ರೈಡ್ ಟು Hogenakkal Falls
Nothing concrete planned yet decided to Ride to Hogenakkal Falls and Krishnagiri dam on Saturday, along with Vijay and Avinash!! Finall Bunty, Ramesh, and Shivanand just came back from darwad, also joined us!!!! Three bikes, six people, we where off to explore Hogenekal falls though pretty late by 11 then planned. .
After a quick Brake fast on hours road near Electronic city, reached Hosur at almost 12pm and it was a sudden decision taken to go only to Hogenakkal Falls and leave the Krishnagiri dam for another day as we where late on schedule, Initially had no idea of which direction to take to Hogenakkal falls as there are many route to reach there and finally decided to take the Hosur -Denkanikottai- Anchetty -Pennagram- Hoggenakkal route(135 kms); the main reason behind that; this route is supposed to be very scenic and the shortest, but Had to compromise on road condition!!! Also I thought it would be better off for some off-road bike ride (After Muthathi forest- Sangama ride long time back) and Vijay and Avinash where also Excited about some off-road driving.
From Hosur we all took off towards Denkanikottai till Denkanikottai the Two lane road is quite good and journey was quite fast... and Just After Denkanikottai Village the Jungle & Ghats section starts, Beautiful Landscape around forced me to take off my helmet to enjoy the view of surrounding Hills and explore the lush, rugged, landscape across; and a smaller winding road which went on and on through lot of villages, thought I couldn’t rip the bike like we do on the highway, but as a bargain, we got cleaner air, more beautiful mountains and
greenery, and hardly any traffic and lost of Hair pin curves to enjoy the ride, well driving at a quite a good speed on a narrow road and the lovely curves kept me busy, but after a point Avishan stopped the bike as he saw a snake Crossing the road and he just missed running over it by few inches and we reached there back where he was standing but we lost it inside lush green Canopy and can hardly see it.. After this as I was driving, I was hoping to see some wild animals but instead spotted a lot of birds , squirrels and monkeys all long the way but not any thing interesting!!!! After a nice 1 1/2 hour ride we briefly stopped at Pennagram a village for a small tea Break, on the way we saw beautiful statues. Brightly colored giant statues. Villagers referred to them as Aiya
nars, these are regarded as guardian deities by the villagers. They depict everything from mustached warriors to even a modern day policemen!!! We stopped by to take some pictures.. after the brief stop there We moved on and just before 10 kms before the Hogenakkal the Tar road vanished and we had do some off-road driving, there was plenty of vegetation and little habitation around, the road kept going down and down into the valley along a river. A 20 minute of quite drive into the forest leads us to a busy and noisy village Hogenakkal it took almost 3 hours to reach there with lots of stops here and there and few photo sessions on way.
Once in Hogenakkal at 3.pm!!! The first thing that we realized; when we landed was the heat. It was baking hot and any spray of water coming towards us was instantly lapped up by the dry skin. Later we realized to see the main falls, we had to get onto coracles (round boats made of cane with tar smeared all over the bottom of it). we had to walk till the river where we ca
n get on the coracles, as we where walking around we came across the bathing ghats where men were getting massaged all over the place and women were selling freshly caught (?) fish, fried in some deep red sauce!! Almost every local there seems to have taken up massaging as a profession and one could see people getting thumped in different moves. Most of the sights were too funny and soon we reached the place where water flow was sufficient to get on the Coracle and we all set off in 2 coracles.
At the shore after a some Coconut Water, We started the return journey at around 6.15 pm. Weather was very pleasant no sign of rain; on our way back we stopped at a view point where we can see the Kaveri river flowing through the mountains.
After a quick Brake fast on hours road near Electronic city, reached Hosur at almost 12pm and it was a sudden decision taken to go only to Hogenakkal Falls and leave the Krishnagiri dam for another day as we where late on schedule, Initially had no idea of which direction to take to Hogenakkal falls as there are many route to reach there and finally decided to take the Hosur -Denkanikottai- Anchetty -Pennagram- Hoggenakkal route(135 kms); the main reason behind that; this route is supposed to be very scenic and the shortest, but Had to compromise on road condition!!! Also I thought it would be better off for some off-road bike ride (After Muthathi forest- Sangama ride long time back) and Vijay and Avinash where also Excited about some off-road driving.
From Hosur we all took off towards Denkanikottai till Denkanikottai the Two lane road is quite good and journey was quite fast... and Just After Denkanikottai Village the Jungle & Ghats section starts, Beautiful Landscape around forced me to take off my helmet to enjoy the view of surrounding Hills and explore the lush, rugged, landscape across; and a smaller winding road which went on and on through lot of villages, thought I couldn’t rip the bike like we do on the highway, but as a bargain, we got cleaner air, more beautiful mountains and
greenery, and hardly any traffic and lost of Hair pin curves to enjoy the ride, well driving at a quite a good speed on a narrow road and the lovely curves kept me busy, but after a point Avishan stopped the bike as he saw a snake Crossing the road and he just missed running over it by few inches and we reached there back where he was standing but we lost it inside lush green Canopy and can hardly see it.. After this as I was driving, I was hoping to see some wild animals but instead spotted a lot of birds , squirrels and monkeys all long the way but not any thing interesting!!!! After a nice 1 1/2 hour ride we briefly stopped at Pennagram a village for a small tea Break, on the way we saw beautiful statues. Brightly colored giant statues. Villagers referred to them as Aiya
nars, these are regarded as guardian deities by the villagers. They depict everything from mustached warriors to even a modern day policemen!!! We stopped by to take some pictures.. after the brief stop there We moved on and just before 10 kms before the Hogenakkal the Tar road vanished and we had do some off-road driving, there was plenty of vegetation and little habitation around, the road kept going down and down into the valley along a river. A 20 minute of quite drive into the forest leads us to a busy and noisy village Hogenakkal it took almost 3 hours to reach there with lots of stops here and there and few photo sessions on way.Once in Hogenakkal at 3.pm!!! The first thing that we realized; when we landed was the heat. It was baking hot and any spray of water coming towards us was instantly lapped up by the dry skin. Later we realized to see the main falls, we had to get onto coracles (round boats made of cane with tar smeared all over the bottom of it). we had to walk till the river where we ca
n get on the coracles, as we where walking around we came across the bathing ghats where men were getting massaged all over the place and women were selling freshly caught (?) fish, fried in some deep red sauce!! Almost every local there seems to have taken up massaging as a profession and one could see people getting thumped in different moves. Most of the sights were too funny and soon we reached the place where water flow was sufficient to get on the Coracle and we all set off in 2 coracles.Seeing the Water My immediate desire was obviously to jump into the water. But then the Boatman promised to take us to a better place. Well till Then, I had another way of keepin
g myself busy, thanks to my camera. I shot and I re-shot. I captured the entire 360 degree field of view with a series of pictures. Soon we reached our intended destination. A placid stream where it is possible to swim and cool off in peace and isolation; the boat man left us there for an hour. A much need plunge into the water was quite relaxing form the scotching heat; There was a small waterfall nearby where we took a natural shower bath. Though the waterfall was relatively small, it did come down at us with tremendous force. It bashed us left and
right. It felt good though. Kaveri River water supposed to have curative powers as the waters of Kaveri flow through a forest of herbs on her journey to Hogenakkal;, I found a cool place were I could sit and get a body massage by the gushing water flowing across me; even at that place the force of the water quiet enough!!! Wow!!!! And every body had a blast out there!!!!. Anyway, back to reality. It was time to jump off the water.Once we had enough of the bathing in water, it was time to have the snacks & lunch which we had with us under a shady tree.
g myself busy, thanks to my camera. I shot and I re-shot. I captured the entire 360 degree field of view with a series of pictures. Soon we reached our intended destination. A placid stream where it is possible to swim and cool off in peace and isolation; the boat man left us there for an hour. A much need plunge into the water was quite relaxing form the scotching heat; There was a small waterfall nearby where we took a natural shower bath. Though the waterfall was relatively small, it did come down at us with tremendous force. It bashed us left and
right. It felt good though. Kaveri River water supposed to have curative powers as the waters of Kaveri flow through a forest of herbs on her journey to Hogenakkal;, I found a cool place were I could sit and get a body massage by the gushing water flowing across me; even at that place the force of the water quiet enough!!! Wow!!!! And every body had a blast out there!!!!. Anyway, back to reality. It was time to jump off the water.Once we had enough of the bathing in water, it was time to have the snacks & lunch which we had with us under a shady tree. The Boatman told us it was time to get to the main falls, We had to trek around 300 
mts to reach a point where we can again get on to the Coracle to reach the top of water falls, On our way to the falls we also saw the ultimate in selling strategy - mobile shops on coracles selling everything from biscuits to soft drinks to fried fish!!!!,.
The ride took us to the foot of the majestic waterfalls – an exhilarating yet intimidating experience. The water here surges under the coracle, tossing it around, raging as though it might flood the boat any moment. After this spellbinding and e
ven a bit frightening ride. We reached the sight of Hogenakkal falls; This white water fall was particularly impressive soon after the monsoon months when the river is brimming. It was worth watching Water gushing from about 10-12 points to about 25 feet deep. This descent of the Cauvery or Kaveri at Hogenakkal was panoramic site!!! It truly lived upto its name - Hogenakkal - the smoking rocks!. The name Hogenakkal is derived from Kannada. It means smoky rocks. The gushing force of the water when it falls on the rocks below looks like smoke emanating from the rocks. hoge in kannada means
smoke and of kal means rock , Thus the falls and the place were called Hogenakkal. Here the lens of my camera kept getting clouded by all the spray of mist around. and yet we found a nice vantage point to sit and take pictures right at the tip of the cliff overlooking the falls. And one false step at this point it would have been chapter closed! Treading carefully and continuously warned by the boatmen not to venture too close to the edge, we took lots of pics.
mts to reach a point where we can again get on to the Coracle to reach the top of water falls, On our way to the falls we also saw the ultimate in selling strategy - mobile shops on coracles selling everything from biscuits to soft drinks to fried fish!!!!,.The ride took us to the foot of the majestic waterfalls – an exhilarating yet intimidating experience. The water here surges under the coracle, tossing it around, raging as though it might flood the boat any moment. After this spellbinding and e
ven a bit frightening ride. We reached the sight of Hogenakkal falls; This white water fall was particularly impressive soon after the monsoon months when the river is brimming. It was worth watching Water gushing from about 10-12 points to about 25 feet deep. This descent of the Cauvery or Kaveri at Hogenakkal was panoramic site!!! It truly lived upto its name - Hogenakkal - the smoking rocks!. The name Hogenakkal is derived from Kannada. It means smoky rocks. The gushing force of the water when it falls on the rocks below looks like smoke emanating from the rocks. hoge in kannada means
smoke and of kal means rock , Thus the falls and the place were called Hogenakkal. Here the lens of my camera kept getting clouded by all the spray of mist around. and yet we found a nice vantage point to sit and take pictures right at the tip of the cliff overlooking the falls. And one false step at this point it would have been chapter closed! Treading carefully and continuously warned by the boatmen not to venture too close to the edge, we took lots of pics. One the way back boatman took us on a long ride across Kaveri River, and 
a couple of viewpoints. This viewpoint didn’t have one waterfall, but the place was Stunning beauty I tell you. The best I could do was to sit there, forget everything and devote few minutes of my life to enjoy the sheer beauty of this place. Wow, how my eyes cooled off just by looking at it. No screensavers can give you this feeling. That’s a fact. Every one was enjoying the lovely Coracle ride across the rocky landscape.
a couple of viewpoints. This viewpoint didn’t have one waterfall, but the place was Stunning beauty I tell you. The best I could do was to sit there, forget everything and devote few minutes of my life to enjoy the sheer beauty of this place. Wow, how my eyes cooled off just by looking at it. No screensavers can give you this feeling. That’s a fact. Every one was enjoying the lovely Coracle ride across the rocky landscape. At a place where water was calm got a chance
to ride the coracle; for a fist timer like me it was a pleasing experience; and just as the ride was just about to get over, Out of curiosity, we asked him the depth of these waters. He said that it hasn’t rained as much as it should have. So the depth these days is just 120 feet!!! Okay!!! On hearing that, I asked again is it really 120 Feet. And finally we asked our boatman to spin our Coracle- the experience was akin of sitting on a spinning top: after this the lovely Coracle ride came to abrupt end... 
to ride the coracle; for a fist timer like me it was a pleasing experience; and just as the ride was just about to get over, Out of curiosity, we asked him the depth of these waters. He said that it hasn’t rained as much as it should have. So the depth these days is just 120 feet!!! Okay!!! On hearing that, I asked again is it really 120 Feet. And finally we asked our boatman to spin our Coracle- the experience was akin of sitting on a spinning top: after this the lovely Coracle ride came to abrupt end... 
At the shore after a some Coconut Water, We started the return journey at around 6.15 pm. Weather was very pleasant no sign of rain; on our way back we stopped at a view point where we can see the Kaveri river flowing through the mountains.
Now as the Sun was setting down, we had to the Drive almost through
the jungle and Ghats section in pitch black; But we were ready to endure some part of it and I also wanted to make the day count.. On the way back we stopped by at about 10km before Anchetty for some fluids and there was no stop after that and I zoomed passed every body just before hosur took a left by mistake off course, but later turned out to be the shortest to reach Bangy, that route bypass the hosur city and I reached Attebelle junction and Zoomed passed the Electrinicity junction after dropping Ramesh. By the time I reached room it was 9.30 ... My Trip Meter read 269 kms . . This one was yet another awesome ride. The driving around narrow road under thick canopy of trees was simply amazing. All in all nice Bike and Coracle Ride and busy day out with nature….
the jungle and Ghats section in pitch black; But we were ready to endure some part of it and I also wanted to make the day count.. On the way back we stopped by at about 10km before Anchetty for some fluids and there was no stop after that and I zoomed passed every body just before hosur took a left by mistake off course, but later turned out to be the shortest to reach Bangy, that route bypass the hosur city and I reached Attebelle junction and Zoomed passed the Electrinicity junction after dropping Ramesh. By the time I reached room it was 9.30 ... My Trip Meter read 269 kms . . This one was yet another awesome ride. The driving around narrow road under thick canopy of trees was simply amazing. All in all nice Bike and Coracle Ride and busy day out with nature….
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