Crew Members: Dilip, Deepesh, Arun, Geo, Rithin and myself.
Duration: 1.5 hours hike, 1 hour climb down and night stay.
Expense: ~500 per head
Date: 5th and 6th of April 2014.
Terrain Info: Rocky.
Abstract: A trek with crazy and difficult to find trail.
Let me make this clear. Brahmagiri referred here in this blog isn't the one in Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in Coorg. This is one among the 5 peaks of the Nandi Hills range near Chikkaballapur.
This should be one trek for which we did least planning and best execution. Never a thought crossed my mind about a trek for the weekend until Friday the 4th of April evening when I asked Arun for the weekend plans. Destination was ready in Arun's and Geo's mind - Brahmagiri! My self and Arun had planned once to nail Brahmagiri but that ended ourselves hiking the adjacent peak - Kaurav Kunta which is a go to trek as far as we are concerned! The moment I let Deepesh and Dilip know about the plan and the crew, they were turned all excited. The team was suppose to be 8 including three friends of Geo out of which two didn't turn up in the last moment.
We decided to start from the Marathahalli at 2 PM on Saturday and was of the plan to start the hike by 4 PM. As planned, myself, Deepesh, Arun, Geo and Rithin met at Marathahalli and boarded a Hebbal bus by 2:15 PM. We reached Hebbal in 45 mins and soon a Chikkaballapur bus stopped before us and we took tickets till Devanahalli. By 4 PM, we reached Devenahalli Bus stand and we took another as the conductor promised to drop us at Nandi Cross. By then, Dilip who is a resident of Doddaballapur had already reached a junction named Karahalli Cross. From Nandi Cross, we took a rick to Nandigrama. Then we realized, Dilip is 5 Kms away from us and we told him take a rick and reach us. Even though, Geo and Arun had done this trek before, both of them were quite certain about the starting point of the trail. Geo had called up couple of his friends and learned, trail actually starts beside Sri Nandhi Abhinandana Hotel in Karahalli Cross! Immediately, I called Dilip to stop him but by then we was already in front of us. We asked the same rick guy to take us back to the place from where he started!
In short, to reach the trail, board bus towards Devanahalli from Majestic or Hebbal and then get down at the first board that shows right deviation towards Nandi Hills in the highway. And then take a rick to the dead end of the road. Dead end is a the T-junction named Karahalli Cross with the hotel I mentioned above.
We had coffee and packed all our hydration needs from the hotel, bought tea powder, sugar, snacks, and believe me, two watermelons as well! :D We started our walk in the trail by 5:30 PM. The mud road you see beside the hotel in the pic below is the starting trail to the peak.
There was this plane walk till the base of the hill which lasted for nearly 10-15 mins. Sun started glowing red by then and we were in a hurry. The trouble with this hill is that, one can very easily get lost from the trail.
We moved and we got in touch with the jeep trail which we ignored and crossed through it over the rocks. And reached our first check point. Deepesh and Geo changed their attire to suit the weather. Myself, Dilip and Deepesh decided to move ahead and Geo advised us about the jeep trail which we should be following. We walked hastily and we came across a narrow trail and we followed it. We moved with a serious discussions on recent movies and series watched by each of us and it went on. I was keep track of the trail and I was sure this isn't the trail which Geo recommended us to follow. But since geographically, it appeared convincing, we didn't want to waste time searching for the actual trail. We weren't seeing any trace of our second group. A little ahead, we could see only ashes every where! The entire forest was burnt! But in a way, that was a boon to us. The trail appeared even clearer. After the burnt forest, it was steep rock. It was tiring and it was getting dark very fast. We climbed half way through and from there we could see the jeep trail about which Geo told when we took the lead.
We tried ignoring our panting with the Floyd, Nirvana, Cold Play and we climbed with myself and Deepesh in the lead and Dilip's knee was troubling him which dragged us a bit slow. By 6:45 PM, we reached the Saniswara Temple which is suppose to be the last checkpoint before reaching the peak. We were relieved that we reached the temple by the time it was dark. Close to the temple, there is a stairs which would take us to the peak. We had to turn-on our torches and we finally nailed the hill in 1.5 hours. It was cold and torrential wind was blowing in all directions! As I said in the my previous blogs, this is the best part I love about a trek! That cold breeze, that relief, that sanctity! Its priceless! One experience of this pleasure will mute the mouths of any one who call trekkers crazy! We could see the entire base lighted up. We could even see the airport at a distance. There were flights going to and fro in the sky.
We waited for 20 mins and our second group was no where to be seen! I started worrying! All our food packed for the night were with them! :P :D We walked around the peak with torched to see if they had climbed through some other trail and reached some other corner of the peak. In another 10 minutes, they showed up and we decided to get settled. Geo walked around and found a place behind a tree which weakened the force of the wind and was flat enough to camp and there present was remains of campfire setup prepared by some trekkers before. There were ample dried wood available and with the machete that Geo carried, we collected a good amount of wood and Geo succeeded lighting up our bonfire with one single match stick. We little effort from our side, camp fire grew in to a full fledged one. We grouped ourselves around it and started our usual sessions. Our master chef Arun cooked maggi in the campfire and he had our tummies full! We had endless chats, with psychedelic songs playing in background. Weather was too good and we had such an awesome time spent there. Arun decided to doze off by 9:30 PM and we continued with out chats. Topics went on with traditions, languages, human values and so on. I would like to share an experience Geo had while he traveled across North India. He was in a train to Jhansi and the train was jam-packed with passengers it seems. People were sitting at every possible place. Geo was jammed to one corner even though he had a reserved ticket. Some where in between, he opened his water bottle to quench his thirst and one person who was sitting right opposite to him was eyeing on the bottle and Geo was kind enough to share his portion with him. That guy passed it on to his adjacent guy and so it went on to the whole block until it was emptied. During night time, these people opened their packed dinner and Geo was sitting idle in their middle. One person took initiative to ask Geo to taste his dinner. Even though Geo refused at first, he decided to take up the offer. With in a matter of no time, there were more than 10-15 dinner packs offered in front of him from every one there. They all wanted him take a portion and so he did. He informed them of his destination being Jhansi and they agreed to let him once the train arrives the station. When the train was at his destination, this whole bunch of people, woke him up and waved him good bye from the train. Language helps you speak but true communication happens with heart for which there isn't a language nor is required.
We were all of the notion to remain awake the whole night. And as usual, eventually all of us dozed off by 12:30 AM. As always, I had trouble with sleeping inside sleeping bag and had to struggle a bit get some sleep.
I woke with a startle at 5:30 AM out of some random dream and sunlight had started lighting up the sky. I took my camera and was ready for sunrise. Within some time, Rithin and Arun woke up and they started preparing tea. I moved to the corner of the peak that was close to Nandi hills and I could see countless vehicles rushing to the peak for the sunrise view. I could hear royal enfields rumbling uphill. Sunrise was spectacular and so was the hill lock!
Tea was all ready by then and believe me, a shot of black tea on a peak in a cold morning with sunrise rising slowly is heavenly!
We packed our luggage and started our way down by 7 AM. Again, myself, Dilip and Deepesh were in the lead. Not so far from the temple, there were three middle aged gents and two ladies. They must have walked from Nandi hills. We decided to take up the Jeep trail that we couldn't take up while hiking up. Nandi hills looked spectacular with in the fog!
We turned off our common sense and blindly followed the jeep trail and finally, we ended up in the tarred road to Nandi hills and that's of no use for a trekker. We walked back and decided to cross the forest and search for the trail we used the previous day. It took some 10-15 mins and we were back in track. We were back at the hotel by 8:30 AM. To our surprise, BTC organisers Chaitanya and Vireender were at the hotel! They had come for a ride on Vireender's new Harley.
Actual fun began post that! Nobody had enough cash! I had 100 Rs with me, Deepesh had some 50 bucks and Rithin had 100 bucks. We had breakfast from the landmark hotel and that left us with 30 bucks. Bus to devanahalli would cost 13 bucks per person and we were 6 people and that amounts to 78 bucks. All of searched our bags and collected all the coins we could! :D Believe me or not, we had 77 bucks with us! We boarded the bus, gave conductor a bunch of coins and told him its only 77! He accepted with out any complaint!
In another 30 mins we were at Devanahalli town and we rushed to the nearest ATM counter and boarded bus to Hebbal. By 1 AM, we reached Marathahalli and it was all hot climate and boring traffic all over again!
Things to remember:
1. Take bus till Nandi board and go to Karahalli cross and you'll see the trail start in front of you.
Do's:
1. There is a dried pond at the peak which is ideal for setting up campfire which we saw only in the morning.
Dont's:
1. I advise not to try this trek with out at least one person who is experienced.
2. The peak is little polluted. So please carry back all you garbage.
Our group pic:
Duration: 1.5 hours hike, 1 hour climb down and night stay.
Expense: ~500 per head
Date: 5th and 6th of April 2014.
Terrain Info: Rocky.
Abstract: A trek with crazy and difficult to find trail.
Let me make this clear. Brahmagiri referred here in this blog isn't the one in Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in Coorg. This is one among the 5 peaks of the Nandi Hills range near Chikkaballapur.
This should be one trek for which we did least planning and best execution. Never a thought crossed my mind about a trek for the weekend until Friday the 4th of April evening when I asked Arun for the weekend plans. Destination was ready in Arun's and Geo's mind - Brahmagiri! My self and Arun had planned once to nail Brahmagiri but that ended ourselves hiking the adjacent peak - Kaurav Kunta which is a go to trek as far as we are concerned! The moment I let Deepesh and Dilip know about the plan and the crew, they were turned all excited. The team was suppose to be 8 including three friends of Geo out of which two didn't turn up in the last moment.
We decided to start from the Marathahalli at 2 PM on Saturday and was of the plan to start the hike by 4 PM. As planned, myself, Deepesh, Arun, Geo and Rithin met at Marathahalli and boarded a Hebbal bus by 2:15 PM. We reached Hebbal in 45 mins and soon a Chikkaballapur bus stopped before us and we took tickets till Devanahalli. By 4 PM, we reached Devenahalli Bus stand and we took another as the conductor promised to drop us at Nandi Cross. By then, Dilip who is a resident of Doddaballapur had already reached a junction named Karahalli Cross. From Nandi Cross, we took a rick to Nandigrama. Then we realized, Dilip is 5 Kms away from us and we told him take a rick and reach us. Even though, Geo and Arun had done this trek before, both of them were quite certain about the starting point of the trail. Geo had called up couple of his friends and learned, trail actually starts beside Sri Nandhi Abhinandana Hotel in Karahalli Cross! Immediately, I called Dilip to stop him but by then we was already in front of us. We asked the same rick guy to take us back to the place from where he started!
In short, to reach the trail, board bus towards Devanahalli from Majestic or Hebbal and then get down at the first board that shows right deviation towards Nandi Hills in the highway. And then take a rick to the dead end of the road. Dead end is a the T-junction named Karahalli Cross with the hotel I mentioned above.
We had coffee and packed all our hydration needs from the hotel, bought tea powder, sugar, snacks, and believe me, two watermelons as well! :D We started our walk in the trail by 5:30 PM. The mud road you see beside the hotel in the pic below is the starting trail to the peak.
We moved and we got in touch with the jeep trail which we ignored and crossed through it over the rocks. And reached our first check point. Deepesh and Geo changed their attire to suit the weather. Myself, Dilip and Deepesh decided to move ahead and Geo advised us about the jeep trail which we should be following. We walked hastily and we came across a narrow trail and we followed it. We moved with a serious discussions on recent movies and series watched by each of us and it went on. I was keep track of the trail and I was sure this isn't the trail which Geo recommended us to follow. But since geographically, it appeared convincing, we didn't want to waste time searching for the actual trail. We weren't seeing any trace of our second group. A little ahead, we could see only ashes every where! The entire forest was burnt! But in a way, that was a boon to us. The trail appeared even clearer. After the burnt forest, it was steep rock. It was tiring and it was getting dark very fast. We climbed half way through and from there we could see the jeep trail about which Geo told when we took the lead.
We tried ignoring our panting with the Floyd, Nirvana, Cold Play and we climbed with myself and Deepesh in the lead and Dilip's knee was troubling him which dragged us a bit slow. By 6:45 PM, we reached the Saniswara Temple which is suppose to be the last checkpoint before reaching the peak. We were relieved that we reached the temple by the time it was dark. Close to the temple, there is a stairs which would take us to the peak. We had to turn-on our torches and we finally nailed the hill in 1.5 hours. It was cold and torrential wind was blowing in all directions! As I said in the my previous blogs, this is the best part I love about a trek! That cold breeze, that relief, that sanctity! Its priceless! One experience of this pleasure will mute the mouths of any one who call trekkers crazy! We could see the entire base lighted up. We could even see the airport at a distance. There were flights going to and fro in the sky.
We waited for 20 mins and our second group was no where to be seen! I started worrying! All our food packed for the night were with them! :P :D We walked around the peak with torched to see if they had climbed through some other trail and reached some other corner of the peak. In another 10 minutes, they showed up and we decided to get settled. Geo walked around and found a place behind a tree which weakened the force of the wind and was flat enough to camp and there present was remains of campfire setup prepared by some trekkers before. There were ample dried wood available and with the machete that Geo carried, we collected a good amount of wood and Geo succeeded lighting up our bonfire with one single match stick. We little effort from our side, camp fire grew in to a full fledged one. We grouped ourselves around it and started our usual sessions. Our master chef Arun cooked maggi in the campfire and he had our tummies full! We had endless chats, with psychedelic songs playing in background. Weather was too good and we had such an awesome time spent there. Arun decided to doze off by 9:30 PM and we continued with out chats. Topics went on with traditions, languages, human values and so on. I would like to share an experience Geo had while he traveled across North India. He was in a train to Jhansi and the train was jam-packed with passengers it seems. People were sitting at every possible place. Geo was jammed to one corner even though he had a reserved ticket. Some where in between, he opened his water bottle to quench his thirst and one person who was sitting right opposite to him was eyeing on the bottle and Geo was kind enough to share his portion with him. That guy passed it on to his adjacent guy and so it went on to the whole block until it was emptied. During night time, these people opened their packed dinner and Geo was sitting idle in their middle. One person took initiative to ask Geo to taste his dinner. Even though Geo refused at first, he decided to take up the offer. With in a matter of no time, there were more than 10-15 dinner packs offered in front of him from every one there. They all wanted him take a portion and so he did. He informed them of his destination being Jhansi and they agreed to let him once the train arrives the station. When the train was at his destination, this whole bunch of people, woke him up and waved him good bye from the train. Language helps you speak but true communication happens with heart for which there isn't a language nor is required.
We were all of the notion to remain awake the whole night. And as usual, eventually all of us dozed off by 12:30 AM. As always, I had trouble with sleeping inside sleeping bag and had to struggle a bit get some sleep.
I woke with a startle at 5:30 AM out of some random dream and sunlight had started lighting up the sky. I took my camera and was ready for sunrise. Within some time, Rithin and Arun woke up and they started preparing tea. I moved to the corner of the peak that was close to Nandi hills and I could see countless vehicles rushing to the peak for the sunrise view. I could hear royal enfields rumbling uphill. Sunrise was spectacular and so was the hill lock!
Actual fun began post that! Nobody had enough cash! I had 100 Rs with me, Deepesh had some 50 bucks and Rithin had 100 bucks. We had breakfast from the landmark hotel and that left us with 30 bucks. Bus to devanahalli would cost 13 bucks per person and we were 6 people and that amounts to 78 bucks. All of searched our bags and collected all the coins we could! :D Believe me or not, we had 77 bucks with us! We boarded the bus, gave conductor a bunch of coins and told him its only 77! He accepted with out any complaint!
Things to remember:
1. Take bus till Nandi board and go to Karahalli cross and you'll see the trail start in front of you.
Do's:
1. There is a dried pond at the peak which is ideal for setting up campfire which we saw only in the morning.
Dont's:
1. I advise not to try this trek with out at least one person who is experienced.
2. The peak is little polluted. So please carry back all you garbage.
Our group pic:
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