by 5 am...


Trekking details:
Base camp: Kurangani
Connectivity from Bangalore: KSRTC goes to Theni. IRCTC goes till Dindigal. 
Bangalore - 370Kms -> Dindigal - 74Kms -> Theni - 15Kms -> Bodi - 16Kms ->Kurangini
From Theni you can go to Bodi in Bus or hire a auto directly to Kurangini
Trekking distance:
Kurangani --- Middle station - 6kms
Middle Station ---- Top station - 6kms
Trekking time -- 6 hours
water availability - Available at waterfall, middle station and inbetween middle and top station.
Food availability - There are restaurants and lodges as well on Top station. One can book lodge if don't want to camp.
Camping - Camping is allowed at top station but there is a camping fees around 1000 Rs per tent which is provided by them. You can camp in a tea estate as we did for free :)



Trekking season:
August- March

Difficulty level:
Difficult for amateur trekkers.
Moderate for frequent trekkers.

Must carry:

• Tent, sleeping bag and mat.
• Good trekking shoes.
• Water(1lts). You can fill it up at waterfall or the middle station
• Leech repellent if you are going before november( Iodex spray, salt). Leech socks are the best options.
• Flashlight, First aid kit, Knife, rope, energy drinks and food items.

 Important guidelines:

• Reserve your tickets in advance.
• Start trekking early in the morning, sooner the better. Try to reach the summit by eod.
• Stay with the crowd always. 
• Keep your backpack as light as possible. Dont carry too much of food. 

  Total trekking time:

• If you are a frequent trekker, you can reach the summit  in 3 hours.

Tips for photographers:

• Dont forget to capture the macro beauties of the jungle.
• View from the mountain gives a perfect landscape.
• Get up early to capture the beautiful sunrise.

Trekking rules:

• Do not carry alcohol. Do not smoke in the jungle
• Do not throw anything during the trek. Dustbins are seen at many places. Keep the trekking place clean for the following trekkers.

Ramnath Kamat's Happiness Index for the trek: 7/10

ಆ ಮುಂಜಾನೆಯ ಚಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ  ಕಣ್ಣು ಬಿಟ್ಟಾಗ ಕಾಣಿಸಿತು ಕಿಗ್ಗಿಸಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿದ್ದ  ಚೂರು ಬೆಳಕು. ಮೈ ಕೊಡವಿ ಎದ್ದು ಮೇಲಂಗಿ ಧರಿಸಿ ಡೇರೆಯನ್ನು ತೆರೆದಾಗ ಜುಮ್ ಅಂತನೆ ಅಪ್ಪಳಿಸಿತು ಆ ತಂಗಾಳಿ. ಪ್ರತಿ ಪರ್ವತಾರೋಹಣದ ಸುಂದರ ಸೊಬಗು ಅದರ ಮುಂಜಾನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಗಿದೆ. ಸ್ಥಳವನ್ನು ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಪೂರ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ನಭವನ್ನು ಗೋಚರಿಸುತ್ತ ಆ ಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಳೆದು ಹೋಗುವುದು ಒಂದು ಸುಂದರ ಅನುಭವ.

Kudremukha mountain range is in the Chikmaguluru district of Karnataka. The name Kudremukha refers to a particular picturesque view of a side of the mountain that resembles a horse's face. The Kudremukha national park is second largest declared wildlife protected are in the western ghats ranging from Dakshina Kannada to Chikmagaluru districts of Karnataka.

Preparation of the trek: This trek was planned well before a month by 7 of us. Tickets to the nearest town Kalasa was booked in Airawat bus. We had booked a local guy named Rajappa who takes care of food, accommodation and forest entry permisision. Jeep from Kalasa to Rajappa's house was also booked. We took Airawat bus to Kalasa from Majestic bus stand at 10:30 pm.

Trek day:

Rajappa's home

Bus had arrived Kalasa around 6 am and the jeep was waiting for us at the bus stop. Kalasa is a holy hobali town  situated on the banks of Bhadra river. Kalasa has many lodges and restaurants incase you are planning to stay in Kalasa. Distance from Kalasa to Rajappa's house is around 30 kms out of which 20 km is a tar road and the rest is a rocky mud road which climbs the hills of the range. Rajappa's house is situated right below the the Kudremukha peak from where you start the trek. We reached Rajappa's house by 7:30 in the morning and a nice cup of Coffee made from homemade seeds. After getting freshen up, hot Ambode for breakfast was waiting for us. Its kind of idli but will be litlle hard and round in shape. 

We started the trek around 9 o clock. Rajappa's nephew Arun was our guide. He was carrying Uppittu for our lunch and Rajappa's 2 dogs were following us. Trek to the peak is around 10 kms in distance and goes through vast shola grasslands and forests. You will find water streams every 2 kms till the top and as per Arun they will be flowing all 12 months. So, you need not worry about carrying lot of drinking water as these streams are pure natural water to drink. There is a well defined trail till the peak which can be followed and there are not to many diversion paths to get confused. In my opinion, you need not necessarily have a guide but its better to have one.

Lonely tree, not sure of its real name  but we named it lonely tree

Our first pitstop was a lonely tree as you can see it in the picture this tree was a picturesque and my friends has started taking photos. We started again after taking rest for 5 minutes. The route was easy from here as we just had to walk amid dry grasslands. Every 1 km of walk you encounter a small forest and stream flowing in it. This repeats for most of the trek atleast till you cover half of the distance. 

Our next pitstop was just down the hill near the lobo house. Lobo house is a an old house in ruins now. Arun said people used to stay there once upon a time and they had beetlenut farm. 

Encounter of first forest and the small stream.

Third  pistop.

Trek from here gets real as you have to climb pretty much steep hill. If you ask me, Kudremukha trek is all about climbing 3 difficult steep hills and rest is pure walk among the grasslands. This hill is the first steep hill but a short one.After climbing this hill everyone was tired and we stooped for quick drinks break cum photography session at another lonely tree. Lonely trees are markings for our navigation to know how much we have covered. This helps while climbing down as you know how much more you have to go.

We saw a group of Sarangs( Stags) here. This is the first time I have ever seen any animal during treks. But they ran away into the jungle as soon as they saw us coming.

View from the 3rd steep climb.

As we continued our trek we encountered our second steep hill, this hill is about 100 meters long but inclined upto 60 degree climbing. After climbing this small hill there is a small forest and you can see a small stream of water flowing on the rocks. Arun said during rainy seasons its very difficult to cross this since rocks will be slippery and the current of water is very high.

After this, you can actually see the peak but the trail to the peak doesnt go in a straight path rather it goes in a zig-zag way making you trek for some more 4 kms even though the peak is very near. Here you will encounter the 3rd and the last steep climb which is about 500 meters long. Once you climb this hill you are almost at the top of the range but still lags around 1 km of walking distance. 

Myself with the flag at the peak

On the peak there are ruins of a Bungalow. According to Arun it was built by British in early 19th century and the building is still strong. I was planning to visit it while climbing down but all plans shattered for the reason I will mention later in this blog. Almost at the peak we found a small tent made from plastic sacks, nicely built. Arun dismantled it saying they were not allowed to camp here and he made  a flag out of it. We carried that flag to the top and hoisted it on the peak. Next time you visit there if you find a white flag, remember it was hoisted by us.

It was cloudy on the peak and we couldn't see anything down. It has happened with me many times before so I didnt have any big expectations. We had Uppittu and took rest. Then it was the time for Harlem shake and photography.




After spending almost an hour at the peak, Arun warned us that it might rain. We finished our photography in hurry and started climbing down. It was just 100 meters of climb down and the rain started pouring. Well, this was unexpected for us in March. We didnt carry any rain sheet. We kept all our mobiles, wallets and cameras in waterproof backpacks and decided to climb down in the rain as you can never guess when the rain will stop on the peak. We were literally running down shouting slogans 'Vande Mataram' 'Bolo bharat mata ki jai' etc just to boost us up in that literally shivering cold rain. This is how i missed to visit that British tourist bungalow. By the time we trekked half down, rain had stopped but we were not in a mood to stop anywhere. We trekked almost 9kms without even stopping once and took our first pitstop at the lonely tree. From here Rajappa's  house is just 1 km and we covered that with almost no effort. 

At Rajappa's house hot coffee was waiting for us and Arun had boiled water for taking bath. Whats more comfortable than taking bath in hot water after trekking in storm. Every one was waiting in queue to take bath and we relaxed till night. 

WARNING:
Camping at the peak or anywhere inside the national park is strictly prohibited. We saw tiger litter on the peak, so please follow this advice, do not camp on the peak.

If you are trekking in summer then wear full pants( a formal pant will do, a track pant will be amazing). I was wearing shorts and dried up grass really turns itchy as you have to walk for a long distance amid grassland.
 
Heard from Arun that during Monsoon, even 2 hands are not enough to take out leaches from your body. So, do not plan to trek during mosnsoon.

Trekking details:
Base camp: Kalasa
Connectivity from Bangalore: Well connected by Govt buses( Airawat  and Rajahamsa)
Journey hours:  6-7 hours in bus. Airawat bus reaches Kalasa at 6 in the morning.

Trekking distance: 9-10 kms

Trekking season:
October- January(advised)
You can also visit in the 1st week of June when the pre monsoon flourishes the grass and the place is covered in clouds.


Difficulty level:
Difficult for amateur trekkers.
Moderate for frequent trekkers.

Must carry:

• Tent, sleeping bag and mat. ( Not required if you are planning to stay at some local's house)
• Good trekking shoes.
• Water(1-2lts). You can find water streams on the hills all the time.
• Leech repellent if you are going before november( Iodex spray, salt). Leech socks are the best options.
• Proper winter wear if you are going after Nov. Temp stays low in winter.
• Flashlight, First aid kit, Knife, energy drinks and food items.

 Important guidelines:

• Reserve your tickets in advance.
• Start trekking early in the morning, sooner the better.
• Stay with the crowd always.
• Woods in the forest will be wet till October sic rainfall is often in the region.
• Keep your backpack as light as possible. Dont carry too much of food. 

  Total trekking time:

• If you are a frequent trekker, you can reach the summit  in 3:30 - 4:00 hours.
• for amateur trekkers it might take 5 hours.

Tips for photographers:

• Dont  forget to capture the macro beauties of the jungle.
• View from the mountain gives a perfect landscape.
• Kudremukha is home to amazing wildlife especially birds and butterflies. I saw atleast 30 types of different birds and butterflies. You can see some of the birds below:

Trekking rules:

• Do not carry alcohol. Do not smoke in the jungle
• Do not throw anything during the trek.  Keep the trekking place clean for the following trekkers.

 Happy Trekking :)

       Makalidurga is a hill fort situated about 60 km off Bangalore towards Doddaaballapura. Summit holds the temple of Lord Shiva with a Nandi.

Approaches:
         One can reach Makalidurga via train, private transport or public transport. Best would be to use private transport as it will take you right below the hill thus reducing strain.

Trekking:

Temple at the summit

         We started our trekking around 11 am. The trekking path goes around the temple at the base. The path is scarce though indicated by some white color painted arrow marks on the stone and is eventually difficult to find. Once you lose your way, you have to make your own way to the summit as we did and this includes climbing big rocks,making your own way through the bushes etc. At the summit there is a temple inside a fort wall alike compound. There is no absolute availability of water from the base till the summit, so don't forget to carry water on your own. Trekking down is an easy part, once you are on a right way you will not lose it.

View from the top

On the way to the summit

Trekking details:
Base camp: Makalidurga  
Connectivity from Bangalore: Well connected train, bus.
Journey hours:  2 hours in bus.

Trekking distance: 2-3 kms

Trekking season:
All time
Difficulty level:
 Happy Trekking :)  

    Valley of Flowers National Park is located at  west Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The trek to the valley is a long one and requires pre planning and preparation. There are lot of tourist packages which provide affordable service few of which are YHAI and GMVNL.

Our tour was planned for 15 days including travelling from Bangalore.

Day 1: 
    We took Rajdhani Express from Bangalore. Train provides 1AC,2AC and 3AC classes. Total journey duration is  36 hours.Train leaves Bangalore Central at 8pm.

Day 2: 
    Second day of the tour goes in the train journey, Rajdhani express passes through AP, Maharashta, MP before reaching Delhi. Food is served on the train and the service is pretty good.

Day 3: 
    We reached Nizamudin station in Delhi at 5am. Our next catch was Shatabdi Express from Nizamuddin to Haridwar. Train was scheduled at 7am and it was on time. I was standing at the train door during this entire journey, train doors always give you picturesque landscapes. Shatabdi is supposed to be fastest between Delhi and Haridwar, so it is advised to take this one and avoid rest. Train reached haridwar station by 1pm. We were hungry and tired of the continuous journey. Outside of Haridwar station, waiting was hotel 'Pavitra Bhojanalaya'. We had our lunch here. Lunch was yummy.

Ganga pooja at Ram jhula

    Our Check in place was GMVNL resort in Rishikesh. Haridwar to Rishikesh is around 25kms and there are lot of buses running between them. There are ricks also available and they charge around 300-400rs depending on your bargaining skills. We reached GMVNL hotel by 4pm, freshened up and were out of the hotel to explore Rishikesh.
 
  Rishikesh is a holy town situated across Ganges. Main attractions in Rishikesh are the Ram Jhula, Laxman Jhula and Ganga Pooja which is done every evening during twilight time. We made it to Ram Jhula and Ganga Pooja. Ganga Pooja was blissfull. We had famous Aloo tikki  and made back to our hotel by 9pm.


Day 4: 
    The actually journey to valley of flowers starts from day 4. Our bus left Rishikesh at 7 am . We had to travel 250kms from Rishikesh to Joshimath. The road is narrow and passes through west himalayan mountains. Landslides are very common here on the road during rainy season and dont be surprised if you get yourself stuck in traffic jam for hours. Entire journey Ganges will be flowing on your right side, so make sure that you take right side window seat in your vehicle.

Dev Prayag

    You will meet three Prayags(means confluence) on your journey. These are
     1. Devprayag: Here Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river meet to form Ganges. This is the actual birthplace of Ganges
     2. Rudraprayag: Here Alaknanda meets Mandakini river.
     3. Karnaprayag: Here Alkananda meets Pindar river.

Travelling 250kms takes 8-9 hours since avg speed of the vehicle is 40kmph. GMVNL has resorts in all major towns in Garhwal region. We reached Joshimath by 8pm.

Day 5: 
    We had to goto Govindghat, trekking starts from here. Govindghat is around 22kms from Joshimath. On the way you meet Vishnu prayag which is one of the panch prayag. Here Alaknanda meets Dhauliganga river.

On the way to Ghanghria

    Govindghat is located at the confluence of Alaknanda and Laxman ganga rivers. Trek to both Valley of flowers and Hemkund Saheb starts from here. You can find hundreds of Sikhs here who come to the holy shrine of Hemkund saheb.  We had to trek for 15kms this day from Govindghat to the hill town of Ghanghria. One can take horse to goto Ghangria and luggage can be given to porters who carry your luggage till the top. They charge around 500rs for it. There is a well built pavement from Govindghat to Ghanghria, so there is not much of tiring. You can find many hotels and shops on the way. MRP of all food items increases as you hike up. Entire trek you find Pushpavati river flowing next to you. It takes around 6-7 hours to reach Ghanghria by walk. We reached Ghanghria by 4pm. This town has recently got electricity so you wil not find geysers in hotels and they charge 50rs for a bucket of hot water. All food items are sold at thrice the MRP price. You can find only Idea network here, there are PCOs which charge 10rs/1min of call.
Documentary about Valley of Flowers is shown at the tourist center in the evening, We had nice dinner in the evening and went off to bed early.

Day 6:

@ the heart of the valley

    We got up early in the morning and packed our lunch. Around 1 kms from Ghangria is the entrance gate to the Valley. You have to pay trekking fees of 150rs here. Valley of flower trek from Ghanghria is quite easy one and you dont  get tired as you feel like you are walking in the heaven. As you enter the park you can see flowers around getting denser as you move ahead. The trek to the park depends on how much you want to trek. If you want to cover the entire valley then the valley stretches upto 10ks otherwise you can visit Mrgaret Legge's memorial which is around 7 kms from Ghanghria.  Throughout the valley you can see Pushpavathi river flowing adjacent to you. Sometimes you need to cross small streams of water over logs or small bridges. We had our packed lunch here. I went till the end of the Valley where you find the glacier.

Valley of flowers

     It is adviced that you should start trek early in the morning. After 1pm clouds cover the park and it starts raining. Same happened with us while coming back. We were drenched inspite of wearing raincotas and the temperature was very low, freezing cold you can say.

    We reached back to Ghanghria by 5pm, had hot tea which gave us our life back.


Day 7: 

On the way to Hemkund

 Our today's destination was Hemkund Saheb , a holy Sikh shrine. It is about 6kms from Ghanghria and the trek is a difficult one. You can take Horses or porters. Two of us took Horses. Me and Pradeep started walking. The trek was steep and tiring. It took us 4 hours to cover 6kms. On the way we had some amazing landscape views. At the Hemkund there is a Gurudwara and a Laxman temple. You get Khichdi and Tea in Gurudwara which is very refreshing in the cold weather. We stayed here for 2 hours and took some pictures and started climbing down. It took us 3 hours to climb down. We came back to Ghanghria and rested here.

Hemkund

Day 8:
    We started climbing down early in the morning. We were at Govindghat by 12pm. We took bus to Badrinath and had lunch there. Evening time we visited the temple and did some shopping. Bath in the hot water spring at Badrinath was amazing.

Day 9:
     We visited last village of India, Mana. The village is on the border with Tibet/china. In the village are the Vyaas gufa nd Ganesh gufa where the Saint Vyasa narrated Mahabharatha to Lord Ganesha. We started our journey back to DevPrayag. It took us arond 5 hours to reach Rudraprayag.

Day 10: 
    We started journey from Rudraprayag to Rishikesh. We reached Rishikesh by 1pm. We booked our train tickets to Delhi and went back on that day itself.

Day 11,12, 13: 
    We visited India gate, Qutub Minar, Jantar Mantar, Red fort in Delhi.

Day 14, 15: Travel back to Bangalore in Rajdhani Express.


   

         At a height of 2100m, Chembra peak is the highest peak in Waynad, Kerala. The peak is located near the town of Meppady and is 8kms away from Kalpetta. Permission from the forest office in Meppady is required for trekking up to Chembra Peak. 


Preparation of the trek:

Soochipara falls.

Heart shaped lake

A barn with Chembra peak in the backround

Trekking details:
Base camp: Kalpetta or Meppady 
Connectivity from Bangalore: Well connected by Govt buses.
Journey hours:  7-8 hours in bus.

Trekking distance: 3-4 kms

Trekking season:
October- March.

Difficulty level: