I called up Ajay, who had reached Manipal a day before in his bike along with his cousin Vatsa. We reached Manipal and we head to Kollur after having heavy Idlis at Vatsa’s place. It was 10 am when the bus took off to Kollur, it took 3 hours to reach Kollur.
GETTING THERE :
Our plan was to start either through Karakatti or Marakutaka. Since it was late we opted to trek from Karakatti, the closest from Kollur.
You can trek via Karakatti ( From kollur, you can take bus / jeep / auto (expensive). Buses are at an interval of 2 hours) which is about 12 kms from Kollur.
Also via Marakutaka, which is close to Nittur. From Nittur, you can either walk or travel to Marakutaka Bus stop from where you can trek through Hindlumane Falls and then reach the foot hills of Kodachadri. It is one of the toughest and takes a toll on your stamina.
5 of us started via Karakatti, it was 1330, we had to reach the top before 5 to make it before sunset. As we started, we were feeling hungry already 🙂 Idlis we had in the morning were nowhere found in our stomach :). Hotel Santosh ( famously known as Kaka’s hotel), the only place in the entire area which can serve food but not at nominal price 🙂 we reached the hotel by1445 and had Idlis again 🙂 we also had Puttus, ( Idli like item made from coconut n urid dal with sambar ) and litres of lemon juice.. 🙂
Its 1530 hours. Its another 5 kms from Kaka’s hotel to reach the top and we had 2 hours to make it. Those 5 kms were the toughest and steepest. Though we started off in josh, we were drained out within half a kilometer. It was about 1600 when we had reached just 1.5 kms. Then we started briskly and the next 45 mins to 1 hour was quite fruitful. We had almost reached the top. The final peak which is at an inclination of 60 – 70 degrees, a real toughy !
We reached by about 1710, we reached Seetharama Bhatta’s house. It would be better if you call up Seetharama Bhatta a couple of days earlier otherwise you may not get accommodation. It was close to sunset time, so we hurried up to go to top of another hill which has the best view of sunset. Its another uphill task, we shredded unwanted backpack at Bhatta’s house and took just cameras & torch as it would be dark on return. We could make it only ten minutes before the actual sunset. It was misty and most part of the hill was not visible. Its heard that you can actually see the sun and its reflection on the sea, but it wasn clear this time. we could hardly see anything else but for the glowing Sun. Sun set and we chatted there until it was completely dark. By about 1915, we started descending down the hill to reach Bhatta’s house. It was dark & adventurous !
By about 2030 we had good dinner, we had rice, sambar n curd rice. we had it as if it was our meal after a weeks’ hunger 🙂 By 2100, we hit the bed ! There were about 45 students who had come from NCC and were accommodated in the same hall as we were. They weren in a mood to sleep rather sing songs all night ! 😀