Tour of Hebbe Falls, Kemmangundi & Mullianagiri
Build UP :It had been over 5 weeks that we had not been on any Outing. Me, Narendra and Satya, all had our week offs on Thursday and Friday. Went up to Narendra and enquired if we can go somewhere right after work. With no second thoughts(as always with us), he was game for it. After rejecting Coorg and other places, zeroed in on Hebbe Falls as the destination. Called Satya(His shift ends at 09:00 AM) and he was ready to junk the Work and join us by 04:00 AM. Asked Satya to quickly gather the accessories needed(Tent, Sleeping Bags, Puncture Kit,etc,etc) as Narendra Hurried on to collect his Camera(Nikon P-80) from one of his friends. I went Home and secretly gathered the Basic Tour Accessories and packed them in my Bag as my Mom was wondering where am I going this early in the morning. Out came the lie(one for every trip) that I am going to play in IBM’s Corporate Cricket Tournament(Irony: IBM never encourage sports!) and will be back only on the next day. For the same reason, I could not take my Tank bag, for she will know I’m up for some long ride.
All set, all of us are supposed to meet at the NICE Peripheral Road intersection on Tumkur Road by 04:30 AM. We did, at 05:40 AM!
Now, All of us have pretty serious Bike Problems.
Mohan-Pulsar 150 : No Pickup(Valves gone) coupled with the new Wider Michelin Sirac 120/90, Rear Brake is useless inspite of new Break pads.
Satya-Karizma : Has an additional Neural Gear in 3rd Gear. The 3rd gear frees the engine from the drive chain. Satya says its manageable!
Narendra-ThunderBird : Loose Clutch wire , Disc Brake is only to show that there is one.
Camera : Nikon P80
Travel:
Started off at 05:30 AM in foggy conditions. Finished Breakfast at Tumkur and were looking for a garage to atleast get my rear breaks working. Found a Garage and got the brake repaired and its still not 100% fit. Nevetheless, moved on to Kemmangundi via Birur. We’re getting late as it already 04:00 PM and we’re still at Birur. We have another 40 Km to Kemmangundi. So proceeded further via Lingadahalli and shopped for some Eateries and Drinks and by the time we reached the Hebbe Falls Deviation, its 05:00 PM.
Now this Off Road track from here to Hebbe Falls is one of the difficult ones for MoBikes. Its Steep, full of pebbles, roughs and troughs…Satya has the Cam and modified the still Photo Cam into a video cam and tied it around his head and neck. He is coming last to shoot us zigzagging across the `Pit’ holes. I was wary that My rear tyre would pick some big enough stone and hurl it at the Cam coz Satya was following me very closely and pebbles and stones are getting hurled at him. Then we were surpised to see a truck(Sand truck type) growling its way up in this steep and narrow pathway. That gave me a little bit of confidence that my bike too will be able to climb up later. With great care and patience, went down the hill. On the way, we found an ideal place for camping tonight, but was not sure if we can camp there coz it’s a restricted area. Its getting dark here and we were soon in the Private Farm which contains the enviable Hebbe Falls. I was surprised to know that the Waterfalls is a private property. This particular Farm is right in the middle of Bhadra Sanctuary and signboard of leopards, tigers are to be seen here and there. Its 06:30 PM and dark..So we requested the Farm Supervisor that we be given permission to camp in the Farm tonight. He politely refused and told us the reason why(that the area is infested with Wild Animals).
And as it was getting Dark, we hurried on to get a glimpse of the Water Falls. Narendra and Satya have already seen it. This is the first time for me. We have to trek about 2 Kms and cross 3 Streams to reach the spot. After a while we realized that none of us have taken the flash light or the Torch that we carried just for this purpose. Satya had the Fone-LED Torch for the rescue. Now we need to remove our shoes for we have the first stream to cross upfront. The small stones are poking my sole like needles. The stream has uneven depth and with the light not helping us, had a hard time crossing the stream. After much dilly-dallying, we managed to cross the first stream. The Leaches have started creeping upon our legs. Narendra kept cribbing about it. And after crossing two more streams, we see the Hebbe Water Falls gushing down. I never thought that it would be so high(551 Feet). It never looks high on any of the Pictures. Snapped it up in Dark conditions and it still came out reasonably well. It was little bit scary as well as we were warned about the Wild Animals. Came back to Farm and relieved ourselves of the remaining leaches that were hanging around. Satya also roasted some by sticking them to the Bike’s Silencer pipe.
Now comes the moment of Truth whether my Bike will make the steep uphill climb to Kemmangundi. But I was still confident(remembering that Truck). And my Bike’s Engine turned itself off after moving about 20 metres from the Parking spot on a steep incline. Damn Damn.. And this incline is nothing compared to the ones that lay ahead. Now all kinds of thoughts lingered around my mind as to how to get to the top, What would I tell my manager if I don’t make it to the office on Friday, Should I hire a 4X4 vehicle to get my Bike to the Top? And things like that. After about 2-3 Minutes, I started the engine again and I can feel the pain that the engine’s going through. Its like asking a Man with Tuberculosis to hike a steep Hill carrying 150 Kilos on his Back. The engine , if brought to idle state, will go off. Its not even operating to 40% of its capacity. Finally I speeded off jumping and bumping across those boulders at 25 Kmph(this is very fast on this terrain). After about 1.5 Kms, the engine stopped again. This time on a flat terrain. So gave the engine some breather and waited for Satya and Narendra who arrived after a couple of minutes. Now comes the real challenging inclines, But by now my confidence was back that the Bike will make it to the Top albeit after a few stops here and there. Started the engine and I speeded off again and passed two of those real steep 100 metre inclines. Now on the next steep one, My Bike could not take any more and stopped at a slippery gravel laden place. My Bike kept sliding backwards inspite of the brakes being applied And the Bike stopped moving. When I looked back, Satya is supporting my Bike with his Front wheel pushing my rear wheel. Now his Bike too is starting to slide back. Remember all this is happening in Pitch Dark conditions illuminated with just the Headlamps. I have to start the engine quickly, else both Satya and me will be sliding 50 metres back. Somehow started the Bike and moved around 10 metres with the rear wheel spinning in the gravel and then lost the balance. Stopped the Bike and jumped out of the Saddle with the Bike sleeping on the gravel laden path. Luckily there were not any scratches on the Bike since it was a very slow fall. Now Satya asked me to swap the Bikes and we did. Satya speeded off with my Bike and after a while I took the Satya’s Bike and all of a sudden it felt like I am riding a Power Horse. With no problems scaled the Hill and went atop where Satya was waiting for us. Now where is Narendra? His Bike Headlamp’s illumination is nowhere to be seen. He comes after 10 Minutes to explain that his Thunderbird played the same game as my Pulsar did. It would’nt start and the clutch failed momentarily. He somehow managed to get his Bike moving and reached here.
Woww…What a climax! This is the most adventurous trip I’ve ever done. Chatted about the same while watching the stars in the clear sky amidst biting cold conditions. Then proceeded to find a camping site and pitched the Tent in Kemmangundi.
Woke up next moring in chilly weather and finished the morning’s fundamental duties and headed to a place to get some things in the Camera. After enough pics here, headed to Mullianagiri(6300 Ft- Highest in Karnataka) and then to Chikmagalur for Lunch. Finished the Final bits of currency left in the pocket by having a stomach full meal. Don’t even have 20 bucks in case of a puncture. Got back on the saddle for a pretty long ride(240 Kms) ride back home.
Reached Home at 07:30 PM after fighting the Nelamangala Traffic and hit the sack right away.
And by the way, My bike is fine now with the valves getting replaced. It is soothing to ride my Bike with its true vigour.
Mohan – The Serial Tourist
Photo Links:
Picasa link: http://picasaweb.google.com/balasupriya.tatini/TripToMuniayangiri26112009?feat=directlink
4 Shared link: http://www.4shared.com/dir/5024419/dc49e02a/sharing.html
Blog By Narendra : http://bangalorebikers.blogspot.com/2009/12/trip-to-muniayangiri-26112009.html
Map:
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