Trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy betta & Chunchi falls

Amidst nature in Bilikal Rangaswamy betta and Chunchi falls

Excitement knew no bounds for me. This was going to be my first BTC trek. I had registered as soon as the registration mail popped in my inbox. Though I was enthusiastic, I was a little sceptical of trekking with 20+ new faces but soon I realised how wrong I was. These trekkers are the most amazing, jolly-going people with one common point-love for trekking and never once did they make me feel like a new-comer. We all assembled and reported to our organisers Amol and Dinesh Yadav at Shantala silk house and started our journey to one of the memorable days in my life.

And the journey begins……...

After crossing the city limits, to break the ice our organiser Dinesh Yadav began the introduction round. Being a first timer, I was called upon to the front first. I was asked to introduce myself by enacting my name (by playing dam-charades). Hats off to my acting skills, none of them were able to guess my name at first😉. By pulling our legs by deliberately not guessing our names and making fun of our acting our organiser got us all together by the end of our introductory session.

After filling our stomachs with hot idlis we soon reached the base. A panorama lined with green shrubs and elephant dung scaring me a little we started our exploratory trek.

Bilikal betta is around 70+ kilometres from Bangalore. One can reach the peak either by trekking or by vehicle. Preferring two feet over two wheels, we set off on foot through long meandering trails and pensive walks through the lush green territories all along the trail. This trek requires more of self-confidence than physical strength. The overcast conditions were perfect. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold with clouds hovering over us, lightly drizzling now and then, and cool breeze making it perfect for the trek.

Two village dogs had decided to accompany us sometimes leading and sometimes following us. After an hour climb with such fun-loving people we reached the hill-top. One can see the city of Kanakpura and surrounding hillocks from here. The view is captivating. All thanks to our photographers Amol, Sachin, Manish and Pralove who captured this breath-taking beauty and our wonderful moments.

Descending was quite easy and with our tummies filled with yummy home-made and packed food within an hour we were comfortably seated in our bus continuing our journey to the next awaited part of our day-The Chunchi falls. We had a gala time playing antakshari, singing songs from late 1980’s till recent ones during our short drive to Chunchi falls. River Arkavathy taking a leap at chunchi was pulling us to her. We started our trek, crossing a channel and defending towards the river. The falls has two cascades with little water in the main falls. 

After clicking some group pictures, not forgetting our signature “GO-PRO TAKE A PHOTO” sentence for every click we started towards the next falls. Wind speed was just right to intoxicate oneself with the mesmerising view. I sat down enjoying the cool breeze feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. After spending some quality time there we started back our trek. We stopped for a cup of chai and munched some snacks. We started our journey back. Kudos to Sowmya and others for their awesome dance steps. Thank you, Srikanth sir, for your superb belly dance. With my muscles cursing me a little, the day ended perfectly strangers becoming friends, giving me a lot of memories to remember. Thank you guys😊.

Written By     : Meghana Rajesh

Organized By : Amol & Dinesh Yadav

Date of event : 15th July, 2017

Place              : Kanakapura

Pictures          : BTC FB Page