ETTHINABHUJA
Yes everyone goes through same line of thinking when we hear this name , this name looks very interesting at the same time also ticks the curiosity among the trekkers.In kannada ETTHINABHUJA means OX SHOULDER.This was the same feeling when I heard about Etthinabhuja for the first time from Hemanth Prabhu. Hemanth prabhu always come up with new name to trek across in western ghats and we just follow his directions. This time we were all excited to go this place instead of he motivating us to go for a trek which happens for other treks.
We packed our bags from Bangalore and all reached Majestic Bus stand around 10 P.M . Myself and Hemanth were the first comers and Sanjay as usual was a last comer and till the last moment he never appears. His arrival itself creates lot of excitement among group where he will never turn up till the last moment. He will always make entire 40 people excited adding to the count of already excited trekking group and impatient driver who will keep telling "Naavu horedteve next bussali barlie heli" for every 5 min like a snooze of the alarm. Atlast Sanjay reached Majestic around 10:10 P.M and our bus started 10:10 P.M. Then we started discussing about trek plans and where will we have our campsite.Sanjay always has the very unique dialogue " Enri Hero , King ri neevu" . So then we did self introduction to others in the team as we were not familiar with half the folks in the team.Then we all relaxed to catch the wink.
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| Jeep Journey towards EthinaBhuja |
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| First View of EtthinaBhuja |
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| On the way to EthinaBhuja |
As you proceed for some long you will come across small forest and you have proper trails , so we kept following the trails.Then we could hear tranquility of water which excited us. We went following the tranquilty which ultimately led us to the awesome river untouched by human population.
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| River Kapila |
12:10 P.M: After having short break,we proceeded ahead.Fortunately entire trail was covered with forest and we have very little exposure to sun . So we were protected by the harshness of the Sun. We realized how nice it was if our Indian city like Bangalore , Mangalore, Mumbai and other places would have been covered with trees.
It would have been pleasant experience going through these city if we had trees covering most of the streets.
We kept on going and our teammates were very tired and requested to take break. We were now going at snails pace taking break at each and every juncture . We were also wasting lot of time . We didnt have any idea about how far was the peak from our current location and we also didnt have any idea about where to tent the pitch and time was also running out
3:00 PM : At 3:00 P.M we realised we are moving around the same point but we are not at all making any progress This also made us realize we have missed our trail and in no way could reach the peak. We thought we will give a try .Here on one side all our water were dried up and couldnt find a single source of water on other side all our food reserves were also getting finished up and no were we had clue about our presence. No we didnt know how to go ahead nor how to go back. We didnt loose heart , we still went in search of peak but all in vain . At one point we were able to spot the peak which is so prominent with its monolothic structure but we had no idea of how to reach there. We were totally embrassed. We had so much experience of trekking in our portfolio but we were not able to scale this time.
5:00 PM : At 5 P.M we decided we will give a shot this time as we are not aware how far was the peak and also we know that base is quite far. So we decided we will go back and either pitch the tent near the river kapila or go back to Dharmastala. we made a quick move . No we had no option as time was running out and we were aware we cannot any pitch in the mid of the forest as we don't have any water reserve and we have to reach river at any cost. So all opted from taking break though they were tired . One advantage while getting back is that gravity helps you in going faster and we wont get tired while scaling down.
6:00 P.M : We didnt have any clue where we are , we are just following the trail, only clue we had is the river flows perpendicular to the entire trail and our expert (Hemanth) had some native intuition and we just followed his intuition . We also made a call to Gowdra mane that we might reach the house any time and instructed them to arrange for the jeep. We also gave a clue of our tragic trek so that even if we miss we could get help from locals. We stick to our basic that none of them will deviate away from the group.
6:30 P.M : We could listen to the tranquility of the falls , now we got some cheers amongst the team and we were very sure its the same falls which we found while scaling up . Infact we were back on track and we knew river was very close by and also Gowdas House.We changed our gear and shifted to 4th gear. we infact started runnig as dawn has already shown its presence and if we miss the timing we wont be able to pitch the tent .
6:50 P.M : We reached river and Gowdas house is another 20 min walk from the river.
7:10 P.M : We reached Gowdas house and as informed jeep was waiting for our arrival and we thanked Gowdas family and we all go into jeep . This time Jeep guy was asking us 500 bugs and we happily agreed.
The jeep guy took us till Dharmastala. There was no excitement as all were tired and were fast asleep.
8:10 P.M: We reached Dharmastala and we headed straight to Annagraha ( Place known for serving food). When you are hungry food tastes so great and were happy to have food in Dharmastala.
Little bit of Dharmastala is given below
Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala
10 P.M : We got some random bus which goes to Bangalore and we all set to Bangalore.
Though it was a failure trek , this trek remained in our mind for long beacuse of the journey.
Journey is better than destination
How to go : Dharmastala (270 Km from Bangalore)
From Dharmastala catch a jeep/ Bus to Shishila .
From shishila catch rick/jeep to Gowdra mane.
From there you can trek to Etthina Bhuja (preferably take Guide till half distance)
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| Team |
To be continued with part2 of EtthinaBhuja
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