We knew quite a bit about what to expect on our way from the blog post. Our trail head, Donigal station, is about 5 hours bus drive-220 kilometers- from Bangalore on NH 48 towards Mangalore. The place isnear the spice hub city Hassan and 10 Kms from a small town called Sakleshpur. The 26 Kms trek tracks an abandoned railway line to Yedekumeri, an abandoned railway station. On our way across a jungle, there are 23 shaky bridges that are built over rocky gorges deep enough to kill; 15 bat invaded tunnels of various lengths ; Several waterfalls and streams and may encounter wild life including snakes. There are no lodges to stay at our destination and the nearest village to Yedekumeri is Kaginahare, which is another five kilometers trek from Yedekumeri. The story had warning for weak hearted and offered a mix of adventure and physical workout. Therefore we packed our backpacks.
Start: Friday, 14th November 2003. Bangalore to Donigal.
Sujay had the booking for all of us in a KSRTC ultra deluxe bus which was going to Mangalore. We boarded the bus at 11:45 PM from Majestic station and it was raining quite heavy in Bangalore. We had some bottles of water, cup noodles, biscuits, bread-butter and some fried chicken in our backpacks to eat during the trekking. We talked to the driver about getting down a kilometer before Donigal Railway station near a roadside tea shop and he recognized the landmark. The web site instructions mentioned that it is the only place opens by 4 AM for us get some hot tea and snacks to kick-off the trek. We reached the Donigal by 4 in the morning the bus dropped us near the tea shop. After a refreshing tea, we walked about 1.5 Kilometers and located the temple mentioned in our directions. Then we crossed a bridge and took an immediate right to arrive at Donigal railway station. Our trail started from there and about six kilometers later we saw a farmhouse in the middle of a plantation and decided to make a stop for breakfast.
Sulaiman, the owner of the farm, spoke Malayalam and he was generous to prepare some tea for us. He had this 10 acre farm with a lean waterfall in his backyard and grew coffee and other spices for a living. Sulaiman warned us that there are long tunnels and dangerous bridges ahead of us on our way to Yedkumari village so it is safer to take another road. The access to this road is about three kilometers walk by crossing a field and a mountain. When I told him that we are doing this to experience the adventure, he asked us to carry torch lights.
Shaky Bridges and open river bath
Thegravel trail up to the first bridge was easy .We watched spice plantations, small streams and chirping morning birds on the way. It took one kilometer to the first bridge which crosses a river that flows about 200 meters below it. The bridge had no handrails and the wooden planks were loosely laid across with scary gaps. Some of us needed help when we reached the middle as it was terrifying to take the next step. Like that we crossed about 23 bridges and the longest one was about 400 meters long.
These bridges had ruined wooden planks and corroded structure so appeared shaky. However, as we progressed one after another, we developed a new level of confidence. Though we could not measure the depth below each bridge, some of them appeared to be more than 500 meters deep. Rajarshi often came to my rescue as I could not decide whether to take the longer steps or not, at several places where wooden planks were missing.
We have passed through a number of short waterfalls and thin streams on our way. When we crossed one of the killer bridges, the river below appeared quite furious and we could see it rushes to form a water fall at a distance. The depth to reach the riverbed was about 400 meters but we hiked down the canyon ridges with the support of trees. When we arrived at the river side, everyone wanted to take a dip in the river and so we did. It was an hour long bath playing with water. We collected firewood and boiled water to cook some cup noodles for lunch. When we tried to cross the rive, the water flow was fierce so we dropped that plan. That’s when we spotted a big snake moving on rocks in the middle of the river, luckily at a safe distance.
Bat Battles in Tunnels
We crossed sixteen tunnels and the longest was about half a kilometer. We carried torchlights to stay clear in the dark. The longer tunnels were made home to bats, that are small in size and there were thousands of them flying across the tunnel when disturbed. We covered our face with jackets to protect us from their droppings from the ceiling. Crossing the tunnels was not hard but there was this lingering uncertainty of spotting a snake or other wildlife in the dark. Also there was this story of bats flying out all in one go when disturbed and destroying everything on their way. None of the scary things happened. So we hiked up to reach the top of one of the tunnels for a photo opportunity and it was quite tricky to get there though the ridges.
Arrived at the destination – Yedakumeri Railway Station
We reached the Yedkumari station, a place surrounded by a jungle; we saw age old equipment and discarded stuffs there. We looked for someone to guide us to the nearby village mentioned in the blog but found none. Anil joined me in search to find a villager while the other started sleeping or taking rest in the railway platform. We walked about a kilometer further down the station and noticed some smoke in the air at far.
We crossed another bridge to get there and it was yet another abandoned shed of railway. Three guys cooking some food and they looked like hunters. The leader, Mahesh, told us in Kannada and broken Tamil that they are preparing food before they enter the jungle for hunting. I asked him about Kaginahare village and offered him money to lead us to the place. It took efforts to persuade Mahesh to make his subordinates (Suresh Senior and Jr.) to accompany us to show the route. We came back to the platform and woke up the team and started walking towards Kaginahare with our new found guides. The Suresh’s carried some of their accessories along-a big torchlight and a long knife. They appeared quite impatient to get back to their base to go for hunting.
Extended trek in search of Kaginahare Village
Suresh’s led us to the diversion to Kaginahare village and we started hiking a steep hill through a wild trail. everyone was exhausted so made frequent stops to rest and that delayed us more. There was no water left and it made situation worse. Idea was to reach the village before night sets in so that it is easier to find a place to eat and stay overnight. It was a relief to reach the top of the hill but soon we realized that hiking down is harder with our rubber legs. 
As we approached the valley, agriculture and signs of life were visible. So we paid Suresh’s some money and thanked them for their help in leading us. When some farm workers passed by speaking Tamil, we checked with them about a place to eat nearby. They mentioned there is one about two kilometers away in the village. A stream in the valley looked crystal clean so without thoughts all of us had our filling of water. When we reached an intersection in the trail, a tractor was collecting the farm workers to transport them to their villages,after work.
Tractor Voyage –felt every rock on our way
The tractor had an attached steel cart with a flat bed and the workers were sitting and chatting on it. When we mentioned Kaginahare, one said the village is about two kilometers far but in the opposite direction of where the tractor is going. This got us tensed so we persuaded the driver to take us to Kaginahare. We offered him money and when that did not work, we pleaded mercy but there was little response. At that point, the supervisor who was watching this scene probably sensed that some of us are in the verge of collapsing so came up and offered us a ride. The road to Kaginahare through a trail with gutters was no fun. The cart had steel bed and no suspension so we felt every rock it rolls over in our already irritated bottom. No one complained as it was better than walking.
Arrived at Kaginahare !
It was dark when we reached Kaginahare and the time was 6:30 PM. We saw the bus stop where we could get the only bus to Sakleshpur at 6:30 AM next morning. We met a friendly local named Madhan and he told us that we could probably sleep overnight in a public primary school and get some food close to where the school is. As we walked to the food place everyone had lot of questions for Madhan about kind of food and possibility of getting some booze or chicken.
The food place was a shed with a group of people chatting around a kerosene lamp. This was a mess intended for the agricultural workers but there was no much activity after the sun set. The caretaker, Gopal- a Maharashtra native, was the first person we met during the trip who could speak Hindi. Throughout the trail we were conversing in Tamil, Malayalam, English and Hindi and obviously no one understood any one language properly (neither we spoke). Gopal offered a vegetarian meal with Sambar and a vegetable as a side and ruled out many other possibilities we suggested. Also he prepared some good tea before the meal. Gopal spread a mat outside the shed in the open air and served us the meals. Eating plain rice with sambar never tasted that good before!
The school was close to Gopal’s mess and he also provided us a couple of mats to lay on. School was a single roof building and there was just enough space for seven of us in the veranda in the front. We were dog tired so it took no time to fall asleep. Temperature dropped in the early morning and a cozy blanket was desirable but it was only a minor disturbance to the sleep.
Way Back home-Sakleshpur–Hassan -Bangalore
The 6:30 am bus was waiting for us and there were more goods than people going to the markets in Sakleshpur. The ride through the high range was scenic and refreshing. Kaginahare and the nearby villages are rich with spices. We could see cardamom, ginger, pepper, coffee and tea plantations and a variety of other crops being cultivated. It took about three hours to cover 60 Kms distance through these winding roads. We ate our breakfast in Sakleshpur and also bought some coffee, honey, tea leaves and dry ginger to take home. We took another bus to Hassan, the spice hub, and from there we got a semi-luxury KSRTC bus to Bangalore. The final leg bus was comfortable so we could catchup some sleep as well.
A Side Story
There is this one side story I never mentioned to anyone in the group at the time of trekking. Also, I am not sure I mentioned this to anyone later. During our last leg trek from Yedakumari to Kaginahare, we ran out of water and all of us were thirsty . When we reached the valley, we saw this stream and every one happily drank the water,washed their face and simply relished their moments with pristine water. As we continued our walk from there, I noticed a man washing his butt in the stream, upstream in the tree shades. Then I wished I did not drink that water and at that point I did not want to admit to anyone that I drank that water. So I never mentioned it. Later when we arrived at the village, we realized that there were no toilets and the villagers attend their nature calls in the wilderness and use the mineral rich stream water to wash. We just followed them next day morning!