I never thought I could get to see such beautiful scenery at such a close distance to bengaluru. We got to hear from our friends about their recent trekking visit to skandagiri.
Skandagiri is around 70kms from bengaluru, very near to another popular hill station, Nandi Hills. The uniqueness about trekking at skandagiri is its night trekking. Trekking in the daytime will also be great idea but it’s preferable during the night, which makes possible to see the sunrise and the layer of clouds that is formed below us….simply breathtaking.
We pals decided to go for the night trekking. Initially we planned to go by bike, but later hired a quails for 8 friends. But by the day arrived the count came down to 5….but we never lost hope. On the day itself it was raining heavily but we decided to go ahead assuming that it will not be raining at skandagiri. Then the driver of the taxi which Deepak had booked 2 days earlier had some issue and pulled out at the last minute…..but we were determined to go. Thanks to Mahesh who on the spot arranged another taxi. By the time we all grouped and left, it was 11 PM. Things we took with us were Torch(Compulsory), Water (a must), match box, food (Biscuits, fruits) and cloth/monkey cap to beat the cold wind on top of the hill …..all these need to be carried in a back pack….as u need your hands free while climbing.
Here starts our real adventure….none of us in the group did not know the way to Skandagiri …including the driver. We had a rough sketch of the route map …a print out taken from net. We went in wrong directions initially ….but got the right directions from the villagers sleeping in front their houses…whom we woke up in the midnight ?. It was 00:30 AM when we reached skandagiri. We registered with forest office and paid a fee of 15 per head. Guides were available ….but we did not opt for it. They charge around 300-500 Rs depending the size of the group. Not opting for a guide looked foolish initially as we started moving in a wrong direction in the beginning ? …but later the forest officer showed us the right way. We had walked some 500mts on a flat path ….we came across 3 ways ….we didn’t know which one to take. Finally we decided to take the path that was leading towards the hill which was visible like a huge rock in the darkness. Here onwards there was no path to walk …only stones and shrubs all the way. We could find some signs marked as “way to hill” ….which confirmed us the right way we were going in.
As we moved ahead slowly taking snaps, the way got steeper. Now we were feeling the strain on our legs….we moved ahead taking rest every 15 mins. I was not talking much to save my energy …..others we joking, singing and talking all way. At 1 AM we were on our midway or so ….we were completely exhausted. Now we were taking breaks at very short intervals and to our advantage very cool wind was blowing, which made our journey less stressful. As we moved further through more difficult path ...we could now see the fog getting formed (actually we were moving into the clouds as we moved higher and higher). Also now we were not able to see the lights of the far away city and villages.
As our treacherous journey up the hill continued we were able to hear voices of people who had started their climb ahead of us….this made us happy as some of us still had the doubt that we were moving in the wrong direction. As we moved further it seemed like the journey will never end and so at some point we decided to stop and take a nap. But as we could see the tip of the hill we moved further …but when we reach there we again can see another tip ?. Then we finally came to a dead end….from were we took a right and then at last we could see the torch light and a camp fire put by trekkers who came earlier….this gave us lot of relief. It was 3:30 AM when we reached the top and we were surprised to see a guy who had put up a small shop selling Tea and Omlet. We took tea which was refreshing. Some people had put up tents and sleeping there ….they had come fully equipped. We could not see anything but the camp fire. Wet wind was blowing heavily….actually we were in the clouds now. We got to meet an old man who was also a guide ….who shared his stories with us. We were feeling sleepy but we listened to his interesting stories. Then we eat some things we took and waited for the sunrise. Slowly some more groups started joining us and a small group of people on the top became a crowd now.
At around 5:30 AM we could see some distance in the dim light of the rising sun. Usually the sun rises at around 6 AM. Now we started taking more snaps and took video’s too. As the moment arrived closer we still could not see any signs of the clouds disappearing. At 5:55 AM too we were not able to see any sign of sun ….clouds were still thicker. Guides disappointed us by telling that we could not see the sun rise as clouds were more today. We waited till 6:15 but no signs of sun yet…..this was disappointing. But now we could see far more distances and the light intensified ….which also indicated the sunrise already completed. The scenery was really good and misty. We could never imagine such cool breezy climate in mid of hot summer. At 6:30 AM we decided to get down the hill. Disappointed about not being able to see the sunrise we started our descent. Slowly as we moved down we could see the sun like a moon and as we got still further down we saw beautiful sceneries in the morning golden sunlight. But now we got to realize how much dangerous path we had taken uphill which we could not see in our torch light ? on our way uphill. We hardly had 2 stops on our way downhill. It was 7:15 AM when we reached the bottom completely exhausted. The driver was ready to leave ….as we left we could see the tip of skandagiri hill wearing a cap of clouds. As we were completely drained out we didn’t know when we fell asleep in the vehicle and we only woke up to the honking of vehicles in the bengaluru traffic.
A day to cherish in my life and the craziest thing I have ever done …the trekking in the night. But I would love to go again hoping for the perfect sunrise that I have seen in pictures.
Skandagiri is around 70kms from bengaluru, very near to another popular hill station, Nandi Hills. The uniqueness about trekking at skandagiri is its night trekking. Trekking in the daytime will also be great idea but it’s preferable during the night, which makes possible to see the sunrise and the layer of clouds that is formed below us….simply breathtaking.
We pals decided to go for the night trekking. Initially we planned to go by bike, but later hired a quails for 8 friends. But by the day arrived the count came down to 5….but we never lost hope. On the day itself it was raining heavily but we decided to go ahead assuming that it will not be raining at skandagiri. Then the driver of the taxi which Deepak had booked 2 days earlier had some issue and pulled out at the last minute…..but we were determined to go. Thanks to Mahesh who on the spot arranged another taxi. By the time we all grouped and left, it was 11 PM. Things we took with us were Torch(Compulsory), Water (a must), match box, food (Biscuits, fruits) and cloth/monkey cap to beat the cold wind on top of the hill …..all these need to be carried in a back pack….as u need your hands free while climbing.
Here starts our real adventure….none of us in the group did not know the way to Skandagiri …including the driver. We had a rough sketch of the route map …a print out taken from net. We went in wrong directions initially ….but got the right directions from the villagers sleeping in front their houses…whom we woke up in the midnight ?. It was 00:30 AM when we reached skandagiri. We registered with forest office and paid a fee of 15 per head. Guides were available ….but we did not opt for it. They charge around 300-500 Rs depending the size of the group. Not opting for a guide looked foolish initially as we started moving in a wrong direction in the beginning ? …but later the forest officer showed us the right way. We had walked some 500mts on a flat path ….we came across 3 ways ….we didn’t know which one to take. Finally we decided to take the path that was leading towards the hill which was visible like a huge rock in the darkness. Here onwards there was no path to walk …only stones and shrubs all the way. We could find some signs marked as “way to hill” ….which confirmed us the right way we were going in.
As we moved ahead slowly taking snaps, the way got steeper. Now we were feeling the strain on our legs….we moved ahead taking rest every 15 mins. I was not talking much to save my energy …..others we joking, singing and talking all way. At 1 AM we were on our midway or so ….we were completely exhausted. Now we were taking breaks at very short intervals and to our advantage very cool wind was blowing, which made our journey less stressful. As we moved further through more difficult path ...we could now see the fog getting formed (actually we were moving into the clouds as we moved higher and higher). Also now we were not able to see the lights of the far away city and villages.
As our treacherous journey up the hill continued we were able to hear voices of people who had started their climb ahead of us….this made us happy as some of us still had the doubt that we were moving in the wrong direction. As we moved further it seemed like the journey will never end and so at some point we decided to stop and take a nap. But as we could see the tip of the hill we moved further …but when we reach there we again can see another tip ?. Then we finally came to a dead end….from were we took a right and then at last we could see the torch light and a camp fire put by trekkers who came earlier….this gave us lot of relief. It was 3:30 AM when we reached the top and we were surprised to see a guy who had put up a small shop selling Tea and Omlet. We took tea which was refreshing. Some people had put up tents and sleeping there ….they had come fully equipped. We could not see anything but the camp fire. Wet wind was blowing heavily….actually we were in the clouds now. We got to meet an old man who was also a guide ….who shared his stories with us. We were feeling sleepy but we listened to his interesting stories. Then we eat some things we took and waited for the sunrise. Slowly some more groups started joining us and a small group of people on the top became a crowd now.
At around 5:30 AM we could see some distance in the dim light of the rising sun. Usually the sun rises at around 6 AM. Now we started taking more snaps and took video’s too. As the moment arrived closer we still could not see any signs of the clouds disappearing. At 5:55 AM too we were not able to see any sign of sun ….clouds were still thicker. Guides disappointed us by telling that we could not see the sun rise as clouds were more today. We waited till 6:15 but no signs of sun yet…..this was disappointing. But now we could see far more distances and the light intensified ….which also indicated the sunrise already completed. The scenery was really good and misty. We could never imagine such cool breezy climate in mid of hot summer. At 6:30 AM we decided to get down the hill. Disappointed about not being able to see the sunrise we started our descent. Slowly as we moved down we could see the sun like a moon and as we got still further down we saw beautiful sceneries in the morning golden sunlight. But now we got to realize how much dangerous path we had taken uphill which we could not see in our torch light ? on our way uphill. We hardly had 2 stops on our way downhill. It was 7:15 AM when we reached the bottom completely exhausted. The driver was ready to leave ….as we left we could see the tip of skandagiri hill wearing a cap of clouds. As we were completely drained out we didn’t know when we fell asleep in the vehicle and we only woke up to the honking of vehicles in the bengaluru traffic.
A day to cherish in my life and the craziest thing I have ever done …the trekking in the night. But I would love to go again hoping for the perfect sunrise that I have seen in pictures.
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