Weekend Drive to Yelagiri Hills

It was a long-time plan to visit Yelagiri for us. This place was ignored by us as there was not much to see in Yelagiri and was closer to Bangalore. Finally we planned to visit the place on June 16th. Also I had been there twice during my school days as my school has a branch there in Yelagiri. As usual the team for the trip included my wife, daughter & me.

As it was around 150 Kms from Bangalore, we planned to leave around 6:30 AM (which is very late for me). As usual we had our breakfast at A2B before Krishnagiri and we noticed a STAR Briyani outlet coming up nearby. After that we headed straight to our final destination and reached by 10 AM at the hotel. The road up-hill was too good & the climate also was pleasant in the morning.

As the check-in time was 12, we thought of exploring the nearby places. The hotel was right in the entrance of Yelagiri town, walking distance to the Yelagiri Lake & next to the Nature Park. The hotel guy asked us to finish off the boating first (as it would be crowded later on) and visit 2 temples by the time room gets ready. There were some trekking routes too that can be explored.

We obeyed the hotel guy’s advice and went for boating in the lake and the area near the lake had many games as well for the kids. It was getting hot as the time passed. Really the crowd increased by the time we finished our boating. My daughter came across one of her classmate near the lake as they had arrived the previous day itself. I accompanied my daughter in the giant wheel too which we enjoyed.

On the road from the Hotel to the lake, they were selling many local fruits which were fresh, hand-made soaps, honey, etc. We had some jack fruit, mango, star fruit, etc. We got some pamphlet nearby the lake about some 7D show nearby which my daughter was keen to go. Also there were many adventure game centers in the place. We then visited the nearby Murugan Temple & the Balaji Temple and returned to the hotel for lunch. We decided to take some rest in the room. 

Around 3PM we headed for the 7D show, where they also had some Farm Visit & Bird Park. We purchased a combo ticket for all 3 & headed to see the farm animals & birds. They had this hen & chicks, cow & calf, rabbits, guinea pigs, an ostrich and many more. The main attraction is that you are allowed to go inside the enclosure, touch & feed them. Next is the bird park, where we go inside the covered enclosure with plants all around and the birds were on their own. They had many birds, mostly varieties doves & parrots. It was a different experience & we enjoyed that.  Some birds were trained to fly & sit on the visitors too. The last was the 7D show which I thought would not be so great. But it was really worth the amount we paid for & the effect was also quite good compared to the ones in Bangalore.



 

We returned to our Hotel, parked the car and thought to go for a walk around the lake. We walked around the lake as there was a path made for that purpose. On our walk, as I told my daughter to pose for a pic, she noticed a snake holding a dead fish. As soon as she called me, it went into the water & I missed to take a pic. We also tasted some local fruits during our walk. We completed the lake perimeter, had some ice cream in one of the shop there & headed to the Nature Park. There were many shops for refreshments near the lake itself and you get some fish too.

We strolled through the Nature Park as it was not so crowded. With a lot of greenery, an artificial waterfall & some fishes in aquarium, we spent around an hour there & finally to our room to end the day. That night we had a light dinner in one of the roadside hotels nearby & headed back to our room. I enquired the hotel desk about our trekking plan to Swami Malai for next day. They said that it is a 3 hour trek & you can come back by 9 for breakfast if we start by 6. The guy was exaggerating that it will be difficult for kids to climb and I coolly reminded him that my daughter has already trekked Parvathamalai.

The next day, my daughter & I woke up early, got ready & left the hotel to reach Mangalam (trek base) by 6 AM, which was a tiny village with a few houses & a temple. We found a car & few bikes parked there already and I thought we are late. We parked the car near the temple & saw a small tea shop. As I was having tea in a nearby shop before the trek, some 3 ladies (in trek attire) passed by us & we thought that we have company.

After tea, we started the trek (around 6:15) going in between the houses that led to the vacant land behind the village. There we saw the mountain that has to be conquered today. We walked on the existing path in the vacant land which led to the foothill of Swami Malai crossing across some farms.

We continued walking and we saw those 3 ladies way ahead of us. After some distance, the farm land was finished & the huge trees surrounded us. Further the path consisted of proper steps, some small rocks with some big trees and we could feel the fresh air. We came across some set of guys stopping & taking pictures; we didn’t know whether they were climbing up or down as we didn’t see them after that.
 

 

Further walking up without stopping, we came across 2 of the 3 ladies. One of them looked so tired & was taking rest. The other lady was showing my daughter & told that “see, this little girl is climbing, why can’t you?” I offered some water to drink as we carried 2 small bottles (as told in the reviews). They were worried about the remaining distance and I gave them an idea as per GPS signal it was another 650m to the top. Giving the information me & my daughter overtook them & started walking.



A huge Jackfruit tree...

After walking for some more time, we entered a place with huge trees and it looked as if we are in deep jungle. We enjoyed the surroundings as it was full of greenery plus the clean atmosphere with fresh air. In no time we came across the 3^rd lady of the group & we almost trekked together till the top around 7:45AM. We found a small cave with nothing inside and a small temple that was closed. There was a view point adjacent to the temple with an iron ladder. We climbed on to the top & the wind there was mind blowing, not to forget the view from there.

View from the top of Swami Malai

 

After some 10-15 mins, the other 2 ladies joined & after taking some snaps, we got down the ladder to see a path going further down the hill. I went down to find out if anything is there, but could not find anything but a view of other side of the hill. Meanwhile the temple was opened by an old man, may be the priest of the temple. I called up my wife & updated our position.

I & my daughter went inside the temple and we found that it was a Shiva temple. And there was a statue where Lord Shiva was lying down like Lord Vishnu. On enquiring the path that goes down, the old man told that it takes you to a small waterfall and there is little water now. As there was no point in visiting that waterfall, we started walking down.

As we were walking down, we saw many people climbing up & were enquiring about the remaining distance for them to climb. While climbing down the path, I stepped on a loose stone. My ankle got twisted and instantly I heard a crackling sound that I never heard earlier in any of my treks. Just for a second I thought I fractured my ankle and sat down on a nearby stone for a minute. Luckily I was able to walk & we started the descend enjoying the nature. My daughter was waiting for the farmlands as she knows it is the end point for us.

On the way some local children were selling jack fruit, which tasted so sweet.  As the farm land reached, one little girl was selling lime juice which also was consumed by us. On walking for some distance after the juice, I remembered that I didn’t pay the little girl. I went back & paid her with an apology. We reached the parking in no time & headed to our hotel. The total distance traveled as per my phone app was 6.8 Kms.

Overall the trek was awesome; not a difficult one. It is better to carry some water as there is nothing in between. And most of all wear shoes or climb bare foot. That was the mistake I did, wearing belted-sandals for this trek. The total time taken was 3 hours (up & down). And it is better to start as early as possible to avoid the sun. Some tourists prefer climbing up by 4:45 AM to enjoy the sunrise. Later I also read that there are six other trekking routes to be tried in Yelagiri: Tourist Information Centre to Koosi Kuttai, Puthur to Perumadu waterfalls, Kottaiyur to Pulicha Kuttai, Nilavur to Amma Kuttai, Nilavur to Jalagamparai waterfalls and YMCA to of about Karadi Parai.

We reached our hotel in 15 mins, had breakfast & checked out after a good shower. The next destination was Jalagamparai Falls which had a small temple near the falls that was located at the other side of the foot hill of Yelagiri, near Tiruppattur. As per Google map, there was a trekking route through the Yelagiri hill or one can drive to the place after getting down from Yelagiri. 

We decided to drive down to the place which was 35 Kms from Yelagiri and reached there by 11:30 AM. The location of the temple was nice, amidst the mountains & lush green trees. The Murugan temple was in the form of a Shiva Linga with a big snake on top of it. Also there is a Ganesh temple & Balaji temple in the surrounding. As there were hardly any visitors, we finished the temple visit in no time, had some local refreshments available and headed back to Bangalore.

 

After a break for some refreshments in between & Lunch in Hosur, we reached home by 4 PM. This was one of our shortest trips after a long time in terms of distance travelled. Ha ha ha …

Distance travelled: 340 Kms

Thubarahalli(Home)-Varthur-Bagalur-Hosur GRT -Krishnagiri-Ponneri-Yelagiri: 160 Kms

Yelagiri-Ponneri-Tiruppattur- Jalagamparai - 35 Kms

Jalagamparai-Tiruppattur -Krishnagiri-Hosur GRT-Bagalur-Sarjapur-Varthur-Home: 145 Kms

Vacation-End Trip to Ooty (Red Hills Nature Resort)

We wanted to end our daughter’s vacation on a high, so we planned a sudden vacation to Ooty. Red Hills Nature Resort was selected as my wife had visited that place 6 years back. The location of the resort was good: on top of a mountain facing the emerald lakes.

We started from our home at 5 AM (1-6-18), and after filling fuel in Old Airport road, through Mysore road reached the Mysore Ring Road by 7:30 AM. Planning to take breakfast at Nanjangud at 8 AM, we drove through the ORR. There were barricades kept at almost every junction in the ring road. At one junction, there was no barricade, and as we were cruising at around 100 kmph, 2 idiots in a bike came from left to right. Even after honking the bike was coming to us. I applied brakes instantly, turned right & stopped on the opposite side of the road. Luckily there were no oncoming vehicles. My wife scolded those idiots in Kannada and all the people were looking at us halting at the wrong side of the road. All this happened within seconds and luckily all were safe. I took a reverse & came to the correct side of the road & started our journey. We reached Nanjangud at 8 AM & had our breakfast.

After Gundlupet & Bandipur, we reached Tamil Nadu border and entered Theppakadu. There we saw some trained elephants going into the forest. Crossing Masinagudi and the 18 hairpin bends we reached Ooty by 10:30. The weather was good with some fog around the mountains. After having some fresh carrot by the road side, we started towards the resort as per the Google map. We had to drive towards west of Ooty and pass through Emarald lake/dam. Google took us in the right path except for some distance which took inside a village.

View from the resort
 

Somehow we managed to reach there by 11:30. The resort was in a perfect location for a nature lover. It was on top of a hill with a great view of the Emerald Lake in the front & Red Hills peak at the rear, surrounded with tea plantations. The area of the Resort was around 75 acres with a lot of tea plantations, some garden for vegetables, a place for country poultry, some goats and a small temple. Also they had some 4-5 dogs around which were quite friendly. They had around 12 cottages spread across. We got the top most cottages over-viewing the lake.


 

 


We had a warm welcome by the hosts & the people working over there. The locals come there every day & work for them. And they grow most of the vegetables used for cooking. After having some tea, we strolled through the resort until lunch time which was around 1:30 PM. Mr Godwin provided us with a great lunch, later we retired to our cottage for some rest as we had to go for a nature walk/trek at around 4 PM till the lake. 

Around 4:30, we started our walk with Mr Easwar, a naturalist studying about plant & animals. We were accompanied by another family of 3 and 1 dog too. We walked down the resort, crossed the so called Shola forest which was dense. After walking for around 30 minutes, we reached the lake & spent some time there. The water level was very low compared to the markings on the surrounding hills. After having a nice time there, we climbed up & came back through the same Shola forest. We saw some birds & langurs on the way back & reached the resort around 6 PM. We also saw a small baby snake on the road, of course it was dead. After having the tea, we relaxed a bit sitting in front of the lake.

The night started off with a barbecue & bonfire as there were many guests by that time. After dinner, we went back to our cottage, hoping to see the sunrise in the morning.

 

The next day morning, I woke up at 5:45 for the sunrise, but didn’t see a great sunrise as expected as it was a little bit cloudy. After taking some snaps of the available sunrise, woke up my family for some tea. After the morning tea, we were eager to trek to the mountain behind or resort after breakfast. They also caught a small snake that sneaked into the kitchen that morning.

Some shots in the morning...




 

We finished breakfast by 9:30 & were ready for the trek by 10. We were totally 4 for the trek: me, my daughter & another father-son (8 yr kid) duo also wanted to trek along with Mr Easwar, not to forget the 2 dogs that were ready for trek. We started around 10:15 AM; the initial path was fine & clear, then started some small rocks in the path, steepness & slippery. 

The other kid was getting tired after some 15 mins of the trek. After some forcing, positive talk, & some helping the kid to climb up, the father said that they will not go up further. After some half an hour of the trek, we rested at a point which was a beautiful view point of the valley & the mountain. Easwar told us that Elephants travel from Kerala to Karnataka, AP and till Orissa via that path of the mountain: on top of the mountain & they climb down from the steepest path. He also told that sight of elephants along with their small ones resemble train bogies when seen from here. Hard to believe; but has to be true.

Elephants travel through this mountain...

After the break, the father-son duo said they will turn back to the resort as the kid was able to climb up. Easwar & I too agreed to the decision after seeing the kid. As they both sat there for a while, we 3 along with 2 dogs started our trek non-stop to the top. My daughter was used to trek any path provided we give her the motivation. After some 1 hour of the trek, we got a clear view of our resort. I called up my wife & after some great difficulty she saw us from there, waved at her and started to reach the top.

Resort from half-way the trek

Strawberry plants


On the way Easwar showed us the Strawberry plants with tiny fruits in that. It seems that these were the actual strawberries & the one we get in market are hybrid ones. We were shocked to hear that. Finally at around 11:30 we reached the top of the mountain & we were welcomed by the cool wind & some awesome views of the lakes. We could even see the Emerald & Avalanche dams from there. We almost had a 270^o view (from resort) with this trek: starting with front side lake view, left side mountain-valley view from trek mid-point and the right side lake-dam view from the top. 

We spent some 15-20 mins there at the top enjoying the clean, fresh, cool air. After taking some nice pics, we left for the descent. On the way Easwar showed us some Leopard scratching/markings on a branch of a tree. He also explained that the depth & pattern of the markings shows the size & strength of the animal. It is used by them for marking their territory & to signal the other animals.

On the way down, we plucked some strawberries and also some raspberries down the mountain for my wife to taste them. My daughter played around with some dandelions too. We reached the resort at around 13:30, right at lunch time. After finishing our lunch, we had some talk with the hosts about the resorts, etc. They said that we were the last guests for the season as they were closing the resort for monsoons. 

While returning back to the cottages, one of the villagers working there told us that a goat has given birth to 2 small ones. My daughter was excited to see the new borns as they were screaming & trying to stand on their feet. We took some pics of the new borns & went to our room to have a shower after a long trek.

The rest of the evening was spent by taking rest & enjoying the nature around. It was cloudy as it was raining in Ooty that evening. My daughter was biking in the garden with bicycles available there. That night we had a good sleep as it was required after that trek.

We left the resort the next morning around 9:30 AM after having a nice breakfast. We reached Ooty & at a junction some policemen diverted us through Gudalur saying that the other route has more traffic and is one way. So we went through Gudalur and that route was also good with some nice views. But the disadvantage was that we did a 9 hour journey which would have been a 6 hour one if we had taken the route through Masinagudi. We had a lunch break near Gundlupet & then reached home at around 6:30 PM.

The Red Hills peak that we climbed (right side in the background)

Overall the trip was fine in terms of nature point of view. The location of the resort was awesome for someone who wants to visit Ooty & enjoy nature.

Distance travelled: 666 Kms

Home-Mysore Road-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet-Theppakadu-Masinagudi-Ooty-Resort: 308 Kms

Resort- Ooty-Gudalur- Theppakadu- Gundlupet- Nanjangud- Mysore-NICE Road-ORR-Home: 358 Kms

Tirupati-Tirumala darshan by walk...

Our main objective was to climb the steps from Tirupati to Tirumala. After searching the Net, we found out that this falls under “Divya darshan”, where we get direct darshan after climbing the steps. Also there were 2 routes to do this. One is the most common Alipiri path that has 3550 steps (9 Kms) & the other one being shorter, Srivari Metlu that has around 2400 steps (~2 Kms). The daily limit of tokens issued is 14000 & 6000 respectively.

We finalized the Alipiri route, as we wanted to take a full trek. The initial plan was to leave Bangalore by 2pm, reach Alipiri at 7 pm, climb to Tirumala by 12 am, finish Darshan by 3am, and come down in bus by 5am, and back home by 10 am to take full day rest. But that was not the script that happened.

We (Velu, Vikas & me) started from Bangalore by 2:15 pm (26-5-2018) in my car with a lot of traffic in Old Madras Road. After some 100 kms, we had a tea break & then started our journey. On the way we received a call from another friend saying that there is a lot of crowd in Tirupati for that last 3-4 days. We were confident that whatever may be the crowd, we are going for Divya darshan & it is direct darshan for us. 

We reached Alipiri around 7:00 pm and after parking our car nearby the parking area, we went to the Alipiri steps to start our trek. For our surprise, the day’s token limit was reached in the morning itself (by 5 am; hard to believe) & further token will be issued the next day only i.e 12:00 am. We have another 4 hours for that. We decided to have our dinner & wait for the next day. We had a nice food nearby stall & left our extra things in the car including footwear as we wanted to climb bare foot.

We came to the Alipiri entrance and all were seated near a big gopuram where some policemen were controlling the crowd. We thought that everything is in control. Velu enquired to one policeman & asked him to call us once they start issuing the coupons.

We found a place in a mantapa near the Alipiri entrance to lie down. I thought of having a nap for some 1-2 hours as I have to drive the next day. As I was about to sleep, the same policeman signaled Velu & we ran forward only to sit in another place.  Another 3-3.5 hours were fun seeing all the people trying to go left, right and ahead of others saying “My friend is there ahead”, “we don’t need a token”, “I went to fetch water”, etc. Till 12, this was happening & the police were controlling them very well. They even tied some ropes to send the crowd batch wise.

At 12, we could not see any policeman there, and the crowd ran to the entrance.  It was almost like a stampede. With the push of other crowd we moved to the entrance gopuram where they were giving the coupons. It took half an hour to get the tokens and it was a relief. We had a good body massage before the trek.

We started the trek by 12:30 am and walked slowly step by step. The best thing about the foot path route was that at regular intervals, there is drinking water, toilets, shops, etc. Also the steps count was marked on the stone at every 50 steps (may be to give you motivation).

Trek Started.

 

I was excited to take pics of the milestone steps that were multiples of 500. Slowly I reached the 2000^th step in 1 hour after stopping for multiple breaks for water, butter milk & for face wash. I was waiting for the other 2 at the Gali Gopuram (Step 2083) the place that has the big Nama, Chakra & the Conch in lights, which you can see from Tirupati also. This is the place where they take your photo & finger prints & give you the darshan timings. Both arrived after 10 mins as Vikas was taking rest in between as he was not use to climb these many steps at one go.

Gali Gopuram

 

We went in to get our timings. Our darshan time was at 7 am. We thought that in another 1-2 hours, we can cover another 1500 steps & can take some rest before darshan. But that didn’t happen either. We had some tea & snacks in one of the many shops there.

Our Token & the shops

We resumed our trek from there. Now the path was different, not much of steps but of gradually steep path. In the meanwhile, once we both halted for a butter milk break, & we said our slowest guy to continue his walk as we will catch him up. The next 1 hour, we didn’t see him. We slowly crossed the deer park, 2 under passes & finally reached the Prasanna Anjaneya statue (7^th mile) at 3 am. 

Deer Park, the path & the Prasanna Anjaneya statue

 

 

We decided to stop there for a while & wait for him doubting that he may be missed behind during our refreshment breaks. We updated him our position through SMS, Whatsapp, but no response as he had no signal. Finally after some time, he called up & said he has crossed all these point & waiting at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy temple (step 2850).  

The Route

After taking some snaps, we started to reach Vikas non-stop. After some walk for 30 mins, we found him resting nicely. We 3 continued our walk & then came our road journey – walking on the footpath - alongside the vehicles plying on the road. We were wondering still we are short of 600 steps. Then came a gopuram where steps started again – The Mokalimitta Gopuram (step 2910).

The steps were steep & some people were climbing it on their knees. We had some hot badam milk there & slowly I took lead, taking pics of the the numbered steps & finally reached the final step – 3550 at around 4:30 am, where many perform their pooja at the final step. You can see a heap of turmeric/Kumkum there at this final step. We saw many people applying Turmeric-Kumkum to each of the 3550 steps – Good exercise for their back.

The Final step (3550)

The next task was to find the Amenities Centre where we can take rest & get ready before darshan. It took another 30 mins to reach the place. We closed our eyes at 5 am & I opened my eyes just before 6 – our planned time to wake up. Velu showed me that his mobile read 5:59 & wanted to sleep more. Finally, we got up at 6:15 & were ready by 7 am. It’s better not to comment on the facilities available there at the amenities centre.

The first task was to find out our entry point for the darshan queue. After a brisk morning walk, finally we entered the queue at 7:30am, with some sort of relief. As usual the queue was slow enough that our legs started to pain because of standing at one place, which we didn’t have because of our trek. We reached the checking point by 9 am, paid for our extra laddu & deposited our mobiles & bags there at the counter. Slowly the queue moved, & finally by 10:30 am we had the darshan & came out with all the blessings.

After the darshan, we got some prasada in the form of sweet pongal, which was like getting some water in the desert, as we were hungry from morning. Then we went to the laddu counter to get our quota of laddus, and headed straight for some breakfast. Later we got our mobiles/bags, took some pictures near the temple & headed for the bus stand around 12 noon.

The Temple after our darshan

 

As it was around lunch time for the bus drivers, we were running from one bus to the other. And we realized the importance of footwear at that point of time. The ground was so hot that we were not able to stand/walk for 10-15 seconds. Finally we managed to get a bus, most importantly got the seat & slept for some 30 mins. He was slow & took almost an hour to reach the foot hill. The fun began while getting down. As the conductor was calling for passengers to get down at Alipiri, coolly we stood up to get down. After some 5 seconds, we realized that the floor of the bus was burning like anything that we can hardly keep our foot down. The aluminum sheet was like a hot tawa, may be the tyre was bruising with some part of the bus floor. Somehow we managed to get down & walked till the car. The first thing we did was to wear our footwear.

Alipiri Gate & view from parking

It was a great view from the parking. After taking a pic, we left at 2 pm and reached Bangalore around 7 pm, with a break for lunch & tea. Vikas slept nicely at the back seat. Velu and the FM radio gave me company while I drove to reach safely.

As it was the IPL finals day, I reached on time to see my favorite team win the cup for the 3^rd time after a 2 year ban. I thought that my Tirupati visit didn’t go in vain – ha ha, just kidding. I couldn’t resist watching till the prize-distribution ceremony along with my daughter. I too believe in what MS Dhoni said “Age is just a number”. This is my first trek after celebrating my 40^th birthday just 2 weeks before & really enjoyed it. 

Still have a lot to travel, trek and drive in my list.

Overall the trip was fine, but for the road work going on Old Madras Road which delayed our travel time. The first 120 Kms from Bangalore is smooth, and then starts the road diversions. The trek route is also safe & well maintained with all amenities for the devotees. No need to carry anything except a change of dress.

This is what my mobile recorded (before & after depositing it):

Total Distance travelled:  490 Kms by car, ~15 Kms by foot in 17 hours.

 Just for the stats from my photo timing...

Step No.	0	500	1000	1500	2000	2500	3000	3500	3550
Time	12:34	12:41	12:58	01:08	01:22	02:29	04:11	04:24	04:27