Memories from Madhugiri Trek and Siddara Betta

November 21, 2017January 19, 2018 gokool kini 0 Comments Trekking

It was during those days, when Ganesh and I used to ride and trek 2 hills on a given day. I am sharing my memories of Madhugiri Trek the 2^nd Largest Monolith in Asia; Madhugiri.

We only have 3 Monolith Rock hills in India; Savandurga, Madhugiri and Yana, while the former two are around Bangalore and the latter in Karwar District.

Date: 12^th March 2016

No of people: 4 (Ganesh, Prakash, Satheesh, Shree and I; Gokool)

Bikes: 3 (TVS Apache and two Suzuki Gixxer)

Route taken

We started early before dawn from Goreguntepalya junction and rode straight till Hotel Vrindavan near Dabbaspete for breakfast.

Sunrise as captured enroute to Madhugiri

Selfie post Breakfast at Hotel Vrindavan

We reached the Madhugiri base by 9am and without wasting a single minute, we started the Madhugiri Trek. The initial part of the climb was really easy as you have those paved steps; and as we moved forward, the trek got difficult.

At Parking space, base point of Madhugiri Hills

Monster Madhugiri Fort as seen from the base point

Climbing the paved steps

The Madhugiri Trek gets difficult from here on !

We reached a point where, the steps that were carved on the monolith, goes diagonally upwards and a small railing to hold for support, rather nothing to hold for support . . . !!!

The most difficult stretch at Madhugiri Trek

We rested for a while under the shades of a boulder rock. As we kept trekking the hill, it seemed never ending. But we didn’t give up; we wanted to reach the highest point at the top; no matter what.

Resting under the shades of Stone Boulders

It was 12pm when we finally made it to the highest point of the hill; the sun was scorching hot.

At the top most point at Madhugiri

We descended down carefully, getting on to our bikes; we rode straight to Madhugiri bus-stand to have some fruit juices. Post having few extra glasses of Musk Melon juice, we rode to Siddarabetta. It was dusk time as we reached there. Siddarabetta, a very easy trek with majority of trek on paved steps until the temple atop the hill.

There is a caved temple uphill; and a water source in-front of the Shivaling. The care-taker of the temple said that the water will always be sweet and cold anytime of a given year. Indeed, the water was sweet and cold when tasted.

The Shivaling inside the caved temple at Siddara Betta

At base point of Siddara Betta

While returning back to Bangalore through the on-going construction of the state highway, Ganesh’s bike got punctured. We found a petrol pump nearby where we got the puncture repaired, luckily.

A picture collage of the trip