Skandagiri:
A famous hill known for its night trek and breathtaking views, an awesome trek which every one should go at least once in their lifetime. The Hillock stands at 1.3km above sea level with cloud cover almost all the time(all the times i was there,the hill was covered with clouds). Plan well before the trek.
Bus route:
Hebbal>Yelahanka police station>Chikaballapur(Only Private buses are available)>Chikaballapur>Skandagiri(only autos are available at night)
Things to carry:
Route to Skandagiri:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
Route 2: Thorugh the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
Planning:
Mistake 1: We had no freaking clue that the climb would be tough,painful and demanding. So without any preparations we carried hardly 2.5 litres of water with and no food and we were 5 guys so you can imagine how we were going to pay for this mistake.
A famous hill known for its night trek and breathtaking views, an awesome trek which every one should go at least once in their lifetime. The Hillock stands at 1.3km above sea level with cloud cover almost all the time(all the times i was there,the hill was covered with clouds). Plan well before the trek.
Bus route:
Hebbal>Yelahanka police station>Chikaballapur(Only Private buses are available)>Chikaballapur>Skandagiri(only autos are available at night)
Things to carry:
- 1.5 litres of water per person nothing lesser(VERY IMPORTANT)
- Sufficient amount of snacks like bread-jam,Kur-Kure,Biscuits..etc(You can buy this at the bakery near the Yelahanka Poilice Station Bus Stop)
- Good Thermal wear(Sweater,Jerkin,Cardigan,etc..)
- Blanket to cover yourself from the cold winds once you reach the top
- A good torch light(i would advise the LED EVEREADY torch light Rs.120 which is very powerful)
- Coolers to cover your eyes from the blazing Sun when you climb down
- Cotton to cover your ears from the cold,this was very helpful on my 2nd Skandagiri Trip.
- Good Sturdy Canvas Shoes pls do not wear Sneakers
- A small knife(just in case you need it)
- A lighter and kerosene to start your own bonfire(you can collect dry sticks as you climb up)
- A sleeping bag if you need one http://www.rentongo.com/ProductDetails.php?prodno=185&pg=Adventure%20Gear&pgg=68
Route to Skandagiri:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
Route 2: Thorugh the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
Planning:
This was my worst planned trek ever and my very first night trek. I had been hearing about this from all my friends in college and since i was obsessed with trekking i really wanted to try this Night Trek which was completely new and kinda scary.
Anyways my friends from Coimbatore(Tamil Nadu) had come to Bangalore and even they were interested in the trek when i talked to them about it. So we were having dinner at Sukh Saagar(kamanahalli) and suddenly i said"Let's go for the Night Trek today". Every1 look surprised but then eventually agreed after a little talk because they were leaving in two days to Coimbatore. Btw the number of people in this trek was four including me they are:
1.Dinesh
2. Gowtham
3. Maheen(ME!!)
4.Maria Pradeep(he is a guy..dont get confused by his first name..)
oh shit i forgot there was one more guy
5. Althaf
So anyways after calling up my friends in college and asking directions on how to reach Skandagiri we were getting ready to go. From here on we will make so many mistakes which we would come to regret and suffer as a consequence.
Mistake 1: We had no freaking clue that the climb would be tough,painful and demanding. So without any preparations we carried hardly 2.5 litres of water with and no food and we were 5 guys so you can imagine how we were going to pay for this mistake.
So after preparing our backpacks(we did remember to take torches though :-) ..) we were at Hennur bus stop at around 9:45 pm. We took a 500D VOLVO to HEBBAL and from there we took another bus to YELAHANKA POLICE STATION(that is is the name of the stop). The friend i had contacted had no clue what to do after this cause he had forgotten how he reached Skandagire. So after a lot of asking around and calling other guys i came to know that i need to reach a village called CHIKBALLAPUR.
"Reach chikabalapur??? how the hell are we supposed to there??"... thats what Gowtham asked me as we were standing at YELAHANKA POLICE STATION at 10:45. Then thanks to our luck an auto-rickshaw driver came to our rescue by telling us that there were private buses which would take us to our destination and that the bus stopped just next to the YELAHANKA POLICE STATION bus stop.
Mistake 2:Behind the bus stop there was a bakery where my friend Althaf went to get a packet GLUCON-D glucose powder stating that it would give us energy as we climb. Now this not a mistake but it never crossed our minds to buy food or water from the bakery which was a blunder.
So we waited for the bus to come and after about 10 minutes we got a bus to chikballapur. It was a one hour journey and the ticket cost was about 50 bucks.
Mistake 3: We should have just shut our mouths and slept through that one hour but sadly one of us(i am not sure who) started a conversation with one of the localities in the bus and that guy started scaring us,saying that the trek was very dangerous and that there we were bears(LOL!!) and a lotta bullshit. So now around 11 in the night we were travelling to place which none of us had any idea about and we were shit scared!!!.
Then i firmly told every1 that we cannot go back home at around 1 am in the night as my MOM WOULD KILL ME and also that WE WOULD CLIMB SKANDAGIRI no matter what. So after all this the bus dropped us off at chikballapur at around 12:00 .
The town was empty and we had no clue what to do or how to reach the foothills of Skandagiri. We all looked at each other in surprise as we had no idea what to do and frankly we were all pretty scared. Then in the distance we saw an auto so we went there and luckily the auto driver knew everything and also told us that he had just dropped off other guys for the night trek.It was so good to hear that we had company.The journey from the village to the foothills of SKANDAGIRI set us back 150Rs. The auto driver dropped us at the foothills and helped us located GUIDES for the trek. The guides were all from Andhra Pradesh and luckily Gowtham could talk Telugu.
Mistake 4: We had no clue how much we should actually pay the guide or how the long the trek was. going to take.After much arguing in Telugu we finally settled on 500Rs. for taking us up and down, which did not seem too bad a deal. So our mistake was trusting the guide(BIG MISTAKE).
So finally at around 12:30 we started our trek. Now as i will come to know later there are two ways to climb Skandagiri:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
Route 2: Thorugh the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
1:00 am
The stupid guide took us through route 2. So we started climbing and in about half an hour we had ascended a pretty good distance and the view of the city lights was beautiful. Althaf, who was pretty good at taking photographs started taking a few pics(which i upload later). So after all the photos and everything we started climbing again. Gowtham was conversing with the guide in Telugu and informed us that the guide's brother was up and that we can get Maggi Noodles and water at a discount( YA Right!!!)
Now the climb started getting to us we were tired and weak and we had only one bottle of water left which we took in sips to compensate for the whole trek and on top of that we had to give water to the guide as well.
2:00 am
We were still climbing the never ending hill and we tired, in pain(from all the small bruises and scratches) and mainly LACK OF WATER. Our throats were parched and we started regretting our foolishness for the lack of water. Anyways we went forward and there were places which was just plain rock and we had to climb on all fours,one small mistake and we would sliding down to our deaths. We were basically shit scared about how we were going to come down this treacherous path.
2:45 am
We were all so tired that we had to take rest for every 10 mins and the decreasing temperature was not helping at all. So finally after much struggle we reached the top. It was covered in Fog and it was beautiful.
The whole place was bustling with people. Must have been around 40 people there. the guide then took us to the dilapidated temple were they were cooking something. The rates quoted were as follows:
Water: 50Rs for a litre
Noodles: 30Rs for one small plate
Bread omelette: 30Rs
So much for the discount....
We could not believe that we had to pay 50Rs for water because of our stupidity but we did as we were really thirsty and later we bought everything on the menu because we forgot to pack food. After all this we paid the guide the 500Rs.( Big Mistake!!!). The peak of the hill was beautiful with all the fog and cold wind which was hurting our ears. Every1 was tired,cold and still hungry and then we arranged for bonfire from the same guys for around 250Rs(I am not sure). The fire was good and warm but the kerosene fumes was hurting our eyes and it looked like every1 was crying(LOL!!!).Then we took refuge inside the temple and slept very uncomfortably for about an hour. Some of us slept near the bonfire too.
5:00am
Time to get up and get ready for the sunrise or so we thought. The fog was still thick so we could only see the clouds below us which was a BREATHTAKING VIEW and was worth all the trouble.The view all around was awesome(We sadly did not take so many pics though). There is one place in Skandagiri were the wind so fierce and cold that it would literally blow you off but it was Awesome.
6:00 am
By now it was very clear that the sun rise was not going to be visible through the thick fog so we started clicking photos at various points around the hill and started getting ready for the trek down.
6:20 am
The sun was up but we could only see the sun rays and then we decided to climb down as it was getting late. As we were searching for our guide we came to realise that our guide had scammed us and had gone down with another group and left us alone.We had no idea how to get down and were clearly not ready to go down the path we came up cause it was just rock and we assumed we could not go down that way. So we followed some random people and went down the muddy path which was filled with vegetation in few places. The climb down took a toll on our legs and ankles and we were tired as hell by the time we reached down.
7:30 am
Finally after all that trouble we were down, i actually kissed the ground once we reached the foothills. We were so happy that we reached down only with a few cuts and bruises and thought that all our troubles were over(Ya Right!!!). So after taking a good 20 mins of rest we started walking back to the town to get an auto-rickshaw. We could not find a single auto or any one who gave us a lift to the town. So we walked all the way from the foothills till the bus stop which was a good 7-8 kilo meters which is not a lot but after climbing up and down a hill it was FREAKING EXCRUCIATING!!!!. The locals just refused to stop their vehicles and give a lift us,only god knows why they hated us so much.At one point me and Gowtham removed our shoes and sat down on a slab of rock near the road refusing to walk because we just could not but Dinesh and Maria forged on relentlessly. Looking at these two Althaf forced both of us to get up and walk,he encouraged us to walk till the bus stop telling that it was just a few mins away.
9:00
Finally after a lot of sitting down and resting and walking with our sore foot we finally made it the bus stop. and got a bus to Hebbal(Bangalore) which was around 50Rs. All of us were so tired that we slept through our whole one of journey. To me it was like i closed my eyes and then when i opened it we were in Hebbal, it was by far the deepest sleep i had ever experienced.
11:30
Once we reached Hebbal we hired an auto to take us home cause we were too tired for another bus journey. In the midst of all this i caught of glimpse of all our reflection in of the mirrors and trust me we looked like beggars(LOL!!!). In the auto Maria said that he would never trek again in his entire life. Little did he know how his words would change the next morning.So finally we reached home,my mom could not believe her eyes after looking at us. Anyways after having a good bath and lunch, each of us slept straight for a good 9 hours. The next Althaf said," Bro.. that was one of the best Trips ever in my life and we should do something like this again". All of us agreed that even though we struggled so much the whole trip was one AWESOME EXPERIENCE that we would never forget and Skandagiri was just AWESOME with it's breathtaking views and ever present clod ever.
Pics
Enjoy!!
Conclusion
The trip was one of the best i have ever had and it was just Awesome, so awesome that i would go to Skandagiri 2 more times with my college friends and learn to like it even more. Now for some tips and pointers so that you guys don't suffer as much as us.
Bus route:
Hebbal>Yelahanka police station>Chikaballapur(Only Private buses are available)>Chikaballapur>Skandagiri(only autos are available at night)
Trek route:
My advise to you guys is DO NOT HIRE A GUIDE, the trek is pretty simple if you follow the route i tell you(the route i took in my 2nd and 3rd trip to skandagiri)
Climbing up:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
The auto driver will mostly drop you off at a temple if not ask him to drop you off there or tell him to at least show which way it is. Once you reach the temple, on the right side of the temple there will be a path heading inwards take that path. Keep walking forward until you find this rock( Saying "TO HILLS")
Walk a little further after this and keep looking for another rock on your left(The rock is small so look for it properly). Even on that it will be written "Way to hills". The sign is a little misleading but anyways what you gotta do is locate this sign and then find a path near it leading upwards. This path is covered with small rocks and it becomes obvious that you are in the right path. Make sure you find this rock before you start climbing up or you are pretty much lost. After that just keep climbing up and u will eventually reach the top.
Climbing Down:
Route 2: Through the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
You can find this route if you walk down from the peak and walk until you find a wall like structure(Man made wall with bricks) which you have got to climb down. After finding this it is pretty much easy cause you just got keep going down until you reach the bottom. But watch out cause at places you have to sit down and slide on you back(So wear a good Jeans pant). But this route is the best for climbing down.
Anyways hope i could help and you can always post your questions if you have any doubts; i will reply ASAP. Happy trekking!!! I will post about my more successful Skandagiri and Kabbaladurga treks as and when i get time.
Mistake 4: We had no clue how much we should actually pay the guide or how the long the trek was. going to take.After much arguing in Telugu we finally settled on 500Rs. for taking us up and down, which did not seem too bad a deal. So our mistake was trusting the guide(BIG MISTAKE).
So finally at around 12:30 we started our trek. Now as i will come to know later there are two ways to climb Skandagiri:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
Route 2: Thorugh the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
1:00 am
The stupid guide took us through route 2. So we started climbing and in about half an hour we had ascended a pretty good distance and the view of the city lights was beautiful. Althaf, who was pretty good at taking photographs started taking a few pics(which i upload later). So after all the photos and everything we started climbing again. Gowtham was conversing with the guide in Telugu and informed us that the guide's brother was up and that we can get Maggi Noodles and water at a discount( YA Right!!!)
Now the climb started getting to us we were tired and weak and we had only one bottle of water left which we took in sips to compensate for the whole trek and on top of that we had to give water to the guide as well.
2:00 am
We were still climbing the never ending hill and we tired, in pain(from all the small bruises and scratches) and mainly LACK OF WATER. Our throats were parched and we started regretting our foolishness for the lack of water. Anyways we went forward and there were places which was just plain rock and we had to climb on all fours,one small mistake and we would sliding down to our deaths. We were basically shit scared about how we were going to come down this treacherous path.
2:45 am
We were all so tired that we had to take rest for every 10 mins and the decreasing temperature was not helping at all. So finally after much struggle we reached the top. It was covered in Fog and it was beautiful.
The whole place was bustling with people. Must have been around 40 people there. the guide then took us to the dilapidated temple were they were cooking something. The rates quoted were as follows:
Water: 50Rs for a litre
Noodles: 30Rs for one small plate
Bread omelette: 30Rs
So much for the discount....
We could not believe that we had to pay 50Rs for water because of our stupidity but we did as we were really thirsty and later we bought everything on the menu because we forgot to pack food. After all this we paid the guide the 500Rs.( Big Mistake!!!). The peak of the hill was beautiful with all the fog and cold wind which was hurting our ears. Every1 was tired,cold and still hungry and then we arranged for bonfire from the same guys for around 250Rs(I am not sure). The fire was good and warm but the kerosene fumes was hurting our eyes and it looked like every1 was crying(LOL!!!).Then we took refuge inside the temple and slept very uncomfortably for about an hour. Some of us slept near the bonfire too.
5:00am
Time to get up and get ready for the sunrise or so we thought. The fog was still thick so we could only see the clouds below us which was a BREATHTAKING VIEW and was worth all the trouble.The view all around was awesome(We sadly did not take so many pics though). There is one place in Skandagiri were the wind so fierce and cold that it would literally blow you off but it was Awesome.
6:00 am
By now it was very clear that the sun rise was not going to be visible through the thick fog so we started clicking photos at various points around the hill and started getting ready for the trek down.
6:20 am
The sun was up but we could only see the sun rays and then we decided to climb down as it was getting late. As we were searching for our guide we came to realise that our guide had scammed us and had gone down with another group and left us alone.We had no idea how to get down and were clearly not ready to go down the path we came up cause it was just rock and we assumed we could not go down that way. So we followed some random people and went down the muddy path which was filled with vegetation in few places. The climb down took a toll on our legs and ankles and we were tired as hell by the time we reached down.
7:30 am
Finally after all that trouble we were down, i actually kissed the ground once we reached the foothills. We were so happy that we reached down only with a few cuts and bruises and thought that all our troubles were over(Ya Right!!!). So after taking a good 20 mins of rest we started walking back to the town to get an auto-rickshaw. We could not find a single auto or any one who gave us a lift to the town. So we walked all the way from the foothills till the bus stop which was a good 7-8 kilo meters which is not a lot but after climbing up and down a hill it was FREAKING EXCRUCIATING!!!!. The locals just refused to stop their vehicles and give a lift us,only god knows why they hated us so much.At one point me and Gowtham removed our shoes and sat down on a slab of rock near the road refusing to walk because we just could not but Dinesh and Maria forged on relentlessly. Looking at these two Althaf forced both of us to get up and walk,he encouraged us to walk till the bus stop telling that it was just a few mins away.
9:00
Finally after a lot of sitting down and resting and walking with our sore foot we finally made it the bus stop. and got a bus to Hebbal(Bangalore) which was around 50Rs. All of us were so tired that we slept through our whole one of journey. To me it was like i closed my eyes and then when i opened it we were in Hebbal, it was by far the deepest sleep i had ever experienced.
11:30
Once we reached Hebbal we hired an auto to take us home cause we were too tired for another bus journey. In the midst of all this i caught of glimpse of all our reflection in of the mirrors and trust me we looked like beggars(LOL!!!). In the auto Maria said that he would never trek again in his entire life. Little did he know how his words would change the next morning.So finally we reached home,my mom could not believe her eyes after looking at us. Anyways after having a good bath and lunch, each of us slept straight for a good 9 hours. The next Althaf said," Bro.. that was one of the best Trips ever in my life and we should do something like this again". All of us agreed that even though we struggled so much the whole trip was one AWESOME EXPERIENCE that we would never forget and Skandagiri was just AWESOME with it's breathtaking views and ever present clod ever.
Pics
Enjoy!!
 |
| At the foothills of the Hill |
 |
| View of the City lights from halfway through the climb |
 |
| Maria Posing |
 |
| LOL!! |
 |
| Enjoying the fire |
 |
| Althaf posing in the morning before climbing down |
 |
| Althaf again |
 |
| Maria enjoying the wind |
 |
| Beautiful isn't it |
 |
| On the way down |
 |
| Maria and Dinesh(really tired) |
 |
| Good bye Skandagiri |
 |
| Skandagiri from Chikballapur |
Conclusion
The trip was one of the best i have ever had and it was just Awesome, so awesome that i would go to Skandagiri 2 more times with my college friends and learn to like it even more. Now for some tips and pointers so that you guys don't suffer as much as us.
Bus route:
Hebbal>Yelahanka police station>Chikaballapur(Only Private buses are available)>Chikaballapur>Skandagiri(only autos are available at night)
Trek route:
My advise to you guys is DO NOT HIRE A GUIDE, the trek is pretty simple if you follow the route i tell you(the route i took in my 2nd and 3rd trip to skandagiri)
Climbing up:
Route 1.Through vegetation and rocks and a pretty easy and straight forward(only good for climbing up)
The auto driver will mostly drop you off at a temple if not ask him to drop you off there or tell him to at least show which way it is. Once you reach the temple, on the right side of the temple there will be a path heading inwards take that path. Keep walking forward until you find this rock( Saying "TO HILLS")
 |
| Pic from my 2nd trip to skandagiri |
Walk a little further after this and keep looking for another rock on your left(The rock is small so look for it properly). Even on that it will be written "Way to hills". The sign is a little misleading but anyways what you gotta do is locate this sign and then find a path near it leading upwards. This path is covered with small rocks and it becomes obvious that you are in the right path. Make sure you find this rock before you start climbing up or you are pretty much lost. After that just keep climbing up and u will eventually reach the top.
Climbing Down:
Route 2: Through the face of the hill..pretty much rock and nothing to hold on to( Only for climbing down)
You can find this route if you walk down from the peak and walk until you find a wall like structure(Man made wall with bricks) which you have got to climb down. After finding this it is pretty much easy cause you just got keep going down until you reach the bottom. But watch out cause at places you have to sit down and slide on you back(So wear a good Jeans pant). But this route is the best for climbing down.
Anyways hope i could help and you can always post your questions if you have any doubts; i will reply ASAP. Happy trekking!!! I will post about my more successful Skandagiri and Kabbaladurga treks as and when i get time.
What happened in hmmm..where was that again some random *****durga..??
ReplyDeleteha..got it Kabbaladurga
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