Travelog - Narasimha Parvatha Trek

Our last trip was to Jog Falls & Karwar (Karnataka) in Jan 2007, which was also my last trip as bachelor. It's been more than 3 years and we thought of regrouping with an offbeat destination. I learned about few trekking destinations these days and I was very keen to do a trip with overnight stay on the peaks. We thought of choosing a place which is close to Bangalore and can be visited over a weekend. I started gathering more info on Karnataka trekking destinations and shortlisted Narasimha Parvatha, which is close to Agumbe. Though there are few other interesting destinations, Narasimha Parvatha is unique because the entry and exit points of the trek are different. We can also visit Sirimane falls as part of the trip along with famous Sringeri temple. I think no other destination can offer such variations. The difficulty level is above moderate and there was also a forest rest house on the peak where the trekkers can camp (we were not sure whether the rest house was functional, when the trip was planned). Also, we were planning the trip in beginning of summer and I learned that most of the first day trek runs through thick forest and we can escape from the heat.

I have never been on trekking and except Deepak, all others were new to trekking as well. However, Deepak has instantly confirmed his availability followed by Chaitu, Radhani, Rakesh & of late, Nattu. Radhani has also invited Sandeep, his IISc classmate. As usual, Santosh did not confirm and he needed time to "think", so we lost hope and started our preparations for the trip.

We have finalized Apr 2nd, 2010 as start date of the trip from Bangalore. As usual, I had to take the responsibility of driving the preparations but this time, Deepak, Radhani & Chaitu had to play major roles as the trip was planned from Bangalore and I was in Hyderabad.

Quick info on Narasimha Parvatha:

At a distance of 18 Kms from Sringeri, 20 Kms from Agumbe & 65 Kms from Udupi, Narasimha Parvatha is an excellent destination for trekking. It is situated at an altitude of 3780 feet.

Most common trekking route starts from Malandur (6 Kms from Agumbe) and ends at Kigga (10 Kms from Sringeri) with overnight stay on Narasimha Parvatha. Malandur can be reached by private vehicle from Agumbe (walking takes 1.5 hrs). From Malandur, the trek distance to the peak is about 14 Kms via Barkana Falls (6-7 Hrs trek). Camping is allowed on the peak. Kigga is about 8 Kms from Narasimha Parvatha and takes about 3 Hrs (Sirimane Falls can be visited during this trek with 1-2 Hrs extra effort). Water filling can be done at Barkana Falls.

Trekking this route is little difficult through thick forest & there are no sign boards enroute. It is very important to hire a guide to trek Narasimha Parvatha (can be hired at Malandur).

Agumbe is 45 Kms from Udupi, 88 Kms from Shimoga & 92 Kms from Mangalore. Udupi & Shimoga are nearest train stations. Agumbe is connected by daily bus with Bangalore (346 Kms - via Tumkur & Kadur).

Sringeri is 70 Kms from Udupi, 92 Kms from Shimoga & 96 Kms from Mangalore. Udupi & Shimoga are nearest train stations. Sringeri is connected by daily bus with Bangalore (341 Kms - via Hassan & Chikmagalur).

The duration of Narasimha Parvatha trek is 2 days and 1 night with overnight stay on the peak. Sunrise from the peak is awesome and must see!

 

 

 

Preparations


As Deepak is a "veteran" trekker, he took the charge of preparing the checklist and I should say he did a good job! We had some discussion on whether we should carry tents or sleeping bags for camping. Finally, we decided to hire 2 tents and few rucksacks from BMC (http://www.bmcindia.org/gearonrent.htm) and Radhani has done the booking. Bus reservation from Bangalore to Agumbe and Sringeri to Bangalore was also handled by Radhani. I have booked train tickets for Hyderabadis (me, Rakesh & nattu) to/from Bangalore. 

We also needed few basic items like Odomos & Tortoise pack, Mini torch light, First Aid Box, Mini Knife, water proof matches, candles, Cooking Salt, bread, etc. Chaitu went out to buy these items and he did good job too, except for getting a 1 kg Salt packet which was carried all the way to peak but never used :)

We also wanted to book the guide before we reach Agumbe. This task was assigned to Deepak as he is a master in Kannada! I came to know about Krishnappa (in Malandur) who was most popular guide around Agumbe. However, we could not reach his number and we had to look for alternatives. We came to know about Raghavendra Pai & Kasturi Akka in Agumbe who could arrange the guide. We could not reach Mr. Pai's phone number either. Deepak spoke to Kasturi Akka and she promised that she would arrange the guide and would also pack the lunch for us. 

We picked up tents & bags from BMC and started packing.

Starting from Bangalore

The bus was scheduled to start from KBSDeepak's bag was heavy :) Nattu has started feeling that his bag was little heavy.

All of us reached KBS at 9 PM.

Deepak, Sandeep, Chaitu, Rakesh and me

Day 1

We reached Agumbe at around 7 AM. Agumbe is a cute village on Shimoga - Udupi route. The famous Malgudi Days serial was filmed here. The route between Tirthahalli & Agumbe was quite scenic.

The first thing we wanted to do in Agumbe (before our breakfast) was to ensure the guide is available. We asked for Kasturi Akka house and met her. Her house was packed with tourists; most of them looked like IT people from Bangalore. To our surprise, she told us that camping is not allowed on Narasimha Parvatha and suggested us to visit other places around Agumbe instead. I could not believe this as I found numerous references related to the camping on peak. We decided to proceed with our trek at any cost and thought of going to Malandur and searching for a guide there (if possible, Krishnappa). We packed our lunch at Kasturi Akka house and came back to Bus Stand.

Reached Agumbe 

Kasthuri Akka House

We also knew that we needed permission from police station to visit Narasimha Parvatha. Police station was just behind the bus stand and I, Deepak & Sandeep went to Police Station to get the necessary permission. They just took our phone numbers & address and didn't create any trouble. We asked about camping and they suggested us not to camp on the peak as there was some Naxalite activity in the forest. However, we decided to proceed with our plan and camp on the peak, as there were no "recorded incidents" of Naxalites abducting any tourists here :) Someone also asked about the movement of tigers in the forest, I just replied that there were no "recorded incidents" for this either! Deepak immediately countered saying "puli kanapadithe champesi, Aircel vaadiki phone chesi, oka tiger thaggindi ani chepdaam"  (if we are encountered with tiger, let's kill it and inform Aircel that now the tigers count is reduced by one) :))

We wanted to fresh-up quickly and found a lodge opposite to bus stand. By 9:15 AM, all of us were ready and came back to the bus stand. We negotiated with an auto driver to take us to Malandur and help us find Krishnappa. We had quick breakfast in the hotel near Bus stand, bought water bottles and other pending items, checked all our items once again and started to Malandur. It is 6 Kms from Agumbe and the route is quite scenic through thick forest. We initially planned to walk this route, but had to skip as were already late. We reached Malandur at around 10 AM and auto driver took us directly to the house of Krishnappa. We were very lucky as Krishnappa was available and he agreed to take us to Narasimha Parvatha, but we heard that he would not stay with us on the peak and would go to Kigga after dropping us. We insisted him to stay with us overnight, but could not convince him. We were in a dilemma whether we should camp on the peak or go to Kigga along with Krishnappa. However, he told us that it's very easy to reach Kigga from the peak as it is straight route and would not be a problem. We decided to camp on the peak as we didn't want to miss the night stay & sunrise from the peak. I think we paid Rs. 1000 to Krishnappa, just to drop us on the peak.

We immediately started the trek at 10:15 AM. 

At breakfast

At Krishnappa's house, just before starting the trek

Trek

The first hour of the trek was easy and most of the track was flat. The forest started getting thick as we go and there was no track/path at all after the first one hour. We quickly realized that there is no way to do this trek without a guide. I got exhausted quickly, taking little breaks frequently. Our plan was to reach Barkana Falls by lunch time, which is about 3 hrs trek from Malandur. Krishnappa was very quick and we found it difficult to catch-up his pace. But he ensured he was always within our sight. We found a small stream enroute and filled our empty bottles. The forest was getting thicker and more inclined. I got my foot twisted a couple of times due to my not-so-trekking-friendly shoes and it slowed down our speed little bit. We felt that the track would become more slippery in monsoons and it would be very very difficult to trek in the rainy season. We tried to reduce the breaks and continued the trek to reach Barkana falls for lunch. It was around 1:30 PM by the time we reached Barkana Falls.

 Exhausted!

At water source.. 

The next person did not have to jump after Deepak crossed it :) 

Nattu at Barkana Falls

Deepak at Barkana

The view of surrounding valleys from Barkana was wonderful (it's actually the top of Barkana Falls - there is another route to reach the view point of Barkana Falls and join this track but Krishnappa told us it's not possible to cover that route as it was already past 10 AM when we started). The stream becomes narrow and drops down through a narrow gorge. Explored the surroundings, took few snaps, played in the water for a while before we settle down for lunch, to reduce the weight of the bags thinking that further trail would be easy with lighter bags (didn't realize the weight is being transferred to our stomach :)). We decided to leave the remaining food and continue the trek. We also filled the water bottles as Barkana is the last source of water till we reach the peak. Camping site is about 3-4 hours trek from here. I misplaced my mobile phone somewhere, searched the whole bag but could not trace it, and thought I might have left it in the lodge in Agumbe.

This part of the trek was most difficult one. The path was very steep amidst dense forest. I got exhausted quickly and the pace was very slow. I got my foot twisted again and had to take frequent breaks. Krishnappa was in hurry as he wanted to reach the peak early, so that he can reach Kigga when the light is still on. Sandeep & Radhani were always ahead of us trying to catch Krishnappa. Sandeep was also carrying one tent bag most of the time, but still maintained the pace! I was accompanied by Chaitu during most of this session just to ensure I was not left alone. The second tent was shared by Deepak and Chaitu most of the time. Rakesh was very much exhausted and also felt stomach pain. He felt it difficult to continue and was thinking of going back to Agumbe, which was anyway impossible task. Deepak was continuously trying to motivate Rakesh to continue the trek and also tried to take few items from his bag to reduce the weight.  Nattu was still feeling that his bag was heavy.

Finally we came out of the forest and entered the grasslands at around 3:30 PM. Krishnappa and others were well ahead of us, but we took little break and continued the trek. We thought it’s going to be easy from here. But we were out of the forest and lost the protection of green roof to get exposed to the heat of summer. But it was little easy to walk compared to the forest. The grass was dried out due to the battering heat. The trek continued through the plains for almost an hour till the final session of forest trek before the camping site.  Just before we reach the final forest trail, the plains were deadly tough with an inclination of about 60 degrees. We also noticed that someone was setting up fire behind us and I was worried as it was quickly spreading out and coming close to our track. I started getting scary thoughts and was also thinking of going to Kigga without camping on the peak. Deepak told me about counter fire, to escape in case the fire comes closer. Looked like the fire was set by forest dept people to avoid fire accidents.

Out of the forest, at last!

Sandeep, capturing the beauty

Group pic, minus Sandeep

Towards the last stretch before camping site

Further trek ran through a small stretch of forest which was also tough. Most of us were very much tired and it was very steep walk. It lasted for 15-20 minutes and we ended up in a small stretch of plains again, past which we could see the camping site. Krishnappa was literally running as it was almost 6:30 PM and he had to reach Kigga before it is dark. We reached the forest rest house. It was a small room, not much dirty and we thought it is good enough to spend a night. There was also a small pond with moderately clean water, just in case of emergency. Suddenly, Radhani & Nattu were not fine with camping there and decided to go to Kigga along with Krishnappa. We opened their bags and took all items needed for camping. Nattu opened his bag and we found 1 kg Salt packet and another “important” item which was also heavy. We understood why he had been saying his bag was heavy :) we took directions to Kigga from Krishnappa and they immediately disappeared.

It was getting dark. We needed to collect dry wood for camp fire. We examined the surroundings and each of us collected some stock which was good enough for that night. We also opened the tent and fixed it after few experiments.  After relaxing for a while, started setting up the campfire. It was very difficult to start the fire as the matches we brought were no match to the wind! We also tried with candles, papers etc but all the efforts were in vain. Finally, Sandeep opened his Deo bottle and sprayed it on the sticks and we could immediately light them up. Without Deodorant and Sandeep's idea, that night could have been horrible!! While two of us were guarding the site with help of torch lights (not sure against what!!), remaining people have finished the dinner (bread with jam & pickle). I have been thinking that I lost my mobile phone, but it started ringing somewhere within my rucksack, which was stuck inside a small holder. I was surprised to see the signal in this no-man-land, good !dea!!

Finally, reached the camp site 

The tent is ready. Well done guys! 

Relax-singh's

By 10PM, all of us were inside the rest house and got ready to sleep. Rakesh has cleaned it little bit and lit up the mosquito coils & candles at all corners. We heard some scary sounds throughout the night and felt like someone was walking near windows outside the room. We could not sleep for a couple of hours and had been focusing the torch to all corners of the room and towards the windows. But finally realized it was due to the wind and prepared to sleep.

Day 2

I woke up at 5 AM and noticed it was still dark. Continued the sleep and woke up at 5:30 AM again as I didn’t want to miss the sunrise. I came out of the rest house and noticed it was still dark, but I wanted to stick around and find a good place to watch the sunrise. Continued walking towards eastern end of the peak and felt it was a good viewpoint. Started capturing different stages of the sunrise and views were just fantastic. Chaitu joined me after a while and we continued watching the beauty of rolling smoky valleys slowly getting visible as the sun raises. Deepak & Rakesh missed the sunrise as they preferred to continue sleeping in the rest house.  We saw someone on the peak towards north of our camp site and thought someone else was also camping that night on the peak. That person was calling us and started running towards us. He came close and he was none other than Sandeep! As he didn’t find us in rest house, he went to the peak searching for us and remained there watching the sunrise. We came back and started getting ready. Had little breakfast, packed everything, filled few bottles with water from the pond near the rest house and started trekking down to Kigga at 9 AM. We left the remaining food along with salt packet, tissues, etc in the rest house. We used water sparely throughout the trip but still 3-4 ltrs per head was not sufficient (though we filled the bottles at Barkana). We could have carried less food and more water (we had to leave the excess food at Barkana and forest rest house)!

The track was very steep and difficult at times with slipping rocks. It was sometimes plain and through thick forest followed by slopes again. I took frequent breaks as I got my foot twisted few times. Sandeep & Rakesh were leading the trail following by Deepak. I fell behind and Chaitu was there to accompany me. Though the trek was little difficult, it was just 2 and half hours trek to Kigga and we reached the famous Rishya Shringi temple in Kigga by 11:30 AM. By the time we reached the temple, Radhani & Nattu hired a cab to visit Sirimane Falls which is about 6 Kms from Kigga and just reached the temple at the same time!

Sun is yet to rise 

Almost there.. 

Chaitu & the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen 

Started trekking down to Kigga 

It was not an easy track either

Can see Rishya Sringi temple in Kigga

Sirimane Falls

We jumped into the cab and headed towards Sirimane falls. The falls are few minutes away from the parking place and there are well laid steps to walk down to the falls. The water was good enough but the place was crowded as it was a weekend. We found a place at one corner of the falls and settled down for a while. Few enthusiasts climbed to upper layer of the falls and enjoyed there for a while. We spent an hour, returned to the cab and headed towards Kigga to visit Rishya Shringi temple. The temple was build during Vijayanagara period. Deepak & Rakesh went inside and I just walked around and took few snaps. After a while, we headed towards Sringeri. We asked the cab driver to take us to the best restaurant in Sringeri. After limiting ourselves with bread for one full day (!!), we were desperate to fill our bellies with some nice food. The lunch lasted for more than an hour. We slowly walked down and caught an auto to reach the lodge which was opposite to Sringeri Bus Station. Radhani & Nattu have already taken a room and we took one more room.

All of us were very much tired and my legs were almost out of order. I & Deepak agreed on body massage to each other, but had argument on who should start first. If I start first, I know he would just say “Opika ledura” after his part is done. I thought for a while (like Santosh) and got an idea. We made an agreement so that massage is done in instalments where I do it for his left leg first and he should do the same for me followed by other parts.  That way, I can get n-1 installments paid back; I know I can forget about the last instalment which was true anyway :)

We took a little nap and got up at around 5:30 PM. Our return bus was at 9 PM. We had 3 hours time and decided to visit Sringeri Math/Temple.  

Sirimane Falls 

Sirimane Falls 

Rishya Sringi temple

Sringeri Temple

Sringeri is famous for Sri Sharada Math established by famous saint Adisankara and Vidyashankara temple built in 14th century located in the same compound. The temple complex was very peaceful. The architecture of Vidyashankara temple is just awesome and we spent an hour taking pics around the temple. The River Tungabhadra was flowing adjacent to the temple and there were very big fishes hitting the bank to swallow the food thrown by visitors. The Sharada math buildings are situated on other side of the river which is connected by a bridge. We walked around the math, visited the auditorium & other places and came back to the main temple. I heard good things about the free food offered in the temple dining hall and we decided to taste the food. The dining room was very clean and serving was systematic. The rice quality was good; they served sambar & curd and food taste & quality was okay. 

We purchased few books from temple book shop before going to a restaurant to finish our partially-done dinner. Came back to the lodge and packed all our bags. It was close to 8:45 PM and time to leave. The bus was ready by the time we reached the platform and we boarded immediately. All of us fell asleep immediately after the hectic two day schedule.

Vidyashankara temple 

Saradamba Temple 

Vidyashankara temple - front view

Auditorium

Back to Bangalore

The bus reached KBS at 6:30 AM. We had a great trip; it was challenging but we enjoyed every moment. I was extremely satisfied with the destination we chose, preparations made for the trip and execution as well. I have also developed interest towards trekking and hopefully, out next trekking destination would be more challenging!

Lessons Learned

1. Carry less food & more water (at least 5 ltrs per head)
2. Wear good trekking friendly shoes (with larger sole)
3. Book the guide in advance, if possible
4. Start early and try to reach the peak by 5 PM
5. Take shorter breaks, so that you will have time for more breaks
6. Always be with the group and don't loose the sight of other participants
7. Carry deodorant bottle :)
8. Don't carry salt packet :))




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