Over Night Hike To The Clouds

Destination: Kalavara Betta aka Skandagiri
Squad: Nikhil, Yateesh and Myself
Departure: 01:00 IST , 27th July, Sunday
Distance: Approx 75 Kms
Directions: Bengaluru - Devanahalli - Chikabalapur - Kalavarahalli

After having picked up Yateesh and Nikhil, we stopped over at my place before heading out for a quick dinner. Then after a small party at a friend’s place, we were driving with a speed limit of 80kmph on the newly laid highway leading to the new International Bengaluru airport. After having passed the airport, we drove towards Chikabalapur. At Chikabalapur, we had to take a left turn at the bus station, on the road leading to Gauribidanur. It was indeed confusing to get to the correct road; but with few local's directions, we were on track to the Kalavara Halli which is a host to Papagni Matt.

It was around 02:30 IST when we reached the base at Kalavara Halli to be welcomed by a lot more hikers. A forest entry fee of Rs. 25 per person is charged for the uphill hike by the forest department and the local guides are very expensive. We teamed up with other hikers to share a guide and we almost immediately started the hike, and forgot to take water bottles. We were also not carrying torches, which handicapped us almost completely but the mobile phones came to our rescue.

It was the rainy season and though it wasn’t raining, it was pretty cold. As we crossed the halfway mark, we realized that we were indeed walking into the clouds of mist. The hike is quite tiring as it is a steep climb. It almost took us 2 and a half hours to reach the top. The top of the mountain has couple of small temples, which were all occupied by the hikers trying to keep themselves warm. It wasn’t raining; but we got soaked in a few moments in the mist. The temperatures must have been around 5`C plus fast winds, which created a very freezing atmosphere. Indeed the water droplets on the eye lashes started to freeze at some point of time. We enjoyed our entire time on the hilltop with my Nikon D80, shooting in the clouds.

Our downhill was faster which took us about an hour. Only at the base, we could relish tender coconut, our first glimpse of fluid; yes we covered the entire hike without water. We then started the drive back till we reached Konark for breakfast at 09:00 IST.

The first overnight uphill hike turned out to be an helluva experience. It was tiring; but worth every calorie burnt!