Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta: The 150km Scary Forest Ride Through Elephant Country on the Muddy Terrain | Chapter 124 (Feb 23, 2016)

Place: Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta.     

Distance: 75 x 2 = 150kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Kanakpura - Bilikal

Particiapants: Dhanush (Dany) > Dileep (koof/Isro) > Chaitanya (Endu)> Karthik (Sp).

Bikes:  Thunderbird > Pulsar                                      

Previous visit: ChamundiHills Ride

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                  

Bilikal betta is one of the sacred hills around Kanakpura situated very close to its twin Bananthimari Betta. Our visit to this place was a scary ride on muddy terrain through a forest filled with elephants.  It was nice to catch up with old friends and spend some quality time. Yes, this trip was done on a weekday as well. But another highlight had to be the awesome hotel we found in Kanakpura and obviously another Dhaba, where we could crash now and then.

INTRO & PLAN:

It was only two days since our 300kms ride to Chamundi Hills. Monday I went to office, to apply leave for Tuesday. Then asked Narayan (trekie) about Bilikal as he had been there last week. Once the route was confirmed went on calling up people to confirm their presence the next day. After a few calls Dilip, Endu & Dany were on the confirmed list and we were set to leave.

TIME: 22:00 (23/2/2016)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few push ups & bicep curls and was all set to go. The meet up was scheduled at our good old bakery, so left my home and crashed in at bakery with some hot tea in my hand. Once Dilip, Endu & Dany arrived, we parked Endu’s bike near college itself and took off on two bike’s. 
TIME: 07:15

RIDE 1: (Bangalore Kanakpura - Bilikal)

Well, this was about 70kms ride on the snake way (Kanakpura road). We took the NICE road near PESIT and cruised along each other in the morning sun. As we reached Kanakpura road, I expressed my doubts regarding finding a good hotel on Kanakpura road. As we rode on, the traffic was surprisingly increasing. But after a while riding those curves which ran between lakes we made it to Kanakpura road. I spotted a empty hotel (which looked decent) and called upon others to ask their view. 

      

But Dilip, spotted another small door kind of entrance and said we would go there as it was crowded. So we parked our bikes and went to the latter hotel. The small door opened up into a pretty big hotel and flooded with people. The name of the hotel was “Vasu Hotel” established in 1980’s. We ordered idly, vada, dosa, bisibelebath (trying out all types) And guess what? first came dosa. By the way it had separate counters for these uh. And trust me on this folks, the taste was excellent. We enjoyed the breakfast. After which we asked the coffee to be extra strong and strong and nice it was. Just the thing needed for a perfect  kick start.

TIME: 08:30

Asking for directions to the hill from the locals, we rode at a slow pace to get out of town. The roads from here were pretty decent even though there are alternate routes to reach Bilikal. the roads were newly laid and the air was fresh. But since the route had deviations on regular basis, we had to enquire with locals now and then. We pulled over for 2-3 times just to take a break on the country roads.  After a while the ranges could be spotted and they were pretty huge. And riding further we made it to a small town. Here when we asked the way to the temple, shepherds warned us about the elephants which flooded the place. Assuring him we would take the necessary precaution we entered the muddy terrain.

TIME:09:15

BILIKAL BETTA FOREST RIDE:

The ride, well, I can only describe it to be scary. The roads were narrow, and pure mud, with lots of shrubs and trees on both sides of the road. And it was pure ghat section. A few bamboo fallen on the road. And a lot of fresh elephant dung throughout this path. As we entered the forest premises, silence came upon fast and we could hear various kind of sounds afar. It was spooky. We did make up plans if an elephant would chase us, just in case. Few instances the road itself was blocked by fallen bamboo, this send chills down our spines. Getting off our bikes, we pushed the bamboo apart and continued. Finally after about 30mins of silent riding holding onto our breath we made it the top.

TIME: 09:45

TOP:

As we reached the top, the breeze picked up and we let out a sigh of relief from breath tight ride. We explored the place on top, to find only a small building and a temple  We made it to the top most point to realise that we were surrounded by thick forest all around us. The western ghats could be spotted afar in its blue hue. We rested on top playing the “thor game” and others (refer pics). After taking a nap, we decided to ride back as very fact of the forest ride started sending chills.

TIME: 10:45

RIDE-2 (Bilikal – Kanakpura – Bangalore):

This was a 75kms, ride back. As we left the top, we had ride back on the same route. I was secretly hoping we encounter a mega, I mean real mammoth like elephant and it would chase us and what not. But still the ride back was scary on the muddy terrain amidst the thick forest with elephant dung all over the place.  We did pull over and poked on the dung with a stick to see the freshness of it:P 

   

Anyway, we made it back to the town and spoke to the Shepard once again and headed back towards Kanakpura. We reached Kanakpura at about 11:15. That time we realised it was too early for any dhaba for lunch. So, we headed a little further from Kanakpura towards Bangalore and pulled over a small shop for some tea & bajji’s. We sat on speaking roadside for about an hour so… wishing a few cyclists the best day wherever they were heading. Finally we began to search for lunch spot. We pulled over at few dhaba on Kanakpura road, as it was election we could get the best out of it. So Dilip suggested we ride back to Bangalore itself as he knew a Dhaba near the NICE road itself. So we rode non-stop towards Bangalore, heading about 1km after the NICE road exit towards Bangalore, we crashed into “Queen’s court” for some heavy lunch.

TIME: 14:00

After lazing around, and trust me we did speak truly interesting topics ranging a wide variety of subjects (College memories , Physics, Corporations, Politics, Ride, Freedom, TV series, Diet, Startups, God) Yeah, it takes some effort to keep all this in one basket right?

We spend about 3-4hours at this dhaba. Finally we had some pan outside the Dhaba and got onto the NICE road to float our way to college bakery for some hot tea. From here we split our own ways to reach back our respective homes.

TIME: 18:30

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 123. Chamundi Hills 125. Shettihalli Church, Gorur Dam- ➡️

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Devarayanadurga: The 150km Diamond Jubilee Ride & Fort Trek to the Bell, Celebrating Chapter 75 | (Apr 11, 2013)

Place: Devrayanadurga Hills.

Distance: 75 x 2 = 150kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Dobbaspete – Devarayanadurga.

Particiapants: Datta (Dattu) > Chethan (Zethu) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Avenger > Pulsar 150.

Previous visit: TurahalliForest & Omkar Temple.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This had to be the perfect 75^th chapter. A superb ride in all kinds of terrains followed by a small trek and finally ending the day remembering nothing.

INTRO & PLAN:

Well, as it was the diamond jubilee of our club, a lot of discussion had taken place over the direction to head out. Finally we decided on D.D Hills as it was a new spot and pretty close-by as well.

Dattu&Zethu were the only two on the confirmed list.

ASSEMBLE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few push-ups & sit-ups, had a sip of coffee & was all set to go. Left my home at about 06:00 & met the other two on Outer Ring Road(ORR). After a formal greeting we decided to leave Bangalore.

TIME: 06:15

 

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete – Devarayanadurga)

As we left Bangalore, we cruised along at a good pace to reach Dobbaspete. After which the roads changed from highway to interior roads with peaceful surroundings.

The twisty curves kept us well engaged, enjoying every second of the ride. After roughly 20mins from NH-4, we reached the deviation to D.D Hills.

Here Dattu wanted to try out his riding skills, but we insisted to do it on our way back. The last stretch to D.D hills is the best part of the ride, as it has clean cut curves to ascend the hillock. The curves are like a snake coiled up in a pit.

TIME: 08:00

DEVARAYANADURGA:

Alright 08:00 was very early, as the temple would open only at 10:00. But we thought we would explore the place. The surroundings and welcoming was very pleasant as we were the only ones at the entire place. But then again it was a bummer that the doors to enter the fort was closed. So we sat nearby and discussed the future chapters of the club.

After about 30mins we tried to open the lock ourselves using my knife, but as other visitors arrived we had to stand ideally stating up at the sky ha-ha!!

 

We spotted another hillock opposite to one on which we were, so we decided to head over there. It was a 10mins ride to what seemed like an abandoned place.  As soon we tried entering a small haunted building we were driven out by some idiot who clearly didn’t want anybody to be around. So without causing any trouble we left the place.

Arriving back the D.D hills, we sat singing songs and chatting away our time. Finally the Poojari arrived and opened the gates to the temple and the fort to trek.

TIME: 10:30

TREK:

As we entered we could spot a lot of carvings of Gods etc., then a lot monkeys swarmed around us, surprisingly they didn’t do us any harm as we had expected them to do. Finally we found the path to trek to the top. The path was brilliant, it was a narrow path which ran through shrubs which were totally dried up.

The first attempt to reach the top went in vain as ended up in a plain land on top and we could see the “Bell” still above us. We couldn’t find a route to it. Just as we were about to leave, we spotted another narrow path, following which we were successful in reaching the top.

TIME: 11:00

After about 30mins of rest we decided to trek back to the base and leave Devarayanadurga.

TIME:12:00

 

RIDE 2: (Devarayanadurga – Bangalore)

The ride back was an excellent one. Dattu took over my bike as we left the place. Rode down the hill with the engine switched off. After reaching the base, he continued through the interior twisty roads to reach Dobbaspete. After which I took over and 3 of us continued in search of a good Dhaba to settle down. But all of the good ones known to us were closed so we decided to continue to reach Malleswaram, where Deepu would join us for the final showdown.

TIME: 13:00

 

Woke up roughly at 18:00, took a walk around the streets of Malleswaram and rode back to drop Dattu& continued to reach home ha-ha!!

TIME:19:00

Until next time Cia \m/

I'd like to conclude this article by saying "It has been a wonderful ride throughout the 75 chapters, and i'm truly grateful to each and everyone one who has participated and supported the club's name during this first phase of the metamorphosis:P haha Cheers!"

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 74. Turahalli Forest, Omkar hills 76. Mysore ➡️

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Makalidurga: Conquering the 4430ft Peak via the 3km Railway Track & "90-Degree" Boulders (140km Ride) | Chapter 58 (Jul 13, 2012)

Place: Makalidurga – Railway trek.

Distance: 70 x 2 = 140kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Yelahanka – Doddaballapur - Makalidurga .

Particiapants: Deepak (Deepu) > Karthik (Nr) > Kushal (Kaushi) > Datta (Dattu) > Ashok (Ashokey 350) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Zeus > Discover > Pulsar 150.

Previous visit: VaniVilas Sagar Dam & Chitradurga Fort.

Budget: Rs200/h.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This was one terrific trek which drained the life out us totally. It had elements of danger & fun well balanced. As far my knowledge goes only a few had reached the temple at the top. And yeah an extremely under-rated trek, it surely is as good as Skandagiri trust me!! Standing at 4430 feet, taller than Savandurga(the largest monolith in Asia) had to be one tough gun to conquer.

INTRO & PLAN:

Well the last time we trekked was 2.5 years back – Kabbaladurga trek, where i barely survived. After that we didn’t really do much of hardcore trekking. Then I stumbled upon this place, actually very long back itself. Makalidurga not only being a climb but a railway trek got us all excited and decided to get it under our belt. This place became famous after the tragedy that occurred on October 31 1991, when a boulder rolled down the hill to hit a passing train killing about 30 people.

ASSEMBLE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00 hrs, it was Dad’s birthday. Wished him, had a cup of coffee, did a few push-ups and left my house at 06:00 hrs. Oh yeah, just before I left I grabbed a 1litre water bottle. Trust me, I didn’t have faintest idea how important it meant. The assembling was scheduled at 3 places, first at Nayandahalli, then it was Mahalakshmi layout and finally at Sankey tank. After all 6 had assembled we departed Bengaluru.

TIME: 07:15 hrs

 

RIDE 1: (Bengaluru – Doddbalapura – Makalidurga)

Well this was 60-65kms stretch. We did stretch at a slow pace, with only one stop. We rode slow through the city, once we got out of the city we continued again at a slow pace to reach Doddbalapura. After which the roads turned real good, so we cruised along at a decent pace to reach the Makalidurga Railway station.

TIME: 09:30 hrs

 

MAKALIDURGA TREK:

Alright there are two ways to reach the foot of the hills

i) Ride our bikes 1.5-2kms further to the foot of the hills. OR

ii) Park our bikes at the railway station & walk 3kms on the railway track to reach the foot hills.

Yeah, we chose the obvious one!

Parked our bikes at the station, called out the station master & requested him to look after our bikes. Then the trek started as we departed platform of Makalidurga.

3 Km Walk:

Yeah the trek started of with lot of talks and jokes. We walked on the track, jumped around here & there. Then we sat on some bund talking about school days and incidents worth recollecting. It was not long before we spotted the first train, only a few minutes latter the second one zoomed past us. 

 

Then for the 3^rd & 4^th train we kept coins on the track and took them back as souvenirs. Finally we covered the 3km on the track and reached the foothills. As the sun was up, we did finish half the bottle at foothills only. We had no clue what the other half meant.

TIME: 10:30 hrs

Initial Stretch:

The initial stretch was pretty easy. The terrain was very similar to Skandagiri with a lot of grass & boulders. We took sufficient breaks & kept ascending at a good pace. After about 30 mins we encountered steep boulders, which we climbed carefully one after the other. I had a helmet in my hand and a tool-box, water bottle and lots of other things in my bag which began draining the energy out of me.

TIME: 11:00 hrs

3 Point Contact:

 

Trust me we were kinda lost right from the beginning ha-ha. The plan was simple, keep climbing up, until we reach the fort at the top. Alright, so… the number of breaks increased and we were getting dehydrated and fast. (Me being the worst due to the luggage)

As we took shelter below a small canopy of thorn filled bushes, Kaushi & Nr decided to head back as the steepness had started to become maddening. So the 4 us decided to continue further.

The boulders at a few places were literally 90 deg steep & climbing them was a real challenge. Check out the snaps, I’m sure you’d wonder how mental we are :P ha-ha!

Last Stretch:

The steepness did decrease, but not much. We were so dehydrated that we finished off the water. My shirt was drenched in sweat and I do not know why, but I refused to give my bag for others to carry. Deepu being the most experienced led the way until we reached a place where we had to sit down almost collapsing. After a short nap, we continued further to finally spot the fort walls. We looked for a breakthrough and reached the top :)

TIME: 12:00 hrs

 

The Flying Fortress:

Whew!! Reaching the top was a huge relief. The cool wind rushing at my face, as sweat kept running down the same is something I recollect very clearly. We spotted a few ruins on the top such as granaries and other storage places.

 

We also spotted a small pond, into which I badly wanted to jump into. Thankfully I was stopped by the others as it had dirty water. Finally we spotted the Nandi temple at the top which marked the end of the trek. We being the only ones at the top, walked like zombies one after the other, extremely dehydrated to reach the temple.

 

Nandi Temple:

Once we reached the temple, we literally stormed the place hoping to find water. But unfortunately we didn’t find any. The inside of the temple was damn cool and pleasant. We did a Pooja by ourselves, and slept off knowing that was the only way we could re-instore our energies.

TIME: 12:15 hrs

 

After about 45mins of deep sleep, we woke up yawned... I didn’t even realise where I was ha-ha!! But yeah water levels were still down. Just before we left the temple, I spotted a small packet of tea powder, put it in my pocket. Wearing back our shoes, we decided to head back down.

TIME: 13:00 hrs

Descension:

Deepu lead the way down again. And Dattu & Ashok were pretty okay after the rest. As we descended we took a totally new route, which had us lost right from the beginning. The sun being right on top of us made matters worse. After a few mins of trek down, we were caught in a place which had steep boulders again. We sat on them & descended carefully.

 

After 30mins we were back on grass & boulder terrain. Then I found 1 halls in pocket ha-ha :P. We broke into 4 pieces and ate, that wasn’t it. I ate the raw tea powder as well. Trust me... never eat it raw unless you don’t have any other choice. As we rested all we could see is huge trees and thorn filled bushes in front of us. The word “route” was kicked totally out of the dictionary that day. 

 

Crawling through the thorny bushes, jumping about the boulders and trees we made it out of that stretch to spot the railway track at some distance. Whew, well we just walked straight through the thorny plants without giving a damn about the bruises being caused on our faces, hands & knees. Finally we reached back the railway track.

TIME: 14:00 hrs

Last Stretch:

We had ended up about 0.5-1km further, so we had a total of 3.5-4 kms to walk back. We walked back on the track like zombies, head down, and arms hanging so dead from our shoulders. After about an hour we reached back the station. These 60 mins had to be the toughest walk of my life. We washed our faces at the station and went to a bakery near-by and drank a lot of fluids.

TIME: 15:15 hrs

RIDE 2: (Makalidurga – Dhaba)

Well having said tata to Maklidurga, we rode at a decent pace to reach dhaba on the highway. We ate decent meal, not to heavy and decided to head back as it was becoming cloudy. We didn’t want to miss riding in the rain.

TIME: 16:30 hrs

 

RIDE 3: (Rain Ride - Heavy)

As we left the Dhaba we prayed that it would rain. As we reached the airport road, the clouds burst open and down came the rains. We enjoyed riding thoroughly till Bangalore where we split our ways. After I reached the ORR with Kaushi behind me, the clouds burst open big time and the road was filled with rain water. But we didn’t stop continued at a decent pace, smiling at the all the other 2 wheelers who were taking shelter. Dropped of Kushal at Nayandhalli signal and reached back our bakery.

TIME: 18:30 hrs

  

EXTRA’S:

Ha-ha that wasn’t it. It was Arun’s farewell to IIT Madras, so went out had an excellent dinner. Trust me there I was in the hotel holding a glass of cold water in my hand, staring at it, realising how important it was under given circumstances. After a nice heavy meal we went back home.

TIME: 22:00 hrs

CONCLUSIONS:

“Well this had to one of my best treks till date along with Skandagiri, Kabbaladurga & Pearl valley. The level of dehydration we went through is something which only could be felt, hard to describe. So a word of advice for people going after reading this article, take a lot water, snacks, and first aid kit.”

Until next time Cia \m/

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 57. Vanivilas Sagara dam, Chitradurga fort 59. Madhugiri trek, Nandi hills ➡️

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