This was the trek which pulled me into the love for trekking and finally i was able to do it in 2014.
All started on 17-sept-2014 when my friend called me a proposed the trek and i agreed. We made waiting list booking in Karwar express to Shakleshpur for 20th-Sept night, though the booking never confirmed as it was PQWL but we got 2 sleeper seats to our comfort.
We reached Shakleshpur at around 2:50 AM on Sunday morning and we never had much idea on how to approach. We thought we will trek along the railway track from Sakleshpur itself which will cross the Donigal station and to Yedakumari, but as we were waiting for the train to pass, many railways workers with different opinions suggested not to go ahead with the trek as its illegal now and if RPF patrol cart catches you than it will lead to a police case with fine from 500 to 1000 INR. This had put us in dilemma on what to do next, but later we discussed with one more guy who helped us to take a decision, he told though its illegal but 2 people doing a trek on Sunday might not catch the attention of RPF and in worst case we may get caught resulting in a fine of max 1000 INR. ok.....we though thought and decided to give it a try with risk. Also he suggested to start the trek from Donigal station and start the trek without catching the attention of Donigal station master. oh...we are in way going to to a illegal activity. really telling we were scared all though our trek. Continue further for the trek at you own risk.
Ok, now we decided to reach donigal station by catching a bus from Sakleshpur bus stand which is near to the station (walkable), we catched the bus but the bus dropped us near Donigal village which is 5 KM before the remote station. It was 4:30 AM now, we decided to walk in the pitch dark night towards Donigal station which was supposed to be on the 1st Mud road on the right of the main Road after a small bridge. On the way we got a lift from a OMNI which dropped us to the Mud road. In between this how we cleared our bowel is a different story to remember. We left our organic traces behind.
Just 300 m uphill on the mud road is the donigal station, we reached here at around 5:30 and marched towards the railway track without making any sound. So finally we are into the long awaited trek, at start the Kilometer mark started with 50/00 (50Km and 0 Mitre from Hassan) , till Yedakumari the marker will become (68/300) so close to 18.3 KM.
The trek will not be giving you much of Cardiac exercise but more of a toe/leg test, this was all due to the stones on the track, all through the trek you will just wish to get only the track planks and not the stones. well its a mix of both. Initial 5 KM is like you are walking along the highway with houses and locals watching you and railway workers giving you different opinion of whether to continue the trek or not. Mostly it gave us a positive energy to move forward.
The trek is filled with multiple scenic beauty of western ghats, beautiful bridges and some 18 odd tunnels. This longest tunnel being 600 m. So please carry a powerful torch for the tunnels as it will be pitch dark inside but its exciting. On the way you will find N numbers of streams and beautiful waterfalls, the biggest stream on the way is mid-way which is just below the highest bridge on the route and just before the longest tunnel of the route. We went down the the bridge, which a steep descend with porous surface and the mud being not so firm, the water is not so clean with lots of leeches, so we avoided taking a bath in the same. Also the stream is very powerful to take any risk.
Post this we had a break for 1 hour at an intermediate station, name i forgot. the station master gave us a nice and spicy vegetable pulao for lunch, we washed our faces relaxed here . Time 12:30 PM. After this the Yedakumari station is 8 KM. Station master told us multiple stories of people getting lost on the way and freaking stories of even some murders, don't know if its true of fake but we continued.
After close to 8 KM further we reached Yedakumari station on our right at about 3, we carried our tent and sleeping bags and had decided to stay for the night at the station but the station master (a Odissa guy preparing for SSC) rejected our application. This was a major setback for us, but he also told that if the RPF guys finds you here than they will definitely book you :-). So we decided to return, fortunately we had a diesel locomotive standing at the station and after a few talk and chocolate exchange the driver agreed to drop us to Subramanya Road station. At last we had a shy of relief for safely completing the trek.
The locomotive journey was a different experience altogether and the 30 KM journey to Subramanya road is very scenic. we reached subramanya road station at around 7 PM, thought there was a train at 11:30 PM to bangalore but we decided to go to Kukke Subramanya, you can easily talk to some cab guys coming for a drop at the station and they will drop you to Kukke-subramanya, we took the ticket of RajHamsa (460 INR) and reached Bangalore back on Monday 21st morning .
A journey to remember all our coming days for sere mix of fear and wonderful route called Green Route.
All started on 17-sept-2014 when my friend called me a proposed the trek and i agreed. We made waiting list booking in Karwar express to Shakleshpur for 20th-Sept night, though the booking never confirmed as it was PQWL but we got 2 sleeper seats to our comfort.
We reached Shakleshpur at around 2:50 AM on Sunday morning and we never had much idea on how to approach. We thought we will trek along the railway track from Sakleshpur itself which will cross the Donigal station and to Yedakumari, but as we were waiting for the train to pass, many railways workers with different opinions suggested not to go ahead with the trek as its illegal now and if RPF patrol cart catches you than it will lead to a police case with fine from 500 to 1000 INR. This had put us in dilemma on what to do next, but later we discussed with one more guy who helped us to take a decision, he told though its illegal but 2 people doing a trek on Sunday might not catch the attention of RPF and in worst case we may get caught resulting in a fine of max 1000 INR. ok.....we though thought and decided to give it a try with risk. Also he suggested to start the trek from Donigal station and start the trek without catching the attention of Donigal station master. oh...we are in way going to to a illegal activity. really telling we were scared all though our trek. Continue further for the trek at you own risk.
Ok, now we decided to reach donigal station by catching a bus from Sakleshpur bus stand which is near to the station (walkable), we catched the bus but the bus dropped us near Donigal village which is 5 KM before the remote station. It was 4:30 AM now, we decided to walk in the pitch dark night towards Donigal station which was supposed to be on the 1st Mud road on the right of the main Road after a small bridge. On the way we got a lift from a OMNI which dropped us to the Mud road. In between this how we cleared our bowel is a different story to remember. We left our organic traces behind.
Just 300 m uphill on the mud road is the donigal station, we reached here at around 5:30 and marched towards the railway track without making any sound. So finally we are into the long awaited trek, at start the Kilometer mark started with 50/00 (50Km and 0 Mitre from Hassan) , till Yedakumari the marker will become (68/300) so close to 18.3 KM.
The trek will not be giving you much of Cardiac exercise but more of a toe/leg test, this was all due to the stones on the track, all through the trek you will just wish to get only the track planks and not the stones. well its a mix of both. Initial 5 KM is like you are walking along the highway with houses and locals watching you and railway workers giving you different opinion of whether to continue the trek or not. Mostly it gave us a positive energy to move forward.
The trek is filled with multiple scenic beauty of western ghats, beautiful bridges and some 18 odd tunnels. This longest tunnel being 600 m. So please carry a powerful torch for the tunnels as it will be pitch dark inside but its exciting. On the way you will find N numbers of streams and beautiful waterfalls, the biggest stream on the way is mid-way which is just below the highest bridge on the route and just before the longest tunnel of the route. We went down the the bridge, which a steep descend with porous surface and the mud being not so firm, the water is not so clean with lots of leeches, so we avoided taking a bath in the same. Also the stream is very powerful to take any risk.
Post this we had a break for 1 hour at an intermediate station, name i forgot. the station master gave us a nice and spicy vegetable pulao for lunch, we washed our faces relaxed here . Time 12:30 PM. After this the Yedakumari station is 8 KM. Station master told us multiple stories of people getting lost on the way and freaking stories of even some murders, don't know if its true of fake but we continued.
After close to 8 KM further we reached Yedakumari station on our right at about 3, we carried our tent and sleeping bags and had decided to stay for the night at the station but the station master (a Odissa guy preparing for SSC) rejected our application. This was a major setback for us, but he also told that if the RPF guys finds you here than they will definitely book you :-). So we decided to return, fortunately we had a diesel locomotive standing at the station and after a few talk and chocolate exchange the driver agreed to drop us to Subramanya Road station. At last we had a shy of relief for safely completing the trek.
The locomotive journey was a different experience altogether and the 30 KM journey to Subramanya road is very scenic. we reached subramanya road station at around 7 PM, thought there was a train at 11:30 PM to bangalore but we decided to go to Kukke Subramanya, you can easily talk to some cab guys coming for a drop at the station and they will drop you to Kukke-subramanya, we took the ticket of RajHamsa (460 INR) and reached Bangalore back on Monday 21st morning .
 |
| Sitting on the highest bridge on the way |
 |
| The destination |
A journey to remember all our coming days for sere mix of fear and wonderful route called Green Route.
 |
| The Diesel locomotive Journey to Subramanya Road |
No comments:
Post a Comment