On a
beautiful morning I started my journey with based team Sahyadri Trekkers, we
went for Ramanagudda trek which is one of the most magnificent natural
treasures of the Charmadi hidden among a blanket of greenery. 18 people crammed
up in tempo traveler we left Mangalore around early in the morning. I witnessed the
marvel of green Charmadi through the drenched glass of my TT window. The
feeling was as if I was seeing a pearl in the ocean.
My
affection and attraction leaped with every single visit I made in Charmadi. I
don’t know the reason but this temptation may be because of my urge to enjoy
the spectacle of Barekallu Jenkallu in moon light or to spend a night in dark
forest of Devaramane, Kumbhakalu, Dodderibetta, Jenkallu, Hosamangudda, Durgadabtta,Yettinabuja, Divatigebetta and
shiver with excitement in entire night.
Furthermore,
the breathe-taking feel of the gust of wind from top of Yettinabuja, sight of
the highest pinnacle of Amdicallu, making of delicious barbecue between colorful wild flowers of Baremale (Butterfly hill) reaching at the bottom of Minchukallu in
search of few drops of water, hanging the body well above 1150m while rock
climbing at Yerikallu pinnacle, its numerous delightful routes, both easy and
difficult all these justify, well beyond doubt my love and affection for this
lovely heaven on Earth.
There was not a single
moment which I wanted to miss absorbing every single thing in nature the
majestic mountains, many gurgling streams, many small waterfalls ,hidden caves,
green covered peaks were few things in that beautiful Charmadi hill ranges,
many small sleepy villages was very quiet
with moving around in their own world. The sub-tropical climate and heavy rains
during the wet season create an environment where several unique plant and
animal species flourish.
The
Charmadi range is the central part of the Western Ghats, a major mountain range
of Karnataka, well known for its flora, fauna and mountain tops. It runs
parallel to the Arabian Sea and forms a long wall, which gathers to it monsoon
clouds and has much thick forest. The
northern part of this range, from the Bandaje River to the Ombattu Gudda is
called the Charmadi. The Charmadi range is 50 km long, north to south, and is
10 to 20 km in width on east-west axis. The height varies between 900 to 1350
m.
Nevertheless I have always come across
great and divine people during travelling. It’s hard to forget people whom I
met while roaming in Charmadi, my friends with whom I shared my last drop of
water, it was an amazing experience being in deep forest, stretching the limits
of verticality of terrain. Some say it pain of trekking, while I feel it to be
the joy of achieving new heights. All said the reality is that I have fallen in
love with Charmadi and wish this journey continue with more spectacles to
explore tantalizing windows in.
The
starting point is Malayamarutha guest house from where the trail starts. The
initial trail is through a fairly dense forest. Then the forest cover
disappears slowly and beautiful grasslands appear which continues to the
summit.
Spikes
of rock occasionally break through the green carpet smothering the mountains
and remind me of sleeping dinosaurs. The creator must have taken all the time
in the world to create such a beautiful place and then send his children to
admire play and enjoy in his magical land.
The
route is moderate gradient and passes through dense coniferous forests. We had
to climb up a ridge till halfway up. This trail on the ridge was easy terrain
if somewhat steep. The group made good speed as we kept walking up the hill. The
hike is quite steep in the middle and later flattens out.
One
by one everyone reached the summit. We were all tired and hungry. The packed
lunches were out and finished within minutes. It was scalding hot and except a
few trees there was nothing to offer us a cool shadow. The views from the top
are absolutely stunning. No picture can do justice to it and it further
bolsters the view that Ramanagudda is one of the most scenic treks you can do
in the Charmadi. We stayed about an hour at the summit soaking in the views and
the achievement
Finally after many hours of
exploration we finally emerged and started our way back but our minds were
still dwelling in the prehistoric times, totally a unique experience than our
regular treks.
When we reached -Kollur it was just drizzling ,when we started our trek it started to pour yes it was a rainy day and a monsoon trek but none of us had come fully prepared but left our souls to be tended by nature:)who can stop our madness well it was one of a thing and how many get to have such an adventure...it was courage mental strength and physical endureness against nature.... rain on one end was a pleasure to get drenched but the main difficulty was along with skies opening up mother earth also decided to sing and dance down the mountains in form of swollen streams making it really tough testing our strength to the maximum, but of course we did manage to cross most of the streams. 
After 4kms tough walk we took a deviation to the left here the forest became very narrow and dense, and we had constant company of leeches completely covering the ground below their attack was unbearable deadly parasites feasting on us. On our way there were many mini waterfalls this is one joy you get to see during monsoon, some places we had to cross these waterfalls with great adventure in 2 places some of our teammates couldn't move any further because of its size. We had to take hold of creepers and branches of trees at some point i did feel like Tarzan :) finally we reached the base.
