Early Monsoon call for trek to Kodachari

It was moderately hectic over the past 3 months, it's been almost 4 months since our family trip to Ujjain and Omkareshwar....I wanted some "me time" and of course early monsoon was calling. I booked a trip with thrillophilia thinking if I get leave I will go or just let it go. This morning I got a call from a Trek company saying Kudremukha is over crowded and not at all possible, rather I can think of Kodachari trek. I had no idea about the place. I agreed thinking that I want oxygen. Finished a surgery by 12, asked permission from senior consultants saying some bull shit story and caught a flight to Bangalore at 3 pm which I booked casually long back thinking I might have to let it go..reached Bangalore around 5, indulged myself in chilling with one of my junior in brigade road and started for yeshwantpur around 10 to catch the trip bus.

I was very tired and slept in the bus after the introduction and reached the homestay at 8 am...it was raining...the smell itself elevated my mood. Got freshened up , the place was very basic .... around 9 we started for the trek, from base camp the first 3 km was dense forests with moderate difficulty and reached in a place where registration and plastic declaration was done .our guide was pretty jovial. It was 11 in the clock.....the next 4 km took 2 hours...it was a roller coaster..the first 500 meters was plain and flat and then started the forest...here not only the forest it comes with a beautiful waterfall which has to be climbed up for the next 500 meters...the path is extream slippery and steep..but it's breathtaking and worth the effort. After getting drenched in the  waterfall and enjoying anything next 1 km was a steep trek through the forest and once the forest ended the steep hike started full of mist and views. We keep taking small sips of water, small breaks and keep moving...thanks to the gym habit of the last 2 months....the clouds rain and sunlight was like musical ☀️. We reached the kodachari point to keep around 2.30,2 more km for the top, took some rest and started the final hike. The path was narrow, it was raining and the view was awesome. Finally we made it to the hilltop shankaracharya temple. The amount of joy I can't share in words.. spent some time and clicks, we started climbing down to the jeep point . The Jeep point was raining heavily and one cup of hot tea saved me... Got into a jeep and off road came down to base camp in the next 40 mins...the off road jeep was something unforgettable . We came back to our homestay at 4.30. my trip could have ended here..but me being me was like " yeh dil mange more" . What I understood is that this place is very near to kollur and at this point I can't say no to Darshan  to Mookambika Devi . So I negotiated with a jeep to drop me in Kollur for 1200 bucks. Said good bye to the gangs and took the path of Ekla Cholo re. The Jeep ride through the forest and evening getting darker in the dense forests was a life time experience. I reached Kollur around 7, kept my bag in the locker and had a beautiful Darshan of the deity....the place was beautiful...foggy mystic and charming....I want to come back again if Devi wants....after Darshan I was like " kuch vitamin sea ho jaye ".  So I looked for a bus to Udupi and surprisingly one KeralaRTC bus to Kottarkara was at 9.15. Boarded the bus , got down at Udupi at 11 pm.  Near the bus stand found a good hotel, bargained 1500 for a room and slept for the night. The joy was multiplied by 400 times when India finally won the world cup . Shared the moment with family over the phone and I just slept off at around 12. Putting alarm at 5.30 am.

I definitely missed the alarm and after 3 snooze woke up at 6.25. I rushed because I knew the temple was going to close by 8 , so I needed to be fast..somehow bathed and walked barefoot for half a km to enter the temple. I was apt on time , got a blissful darshan, not only that , I got to see the morning arati of lord Krishna's too..trust me wow moment. After Darshan walked off towards the outer gate, took some prasadam and took an auto to Malpe. Reached Malpe in 20 mins and chilled there for almost 2 hrs...the beach was magnificent as usual...long quota of vitamin sea is fulfilled...chilled in beach for a while..thought of going to marvanthe but life is sad and has commitments....so came back to Udupi...had chow chow bhath and masala dose in Woodland.. gastronomy healed the longness of staying in paradise...after a full tummy got into a Airavata and off to Bangalore. The road was full of potholes but the beautiful sakhleshpur and ghats soothed my mind... I reached Bangalore by 8.30 and it was raining....met my friends with good food and followed by Kalki in IMAX.. it was 2 am and I had a flight to catch at 5.10..half heartedly board the flight and came back at Hyderabad around 6. That ends the first call of this Monsoon..I wish monsoon would have been lengthier with free weekends and green Western ghats.....