Narasimha
Parvata trek, it is considered to be one of the tough treks in Western Ghats. It
is part of the famous Agumbe – Sringeri trekking
trail. Sandeep & Ashwini organised this trekking and I joined this group
through common friend Vinay. We were group of 7 people for this trek; we booked
tickets from KSRTC. It’s almost 9 hours journey from Bangalore to Agumbe. After
overnight Bus journey from Bangalore we reached Agumbe by 7.30AM.
Agumbe
is the place where the famous Malgudi Days series was shot. You will get hotel
and lodge facility in Agumbe, but the most people will choose "Doddamane".
This is where most of the trekkers arrive in the morning. We need to inform the
residents of this house in advance and so that they can make arrangements for
breakfast. They even prepare packed lunch on request. The best part is, they do
not have fixed price for food items. You can give whatever you feel is right.
By the time we reached Doddamane our guide
Venkatesh was waiting for us. After freshen up, we had our typical Malnad style
breakfast (Kadabu, chattni, Avalakki, Uppittu and Kashaya) at Doddamane. After picking our packed lunch & dinner
from local hotel, we started our journey by auto rickshaw to reach base camp
(Venkatesh’s house [Malandur]) which is round 6 Kms from Agumbe, without
wasting much time we unloaded all our luggage’s from auto and tightened our
back packs and we were all set to start our trekking.
 |
| Just before starting our trekking |
Started
our trekking at 9.30AM just 30 mins delay compare to our planned timings. The
initial route is bit easy but without guide, you might lose your way very
easily in this phase of the trek.
Narasimha
Parvata Trek route after trekking 1 KMS, Water stream during monsoon or Jeep
track once upon a time?? Not sure…!!!
As mentioned before, initial route is easy only thing is you need to cross many fallen trees on the way, you may feel tired because of humidity.
We
will get lot of drinking water sources on the way, before we reach Barkana
falls we need to cross couple of big streams as well.
We
reached Barkana falls around 12.30PM, it was quite stunning place. View from
this point was amazing. Spent some time just looking at the beautiful
surrounding.
It was time to fill our hungry tummies and we
were eager to have our lunch. Done with lunch and took some rest. Started
towards Narasimha Parvata from Barkana falls around 1:30 PM. Once again we need
to go through dense forest which is full of trees and also steep ascent starts
from here and the route from here till the grasslands is bit difficult.
After
Barkana falls, the trek turns into a steep forest and the route from here till
the grasslands is bit difficult. The forest gives way to grasslands after a
climb of around 2 hours. The grasslands are a welcome change to the thick
forest due to the possibility of cooler winds. The climb doesn't end though.
The peak is around an hour and a half from the start of the grasslands.
Finally
reached grassland J
 |
Our team - From Left Abhi (Guide), Raju, Kishore, Vinay, Sandeep, Ashwini, Pavan, Sanjay |
We
were almost reached the peak, just before the peak last one mountain to claim. Stopped
for quick photo session, took almost 3 hours to reach top from Barkana falls.
First
view of camping spot at Narasimha Parvatha peak.
Finally
reached peak around 4.30 PM. Guide showed us route to Kigga and left us. Usually
they won’t stay with us on peak. Quickly decided place for camping, Within no
time we set up 3 tents.
We
were eager to see the sunset and we were exploring perfect spot to witness the
sunset. Vinay & Ashwini were ready with their cameras (I was cursing myself
for leaving camera back at home). Missed my camera too much on that particular
moment…!!!
No
words to explain that beautiful moment. The nature and at its best…!!! Witnessed
beautiful sun set, one of the best sunsets of my life…J
Came
back near our tents, continued our photo session.
Finished
our dinner, done some time pass in chatting, it was time for rest. Slept nicely
under open sky, cold night… J
By
6.00AM came out of tents, by that time even Raju and Sandeep were out of their
tents. We decided to get fresh and go
for a walk again looking for perfect spot for sunrise. It was our bad luck,
could not get sunrise because of cloudy day…!!!
Since we had enough time left for the day,
thought of going for a walk and click photos.
After
morning walk and photo session, came back near our tents. Had breakfast and It
was time to pack-up. We packed our tents, luggages and by 09.00AM we were all
set for the descent.
Route
from Narasimha Parvatha peak to Kigga is moderate; Except for the initial
descent, rest was not difficult. It’s just 6 Kms distance from Narasimha
Parvatha peak to Kigga and hardly has it taken 2 hours to descent.
Once
you reach Kigga village need to take right deviation to enter main road. Finally
completed Narasimha Parvatha trekking as planned… J
From
Kigga we hired an auto rickshaw to Siri mane Waterfalls which is around 6 Kms. Got
freshened up in waterfalls, Because of weekend the falls was too crowded, we
could not spend much time in water. Came back to parking place had cup of tea
and headed back towards Kigga.
From
Sirimane falls came back to Kigga and took bus from Kigga to reach Sringeri. Reached
Sringeri around 3.00PM dumped all our luggages in lock room and headed towards Sringeri
temple.
We
had enough time to spend for rest of the day. We were supposed to take bus from
Sringeri at night 9.00PM. Finished our
dinner in Sringeri and we started our journey back to Bangalore.
It
was another memorable trekking, thanks to organisers for organising wonderful
trekking. Special thanks to Vinay for his pics… J
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