Place: Medigeshi Fort Trek
Distance: 150kms x 2 = 300kms
Directions: Bangalore > Dobbaspete > Madhugiri > Medigeshi
Krew: Anwar (Bhai) > Karthik (Sippy)
Bikes: Pulsar
Previous Visit: Channarayana Durga trek.
Budget: Rs 500/head (Total = 500 (Petrol) + 90 (breakfast) + 400 (lunch))
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Alright, this was, I must say, a perfect old school chapter. We had no clue where we were heading until about 100km from Bangalore. And after finalizing on Medigeshi, the trek proved to be something else. All out past treks, it was usually dry weather. But this time, with vegetation fresh, it proved doubly hard to find the trails. And the vegetation was filled with thorny shrubs and those small sticky thorny bomb like seeds, damn, but yeah, it was fun :)
INTRO & PLAN:
We had 3 chapters in the bag for Oct 2025. And what a great feel it was. But we were not done yet. It was time to hit one last chapter. Anwar was ready as well. Considering the budget and body condition, we decided to hit another one. Place? - Not decided. Direction? - either Koratagere side / hassan roadside.
TIME: 17:00 (24/10/2025)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, I was up at 02:00, as usual, did a few push-ups and sit-ups, and was all set to go. Had a sip of coffee and went down and sat on the footpath waiting for Anwar. Once Anwar arrived, I asked him where we were headed to?? Both us exchanged blank stares, and then we hopped onto the bike and left Bangalore.
TIME: 05:15
RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete – Madhugiri – ??)
Okay is this was about a 135-150 km ride. To start things off, it always feels good if you can get 50-100km before sunrise. The sun rising in your rear-view mirror is a treat to watch and also makes you feel really good. So, as we left Bangalore, we cruised past Nelamangala, and I asked Anwar again, "bro, which place?" All that came was a hearty laughter. So I rephrased "Bob, you want to eat that idly again?" The answer I got was yes. Hence, the direction was frozen; it was towards Kortagere. Haha! We cruised along at solid speed and reached Uncle's breakfast stop for some piping hot idlis and rice bath.
TIME: 06:45
After breakfast, we took off towards Madhugiri. We spotted Channarayana Durga afar, reminding us of the trip we took 3 days back. She was not shrouded in mist, so yeah, we had struck gold the other day. We rode along pretty solidly; the traffic seemed to be lean as well. We spotted Madhugiri afar. After our standard stop prior to it, we cruised along. I narrowed the options to Ratnagiri / Medigeshi. Anwar again laughed and said, "Anything is fine". After some thought, I decided to head to Medigeshi. Parking our bikes at the temple and awakening the mountain goat's spirit, we were set for the trek.
TIME: 08:30
MEDIGESHI FORT TREK:
It took us about 60 minutes to reach the top. The sun was up and the skies were clear. Seemed pleasant at first. But the ascension proved to be tougher than past ascents. Nature always has a way to keep you humble. When things are out of control, one thing we always do is keep landmarks like trees, rocks, bushes, etc, and add a dirty thought to it, which helps you remember on your way back :P (not sure how good it sounds, but hey, they work!)
Like always, I have divided the trek into the following segments:
i) Gateways
ii) Rock Face
iii) Steep face
Sooo, these were the stretches. Let me run you through each one. Keep up with me here!
i) Gate-ways:
To start things off, we started following the trails. And within the first 5min we were lost haha. The thick vegetation was really misleading. So we started mentally marking stuff. We managed to get to the 1st gateway and then the 2nd way amidst the thick vegetation. Our shoes, jackets were filled with the thorn balls. Taking a break we cleared up and were set to ascend the rock face.
ii) Rock face:
Once out of the gateways, we found ourselves in the open, with the sun's mighty rays crashing on our heads. We were sweating pretty hard. Even the rock face proved to be merciless. There was water flowing, and algae settled all over it, making it extremely slippery. We managed to get past the initial phase cautiously.
iii) Steep face:
The last phase of the trek consists of the ascent of a really steep rock phase. Steps had been carved, but it is well hidden fin plain sight. Even I didnt mention it to Anwar and we began climbing the rock free styling. The water streams in between started to prove to be too risky. Then we took the most rational decision to head back down, then climb on the steps. Yeah, sometimes you gotta know when to step back. Making post the steps, we were surprised by the vegetation at the top as well. No paths, nothing, looks like we were the first to open the Medigeshi account post monsoon. Carving out paths we made it to the top and glad to see the huge structure on the top.
TIME: 09:30
TOP:
The top of Medigeshi fort consists of lot of buildings and granaries. As we were approaching the huge structure, we were blown away by the purple carpet welcoming. Yeah the entire front portion of the structure was flooded with some kind of strange purple flowers, which made the whole place look so beautiful. We were past the structure a we have a habit of finishing it last. We went to our usual spot behind the structure and crashed for 20-30 minutes. The silence of the place is mind-bending. And the whole place actually looks damn spooky. We hydrated ourselves as we had lost a lot of water climbing up. After a good nap at the top, we explored the main structure and decided to head back down, as we knew it wouldn't be an easy one.
TIME: 10:00
DESCENT:
The descent was nothing but straightforward. The landmarks mentally marked came in very handy. As we descended, it was through rough bushes. Then as we made through the steep face very carefully and slowly descending amidst flowing water streams. We got LOST :P. Oh yeah, one wrong turn and we were stranded in the forest. And it was not any forest, it was forest filled with thorns and bushes. Whilst climbing a rock, got atleast 4-5 big thorns into my palm, and my right hand started bleeding. Washing away the blood, we decided to carry on. Finally, on we found the gateways and damn, we just allowed our bodies to carry in auto mode, slowly cautiously traversing each rock with care, we made it back to the temple dehydrated and parched.
Reaching the temple premises, we hopped on our bike and saying sayonara to the beautiful town we took off.
TIME: 11:00
RIDE 2: (Medigeshi – Madhugiri – Dobbaspete - Bangalore)
This was about a 150kms ride back to Bangalore. We decided this would be a 2-stop ride back, first at Madhugiri and next at Dabbaspete. As we left Medigeshi, we turned back, looked back, passed a quirky smile at the mountain; it was a damn good test, and we thanked her for that. Promising her a return, we zoomed towards Madhugiri for some sting. Post which we cruised along until Dobaspet and pulled over for a 2nd break. Then we zoomed into Whity Dhaba for the final finisher.
We spent around 2 hours at WHITY and then decided to take the NICE road to reach back home.
TIME: 16:30
CONCLUSION:
“Well, the fourth trip for Oct-2025, damn felt good. Also not knowing the destination until the last moment, kind opened up a pandora box of experience. The trek proved to be very different, the challenge of the mountains always humbles you down, but yeah, we are up for it \m/. And thanks to Anwar bhai, for remaining calm amidst all the chaos, a true old school!”
Until next time Cia \m/
Happy to be the part of trip
ReplyDeleteGreat trip \m/
DeleteBeautifully written bro
ReplyDelete