Another trek was always on the cards, but was somehow getting postponed with no particular reason.
At last, the trip to Shivgange materialized. Me along with 4 of my colleagues (JJ, Man, Sharath and Param) jotted our plans and started our one day trip to Shivgange.
We hired zoom car from Bangalore and started our journey around 5 AM. We were a touch late to start as opposed to 4AM.JJ agreed to drive (with others just not as good as JJ) happily agreed to let him take charge with the car with me taking the official map guide (of course with my Google gps buddy along).
In spite of having GPS along, destination played some nasty tricks resulting in getting some friendly banter with my friends.
Somehow we managed to get to Nelamangala and the destination is just 16 KM from there.
We decided to have breakfast near the detour. We had some decent breakfast at some Upahar. The food was not that great, but had no intentions to complain as I guess that would be the best we would have got at that particular place.
We took the detour and The scenery changed from big highways to country roads, but still big for the size of the country road.
We are now able to see the mountain that we are going to scale. We made up our mind for a hot and sunny day as we were exposed to a bright sun as early as 7:30 AM.
We reached to the base of the hill around 8 and started our ascent. Initially there were all apprehension on all our faces whether we can do it. We even joked to return instead of toiling hard as all the mountain tops would be the same and what is the fun going to the top knowing what’s in store for us.
The mountain looked huge and to top it the sun looked scary. We know we are going to get dehydrated soon and we loaded ourself with good amount of water bottles.
I had one bottle of water stocked for myself and in the spree of selfie clicks, I just forgot to take the bottle along, doomsday started.
The terrain is completely mixed. There are steps initially, followed by rocks cut in the form of steps, no steps, plain rocks and it goes keeping ourselves guessing.
I could feel the heat literally finding it’s ways through my head and i got dehydrated so easily at the very beginning of the trek.
Thanks to my cubicle job, I have lost all my stamina and climbing the mountain looked impossible. It was a wake up call for me as I thought I would climb this mountain like a piece of cake. All my previous climbing experience became a joke and seeing how demanding mountains can be,I understood how each mountains demands it’s respect.
But then I know, if I get set and see through the initial phase, I would be lot more comfortable. At some point, I let my friends go past me and I decided to climb at my own pace.
Initially the sun was vigorous but then I decided to leave my ego behind and respect the terrain.I was skeptical but I don’t want to give up. So are the others. We all decided that we are not going to back down.
We took rest in regular intervals and made progress. This trek though is not teasing as Skandagiri Hills. It is all one steep terrain and we can see from the bottom as how much more left to scale. Since it was steep from the very beginning, i believe there would a lot of cuss words from our gang flowing in the air forgetting that we are in the temple zone.
It is all steep climb all over and we have to be in decent shape to get to the top. There were some places we have to negotiate and it took us almost two hours to reach the top.
There are small shops along the way and one need not worry about the resources. Starting lime juice the range goes till red bull.
There are several spots on the way that makes this trek not boring. There is a small temple Midway, A rush spring (ganga like water which is considered holy) and some ruined walls and shades to rest.
There is a belief here that if you reach out your hand and you are able to touch the water, you are considered lucky and those who cannot reach the water have sins and have to surrender to the god to wash away their sins.
Forget about reaching the water table, We were not even able to see the water – you can all judge us (sinners of the sinners) and more logical persons like us will counter that with summer time.
Then there is a small detour that takes us to a small nandi hill. If you have no time, keep walking straight, in mid way you can find a Shiva statue with his better half. After taking some rest, we again resumed our walk. This place is a pointer for you to understand that you have already covered close to 70%.
From here the terrain changes completely. It is all steep with vertical rock. There are iron boulders on both sides for support with rocks cut for grip. Without these support, it is impossible to climb for ordinary people.
Spiritualism is one driving force here in India that makes people do things which they would not not even considered possible. I see people with 70 and 80 years climbing this peak with only thing in their mind – faith. Had it not been devotion to Shiva, they would have possibly not even tried to climb a stair.
Back to the place, There are monkeys all around and there were fair warnings from the shop keepers and those who descend to keep a stick with you and be careful with your belongings.
The monkeys here are very notorious and if provoked can be potentially dangerous. They return in groups and you know you now have to get into a gang war – which is the least thing you ever wanted.
I did not have the sticks with me and that prompted me to do the most stupidest thing in my life.
I crossed the boulders and then tried to reach to the branch of the tree to grab a stick. That’s when I noticed how far I came away with slippery rock with no support and down I see clear death if I do one small mistake.
People started shouting asking me to return and for one moment I was taken aback. I gathered courage, decided not to panic and hold on a bit longer. I somehow managed to come back to the grid and cursed myself to not repeat this stupidest act ever.
By now I am accustomed to the climb and I started to climb with ease. This was the most interesting phase of the climb.
We stopped at one shop and had a good snack. We were all hungry and munched whatever the shopkeeper offered and resumed our walk.
From here it is all one narrow path with steep climb. One Amusing thing is this place can get heavily crowded making you stranded for hours. Hence make sure you do not go to that place whenever there is festival.
We now see hope. We finally reached the much hyped big Nandi statue which stands at the top of the rock. There is no place to stand other than the nandi statue. It can max accommodate one more guy and that’s it.
Even with the safety boulders and steps , this place is shit scaring. I remember, we still have to be super careful, one small mistake here would be a ticket to heaven. It is amazing how one can carve a statue here. It still is a mystery.
After taking turns visiting this nandi statue and still taking turns to shoo away monkeys, one taking responsibility of our belongings and to give away nothing to the monkeys and come out victorious, it was all both fun and extremely challenging.
Straight opposite to nandi statue is the Shiva temple. You have to come down from this single rock and climb another rock in parallel to reach the temple. That technically is the summit.
There is a small temple with one shop at the top. Not to take away, the entire monkey population was there like a boss. I could have easily seen close to 150 monkeys not shying away and waiting for easy targets. We took close to 2 hours to reach the top.
We were there at the top for some 40 minutes. It was hot but the breeze made it manageable and comfortable. The view was absolutely stunning. It is a dry area and the vegetation is pretty scant.
However you can get a good lake view from the top. It was more of a completion of this trek that bring us joy. There is a small cave in the top. The temperatures change at a second we enter these caves. We relaxed there for a while.
Then we started our descent around 11:30. The descent was however pretty easy but as I said we have to very careful with our steps. The sun was at it’s best and we saw people starting their trek. I assume they are either strong willed or entirely crazy to start at 12.
It took 1 hour to descent and we raced to the bottom. On the way back, we got a chance to look around more carefully and guess what we spotted an abandoned Temple with only ruins left behind.
The temple was guarded by no one other than monkeys and we went inside and took some rest inside.
We almost reached the base from there and we signed off the trek with some really exhausted but fulfilled faces. We were back to Bangalore by 3 PM.
Trek Details –
Height – 1330m above MSL.
Place – Near Tumkur, Karnataka, India.
Distance from Bangalore – 60KM.
How to Reach – Easily accessible from Bangalore. Government Buses available from Bangalore Majestic Bus Stand to Shivgange but I would advise you to rent a car from Bangalore or Tumkur.
Trek Distance – 2 to 3 KM
Difficulty Level – Moderate.
Things to Carry – Water Bottle, Sunglasses, Energy Bars, Towel.
Temperature – Min and Max. Mostly hot and humid at times.
Clothing – Wear light dress preferably cotton ,but remember to wear appropriate clothes as it is a temple and it may invite some unwanted looks.
Note – Please keep your bag sealed and do not carry any eateries in your hand. Have your backpack safe from the monkeys and carry a stick with you.
Whispering Mountains... 