Trekking Makalidurga, a small hillock (1,117m above sea level) almost 87KM from my home in Bangalore was always on my wishlist.
The wish evaded me though for some time until my friend called me and asked whether I would be in for the night trek to Makalidurga. I pounced on that opportunity without any second thought and the journey materialized.
Soon, a group of 5 members in no time got involved and decided to travel by car. Started our trip at 02 AM in the morning as we had multiple stop-overs to pick each one up. (By now, I understand the real pain of Uber Pool drivers) By the time we had everyone in the car, it was already 03:45 AM in the morning.
Google Maps promptly put forward its consideration that we would reach the destination around 05 AM in the morning and usually, he’s spot on. Another brownie to this trek is that it is well documented and the routes are pretty clear.
We navigated to the Makalidurga Parking lot and followed the below route.
Electronic City -> HAL -> ShivajiNagar -> Mekri Circle -> Yelahanka (Take a left here) -> Doddaballapura -> Makalidurga Parking Spot.
As soon as you reach Makalipura Parking, you could see the railway line crossing. There was even a forest official at the base of the trail. You could pre-book the tickets online on the Myecotrip portal (which by the way is a Karnataka Forest Department Website).
We crossed the railway line and started our trek at Muthurayaswamy Temple around 05 AM in the morning. It was pitch dark with no visibility and torches were our only saviors. The forest officials cautioned us to follow the painted arrow lines along the route to reach the fort and the temple at the top.
The route is pretty rugged and secluded. The vegetation was scarce and notably, there are no signs of animals or birds or even reptiles for that matter.
It was pitch dark and we started climbing. Initially, the route appeared pretty normal with no real sign of danger but as it progressed, we could sense the danger as it was pretty steep and wild. As we were progressing, I could sense visible changes in my breathing pattern and it was getting difficult but not alarming.
There was no real support to hold on to anything and it was steep, but at the same time, it was not unattainable. It was pretty reasonable but my mundane lifestyle backed by my desk job made it look difficult.
Heard from the forest officials that this trek route uphill is almost 4 KM and it would take up to 2-3 hours depending on our ability. The only good thing to rejoice is that we were marching aggressively and completed this trek in less than 90 minutes. One primary reason being, we don’t want to miss the sunrise.
The walk got interesting with sun-rays slowly penetrating and the backdrop being an artistic lake. The view along with the lake was completely surreal and we continued to march forward.
I was now able to see the first glimpse of the ruined fort walls and told to my myself that we are near. A couple of fort walls along with a temple at the top is all it was there, but the sunrise is impeccable.
Had a good time with my buddies and we started descending around 8 PM and reached the base at 09:00 AM. Finished the trip with a nice sumptuous Karnataka styled breakfast at one of the road-side restaurants and ended this trip in style.
Overall a beautiful half day trek ended at 11:30 AM and back to my classical sofa ways, idling my way out in the other half of the day.
Cheers and see you again,
Wanderers.
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