ದರ್ಪಣ: Mullayangiri Trek

It had been some time since we had gone for a trek and the time was perfect to conquer the highest peak of karnataka. We started planning for this trip around three weeks before, and with lot of people showing their eagerness to join us for the trek, we set off to Mullayangiri on November 2nd,2007. It was a huge gang of 18 who went for this trek.

Mullayangiri is highest peak in Karnataka(6317 ft above sea level) and is located in the BabaBudanGiri range of the western ghats, near Chikamagalur.

We left Bangalore around 11 in the night and reached Chikamagalur ,210 kms from Bangalore early morning. From there, we moved on towards Mullayangiri. There is a place called Sarpadari from where we started the trekking to the peak and it is around 15 kms from chikamagalur through a village called Kaimara. There is a Iron Entrance at Sarpadari that helps to identify the start point for the trek. The scenery while climbing the peak is astonishing.One can feel the mist and winds lash at you at great speeds.

Starting point of the trek, Sarpadari

There is a Nandi that we come across while climbing towards peak near the half way mark and another one just near the peak. There is a cave near the peak and it was great fun trying to explore the dark cave inhibited by bats. It took just over an hour for us to reach the Mullayangiri Peak. The peak can also reached via road that leads until the base of the hillock and then one has to climb around 100 steps to reach the peak. ( Much simpler than trekking, but trekking is lot more fun!!)

View from the top of Mullayangiri

View of Bababudangiri Range from the peak. You can see the tower at Bababudangiri at the top of the pic

There is a temple at the peak and we spent some time at the peak roaming around the place. Our next plan was to trek to BabaBudanGiri around 12 kilometers away.

We started our trek towards Bababudangiri at around 1 in the afternoon. There is a gate behind the temple that leads towards BabaBudangiri. It was long trek and after crossing 6-7 hills we reached the Vivekananda point. From there we descended to the road. From the road,we found it difficult to find the path towards the TV tower which is very near to BabaBudangiri and explored our way to climb the tallest hill so that we can catch sight of the tower.

We had taken a different route towards Bababudangiri and had to walk along the deadly edges of the hills. After a tiring journey,I and Keerthy passed alongside the tower and reached Manikyadhara at around 5. The group of 18 was broken to smaller groups and each of them started reaching Manikyadhara by sunset. Manikyadhara has a waterfall that is believed to have medicinal qualities.It is around 5 kms from Bababudangiri .

We then took a jeep to climb down to Bababudangiri.

We camped in a ground in Bababudangiri and tried to lit the camp fire. It was real cold and the winds were blowing at high speeds that made it difficult to lite the camp fire. While a few of us decided to sleep under the tents on the ground others resorted to the van to spend the night.

The next morning , we visited the Datta Peetha and moved towards Kemmanagundi to see the Hebbe Falls. Hebbe Falls is around 10 kms from Kemmanagundi. While moving from BabaBudangiri to Kemmanagundi, we found a few guides who offered to take us to the falls. Hebbe Falls can be reached by jeep till a estate and then we need to walk another 3-4 kms to reach the falls. Hebbe falls gushes down in two stages called Dodda Hebbe and Chikka Hebbe.