Perhaps! It is too risky for me to call it the last trek of the year having 3 full days left :) But more or less, I would say, its the last trek of the year. Now that Suz is back for sometime on his official trip to India, we had no other better job than visiting our beloved Western Ghats. And that's how we ended up going to Ettina Bhuja for the Christmas weekend. More than the trek, we were waiting to have our favorite food at Gopu Gokhle's place. As expected (how can they forget those faces who ate all the food?), they welcomed us saying we are the 'familiar' faces. Since we chose not to go on a weekend, we planned to trek up to the hill on Friday and come back on Saturday.
Ettina Bhuja (in Kannada) is a hill which is shaped like the back of an ox (ettu=ox , bhuja=shoulder). This is in Charmadi Ghats, accessible from a town called Shishila near the famous pilgrim place - Dharmasthala. It is a moderate trek starts at an altitude of 220m from a small village called HoleGundi and reaches the peak at 1180m.
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| Ettina Bhuja seen from the Holegundi village |
We were happy to choose the beautiful day and what we experienced for two days was heavenly! As always, first thing that one encounters in the forest is the flora and fauna. I got to see some surprisingly attractive flora and fauna. Even though I did not know how good the floral population in this particular season, I was sure of sighting at least a few.
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| Dark Evening Brown |
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| Fungii |
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| It looked like a jewel |
And some ferns!
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| Ferns |
After a few steps of walk, we could see the serene lake flowing beautifully cutting through the valleys. One needs to cross this lake to climb up the hill. Crossing the lake gave us a thrilling experience although we wanted not-to-leave-the-lake. Once we crossed the lake, we were threatened by the tough looks of the peak itself.
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| Ettina Bhuja peak seen from the base |
We reached the camp site very early and we had nothing to do but to laze out the afternoon. After our delicious lunch (packed), we patiently waited for the sunset. by 5.30pm we started climbing the peak and reached a place from where sunset looked heavenly. It was more like a painting with the backdrop of Amedikallu and the Ettina Bhuja peak!
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| Sunset at Ettina Bhuja |
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| Ettina Bhuja peak during sunset |
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| Sunset Panorama |
I was absolutely happy during the sunset and could get some real good shots. I loved photographing the evening and expected the same for the sunrise as well. As it turned out, Sunrise was equally beautiful and made our trip worthy beyond words. We reached the top at 6 am and waited for the shine on our faces.
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| Sunrise seen from Ettina Bhuja |
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| Shadow of Ettina Bhuja on Amedikallu range |
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| During Sunrise |
Just after the sunrise, it was the photographers delight. The sky turned out completely blue leaving our shutterbugs not to stop.
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| Ettina Bhuja in clear blue color |
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| Amedikallu, Moon and Ettina Bhuja |
Having ecstatically satisfied with our last trek of the year, with loads of fun, we returned back on Saturday. While returning, we were welcomed to the new year by little new lives in those lively thick forests of Charmadi.
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| Happy New Year 2011 |
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| Srik, Suz, Srivathsa, Sandy |
