38) MM hills, BR hills, Shivanasamudra: (7/7/2011)

Place: MM hills, BR hills, Gaganchukki & Barachukki.

Distance: 600kms in total.

Directions:

Bengaluru > Maddur > Mallavali > Gaganchukki > Kollegala > MM hills > Kollegala > BR hills > Kollegala > Barachukki > Maddur > Bengaluru.

Participants: Zethu > Sp.

Bikes: Avenger.

Previous Visit: Chitradurga & VaniVilas.
Budget: Rs550/h.

Zethu's view of the trip : Saints Ride to the mighty twin hills and waterfalls

(You should go through this, no non-sense writing like me. Keeps it plain and simple).

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Our biggest one day trips till date, 600kms of riding through forests, ghat roads, highways & village roads in a day. Closest encounter with elephants & bisons on bike.

Overall an excellent experience and 18hours on the road was simply heaven.

INTRO:

It was 2 weeks since our visit to the brilliant Chitradurga Fort & Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, Zethu wanted to ride out of Bangalore, Maddur, MM hills, Shivnasamudra were the options.

PLAN:

As far as the planning goes, we decided to cover Gaganchukki & MM hills. After we agreed on this, we crashed.

TIME: 23:30hrs (6/7/2011)

ASSEMBLE:

Next day I woke up at 04:00hrs did a few push ups and had some coffee. Went down as Zethu arrived we decided to take Mysore road ( SH-17)

Ps: Kanakpura Road is a better option, as Maddur to Mallavali road is horrible. But as it was dark we chose SH-17.

TIME: 05:00hrs

RIDE I: (Bengaluru–Chenpatna-Maddur)

This initial stretch was for about 80 kms, SH-17 an excellent 4-lane road offered very less trouble. We rode at a decent pace to reach Chenpatna & decided to take a tea break.

TIME: 06:15hrs

An excellent tea on the highway had 3 cups and continued towards Maddur which was around 25-30kms from there. In about half an hour we reached Maddur for breakfast.

TIME: 07:00hrs

MADDUR McD:

Though both of us prefer South Indian breakfast, we pulled over at this place for a change to have breakfast. We also realized it had been exactly a year since our Epic school Reunion at Manchinbele Dam. After 10-15 mins of a quick breakfast we left.

TIME: 07:30hrs

RIDE II :( Maddur- Gaganchukki)

This stretch was for about 50kms, but had lots of bad stretches. So we rode slowly evading all the potholes and bad patches. Once we reached Mallavali the roads turned good and we continued at a decent pace to reach Gaganchukki – The first falls of Shivanasamudra.

TIME: 08:30hrs

GAGANCHUKKI:

We were very shocked as we were the only ones in the entire place, not even my good friend- White Bull wasn’t seen anywhere. But we were more than happy to have the entire place to ourselves ha-ha!! After spending a good 45 minutes this place just sitting at staring at the wonderful waterfalls, we left.

TIME: 09:15hrs

RIDE III: (Gaganchukki-MM hills)

This was a 120 kms stretch, we rode at a decent pace to reach Kolegala and we continued further towards the hills. As we left Kollegala, It was forest all around us, and the roads were very good. We spoke about our college days, imitating lecturers and we were pretty much laughing all throughout this stretch.

We took a small break; we got the first glimpse of the hills and trust me it was a mighty range. We could also hear the clouds rub each other creating a thunderous sound for a good 15minutes at a stretch.

TIME: 10:30hrs

After the break we continued our journey through the magnificent forests to reach the Arch which was the foot of MM hills.

TIME: 11:00hrs

RIDE IV: (MM hills ghat roads)

As we started ascending, the roads were very good. There are 27 hair-pin curves, and Zethu was negotiating each curve with joy. The scenery all along was just breath taking. But all this didn’t last for long, after we completed 13^th HP curve, the roads turned bad, and we were forced to take several breaks.

As we continued we actually started descending, and we could find a lot of monkeys all along. The road continued to be bad, but as we reached the temple the view we got was simply heaven. It was worth riding through that bad stretch.

TIME: 12:00hrs

MM HILLS:

It’s a very civilized place. Very much like Tirupathi, fortunately there wasn’t much crowd on the day we went. So we prayed and hung around the premises for sometime and left as there was not much to see.

TIME: 12:45hrs

RIDE V: (MM hills Ghat)

We rode back the along the same way. The ride back was a quick one as it was a decent; in about 30-40minutes flat we were back at the arch.

Ps: Hogenekal falls is just 40kms from MM hills, though we thought of visiting the mighty falls we cancelled it and decided to head back home in the same route we had come.

TIME: 13:15hrs

RIDE VI: (MM hills – Kollegala)

We continued our way back to Kollegala, after covering a few kilometers we decided to stop amidst the forest and take a break. We were a little disappointed about MM hills though the last scenic view which we got is simply indescribable. And also it is believed that all our wishes at MM hills come true. Then I looked at Zethu and asked whether he could ride to BR hills as well. Zethu a soul just as crazy as me , well he was pumped up and we started riding back Kollegala when all of a sudden it started raining heavily just for a few minutes , and calmed down to drizzling.

TIME: 14:30hrs

RIDE VII: (Kollegala-BR hills)

As it was Drizzling it made riding conditions ideal, we took the shorter route from Kollegala which runs through village outskirts. It was not long before we got the first glimpse of the mighty BR hills.

TIME: 15:30hrs

We continued further to reach the entrance, spoke to guard and registered our bikes at the forest check post and finally entered BR hills.

Ps: Forest travel timings are between 06:00hrs to 18:00hrs.

TIME: 15:45hrs

RIDE VIII: (BR hills – 10 to12 Wild Elephants, 5 to 6 Bison’s, 1 fat lazy eagle: P)

It was my 4^th or 5^th visit to this wonderful place, I was telling Zethu how I hadn't spot any animals on our previous visit to BR hills. Next moment my voice had stopped, there was this herd of elephants (probably 7-8 elephants) which had blocked the road. We stopped a few minutes and allowed it to take its own time to move. We stood there looking at these big creatures, and we decided to move on as we didn’t want to disturb it, as we were the visitors.

As we continued further we saw another huge elephant with big tuskers, as it was alone it meant more danger so we stopped for a few minutes and rode on.

Ps: Elephants are most dangerous when alone or when they feel their young ones are in danger; else they are very peaceful creatures.

As we rode on, I was choked ha-ha; no words were coming out of my mouth. Though many visitors in cars warned us that there were elephants ahead and advised us to turn back, it only got us more excited and that was the exact reason we were there in the first place.

We spotted 5-6 wild bison grazing on road side; there ferocious charge was something to be aware off. But these were really lazy and even posed for a photograph ha-ha..

We continued further to reach the famous lake of BR hills, we had to stop here and we kept our senses alert as it was a wild day so far. As we continued we spotted another herd of elephants hiding amidst the bushes (I was literally high). Finally after all the excitement we reached the top.

TIME: 16:30hrs

BR HILLS:

Believe me, the weather was something else. It had just stopped drizzling, the cool breezy wind kept gushing at our faces. First things first visited the temple and prayed for everybody i knew and caught hold of a local kid and started chatting away. He told us that he had spotted 30 elephants the previous day along with a cheetah and all along the road side on his way to Kollegala.

Now to be frank the news got us excited & scared at the same time. After a good 30 minutes in the wonderful atmosphere of BR hills we departed.

TIME: 17:00hrs

RIDE IX: (BR hills-Kollegala-Barachukki)

This stretch was for about 60kms, we rode the forest stretch cautiously looking out for animals. I remember telling Zethu if we spot a cheetah it meant I belonged at this palce and I would live here like Mowgli ha-ha.. As we reached the check post we bid a good bye to the forest guards and we rode on for 10 kms and took a break to have some snacks.

TIME: 17:30hrs

It was only morning that we had eaten at Maddur , so we had some snacks and continued on. As wer reached Kollegala outskirts, we stopped at the border of Kollegala in fornt of the sign board as our bodies were starting to show signs of fatigue.

TIME: 18:00hrs

The sun was going down, we looked at the signboard which said “Shivanasamudra”, and we knew Barachukki was the only missing link in this entire trip, completing Barachukki also would mean a complete all round trip. So we rode on to reach Barachukki waterfalls.

Ps: The falls closes at 18:00hrs, but we spoke to the guard and he left us in.

TIME: 18:15hrs

BARACHUKKI: (Attainment of Inner Peace :P)

We parked the Avy, for some well deserved rest. We sat in front of the falls and just kept staring at it. It was such a wonderful feeling to forget all the city life, and worries associated with it. After spending about 30 minutes at this place we left back as darkness descended.

TIME: 18:45hrs

RIDE X: (Barachukki- Mallavalli- Maddur)

We rode at a slower pace as it was dark, we stopped at the outskirts of Mallavali and collected firewood from the trees nearby and tied to the bike (with the shoe lace on my hand- which gave up on Kabbalu death trek) as we plans of camping on the highway and returning to Bangalore the next day.

The Mallavalli – Maddur stretch was the scary and fun too, it was pitch black, and a two lane very bad road. It was filled with pot holes and deep patches. The next 90 minutes was complete hell ride. The cars and Lorries coming from the opposite direction with blinding high beam, and not forget the invisible bullock carts ha-ha… After a grueling 90mins we reached SH-17 our home ground. We were overjoyed that we had survived that stretch. We rode at faster pace to reach Maddur Tiffany’s for a well deserved meal after 14 hours.

TIME: 20:45hrs

MADDUR TIFFANY’S:

We had a very nice meal, sat outside looking at the moon and speaking about the crazy day we just had even though we had 80 more kilometers to home. We decided to go home directly and the camping plan was pulled off.

TIME: 21:30hrs

RIDE: XI: (Maddur-Bengaluru)

This was a 80kms stretch, and even though it was just formality completing this stretch, our bodies were put to their limits not to forget Avy. We took regular breaks at Chenpatna, Ramnagar & Bidadi to reach my home.

TIME: 23:00hrs

EXTRAS:

This might sound funny, but we stayed up till 02:00hrs the next day watching movies. And finally Zethu crashed. For a guy who had just rode 600kms, it was time for some well deserved nap. I stayed up all night, sitting with my pet waiting for the sun to come up.

CONCLUSION:

I would like to conclude this long article with by saying the following “this trip could be called the road trip which attained almost idleness, as there were no boundaries, no goals, no destination, no limits. It was freedom all the way.

And I guess we’re the first clan from Bengaluru to cover these four places in a day on bike as per my knowledge. 600kms in a day was no easy task, And oh yeah starting off with just Gaganchukki & MMhills , and covering all these places was something else:) “

PARTCIPANT VIEW:

ZETHU: Was on god-mode, rode the entire 600kms. Couldn’t have thought of a better person to speak and crack jokes all along.

AVY: Had pushed the bike to its limits, but it withstood everything. Next day first thing we did in the morning is have a look at this baby and made sure everything was alright. It was more than just a bike, a true companion.

SP: Only wish I could have tied an elephant to the bike and got it back home instead of the firewood ha-ha!!

Until Next time Cia \m/

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