Yelagiri Hills!!!!!

Yelagiri hills, a beautiful hill station in Tamilnadu...abt 180 kms from B'lore.
Actually it was Vinod's idea to visit this place....donno from where he got to know abt it.
In the beginning it was only three of us...Me, monty and Vinod. Then Spidy(Goverdhan) and Mr Otla also decided to come with us.

V started from office at 4 in the evening on 2nd of december, Otla joined us in Electrnoic city.
From there v caught a bus to Hosur, from Hosur v boarded a direct bus to Tirupattur.
We found a fellow s/w engineer in the bus who gave us some very useful tips.
V decided to have some food in the nearby Hotel in Tirupattur.

At 9:20pm v were ready for our last journey of the day, which would take us to ur destination.
About 1 and half hours of journey through the ghats brought us to this beatiful hill station called Athanvoor.
The tiny glittering lights of the city made it looks like an inverted sky.

There were hardly any lights on the road...in Athavnoon, it was all dark.
The weather was too good...it was cloudy and drizzling.
After getting down v straight away headed to Hotel Yelagiri whr v had booked rooms for our stay. On reaching v found that the Manager had let us down by lending the rooms to other people. We were lucky to find a stay in nearby Hotel Hills. Actually it was a kind of house, with one hall, dining room and bed room with TV.
The idlies which I ate in Tirupattur had already disappeared. I searched the bags and was delighted to find some sweets and chocolate(The restuarant in the Hotel was closed by that time).

It was around 11:30 pm.
After relaxing for some time v decided to go for night walk despite warnings from hotel guards.

It was still drizzling......
We walked on the road for about 2 kms...i tell u...it was real fun.
V had forgotten to take the Torches....and always it seemed like some animal was following us.
Actually spidy was not in the mood for a long walk, he was constantly asking us to return. Finally v surrendered to his wish.

V were supposed to get up at 6 in the morning and start early for the SwamiMalai trek.
I forgot to tell u abt one thing....about the main factor...WEATHER.

Since the weather in Tamilnadu had gone crazy, we had many round of disussions before starting our trip...and each time it was decided that v shud go ahead with our plan.

Day 1:
When v woke up that morning, v all thought v did ONE BIG MISTAKE. It was raining, but not that heavy and full fog.

After some time the rains lost their strenght against our strong will.
V had a very good breakfast and started for Swamimalai hills.
The base of the hill is about 3.5 kms from Athanvoor. On the way v found a litte guide for us. A local shool boy, because of rain his school had declared holiday.
It was still raining.
When v reached the village at the base of the hill it was about 10:30am, v decided to have some Tea at a nearby Hut.

The way to the hill ran in between the houses in the village.
Initially it was all muddy and slippery, later v found some stone steps on the way to the top. But the real fun is when u have to do it on ur own without any such steps.
In between v stopped to gasp some breath.
Only fog and clouds filled our eyes. The view at some points was really good....with tall trees coverd in fog, cold air filling the atmosphere, we couldnt have asked for anything more.

Finally we made our way to the top of the hill. There was one small temple, with Shiva, Ganapathy, and Nandi.
Our little guide showed us a rock which had a metallic step attached to it. V climbed it and spent some good time there.

When v returned to the base it was 1:30 pm.
V ate some food there and started for Jagadampara falls, about 7 kms away.
We found some people at a nearby junction, they told us it is difficult to cover Jagadampara falls, but we were not ready to listen to them.

V found another guide on our new mission. Initially v walked on the plain road, then v left the road and entered nearby fields. You know how it feels to walk thro' lush green fields. Soon it was all hills again. Since v had very less time v were rushing, at times sitting for some rest and some photo session.

As v came close to the falls....v cud hear the water roaring.
Finally v got to see the falls. It was beautiful!!!!!
Streams of water were rushing from the side by hills to unite into a single big flow.
At one place they had built one wall to store water, v spent some time there and started moving again.
On our way down v found a Subramanya temple at the base of the hill. Actaully the temple is in the shape of "Shiva Linga".

V had some time before the bus came, so v spent some time in the temple and remaining for Pet pooja.
From their v caught a bus to tirupattur and then to Athanvoor.

Had a very good dinner at Hotel Hills and were about to return to our rooms, but found that the Hotel people had made some arragement for our entertainment!!!
V saw a tamil movie called "Gilli", they projected it on the wall, it was a mini theatre kind of thing.
because of rain we missed out Camp fire :-(

Day 2:
The day started usual...v ate our break fast and saw the near by lake. V had plans of doing boating there, but because of time constrainst had to drop it.
One thing i want to tell u:the Seetaphals at Athanvoor are really tasty....hmmmmm.

V booked one Omni for our remaining sight seeing....
We were to visit the Indian Institute of Astrophysics(Also known as Vainu Pappu Solar Observatory). But on going there v found that it was not open on sundays and also prior permission from their office in Bangalore is a must.
People at the obsevatory told us that there is a waterfalls nearby, known as Bhima falls worth visiting.

Bhima falls is terrific, the current of water was very strong.
V climbed ladder to reach a gallery which was made of wood on a tree. The view of the falls was very beautiful from there.

It was looking as if the water was falling in slow motion from the top. It was making huge sounds, we cud barely hear any other sound.

V spent some good amount of time at Bhima falls.

V left Bhima and started for Jolarpettai from where v were supposed to catch a return train to b'lore, the train was at 16:45.

Our driver dropped us at the station at 16:30.
V caught the Brindavan express to reach Bangalore around 20:30.

Yelagiri is a very good place for weekend trip. Two days are more than sufficient.
The place is away from the chaos. You hardly find any tourists there. The ideal time to visit the place is from Sept to May.