Jolly boys peak
This was one of the peaks in Karnataka which also offers you a good trekking experience and camping.
While the trekking is not too difficult and not too easy for me, I had fun and a good experience with my friends over there. Let dwell on the details of the camp.
How to reach?
The pickup spot for the camp is around 15 km from Madikeri, Karnataka. I and my friends came to Madikeri and we thought that we could hire a rickshaw(Auto) near the bus stand since it was only 15kms. This was a mistake we didn’t do actually. The rickshaw drivers claimed around 800 rupees for 4 of us just to drop us for 14 km. We couldn’t afford that huge sum and we started to search for buses. We thought that there will be no buses which could drop us by. We boys, not knowing Kannada, the native language of Karanataka, somehow managed to figure out that there are government buses to reach our destination with the help of the locals. Just ask for the vivekagiri bus stop. Thank me later 😉.
The jeep safari
When you reach the vivekagiri bus stop, there will be a jeep waiting for you if you had shared your location with the camp owner priorly. If you have reached there by your own motorcycle or by car, there is also a parking space for that. The way to the camp is offroad and the jeep is the only possible means of travel. The jeep safari is adventurous and after 10 mins we reached the camp spot.
Getting ready for campfire
We were allocated tents for the stay and on our way to our tents, I saw many tents in groups for other campers. We were given a tent with a great mountain view nearby. We arranged our bags, got freshened up, put our mobile phones in charge and started to take some pics of the camps. After some time two doggies visited our camp and we started to play with them. Time went by and we were ready for the campfire.
The campfire with BBQ and music
The weather was not that cold and the camp workers started a campfire for us. And more surprisingly, we were given a separate Boom Box speaker. The evening was so dark and there is only an electrical junction box available near the handwash. Light is only available near there and the boom box is also kept over there. We all played our favorite song and enjoyed it as much we can. A campfire with no extreme cold weather, favorite music playing in the boom box, friends with similar music taste, and mountains surrounding you in the distance is absolute bliss. We also teased our fellow campers with some similar Hindi songs which they were also playing at their camp for fun. After some time we were offered BBQ chicken and later the dinner which we had for good. Late that night we were surrounded by mist and that was a perfect opportunity for us to take some cool pictures. The night went really good and it was time for us to rest well for the trekking the next morning.
The Morning Mountain call
I woke up the next morning with a beautiful mountain view, where the clouds were just clashing over the mountain top. The doggies started to play with us. I spent some time peacefully witnessing the clouds passing over the mountains. It was a perfect morning. We were instructed to get ready and finish our breakfast soon so that we can start our trek. Since it’s not our way of doing things we took our time.
I packed up my gears, put my power bank to charge and we started to eat our breakfast. We met our fellow campers who are from Hyderabad and we had a good talk about our experiences over there.
Trekking towards the peak
By the time we finish our breakfast, our trekking guide arrived. He instructed us to pick up some wood sticks to use as trekking poles. Each one of us is grouped together and instructed to stick to the group. I asked him about the duration and difficulty of the trek and he answered in Kannada. Observing us that we boys speak Tamil, he also spoke in Tamil with us fluently and it was an advantage for us. During the uphill trek, one of our trekkers decided to go back to the camp as he was on medication and having trouble breathing. I, my friend, and the fellow camper had some great talks. Having some small experience in trekking the trekking was not so difficult for the first 45 minutes. The views were amazing and the only problem is with the haze as we couldn’t see anything in the far distance. We had more fun and took pictures of us during the trek. The terrain was not the same for the whole trek. It was composed of grasslands, dense forests, slippery rocks, dry sands, and meadows. After a trek of about 2 hours, we finally reached the Jolly boy’s peak.
Trying to Be in the moment
In my previous travel and trekking, whenever I see something beautiful I will find myself focused on capturing the moment and taking pictures of others than observing and actually being there. I always have some emptiness and regret in myself whenever I leave a place. It is better to be in the moment, enjoying, observing, and getting inner peace which you really came there for. When I am trekking and when I reached the jolly boy’s peak I tried to be in the moment and to feel the surrounding. I had a great time with my friends and thanks to them for capturing me during the trek, which I didn’t think of. After spending some time on the top taking pictures and videos for stories, we started to descend. While trekking downhill we fell then and there due to dry sand and finally came to our camp spot. Thanks to our trekking guide he and our group waited for us during the trek.
Finishing up with the lunch
Saying goodbye to our trekking guide, he walked away. After getting some rest for ourselves we were offered lunch. Spending our energy much in the morning trek we ate for good. We slept for some time and I consider that as a great sleep which I didn’t get in the past few days. It was time for us to check out the camp as it was a 1 day 1-night stay. There was a small waterfall near the camp and didn’t visit there as we were tired before. We packed our bags and left the camp after settling the money with the camp owner
Waiting for our next destination
The jeep came to the camp to pick us up and to drop us at the vivekagiri bus stand. We said goodbye to our fellow camper who also trekked with us and continued to our destination, the bus stop. We were dropped off and we were waiting for the bus to drop us off in Madikeri. Many buses went past us there and we waited for and it was an hour of no busses to stop by. I saw some group of bikers passing by and I missed my Blue Knight as the roads in Coorg were so good. Finally, a bus stopped by it was another story to my next destination.
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