Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Skandgiri – A Trekkers Paradise


Skandgiri
HISTORY OF SKANDGIRI :
This is a Hill about 1750m from sea level.During the time of Tippu Sultan, Skandagiri was under the command of a powerful PaLeyagara (name not known) who’d very effectively defended his fort and thwarted Tippu’s invasion attempts. This local ruler, along with his trusted men had built such a fortified and defensive cover around the fort that even seasoned commanders of Tippu’s army couldn’t find a way to break-in. Finally Tippu’s men managed to bribe two milk women who used to supply milk to the ruler, his family and other staff on the fort. These milk women, under the temptation of money and land, agreed to betray their king and helped Tippu’s army in two ways- one, they dropped small quantity of some elements (Jeera or something) along the path for several days, so that Tippu’s men could know the route to take, and later, on the D-day, they served a poisoned milk to king and his crew, due to which most of them died and rest were killed by Tippu’s army. This is how Tippu Sultan took control of this place .
All Set to trek
HOW TO REACH THERE :
Follow the Bangalore International Airport , better known as Bellary Road.
After crossing the BIA , you shall be on Chikkaballapura road.
Follow the same road until you find a statue on to your Left.
Visweswaraih Statue in Chikballapur (night view)Note that this is a small bust and is easy to miss.
There is also a small Ganesha temple right next to that left turn.
Take a left at this place and a right turn at the City Municipal Council a little further down.
Later this shall directly lead to papagni Mutt, which is the basement of Skandagiri.
At Kalawara village ask for Omkara Jyoti Ashrama / Papagni Mutt(13°25’26.6?N 77°41’28?E).
There is a Shiva temple near the base of the hill, where vehicles can be parked.
Chikaballapur to papagni Mutt is 3 km from the house of .
Looks like Professional Trekker
HOW MUCH TIME AND DISTANCE WOULD IT TAKE :
It took 2.5 to 3 hrs from whitefield to Skandgiri .
We started from whitefield on a working day – Friday , hence it took more time for us .
We got a lot of traffic till hebbal flyover .
Ideally it should take 1.5 hr to 2 hrs.It is about 75 km from whitefield Bangalore 
You don't have to trek here
HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST :
We have rented the mini bus, since we were around 12 people .
I think , you can go by your own vehicle . Even by your two wheeler .
Carry some eatables(snacks)  = Rs. 100
Guide if  Trekking at night = Rs. 450
Water(2 litres) with you = Rs. 25
Car Petrol       = roughly Rs. 650
Except your travelling and eating and drinking expenses , it will not cost anything .
Snake in between
HOW WAS THE EXPERIENCE : It was a truly amazing experience .
I am always enthusiastic for such kind of trips .We started off at around 8.30 from our office in Whitefield .
We stopped in between some where near devanhalli for the breakfast .
Then we headed straight to Skandgiri .
In chickbellapur , we realised that we should pack some biryani , because trekking will last for about 4,5 hours .We started after taking 2 Martini shot brought by Saurabh .
The booze gave so much strength , that we reached one fourth distance with an amazing speed .
In between ,we encountered a big black snake .
At this point we thought this is the end  of the trek .
View From the Cave - Our First Stop
Whole team sat inside a cave and chatted for a while , till all the slow comers could reach the cave .Then we realized that there is some more distance that needs to be trekked .We passed the check post, reached at a place where which looked like the top of the Fort .But still we had 10 percent of the trek remaining.Finally we reached the top.
Library at the Top
There was 1 library and 1 temple on the top.
It felt great .It took us 2.5 hrs to reach the top.
All of us had our lunch there, rested for a while and then started trekking down .
It took 1.5 hr to reach down.
For More Photographs , you can navigate to the Following Link :-






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Travel Living by Nitin Bhatnagar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License