Monsoon Time: Chikmaglur, Mullayyanagiri and Charmadi

Thursday, July 07, 2005

+ Also: More monsoon journeys on India Travel Blog.

Every year, monsoon rains rock India in the month of June and stay on till September. This is the only time of the year when it rains and provides a much-desired relief from the heat for everyone. These monsoon rains are also the primary source of water for all purposes - drinking water, irrigation, industrial use and anything else. Along with being a lifeline, it is also a romanticized phenomenon. People love it when it rains. The cool breeze and relief from the heat that it delivers, the smell of earth that raises with the early rains, the beauty of the droplets are all a cause of joy. The dry earth turns wet and green in the season and looks pretty. Every year, people anticipate anxiously for the rains, and celebrate when it arrives. In these days I normally spend some time around the rainforests in the Sahyadri hill ranges in South India, where it rains incessantly and the world looks picturesque. Once avoided due to constant rains, monsoon tours are now becoming a popular activity.

Also see more monsoon stories on paintedstork.com
* Hiking Brahmagiri Peak in Coorg
* Trekking on tracks - between Sakaleshpur and Subrahmanya
* Driving in the rains - Jog falls, Karwar and Kali river
* Tubing in Kaveri - some adventure and some stupidity
* Riverside picnic places around Bangalore
* An faq on monsoons
* Monsoon photo gallery

This year when the monsoons started, we decided to drive down to Chikkamgalur, a five-hour drive from Bangalore and spend some time watching the rains and trekking the hills. We packed bare minimal clothing and other requirements for a 2 day trip, and started late on a Friday evening. We reached the town too early and decided to catch some shuteye before dawn, and checked into planter's court on Mudigere road. Planter's court offers decent budget accommodation and I had stayed there earlier. Other options in town include small budget hotels all around, or Taj Garden Retreat on the higher side. It was around 4.30am by the time we crashed into the bed.


It was pleasantly cold and drizzling mildly in the morning. Getting out of the covers and getting ready turned out to be a difficult exercise. By the time we got ready and got moving, it was already around 9 in the morning. But outside, it hardly looked that late. Sun was hidden and every part of the sky was cloudy. There wasn’t much light and it looked as if it is early morning. Now and then it rained briefly and stopped. Although we had a few places in mind to go, we had not really planned anything for the day!



At first, we went to see a small lake just outside the town, in a village called HireKolale. I hope I remember the name correctly. It started raining hard on the way. The lake was surrounded by small hills, fields and farms.



It was misty and looked pretty. We strolled there for a while and worked on the next plan - to head towards Charmadi, deep in the middle of the hills.



Charmadi is a beautiful drive from Chikkamagalur. The roads were wet and curvy. We passed through villages, thick forests, coffee plantations and paddy fields and entered the hilly roads that descend towards west coast. After you pass Kottigehara town, there is little human habitation and only deep jungles and tall hills. Most of the times it rained or drizzled on the way. Small streams and waterfalls had come alive all around the hills. Some places were very foggy and the roads were hardly visible and we had to drive with the lights on. We looked for a good spot on the way, stopped the car and decided to trek a little. We walked next to a deep valley to our left and tall hills to the right, but either of them was hardly visible due to foggy weather. As we walked, we hit upon a very pretty waterfall coming down with full glory after previous day's rains. We stopped here for a while, and spent some time taking pictures.



After moving ahead a little, we found a small path leading to a valley and decide to descend into it. The road was thickly covered by forest and there was very little sunlight falling on the road. Rains had brought the leeches alive and they were coming on us looking for some food! We had to wade through a stream or two that crossed the road. After walking for a while, we came across some nice views of the valley. To our surprise, on walking further, we saw a few houses deep in that forest! We moved ahead into the valley and walked further. After some more time, we hit the bottom of the valley where a stream was running in full force. We sat and rested here, wet our legs and spent some time taking pictures.

Deep in the forest

Stream at the bottom of the valley

It kept raining on and off and poured heavily at times. We stayed on there till evening and headed back to our car. We were back in Chikkamagalur around 8 in the evening, and after a quick dinner crashed into the bed.

The next day was not planned too! But we figured there is no need to wake up early, since the weather remained the same all through the day - raining or cloudy. We did not get to see the sun at anytime during the two days of our trip. After a brief discussion over breakfast and coffee, we decided to head to Mullayyanagiri. Mullayyanagiri is hill located around 25kms from town, situated in the same ranges as other well-known hills - Bababudan giri and Kemmannugundi. We drove through the wet roads facing the usual intermittent rains. It started getting foggy again when we started driving up the hill. After halfway or so, visibility had reduced to almost nothing.

Fog on the way to Mullayyanagiri

It was raining too and the narrow road with deep valley right next to it made it a not-so-easy drive. But being used to such conditions helped. We decided to stop somewhere in the middle and walk the later part of the journey. It was so windy on the hill that we were almost carried upwards by the wind! Walking was hardly an effort. Sometimes wind made spooky and funny noises! After a short walk, we reached the top where they have a temple. Well, no surprises that one! When was the last time you climbed a hill in India and did not see a temple?!

The temple compund on the top of the hill

The foggy weather did not let us into any view of the valley below. After walking around there for a while, we headed back to town. After a brief stop in town to hill our hungry stomachs, we started our drive back. We had planned a visit to Belur temple, a beautiful historical monument on the way, but it was getting late and we could not make it before they closed it for visitors. After driving for a few hours on Mangalore - Bangalore highway, we were back in town around 11pm.