16th July 2014, 20:42
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| Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Self & better half had popped down to Chennai on some family work. On the way back we stayed overnight at Vellore to see the Golden Temple. Next day morning we decided that we could squeeze in seeing the Hogenakkal falls before heading back to Bangalore. So in due course we landed up at the falls, parked our car and started walking to the main falls itself. It was then that we learnt that there had been heavy rains and flooding. The water had been so high that a lot of the railings on the pathways had been washed away and the falls had been closed. Luckily the falls had reopened the previous day. So without much ado here are some photos & videos:- The road to the falls passes through forest areas.  But the water tratement plant in the middle of the forest is an eye sore. Atleast they could have painted the roof green!  Before moving to the main photos & videos a google terrain map & some markups by me to enable all of you to get a hang of the layout. Pls. forgive my mouse-writing(even my school teachers used to say I need to improve my handwriting & "hum nahin sudre"  ). Needless to say I did not have this info when we actually visited the falls. The road side is where one parked the car. We crossed over on the suspension bridge to the side that is sort of an island between the main downstream gorge & the secondary gorge on the right. The close up photos & videos are of the waters falling into the secondary gorge. Some photos of the actual waterfalls. These were taken after crossing over to the other side using the suspension bridge.            The area where we crossed over, on the suspension bridge, was from where we took most of the photos & videos. It was almost dry. But presence of sand and pools of water indicated that at the peak of the flood the gorge must have completely flooded and water would have flown over the top of the gorge cliffs.  This is a shortcut to cross over back to the parking side, though you do need to take a boat ride further on! . Actually the boat ride is needed from the Oil Bath area to the parking side. The part of the river that we crossed by boat empties over the falls shown in the first few photos and flows into the secondary gorge.   The Coracle boat is made of split bamboo woven into a frame over which over some material and the tar is applied. Useful life is in months. When we crossed over a small part in the boat we could see the currents swirling all over the place. The round shape of the boat helps in that it is drag wise directionally neutral. We are used to having the boat move in the direction of the prow ( think this is the right word). But the coracles move in a crazy way. So you may be suddenly finding yourself going sideways but still heading to the destination. Total skill of the boatman and strong rowing strength. We did tip our guy generously over and above the fixed rate. There seems to be some sort of association that allocates rides so that all the boatmen get some business. Rates for various types of rides were also fixed. The Oil Bath area is a sort of raised area of rocks that are connected by cement walkways. Even with the high water one could walk around without wetting one's feet. In normal times people cone hear to have an oil massage & bathe in the flowing water. Hogenakkal is actually a series of falls. Most of them are on the upstream side and can be seen, close up, only by boat. We did not have time and the waters seemed too disturbed, so we did not even think of the boat rides in the main gorge, though they were offering boat rides downstream. Were content taking some long shots & videos. I have marked the point from where we took the long shots. There is a small watch tower which we climbed. I have used high zoom for many of the long shots.      The videos actually give a better idea of the intensity of the flow. So here goes:- These are the videos of the falls emptying into the secondary gorge:- In the last video above you could easily see the spray rising from the falls. "Hogenakkal" means "Smoking Rocks" and it lives up to its name. Now a video of us taking a short cut to the Oil Bath area. The water channel was a small flow that was emptying into the main gorge upstream. So depth of water was not much, but the current was pretty strong! At the end of the video you can see some Coracles lining up for the downstream rides. And our boat ride. I was clinging on with one hand so the video was pretty random and also not for the full ride. The second video shows the boat being taken for a fast side drift - if only we could do this with our cars!! This is a series of videos shot in the Oil bath area. Though one is standing on dry ground the sound & fury of a massive waterfall just a few feet away is a different experience! And then the video of the long shots of the distant falls:- The next day we went to Gaganchukki to see the state of the falls. Even though there had been ample rainfall in the area the flow was ok. This is mainly due to an upstream dam that acts like a buffer. The only consolation was that the water was milky white!       The next day we went to Jog Falls, but were disappointed as the flow was pathetic. And the day after that Gokak Falls turned out to be bone dry. So you could say it was a trip of diminishing falls!!. I am not posting any photos of these. This month end we are galavanting around the Malanad area so hopefully we will manage to catch some good falls this time. Will make that a separate post if anything worthwhile comes up. Last edited by sridhar-v : 18th July 2014 at 22:02. |
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21st July 2014, 15:04
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27th July 2014, 16:25
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| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hyderabad, India
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28th July 2014, 19:31
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| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Pune
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| Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
Day before yesterday I read that thre is a flood alert in Hogenekkal. We were driving down to Coimbatore from Krishnagiri day before yesterday and we took a deteour to have a look at Mettur dam Found the internal roads to be in good condition. Google maps is pretty accurate. Crosscheck with the online route facilty of MapmyIndia. Keek to State highways & you should be ok. And uncertainity of roads is part of the fun of travelling. The All India Road Atlas publised by Eicher and stste level maps by TTK are extremly accurate. On the road with a combo of these maps & a compass u can navigate almost anywhere even if GPS fails. Do go & see both the falls immediately as u will get best flows now. Hogenekkal may or not be open- try ur luck! | |
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28th July 2014, 19:52
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| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Pune
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28th July 2014, 20:34
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| Team-BHP Support  | Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
1. Hogenakkal-Biligundla-Anchetty-Hunasanahalli-Kodehalli-Kanakpura-Malavalli-Kollegal-Shivasamundara 2. Hogenakkal-Pennagaram-Mecheri-Mettur-MM Hills - Hanur - Kollegal - Shivasamundaram Both roads are equally scenic. While one goes more through TN the other goes more into KA. Sridhar, Cauvery surely was in flood mode. The colour of water is enough to prove that. Must have been ferocious. Last edited by ampere : 28th July 2014 at 20:36. | |
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29th July 2014, 09:27
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| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Pune
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| Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
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29th July 2014, 14:49
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| BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: HYDERABAD
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29th July 2014, 15:44
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| Team-BHP Support | Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
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2nd August 2014, 11:07
| #10 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Pune
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| Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
Quote:
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4th August 2014, 10:14
| #11 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hyderabad, India
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| Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
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4th August 2014, 10:31
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| Team-BHP Support | Re: Hogenakkal, just after the September 2013 floods Quote:
Some rough sections around MM Hills and on NH212 around T-Narasipura. I dont know the latest conditions on NH212. There is a plan to upgrade this section. | |
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