Kalhatti Falls / Hebbe Falls / Mullayanagiri

My last trek was a difficult trek and hence wanted a leisure trek. Well… there were three leisure treks planned on same day by BASC and hence, which one to opt for was a difficult proposition.

I had contact with Priyanka… She opted for Mullayanagiri trek.. and hence I also registered for the same. The BASC organizer this time didn't reveal the names and hence, no idea who all the coming. On 25th March, I reached the Majestic bus stand by 10.00pm found Priyanka roaming :). After few chat, Ambareesh(BASC Organizer aka AK) asked us to come @meeting place and we reached by @10.30pm. Well.. I found quite a old trek mates thr.. Rajesh, Sourish, Tiger, Girish & Saurabh Thapar. Saurabh boarded the wrong BASC bus (1^st time Lost!!!). Rajesh called him to join us. Soon, he arrived and we started @11.10pm.

DAY 1:

After refreshing and breakfast @ Chikmagalur Bus Station, we headed for Mullayanagiri. Due to Ures Celebration, there were police restrictions. Rajesh & AK went for seeking permission. Initially they agreed on to allow us to walk/trek to the top with parked TT @entrance. However, they opposed the same later. It can be described like initially, **star policewala “granted” permission. But, later *** & **** star Policewala(s) rejected the offer.. :(. We satisfied ourself by clicking pics of Mullayanagiri from the entrance.

        Pic1: Mullayanagiri frm the entrance

Hmm.. running shot of what to do..AK decided we head for Kalhatti Falls. Still with low spirit we headed for the falls. The route of falls was through Coffee Estate Jeep Route + easy level of trek. We reached small stream @12.pm coming from Kalhatti falls... 

 Pic2: Small Stream on the way to Kalhatti Falls

Pic3: Coffee Estate Route

Pic4: Small waterfall.. Meet with other BASC team

While, we were having lunch & looking for next stop… Other BASC trek team organized by J² reached the place. They, told further up is the Kalhatti falls and is must watch... Well, with new regained energy we started for the falls. It is a cascading waterfall, flowing through the grass, crashing on the rocks and falling with tranquilness on the rocks...

Pic5: Kalhatti Falls

Most of us energized ourselves at the falls and then decided to move further Up… to reach the base of WaterFall and then trek to reach Kemmannugundi (KMundi). Well.. tht means we need to find a way to reach up.. Abhi with his torn sandal (Well Done!!!) lead the group through the ascend of 70deg and finally reaching the top. 

We njoyed reaching the top, took beautiful snaps… but our final destination of the Day to reach KMundi was halted by forest watchers who said we are in "Bhadra Tiger Reserve" and hence we have to move out. He guided us into the village.  We halted @Village, had cup(s) of tea before heading to KMudi by our TT.

 Pic6: View from Top of Bhadra Tiger Reserve

Pic7: View from Top of Bhadra Tiger Reserve

We reached KMudi RajBhavan by 6.15pm. We did missed the sun-set view but the color of the sky due to the sunset was left us amazed. As usual, members with DSLR started there pic session (even me with my Point-N-Shoot camera).

Pic8: Senset @Kemmannugundi  Raj Bhavan

Next -> Camp site ?

J² (Other BASC Team) had occupied the rooms in the Raj Bhavan. They said they have occupied 3 rooms and thr is big verandah outside there house. We went to saw that and was rejected within seconds as thr was no ventilation & was bit smelly. In the mean time we ordered for the food in the canteen & decided to have combined intro of two BASC team…(It didn’t happened).

Rajesh & AK headed for night halt spot search on the way to Z-Point & came back successfully. We had our dinner and proceeded to @Rock Garden for night halt.

Day 2:

Everyone woke up by 6.00am (again missing sun-rise frm Z-Point)… Someone, said an abandoned Tiger came @night to Rock Garden but the ROAR of so many sleeping animals scared him (Must have thought, what will happen if they woke up :P) & hence he/she left us unharmed. Well Done Team…

 Pic9: On the way to Z-Point

Pic10: On the way to Z-Point

Then, we headed for Z-Point to capture the Sun-Rise. Rajesh, Abhiram & Saurabh reached 1^st to capture the moment. They are bit disappointed as thr was no Sun..LOL. But, its rays through the clouds was captured. Soon; myself, Karthik, Priyanka & Sourish joined them. We also captured the sun-rays moment..

Pic11: View from Top of Z-Point

Pic12: @Top of Z-Point.. Analyzing next Trek Opportunity. 

While analyzing the sceneries around Karthik / Rajesh / Abhiram pointed out a L-Shaped school which was also visible when we were @Bhadra Tiger Reserve Top. Hence, we were on the right path may be two peak behind… Rajesh thought of exploring but since AK was not thr and considering this as leisure trek he dropped his plan. While we were returning, other members (Mahesh, Guru, Apoorva, Arun & Isabel) were going to Z-Point.

Next -> Breakfast and Hebbe Falls.

Hebbe Falls:

It was inside the coffee estate can be accessed by Jeep Route.. It was 8Km trek. There is shortcut just after the place where 1^st glimpse of the fall can be seen while going by Jeep route. Everyone trekked with thr own pace to reach the fall. Rajesh reached at brisk pace to astonish the Jeep Driver who started after 5min of we started for the trek. Well… Saurabh was missing after last set of people (which includes me) arrived at the falls. The falls was mesmerizing, gushing down from a height of 551 ft. There was a kinda swimming pool where the water falls… Everyone had refreshing dip in this herb-infused water. 

Pic13: Hebbe Falls

Soon, J² BASC team reached & Saurabh was still missing… We started our trek back and shouting “Saurabh , Saurabh ”.. But no +ve response (We did received fake response). We hoped to see him @base.. we were again disappointed. At this moment we were literally thinking of all possible thgs tht might have happened to him (He was having head-ache the day before & also didn't halted with us in the forest). We were just not able to figure out where he might have taken wrong turn... since it was completely through the Jeep Track. We were abt to go for search via Jeep and then halted for while.. Well, tht was good decision as after few minutes we saw Saurabh climbing back fast…..

Missing Link -> Well, just before the fall someone guided him to follow the straight path rather than taking the left towards the fall. The path led him into dense forest. He saw fresh Elephant dung and soon realized he is in deep shit. He prayed by sitting on a rock in the middle of the stream. Soon, his prayed was answered and Estate GM reached the spot with his Jeep, dropped him nearby. To reach fast he decided to take Jeep instead of trekking.. Well, his luck was not with him. The jeep had tire burst and he came back running. We left him un-hurt (Lucky Guy)

Then, head for Lunch @ Kemmangundi and then started for Bangalore… In the meantime, we also received permission to visit Mullayanagiri. The hill road to the Mullayanagiri was scary at times… We reached on time not to miss the sunset from the top of Karnataka’s Highest peak... :) There was small temple and also people living there. 

Pic14: Sunset @ Mullayanagiri Peak

 Pic15: Sunset @ Mullayanagiri Peak

Pic16: Sunset @ Mullayanagiri Peak

There was a small cave few notches below. It was my 1^st visit in any cave. While taking one of the pic, a bat came in front & was splendidly captured in the pic. (personal pic won’t be shared). Had dinner at Chikmagalur @Mayur hotel and reached 28^th morning by 4.30am.

Summary:

Day 1: Kalhatti Falls / Trek to Tiger Reserve / Kemmannugundi Raj Bhavan.

Day 2: Hebbe Falls / Mullayanagiri
Team: Ambareesh, Priyanka, Rajesh, Karthik, Abhiram, Mahesh, Guru, Apoorva, Arun & Isabel, Saurabh, Sourish and Myself :)