Charmadi ghat trek + drive on the ghat roads

This was my first trek to Charmadi ghat.  After-all, after doing Kumara Parvatha either solo or with friends all year round, I finally decided to explore other sections of the majestic Western Ghats.  However, this trip was a sudden plan and I never knew that I would be trekking here until Friday evening.  Here's how things turned out to be:

As usual, after returning from a trek on the previous weekend, my mind would start getting worked up the very next day or at least, by Wednesday, about the trek plan for next weekend.  Therefore, as usual, I had already made all calls to the regulars and posted in all the Whatsapp trekking and running groups asking if they would like to join me to Kumara Parvatha for a trek. Many of them either replied in the negative or didn't reply at all, while some said, they will let me know by Thursday or Friday.  As usual, I knew that it was my cue to go there alone (like I have done on at least 3-4 occasions owing to people dropping out at the last minute), and so, had made up my mind.  However, Shailesh from CTC messaged me on Whatsapp and we even exchanged a couple of calls regarding him wanting to go there and if I could go with him as it would be his first time.  I was a bit elated at the prospect of finally having someone to go with rather than alone.

That happiness was to be short lasted however, as he called me at the last minute, i e Friday morning, and told me that he wont be able to join due to some medical emergency.  I was a bit depressed and then continued to ask some friends on Whatsapp what their plans were for the Christmas weekend.  Now as my luck would have it, another plan shut right in place of the plan that was cancelled, like a misplaced piece of a jigsaw puzzle.  One of my Bangalore trekking friends, DK, had told me that there was already a group who would be leaving today for Charmadi Ghat and that I could join them if I wanted to.  After countless calls to the organizer and DK, and battling Bangalore's notorious Friday traffic jams, DK and I finally found ourselves in a tempo traveler with the group at around 11 PM.

We reached the town early morning, caught some sleep in the temple choultry, and, were finally up and on our way after finishing breakfast near a temple.  Unfortunately we got to know that we would not be climbing "the" Charmadi Ghat trail and we would be trekking another trail because our guide was nowhere to be found at the last minute.  We were forced to trek on this well trodden path with multiple trails all over the place with one even going till the peak.

It even had a house in between with some fruit plantations and a small stream where we filled up our water bottles.  In spite of all this, the freshers were an elated lot as even these things were new and virgin to them, after living in cities all their lives. They were really happy to be seeing village huts in the middle of nowhere, a beautiful stream with crystal clear water, surrounded by Pineapple and Orange plantations.  They started climbing trees, shaking the fruits down, and what not!

By this time it was noon, and after regrouping, we had lunch and took a nap under a shady spot.  We finally reached our destination which, according to our organizer, was a huge rock with a cave.  Surprisingly, just after we finished lunch and started for big rock, one of our team members decided to go all solo and reach the peak on the hill to our right.  Repeated calls to make him rejoin the group fell on deaf ears, and he continued in that direction while we continued to big rock which was on our left.  It was only after we reached big rock and rested for a long time, that we got to know that he got stranded somewhere just below the peak without any food or water and was requesting the organizer to go fetch him from there.  Luckily, nothing untoward happened and he joined us at big rock, after which we started our descent for the main road.  Our guide giving us the slip in the morning, this guy running away all on his own, the mishaps just kept coming, and the biggest one was going to happen just after we reached the main road.

Hiking towards the big rock

Scintillating views of the valley from Big Rock

Views of the descent

Back to the ghat road

The descend from the cave to the main road was very easy except for the last section, where one would have to literally jump onto the road.  Luckily, two of our group members were already ready and waiting there so that they could prevent any untoward incidents from happening.  By the time the last trekker reached the main road, it was already around 5PM, and we had already sent two of our mates to go and get the tempo travelers as we could not call up the drivers due to weak mobile signals in the area.  It would not to be 9PM before we could finally get out of here.  What happened in between was nothing short of a scene straight out of a wrong turn movie ;) .

After waiting for more than an hour and with no sign of either our guys coming back or the tempo travelers we sent another one to go and fetch them. Hours passed by (playing with monkeys, taking photographs) and so did countless vehicles. Buses, cars, private cabs, trucks, bikes, everything.  In the beginning we were just looking at them and they were looking at us but now we were literally trying to flag down any vehicle that passed to ask them if they could give a few of us a lift to the temple, from where we could phone up the tempo drivers and ask them to pick up the rest.  By this time, it was getting dangerous to stand on the ghat road as it was completely dark and so one of the co-organizers asked us to come into a curve so that we would be visible to other vehicles from a distance.  We did get reassuring words from passing vehicles that they had seen two tempo travelers a couple of kilometres away but they were not moving.

Finally, they came at around 9PM and we were off on our way to the temple choultry for a good nights rest.  We wouldn't need it much though, as day 2 was more of a trip rather than a trek.

The plan for Day 2 was to visit Anadka falls and Dhamasthala temple and like the title says, it was 80% drive and 20% trek and enjoyment.  To go to Anadka falls, we had to get into KNP limits.  The views all around us were simply breathtaking and we could see a section of the forest that one would usually see if they did the Kudremukh trek.  We bought tickets at the entry to the waterfalls and started the mini hike to it.

On the way to Anadka falls

On reaching Anadka falls, we played around in the water a bit, clicked countless photographs, did a mini cleanup of the place which was strewn with broken beer bottles near the stream, and then bid goodbye to the place.

Anadka falls

The stream bed which we cleaned up

After getting back into the vehicles, we headed to the main road where we had sumptuous lunch of boiled rice, sambar, and vegetables which was really nutritious.  After that, we went to Dharmasthala temple.  We couldn't get inside as there was too much crowd, so we just looked at it from outside and left for home.  After that, it was no more chitchat in the tempo as everyone was sleepy and eager to get home and have a good nights rest. So we didn't talk till it was time to part at Yeshwantpur.  I had to get down there as I had to go towards Hebbal and the cab was going in another direction.  I reached home safe and sound at around 2 am.

All mishaps factored in, it was a fun trip and memorable one too.  I am looking forward to exploring more and more of the virgin forests of the Western ghats as the years go by.  It is the journey that is the destination.