The trek was all it promised to be, absolutely brilliant. We took the Rajahamsa from Bangalore to Donigal (a small village 9 kms away from sakleshpur) on the Bangalore- Mangalore highway.
Reaching Donigal while it was dark (4am) we decided to figure out to evenly distribute the baggage. By 4:30 am we were off on the 5 km walk over the highway, that would take us to the starting point of the trek, Donigal railway station
Now the entire trek is of 2 days, that would take us from Donigal to Kukke Subhramanya. Total distance 57 kms. However first we had to get to a station called Yedikumeri (around 18 kms away) and then make further plans.
So off we went, initially feeling very uncomfortable as we were not used to walking on the concrete sleepers of the railway track. But as the bridges and the tunnels began the trek became interesting. We decided to take it slowly and enjoy the scenery. We did encounter a couple of trains but we got sufficient warning to get out of their way :D
The thrill was in crossing long bridges, where we had only the unevenly placed sleepers to walk on and a drop of about 180 metres to worry about.
The longest tunnel we encountered was over half a kilometer (543 metres long to be precise).
At one point we crossed a very high bridge built over a fast flowing river. Just after crossing the bridge we decided to get down to the river, though there was no apparent way through the dense foliage. 5 of us cut through the thorny plants and made our way down to an old unused bridge, and from there we decide to get into the water, and this proved to be the best part of the trek, lying down in the soothing cool fast flowing water.
It was obvious that these were waters untouched by humans for quite a long time, that added to the excitement.
We finally reached Yedikumeri station at 5:30 pm after a 17.2 km long trek.
We camped the night at the station and next day at 5am we managed to hitch a ride in an engine ! to Kukke (a 30 kilometre journey), thanks to a very friendly motorman :))
Riding in the engine over some of the most beautiful valleys and Shola forests was absolutely exhilarating
We got a bus back to Bangalore from Kukke, to end a perfect trek. The gang was made up of wonderfully crazy people, the place was beautiful, the plan was to be agile and everything fell into place like a dream.
As I re-read this post I realize that I have not been able to describe the trek as well as I would have wanted to, but then one had to be on the trek to get the essence of it, and reading it just wont do.
It is sad that the trains will start in a few weeks putting a stop to any further treks here. However I am glad that I managed to experience this unique trek :)
Reaching Donigal while it was dark (4am) we decided to figure out to evenly distribute the baggage. By 4:30 am we were off on the 5 km walk over the highway, that would take us to the starting point of the trek, Donigal railway station
Now the entire trek is of 2 days, that would take us from Donigal to Kukke Subhramanya. Total distance 57 kms. However first we had to get to a station called Yedikumeri (around 18 kms away) and then make further plans.
So off we went, initially feeling very uncomfortable as we were not used to walking on the concrete sleepers of the railway track. But as the bridges and the tunnels began the trek became interesting. We decided to take it slowly and enjoy the scenery. We did encounter a couple of trains but we got sufficient warning to get out of their way :D
The thrill was in crossing long bridges, where we had only the unevenly placed sleepers to walk on and a drop of about 180 metres to worry about.
The longest tunnel we encountered was over half a kilometer (543 metres long to be precise).
At one point we crossed a very high bridge built over a fast flowing river. Just after crossing the bridge we decided to get down to the river, though there was no apparent way through the dense foliage. 5 of us cut through the thorny plants and made our way down to an old unused bridge, and from there we decide to get into the water, and this proved to be the best part of the trek, lying down in the soothing cool fast flowing water.
It was obvious that these were waters untouched by humans for quite a long time, that added to the excitement.
We finally reached Yedikumeri station at 5:30 pm after a 17.2 km long trek.
We camped the night at the station and next day at 5am we managed to hitch a ride in an engine ! to Kukke (a 30 kilometre journey), thanks to a very friendly motorman :))
Riding in the engine over some of the most beautiful valleys and Shola forests was absolutely exhilarating
We got a bus back to Bangalore from Kukke, to end a perfect trek. The gang was made up of wonderfully crazy people, the place was beautiful, the plan was to be agile and everything fell into place like a dream.
As I re-read this post I realize that I have not been able to describe the trek as well as I would have wanted to, but then one had to be on the trek to get the essence of it, and reading it just wont do.
It is sad that the trains will start in a few weeks putting a stop to any further treks here. However I am glad that I managed to experience this unique trek :)
11 comments:
amazing trip u had its sims....wow! its a lil scray at the same time adventurous to trek down a rail track, quite unique as well......hope u have many more such exciting trips.....and yes the second pic from top, i loved it a lot....:)
It was amazing indeed :D and yeah we have already started thinking about our next trek....
awesome dude.. i am in for the next one :)
Ofcourse buddy :)
ABVP was missing, but i promise followed most rules stringently
LOVELY :-)
Man!!Ur blog is looking so sexy!!!!!Except that at times, bec of the fair complexion of the lady, the words become a little hard to read :)
U must have had an amazing time..am sure of that...good going... :)
~ Raj ~ Heyy are u still planning eating Vanilla in Manilla ?
~ Neha ~ hey thanks for the feedback, I see what u are saying
sounds like a fantastic experience!!!
hey.. quick question for you.. how do i add labels to my posts?!!
thanks muchly x
~Fink~ Yeahhhhh it was breathtaking, stupendous, fabulous, brilliant, unbelieveable, exhilarating, superb, out of the world and many many other such adjectives which are not yet in my repetoire at present :D
Are u sure the trek is not possible now ? Any idea whether the train have started by now ? We are planing for a trek on 16th Dec. Need help regarding it. Mailme : sainathkm@gmail.com
I would not suggest that particular trek :D
cos u go there and get stuck and the only way out is a 18 km trek back
or a 30 km trek ahead or a 14 km trek thru dense foliage to the river that u may or may not be able to cross depending on the depth.
So a trek is a bad idea, also am guessing the trains have started
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