45) Hogenakkal waterfalls- - the forest ride: (3/11/2011)

Place: Hogenekkal waterfalls.

Distance: 150 x 2 = 300kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Hosur – Denkankottai – Anchetty – Pennagaram – Hogenekkal.

Particiapants: Chethan(Zethu) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Pulsar.

Previous visit: Mahadevapura– bird sanctuary.
Budget: Rs200/h.

Before I write this article I’d love to say “ this was one of my best trips, and surely goes along with the other major ones like MMhills BR hills Shivnasamudara, Kabbalu death trek, Chitradurga fort & Vani Vilas Sagara etc.,

I’v written this article based on the road rather than the destination. So one might find it odd, but yeah it was never about the destination. Hope you enjoy it”

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Alright this is one trip that will remain buried in my mind forever. Hogenekkal is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in India. It is called “India’s Niagara” for a good reason. But this trip was “never about the destination, it was about he road to the destination”.

INTRO & PLAN:

Well… as far as the planning goes, initially there was no destination decided. Zethu was the only one on the confirmed list, so we decided to meet at my place in the morning and then decide which way to head. But yeah I had read about this awesome route in Tamil Nadu through forests and greenery, and yeah avoiding the highway is something both of us wanted to do.

TIME: 23:00 hrs (2/11/2011)

ASSEMBLE:

Yeah I was up at 04:00hrs, had a sip of coffee, did a few sit-ups and was all set to go. Finally Zethu arrived at my place & said he couldn’t get his bike, so we decided to head out on my bike and destination being somewhere on that route.

TIME: 06:15 hrs

RIDE I: (Bengaluru – Hosur)

This was a 40-50kms stretch, probably the only stretch on the highway. We first got out of the city when the traffic was lean, then cruised along NH-7 to reach Karnataka – TN border at about 06:45hrs and continued on to reach the outskirts of Hosur.

TIME: 07:15 hrs

 

RIDE II: (Hosur – Denkankotte)

This was about 30kms stretch. Once we reached the outskirts of Hosur we took a deviation for there, and yeah filled up petrol as it was almost empty and cheap in TN as well. We had some tea and were all set to face what was in-stored for us that day.

The ride started of with some super awesome curves. As we drifted along the curves, the forest started getting thicker and we began to feel the isolation from the noisy word. We did take a few stops to enjoy the greenery and surroundings. It was not long before we reached Denkankotte.

TIME: 08:00 hrs (Around)

RIDE III: (Denkankotte – Anchetty)

This was another 35-40kms stretch. As we passed Denkankotte, we asked for directions and we were enroute Anchetty. The roads continued to be excellent, with surroundings getting better as the time kept ticking.

After sometime we finally found the hairpin curves and Zethu who was riding executed these with fun. Oh yeah we also spotted a huge water falls amidst the forest, it was pretty far.

TIME: 08:30 hrs

As we continued along the hairpin curves, the clouds burst open. We had to put all our belongings inside my bag, wrapped up tightly in a towel.

Ps: this route is fantastic no doubt, but there are two bridges that needs to be noted. During rainy season these bridges are flooded, so it is difficult/impossible to cross.

But thankfully in both the bridges the water was just below the bridge I mean hardy 10cms below and it was fast flowing. So we crossed these bridges without any trouble.

TIME: 08:45 hrs

THE PERFECT PIT-STOP:

Once we crossed the bridges, the trees covered up the sky letting only a few rays from the sun to hit the tar. It was foggy and as we came out of the canopy ride, there it was – the perfect stop!!

We could see a wide range of mountains and clouds right in front of it slowly drifting. Check out the snaps, it expresses much better and I’m kinda actually out of words to explain the beauty. So… this was the perfect pit stop with breadth taking scenery. We sat for a good 30mins at this amazing place and finally decided to leave with our spirits flying high.

TIME: 09:30hrs

RIDE IV: (Songs of the Isolated)

As we continued the ride, we found more hair pin curves. Zethu was enjoying every moment. The forest got real thick & we felt completely isolated from the world. So we kept singing all sorts of songs loudly too :P. Bob Marley songs being the favorites ha-ha!!

 

As our singing continued the rain gods appeared again and burst open the clouds big time. Well we were lucky enough to find a view point, so pulled over. But yeah we didn’t mind getting drenched in the rain.

The view was superb, once the rains slowed down we could see the clouds and the mist moving all around us. We were very happy with the proceedings and were ready for what was next ahead to come.

TIME: 10:00 hrs

RIDE V: (Glimpses of the past)

As we left the view point, there were signs of land slides throughout. Mud collapsed on the road, rocks fallen on the neat road. The cold misty ride continued so did our singing ha-ha!! After sometime we spotted the magnificent MM hills. Oh yeah Hogenekkal and MM hills are 40kms away. On spotting these hills we started chatting about out our crazy 600kms one day ride we had a few months back.

Continuing further there were many small streams we had to cross, it was a few seconds ride to cross, but had pebbles and gravels. So controlling the bike became a challenge, but Zethu had no problems and we easily crossed it.

 

As we continued further, the tar roads faded away leaving us on mud road. Yes was an added joy to us, because we had ridden on every terrain possible and this was another.

The off-road journey was for about 5-6kms, once that ended it left us back on tar road. The road condition remained brilliant and yeah the forest got real thick (& yeah both of stopped singing automatically ha-ha!!). It was like a combination Muthathi forest and BR hills forest ride. It was not long before we spotted the flowing waters of Hogenekkal and we rode along side it for about 10-15 kms to reach a small town.

TIME: 11:00hrs

 

ACCIDENT: (Hit the Bull’s Eye)

Okay… we had to take a right turn (U’ish turn) once we reached the town but we missed it and continued further. As we continued on good roads I turned back to spot a stone which read “Hogenekkal 5kms” ha-ha!! So we took a U-turn and headed back.

Alright here’s the funny part we wondering how the trip had turned out to be so smooth & perfect and other things.

After 5mins BAM!! A bull from no where slammed into our bike. Both of us were baldly injured…

Zethu - forehead busted open, bleeding big time; Right arms torn with scratches; Shoes had a hole in it to damage right foot; Jeans torn and knee bleeding.

Sp – Right palm deep abrasion & bleeding; 3 fingers numb; Right knee had problems before the trip now completely dead!!

Ha-ha soo…. Now that was our situation, I was struggling to walk as I saw blood dripping from Zethu’s forehead onto his face. My right palm was in pretty bad shape too, as blood was dripping out of it too. (The marks still remain as I write this article)

I checked my bike and surprisingly it was all good, only a few scratches near the wolf lamps.

Took out all the small pieces of cloth I had and tied to Zethu and wrapped my bike cleaning cloth to my palm (I know it’s unhygienic, but yeah that’s the best I could do). 

Before we left we searched for the bull that had caused all the chaos, wanted to make sure the poor creature was alright. We found it happily grazing with it’s other companions ha-ha!! So now it was my turn to take over the bike, so with Zethu sitting behind we rode to a clinic and as Zethu was getting his treatment I stood outside with my right hand tightly wrapped.

TIME: 12:00 hrs

HOGENEKKAL FALLS:

Once Zethu was out of the clinic with all the bandages on his head, hand, knees and foot, we looked pretty much beaten up from head to toe ha-ha!! But frankly this did the least bit to pull down our spirits. We laughed looking at each others condition… and said to each other “Lets hope we go back home” and had a hearty laugh.

As we continued towards the falls, every person we met started questioning about our condition, so Zethu took the towel from my bag and wrapped it around his head and wore his sweater back to avoid further question-answer sessions ha-ha!!

As we reached the falls premises we found that the boat ride had been banned. We took a walk on the hanging bridge and continued further to view the first stretch of the falls. Well during my last visit to Hogenekkal, I hadn’t seen this stretch. So…. We continued further, Zethu was pretty messed up and I was limping across the rocky terrain with still the blood stained cloth in my hand.

 

Finally we reached the main falls and spent some quality time admiring the force & beauty of the waterfalls. The falls was at its best no doubt.

As we walked back, we had to cross many powerful streams over bridges all along the way. I removed the cloth on my hand and casually dipped my hand in the fast flowing icy-cold water, next thing you know I was running/limping biting my teeth as hard as possible and the cloth even tightly wrapped ha-ha!! Basically we were out of Hogenekkal…

TIME: 13:30 hrs

RIDE VI: (Hogenekkal - Anchetty – Denkankotte – Hosur)

Okay… we thought of taking the highway, but yeah decided to head back in the same route we came as it was breadth-taking and yeah I could ride the curves this time.

So I rode back pretty cautiously negotiating the curves with joy and cracking jokes all along the way. We stopped amidst the forest ghat roads, and removed Lays from my bag and started munching as we hadn’t eaten anything that day. And as we rode further… we had forgotten about the singing.., so as we began to sing again… yeah the rain came down mercilessly this time ha-ha!!

 

I mean this time the rain gods were real pissed off at our singing I guess :P,  we had to pull over this time as our wounds were paining. Finally once the rains slowed down, we rode non-stop with some soft singing, to reach the outskirts of Hosur. We sat on a bench and removed some corn and started munching it... and yeah shared it with all the living creatures we found around us… Ants, Crows etc.

We continued further to reach back Karnataka-TN border at about 17:00hrs, and tackling the traffic we reached back to my place at about 18:00hrs. I picked up my helmet from the garage and off we went again to Zethu’s place.

Dropped Zethu to his place, and I rode back to reach my place :)

TIME: 20:00hrs

CONCLUSION:

Well this was one of my best trips till date. We had to ride on every terrain possible highways, ghats, forest roads, mud roads, streams… and yeah I was in pretty bad shape even before the trip started and pulling off this trip meant something special… oh yeah the budget of the trip was Rs 200/ head (+Rs 150 clinic).. but the experience of a lifetime :)

PARTICIAPNT VIEW:

ZETHU: The perfect rider with whom I can chat, sing along, crack jokes and yeah time is never a constraint when he's alongside. His cool temper helped a lot in pulling this one off in one-piece.

PULSAR: Well it takes more than a mere accident to stop this baby from ruling the highways… and yeah it was never like a bike more like a companion. And yeah brought us back safely :)

SP: Will improve my singing ha-ha :P

Until next time…. Ta-da, Cia \m/

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