Trip to Chikmagalur - Part IV (Kalhatti Falls and Kemmangundi)

As the previous day we had covered many places we were very tired and decided to start late. But everyone was ready only by 10.00 am. Our agenda was to cover Kalhatti falls, Kemmangundi and Hebbe falls.

From Chikmagalur, we started straight towards Lingadahalli from where we have to take a diversion is towards the falls. The road was good but there were many curves. We took a small break at the junction from where we have to take a diversion in the left direction. The road from here was again terrible. This route takes us towards Kalhattipura village.

Here is some info about the falls. Total height of the fall is around 400 ft. The fall passes through the village Kalhattipura. This is a scenic spot filled with lush greenery and huge rocks. Between two rocks a present is a beautiful small temple dedicated to Veerabhadra swamy. The water falls right in front of the temple.

I was not in a mood to take bath as the water was too cold but Dara had already planned to take a shower in the fall! After a small hesitation we all joined Dara. There is a small platform for the ease of taking a shower under the fall. It was a good natural back massage for us! We saw many people climbing to the top of the falls through the rocky route but we were happy at this place itself.

Once we were done, we started for Kemmangundi, which was 13 Kms away from here. By now it was around 2.00 pm. The road was bad again. We were told that there is a canteen in Kemmangundi, so we thought of having our lunch there. We reached kemmangundi by 3:15 pm.

As we all were hungry we proceeded towards the canteen first. We found the place crowded by too many people. The scene at counter reminded me the scene of our town cinema hall ticket counter on the first show of a Chiranjeevi’s film. There was only one option available was Rice and Sambar!! That too we had to wait for 30-40 minutes as the food was over. With no option available we paid him and booked our meal. In the mean time we roamed around the place. There were many rooms which were part of the resorts maintained by Govt. The rooms were not clean and walls were totally in dampened state. Before going for the trip we were planning to book rooms at this place. Thank God we didn’t.
Finally we got our plate of Rice and Sambar after 40 minutes. When you are hungry and there is no option for you, everything that is available seems tasty! But even at 4 pm there were many people asking for food. Canteen people should think again and make a good business in the weekends.

After food, we planned to go to Hebbe falls. Private vehicles were not allowed to go to this fall, so people have to travel by the rental jeep. It takes around 45 minutes to reach to the fall. So we all decided to drop the plan to Hebbe falls.

So we planned to check what else to see in Kemmangundi. There was a rock garden, a fall and a route to Z-Point. We thought of going to Z-point. The vehicles can only go up to a walkable distance from the Shanti Falls.

The fall was very small and there was very less water. But it was looking beautiful. We had some photo session at this place. Then we saw people coming from the Z-Point. We asked them about the distance and the condition of the route to that point. We found that it was around 1.5 kms from this place and some patch of the route was slippery. There were also leeches in this route. So they did not suggest us to go to the point, as it was getting darker also. Still we thought of going to a little distance and check the scenery.

After going around 300 meters, I was the one who started cribbing to go back for numerous reasons. Kaustubh also joined me. Raghu and Dara were in some enthu to go ahead for some more distance. Anyway we all came back from that point.

This was our last leg our trip. So we headed back to Bangalore. This time we took the route

Route: Lingadahalli->Birur->Kadur->Arsikere->Tiptur->Tumkur->Bangalore

We had dinner at a Dhaba near Kadur. The route starting from Birur itself was good. This route is approx 20kms shorter than the one we took in our onward journey through Hassan.

Finally we reached Bangalore at 2.00 am in the morning.

This was end of our short trip to surrounding places of Chikmagalur. I cherish all the moments, which I shared with my family and friends during this trip.