Kanoor Kote Conquered

The plan to trek upto Kanoor Kote was made because my manager from Geneva was coming down and I had promised to show him the unexplored, little known parts of India.

After some discussion with my friends, we decided to do the trek with Sharavathi Valley Group.

As always we left on a Friday night and headed out towards Jog Falls. How could one visit the region and not stop at Jog.

While I didn’t expect Jog to be overflowing with water, the sight that I saw was disappointing. There was hardly any water and one could hardly hear the falls. The only thing in abundance here was tourists. After some hot cup of coffee we headed out to Kanoor.

When we reached there a hot breakfast of Idly , sambar and kasaya awaited us. We quickly freshened up and attacked the food.

Once satisfied, we were ready to scale the hills. The plan was to cover some waterfalls on day one and then do Kanoor Kote the next day.

We had to go through a steep descent to get to the falls. Some of the first time trekkers found it really hard and took a lot of time getting down. Once down, it’s a treat to all the five senses: sound of flowing water and birds singing, breathtaking waterfalls (Haaragere), sweet tasting water. Most of us were ready to spend the whole day there. While the swimmers took a dip here, some of us climbed to the next level of the falls and cooled our feet; this was supposed to be the place where we stopped for lunch.

The best thing about going with this group is the fact that you get freshly cooked, hot food. Eating rice and sambar with papad in between a dense forest is an awesome experience.

Post lunch, we walked along the stream towards Vasugatti Waterfalls.

Most of the walk involved hopping and skipping on rocks. The final climb was at an 80 degree angle from Vasugatti Falls and was the toughest. By the time we were done, we were hungry and could eat anything. Luckily for us we were serve hot bajjis and tea. The day ended with Hot bisibele bath, Chapati and Palya and Payasam.

Though the plan was to start early the next day, since we asked for Rice Rotis it took longer to make and we started at about 9 am. Though the trek upto Kanoor Kote was not a difficult one, it was mainly through flat road, paddy fields and small stretch of forest; it was a long one.

The fort suddenly appears out of now where and has creepers and plants growing all over. The complex has been looted by treasure hunters and is in a bad state.

With all this the fort and the temples in it still had a charm. It talks of an era thats bygone. There are some very pretty carvings around.

While some of us walked around the fort, the guide went looking for water to start cooking. Since the water source had dried up it was decided that we would head to a tribal hut close by and cook there. It was heavenly to eat freshly cooked food in the middle of a forest.

Soon after lunch we started off again as the walk back was long. Since we had some first time trekkers we were taking twice the amount of time to cover the distance. As the shadows got longer we started getting worried as the region was known for sloth bears. It was decided that Mike and the guide would walk ahead and bring the TT into the forest. When this happened it saved us walking 5 kms of the trek in the dark. By the time we reached back it was well past our departure time. After quickly freshening up we headed back to Bangalore.

Pictures in the link below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/KanoorKoteTrek?authkey=Gv1sRgCITBl9b68N3cHg

Lesser Know Hoysala Temple – Nuggehalli

When visiting the famous Belur and Halebidu temples, I was told that there were other lesser known Hoysala Temples around Hassan and Bangalore. Then in 2010 a friend of mine visited about 17 of those and after looking at the pictures I was waiting for a chance to visit those places.So when Nuggehalli was suggested for a day trip, I was eager to go.

We decided to take the Magadi road to avoid traffic on the National Highway. This turned out to be a scenic drive and Sachin kept narrating interesting pieces of history as we passed couple of old temples and Magadi Fort. I spent time spotting birds and requesting for stops every time I saw some bird close enough to be photograph.

All the birding stops and 2 stops to eat meant that we took 5 hours to reach a destination that would ideally take max of 3 hours.

We reached Nuggehalli by 1 and headed straight to the Laxmi Narayana Temple. The first look of the temple was not impressive.

It looked just like other temples from more recent times but once you walk in you realise it beautiful. While we waited for the priest to come and open the main temple, we started exploring the sculptures on the outer walls. The carvings were similar to other Hoysala temples, with different rows of elephants, horses, people, mythological creatures and creepers.

Most of the bigger sculptures were of Lord Vishu in different forms, depicting stories associated with that form.

When the priest came we went in to take a look. Ceiling of the temple was beautifully decorated with different designs of lotus. The Idols inside was of Krishna, Narashima and Lakshmi. On the whole the temple was worth the visit.

Next stop was Sadashiva Temple.

Though this is a Hoysala Temple, the outer walls is not decorated with carvings like the others. The pillars are quite plain.

I felt the grandeur of Hoysala was missing. Since we could not find the priest we could not enter the main temple.

On talking to a local at the temple, he mentioned that we could try and visit other Hoysala Temples closed by. As we drove around looking for the temples, we spotted on top of the hill that looked promising.

After being misguided for sometime we finally managed to reach the foothill. From here it was a 20 mins climb to reach the temple. After we reached there we realized though the scenic view was good, there was not much of the old temple left. The village authority was renovating the temple. Disappointed we headed back.

By the time we descended the sun had set and our tummies had started making rumbling noise since we had missed lunch. The focus shifted to getting food. Stopped at Mayur for a quick dinner and headed back to Bangalore. We stopped on the way to look at the stars and Sachin pointed out the constellations. We decided to drive via Nellamangala this time and the new elevated flyover was a joy to drive through and provided a perfect end to the day.

Route Taken

In order to reach Nuggehalli one has to take the Hassan Road from Bangalore and take a right at Hiresave (near the Telephone Exchange).

More Picture

http://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/Nuggehalli?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDKysX9st_k7AE#