Our first glimpse dissolved all our concerns, for the scenery was breathtaking! Against bright blue skies the place, perched on the steep hillside, and boasted a fabulous view of the surrounded rolling hills, forest and pampas. This place where once Mysore maharaja cultivated paddy for some time, evidence of two small check dams can be seen in the shola forests near the Aramane gadde. Apparently the raja had also planned to build a palace at this place which didn’t materialize due to some reason.
We pitched our tents in on corner of the AramaneGadde & made nice tea & put rice for night dinner Even though it was so sunny outside, the campsite was considerably cooler and water in the stream was pleasantly cold there was a beautiful stretch of grassland overlooking a valley right in front of our campsite and rest of the evening I went around investigating all surrounding ranges one by one
I was walking & I saw one huge Russell Viper in the thick grasslands just a step away, due to its characteristic body color and pattern, it was completely camouflaged and was difficult to be located in the grass luckily I saw before I could step on it but was unable to take any photos.
After 15 minutes walk I reached Western side of the hill top. I locate Mugilagiri peak from that place & had a great full glimpse of AramaneGadde, really it was a Paradise for nature’s lover. We spent some time on top & started to hike main spot AramaneGudda peak. This time I walked with extra care & after a long walk we reached AramaneGudda peak 1270m of elevation..
From top I could locate Kadumane Estate, MuruGudda, MurkalGudda, OmbattuGudda & JenkalluGuda. Rest of my teammates also joined me we had solo photo sessions had nice valley view spent till Sunset later we started to descend down. Night after a campfire we all had a good sleep.
Morning we decided to go through new track but we were disappointed because of our guides they did not agree to come with us because of risk & fear factors. A hard thwarted mood we stepped back. Initial our return journey was quite comfortable after 1 hour walk once again by our guide only changed his mood discuss with us about his new plan.
He told he knew the direction & will bring us the way through some inside route. Certainly, going downhill was in my mind a more attractive option than continuing to climb same route and I persuaded to choose that lower trail. What a fortuitous decision that would be, for it led to the big trouble.
The descent was steep on a sandy terrain it was very hot and we were dehydrated. We were afraid to drink water; because we wanted to preserve as much as possible. We could hardly see any trees in the vicinity to take rest. If we sat to take rest; this scorching Sun was de-hydrating us even more. Continuous climbing down was more frantic & in our journey some places were deadly edge of the Valley side walk
Finally with lot of frustration we climbed down and reached the Highway road at late mid-noon. Had bath at Kempuhole & caught a return bus home and had quite good sleep in the bus with fantastic reminiscences......
1 comment:
Once again good information and nice photos.
Post a Comment