Devkar falls / Vajra falls

Devkar falls was in my list since long time. Due to various reasons, I was not able to make it. Started my internet search about this for latest info/routes. Understood that there are 2 routes to reach, one is via Karwar-Kadra side to reach Devkar village and the second route was via village Eerapura.

Devkar falls is also called Vajra falls or Kanoor falls. Devkar villagers are rehabilitated else where and this make it quite difficult to visit Devkar village from Kadra side.

I took night bus Rajahamsa bus from Mysore to Sirsi. After morning fresh up, started bike drive towards Yellapura.

It was very cold and foggy too.

Had break fast at Shanbagh restaurant, packed food for the day and started towards village Eerapura. Reached around 10am and started to find any guide. Roamed near School, near by houses but all were busy with their work. Time was rolling and I started doubt if I can make it!!!

I went to one house (Bhattra mane) which turned into be motivating one. He was very happy to hear from me, about my interest and took me to another place near by to find any people. Senior villagers were advising that Bende ghatta route is very far and too time consuming. Bhattru had heard that some trekkers have made descent from Kanoor side. After about 30min of discussions and wait, I finally got a person who was from Devkar village but settled here. He has not seen the place but understood the directions given by others. Soon, we started towards Kanoor village.

Sign board on SH6 after Basal village

Took SH6, just after village Basal we see this sign board.

Quickly we reached the parking point, where our vehicle comfort ended and the real test begun.

We walked few minutes, reached the river and few meters away was the mighty fall of about 200m. View was amazing with lush green Kali river valleys. While I was busy taking snaps, guide was planning for the route.

Water rushing to fall

View of Upper section

We didnt waste much time on top and started our descent at 12:30pm.

There was walking trail for some distance and it disappeared. Dense forest was dry and sun was unable to touch the ground.

Entire descent was full of slippery path, we held small plants, rocks, trees for our support along our way.

After 1hour of walk, we were able to hear water sound. The final stretch was like slide.

View of vertical fall and downstream

At last, we reached river at 2:30pm and could see distant Devkar falls. We quenched our thirst and had lunch.

We went towards the fall to get good photos and enjoyed serene nature. Voice of birds, water was very relaxing.

Devkar falls / Vajra falls

Route map of our Trek

Close view of upper section

Our guide wanted to try other faster route.

We had descended along the way shown in Yellow arrow mark in the picture.

He planned towards West direction. At 3:30pm, we started ascent in the direction shown in Red arrow mark. We walked almost about 1hr and were hit by huge rocks. Guide tried a lot of alternates but could not go ahead.

As we were losing time, we descended back to river to take back the same route. I was tired due to this challenging terrain. Having small snacks break, we started our ascent at 5:30pm.

Snap of our  trek in darkness

Guide was alerting about darkness and we should touch the mountain top before dark. I was already exhausted but pressurised myself to make small moves to keep the ascent continuous. With great difficulty and lot of stops, I managed to reach top mountain. By this time, darkess had already captured and we could not find our path.

It was mere direction sense of our guide, we switched on our mobile lights and walked in darkness. We came to a small stream which had little water, quickly quenched our thirst. We guessed that this stream would join the main river and so we followed the stream. There were lot of obstacles to stream path, we went around trees to come back to stream. Finally at 7:15pm, stream crossed a small walking trail. We soon realised this was our path. Thanked god and took the trail to reach parking place.

We soon reached SH6 and by 8pm we were at the village. By this time, villagers were worried about us and seeing us, they felt relaxed. Thanked villagers, stayed at Bhattru mane and took rest. Devkar falls challenging terrain trek was fruitful and gave good memories.

Kali river valley

Bhattru mane was awesome, thanked him and started my journey back.

Took night journey and back to Mysore with lot of photos, and memories about Devkar.

Summary:
Devkar falls is really Trekkers paradise. Medium to Hard trek.

Heard from villagers that Devkar village is almost vacated. Not sure about the way from Karwar-Kadra side.

Trail from Eerapura - Bende ghatta is long route and may be possible with help of guide.

This route which I took, is impossible during rainy and post rainy season, possible during dry seasons. Has to be planned with guide as there are no marked routes.

Happy and safe trek.