Sharavathi valley Trek - Monsoon Bliss (Day 1)

Hello folks . . am back with yet another monsoon t-log. Enjoy the monsoon majesty of western ghats. Sharavathi valley is surrounded by the river Sharavathi in Sagara,shimoga district .We started our venture from Bheemeshwara falls and ended at Gersoppa,shmoga. Total distance of 65 km was covered in 2 nights and 3 days.

Places covered are: Bheemeshwara falls, Dabbe falls , Kanoor kote

After few rounds of discussion we decided to head towards the Sharavathi valley which is the right place for some adventure.Called up the guide named Mahesh Raj who lives in Sagara,Shimoga. He has an experience of over 20 years around the Sharavathi valley.Despite of heavy rains,he encouraged us to come and assured the safety and facilities.After listening to his words we were in the state that we cannot afford to loose such an adventurous trail in Sharavathi valley.

The main places which are covered are : Bheemeshwara Falls , Dabbe falls , Kanoor Kote(fort) which would roughly take three to four days to cover.Its a total trek of 60 odd km. If you are a real hard trekker then go for it. don't miss such a trail in Sharavathi valley. One has to take diversions to cross full fledged streams which would again add some 4 5 km extra to the trail.

We decided to conquer the trail in 3 days. So its gonna be a hard task for us. I would like to thank all the troop members who made this trail success and proved the people wrong who discouraged us.Finally, according to our plan we left for Talaguppa from Bangalore in train. Our guide joined us in Sagara,Shimoga and reached Talguppa by 7:30am.
 
En-route Talguppa  

 Finished our breakfast at Talaguppa. Boarded the private bus at 8:30 am which would drop us to the starting point of the trek , Bheemeshwara cross .Our guide purchased the food groceries at Kargal near Jog . We arrived at the starting point of the trek by 10:30 am. Mahesh Raj quickly distributed groceries equally among all. Now our back pack weighs around almost more than 10 kg , if I'm not wrong.
Exactly we started our venture by 11:00 am. . First destination was Bheemeshwara falls which is 2 kms from the Bheemeshweara cross.

Bheemeshwara cross

History of the temple :-

Bheemeshwara temple is one of the oldest temple in karnataka which has not received proper attention of tourism department. Bheemeshwara temple is between Sagara and Bhatkal border in the dense forest. Bheemeshwara temple also has waterfalls which is more beautiful during rainy season.

Bheemeshwara temple was constructed by Bheema by bringing Shivlinga at the place, the second brother among Pandavas during their agnaythavasa and was established by Dharmaraya - elder brother of Pandavas on Shivrathri. Arjuna bowed an arrow at the nearby mountain to bring the water for worship which is there even today as Sarala river which has not drained out so far.

Stated at 11:15 am from the Bheemeshwara cross which is 2 km from the temple.Path is very much clear. Its a jeep track.One can easily get to the temple if they have their own suv. There is a small priest home beside the temple.During monsoon one can witness the freshness of the falls very much. We reached bheemeshwara falls by 11:45am . .Path was very slippery towards the end of the falls,so be careful.Enjoyed in the falls til 1:30 pm . . and our next stop is Meyyalli for lunch which is 6 km from the falls.


Crossing the stream
Pure Green vista of western ghatInching towards the fallsFirst glimpse of the fallsMajestic Bheemeshwara Falls
Temple snaps . .

Bheemeshwara Falls Video - Full HD in Monsoon (july 4th 2013)

Journey continued after a good break of nearly an hour. Our next destination was Meyyalli.Its a small village comprising of around 5 6 houses. Meyyalli is 6 km from Bheemeshwara temple.A steep ascent through the dense forest leads to the village Meyyalli. Beware of leeches . . !!!!Journey Continues . . .Leech territory - Dense forest . .Reached our destination . . After a good trekking of around two hours , we reached Meyyalli ( 6 kms from Bheemeshwara).The path was quite steep and the unpredictable rain made the ascent little difficult for us.We were completely exhausted.As soon as we reached the nearby house they offered us cold water and jack fruit with honey.Our guide has over 20 years of experience in this region.So he knows each and every person of the village.That was quite advantageous for us.We unpacked our packed lunch ( IDli - sambar ) and gulped it with great hungry.After taking sufficient break at the local house, we resumed our trek around 3 pm.Our next destination was Halgodu which is 8 km from meyyalli village.Halgodu is also a small village with nearly 10 15 houses.Finally we reached our destination ie,Jinadatta Gowdara mane (house) at around 5:30 pm. So we took 2 and half hour to complete 8 kms of trek. And its curtains down for the first day of trekking.Till now we have successfully completed 16 kms of trekking . It was a great day for all of us. Crossing the streams , falls , wheat plantations , areca nuts plantation etc . . all added beauty to the western ghats.Monsoon in Western ghats is just fabulous . . . Finally it was an amazing experience for the day.relax time . . . after an arduous trek Enjoying monsoon with traditional hat - Jinadatta gowda's House. I am very much impressed with the hospitality at the Jinadatta gowda's house. They welcomed us with open arms.They treated us like their own relatives . In Bangalore,you can not expect situation like this. It's a different story altogether with busy life . And also they provided jack fruit with pure jaggery . In fact they own AALEMANE (place where jaggery is made ) .After entering his home , we did check our legs to protect from greedy leech .All of them removed leeches from the organic solvent provided by the gowda's family.  Wonderful monsoon evening at Jinadatt's houseMeanwhile our dinner was ready by 8 pm . It did taste like heaven . Altogether finished our dinner and went to bed early,coz all were tired.Click here for Day 2 AdventureClick here for full Album