Crew members: Arun, Jatheesh, Deepesh and myself.
Duration: 5 hours (In total!)
Expense: Fuel cost for the bikes.
Distance: 78 Kms (Round trip)
Date: 2nd February 2014.
Terrain info: Rocky.
Abstract: A short but fascinating ride!
Saturday was a lousy one! I wanted to go for a night trek at least. But all my fellows trekkers were either out of town, busy with work or lazy to get out of the room. Passed the day some how in front of couple of movies. Post dinner, I had this idea of going for a road trip next day as another such a useless day was unbearable. Arun and Jatheesh were ready the moment I asked them. We were three guys and two bikes then. I started digging blogs by experienced trekkers and trickled down to three options. Mandharagiri, Narayanagiri or TK Falls. Jatheesh was a bit reluctant to hiking as he is having some trouble with his ligament that Antargange trek gifted him. So I finalized - TK Falls it is! I tried asking all my friends. So did Jatheesh and Arun. Finally, Deepesh was ready to join us. I set alarm at 5:00 AM and dozed off as soon as possible.
I woke up at 1:40 AM and 3:04 AM with a shock, dreaming of me snoozing the alarm and sleeping off! This is the hang over of the last trip to Thattekere. I woke up with this alarm at 5 and found Deepesh's and Arun's messages 4:45 AM saying they are already awake. I called up Jatheesh and made sure he is also up. I drove to Marathahalli to pick Deepesh and reached Arun's flat at 5:40 AM. Jatheesh reached at 6 AM. Arun wasn't answering our calls and I went skeptical and went and knocked at his door to find him at sleep! Just like in every trek there is always a lagging guy, in every road trip there is always a late wake up guy. Last time it was all of us including me and this time it was Arun. He got himself sorted in 15 mins and we started at 6:15 AM.
Two roads could take us to our destination - one being Kanakpura road and the other being Bannerghatta road. I decided to choose Bannerghatta road not just to avoid toll at NICE road but also this one being shorter. It was nice weather and we were on consistent 60 kmph. We drove non-stop till Decathlon of Bannerghatta road and took a tea break. Cold wind was trying its best to slither inside our thermals and I could feel Deepesh shivering sitting behind me. :D
A shot of hot tea and hide 'n seek biscuits were perfect for the moment. We resumed our ride in 10 mins and in short distance after Decathlon, we took the deviation on the right side. As soon as we entered the roads, sun rose up and started showing off its charm.
I assigned my pillion Deepesh to be my navigator. There were couple of deviations to be taken. I was constantly seeing the sun in my rear view mirror and got an idea of a shot with Jatheesh and Arun.
Roads aren't very good but it was not a bit tiring. We had crossed a stretch with forest on either sides which was having check post kind of gates with spikes on it. Added to that, there were couple of boards with pictures of elephants and that informed us about the stretch being elephant crossing area. And we rode slowly expecting at least one elephant on the road. But we were unlucky! :(
Ride was very scenic.
We reached a place that Google said us to be TK Falls! But the mud road which was suppose to take us to the destination appeared to be blocked with a fence. Arun was of the notion to untie the fence and take our bikes through. But I found a car parked beside and I felt like it must be a group just like us. So we parked our bikes next to the car and decided to walk. We walked through the clearly visible trail and reached a much broader path. There were lot of birds in the trees and it was an eye candy. I tried my best to wake the wild life photographer in me but he is kinda sleepy! :P
In another 15 mins, we could see rocky terrain with stagnant water. And that was the spot were waterfalls was actually suppose to be. We weren't disappointed as we were expecting this. Come on, its the month of February and who would expect waterfalls to be present.
But to be frank, the place was beautiful. I could only imagine how attractive it would be after the showers. We climbed the rocks and found couple of guys with DSLRs roaming around at the top. We climbed further. Every stable levels of the rocks had stagnant water present giving us a picture of how the majestic the falls would be when in full roar.
We walked till the top until the landscape was even. There were stagnant waters even there which appeared to be the start of the falls.
There were couple of abandoned houses and a coconut plantation at the top and it was very windy.
We sat there on the rocks and had a nice time pass. Our stomach started complaining about feeding only biscuits since morning. Soon we started thinking of the breakfast options. And Arun got this idea of visiting 'Naadan Bhakshana Sala' (literal translation - Authentic Kerala hotel') in Electronic city. Geo, a fellow trekker of ours always boasts about this place and we decided pay a visit. Moreover, Arun and Deepesh had never been to NICE road ever. So decided to go to Electronic city. We started walking back. And in between, I heard a bell chime near by and I decided to find out what it was. Myself and Deepesh took a walk towards the source and ended up finding a temple. There was a family doing some rituals there. We spotted couple of roosters tied and it appeared like they were preparing for some offering. I wanted to take a pic of the temple but decided not to do so and gave the family their privacy. In no time, we reached near our bikes. The car had already left and there were two local people standing near the bikes and they asked for parking fee of 10 Rs each. We could have easily argued and left with out paying. But so far it was so good and I didn't want to spoil the day and I gave the old man 20 Rs. We came across the Jain temple about which I had read in the blogs and articles I pondered the previous night. There was some construction work going on in there and on top of that our stomach wouldn't allow us to get down! :P
We cruised to NICE road and entered by paying toll fare of 13 Rs towards Electronic city road. NICE road was always my weakness it was hardly two minutes we stayed on the roads before reaching Electronic city deviation! It was a Vroooom! Consistent 100 Kmph and touched 115 couple of times. Deepesh was spellbound and made him realize why I call NICE road a nice road! :D
We reached our next destination to please our stomachs. It was 10 AM and the attendants there were busy cutting vegetables for lunch. They said they have only Idiyappam (translation - String Hoppers) for breakfast. I took it with Kadala curry and others had meat curry. And we had the classic Kerala tea! It has been a long time since I had tea in such a big glass!
We were all recharged and started our ride back. By 11:30 AM, we were back at Bellandur.
The place is an awesome spot for a half day picnic and camping. We were sure on one thing - This won't be our last visit to TK Falls. We'll be back after the monsoon!
Finally, our group pic:
Don'ts:
1. Place is polluted enough with plastic covers and liquor bottles shattered. Please don't contribute more.
Do's:
1. Try to reach the place by 8 AM at the most. Believe me, it is so cool when it gets hot! ;)
More pic here!
Duration: 5 hours (In total!)
Expense: Fuel cost for the bikes.
Distance: 78 Kms (Round trip)
Date: 2nd February 2014.
Terrain info: Rocky.
Abstract: A short but fascinating ride!
Saturday was a lousy one! I wanted to go for a night trek at least. But all my fellows trekkers were either out of town, busy with work or lazy to get out of the room. Passed the day some how in front of couple of movies. Post dinner, I had this idea of going for a road trip next day as another such a useless day was unbearable. Arun and Jatheesh were ready the moment I asked them. We were three guys and two bikes then. I started digging blogs by experienced trekkers and trickled down to three options. Mandharagiri, Narayanagiri or TK Falls. Jatheesh was a bit reluctant to hiking as he is having some trouble with his ligament that Antargange trek gifted him. So I finalized - TK Falls it is! I tried asking all my friends. So did Jatheesh and Arun. Finally, Deepesh was ready to join us. I set alarm at 5:00 AM and dozed off as soon as possible.
I woke up at 1:40 AM and 3:04 AM with a shock, dreaming of me snoozing the alarm and sleeping off! This is the hang over of the last trip to Thattekere. I woke up with this alarm at 5 and found Deepesh's and Arun's messages 4:45 AM saying they are already awake. I called up Jatheesh and made sure he is also up. I drove to Marathahalli to pick Deepesh and reached Arun's flat at 5:40 AM. Jatheesh reached at 6 AM. Arun wasn't answering our calls and I went skeptical and went and knocked at his door to find him at sleep! Just like in every trek there is always a lagging guy, in every road trip there is always a late wake up guy. Last time it was all of us including me and this time it was Arun. He got himself sorted in 15 mins and we started at 6:15 AM.
Two roads could take us to our destination - one being Kanakpura road and the other being Bannerghatta road. I decided to choose Bannerghatta road not just to avoid toll at NICE road but also this one being shorter. It was nice weather and we were on consistent 60 kmph. We drove non-stop till Decathlon of Bannerghatta road and took a tea break. Cold wind was trying its best to slither inside our thermals and I could feel Deepesh shivering sitting behind me. :D
A shot of hot tea and hide 'n seek biscuits were perfect for the moment. We resumed our ride in 10 mins and in short distance after Decathlon, we took the deviation on the right side. As soon as we entered the roads, sun rose up and started showing off its charm.
I assigned my pillion Deepesh to be my navigator. There were couple of deviations to be taken. I was constantly seeing the sun in my rear view mirror and got an idea of a shot with Jatheesh and Arun.
Roads aren't very good but it was not a bit tiring. We had crossed a stretch with forest on either sides which was having check post kind of gates with spikes on it. Added to that, there were couple of boards with pictures of elephants and that informed us about the stretch being elephant crossing area. And we rode slowly expecting at least one elephant on the road. But we were unlucky! :(
Ride was very scenic.
We reached a place that Google said us to be TK Falls! But the mud road which was suppose to take us to the destination appeared to be blocked with a fence. Arun was of the notion to untie the fence and take our bikes through. But I found a car parked beside and I felt like it must be a group just like us. So we parked our bikes next to the car and decided to walk. We walked through the clearly visible trail and reached a much broader path. There were lot of birds in the trees and it was an eye candy. I tried my best to wake the wild life photographer in me but he is kinda sleepy! :P
We walked till the top until the landscape was even. There were stagnant waters even there which appeared to be the start of the falls.
We reached our next destination to please our stomachs. It was 10 AM and the attendants there were busy cutting vegetables for lunch. They said they have only Idiyappam (translation - String Hoppers) for breakfast. I took it with Kadala curry and others had meat curry. And we had the classic Kerala tea! It has been a long time since I had tea in such a big glass!
The place is an awesome spot for a half day picnic and camping. We were sure on one thing - This won't be our last visit to TK Falls. We'll be back after the monsoon!
Finally, our group pic:
Don'ts:
1. Place is polluted enough with plastic covers and liquor bottles shattered. Please don't contribute more.
Do's:
1. Try to reach the place by 8 AM at the most. Believe me, it is so cool when it gets hot! ;)
More pic here!
Beautiful Blog... well written nicely posted pics and random clicks are really appreciated.
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