It
happens most of the times that we look for things far from us but forget to see
the beauty of things that are nearer to us, one such thing is Skandagiri. Ask
any bangaloreans about places for a one day getaway in and around Bangalore
first suggestion mostly will be Nandi Hills, however there is Skandagiri a
lesser known trekking paradise to be explored as well.
(Warning: This trekking involves certain amount of risk as
this place is not much explored and there seems to be a BAN for trekking as
well recently it’s advisable to do proper enquires before you reach there.).
Skandagiri trekking is one of the
most memorable trips for us for it is one such trip which took us very close to
nature, this was one of our early outing days, as our planning committee is
still in its nascent stage it did not take all the factors into account as a
result we both suffered and enjoyed the thrill to its fullestJ. By mid-night our
bikes took off from Mekhri circle and landed at cross junction after KIA, where
if you take left you would go to Nandi Hills and towards right to Skandagiri. We
hired a guide to take us till some point as the directions marked on the stones
were difficult to identify in that pitch dark (it did not occur to our
committee to take a torch with usJ).
It took around 4 hours to reach the top for us (we were lost for a brief period
of time), but this 4 hours were the most adventures time as in the dark with
only our mobile phone and moon lights to help us every step was challenging.
There are no clear markings or walk way and most of the way are covered with
chest high plants through which you have to navigate.
Small insects chirping and
prankster friend’s hissing sound from behind and sight of small twigs were all
giving us a scare of life timeJ.
After climbing boulder after boulder, crossing narrow lanes, pulling and
pushing each other Step-by-step we reached the top at the moment to coincide
with the beautiful moment of sunrise. Once we reached the top the sight was heavenly,
we stood still for some time with no words exchanged then we all ran in
different directions in the childlike excitement and waving our hands above us
(even though it was numb in the chillness) and in the hope of catching the
clouds which was just above our heads from one end to another, the scene of
clouds acting us a white cap to the mountain top and from that altitude all the
huge tress at ground level looked like a clove’s top and people were almost
like a small dots moving forward and backward all these added to our excitement
and we immersed ourselves into thinking of kings of heaven J and spent around two
hours there.
After that we slowly started our descent, which
was the painful part as our legs were not obeying our minds commands due to
long ascent up the hill, as we climbed down we turned and looked at the
mountain which was un-spoilt due to humans and was at nature’s raw form made us
look insignificant.
