One of the perks of being in Bangalore is the excellent excursion options. So it did not take too long to plan a trek. This was one weekend, we decided to go trekking with a completely unknown group, exception being my brother and one of my friends. This was first time I stayed overnight for a trek, so we had to do some packing, and later we got to know it wasn't well done.
To reach Brahmagiri we traveled overnight in a rickety and noisy bus, where we met our fellow journey men.
Brahmagiri, is a protected forest and this range is on the border of Kerala and Karnataka. The highest peak, which was also our destination, is 5262 feet (1604 meters) high. We first needed the forest department's permission to enter the wildlife sanctuary area. We had breakfast and got ready for the trek after morning ablutions in a very humble rest room, where we shared one bathroom among a dozen people. Unknown people, again, in highlights.
The trek's first milestone is Irrupu falls, which happens to be sort of first staircase. It would have been actually a shorter way to climb up this, but there is less dangerous trekking path which takes you deeper into the forest, up some hills and lo! you would reach the same elevation as the waterfall.
In the above photograph, you can see the falls, the forest is quite rocky, dense and green.You know you are deeper in the wild, when elephant poo becomes a regular sight and also you see lot of cobwebs. Basically we kept walking about 6 kilometers the first day, and reached a forest rest house up in the hills by sunset.
Now the rest house was just a shed with two rooms and two "toilets". We were also carrying our supplies, backpacks and sleeping bags. For more water, we had to go downstream and fill in all the utensils in store at the guesthouse. We also collected firewood for the dinner and bonfire. I was in no mood to take pictures doing such "prehistoric routines". Trekking was not harsh for me, but the thought that we were half way for day 1 and the next day will be the real deal, was pulling me down. Some of the guys decided to go for a nearby rocky peak. I decided to stay put in the guest house as between me and my brother we did not have enough warm clothes. I was a bit uncomfortable since the locks weren't working and there was no electricity there but I told myself I have to choose well. If I do not rest now, I may not be up for tomorrow's ordeal. Plus I did not want either me or my brother to fall ill because we did not anticipate the chill. After the group came back from their peaks, many of them were not in ace condition and many had too many red-bulls on the way. Not my party. I let the group "do the dinner"...couldn't expect luxury but the hot noodles were quite a relief in the cold windy night. We played some dumb bonfire games and cracked some jokes, but I could clearly see signs of no team bonding. For most of the people, they had their cosy clique, and they had done several treks together. I had my clique too, and I was least bothered (I could tell they found that haughty!). This is the first time I slept on the cold floor in my sleeping bag. The rest house was so full with such packs! I was just happy for the basics: a roof on the head, a sleeping pad, bottle full of water and my torch. The point is, when you are townie, you lose that gratefulness for nature. You expect luxuries. I adapted well, I was so elated to just be.
Next morning, we were up at 5AM. Warm clothes were now a SERIOUS issue between me and my brother so we borrowed a light jacket. The forest guard now had to compulsorily escort us to take us to the peak. Seeing the sun rise was brilliant.
Soon we were deep enough in the jungle to hear and see elephants (up-till now it was majorly a sight of their substantial fecal matter). We could also view our destination! This is the part of the trek I enjoyed the most...the horizon changed every five minutes!
We crossed many smaller "peaks" and rivulets and walked about 4 kilometers more.
Here is a picture of the Brahmagiri peak from the foothill.
Climbing this was not an easy task, as it seems. There were steep elevations and loose soil, which made it inevitable that you hit a few rocky patches while climbing it. Every once in a while it helped me to look down and see how much I 've covered. The views were fantastic and worth it.
The forest guard was in the meadows in the foothills and sort of acted as a meeting point for us to reassemble, since our pace was different. Though I was leading the pack till the foothills, I stopped too often while climbing to take breaks. My brother and friend had overtaken me since a long time. The last mile was tough for me. I was glad on the way back as caught up with the herd. The trek was not over yet. We had to go back to the forest rest room, pick up our stuff and climb all the way down till Iruppu. That was the fun part too. We stopped at streams to clean leech bites and finish remaining food packets.
Irrupu was no surprise as we walked back the last 6 kilometers from the rest house. We rested at the falls and then came back, where our bus rested to take us back to city life. We requested the bus driver to take us through Bandipur National Park, where according to my friend, "deer were like dogs".
Meanwhile, cliques had thickened. Brother and I found ourselves looking forward to some clean socks. We stopped in Mysore for dinner and told ourselves: glad we made it back from the wild. It was almost nighttime and next early morning we would reach Bangalore.
