Early Morning Skandagiri Trek

In my opinion a well spent weekend would be when you skip out your daily routine and make something adventurous, momentous, absconding from sedentary lifestyle , finding yourself in nature etc.  This is how it happened…

Well this small writeup is all about an early morning trek and bike ride to Skandagiri Hills organized by Bangalore Trekking Club (BTC).  We (Chaitanya and team of 8 members) gathered at Hebbal, started introducing each other to reach minimal level of comfort zone.

                It was 4am in the morning, kick started our bikes heading towards Chikaballapura which is approximately 60 kms from Bangalore. The team led by Chaitanya safely reached the base point of Skandagiri at 5.15 am. Parked our bikes, locking helmets we approached forest department for seeking permission to trek. After getting approvals started our trekking activity at 5.30 am sharp switching on cameras, fitness trackers . Before elaborating on our trekking experience, let me add a small description about Skandagiri Hills as it is the main point of focus in this writeup.

Skandagiri is a beautiful hill, approximately 70kms away from Bangalore, off the Bellary Road, very close to Chikaballapura and Nandi Hills: the paragliding destination of Bangalore. The peak with an altitude of about 1400 meters, is a paradise for adventure freaks, and ideal for night treks, camping, and bird watching. There is a stone house structure at the top to rest. (Note : Currently night trek has been banned.) Its home to a hill fort by Tipu Sultan, weathered badly by nature and banyan trees. History tells that this small hill fort was surrendered to the British troops on 19 October 1791 and remained in The British hands until the peace treaty of 1792, which concluded the third Anglo-Mysore war. There are two caves, through the hill as told by locals – one starts from the base and another one somewhere midway, about 30 feet below, both leading to the temple at the top. Both remains unexplored yet and local people claim pythons in the caves swallowing their goats.  It is said that there are 6 Samadhis in the cave.

                               The hill looks simple, trust me it will make you to sweat even in a chilled weather.

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” – Henry David

Jumping back to our trek we started mountaineering in the misty morning. There was bit of hope for sunshine, assuming we could get some good snaps/group selfies at the peak. Climbing difficulty till the peak was at moderate level, it was totally rocky terrain surrounded sparse forest area with slippery surface at some area due to drizzling rain.

                               Energized Team almost at the top of hill

By the time we were trekking the drizzling rain had stopped, we kept hearing the chirping of tailor birds, magpie robin etc, those conspicuous insects, molluscs, lizards bypassing us. This scenario kept me reminding of kannada song (Bhavageete) “Ondu Munjavinali Tunturina Sone Male”.  The entire peak was covered with dense fog. Mother nature is always magnanimous towards human even though she is getting destroyed by humans directly or indirectly. She kept us as fresh as she is. Slow moving fog, the cool breeze, chirping of birds was booster packs for us energizing each and every moment even though we were lack of sleep last night. We reached the top by 7am. As I said early we were completely covered by dense fog. There was no sign of sunshine. It was an enthralling moment when we were blown out by gusty wind. It was increasingly onerous to hold out the selfie stick even for few seconds.

                                                After strenuous effort team posing for group selfie

We frequently kept changing places to get some good group selfies and we got some good snaps as per our expectations to make our trek most memorable and cherishing. Soon we got hunger alarm , at the same time fortunately we found a mantap which was having mildly burning campfire that helped us to come out of biting cold. We exchanged snacks and fruits to overcome our appetite.

Busy in relishing pre-packed food

We spent our time roaming all the places over the peak, savoured beauty of nature, photographing scenic nature. It was around 10.30am when we started to get off the hill. We finally reached the base point at 12.pm.

Final pose for the day saying good bye n see you again to the mighty peak

 Getting back on our bikes we halted at near by hotel on the highway savoured appetizing idly vada sambar, sipping hot coffee /tea heading back towards Bangalore. This writeup wouldn’t be complete if we don’t thank our organizer Chaitanya and Sushma for organizing a well-disciplined event that was ended blissfully without any hiccups. Thanks Chaitanya and Sushma 😊

Written By     : Madhusudhan
Organized By : Sushma & Chaitanya
Date of Event: 8-Jul-2018
Place            : Chikballapura