Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Photo of the Day

Friendly neighborhood spider


Shot during Kemmangundi trek near a stream. Canon EOS 400D with Canon EF-S 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Photo of the Day


Springside ferns

Trekking in Western Ghats is mostly through grasslands, but occasionally one has to cross verdant forest patches that spring up around small water bodies. There are lush with life - plant and animal.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Trek Report: Mullayangiri, Kemmangundi & Baba Budangiri



Photographs from a trek in Baba Budan hill range covering Mullayangiri, Baba Budangiri andother peaks close to Kemmangundi on 8th and 9th November, 2008. Kemmangundi is around 260 KM from Bangalore in Chikmangalore district of Karnataka and was the summer retreat of Krishnaraje Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The trek was led by Deepak & Prasanna, it was so amazing to see them trek casually through the rough terrain in slippers/flip-flops!


Mullayangiri is the tallest peak in Karnataka at over 6000 ft in height. We trekked in Mullayangiri & Baba Budangiri ranges on Saturday and Kemmangundi on Sunday. There are caves a little way down from the top of Mullayangiri, we also spent some time exploring them. Inside the caves it was narrow & damp, we had to bend and crawl through to cross several sections.

At night we stayed near Baba Budan's shrine, a cave considered holy by both Hindus and Muslims.


Water points are not plentiful along the way, typically small streams run through the forested regions along the way. Deepak was our guide and he was well aware of the water points having done the route multiple times.

We planned on trekking to Kalathi Falls also on Sunday, however dropped the plan when we realized that we were running behind schedule.

Majority of the trek route is composed of grasslands





Think forest patches dot the grasslands

Lush vegetation can be found within the forests around the springs


The trail with people ascending. In some sections the trail is well marked, in other sections it is not. So it is always preferable to take a guide along who knows the route well.


A ruined structure atop one of the peaks


All photographs with Canon EOS 400D and Canon EF-S 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens. I will be uploading a few more photographs from the trek as individual posts over the next few weeks.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Photo of the Day


Raindrops

Canon EOS 400D with Canon EF 70-200mm F/4 L IS USM Lens at 64mm. Exposure of 1/125s @ F/8, ISO 400.