85) Huthridurga Trek: (12/10/2013)

Place: Hutridurga Trek.

Distance: 100 x 2 = 200kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Bidadi – Ramnagara – Jalamangala - Hutridurga.

Particiapants: Deepak(Deefu) > Madhu (k.) > Pawan >Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Zeus > Pulsar.

Previous visit: Narayanagiri Trek.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Well, this was one crazy trip to this new place. Hutridurga is one of the Navadurgas, the nine fort hills which surround Bangalore. This place is unheard of to most of the city people, which made our visit a wonderful one. We were the only ones exploring the place.

INTRO & PLAN:

Alright here’s the funny part, I was just browsing through Google Maps, as I whipped past Narayangiri our last trek, I spotted another bump on the surface of the earth about 1000m in height. Anything around 1000m is surely worth the climb mark my words! So went dug a little deeper about the place and pitched up a small crew and informed about the plan to them.

TIME: 22:00

ASSEMBLE:

Yeah, I was up by 05:00, but then I knew the meet up was scheduled at 11:00 on Mysore Road. So had a sip of coffee, did a few push ups & sit ups and went back to listening music. At about 10:00 Madhu came to my place and we left towards Mysore road. We waited for Deefu & Pawan to show up. After about an hour, after a formal greeting we were all set to leave.

TIME: 11:30

RIDE 1: (Bengaluru - Hutridurga)

This was a 100kms stretch partly on highway and country roads. So, this was a new place and Deefu and I agreed we ride till Jalamangala without much breaks after which we would slow down and ask directions and proceed. The first stretch until Ramanagar was pure bliss as always, 40kms on SH-17, our home ground. But yeah, the sun was up & blazing which worried us for a moment about the hike ahead of us, but then we decided to let go and not think too much of what’s ahead!

  

We rode slow chatting all along to reach Ramnagara, then took a right deviation and proceeded towards Jalamangala. As we spotted Naryanagiri Hillock, we pulled over to for a short break. Also we made enquiries regarding Hutridurga. The sky was clear and clouds were just floating around free and independent.

TIME:13:00

We asked several people for the directions but most of them couldn’t figure out, even though we knew it was within a radius of 10kms. [ YES, we don't use our phones to navigate, we're not kitties]. Finally after 3kms became 5kms, and then still 2kms were left we recognized the hill. From then on we didn’t ask for direction but carved our way to the base somehow through mud roads and fields. 

The final stretch was similar to Devarayanadurga, lot of curves which helped us ascend the hillock. This made me a little scared, fearing if there weren't any hillock to climb. Finally we parked our bikes amidst the green fields in shade and were all set for the hike.

TIME:13:30

HUTHRIDURGA TREK:

It took us about 60mins to reach the top, with about 20mins of thinking during the first phase. The ascension was a smooth one. Even though the sun was up, it was friendly and didn’t bother us much. The “kick” of the place got the better of us.

STRETCHES:

i) Unlocking the Fort wall;

ii) Old Misguiding Gateways;

iii) Bare Section

iii) The Greenland

i) Unlocking the fortwall:

Yeah sounds cool doesn’t it? But trust me; this was one stretch which kinda freaked us out. And it was just the first stretch. As we started off, we passed through the first gate and had an overview glimpse of the hillock and were happy to note that it wouldn’t be an easy one. But then as we reached the first fort wall, we couldn’t find a way to get past it. We kept going alongside the fort wall (in the wrong direction) until we hit a dead end. Then Deefu & I saw each other, smiled and climbed the fort wall like monkeys straight up. 

  

But then we found ourselves looking at a swamp kinda terrain. Then we went back down to meet the other two and followed the wall back to where we started and finally found the door behind lot of shrubs and bushes. Amazing how geometry misguides you!!

TIME:14:00

ii) Old misguiding Gateways:

After the ascending the first fort wall, the hike was a pleasant one. It was through old gateways under the tree shade which we were thankful for. But this stretch was no ordinary one a well, at many points, to reach the next gate we actually had to descend. This really got us confused but at the end it left us at and opening where we had to climb a bare section of the hillock like others which we enjoyed the most.

 

iii) Bare Section:

After reaching the opening, it felt like a proper hike like Kabbaldurga or Madhugiri. Where we had to ascend, with sun’s rays hitting our back and heads. We took a few breaks on this stretch, just to make it easy, Madhu kept us high in spirits by his complaining about his tiredness :P We reached the final gateway from where we could spot the top.

 

iv) The Greenland:

After passing through the gate way, we found ourselves amidst tall grasses. Haha, yup it reminded us of Channarayanadurga, and how we’d busted our bums falling over and over again on rocks and thorns. So, we were little careful and we made sure we made lot of noise as we went through the tall grass, as we didn’t want to spook any snakes resting in the grass. Finally we spotted the Nandi little below the top, which quite puzzled us. But he did show us the right direction, which we took and reached the top.

TIME: 14:15

TOP:

Deefu, Pawan and I looked at each other and gave a thumbs up. Going a few steps further we realized 4 of us had come and then we looked down on the ground Madhu was rolling down with tiredness and happiness that he had reached the top. We all burst into laughter and carried him to the shade of the temple on top.  Oh yeah, we spotted Savandurga from here too just like our previous trip (Narayanagiri). We did wave back to her as well, promising her we would be there again sometime. Deefu had got some apples thankfully and I like always had a few knives on me, so we had a small gathering and munched down on what's available. Took rest for about 45mins and decided to leave back

 TIME: 15:00

 

DESCENSION:

The descension took us roughly 30mins. It was filled with laughter and making fun of each other… actually wait not each other, but only Madho :P Haha this was his second major trek after the Pearl valley 3 years back. As we reached the Gateways we made sure we explored enough to leave anything behind. By the end of the 30mins we had reached the first wall which had misguided right at the start, gave it a nice tap and reached our bikes.

TIME: 15:30

  

RIDE 2: (Huthridurga – Bidadi Dhaba)

This was roughly a 60kms stretch. As we got on our bikes, we decided to crash back at our regular dhaba for some food and drink. So we cruised till Ramanagar signal at a slow pace enjoying the wind cool the sweat of our faces. After reaching Ramnagar, we stepped on it to reach our Dhaba.

TIME: 17:00

Ah yeah. Sat back sipping and eating. Regarding future plans nothing was talked about. As we were near the 90’s mark. We all knew 100 was just another trip like others. After having done with lunch we left towards Bangalore.

TIME: 17:45

 

RIDE 3: (Bidadi – Bengaluru)

This was a 30kms stretch. We cruised along at our normal pace, we could sense the traffic increasing but that didn’t bother us much as we had our ways to get though them. We pulled over at the JB Split stop, where we thanked Deefu and Pawan for making it. Maadho and I landed up at bakery after having some tea and snacks, we took off towards our respective homes

TIME: 18:30

CONCLUSION:

“this had to be one of those fun filled, free flowin, but yet serious trek. Huthridurga being a new place never disappointed us one bit. Enjoyed every bit of this insane place, thanks to the variety it offered us. Plus it was quite odd for us to leave at noon for a trek, but trust me it was worth it!!, Cheers!!”

Until next time, Cia \m/

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