Jog Falls, also known as Gersoppa Falls or Jogada Gundi.  It is amongst the highest waterfalls in India and the 13^th highest waterfalls in the world, located in the Sahyadri Mountain ranges of Shimoga district.  The falls are created by the river Sharavathi taking a plunge of approx. 850ft.  This was just a brief introduction to the very famous Jog Falls.

My brother Akshay had planned this trip along with his office colleagues.  And, as usual; I decided to join them last minute.

Akshay and his friends left on Friday night of 7^th Sept 2018 and I initially planned to ride solo on the next morning.  Somewhere on Friday afternoon, I pinged my friend Sudheer on office communicator; saying I am riding to Jog Falls.  Sudheer got excited with the plan and he also craved for a long ride somewhere amidst greenery.  Sudheer agreed to accompany me.

Post office hours, I got my bag packed and the riding gears ready for the ride.  As I was about to sleep, Sudheer dropped a WhatsApp message, I might not join . . . !!!!

I started from my home at around 5.30am and stopped for a chai near to PES University and noticed a missed call from Sudheer.  I quickly dialed him back to hear him saying; “Maga, I will also join, will meet you at Parle Factory Toll”

The first thing we did as we met, was getting our Intercoms paired so we could speak while we rode.

So, we were all set to see Raja, Rani, Roarer, and Rocket.

Confused?

Those are the names of the 4 water streams that trickle down the cliff 😊

The plan was to ditch the highway and take the single lanes that passed through towns and villages that surrounded by greenery all over.  So, we planned this route:

We stopped for breakfast at Darshan, Tatte Idli near Kunigal. From here, we took a detour from the highway making our way towards Tiptur.  We saw a big lake beside the single lane road.  Thanks to the rains that splashed in Karnataka this monsoon.  The water full lake was picturesque.

Meanwhile, I got a call from Akshay saying they had already reached Jog Falls.  The pleasant weather along with the tiny droplets of rain made our ride smooth.  Over the intercom, Sudheer and I, only spoke about biking, our various travel stories, describing the route, and lot many things . . .  blah blah blah blah!! The talks went on and on….

Somewhere near Kadur, we stopped to have some tender coconut water.

The ride continued and soon reaching near to Bhadra Dam, we could sight the water flowing in full gush from the gates of the dam. We could see this gushing water from alongside the road.

A Stop-over for lunch at Shimoga at a local hotel, some baadoota (naati koli) style.  Meanwhile, I kept my Intercom for a quick charge at the billing counter.

Post lunch, the ride continued, and somewhere in Kumsi village, my bike got off.  I kick started my bike and as I throttled, I could sense heavy power lag.  My bike wasn’t going above 30kmph.  I stopped at the side and started to enquire for a garage.  One of the shopkeepers said the garage is just on the opposite side of the road.

I quickly pushed my bike to the nearby garage there, the mechanic there said my bike’s battery had fully drained and he would need to charge it for 3-4 hours.  Meanwhile, I called Sudheer and told him to wait until I provide an update regarding my bike’s condition.

I convinced the mechanic (Avinash) that I would take one of his fully charged spared battery fixed to my bike and continue the ride, while he charges my bike’s battery until I return the next day. Luckily, he agreed for this.

Post fixing the battery, I started my bike and rode to Anantapur village where Sudheer waited for me.  We rode till Talaguppa and took a detour towards Jog Falls which was 15 km approx. from Talguppa.  Riding through few twisties and curves we reached the entrance gate of Jog Falls and straight to the Govt. Bungalow in there.  Akshay had pre-booked the bungalow and we joined them for that night.

The view of the falls from the bungalow’s balcony was breathtaking.  We sat downstairs outside of the bungalow listening to the soothing sound of the waterfall, wow!!! What a peace that was being away from the honking sound of city traffic.

Over the dinner table, we got ourselves introduced with everyone here. The dinner which was served here was simple yet tasty and post-dinner, every one of us crashed to bed.

Day 2: September, 09 (Sunday)

Few of us woke up early and walked towards the main viewpoint.  The tranquil valley was swaddled in a veil of mist and through which we could see the 4 water streams; Raja, Roarer, Rocket, and Rani plunging off the cliff.  We sat silently on one of the benches there watching this spectacular view.

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is Wake up – J. M. Power

We had some tea and biscuits in the nearby shop there.

As we headed back to the bungalow, the breakfast was ready to be served.  Lemon rice with chutney which was served for breakfast, after which, we were all ready to head back to Bangalore.

Taking a few group pics and greeting goodbye to each other we started the ride back to Bangalore.  Akshay’s friends had come in a car while Akshay had come by bike, so he decided to ride back with us and one of his friend, Amshith joined him as pillion.

Our initial plan was to go to Kumsi, fix my bike’s battery and ride to Sringeri and then head to Bangalore.  But as we were a few kilometers away from Kumsi, my bike faced the same power lag issue with the bike’s battery being drained fully again.  Akshay tried to leg tow my bike but we couldn’t do it due to the uphill roads.

Meanwhile, I told Akshay and Sudheer to be at the garage and send the mechanic till here.  Avinash (the garage mechanic) was helpful yet again as he came riding till the place where my bike was totally off, replaced the charged battery with which I could get my bike started and continue the ride back home.  We knew that my bike’s battery would give problems yet over again, so we decided to ride straight back to Bangalore skipping the plan of visiting Sringeri.

We took a detour after Kumsi that took us through pothole filled roads in anticipation we would touch the highway soon, so we could zoom quickly on the national highway.  We reached the highway just after Davangere where we stopped for lunch at Sagar Dhaba.  The food here was lip-smacking and tasty.

From here we rode non-stop for a stretch of 140 km approx. until we reached Sira Toll and stopped for evening tea.

As I crossed Tumkur, my bike faced the same issue yet again.  The darkness had overtaken and I couldn’t switch on my bike’s headlight, indicators and couldn’t even beep the horn and bike couldn’t take acceleration beyond 40kmph.

I initially jumped all the potholes and humps as there was no visibility of the road due to darkness.  I then started to follow a petrol tanker taking the cover of the tanker’s tail lamps to see through the road.  I was riding watching at its tail lamps and following the tire lane and being ready to hit the brake in case the tanker jumped over any humps or potholes.

I did that for a few kilometers until the tanker stopped over at a roadside dhaba and I too stopped for tea.  Meanwhile, Akshay and Sudheer had already crossed Nelamangala Toll.  Then, I found an uncle riding a splendor with bright lights and doing normal speeds of 30 to 40kmph.  I kept riding behind him taking the help of his bright lights.  I followed his lane until Nice road junction of Nelamangala.  The splendor guy being fearful kept looking at his rearview mirrors of being surprised who is following him from such a distance.

Thank you, uncle, and sorry to keep you fearful.

I sighted the street lights, and happily rode till Parle Toll and by now my bike was totally off.  The bike couldn’t be started with any number of kicks and then I towed my bike till the Indian Oil Petrol Pump on the cross of 8^th Mile road.

Parking my bike here and started to inspect my bike’s problem.  I saw a wire being cut and thought the bike’s battery power getting leaked from here. I walked for few meters in search of a garage, when nothing found, walked 2kms ahead and found a stationery shop where I bought an insulation tape (electrical tape) and sealed the wire with the insulation tape.

Woaahhh !!! My bike did start again. From here, I could ride amidst power loss and facing jerks, somehow made it till Phani’s house in Malleshwaram where I dropped my bike and then booked a cab back home.

It was yet another memorable ride of 860kms on my bike odometer.

Until next time.

Stay safe, Ride Safe and please don’t trash your travel.

Regards,

Gokool Kini

(Soul Warrior)

Also Visit: Weekend Beyond Roads – A Race Track and Dirt Trails

We covered two deadliest ghats in Karnataka’s within a span of 26 Hours.  Akshay and I had some personal family work at Manipal. So, we planned to ride.

19^th Jan 2018: Post logging out from office, Akshay and I met at a bakery near my office. Akshay was fully geared up and ready to hit the roads. I convinced the bakery guy that I would go to their kitchen and get myself geared up with my riding attire, for which the bakery guy agreed.

By 9.30pm, we were fully geared up and started from KR Puram. Riding through the chaotic weekend traffic; we managed to cross the Nelamangala toll and deviated on Hassan highway where we stopped at the first petrol pump that came our way. We fueled our bikes and got the tire pressures checked there. It was 11.15pm by the time we departed from there.  It was winters and the climate was chilling.

We stopped at Hotel Empire in Kunigal for dinner and followed by a power nap there on the bench. The mixed fruit juice here is delicious. We continued riding towards Hassan in the dark; both of our bikes had fog lights fit that helped our gaze through the dark roads.

Somewhere near Udayapura (few km before Hassan), we stopped over for tea at 2.30am. We took yet another pit-stop at Belur before we entered the forest ghats towards Mudigere.  As Shiradi ghats were closed that time, all vehicles moved via this stretch.

Riding on the single lanes that passed through the thick dense forest was quite tough due to some reckless badass truck drivers that were plying on this route and adding to this, we were sleep deprived.

We stopped at a roadside hotel at Mudigere to sip hot tea and eat some biscuits.  The hotelier had lit a bonfire alongside the road; we sat there in the warmth of the bonfire.

I was hell tired and sleepy. Besides the hotel, there was a house with open gates. I walked into the house compound and slept on a couch that lied in the verandah, while Akshay slept on the chair beside the bonfire.

I woke up at 6 am and walked towards my bike, and to my surprise, I saw my helmet fully wet with the droplets of dew. We grabbed some tissue papers and wiped the visors of our helmets, as we had the deadly Charmadi ghat ahead and riding safely with crystal clear vision was our utmost Priority.

As we rode downhill of the Charmadi ghat, we could see the first light of the sun hitting one of the lush green mountains. The view was serene and beautiful.

We carefully rode the downhill of Charmadi ghat, while we relished the mountains. We soon reached Belthangady at 7.30am, we had tea here at Akshay’s relative house. Post some tea and some casual talks, we made our way riding towards Udupi.

We stopped for breakfast at a local road-side hotel near a place called “Eedu”

Then, Google map acted silly and took us to a different route.  However, it was a blessing in disguise, as we reached the very famous St. Lawrence church at Attur near Karkala. We quickly clicked our photograph here and continued towards Udupi – Manipal.

We quickly made our way to Manipal which was approx. 40kms from Karkala. As reached, we booked a hotel room where we rested for some time.

We quickly finished our work there, had lunch in the nearby hotel, meanwhile over lunch, I just scanned through Google map to check the best possible route to Bangalore. I think we were lucky that day!! Just 60kms away from here was Agumbe and its deadliest ghat, we both were very excited to ride and make the most of it.

It was 5 pm when we started from Manipal. We maintained good speed and by dusk, we were at the base of Agumbe.  The proper tarmac roads of Agumbe ghat and the nice cool breeze made our ride even more smooth.  Be careful on the sharp hairpin curves. As we passed through Sringeri, the darkness took charge over the red-orange sky.

At a point, where we stopped; Akshay said there should be the shortest route and we can save few kilometers and time, let’s go that way!!!

The shortest route on the map turned out to be a crazy road. The road full of potholes and muddy patches that passed through the dense forest with absolutely no vehicular movement.  We somehow connected to the main road that reached a small town where we stopped for tea and had some jackfruit chips.

We soon reached Belur, the next stretch of the road was the 4 lane Hassan Highway.  Somewhere, after crossing Hassan, we stopped for dinner at Hotel Pathanjali with the intention of riding non-stop until Nelamangala.

A small pit-stop for chai and at a Petrol Pump after Kunigal and straight made it till Goreguntepalya junction and then we went to our respective homes.

Until next time,
Cheers,
Gokool Kini
(Soul Warrior)

Also visit: The Ride of 3 States

The date was 29^th April 2018 and how could I forget that on that day I would complete 3 memorable years with my bike. It was my Warrior’s 3^rd anniversary with me. I wanted to celebrate the day with a ride somewhere.  We prepped our bikes with welded carriers, top racks and also purchased the helmet intercoms as we were getting ourselves ready for the Big Ladakh ride. So we thought to go some off-roads wherein we could test the carriers and the intercoms.

Hence, we chose the off-road trail of Kailasagiri hills along with a visit to a cave temple at the foothills of Kailasagiri. At dawn, 6:00 AM, both Phani and I met near Esteem Mall in Hebbal.  Over a chai, we got our Intercoms connected and kicked off the ride on to Airport Road.

At Vijaypura junction, we had breakfast in Hotel Nanda Gokula.  The hotelier asked us to wait for some time as they were still preparing Idli Vada.  Meanwhile, we had a conversation about Leh.  What else could we talk and discuss?  We were very hungry, but as the Idli Vada were served over the counter, we just concentrated on eating until our tummy was full.  The breakfast was yum and it was worth the wait.

We took a detour from the highway and rode towards Chintamani.  We tested the intercom in all possible ways, from keeping a distance of approx. 1 km to riding at speeds above 100 kph only to check if it would face any disturbance from the wind noise. Initially, it was very difficult to operate the intercom because of the riding gloves we wore, but as we moved on, we got accustomed with it. The device worked perfectly and suited our purpose and requirement.

We reached the Kaivara village at 8 AM; a local guided us to reach the base of Kailasagiri hills which gave us an exciting off-road experience.  Then we headed to the Cave Temple.  The temple usually opens at 10 AM, so we took the off-roads to Kailasagiri hill first until the temple opened for devotees.

Note: This off-road trail is an easy one.  This trail would be very slippery and slush during monsoons.

Somewhere in the middle of the uphill, Phani’s bike got stuck over a stone. I dismounted from my bike to help him cross the stone. Finally, we made it until the place where the bikes were allowed to go which is almost top of the hill. The view was nice and the cool breeze iced it. We took some photos there and rested for a while.

On the hillock there lies a small Hanuman temple and a fort-like structure behind it. We visited this temple and there were few locals who had come there for the uphill fort trek. We just enquired about the fort trek, they said it would take approx. an hour to reach atop the fort. As we had to reach Bangalore back by noon, we skipped this fort trek. We thought to plan a trek here some other time.

Note: Please do carry enough water and snacks as there is nothing available on the hilltop. 

We rode back downhill to the base to visit the very famous Cave Temple. I skid and had a small fall while riding down but had no injuries as I was geared up well and no damages to my Warrior.

Note: Always ride with full riding gears no matter what bike you ride.

We parked our bikes and walked a few steps to reach the Cave temple. Inside of the cave, it was very cool and peaceful. There are a couple of temples inside the cave and a huge Shiva Linga too.

Note: Photography of the idols and deities were prohibited.

I had first visited this cave temple way back in 2015 with Gixxer Club Bangalore, but that time we weren’t aware of the off-road trail there.

We started our journey back to Bangalore. By the time we reached Chintamani, the weather was very hot, so we stopped at a Nandini Milk Parlour to have some cold Badam milk and cold-drinks.

As we reached the main highway, we could see many Jackfruits ready to be sold in the street side shops.  We couldn’t resist stopping by after we smelled the jackfruit. We ate some jackfruit pieces from a shop there and quickly zoomed back to Bangalore.  Phani had pre-booked IPL match tickets so he quickly rushed back home.

As I approached my home, I got a call from my friend Raju saying he had Pavilion passes for that night’s IPL match and I better not miss it.  By the way, we don’t get pavilion passes quite often.

Post reaching home, we went to watch RCB vs KKR match at Chinnaswamy stadium by taking the metro.

It was a memorable day; the off-road, the Cave temple, IPL match and a walk from MG Road to Shanti Nagar and then taking a cab back home. My friend Raju still yells at me for making him walk at midnight that day.

Stay safe, be happy, and keep traveling!!!

Until next time…
Cheers,
Gokool Kini
(Soul Warrior)

Unplanned road trips are the best. This statement is always true.  Over the Friday night party, we planned to go on a road trip.

Over the Friday night’s party, we; Anil BJ, Anil Pujar, Raju Chippalakatti and I planned for a road trip and the place chosen was the very famous Hogennakkal Falls.  It is approximate 140kms away from Bangalore.

Date: 18^th June 2016
Number of People: 4 (Anil BJ, Anil Pujar, Raju Chippalakatti and I, Gokool)
Bikes: 2 (Bajaj Avenger and Suzuki Gixxer)

We started a bit late around 10 am and caught up in the usual Bangalore traffic.  We quickly zipped through the Electronic City Flyover making our way on the Hosur Highway.  A quick stopover for chai just after taking the service road at Attibele and took the village route.  We quickly crossed the border check-post and the mighty TVS Motors Factory at Hosur and few miles down the line we entered the forest stretch.

The riding trail through those curvy roads surrounded by greenery all around and the drizzling rain droplets made the ride even merrier.

We reached Hogennakkal falls at around 1.30pm, somehow managed to find a parking space for our bikes.  You will be surrounded by many local tour guides asking for business.  But we didn’t pay much heed and walked our way down to the waterfall area.

We made our way to the hanging bridge and beyond a certain point; tourists were not allowed to walk.  The view was blissful as the white water cascaded down a series of rocks.  A force of nature, both beautiful and brutal.  It was spectacular to watch as the water flown beneath the hanging bridge and joining the water bed and streaming through the river.

“Water is the most perfect traveler because when it travels, it becomes the path itself!” – A perfect quote by Mehmet Murat Ildan

The most common things to do here at Hogennakkal are the body massage followed by a bath in the waterfall, the yummy delicious river fish and the Coracle Boat Ride.

I got myself an oil massage and got into the waterfalls.  My toes flinched as I stepped my feet into the cold water and my mind faded into dullness and everything looked like a foggy illusion.  I felt very relaxed.  After a nice bath in the waterfalls, we walked back and packed all our things and rushed to a nearby hotel to fill our tummy with the delicious river fish.

The time was 5.30pm and the only thing we missed doing this time at Hogennakkal was the Coracle Boat Ride as it has time restrictions as said by one of a Coracle Boatman.  He said the boat ride would be closed at around 6 pm.

I could recall the memories of the Coracle Boat ride that I went with my parents during our visit to Hogennakal falls while we did South Indian Trip way back in 2004.

We decided to head back to Bangalore.  Taking ample breaks for tea and some fruit juices, we road back safely to Bangalore and reached home by 9.30pm.

Anil BJ made a small video of the trip: Click here

This was the story of our day Ride to Hogennakal Falls, thanks a lot Bhailog for an amazing travel memory.  Thanks to Google for its Timeline feature as it helped me recall the memories of this trip.

Photo and Video Credits: Anil BJ

Stay safe and keep traveling!!!

Until next time…

Cheers,
Gokool Kini
(Soul Warrior)
#LiveFreeRideHard #TravelBeyondImagination
Also visit: List of Places to be visited in Karnataka