Kodachadri : A fabulous weekend !!!

Sunset @ Marvanthe beach

Sunrise @ kodachadri

Date : 5th Jan and 6th Jan 2008

Junta : Rani ,Shivaji and Guru, Dakshina

Route :Bangalore -Shimoga-Kodachadri Junction-Kodachadri-Kollur-Marvanthe-Kundapur-Bangalore


I think its once in a lifetime that u get to catch the sunlight over a hill and sunset over the sea. At least for me it was a great SUN Day :We literally followed the Sun !!! :)

For some logistics :
We set out by the Friday night 10.30 train to Shimoga .Reached there at 6.45 pm; freshened up; and took a service bus to Kollur [Another 3 hours ]. [You can direcly go to Kollur as well,and travel by jeep directly to Kodachadri ]. We got down 12 kms before Kollur ; and this was supposed to be the starting point of our trek. .We had to walk for abt 4 kms along a Jeep track before we reach Santosh Hotel,passing by an eco village to the right and a school ;
Quite tired by then ,we ordered Puttu < a difft form of idli > and meals ,along with some delicious butter milk .There are a lot of Kerala Piligrims/tourists who visit the Mookambika temple and come to Kodachadri and we kept meeting them all along.
After a decent meal and some rest ,we started trekking out way to the kodachadri peak; which is 5 kms from Santosh Hotel.This took about 4 hours.Ppl finish this faster also.But we went at out own pace.The trail is easy [ no leeches during the summer/winter time --so not to worry abt that].And dont carry extra food .Have enough water though.

We reached the peak after recharging ourselves at the LimeJuice/Buttermilk Stall.
The temple top is a 20/30 mins from this point on.The nimbu pani walla has a house atop the hill where u can stay.

There are 2 levels :Level 1 : This is the temple top,where you have a govt owned resthouse,and 2 homes[Bhattara mane] where you can stay.Good enuf if u are keep aside luxury and comforts .

This is where we stayed and i enjoyed the whole rustic experience.Better still take sleeping bags/tents and sleep in the open!!!

Many ppl take a jeep from Kollur itself to reach Level 1.But to enjoy the whole trekking experience ,walk the whole way!!!

Level 2 : A 45 minute trek from there to the peak/paradise.DONT MISS THIS.
We reached level one by 5.00,freshened up at Bhattare mane and rushed to level 2,a very easy climb ,to reach the peak to catch the Sunset.And what an experience it was.Mesmerizing. This is the peak on which Shankaracharya meditated.
There are 2 peaks . You can see the sunset from the western peak[the one on the right where the shankaracharya temple is ] and the sunrise from the eastern one .

After the night at the top we again rushed in the morning to the other peak to catch the Sunrise and oh did Surya deva make us wait on a Sunday !!! :)
It was quite sometime after which he finally gave his darshan. We came back and trekked back to the Kollur road,caught the service bus [ at 12.30 pm ,buses are not very frequent ] to Kollur.Reached there and went to the Kollur Mookambika temple [12 kms],had lunch in the temple and set out to Marvanthe from the bus stand.
Marvanthe is definetly the best beach i've come across ,great if you just want to just sit and see the sunset. Also on the other side of the road there is the temple ,besides the Sowparnika river ,which you should not miss in any case. You can take a boat ride there too ..

We caught the KSTRC bus back from Kundapura which quite close to Marvanthe,had some dinner at the hotel at the bus stand itself and left back to bangalore.


Guru has something to add about this trip (The finer details):
============================================
Here are more details from Guru

I suggest to take a bus from Blore-Shimoga instead of the train since the train reaches late and it is very tiring to trek in hot sun if its a sunny day.And u miss out the morning freshness too .My advice would be to reach the base point of the trek as early as you can.

We took a train to shimoga and reached there at 6.45 am then took an auto to reach bus stop - they charge arnd 5/- per person.After exploring couple of hotels infront of bus stand we found one with facilities to freshen up (cant remember the name); we freshened up and ate some breakfast there.
From shimoga, every 1/2 an hr or 45 mins there is one bus. So, as soon as you reach bus stop you find out the timings from the private bus drivers/conductors about the timing and accordingly plan your freshing up activity. I think the bus that we took was scheduled at 7.15am (but it left arnd 7.30am) You should take tickets to the starting point of Kodachadri trek. Keep the conductor informed that you want to get down at that point and he will stop the bus there.

From my experience, I have found that oranges are always refreshing while trekking.

In bhattara mane, they serve you dinner, tea, coffee, etc and they have a small stall also for items like chakli, shenga, etc. They serve breakfast also. For four of us, the Bhattara mane cost was around Rs 300-350 which included (sleeping space, freshening up, dinner, breakfast, couple of rounds of tea). they will also allow you to cook maggi with your own packets :-)

If you have experience in putting the tent and sleeping in the open or want to experience such a thing then there isnice flat space on level-2 at sunrise point. you can put your tents there.

Dont forget to carry torch, it will be of help in the night as well as during your small climb to witness the sunrise early morning.

We came back and finished our breakfast and trekked back to the Kollur road,caught the service bus [ at 12.30 pm ,buses are not very frequent ] to Kollur[12 kms] (Ask the conductor to drop you near temple). We booked a room in a hotel near to the temple (dont remember the name), the cost was around Rs. 200/- and it was a nice/clean room with attached bathroom. We had bath and went to the Kollur Mookambika temple,had lunch in the temple. Then we packed up and vacated the room and took an auto to the bus stand (its around
10-15 mins walk but since it was very sunny and we were tired we took an auto for Rs. 20/-) and set out to Marvanthe from the bus stand. Again, ask the conductors/drivers at the bus stand and they will give you info about bus/time. I think the buses heading towards Kundapur go to Maravanthe.
It was around 1.5 hr ride i guess and the conductor dropped us at the beach (you can see the beach onto your right when you are in the bus). Almost all the buses stop here and hence its very convenient.
We kept our luggage at a small tea/coconut water stop and visited the temple and then went to beach. Then we took our luggages and waited for arnd 5-10 mins to catch a bus to Kundapur.
The bus reached Kundapur in 30 mins. We got down at the KSRTC bus stop, had dinner in the bus-stand hotel and caught the KSTRC bus back from Kundapura to Bangalore (which we had reserved from Blore itself).