Our Dream-Route Trek
Trip Start
Unknown
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Mangalore, India
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Months after that, one day Sree told me. "Abhaya, it seems from next week, goods trains are starting on Sakleshpur-Subramanya track. We have to go to rail trek this weekend itself." But there was an important function to attend at home, so I had to go to Kerala. I told Sreekanth that I'm not coming and suggested that Vinu might be interested. Then I forgot about it.
I left office very late on that Friday night. The trekking team was outside the Infy office getting ready to start for the trip. I felt a bit upset, but consoled myself "It's ok Abhaya. This one is not for u. Cheer up". Hmm... I could control my emotions better in those days.
Sree and Vinu shared the trek stories and photos when they came back. After that, once in a while I used to read Sree's travelogue and their trip photos.
2007 October
I was chatting with Unni ettan. We happened to talk about the trips we had. He told me," Only in one thing I'm jealous of you. I was not able to do a camping where we have to carry our own tent." That time I told him about the rail trek which my friends had the prev year. He said he hasn't tried that kind too. I simply asked him, "Are you interested?" There was no reply for that. But the next day, he pinged me again in gtalk and asked "Kutty, when are you going for the rail trek?" I never thought of going there. I just enquired him whether he is interested in that type of trekking. Not sure whether people go there these days. Had Sree been here, he would have definitely come. Will Vinu come again? I'll ask him. The passenger trains have not started yet, but the goods trains are running. Anyways, Unni ettan's question was a trigger. I told him that I'll ask my friends and let him know. I checked with Vinu and he said he'll come. Then I asked Baba and he also was excited. I knew Vijaya also will come. Vinu and me decided a date first, but Vijaya was not free on that day. The next possible date is in Dec. And I had heard that passenger trains are starting very soon in that area.
Anyways, the date was fixed to be Dec 8th and 9th weekend. And I started preparing for that. I have always felt that whenever I plan something or desire for something very badly, it won't happen at all. So I decided not to get over excited about it.
Baba had to travel onsite by dec and finally the team was: Vinu, Vijaya, Unni ettan, Vikramaditya, Arathi and me. We had decided that we won't invite anyone just like that for this trek. People should be really interested and willing to walk. I was very sure about Vikram when I invited him for this. He goes to gym every day and he likes to trek too. It's the first experience for Arathi, so I was a bit concerned about her.
I started reading all the travelogues online to collect as much information as possible. I'm scared of heights. I wanted to ensure if this is something which I can do. Whenever I called Vinu, I asked him, "Vinu, are the bridges scary?" Many travelogues had the first timer's experiences and they seemed to have covered it smoothly. I checked with Reshma and Soumya. I talked to the Infy guy who posted a travelogue about rail trek in our intranet. Finally, I assured myself that I can do it.
Last time when Vinu and Sree went, they tried to cover it in a day and it turned out to be very hectic for them. So, this time, we decided to have it in two days.
Our plan: Reach Sakleshpur by 3 or 4 on Saturday morning taking a cab from Mlore. Take rest for 2 hours. Go to Donigal and start the trek by 7 or 7:30. Then reach Yedakumeri by 6. If we start early, we will have enough time to enjoy the scenic beauty and to take rest also. In the night, we can camp at the station itself. The next day, we have to trek 5 KM through the forest. We have to cross Kempuhole river also on the way. Then reach highway, walk till a road where our driver can come and pick us.
If we execute the plan properly, this is going to be a very thrilling trek. Lots of discussions with Vinu and we listed down the things to carry. We managed to get 5 sleeping bags from office. I bought a new trekking bag and got my cap from home. Arathi and I did a good shopping to get all food items and medicines required for the trip. Vinu bought food and other stuff for himself and Vijaya. Bought a good torch. Vinu insisted on wearing good shoes, so went and bought good trekking shoes. Every day, I used to search internet and read travelogues about rail trek. The thought of camping in the station thrilled me. I would convince everyone to sleep outside where we can have a clear view of the sky and the stars. The trek through the forest was another thing which I was looking forward to. Nobody is sure about the way out of the forest. That would be really exciting - to explore and find out the way. I was getting too much involved in this.
The journey to Sakleshpur
Unni ettan reached Mlore by 8:30 on Friday night. Arathi and me went to the station to receive him.
We started from Mlore by 11 PM. The road to Sakleshpur was really bad. I was a bit worried that we'll be tired after reaching Sakleshpur itself. We reached there by 3. Somehow managed to find a lodge and took two rooms. It was near the old bus stand and we informed Vinu and Vijaya the details about it. They came to the lodge by 4:30. Poor people! They didn't get any direct bus and didn't get seat also.
Dream-route trek starts
Everyone got ready by 7. We distributed the food items (fruits, bread, bun, biscuits) and packed the bags. All the bags were stuffed with food, water, medicines, sleeping bag, extra shoes and clothes. Then we started to Donigal station. We stopped in between to have coffee. We could see the beautiful sun rise on the way to the station. By around 7:30 we reached near the station.
Unni ettan had one BSNL sim and I had taken Reshma's sim card also. Only BSNL will have signal along the rail track. Unni ettan agreed to give his sim card to the driver. And I gave the mobile too. There was a slight confusion there deciding whose mobile and which sim card to give to the driver. Six engineers discussed for half an hour to sort out the issue. J Finally we put Unni ettan's sim in my mobile and gave it to the driver. We instructed him that he should switch it on only on Sunday morning. Poor guy got confused.
Starting from the Donigal station
At 8 o' clock, we started walking from the Donigal station (KM 49 which is the distance from Hassan). I was walking with Unni ettan and Vikram in the beginning. We got so much involved in chatting and didn't realize that the rest of the gang are a little far behind us. Vinu whistled and asked us not to break the group. Well, this is something very difficult to control. The only trip which I haven't seen this split happening is our Devil's Lake hiking (only three of us :-)). But after that we almost remained as a group, thanks to Vinu's effort.
The guys were discussing about the quality of life in India and China when Unni ettan suddenly asked "What's that sound?" It was a train coming. And to all our excitement, we had our first encounter with a train. We realized that we could make out the sound of the train from a distance if we don't get too much involved in talking.
We resumed walking. Everyone nearly screamed when we saw the first bridge on the way. But that was quite easy to cover. Since the trains had started running, we couldn't risk staying on the bridge for a while to take photos or to look down and scare ourselves. We expected to see at least some snakes/leeches but had to be content with the skin of a Snake. Then came the first tunnel. Dark, but could manage with our torches. I had two torches, one rechargeable and the other with two backup batteries. No bats, no snakes, nothing scary. But it was the first time I was walking through a tunnel and it was exciting. The tunnels:
In one of the tunnels, when we came half way, we switched off all the torches and enjoyed the complete darkness and pin drop silence for a while.
The first tunnel had a side door on the right side. We went out and took some photos. The scenery there was quite good.
The longest tunnel we passed was about half a kilo meter. After crossing the tunnel, I noticed some wooden planks lay together. I remembered some photographs from Vinu's and Sree's prev trip. When I looked at the tunnel again, I felt I wanted to climb on the top and sit there. It looked like there's a way through the side. "Vijaya, lets climb" As Unni ettan said it correctly, she is a dare-devil. Not scared of anything and not at all hesitant to do such things. Well, the whole group started climbing and within few minutes we were sitting on top of that tunnel with our legs hanging down. I was a bit scared to look down. I have acrophobia. Arathi looked down and said, "It looks good". And then everyone did the same thing. Not bad. Not that scary. Our photographer Vinu took lots of photos from the bottom and then he came up for his turn. Took lots of photos there. Then all of us came down. Suddenly we heard the sound of a train. Vinu and Unni ettan climbed again to take photos. Really enjoyed the time spent there.
The bridges:Most of them were small. But there are a few others which are quite long and high, with streams running underneath, surrounded by thick forests. I don't have words to describe their beauty. Really amazing!!! I wanted to stand for sometime in the middle of the longest bridge we covered and enjoy the beauty of nature. Green green green everywhere... I loved it!!! Our strategy was that only two people will go together while crossing the bridges. Once when Vinu and me were crossing, the others shouted at us to come fast. They said a train is coming. I couldn't hear any sound. I asked Vinu, "Are they trying to scare us? Can you hear the sound of a train?" Anyways, we started running and after crossing it, we could hear the sound of the siren clearly. And soon the train came. (Later Vinu was telling me. Abhaya, just imagine what would have happened if the iron plates were missing on that bridge? We won't be able to run fast like we did. Last time when we came to trek, many of the bridges didn't have the plates completely. But the trains were not running and we could cover the bridge as carefully and slowly as possible. Probably you would feel that we missed the adventure, but it was a blessing to us. He was right.) When we crossed one of the bridges, we stood on the side platform and took photos. The platform was not constructed properly. Just a few stones lay together. Vinu told me. If you are comfortable, stand on that. I'll take a photo. Hmm... I wasn't really comfortable. But still stepped on that very carefully. Luckily it was strong and I didn't fall down.
On the way we met some local people and asked them about the way out of Yedakumeri. They said it's difficult to trek through the forest. Elephants will be there and also, the stream is now full of water. Still we felt confident that we would be able to cross the river. We thought the rope might be useful there to cross the river.
Finally we were nearing Yedakumeri. Everyone was really tired after the long walk except Unni ettan. His tongue and his legs never stopped through out this trek. J
Vinu showed us the place from where they got lift in a goods train last year. Now it's only half KM more to reach the station. We took rest for some time and again proceeded. Then saw the Yedakumeri board a little far away. All of us felt very happy. Finally we have made it.
Looks like we walked at the correct pace. When we reached, there was enough light for a group snap under the station board and soon it was dark.
Vijaya's shoes were too tight for her. She got really tired by the time we reached there. Well, when I removed the back pack, I felt pain on my right shoulder. My legs were ok, thanks to Vinu 'coz I bought good trek shoes as per his advice.
There were some people at the station. We enquired them how to get out of that place. All of them said it's risky to take the forest route to reach the high way 'coz of elephants and the river crossing. We had three options:
1. Camp at the station and trek till Subramanya (another 30 KM) or back to Sakleshpur (19KM ) the next day.
2. Walk 6 KM back and then take a route through the jungle.
3. Mlore-Blore passenger trains were starting that day. Board the train and go back to Sakleshpur.
Vikram, Unni ettan and me wanted to camp there. Those two guys were ready even to walk till Subramanya. Vijaya and Arathi suggested going back by train. Vijaya's feet might be paining badly, so nobody wanted to compel her. We decided to take the next train. The local people suggested talking to the station master. When we went there, we saw a boy in Bermuda and T-shirt. He said the train is not supposed to stop at that station. Even if it stops, we can't board it without tickets. When we asked for tickets, he said that station doesn't issue tickets at all. Well, we didn't want to argue with him.
We dumped all the back packs down and lied down on the floor, gazing at the sky and the stars. That was a wonderful experience. We were talking about stars, satellites and meteorites.
In between, some guys came and asked us whether we had food. They said if we are not able to take the train that night, goods trains will be running the next day and we can have a lift in that.
The innocent question
One malloo guy came and talked to Unni ettan. He asked whether we walked all the way from Donigal. When Unni ettan said yes, he asked innocently, "None of u guys got any job yet?" J
At 7:30, a ceremonial train passed by without stopping at the station. Then some people told us that Hubli Railway GM's inspection train will come very soon. But the station master told us that we can't board it since it's only for the railway employees. Anyways, when we heard the sound of the train, we all got ready with the bags. The train stopped there. And we all started running. The station master was shouting at us from behind, but we ignored him. Arathi, Vijaya and me boarded first followed by the guys. Luckily the train started only after all of us boarded it. The railway employees who were in that compartment asked us whether we came trekking on the tracks and commented it was not a good idea to do so. As we had no tickets (and were not railway employees), we were told to disembark from train to the other side of platform so that no body will see us (illegal it seems).
We spread some news papers on the floor and sat there. And the journey back to Sakleshpur from where we started... Covering all the tunnels and bridges we covered that same day... I was thinking that probably we would be among the last few groups of people who could do trekking in that area. Since the passenger trains have started now, the tracks will no longer be clean or good for the trekkers.
But still I simply wish I could walk on those dangerous bridges once more...walk through those dark tunnels one last time... We missed a golden chance to sleep on that railway platform counting the stars and admiring the beauty of Western Ghats... We missed the thrill of a trek through the thick jungle...We missed the encounter with snakes/leeches... But as Vinu told, we would hopefully make up for these in our next trips.
Comments
I like this. In future you guys have any plan of trekking please send me a message.