Place: Channarayana Durga trek
Distance: 100kms x 2 = 200 kms
Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Dabaspet > Kortagere > Channarayana Durga
Krew: Anwar (Sharief bhai) > Karthik (Sp)
Bikes: Pulsar
Previous Visit: Kabbala Durga trek
Budget: Rs 250/head (Total = 400 petrol + 100 breakfast & tea)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Well, this was a crazy chapter, the second run during the Diwali holidays. People often ask me why I go to these hillocks repeatedly; this chapter answers it perfectly. Firstly, I don't go for myself. It's the others I help reach places. Secondly, the mountain always presents a different face every time we go, so its a new experience every time. (Thirdly - none of their business) In this chapter, the fog descended wildly onto Channarayana Durga as we ascended and presented a beautiful yet scary side of her. The trek, as such, was beautiful, but with water running down on the white stones, proved to be quite risky. Thankfully, we had a guardian angel along with us! Read on.
INTRO & PLAN:
Well, it had been 2 days since our trip to Kabbaladurga. 1 day to recover and 1 day to plan. Madhu said he would be busy, and Anwar said he could be staying at Nelamangala. So yeah, the trip was planned, pick from Nelamangala. Headed where? Nobody knew. Oh yeah, btw, it was Anwar's b'day as well. SO, thought of gifting him a good experiential gift rather than materialistic ones.
TIME: 22:00 (20/10/2025)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Oh yeah, woke up at 00:30, wait what. Yes, you read that right. Woke up, did a few push-ups and sit-ups, and by 2am was ready. I got bored and listened to some music. Woke up Anwar by 3:30am and told him we'd head out early. Had a sip of coffee and left home.
TIME: 04:30
RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Nelamangala-Dobbaspete - Channarayana Durga)
The ride to Channarayana Durga is a smooth one. But the construction on the highway is slightly draining. As I left home, I cruised along at a decent pace in the early hours with still darkness all around me, felt homely. Reached Nelamangala and picked up B'day boy and cruised to reach Dobbaspet. Once onto the Kortagere road, it was smooth sailing in the darkness to reach our regular breakfast spot for a double round superb breakfast.
TIME: 06:00
We had a great breakfast, and the sunlight had begun to rise. The zone just before sunrise feels the coldest. Hopping onto the bike, we zoomed ahead until the town "Tumbadi", Oh yeah, that's right, we discussed the awesome movie as we cruised along, parked our bikes at the town's centre. Requested a random bakery to hold on to our helmets until we reach back :P
TIME: 10:45
ASCENSION:
Channarayana Durga is one such hillock, which is easy to ascend, but is also tricky. Let me explain. The rocks here are slippery, and with water running down, it becomes actually risky. As we reached the foot of the mountain, the sun was up and we felt good. The waters running down the mountain send slight chills. We took about an hour to ascend the mountain.
Anyway, I have divided the ascension into the following stages, So keep up with here! :
i) Initial Stretch
ii) Lost Paradise
iii) Layouts
iv) Last Stretch
TIME: 07:15
i) Initial stretch:
This stretch is the hardest part of the trek. Not surprising at all, right, if you want your enemies to die, let them die at the foot of the mountain, not at the top. This stretch is tricky, I mean real tricky. With waters running down, we could only feel what the invading armies felt whilst trying to conquer this fort. And guess what, out of nowhere, I mean seriously out of nowhere, a dog joined us in the middle of this stretch.
ii) Lost Paradise:
Once we reached the first fort wall. We began navigating our way into the lost paradise. And as we entered it, we were taken aback by the sight that was in front of us. Thick dense fog is descending on the hillock. Damn! It looked so beautiful and scary at the same time. The whole of the lake and ruins of the temples were shrouded in fog and felt damn nice. With the winds blowing with the fog, felt like an angry banshee's cold hug!
iii) Layouts:
The layouts, I mean, what layouts huh? Nothing was hardly visible haha! Crazy scenes, it was. And we were the only two on top of the hillock (oh yeah, the dog as well, so three). So, we kept pushing further and reached the "end of the word" spot. And we weren't surprised to spot nothing. We couldn't spot Madhugiri or any of the hillocks. It seemed as though the fog and wind had made peace and were howling and encircling the entire hill. Felt surreal.
iii) Last Stretch:
Told Anwar and the dog (yes, I really did tell him) that we would summit the top and wait for the sunrise, and then come back here. We pushed through the last stretch and reached the summit.
TIME: 08:15
TOP:
As we reached the top, we settled down below a tree and began to relax. The fog was really howling by now. The sun was trying to put up a good fight but it was of no use. We had some biscuits in our bag. We fed the dog, and after having biscuits, he sat down and began napping. Haha, such peaceful creatures. We also had some water and relaxed for a while. But the winds blowing along with the fog were actually spooky. After resting for about 20-30mins we decided to head back the spot we discussed earlier.
TIME: 09:00
As we came back to the "end of the world" spot. We could spot the bottom of the ground, and the fog seemed to be lifting. We felt happy and decided to crash at the spot until the fog lifted. The spot is a tricky one with dead ends all around. And the brave dog followed us onto this spot. Peeping cautiously below, took step by step and sat with us. And it was truly the "end of the word" feeling!! We waited and waited, then finally took a nap at the spot and decided to head back haha!
TIME: 09:15
TREK BACK:
It took us hardly 45 minutes to reach the base. The dog was waiting for us to get back. As I sat down beside him, I tried to seriously have a conversation, looking into his eyes. All he did was stare at the next gateway that lay afar. He had a mission, and that is all that mattered to him, I guess. We cruised back the top two stretches in a jiffy. And we entered the "initial stretch", we could see that the water flowing down the mountain had increased, and to make matters worse, it started raining.
Being doubly cautious, we made our way down very slowly. The dog stuck with it throughout until this stretch. And as we were navigating the final steep descent. We couldn't spot the dog anymore. thanking him for the company, we headed towards the bakery for some refreshments. After some Sting, we decided to head back to Bangalore.
TIME: 10:15
RIDE 2: (Channarayana Durga – Dabaspet - Nelamangala – Bangalore)
Okay, this was the 100kms ride back to Bangalore. As we left Channarayanadurga, the cool breeze felt good on our face. We stopped and had a final look back at the hillock, who was still fighting the fog with the help of the sun. We promised her a return and zoomed ahead towards Bangalore. Dropped Anwar at Nelamangala, and headed back to reach hime.
TIME: 12:30
CONCLUSION:
“Has to be one of the most awesome faces of this mountain I have ever seen since 2012. But nevertheless, it was risky. And a superb experience to the b'day boy. Let's keep GOING!! And last but most importantly, thanks to the dog for sticking by us throughout this adventurous trek. Cheers boi :)“
Until next time Ta-ta Cia \m/
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