30 Jan 2008

Dudhsagar waterfalls

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 19
26 January 2008
About Dudhsagar falls:
Dudhsagar is a waterfall in the Karnataka Goa border. It is on the train route connecting Londa in Karnataka to Vasco in Goa. It can be approached either from Kulem in Goa or from Castle Rock in Karnataka.

YHAI Bangalore had organized a trek to Dudhsagar water falls. The plan was to trek to the falls from Castle Rock railway station in Karnataka. I was thinking about this falls for a long time, so decided to join the trek.

Fourteen of us(Aravind, Chandru, Hemanth, Jawahar, Naman, Neetha, Padmaja, Pavan, Rajesh, Sanjay, Sanjitha, Srinivas, Swetha, Vani) started from Bangalore on Friday evening on a Tempo Traveler. It was a tiring journey, one reason was the long distance to Castle Rock from Bangalore and other was the incomplete stretch of Golden Quadrilateral from Chitradurga to Haveri. I could not get much sleep till we crossed Haveri sometime after midnight.

We were in Castle Rock railway station at 8 in the morning. It is a very small town and only residents of the town were the families of railway employees. When we reached the town, railway employees and students had just hoisted National flag on occasion of Republic day and were distributing sweets. Srinivas, from YHAI Sandur joined us here.


After having our breakfast, we started our trek at 9:30AM. We were bit unsure of the distance from Castle Rock to Dudhsagar falls. We asked different people in the station and the answer varied from 12 kms to 22 kms.

The Brazanga ghat track starts from Castle Rock. The distances were properly marked all along the route. The Castle Rock station was marked at 25/000. Within few minutes we were walking on the tracks surrounded by dense forests. It brought back my memories of similar trek done on the Sakleshpur ghat. But unlike Sakleshpur track we were not alone here. This is a busy route with many trains running and we could find trolley men all along the route. Also, the bridges and tunnels are not scary while there were lot of “killer” bridges in Sakleshpur track.
We found a nice little waterfall next to the track. That was after the second tunnel. Chennai Vasco train passed at that point.

After five km of walking (at 29/900) just before the fourth tunnel, we crossed into Goa.
In another 30 minutes, we reached Caranzol railway station (31/200). A goods train was waiting for signal at this station. The station master told that a train was expected shortly and we could take that train to Dudhsagar. When we said that we had come to walk along the track, he told us that we were crazy. But anyway, he was a nice gentleman and told us that we need to walk another 8 km for the falls.
We resumed our walking after resting for 30 minutes in the station. We had walked for couple of kms, Amaravathi express passed ahead of us. We could see the train passing through tunnels and bridges for a long distance.
It was 1:30 in the noon when we reached Dudhsagar railway station (marked at 38/000).

The falls was still one more km downwards. We crossed tunnel 11, which was the last tunnel before the falls. We could see Dudhsagar falls immediately after crossing the tunnel.

Dudhsagar falls is exactly at 39/000 marking, we had trekked for 14 kms from Castle Rock. The view of the falls came as a relief to us. The railway bridge passes through the middle of the falls. The amount of water was less but is expected at this time of the year. The falls had formed a small pool at the base which was an ideal place for swimming.
There was lot of people near the falls. We were the only ones who had taken the trouble of walking while others had either come on train or Jeep (available from Goa side). We could see lot of foreigners at the base of the falls below the railway bridge.
Few people in our group attempted climbing to the top of the falls. It was quite scary on the rocks and I did not even think of trying it.

We had our lunch at the falls and by 4:30PM started our return journey. This time we decided to board the train at Dudhsagar railway station. The Vasco Nizamuddin train arrived at 5:30PM. We boarded the train but without tickets!! Trains officially do not stop at Dudhsagar railway station and tickets are not issued there. The guard at the station had told us not to worry about the tickets. We faced some anxious moments when TC came to us but were relived when he ignored us!! The return journey to Castle Rock just took 30 minutes.
How to reach Castle Rock railway station:Castle Rock is a difficult place to reach. From Bangalore, trains going to Vasco stops at Castle Rock railway station. There are no buses to Castle Rock. Buses stop at the Castle Rock deviation on NH 4A (Belgaum to Goa route) after the small town of Ramnagar. From here the railway station is 6 kms.To be continued…..

19 Responses

  3. Vivek
    | Reply

    Hi I am also member of YHAI and the person with whom I use to be in contact is associated with YHAI Vijaynagar unit. About the trekkings you have mentioned in your blog I feel are never been conducted by this branch of YHAI. Can you pls tell me which branch of YHAI u are associated with so that I can also join the treks being organized..Please post me a mail regarding this whenever you are free at vk.aries@gmail.com

  8. Roger G
    | Reply

    Nice Shots. These remind me of some of the places in the hill country of Sri Lanka.

  9. Kanika
    | Reply

    We are planning for this place in mid January. Can u guys suggest whether it is a right time to visit this place or not?

  10. MOoONYDANCER
    | Reply

    finally some info about Castlerock! we crossed it on our way to goa from calcutta..the place is so beautiful that i have been dreaming of going back there for the past two years!! good info here…will help me in my trek there 🙂

  13. satish
    | Reply

    Hi All,

    I am planning to visit dudhsagar falls in october month. Is it the best time to visit it?. I am planning to do trek. If we go by vehicle is it possible to do the trek from castle rock. Please guid me.

    Satish Kumar P.

  14. Aravind GJ
    | Reply

    Satish,
    October is a good month as the monsoons are delayed this year.

    You can keep your vehicle at castle Rock railway station and trek.

  15. Claustrophobe
    | Reply

    Hi Arvind,

    I would be visiting Dudhsagar soon. And your post is a nice guide for me. I want to reach the spot from where you can see the train in the foreground with the falls in the background. Could you let me know how to reach that spot whether from Goa or from Karnataka?

    Thanks

  16. Dr Mrs Aparadh
    | Reply

    Hi, I am planning to visit Dudhsagar Water Falls this July. Could you tell me whether Goa Express actually halts at Dudhsagar Station or whether it just slows down ? Is there a possibility that the train will go without picking you up ?

  17. dimpy roy
    | Reply

    Nice one. Thanks for sharing these pictures. The wealthiest state in India, Maharashtra (State of Maharashtra) is a travellers' paradise given the plethora of attractions it possess, both popular and offbeat. The rich cultural and religious diversity of the state reflects the deep embedded integrity. Check out all waterfalls in Maharashtra also.

  19. Ashwin
    | Reply

    Fabulous post!! its really an wonderful place to visit. Enjoyed reading this blog. Thanks for sharing this lovely post with beautiful information in this blog. Planning for your trip? then book your bus tickets in Konduskar Travels.

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