Place: Madhugiri Fort Trek
Distance: 100x 2 = 200kms.
Directions: Bengaluru – Dobbaspete – Madhugiri – Bengaluru.
Particiapants: Dileep (Koof) > Karthik (Sippy).
Bikes: NS400
Previous visit: Bhairavadurga trek.
Budget: Rs450/head. (Petrol = 400Rs, breakfast = 30Rs)
Difficulty: High endurance / Low technical.
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
This was one, was a good, gruelling trek. Madhugiri is Asia's largest monolith (at least according to its welcome board sign). We used to ride past her on every one of our previous 6 trips in a month. Yeah, has been a crazy end to 2025. Madhugiri is a pretty easy one in terms of technicality, but it's a never-ending endurance grinder. But yeah, this place is slightly commercial, and you can find people right from 6am in the morning. SO yeah, nice easy climb, expect people and nearby. No Entry Fees and 6am-6pm are the timings. Oh yeah, last but not least, Madhu-giri = Honey hill, because a lot of honeybee colonies on this hill.
INTRO & PLAN:
Madhugiri and Savandurga are the largest monoliths of Asia. And Madhugiri, trust me, is pretty scary to look at when viewed from the front. It is like a never-ending rock that goes through the clouds. On a foggy day, it sends shiver down anybody who lifts their head up and looks at it. Well, to be frank, we had planned to pull this off a day earlier, but then we decided to pull it of early on a sunday. Koof was on the confirmed list. And we had decided to leave early at 5am or so.
TIME: 22:00 (15/11/2025)
ASSEMBLE:
Yeah, I was up at 03:00am, did a few push-ups and sit-ups. After which, I gave Koof a wake-up call. Went down and sat on the footpath. No cops this time, I kinda missed the encounter. Listened to some Goth, Doom and Stoner metal and. prepped myself up for the day. Koof came to my home and said, We will go only in his bike. So, parked my bike back and hopped onto his and off we went.
TIME: 05:00
RIDE 1: (Bengaluru – Dobbaspete – Madhugiri)
This was a 100km one-way ride. But what should have been straightforward was a topsy-turvy roller coaster. As we left Bangalore, things were calm. Then, post-Nelamangala, a blanket of heavy fog just sat on the roads and engulfed us. The visibility was reduced to freaking 50-100feet. Moreover, I was holding the rear supports of the bike, with the icy fog raging on, my muscles became stiff, and my butt started to yell out in pain.
We stretched a little bit to get the blood flowing, while stretching also we were also shivering despite all the jackets, etc, haha. We made it to our favourite idly spot post Dobaspete and pulled over for some piping hot idlis, hoping that would at least cure the shivering.
TIME: 06:30 hrs
TIME: 07:30
MADHUGIRI FORT TREK
Alright, Madhugiri trek. Well, it's pretty scary to look at from afar, but once you come face to face with it, it's like an elephant, mighty but gentle (at least the gentle ones). But trust me, the grind is real. It would feel like a never-ending climb to the skies. We took about 1h, 20min hours to climb the hillock, with extensive breaks (details below!:P)
The strange part about this fort is, one fort wall cleverly masks the height of the next one. So, a climber would be amazed/devastated (depending on the enthusiasm) to see the next stretch. Ok, let me break down the phases of the trek into these:
i) Initial gateways
ii) Danger Zone
iii) Never-ending stretch
Alright, here goes, keep up with me here!
Initial gateways:
The trek started off with a pretty easy stretch, with a lot of steps and a clear path. But hey, remember, steps drain you out. So, we decided to keep the pace slow, but no stops. At least that is what I was telling, before I turned around and saw Koof lazily on the floor resting in a half-sitting, half sleeping position, haha!
The gateways are very easy to navigate. After a couple of gateways, it opens up to a small grass patch, where a clear, narrow path takes you to the next phase of the trek. Once you get a whale-shaped rock, it signifies the second phase of the trek has begun.
TIME: 07:45
Danger Zone:
As soon I spotted the whale-shaped rock, I pointed it out and jumped with joy. Koof looked at me, thought some clown must have possessed me. of the Children's Day a few days back. Alright, this stretch has railings and can be easily navigated. And the cross traverse part of this section is considered to be the riskiest, and makes "Madhugiri" - the most dangerous trek of all? I mean facts, yes, cross-traversing a rock face is tough and dangerous, BUT. What if you take it HEAD ON and climb the freaking vertical face? And that is exactly what we did :)
A few people gasped, a few other people called us crazy, but we continued being ourselves. Have that kid's spirit and have fun is our motto. It's all about reading the cracks on the hillock. Once we were out of the so-called "danger zone, we had to traverse a gat-way. And then came the merciless, ruthless, relentless, running out of adverbs here, haha. - the never-ending climb!
TIME: 08:15
Never-ending stretch:
Now, after doing the danger zone, some might be feeling the adrenaline-pumping feeling you have reached the top. Hold your horses, it's, I guess, somewhere around 50% of the trek. Yes, AND NOW, the grind STARTS.
Make up your mind strong, from here it's a ruthless never never-ending climb. Remember the fort walls masking the next stage i had told earlier, you will experience it here. Every time you feel it is the END, you will see another stretch ready to be served. Koof in most of the treks, find the views along the way more enjoyable than the actual summit.
I am not sure if it is an excuse for sitting. I had to cook up stories like "from the top of Madhugiri, you can see two suns, if you reach before 9am," etc, to keep him rolling, haha! After a hard time keeping Koof motivated with my cooked-up stories, we pushed to the summit. I mean, literally pushing, huh, see image above. And if there are some motivational stories I cooked up - (you will get kuska from the king's kitchen at the summit, the fog always is hidden in a room on the summit, the king's wife can be heard time to time singing, only at the summit etc., )
TIME: 08:45
MADHUGIRI FORT TOP
As we reached the top, Koof, like always, started saying how easy the trek (sarcastically of course) and he is used to these kinds of treks for early morning walks, etc., I stared at him and said "go down and come back, I will wait here", haha. We explored the granaries and old ruins at the top, then came to the entrance at the top and slept off there for 10-15 minutes. The spot we chose was slightly off the route, few poor travellers thought that was the route. We immediately warned them and pointed towards the actual route. The face below was the steepest 90deg rock face :P. After a peaceful nap, well rested we decided to head back.
TIME: 09:15
DESCENT:
The descent was a quick one; we took about 45 minutes to an hour to get back to base. And hey, non-stops on this one, felt really happy. We cruised past the "gruelling stretch" in a jiffy, asking her, sorry for all the names we called her on the way up. Then came the danger zone, well, no prizes for guessing, took the steep route down, haha.
I was making fun of Koof's bike, saying "first time, I'm not stressed while climbing down, but what scares me is sitting as pillion on your bike, my butt is gonna become rock solid :P" Once we reached the base of the hillock, Koof started making fun of me saying, "this was the easiest trek of all, i need something more challenging etc., etc.,"
TIME: 10:15
RIDE 2: (Madhugiri – Kortagere - Dobbaspete- Bangalore)
As we left Madhugiri, Koof said i try riding. And I was very sceptical, but as i started, I felt really good. And lots of power. Before a blink, i was cruising at 80-90kmph on empty highway roads. We spotted a local juice shop near Koratagere, where we pulled in for about 1 to 1.5Ihrs.
After which Koof took over and cruised at a very good pace, dropped me to my home as we decided to skip lunch and left to his home respectively.
TIME 13:30
CONCLUSION:
"Gotta say, Madhugiri lived up to its legacy as a grinder, but not much as the most dangerous trek around Bangalore. The icy foggy ride to the place, shivering hands dipping into hot idlis, the climb up, koof's rest stops, motivating stories and not to forget the crazy vertical climb, made this trip a great one!!
Koof - knew if it was one person to pull it off within 1.5 hours, it was him. But last thing i wanted to do was sit next to him, he would doze off 1-2hrs haha... Sippy - Having seen IT recently and getting inspired by the clown, kept the spirits high. And yeah, no glute exercises needed for the week :P
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