Sunday, November 8, 2009

Siddhara Betta Trek

Many a time less planned things work well. This is one of them. A small one day trek to Siddhara Betta.


History
Siddhara Betta, as the name suggests, it was a place for the Siddha's. They came to the hill to meditate as well as for the rich herbs and shrubs found in this place. To testify that there are many small temples and Mandapam's at various parts of the hill. Also at the top are huge rocks touching that make it a cave like environment for the Siddha's to come. 


Team
A group of 8 nerds (me, Rohit, Puthali, Aditya, Jinu, Ravi, Arpan and Sanjeev) decided to trek on Siddhara Betta. After a short meeting a plan was sketched. We decided to meet at NGV and started at 9:30 AM in Tata Safari. Yup its one of the best SUV's for a trek. Just that the last two seats were a bit cramping. Ravi was our navigator and Rohit/Jinu took care of the steering. 





Destination
Reaching Siddhara Betta was an easy thing. Where ever you are in Bangalore, try to get to the road that goes to Tumkur. Post the tollgate keep going straight up to Doobspet. This is a good place to re-fuel, get some snacks and refreshments. Going further 2-3 kms you would find a fuel station with Kamat restaurant and Coffee Day (CCD) on either side. We parked the vehicle in CCD. This was a neat and closest place to park the car. 
[P.S. Yet to verify the correctness from the navigator]


100 mts from CCD is a small tunnel below the railway track. The trek starts from there. The whole route seems me an easy trek. Keep following the trail, after some initial rocky terrain one would find steps for climbing to the top. (Many blogs said there are alternate route to the top. But try it only if you have an local guy to navigate) Approx one can reach the top with 90-120 minutes of climb. 


The low depression in the coastal regions of Tamilnadu made the trek interesting with occasional drizzles. We had to take strategic breaks under the tree and beneath huge rocks. Slippery rocks were something one has to watch during a rain. At the top there was a temple, an there were 2 intermediate madap's. The local guy there said, people used to come in masses during Sunday to the temple. Also he told about few caves behind the temple, but it was impossible for us to explore due to the heavy rain once we reached the top. 


Once we climbed down, reached a dabba on the way back and had yummy late lunch before reaching back Koramangala again. 


Highlights
  • Perfect one day trek route this would be.
  • Carry own water and food. Not needed much, unless its a sunny day.
  • Easy trek, anyone could try it. We found a family, including old people descending from the hill. 
  • Easy to reach by road. Own vehicle more easy, local transport also available in plenty.
  • One of nice place for night camp, esp on a clear full moon day. The view of the NH would be nice.
Lowlights
  • Polluted. Lots of plastic waste. 
  • In the name of God, a chicken feast has happened recently. We found lots of feathers at the top of the hill.
Thanks to the Team for make sure, we did not drop any plastic or paper waste through out the trek. They were disposed safely. 





Start, crossing the railway track



We took a detour to do some rock climbing, Courtesy Ravi

Gecko. Thats how this rock looked to me!



Puthali, trying a rock slide 



It was very refreshing to take a break from the Cubicles



Risky, So take care



Didn't I say it was slippery. Jinu getting some balance.



A ruined madap. Some locations for night camp.



It was raining and we had some friends



CCD


Note: Next on the cards would be KP for December.

9 comments:

Puthali said...

nice post, but you missed all the fun 'n adventure we had while making our own trail, climbing fort, sliding down rocks... :) Its seriously much better if you don't go via the main path...

Vijesh said...

You know, I got orders to follow :D

Puthali said...

lol, okie good for u :)

Jinu M Joy said...

Nice post.

Nikanth Karthikesan said...

wow, think you guys had lot of fun..

"In the name of God, a chicken feast has happened recently. We found lots of feathers at the top of the hill."
I guess your problem is not few religious people having fun, but not cleaning the mess they created.

Vijesh said...

@Nikanth, yup it was lot of fun.

Hmmm yeah eating meat does not concern me. But leaving thinks uncleaned does. It makes people feel uncomfortable to be around (esp: who do not eat meat), though they are degradable and do not pollute.

rkumar said...

Good work with the camera Vijesh ! I look thin :P .

You missed the adventure as puthali mentioned . I almost died while sliding down there . Adi saved my life.

damodarakkannan a said...

after a long time i read a nice decent blog. good photography as well. looking at the weather you had, you must have had most chilling, enjoyable cool trek.

this place seems to be much better than the one we went for night trek. it was a dry trek, except for the chitter chatter we guys had

Vijesh said...

@rkumar I think thin is relative. If you were standing near me, it would be been true.

@Damodarakkannan
(Huff, I typed the full name) Thanks Dams. I think Skandagiri would have also been a good trek if it was a full moon day and not breezy as it was the other day. The view about the clouds and the sunrise would have been a great site to watch.