[procrj]

Originally Posted by satran

Is it worth to visit Jog falls now.

Not really, dam gates are closed and only 6K cusecs of outflow. Not worth driving all the way if Jog is your primary target, but there are enough interesting places around jog which you can visit and make it an interesting weekend.

[narayanang76]

Originally Posted by satran

Is it worth to visit Jog falls now.

Had this same question about it now since we are hearing heavy rains throughout

Was planning a week end drive and thinking of:

Onward:
Bangalore to Sharavathi Adventure Camp by JLR (Jog Falls)
Route: BLR - Tumkur - Hiriyur - Tarikere - Bhadravathi - Shivamoga - Ayanur - Sagar - Sharavathi JLR (Google is showing 421 KMs and 9 hrs drive)

Return: Kollur Mookambika Temple to Bangalore
Route: Kollur - Hosanagar - Ayanur - Shivamoga - Channagiri - Chitradurga - Hiriyur - Tumkur - BLR (Google is showing 440 kms and 9:20 hrs drive)

Question to this route experts:
1) On return, should I take the Shivamoga - Bhadravathi - Tarikere - Hiriyur - Tumkur route instead of google suggestion Shivamoga - Channagiri - Chitradurga - Hiriyur - Tumkur?
2) Any issues on this said route due to recent heavy rains?
3) Any suggestions/recommendations?

Cheers,
narayanang76

[procrj]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Had this same question about it now since we are hearing heavy rains throughout

Not translating to outflows from the dam, hence there wont be a lot of water in Jog.

Bangalore to Sharavathi Adventure Camp by JLR (Jog Falls)
Route: BLR - Tumkur - Hiriyur - Tarikere - Bhadravathi - Shivamoga - Ayanur - Sagar - Sharavathi JLR (Google is showing 421 KMs and 9 hrs drive)

9hrs is google estimate.If you are planning an early morning start, this is easily doable in ~6.5 hours of driving time.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Question to this route experts:
1) On return, should I take the Shivamoga - Bhadravathi - Tarikere - Hiriyur - Tumkur route instead of google suggestion Shivamoga - Channagiri - Chitradurga - Hiriyur - Tumkur?

Stick to Hiriyur route please. I had to drive to Shikaripura and back on last Sunday and I have posted the below updates in the relevant thread.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Bangalore - Chitradurga - Holalkere - Channagiri - Holehonnur - Shivamogga - Shikaripura:

• Roads soon after you take left for Holalkere after Chitradurga are in bad shape with deep potholes and broken sections
• The roads get fantastically better soon after you are out of Chitradurga Municipal limits and hit the NH corridor on the outskirts
• The roads remain excellent and fast all the way till Holehonnur except when you are driving in town/village limits of Holalkere, Channagiri, Holehonnur. The sections of roads when you are crossing these towns are rough but still easily manageable
• Roads post Holehonnur all the way till you hit the municipal limits of Shivamogga town remain in bad shape and this is for 13 Km
  Shivamogga town to Shikaripura is excellent all the way

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Question to this route experts:
1) On return, should I take the Shivamoga - Bhadravathi - Tarikere - Hiriyur - Tumkur route instead of google suggestion Shivamoga - Channagiri - Chitradurga - Hiriyur - Tumkur?
2) Any issues on this said route due to recent heavy rains?
3) Any suggestions/recommendations?

As Parag said above, stick to Tarikere-Hiriyur (SH24) option.

I took the Shivamoga-Channagiri-Chitradurga road in one my drives in September, and regretted taking that road. It is good in patches, but then horrible in many patches too. Overall I faced few big potholes, narrow bridges, and badly broken roads in some sections (although many sections are very good too).

On the other hand, Tarikere-Hririyur is an awesome road. I just took that road this Sunday in my latest drive, and loved that road. Even there, the last few km on the "TH Road" before that joins NH48 near Hiriyur are bad. But the trick there is to take a small diversion on Vani Vilas Sagara road, and take that road to join NH48. Basically set your Google Maps navigation to Vani Vilas Sagara dam and take that road as a diversion. That is a smooth and scenic road.

Further, note that NH48 from Sira to Tumkur is in very bad shape. This section has lot of big potholes sprinkled all over the road and can catch you by surprise when you are driving fast on the otherwise smooth road. You have to slow down in this section and be very careful to avoid crashing into these potholes at high speed.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Further, note that NH48 between Sira to Tumkur is in very bad shape.

Doc, I think you are referring to the entire Tumkur bypass that starts on the outskirts near the Industrial area on one end till the Khyatasandra toll? Tumkur bypass end to Sira was definitely good except may be one or two places where top surface had come off and had developed into small potholes but still nothing that I noticed was worrying. This was really shocking for me when I drove on Sunday and I can say that this has to be the worst section of the entire NH that passes through Karnataka. They had patched up this road quite badly when I drove to back from Aurangabad last month but it has hardly been 2 weeks that the condition has gone to dogs that I had to report this as a separate paragraph highlighting only the Tumkur bypass:

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Tumkur Bypass is back to its worst:

When I drove to Goa and Aurangabad in Oct, the bypass had developed potholes. The potholes were patched up to an acceptable extent in subsequent weeks. However, when I drove last weekend I realised that the Tumkur bypass can be tagged as the worst stretch in the entire journey. The potholes are on all 3 lanes, remain consistent with size and number throughout the bypass and during peak hours it results in a lot of dust thrown around as vehicles pass over them. It is high time that this section gets repaired though I have always found the bypass for Tumkur to be average even in its best state because of the quality of roads bypassing other towns. Guess this has to do with the fact that this bypass is maintained by Tumkur municipality and not NHAI.

There is absolutely no way that one can avoid potholes here if driven during the day due to traffic in all 3 lanes. However, you can keep switching lanes only if you are passing this section very early or late at night. Even the trucks were having a hard time to negotiate the bypass and were seen swerving left to right to avoid the potholes. Overall, a very pathetic state of Tumkur bypass.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Doc, I think you are referring to the entire Tumkur bypass that starts on the outskirts near the Industrial area on one end till the Khyatasandra toll?

Yes! I am referring to the same section, and your observations are spot on!

I had a similar experience as yours. This is my usual road and although the potholes have always been there since last 2.5 years (that I can think of), they were manageable. Also recently they had repaired the potholes to a large extent.

However, I was in for a shock when I drove there this Sunday. Suddenly the condition has deteriorated so badly. The road was a mess. To make the matters worse, now there are new potholes just before one reaches Sira from Hiriyur side (I was driving in the Southward direction from Hiriyur to Bangalore). And these new potholes are huge, and to make them even deadlier, they appear suddenly without any hint in otherwise smooth 6-lane road. These could catch a driver by surprise and cause a nasty damage if one hits them at high speed.

That is just before Sira. After Sira, all the way from Sira to Tumkur, it is much worse with continuous, non-avoidable potholes in all three lanes as you mentioned.

There is absolutely no way that one can avoid potholes here if driven during the day due to traffic in all 3 lanes.

Absolutely agree. You summarized it well. I drove this stretch Sunday around 3pm, and all three lanes were full with trucks and slow moving vehicles trying to avoid these potholes. I had no option but to slowly keep driving through these potholes. Changing lanes was not an option (and was of no use since all lanes had these potholes). This section was undoubtedly the worst experience of my otherwise enjoyable weekend drive through Chikmagalur area :-)

[narayanang76]

Originally Posted by procrj

Not translating to outflows from the dam, hence there wont be a lot of water in Jog.
Attachment 2235969

Thank you. I did my first visit to Jog Falls during the last weekend and it was awesome experience. Saw both Front and side view of the falls and it was awesome. Even though water was not that much, we really loved watching and hearing the falls as-is.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Stick to Hiriyur route please.

Thanks for this suggestion, I came back via Hiriyur (return start was from Kollur) and took the Hiriyur - Sira - Tumkur - Bangalore route even though Google maps was showing alternater options.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

As Parag said above, stick to Tarikere-Hiriyur (SH24) option.

Further, note that NH48 from Sira to Tumkur is in very bad shape. This section has lot of big potholes sprinkled all over the road and can catch you by surprise when you are driving fast on the otherwise smooth road. You have to slow down in this section and be very careful to avoid crashing into these potholes at high speed.

Thank you. I experienced this yesterday and the section of Sira to Tumkur was the worst part of the entire route I took from Kollur to Bangalore. The entire Sira-Tumkur stretch was so bad, but since I was already aware about this from your updates, I was expecting it and was able to manage it better, mostly staying to the extreme left lane on the Sira to Tumkur stretch. Really surprised immediately after the toll, the road becomes better again.

Thanks everyone for suggestions and sharing your experiences, really helped me to do this trip mush easily and better.

regards,
narayanang76

[UMe]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Had this same question about it now since we are hearing heavy rains throughout

Unless you are a VIP you are not likely to witness full glory of the jog fall at this time of the year

This partially answers your question here:

[munishsurendra]

Originally Posted by UMe

Unless you are a VIP you are not likely to witness full glory of the jog fall at this time of the year

This partially answers your question here:

Anyone any idea of any VVIP visiting for Dec

Well,since am having plans to visit Bhadravati next weekend with family, so thought will visit Jog falls as well.

Is December it a good time to visit?

[kiran_aithal]

Visited Siddapur over the last couple of days. However, chose to stay near Jog falls for one day (did not visit the falls though).

Took the Bangalore - Ranebennur bypass - left turn to Halageri - Hirekerur - Shiralakoppa - Soraba - Siddapur - Jog falls. Same route on the way back.

Bangalore to Ranebennur is usual Bangalore - Mumbai highway: Good, wide roads from Tumkur to Ranebennur (only one diversion post Davangere)
Potholes on the Tumkur- Sira section have been patched to a large extent and many stretches of Tumkur bypass was getting a fresh layer of asphalt. However, sudden pothole surprises do still exist.
Ranebennur bypass to Halageri is a very good single carriage way, state tolled (only cash, no fastag) road all the way up to Kod. Post which, its a mixture of very good, good and few bad stretches.
Tough a little circuitous, this route totally avoided the Arasikere, Bhadravathi, Shivamogga route

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by kiran_aithal

Took the Bangalore - Ranebennur bypass - left turn to Halageri - Hirekerur - Shiralakoppa - Soraba - Siddapur - Jog falls. Same route on the way back.

Ranebennur bypass to Halageri is a very good single carriage way, state tolled (only cash, no fastag) road all the way up to Kod. Post which, its a mixture of very good, good and few bad stretches.
Tough a little circuitous, this route totally avoided the Arasikere, Bhadravathi, Shivamogga route

Thank you very much for sharing your experience about this road.

Soon a few of us are driving down to Honnavar, and I was thinking of taking this road. The advantage, as you mentioned it, is that this avoids the Bhadravathi and Shimoga towns.

We will be driving sedans with low GC. Will this road be OK for sedans with low GC. Some bad sections are acceptable (and inevitable when we drive in rural parts), but hopefully there are no major bad sections where a sedan would struggle. Would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks in advance!

[kiran_aithal]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

We will be driving sedans with low GC. Will this road be OK for sedans with low GC.

It is OK for low GCs too. The road, all the way until Jog falls is in fairly good condition barring a couple of small patches of road construction work. There are few road humps in towns that you cross, but nothing of monstrous proportions.

If I may suggest (and if you have time), try the Jog - Bhatkal road. It passes thru the reserve forest with minimal/no traffic and has some amazing views and greenery. From Bhatkal, you can travel north to Honnavar via Murdeshwar.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by kiran_aithal

It is OK for low GCs too. The road, all the way until Jog falls is in fairly good condition barring a couple of small patches of road construction work. There are few road humps in towns that you cross, but nothing of monstrous proportions.

If I may suggest (and if you have time), try the Jog - Bhatkal road. It passes thru the reserve forest with minimal/no traffic and has some amazing views and greenery. From Bhatkal, you can travel north to Honnavar via Murdeshwar.

This is great information! Thank you very much for this information.

Maybe we will take the "regular" Jog-Honnvar road (NH69) one way and then this Bhatkal road (this looks like State Highway 50) the other way, and complete the loop. That will be a nice experience.

Thanks again for the tips and the information.

[evinay]

Bhatkal to Jog road is very scenic indeed. The roads are narrow and visibility would be challenging in rain. But nothing to worry if you take it slow and steady.
Do check out Bheemeshwara temple and falls on the way. Its about a kilometer from the main road. You would have to park your vehicle next to bus stop on main road and either trek or hire a 4x4 there.

https://goo.gl/maps/TpVjHqsgCY4vc8kS6