Travel Log #4
A Tranquil Trek at Tadiandamol!
Location: Kodagu
Altitude: 1748m
Surmounted on: 14th March Saturday 2021
Tadiandamol, A Paradise for Novices !
The Eleventh Hour Confirmation...
With adventure in mind and badly wanting to get back to the mesmerizing mountains of nature, the trekking trip of Tadiandamol was planned with my friends for a weekend. It was a trip with Bangalore Mountaineering Club (BMC) and hence, we needed less planning and worries from our part and more “looking forward” enthusiasm which personally I had in copious amount. Thus, with so much excitement I was just waiting for the Friday to be born. But there was an initial hiccup drama playing spoilsport to my tryst with the mountain. With just four people confirmed for the trip and three among them being I and my two other friends, it was skeptic whether the trek would be happening. But thanks to two intrepid ladies who signed up at the last moment, our trip was finalized and off we started on Friday night.
A Spooky Drive Among The Mists...
On a comfy tempo ride we made the onward night journey to Coorg. Even though it was the beginning of the summer season, I was baffled and spooked to observe mist in the forest roads when we reached near Coorg. Looking out through the windshield of our vehicle, I froze for a second finding it completely white outside. It was so spooky that it seemed that the probability of running into ghosts was more than noticing any wildlife at that moment. Anyways, we reached the Backpackers Homestay safely on time at early morning, had a quick and soothing slumber after which we got up, got ready and had a delicious and sumptuous breakfast. An interesting fact: the owners of the Backpackers Homestay are the parents of BMC founder!
Dogs Make You Feel At Home...
An amusing and lovable moment to capture here is, there was a girl dog at the home stay, whom my friend had named “Brownie” later, which greeted us with so much exuberance when we came out for breakfast. Brownie got close with us quickly and she even brought her boyfriend “Blackie” to introduce to us. Well, what can I say? Dogs are your guardian angels!
Journey Up The Mountain...
With lunch packed, we started for the base point of the mountain which was a forty minutes drive from our place of stay. Tadiandamol is considered to be a trek which is of easy to moderate level difficulty. The first few kms until the forest office was a cemented road, the steepness of which will sap your energy out even before you feel you hardly had any trekking experience. Evidently, when we reached the forest entry office, we were tired out and had to refill our water bottle in a “tapped” natural resource.
An Unrushed Ascend!
Being a group of just six in number, we trekked our way to the peak leisurely. And one of my friends being novice at trekking we were unhurried on our way up taking pit stops when we needed and whenever we wanted. There was a calm and composed river stream at the midway of the ascend where we had rejuvenating mountain water and refilled our bottles. Around 12 O'clock precisely, we reached the Tadiandamol peak which was quite cramped in space compared to Kudremukh. We rested for a while at the peak then had our lunch and didn't miss out to conduct the 'Photo Sessions'. To summarize the ascend experience, the journey was tedious but manageable.
Also, there was another special moment with dogs on the way up. This time though a different dog, from the mountain, climbed up on a rock and gave pose for pictures with admiring confidence which was pretty and amusing to everyone around us. We had even proudly named the occasion as "The Simba Pose!",
A Vibrant Night...
The descend down was easy albeit we had to be careful. We reached the base point quickly and were back to homestay by 5 p.m. With plenty of space available in the homestay, we played a customized version of the game Badminton in which we lost to the coordinator of BMC and a couple of games of Rummy; one of which I won, Oh Yeah I Won!
After dinner it was time for Camp fire and we made the best use of it by playing laugh-provoking games like "Questions Only" and "20 Questions". We got lost in time and filled the surrounding with our boisterous laughter. Only when the clock struck midnight we did remind ourselves to disperse for sleep.
Addition in Agenda!
With just the return journey to Bengaluru to make in the daytime of Sunday, we decided to stop at Dubare Elephant Camp to pass time. We had to cross a rock-ridden river stream to get to the camp on the other side. When we did make the cross with utmost caution, an elephant which was on the river taking bath, had finished it's bath and was on it's way back to shelter. But we took entry tickets and went inside the camp. With bitter emotions, I have to recollect and state that we were dismayed, horrified and exasperated to find out that the elephants, even the younger ones, were being abused and treated rudely. Not able to withstand the horrific scene we made our way back to the tempo ride and off to Bangalore with only the pleasant memories of Tadiandamol mountains.
Tadiandamol,
A mountain of cool breeze,
A trek which is easy yet hefty!
Comments