Reached here quite early in the evening and planned to make a quick dash to the sirimane falls which is around 22kms from Sringeri and 5kms from the town of Kigga. But half way through we had to turn back as the road to the falls was not in a state to be plied on. Disappointed we came back to Sringeri and effectively utilized the remaining day praying at the Goddess Sharadambe temple (especially our friend Santhosh Kumar who desperately wanted to and he asked the priest to conduct "Aksharabhyasa" at the age of 27 !!!!!) and the Vidyashankara temple. Here Tunga river flows silently next to the temple complex and across the river is the revered Jagadguru Shankaracharya Math propogating the Adwaitha philosophy. Found good accommodation at the temple guesthouse big enough for a group of 10 people. With nothing much to do, we in unison chose to rest ourselves as we had quite a lot of traveling to do the next day.
Woke up to a foggy sight outside, hardly anything was visible, after a quick visit to the temples again, we bid adieu and moved ahead to our next destination Kemmanagundi. We had the whole day to spend and were thinking of alternate places nearby to cover where instantly one place flashed across - Mullaingiri – the highest peak in Karnataka at 1913m; well it’s a trekking hotspot but vehicles can drive up to almost 90% of the peak from where you get a breathtaking view of the malnad ranges. Well Mullaingiri and Kemmangundi are located close to each other so we had no problem diverting our route a bit. The view of hill ranges from the approach road present an eye soothing sight and also as it was near monsoon time, the sun was pretty relaxed playing hide and seek among the clouds. The road uphill is pretty good even for smaller vehicles to climb and its tarred too, the beauty lies in the scenic valley that changes with every hairpin bed you undertake. All vehicles stop at a point from where everyone needs to climb to the peak that takes around 30 minutes at the maximum. As there are flights of steps to the top, the walk uphill is not so tiresome or exhausting. Still the beauty of the greenery that one see’s all around is mesmerizing, you cant imagine time fly by as you wander around captivating the beauty in its raw form. Every other minute more we spent on this peak strengthened my resolve to trek and conquer this peak on foot one day. It’s a lovely place and a trekkers haven out there. Luckily no human interference is seen around and also a small temple is atop the hill, which is the highest point in Karnataka.
