Trek to Mullayanagiri - April 2010

Trek to Mullayanagiri

Date 09/04/2010

Starting from Shimoga.

Number of people: 2 (me and my cousin Rajath)

Pics at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pprao123/MullayanagiriTrekApr2010?feat=directlink

Summary

Since anyone searching for and reading this article is already interested in treks and inspired enough, I do not delve into the poetic descriptions of how beautiful the journey was. It suffices to say that despite spending 7 grueling hours on the road and trekking for 4 hrs in mid-day sun at close to 60 deg inclines, it was one of the most exhilarating and fascinating journeys I have been on. The pictures with this article will speak of the serene beauty. The following sections stick to only the practical details – of how to get there, how much time is required and what facilities are available.

What we tried to do:

Trek to Mullayanagiri (MG) in the morning, and then trek to Bababudangiri, aka Dattapeetha (DP) from there. Camp at night, and come back the next morning by bus to Chikmaaglur.

What we did:

We trekked to MG starting at noon. Then we trekked about 1.5 hrs on the way from MG to DP. Then, due to an injury to Rajath, we turned towards the tar road and came back to Chikmagalur – Shimoga by vehicles on the same evening.

I will describe the location, our route, and what should have been our route below.

The hill.

Mullayanagiri, the highest peek in Karnataka at 1918 m, is about 20 km from Chikmagalur by road. There is a temple at the very top. There is a well constructed tar road till almost the peak. No buses ply directly to MG as of today, but one can go by a private/rental vehicle up till the top. Rentals available at Kaimara (see map). Steep stairs from the end of the road will take one to the temple, and anyone can climb the stairs within 15 mins. Ofcourse, one can trek all the way from the bottom of the mountain, as we did. The mountain lies in a range of mountains called Bababudangiri range. The peak of MG is 13 km from Kaimara and that of Bababudangiri (Dattapeetha) is 22 km from Kaimara. Buses go all the way to DP from Chikmagalur. I am not sure of the frequency of the buses.

A note on safety/Naxal activities: There is a police checkpost at DP. We talked to a few good police personnel who had arrived at MG. They mentioned that there is not really much Naxalite activity in this area.

The route.

The route is depicted roughly in the map at the top, and is fairly self explanatory. One has to go to Kaimara where plenty of buses arrive from Chikmagalur frequently. Then one has to follow the road to Mullayanagiri-Dattapeetha, till it branches to Mullayanagiri at point “A”. Sign boards point to the way towards MG here. The regular trekking trail, starts from a place called ‘Sarpadari’. No one knows this trail head name except the very local population. To go to ‘Sarpadari’ trail head, do not take the deviation at “A”, but instead go about 1 km further. There is an arch with stairs behind it, on the left side of the road. That is the starting point of the regular trail. It will take about 2.5 to 3 hrs on this regular trail from the starting point to reach the peak.

Once at the peak of MG, multiple options exist –

1. Trek to DP in 4hrs, and stay there (as a police officer told us at MG, there is a temple and a mosque to stay there), come back by bus next day from DP.
2. Come back by your private vehicle to point ‘A’ and go to DP by road
3. Go to Manikyadhara by trek from DP to see a waterfall, and come back to DP.
4. Trek to Manikyadhara – Jannatnagar and then to Mallenahalli. Go to Chikmagalur or Shimoga by bus from Mallenahalli.

Many private buses ply from Lingadahalli to Chikmagalur through Kaimara, at least once every 0.5 hrs in day time – I am not sure about early mornings and night timings.

Our journey – details of facilities, what to carry, and what to and not to do:

1. We started the journey from Shimoga at 7 AM. We took a private bus to Chikmagalur. The bus took a winding route till Tarikere, and spent 4 hrs from Shimoga to come close to Chikmagalur, which made us regret our decision to get on that bus. The only good thing was that our bus route came directly through Lingadahali – Santhaveri – Mallenahalli and Kaimara. However to make matters worse, we got down at Mallenahalli instead of Kaimara. Some young fools at Mallenahalli tried to make money out of our ignorance, and treated and mocked us as if we were two amateurs trying to climb something like Mount Everest. Fortunately some Samaritan asked us to simply board the next bus to Kaimara, which was in just 10 mins. Finally we came to Kaimara at 1130 AM.

Suggestion 1: Get as soon as possible to Chikmagalur from where ever you are. In our case, from Shimoga, we should have taken a govt bus to Chikmaglur, which would take 2.5 hrs (Birur way).

Sugestion 2: Ask for buses to Kaimara. No one – anywhere, knows “Sarpadari”.

Following the above two suggestions would have made us to come to Kaimara by 1030 AM.

2. Once at Kaimara, there are jeeps, autos and cars available for rent. Although we did not enquire, I guess they must be relatively expensive considering the roads, area and the type of customers. We started walking towards Sarpadari (“B”), but soon hitched a ride on a tractor trailer. Not knowing where Sarpadari was, we got down at point “A”, by 12 noon. We started walking from there, but suddenly started to climb the mountain to our right just after 0.5 km, and our trek started from there (point C). I cannot pin point the location of our start of climb, but it was within half a kilometer, just before the road turned towards right.

Suggestion 3: Do not take the deviation towards MG at “A” if you intend to trek to the peak. Go a kilometer further and then start the trek from the regular trekking trail aka Sarpadari.

As a result, our trek was quite steep, self guided, and short. However it was quite adventurous to go off the road and off the beaten regular trail, and find our own way to the top. Some times we had to even crawl to climb up. I always had my rope ready in my pocket. We reached the temple just before 2 PM.

3. The priest at the temple lives there. They prepare meals, and offer lunch to any trekker. The lunch was very filling, and wholesome – parboiled rice, lenthil sambar, and Raagi ambali (with pickles. We rested for a while in the temple, and started to trek to DP. Although the priest did not ask, we donated some money towards our lunch heartily to the temple.

Suggestion 4: Carry lunch, but expect a wholesome meal at the top. Carry plenty of fruits, and stack/energy bars. There is water available at the temple. But carry enough water as well.

4. We had talked to some police personnel and the priest at the temple, and as per their suggestions, we decided to trek to DP. We thought we will camp mid way somewhere if we do not make it to the DP by 530 PM. Then in the morning, we planned to take a bus from DP to Chikmagalur.

5. We started our hike to DP by 315 PM. The hike was quite scenic. We walked on the trail for about 1.5 hrs, and found some good places to camp at night near hill tops, flanked by boulders (important from the point of view of wind/lightning strikes). But nowhere on the route, we found any water source.

Suggestion 5: Fill enough water at MG for the night and the following morning if you intend to hike to DP.

6. Rajath got injured in his ankle badly midway, so we had to cut short our trip. Luckily for us, we were quite close to the road leading to DP. After some first aid to the injury, we got down to the road by 445 PM. Many vehicles were plying between Kaimara and DP. We then hitched a ride to Chikmagalur in a truck at 515 PM. We found the starting point of Sarpadari (“A”) on the way back. We came to Chikmagalur by 6 PM. Caught a bus to Shimoga at 630 PM. The bus took the Birur-Kadur-Tarikere-Bhadravati route, and came to Shimoga by 9 PM.

Suggestion 6: Carry first aid kit. Do remember to have a crape bandage, and pain killers.

It was a moderately difficult but wonderful trip, and will be cherished for a long time. I do not wish anyone to go through the agony of slow buses and public mockery as we saw, so I have made a map of the route and posted it here.

Items check list for trekking with camping at night.(for future reference)

To be added soon.