ROADIES........

It was August. Long time since we had been to any bike trip. One fine day Vardhan called and asked me to plan a bike trip. Since the rainy season was not over yet , we bought all the necessary things to protect us from rain while riding.

Asked Ravi to come for the trip but when he heard the destination name "Male Mahadeshwara Betta" he refused to come coz he thought we were going to Theerthayatra!!!! Vinayak Mahabhaleshwar Hegde (in short VMH to save time!!) was ready to join us. All others had very well known answer .. "Idondu sala aagalla.... next time miss aagalla"!!!  Vardhan and I were so desperate for a ride that even if we were only 2 of us, we were ready to go.

Finally when the day came VMH fell ill suddenly!!! He was suffering from "COLD"!!!! Again we were left with no option but to travel only 2 of us. Vardhan came to room from KGF on Friday evening.

There was not much of places to visit in this short trip. Only Shivanasamudra (gaganachukki and bharachukki), MM Hills and Hogenakal Falls on the 2nd day.


We started at 8am from room. We were keen in having unlimited breakfast which one of the hotel in Ramanagara offers but we had very little information about the name of the hotel. Asked many, but in vain. Later decided to cancel the idea and have breakfast at nearby hotel.

Gaganachukki Falls in panorama

Vardhan and Me

Reached Gaganachukki Falls at 11am. Many times we had seen the Falls but this time the falls had more water since it was rainy season. The falls looked spectacular. Spent some time enjoying the beauty of  the falls.

Bharachukki in panorama

 Reached Bharachukki in no time. Bharachukki too looked very good.

In deep thought- courtesy Vardhan

Children playing at the falls

Gaganachukki from another angle

While coming back from Bharachukki, visited Gaganachukki from the other side. From another angle this falls looks very different.

Near Kollegala

Reached kollegala and had lunch at 3.30. MM hills is around 100 km from Kollegala. While going towards MM hills we saw a board which read Gundal Dam - 9kms. We had ample time to reach MM Hills so decided to visit Gundal Dam.

Way to heaven??

While we were approaching the dam, we least imagined how beautiful the dam would be.







But the dam turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was BEAUTIFUL...... We fell short of words to describe the view from the dam. Cascaded hills added beauty to the landscape.

Beautiful view from Gundal Dam

My lovely BIKE!!

 We spent around 1 hour at the dam. In that one hour we saw 3 climates..!! Sunshine, Mist and rain all within the span of 20 mins....!!! One can easily go to see only that dam from bangalore. Its worth a visit!!

Raining @ Dam

Left the Dam unwillingly thinking to visit the dam every time I visit Kollegala area. Reached MM Hills at 7pm. Booked a room. Visited the temple at night and that ended the day.

Cascaded Hills

This place was once Veerappan's Territory for decades. There is a trekking route to Nagamalai which is around 8-10 kms. on one side That place was actually a place of Forest brigand Veerappan. We decided to trek some other time.

Had breakfast early and left for Hogenakal Falls. There are 2 routes to reach Hogenakal Falls. But the shortest route is not feasible as we cannot cross the river. The road takes to other side of the falls. We took the other route. Other route pass through Mettur Dam.

Road to Mettur pass through forest. The roads are in horrible condition but when the Tamilnadu border starts the roads condition improve drastically and weather too changes!! Tamilnadu is nothing but Bisilanadu !!

Empty Mettur Dam

Reached mettur but nobody were allowed to go over the dam. We decided not to visit the park there and left for Hogenakal.

Top view of Mettur

U turn

  Road was just awesome!!





Reached Hogenakal Falls at 12.30 pm. This was the 2nd time we were visiting the falls and it looked very different from our first visit.  The Falls is very beautiful but the smell of Fish  near the falls spoils the mood.

Panorama of Hogenakal Falls

Spent some time staring at the Nayagara Falls of India.  We didnt feel like eating anything in that smelly area.!! But for non-vegetarians its heaven!!  We left the place and had some biscuits on the way!!

Hogenakal Falls

@hogenakal

Vardhan left for KGF from Rayakottai. And I was back to busy bangalore at 5.30 in the evening. Thankfully rain didnt come as much we were expecting, may be because it knew we were armed enough to handle Varuna deva!!

After traveling for more than 560kms with only 2 of us, I think only thing left for us is to travel with no plan!!! Start from a place and plan on the way...!! That would be more thrilling.....!!

NOTE:

1) For the first time I have tried the 360 degree Panorama in this trip. Please download the file from the below link .  I have created animated screensaver of the 360 degree panorama. Double click on the saved screensaver after downloading.  You can also install it as your system screensaver.
Size: 2MB

2) One more link of 360 degree panorama of Hogenakal Falls with user interaction is below. Download the zip/rar file and unzip/unrar the file. Open the Hogenakal Falls file with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.  Hold the mouse button and move the cursor on the image. Also other options like zoom and many other features can be used.

Size: 10MB

Thanks for reading....Good Day!!!

For more pics Click here....

MM Hills

For detailed maps


View MM Hills Trip Map in a larger map