Rayakottai -- The fort of the kings

Rayakottai, which is around 75 km from Banglore near Hosur , was one of the most vantage points for Vijayanagar and Mysore kings. The Hill fort, from which this place derives its name holds utmost importance in the history of Mysore wars.

History:[Reference/Excerpt from ASI: [asi.nic.in/ncf/Tamil_Nadu.pdf]

Possibly a place of considerable antiquity,Rayakkottai came into prominence during the post Vijayanagara period. The place was fortified by a local chieftain, Jagadeva Raya during the troubled times after the fall of

Vijayanagara Empire. The hill had a strategic advantage commanding the Palaghat pass linking this area with the Mysore country. It was held by the Mysore rulers from AD 1652 to 1791. Then it was captured by Major Gowdie of the British army as a part of Lord Cornwallis’ assault on the Mysore country. In the subsequent wars with Tipu, it was never ceded to them because of its strategic importance.The remains of the fort on the hill are marked by a strong curtain wall and few structures identified as Havildar and Subedar

bungalows and a magazine. It is quite likely that the ramparts were erected by Tipu Sultan

Trail and Trek:

The trek to this historical fort, starts at around 600 m from the Rayakkotai bus stand.  The entrance is clearly maked by a ASI board, stating this to be a historical protected monument and any damage to it would put you back by 1,00,000 :). The place is fenced and the only entrance to the proper trail head is through the gate. The gate is open from 9AM to 6PM. 

The vaishnava Cave temple

The trail is pretty clear and any first time trekkers can easily make out the way up. This can be classified as an Easy to intermediate trek. Though initially you gain a lot of altitude, later  it smoothens out and it turns out to be a very easy trek. About half round on this trail, you see the trail splitting to two. 

Taking the left would be a detour to a small Vaishnava cave temple and some small caves. Take this diversion and it serves as good resting point before you get soaked into the wonderful view at the top. The place , being a temple, is a bit unclean compared to the trail which is clean.

View from the top

 Continuing the trek(tracing your steps back to the diversion and taking the right now), one starts to see the remanents of the old fort, the dilapidated fort entrance, the precauriously balanced rock near the entrance, the pool formed with the rain water and finally ruins of old fort buildings ,walls, greet you at the top.

Entrance to the fort at the top

Once you are at the top, you realize why this fort was of great importance to the rulers,  the top  gives you unrestricted view of areas of krishnagiri reservoir, around 20 kms away to the east and a spectacular view 360 degrees. It is not very often that such an easy hike  would give you such great views.  

As you sit near one of the ruins in the top and soak yourself in the views as gentle breeze cool your body down, one loses track of  all time.  

The descent is pretty quick and is not that strenous. 

The most interesting and best part of this trek was that, going up and down, I never crossed another human soul. It was as if I was owning the fort. Though a very easy trek, it was a very memorable one.

Fact File:

Trek difficulty - Easy to intermediate

Trek Elevation gain : 400ft.

Trek Safety: The fort  hill is surrounded by houses, so it is not a desolate place to be around, but the best part is that inspite of being admist houses, the trek path is pretty empty and clean you would not find very less people on the trail compared to other fort treks like Savan Durga.

How to Get There:

Rayakotta lies on Hosur - Dharmapuri State Highway. 

Bike/Car: From Bangalore->Hosur-> At hosur take right at the first signal after the bus stand-> Reach Rayakkota bus stand and travel as per map

Bus: Take a bus to Hosur from Bangalore city market/sattelite bus stand->At hosur take any dharmapuri bus travelling via Rayakkotai. Both the buses are pretty frequent.

Map from Rayakkotai bus stand to Rayakottai fort hill:

Foot note Tip: 

You will find a gazzillion of these things there

YellowStone National Park - America's Best Idea

It was finally the long awaited weekend. After 4 months of hibernation, it was finally spring and I have my chance at the outdoors. My friends were coming over here to Boise, my place and we would be heading over to Yellowstone National Park which is just around a 7 hours drive from Boise.


Yellowstone National Park , the worlds first national park, is one of the wonders of Mother Nature. This place has half of world's geothermal features, numerous waterfalls, abundant wildlife and a Canyon too. All of these with a active volcano deep beneath it. Though end of May is still a season, with chances of lot of snow still remaining in most parts of the park,this is the best time of the year to visit yellowstone. Why? In late spring, not only the roads open, but you get to see a lot of wildlife as there are still snow up the mountains and wildlife  come to the road sides for food,  making it an excellent time to view them.
We reached Yellowstone on Saturday evening our first day. Contrary to the scary weather reports, that day was a bright sunny day. Our first stop for the day was the Upper Geyser basin at Yellowstone, which houses the the famous Old Faithful Geyser. Old Faithful Geyser is one of the tallest(not the tallest), geyser, which can be predicted. This erupts around every 1.5 hrs and its frequency is dependent on the time and duration of the last eruption. True to their prediction, Old faithful erupted exactly at 8:45 PM as predicted. It was a spectacular sight to see water and steam boiling at 1000 degrees , gushing throught the air.  We then moved on to The Old Faithful Inn for a short view at the age old Lodge. Built entirely of wood in 1905, this Inn  is a marvel that you ought to see. If you pocket is fat, book a room and stay for the night there. The Inn has a lobby, that gives unrestricted views of Old Faithful Geyser.
We then moved on to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. Though it had started to darken by this time, we were able to see, the beauty and awesomeness of this great place. The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States. This huge pool of water, has a varied colors that is rendered by growth of bacteria at those temperatures, forming what is called as the Microbial mats. With having seen the two most important landmarks of the southwest part of yellowstone. , we headed to West Yellowstone Montana , just outside the Yellowstone National Park for our night accomodation.
The next day morning with a light snowfall outside, we started to see the remaining of Yellowstone, through the Grand Loop Road.

We started on a along the road that is called the Grand Loop Road.  This road was first taken by the early vistors to the park, and still is the best and the quick way to cover all the major attractions of the park.The first stop the day was at the at the Artist Paint Pots on the way to Canyon Village Vistor Center. After a brief hike of about 0.3 miles, we reached at the spot where mud boils . There are in general four types of geothermal wonders in Yellowstone , first the Hot Springs Hot springs are pools of hot water that have seeped to the Earth's surface to form small ponds -much like a spa tub. Second is the Geysers. Geysers are bursts of steam and extremely hot water through the pores in the rocks. The third one are the Fumaroles, or steam vents, are hot springs with a lot of heat, but so little water that it all boils away before reaching the surface.  The fourth are the mud pots where hot water is limited and hydrogen sulfide gas is present (emitting the "rotten egg" smell common to thermal areas), sulfuric acid is generated. The acid dissolves the surrounding rock into fine particles of silica and clay that mix with what little water there is to form the seething and bubbling mudpots. Artist Paint pots are of the fourth kind . Due to microbial reactions these come in a colorful variety. After having stopped there, we then started off to the Canyon Vistior Centre for a brief lunch. 

     From there we started on to the Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way there we were lucky enough to see a Grizzly bear Cub, grazing the pastures not covered by snow. Mammoth hot springs are a fusion of nature art work done by limestone and water. These have kept changing through ages and continue to change. There are a quite a number of terraces that are formed due to this reaction and an extensive trail system through them would help you cover them in around 2 
hours.

        From the Mammoth Hot Springs we moved to the Canyon Village to visit the Majestic Grand Canyon of Yellowstone from its many vantage points.  As you drive the North Rim Drive and the South Rim Drive near the Canyon Village Visitor center, you can visit various view point that gives you breathtaking view of the the Canyon , the Upper Falls and the Lower falls.The feather on the cap of this drive is the Artist Point, a view of the Upper falls, which has been immortalized in many paintings and had impressed the Congress to create a national park out of this place. 


We then moved on our way to the the Grand YellowStone Lake through the Hayden Valley. Hayden Valley apart from Lamar Valley is one of the places where wildlife are in abundant and there is a good chance that  you might encounter a elk, bear , a bison or a fowl. 
We stopped briefly at what I believe was the most unbelievable thing that i have ever seen.The Sulphur Caldron. Yellowstone’s Sulphur Caldron is a geothermal feature that broils with acid waters and bubbling mud. It is literally a pool of Sulphuric Acid,  that impressed me a lot.Very near to it was also the Dragon mouth Spring that emits steam of a small cave like structure giving it its famous name. We then continued on our way to the Grand Yellowstone Lake. On May 30th 2011, it was still frozen and covered in snow. After a brief break at the Grand Lake Visitor center for a coffee break, we finally came to an end of the Grand Loop tour of Yellowstone. We headed off the  Jackson Hole for the night, after which we would be returning to Boise the next day.


Quick Tips on Yellowstone:

• Most people coming to US do not bother to visit this place. To my knowledge, this is the best place ever in this country as like Niagara Falls. DO NOT  MISS IT if you are visiting here. You will see sights that you have or never ever will see in your life again
• During Summer (July-August-September) are impossibly crowded. You can wait for hours in traffic jams and spend a fortune for lodging. If possible avoid this time. Fall is the perfect time for yellow stone and if you dont mind the snow, Spring(April-May). 
• Give atleast 2 days to visit this place.  You can club it with a visit to Grand Teton national Park which is pretty near.
• Accomodations can be done inside the park(usually are booked a year ago) or at West Yellowstone MT near the western entrance or at Gardiner Montana near the north entrance. Jackson Hole is a cheaper option about 1 hr drive from the south entrance.
• Remember no amount of photographs or videos can prepare you for what you will see here. Things you see here are guaranteed to blow your mind off. Yellowstone has every thing to offer, from Canyons to Geysers, from Wildlife to  Water Falls. Go on take a trip of your lifetime.

                            

Weekend at the Rocky Mountains

It was a bright sunny Saturday morning that me and my cousin Archana, started out to the Rocky mountain national park. Being officially the fan of US National Parks and this being my fifth national Park that I have visited during my stay here, I was excited.  The last two weeks after my visit to the mind boggling Yellowstone National park were pretty hectic and so this was a break I badly needed.
  Our gateway to the park was a small town Estes Park. After gathering out Veggie foods here,we reached the park around 11 AM and our first stop was the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center just outside the park. As with every National Park in US, this visitor center also had a 23 minute national park video that introduces people to the Park and its history. These are awesomely shot videos that never fail to impress me. This time was no different. After stocking up ourselves with map, guides,food and water, we moved to start our day at the National Park.Our plan was to take the Trail ridge Road for the first day and hike a peak the second day. And that was exactly what we did.
 Trail Ridge Road ,a 48-mile marvel road that runs along the West side of the park, offers the best way to explore the park . Built in 1932, It's the highest continuous paved road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet. It follows a path that the Ute and other Native American peoples used for thousands of years.
  Our first stop on the Trail Ridge,was Deer ridge junction, this place gives you the first true view of the Longs Peak a  majestic peak that basically can be seen from any part of the park. This is also the trail head for Deer Mountain summit trail. After a brief stop over here we continued on to a series of overlooks, that included Rainbow Curve, Many Parks Curve and the Forest Canyon Overlook. Each of these view points have designated ample parking space on road side which makes visiting these a comfortable experience. Out of the above three overlooks, Forest Canyon Overlook, which is accessible with a 5 minute walk from the parking lot, is a sight to behold. A view from here, gives you how majestic these mountain can be. But make sure you do have warm clothing, because, Forest Canyon overlook is the first overlook in the road that is above alpine tree line. That means this place is so fricking cold that even trees dare not to grow here.

     After a mesmerizing view of the mountains, we continued on the Trail Ridge Road now at at an elevation of 11,758 feet to the rock cut parking area, which is the trailhead to the Tundra World natural Trail. This trail walks you through alpine Tundra. These are elevations too cold for the the trees to grow. What grows are wild flowers/plants adapted to the climatic conditions and various animals that prey on thEM. The temperatures in these Tundra reaches sub zero almost every night of the year. The trail is dotted with boards that give good info on the  Tundra vegetation and wildlife.

With most part of the trail still covered in snow we came back half way through and continued our trip. Just few foot back into the road, we spotted our first wildlife in the park, the Elks. After a brief stop over for photographs, we proceeded on to our next stop, Lava Cliffs.
Lava cliffs, the tallest point on the Trail Ridge Road is at an elevation of 12,178 feet. We then went on to the Alpine Ridge Visitor Center for a small chai break. At 11,799 feet, this is the highest visitor center in USA. After this small break, stopping briefly at Meadows Curve overlook ,we then reached the Milner Pass. Milner Pass  is where, the Trail Ridge  Mountain crosses, the continental divide. All the water on the east side of this point will flow down to the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean and all the water on the west side will flow down the Colorado to the Pacific Ocean. We then moved on to Fairview curve another good overlook point and from there to Grand Lake. Grand lake is one of the small towns the borders Rocky mountain national Park. This is where the Trail Ridge Road exits Rocky mountain National park and continues as US-36.  We went to the East Point trail head , where we started our second hike for the day to the Adams falls. It was a brief 0.3 mile trek to the fall head. We were able to spot a fox trying to hunt something small like a mouse at the trail head. After viewing the falls we headed back to the trail head. We did a small stopover at the Grand lake and started back to Estes Park where we had our accomodation for night. The way back was equally  beautiful, this time not stopping any where and was a continous drive  for almost an hour. With sun set just around the corner and the mountains were lit up with hues of colors and it was hard to keep my eyes on the road as I was driving as one small mistake would send me and our car to a pretty bad fall.
Taking a detour on the midway, we drove to some more attractions of the park like the Horseshoe park and Alluvial Fan falls. On our way back, a herd of elks crossed the road right in front of us. That moment being so close to the wildlife was indeed breath taking. We then reached Estes Park at around 9 PM, only to see a black bear with two kid bears just near the town borders. It was a great sight to see.
After having dinner at Nepal Cafe, we headed to Saddle and surrey motel for the night.

The next day was our trek day. We wanted to do a moderate summit hike. So after many googlings we decided upon Deer Mountain Summit Trail. We started  first to have a quick view of spar and Bear Lake before heading to Deer Mountain Trailhead.  Most part of bear lake was frozen and it was a pleasant sight early morning . With a sunny day forecast, we began our ascent to Deer Mountain Summit at around 10:30 AM. Having packed our food and with bottles of water and Galtorade, our bags were heavy . After an hour and a half, we finally reached the summit at an elevation of . The trek was tiring towards the end where there was quite an elevation to cover in a small distance. Neverthless the view from the top, was worth the effort. The view of Longs peak and other prominent peaks of the park was literally mind blowing. We sat there for sometime , with quite a number of squirrels, running near us . We then started our descent. After stopping briefly midway for our packed lunch, we descended and reached the trailhead. The descent almost took the same time as our ascent.

After a brief stop back at the Beaver Meadows Trail head, we started back to Boulder. On our way back we stopped at the base of Longs Peak,hoping one day we will succeed in hiking that too. At 14,259 feet, Longs Peak was one of the prominent 14000s peak in Colorado that has a glacier. After dropping Archana, I headed of to Denver, from there on to Boise with wonderful memories of the Rockies.

Quick Tips:

• Rocky Mountain National Park is a hiker's paradise there are more that 350  miles of trails in the park.
• Camping is the best way to stay in Rockies, there are a numerous campsites inside and outside the parks.
• Talk to the rangers for the weather conditions before venturing into any trail.
• The nearest two towns are Estes Park and Grand Lake. Though not big it has most of the famous food chains and Nepal Cafe for Indian Food.
• It is highly recommend to pack your foods before entering the park as unlike other national parks,not much food stops are there inside the park.
• Carry PLENTY of water , sub alpine elevations could be very hot and dry. 
• All the visitor centers have drinking water supply and Free Wifi.

Trekking - the Boise way -I - Seaman's Gulch Loop

            It was a bright sunny afternoon today and it has been quite a while since I had touched my bike. With Spring on track, its almost a sin to waste such sunny day which has become a rarity here in Boise. So I set out with my bike to the hills that surround Boise. From various sources, I had read bout the Ridges to Rivers Trail system, that was developed for easier trekking/ biking on these hills. So there I set out to see it for myself the first time

Ridges to River Trail System:

The Boise Foothills rise above Idaho's Capitol and largest city, providing a postcard backdrop that inspires and soothes the soul. An interconnected network of roads and trails courses through these hills linking people and the natural environment. With over 130 miles of trail, there is something for everyone here. It is indeed an achievement that this complete trail system was completely developed by volunteers and through public donation.

Seaman's Gulch Trail:
This is relatively a easy trail. With exception to snakes and birds there is not much wildlife on this trail . A pretty safe trail  and the only thing that frightened me were the pet dogs, though well behaved looked menacingly threatening :).
The start of the trail has good parking and restroom facilities. A big sign there displays that this trail has a lot of  "Puncture vine". Since I have had my share of flat tires in the past, and not willing to risk one more, I decided to park my bike and take on the trail by foot. The complete trail stretches for 3 miles with many direction poles,guiding people all way along. It started steep and slowly I gained altitude. After some 20 mins of hiking, I finally reached the top of the hill on the trail. 
With  the sound of birds chirping, and gentle breeze of fresh wind brushing my face, this is bliss , I thought. An evening well spent and Ridges to Rivers trails were indeed a revelation. There is much of Boise foothills still left unexplored by me. Come this summer I shall reach you all.

Back to the magical world - Goa

And so it was decided, on Feb 27th, 28th and March 1st, we were  going back to Goa... We meant me and 7 other friends. We started from Majestic Bangalore, in KSRTC Volvo and were excited as kids... 

After all Goa is the ultimate bachelor destination in India. My last  two Goa trips, though a bit  of disasters were really memorable. My first trip was with my parents(now  don't stare at me) way back in 2002 and then a cash strapped trip with my college mates in 2004. Then this  was that dream  trip, with good amount of cash to burn and a team of bachelors along... Yohoo we were rocking.With a broken window and owl in the bus, we finally reached Panaji at around 12 in the afternoon(it was supposed to  reach at 8 in the morning but with an accident fiasco, we ended up reaching late).

Our resort was a good 18km from Panaji near Calangute beach. We finally landed in Red Lion resorts. Though the resort had a  grumpy manager and an Ok kinda room, we din care much, after all the room was jus for the late night.

That afternoon we went around the place and had a perfect goan lunch @Hotel Sussegaddo(dunno what that means) . Great food and great service. After a bit of rest, we headed to  the beach for the evening.A really crowded beach, Calangute is the most popular beach among the package tour guys. If you want a peaceful beach evening, stay out of Calangute. After a round of volley ball, we headed to  the waters, had great fun and headed back to the resort. with a tattoo in my hand :D... Back in the roads for dinner, we planned to hit the discotheques post  dinner.

Set on the beach, Lobos is a great place for  food and music, with "Kingfisher Voice of Goa" singing hauntingly melodious songs, we had a over great dinner. The time was then over 1130 PM... We  decided to drop our discotheque plans and we headed out  for a walk by the beach. Calangute and Baga beach is  a continuous stretch of beach and makes a great walking route.  Even at that time of the day, beaches were full and baga beach was bustling with life and energy with beer flowing like water. We saw young couples making out in the open beach(I am serious!!!! ) and cute couples cuddling up in single mattresses by the beach... A great walk with friends chatting stuffs that only bachelors talk. A small cup of coffee from the Nescafe at  the Calangute beach and few games of cards, finished that day in style...

The next day we headed out to go around Goa, we wanted to  go to  the Arambol beach and Dil chahta hai fort. We started scouting for bikes, but to our dismay all the bikes seemed booked and we finally managed to get 3 god forsaken Honda Activas andd 1 devil forsaken Avenger. It was a great ride for about 40  kms... We stopped over at Anjuna beach, the famous hippie beach. The beach with increasing water levels  was not exciting enough. We continued our ride through the beautiful beach side roads of Goa to Arambol beach. After a brief stop over for  lunch at Sea view restaurant some two kms before Arambol beach. We finally reached the beach. I should say it was one of the few beaches that has captivated me a lot. The only other beach that i liked  was Varkala beach in kerala(will come up  with a separate post for that).

Shallow and relatively less crowded beach, this white sand was famous among the 70s and 80s hippie crowd. We had a great fun in waters and finally it was time for us to leave to  the Chapora fort (Dil chahtha hai fort).We wanted to see the sun set at Chapora fort and we were racing with  the sun to  reach the fort(we finally did reach only after  the sun set). We had to do  a steep climb before reaching the fort.The fort  was nothing spectacular except for  the view of the Vagator  beach.After posing for photographs as Aamir and friends,we headed back. It was very dark and there we managed to get down without tumbling down. After reaching back to our resort, we got ready for dinner and party.We went to the nearby famous "Infantria" restaurant.Known to be a famous Goan restaurant, the food here was good but a bit  on a expensive side. We  met a Scottish couple there , who claimed they had been to  almost all parts of the world including Tunisia, Morocco and blah.. blahh.... Yet another late night after dinner, we dropped our party plan and headed back to resort. After a pack  of games, we slept off.

Early next morning we went to the Calangute beach to try our hands with water sports. We bargained for a package of water sports at around 400 rupees. We did para-sailing(was good), rafting, water scooter and two other boring stuff. Post that. we started off the Panaji for a quick shopping and for  seeing the city. The day being "Holi" was a holiday. And we   had  a free ride in the city. Beware!!! please have a helmet while riding in Panaji, the police there work overtime to fine ppl a cool 100 bucks for not wearing one.

After posing for photographs by the riverside and statues we headed back to  Calangute. We had some time to roam around the Tibetan markets at Calangute. These place sell items at around 300 % of their costs. with good bargaining you might get a good curios to take back as souvenirs.After having packed our bags, we started back to Panaji, this time to board our buses. We got into KSRTC Volvo back to Bangalore at around 6. At sharp 7 we reached back Bangalore. Leaving behind a memorable Goa. Lotsa unfinished activities still...Goa I will be  back  again

Goa this time round:

What not to  miss in Goa:;Beaches, Bikinis and Goan food. For veggies, try  out Veg Xacuti its  a real good Goan dish. And also not the least  try out the 7 rupees,Goa milk corporation's Lassi. A really yummy thing.

Goan cashews are very famous, But  i did not find them exciting either taste wise or cost wise, so bought some Goa cashew chocolates(not  really yummy).

Best way to go around:  Honda Activa, there is one every where in every direction(I think this is one huge factor  for success of Honda Activa). The rentals range from 150-450 based on the demand.

Night drive at ECR

Three days before the new year ushered in , I enjoyed what I say was one of the best night rides I have ever had. It was 9 in the night and I was at Besant Nagar, when my cousin called up me.We decided to go to Kelambakkam, a place in Chennai where we had a marriage to attend the next day. "Morning fog at Chennai is too bad",he said, "lets ride up now". And so we started a 23 km ride to Kelambakkam in K-bajaj(good old bajaj of the 90s).

Chill night air blew at my face as I sat in the rear observing around.It was 10 at night.The traffic was low and the road was great.. As we lost civilization after Thiruvanmyur.. It was only resorts , beaches, buses and us on the road...

We passed across much famous landmarks of Chennai as we zipped past through. VGP golden beach, MGM dizee world, and of course the "Mayaajaal" multiplex complex.

But these man made structures were of no match to what I saw at Mutukadu lake.

For beginners, Mutukkadu lake is Chennai's version of backwaters. These lake extend upto the sea. In brightness of the young moon light, the lake shone as if endless diamonds are thrown around. That was a sight to behold. I was too stunned to even take a picture of it .. It was a heavenly view.It was 10:30 at night.

Soon we reached Kovalam, from where a diversion led us to Kelambakkam, a part of pristine forest area of which famed Vandalur zoo is a part of.....

It was 11 in the night.We finally reached our destination safely.

As human intervention was not there, both to the lake(one of the finest) and for us(no police caught us at night :)) ),it was a memorable experience for me.....

HonneMarudu - Rendezvous with Mother Nature

It was 11 in the night . Me n my colleagues(19 of us) were waiting at the B’lore Cy Jn for Shimoga Express to arrive. My mind reeled back, 2 months back when our team desperately needing an outing, decided upon Honne Marudu. Supposed to be nestled in Western Ghats , this place was one of the pristine forest camps still unaffected by commercialisation.

Our train started at around 11:40 and we reached Shimoga next day morn at around 6 . We took a NWKRTC bus to Talaguppa., from where we headed to Honne Marudu in a god forbidden Maruti Omni and a Sumo. Though the road to Talpegaum was good, journey to Honne Marudu from Talaguppa is best taken with Jeep or better still a 7 km trek by walk. We reached the “Adventurers Base Camp” at around 9:30 where we were greeted by Nomitha and Swamy, who run the Adventurers, a group that maintains Honne Marudu and organizes healthy eco adventurers for nature enthusiasts.

After an initial instructions of Do’s and Don’t’s we fed ourselves with a delicious poori and curry. After placing our belongings safely, we undertook a “campus walk”, with our guide Ganpathi. We got to know what to expect from Honne Marudu. We proceeded on to some water exploration. We put on our life jackets and headed to conquer the turbulent waters of Sharavathi :). It was an out of world experience when we floated around in waters as deep as around 30-40 ft. . After an hour of water floating, we turned to sailors as we took to Coracling .Coracles are round boats, known in Tamil as Parisal, these were one of the earliest known boats man found. Though looks seemingly simple to manveour , it was a huge challenge to make it go in our way. Finally after an hour or so, after we became expert Coraclers :) , we proceeded for lunch. Steamed rice, with brinjal Sambar tasted really great . We then went for another round of Coracling ,when all of us, started to one of the islands there at Honne Mardu. These green islands formed when Lingamakki dam was constructed are paradise for campers. As the sun came down , we headed back to the mainland, our next task in hand to build a tents , where we would be sleeping tonight.But before that we had a good tea with a liberal dose of hot vadas(really good ones). It was raining all day and we had no hopes that it would abate at night. But still, we started off building tents, Ganapathi helped us in putting up those. Finally after our late night dinner, we made ourselves cosy and slept off in those warm tents. It was pouring all night and we slept admist the sounds of rain , chirping of crickets and the rustling of leaves. We slept in the lap of Mother Nature.

Next day morning, after a good breakfast of Khara bath and Kesar bath, we headed off for trekking. Trekking in rains must be undertaken by wearing gum boots . The reason, there were lots and loads of “leeches”.Though these are harmless creatures that suck bad blood from you painlessly, inexperienced trekkers might be terrified.
Our trekking led us to Bhima’s Rock /Bhima’s feet,a volcanic formation, that resembles a feet of a giant man. The best thing about the trek at Honne Mardu was it was very unconventional. Through the bushes, battling the rains,handling snakes and taking the unknown path, it was a very different sort of experience.

Back to the base, after a nutritious lunch, we packed up. As we left Honne Mardu to Jog falls, I felt nostalgic. This was a place I where I would come again. We headed off to Jog falls. The world famous Jog Falls was a huge and tall water fall unlike Athirapalli falls back home in Kerala. It was a treat to our eyes. We then headed off to Shimoga. At around 10 in the night we boarded Shimoga Express back to B’lore.
Back in B’lore I reached home and quickly cuddled inside my comfortable bed. As I closed my eyes, I was transported back to Honne Marudu. Those were thoughts that I would cherish for days to come.

Some quick facts bout Honne Mardu:

1. Go during monsoons its more beautiful and the water is high.
2. Do not expect any luxuries. Remember you are in a forest.
3. A maruti van from Talguppa to Honne Mardu will cost you around 150-200 INR.
4. For further details contact http://www.westernghats.org/faq.html.