5 Night Trekking Must do if you are in Bangalore

Anthargange :

Anthargange is a mountain located in the shasthashrunga range and is situated just 70 kilometers from Bengaluru, Antargange in Kolar is a substantial field of volcanic boulders and rocks. These boulders, all heaped one on another create a whole network of cave-like formations and tunnels that make this a great place for cave exploration, light trekking, and camping. The hill is at altitude of 1712 mts from sea level. This place is known as south kasi because of Kasi vishweshara temple.A long staircase leads to a temple.There is a stone bull here with water flowing out of its mouth. No one knows the actual source of the water, which is how Antargange got its name (Antargange literally means ‘Ganges of the Deep’). An hour of climbing uphill leads to the approach route into the caves. The entire route twists through a dark maze of rocks, boulders, between cracks, and enters holes that sometimes will allow just one person to crawl through, all of which make for an enlivening experience. It’s well connected by train and bus. Bus will go almost to the top at either side of the hill. Enoromous space of campfire. Time to trek is around 2 Hrs.

Skandagiri :

One word that wades you're your mind when you think of Skandagiri is walking on and above the clouds. Skandagiri, also known as Kalavara Durga or Kalavara Hills, is an ancient mountain fortress. The peak altitude of Skandagiri is 1400 meters. 70 Km away from bangalore.

Attractive place on the way to the peak one can see the partial remains of local fort wall build by rulers of ancient kings which used by Tippu Sultan during 3rd Anglo Mysore War.Trekking at this place is pretty strendious which escalates from moderate to difficulty path on the process of reaching the peak.Trekking to the peak in the night is pretty challenging as path ahead is totally covered by the misty fog with the clearance of 30-50 meters.Which makes this place a so special one can view the best sunrise in Bangalore from this place, ideal time to view the sunrise is during the winter/summer season as the fog will be curtailed due to the humid conditions of nature and during monsoon sunrise can’t be seen due to cloud cover.

Kuntibetta :

Kuntibetta located 130 km on the Mysore road towards Mandya and then a right turn, past sugar cane plantations with the characteristic smell of jaggery plants, will take you to Pandavapura. The betta gets its name from Mahabharatha kunti. As per history kunti spent some of their exile days here, hence the name kuntibetta.

Standing at the summit, one can enjoy the panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, backwaters of Tonnur Kere, lakes and vast expanse of agriculture fields.

Makalidurga :

Makalidurga is a hill fort situated at the village by the same name. It is 60km from Bangalore and 10 km after Doddaballapura The fort at the summit has an old temple of Shiva with Nandi and it is believed that Markandeya Rishi performed penance here.Makali Durga (fort) stands atop a huge granite hillock, huddled up amidst the chains of mountains, formed like a valley closer to Ghati Subramanya, a well-known pilgrimage center. It has a fort on top, at the height of 1,117mts. There is a temple of lord Shiva.

Maribetta :

Maribetta is situated close to Kanakpura on Bangalore-Kanakpura highway. Around 60km ride from Bangalore, on a state highway. It’s locally known as Karadibetta because here one can see lots of bear’s. The peak is not that high compared to other popular trekking spots around bangalore but the way to the top is fairly thorny and confusing at places.

A wise man travels to discover himself.” James Russell Lowell

Dudhsagar Waterfalls Camping

Camping in front of waterfalls with 200 unknown people, sometimes drizzling , sometimes cloudy,hearing birds whistling and trying to repeat same,Late night sleep with train sound yes the only place its none other than DudhSagar water Falls. This was third consecutive year I am trekking to dudhsagar waterfalls. 1st one was on August 2012 with 4 friends route taken was castle rock to dudhsagar falls.2nd was on August 2013 with 30 friends again the same route as 1st one.3rd was on August 2014 with 18 friends. Out of which few trekked from castle rock to dudhsagar falls.Rest went directly to Falls and pitched the tents.Next day everybody trekked from Dudhsagar falls to kulem ( Mud Road). Till sonalium it was 4 km railway track,After station on the right side you will find a temple follow the mud road, next 4 km was mud road walk crossing streams, tiny tiny waterfalls. Next 4 Km was again railway track till Kulem.

Dudhsagar trek distance:
Dudhsagar falls to Kulem on mud road - 12 km (One Way)

Time to trek:
Kulem to  Dudhsagar falls on mud road - 4 to 6 hours (One side)

Best time to trek: July to september(During Monsoon )

Permission: Not required

Camping : Infront of DudhSagar waterfalls, Near DudhSagar station.
                  Yes it is safe

All Trains Stops at all the below station:
Train stations towards Kulem from CastleRock are as follows.
CastleRock - Caranzol - DudhSagar - Sonalium - Kulem

Food:
Food was available at the Falls.(Maggi, Tea, Soft drinks,Chips,If you are talented enough you can get Hard drink also).Rice and dal available if your in large group.But Not every time you will find these things. The 1st time we went on 2012 we did not find anything so better to carry your own.

Route :
Dudhsagar to kulem trek view is not as scenic as Castle rock to dudhsagar waterfalls. But there is waterfalls where we can spend some time.

2013:
Dudhsagar Waterfalls : http://www.thetravelreminiscences.in/2013/08/dudhsagar-waterfalls-repeats.html

2012 :
Dudhsagar Waterfalls : http://www.thetravelreminiscences.in/2012/08/the-magic-of-monsoon.html

Find life experiences and swallow them whole, travel,meet many people,go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. try everything. exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life

 - Lawrence K. Fish

Nagala Trekking

The first few Google results throws up the instances of an student drowning and such morose newscast. But not everybody been there had bad experience.After performing ground work from blogs as well as Nambi Loyola. So finally on July 18th we started from Bangalore reached tirupathi bus stand at 5.30AM, it was tri state friends meet in tirupathi Bus stand. Freshened up & had breakfast at tirupathi and packed food, resumed our journey to nagalapuram.

How we Traveled :
a. Rajahamsa from Shanthingar Bustand to Tirupathi.
b. Tirupathi to Nagalapuram town in Local Bus.
c. Nagalapuram town to Trek Base by Auto.

Where we Freshed up in tirupathi :
 Public Toilets of bus stand.

Auto Charge from Nagalapuram town to Trek Base:
250 per auto.7 guys in a auto.

Distance of Nagalapuram town to Trek Base:
13Km

Survivals:
1st day:
a. Breakfast at tirupathi
b. Packed lunch from tirupathi for 1st day.
c. Tetra pack milk/Biscuits for Evening Tea
d. Ready to eat chapathi,Palak panner,soup for dinner.
e. 2 litres of water each for 2 days.
2nd Day:
a. Corn flakes with milk, Bread,Jam,Tea for morning breakfast
b. Ready to eat chapathi,Palak panner,soup for Lunch.

Camping can be done? :
wherever we find flat surface.

Campfire is allowed? :
 Yes

Animals around?:
Yes, but we found only dogs.

Flowing water good for drinking?:
Yes/No, its all in your mind.

Is trek trial clear?:
Yes, if you follow water stream.which we dint follow and we were lost.

Difficulty Level :
Easy to Moderate

Things to Carry:
a. Back-Pack
b. Trekking shoes
c. Blankets or sleeping bags,Tents,Ropes
d. Full length pants-recommended- to protect from snake/insect bites.
e. Torches
Since there was shortage of water as planned we used flowing water for rest of the trek.
  
Reminiscene:

We had covered around 380 kms of bus journey till nagala. last 20 kms to the trek start point by auto.

The common trek protocol, distribute the food luggage , instructions and simple rule. follow the lead ,dont fall behind the sweep.

Steam of water on the trek route flowing all the way from the peak to the lake at the starting point and there is a temple right next to this stream.

First pool on the trek route. trek was for 8kms , first pool we saw after covering around 2 kms . we just enjoyed the view and kept moving.

Non swimmers pool , water was clear. small fishes were biting- fish spa. there was a small falls on the one end and and the depth was around 8 feet , other side max depth was 5 feet. we spent lot of time in this pool on both the days.

Sliding pool , we made our way up till the peak of the hill. The sliding pool is a natural amusement park-like structure of a rock slide lubricated with moss, that you can use to slide into a pool.
Magic Pool, a 75 foot cliff with small water fall. below which there is a deep pool of water. some of us took a jump from clip.

                        Front view of magic pool, we used the rocks next the the falls to reach the base.

This is the 3rd pool after sliding and magic pool. that's a natural bathtub and pool:). non swimmers spent most of the time in this pool where as our expert swimmers were enjoying clip jumping into magic pool.

' It's Good to Get Lost Sometimes' We took wrong trail on day one and it was too late to trek back to explore. luckily we found a nice flat surface where we pitched tent , set campfire, cooked food and lots of fun. on day two we realized that the only one option we had for camping site.We had good time around campfire, dog was our pet for the trek followed us all the way for two days.

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”- Gustave Flaubert

Maribetta Night Camping

                          Maribetta is situated close to Kanakpura on Bangalore-Kanakpura highway. Around 60km ride from Bangalore, on a state highway. It’s locally known as Karadibetta because here one can see lots of bear’s. The peak is not that high compared to other popular trekking spots around bangalore but the way to the top is fairly thorny and confusing at places.

 How to Reach: Bangalore --> Kanakpura --> Maribetta  Only Own/Hired vehicle

        1. The right from NH 209, just after Kanakpura
             2. The arch where we need to take a right toward Kuthnahalli.
                  3. After the village one can find temple at the base of the hill.       
 
Is Camping Safe at peak : Not safe in Monsoon/Risky
Animals Around : Yes
Camping Time : Summer, Provided Take care of animals

               “A wise traveler never despises his own country.” – Carlo Goldoni

Kumaraparvatha Trekking & Camping

I was excited very much because it was going to be first camping ever. Long time dream cherished finally & its Kumaraparvatha.It is an impeccable mix of fleshly challenge and natural splendor of the Pushpagiri Wildlife sanctuary. Kumara Parvata is the third tallest peak in Karnataka Considered among the toughest treks in South India. Plan was to reach subramanya around 7 AM on saturday morning. But due to Bus delay/puncture we reached very late and freshed up in bus stand and resumed our journey to the starting of trail. Man destination is at 1712mts above sea-level Bloody. Within half an hr of the trek I told my friends lets go back we still have chance. My legs were very tired and I was sweating like hell we took many rest.The only think that we were sure was that we wont get lost.But anyways we all managed to reach bhatramane for the lunch time around 1PM. It was full meals rice, rasam, butter milk. We dint take much rest during lunch as we were short of time, we headed towards uphill as soon as we started moving it started raining very heavily for an hr. In around 200 mts, we came across the Forest check post, where you have to pay entry fee of Rs200 per head, from there, we found a man-made view point where we rested for a few minutes. People who enjoys trekking and likes to explore unscathed nature should definitely try this trek once in their lifetime. It’s a killer!!!!.
A four pillars structure The kallu mantapa , A camping site as well as water source available here.The views are breathtaking. If you are a trekker don’t miss it. If you are not a trekker don’t try it, Anyways you have lost many things in life, better to watch national geographic channel. We pushed ourselves and kept moving around 4.30 PM we reached sheshaparvatha. Since then it was almost dark to move towards. We knew that we 80% done with trek, few trekkers coming from kumaraparvatha cautioned us not to go as it was dark. We pitched tent in sheshaparvatha. We had enoroumous quantity of food, water etc too.
 
Trekking trails:
- Somwarpet: 7 kms Rock climbing ,water falls
- Kukke subramanya: 15 kms; grazing land, foliage, grass lands
 
Camping Sites:
   Bhatru mane on the way (have advance booking) +91-9448647947, +91-9480230191
- Kallu mantapa
- Shesha Parvatha
- Kumara parvatha
 
Best time to trek:
- October to March
 
Please Carry:
– A light and strong backpack.
- Extra pair of clothing packed in garbage bags to make it rain proof.
- Tents, Sleeping bag and sleeping mat (optional) (personal)
- Toilet paper, mouth wash, hand wash
- Water bottles (at least 2 liters each), energy drinks ex glucose/ energy bar/electrolyte
- Wind- cheater & warm inner
- Personal camera, Torch, Mobile & sufficient battery back up
- ID card, sufficient cash and emergency contact info (personal)
- Iodex spray, cramp bandage & personal medication
- petrol (for making fire) and match box/ lighter (shared)
- light weight utensils, disposable cups & plates. eatables to cook up there
- slippers to roam around at top (personal), salt/ snuff powder to avoid leeches
- Nylon lightweight rope & knife (shared).

Starting of trek (Jungle)

Yes it is Far

Its False Peak

Map of trek trail

Batha Rashi

Kallu Mantapa

Trek Trail

Yes we were tired 

View Point

Too Much to walk

Camped at shesha parvatha

In air

Yes we could pose as well

Descending down

“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” - Ed Viesturs