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Kemmanagundi is a scenic hill station in the Baba Budan Giri range of hills. Karnataka's tallest peak, Mullayanagiri, is also part of the same hill ranges. 55 kms to the north of Chikmagalur, Kemmanagundi is also known as KR hills after the Wodeyar king Krishna Raja Wodeyar who made it his favourite summer camp. Located at a height of 1434 meters, it is amazingly verdant and has beautiful climate throughout the year.
Seven of us, lead by Dev Balaji of Nature Admire [1], started of on a friday night in a KSRTC bus going to Bhadravathi. We got down at Tarikere around 5' O clock in the morning, had breakfast and then took a private bus to Kemmanagundi. Kemmanagundi is around 30 kms from Tarikere and 20 kms from Lingadahalli. We reached Kemmanagundi around 8.30 and started trekking down to Hebbe falls, 10 kms downhill, by around 10.00.
Our first stop was almost midway to the falls - a small house where Dev has arranged our stay for the night. We left most of our luggage there and proceeded for the falls. By around 12.00 we were there - the handsome, voluminous Hebbe falls !!!
The falls was very tall and bulky even during this scorching summer. In any case, Kemmanagundi doesnt seem to have any summer :D
Water was freezing cold and it was fun gamboling in. We spent time there till 2.30, had a light lunch and then headed back to our camp house.
It was a good climb up, with a de-tour for buying some vegetables for the night. Anyways ... reached back by evening, had a decent dinner and went to sleep.
We started of again early morning ... and reached Kemmanagundi by 8.30. Had breakfast and then left to Z-Point by around 10.00.
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On the way to Z-point. Satisfying some ancient primate urges !!!
Within an hour we reached Z-point.
Mind u ... these guys are standing at the edge of a huge precipice !!!
Nice cool breeze !!! Doesnt feel like going back.
But we had to :( Reached back at Kemmanagundi around 2.00 and then started off to Kallathi (also known as Kalahasti) waterfalls - around 12 kms downhill on the way to Tarikere, Lingadahalli and Birur.
Kallathi was a let down. A small stream flowing through couple of rocks. On the side of a temple. Somewhat like a holy place !!! Wasnt worth spending a long time.
Back to heat and back to the reality ... we had our lunch at Birur and then rushed into an ice cream shop :)) Birur is around 16 kms from Lingadahalli off Tarikere and towards Bengaluru (Bangalore) ... and we boarded a jeep, which I doubt had any suspension !!!
After the lunch and an ice cream, we spent time bantering and roaming around the railway station. The train which was scheduled to come at 4.30 arrived only at 6.30 and reached Bengaluru around 12.30 in the night. End of another weekend sortie. Haaaa ... back to work and another busy week !!!
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