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| Kuduru Bhairavadurga Fort Trek |
Place: Bhairavadurga trek
Distance: 60kms x 2 = 120kms
Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Solur > Bhairavadurga
Krew: Anwar (Bhai) > Dileep (Koof) > Karthik (Sp)
Bikes: NS400 > Pulsar
Previous Visit: Ratnagiri Fort Trek
Budget: Rs 210/head (150 = Petrol + 60 = Lunch)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Alright, Bhairavadurga is the craziest among the Navadurgas. (Kabbaladurga, Makalidurga, Savandurga, Huthridurga, Huliyardurga, Nandidurga, Devarayanadurga, Channarayanadurga). Bhairavadurga is just 10-15km from Shivagange. I think this is my 5th visit to the place, we have not once found the route right. So, you have to have the mindset of leaving some scars behind when you visit this place.
INTRO & PLAN:
As far as planning goes, I had an office travel planned on 9th Nov, the 8th was pretty much free. So decided to go to a nearby place, and really beaten to the bone. Riding doesn't destroy you as much as treks. Hence a tough climb, but nearby. So Bhairavadurga was chosen. Bhairava is a wandering form of Shiva who annihilates. So yeah, does the place some justice :)
TIME: 22:00 (14/9/2019)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, I was up at 02:30, did a few push-ups and sit-ups, had a sip of coffee and was all set to go. The meeting was scheduled at my place at 5am. I went down and sat on the footpath again, listening to some doom metal and doing air guitar. And the cops arrived like last time, saw me, thought I had gone full crazy and left me be, haha. Koof and Anwar arrived at 5am, and after formal introduction and greetings, we left Bangalore.
TIME: 05:15
RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Nelamangala – Solur - Bhairavadurga)
This was 60km easy ride to Bhairavadurga as most of it was on highways. As we left Bangalore on two bikes, we zoomed ahead through the Outer Ring Road and reached the Tumkur highway in a jiffy. Post which some fog set in, but didn't bother us much, we cruised till Nelamangala and took the Hassan route, searching for a hotel, but since it was very early, all hotels were closed. We had some tea and decided to conquer the hillock.
And yeah, the surprise was that, without maps or asking locals, we made it to the base of the hillock. The hillock is usually visible from afar, but owing to the fog, we could not spot it. Requesting the locals to take care of our bikes, and with the goat's spirit wide awake, we were ready to get beaten up.
TIME: 06:45
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| We don't chase the sun; it's the other way around. |
BHAIRAVADURGA TREK:
The trek is one of a kind, I tell you. We usually take the stone route up and forest route down, but yeah, we got lost on both this time, haha. The place is so menacing, it always brings us to our knees every time. But we love her, no matter what! I have divided the hike into these sections, so keep up!
i) Initial Thicket
ii) Stone wall
iii) Final stretch
iv) Forest route - trek down
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| Initial thicket |
Initial thicket:
Alright, as we parked our bikes. We walked through the fields (which is pretty much straightforward), and then we took a deviation much earlier than the forest route to start climbing the hillock on its steep rock face. Wait, Wait. Not so early, we got lost in between the deviation we took and the rock face itself, haha. The vegetation, I mean, was so thick that we literally had to crawl through it. Hands were completely bruised, but the rock face was nowhere to be seen. Grinding through the thickets, we made it out of the forest and onto the rockface.
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| Koof on stone wall |
Stone wall:
Once on the rock face, we felt comfortable. But not too much. The rock faces are steep here, but with a good grip. I was behind, Anwar led, and Koof was in between. Slowly, we progressed through the rock faces. This hillock will teach you a lot about how to read the cracks and grip them. The last part of it is really steep, and this must be done with extreme caution.
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| Final stretch |
Final stretch:
The last stretch starts from the point where the forest route also merges. This is still a rock face, but not as steep as the previous one. It was fun navigating this one, as we felt it was easier than the previous. But if you decide to take the forest route, then it will be slightly tough. We could spot Shivagange shrouded in mist afar from here. After the final grind, we reached the top.
TIME: 07:45
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| Top of Bhairavadurga |
TOP:
With the sun still hitting the snooze on the alarm button, the air was cold and windy. And without breakfast, we had managed to summit the hillock. Once we hit the trails, we forget sometimes even the most basic necessity - food. It felt good, we sat down, sipped some water and decided to rest and recuperate. We had made one BIG assumption that we would take the forest route, and it would be EASY. Haha, nature always has surprises in store.
TIME: 08:30
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| Forest route (at least when we followed it) |
Forest Route / Lost route - trek back down:
As we finished our naps at the top, we put in about 25pushups and were set to go. We navigated the "final stretch" with ease and had already started making plans on where to have breakfast, haha. Then we took the forest route, it was smooth until a point. Then the thick vegetations fooled us and took us off track.
Now, getting lost in a forest with 6-7-foot shrubs is no joke, huh. And over this, the shrubs had thorns, which speaks about a fatal wrong turn. We kept our cool and made the plan simple. We kept going down until we hit the flat bottom, then we spotted the hill, and based on the rock face we had climbed, we could find our bikes.
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| Crawling through the thickets |
But easier said than done. The shrubs and grass got so thick that walking was impossible. We had to literally squat down and see the water flow paths and follow it. And oh yeah, in between all this, getting pricked by 1000 thorns. It was gruelling and tiring, but also fun. Thorns were getting embedded all over the body, and some bruises had started bleeding, but we kept persisting. At one point, trust me, this is funny and scary, we were walking on thick grass, not knowing how deep it was below.
Finally, after a lot of struggle (it is actually difficult to express the full depth of the experience. All I can say was, it was a not humbling, but a MIGHTY ASS-WHOOPING), we rejoined the main path. And hardly with 5 minutes to go to the bottom. Haha, so basically we kind of (not explored) but survived the Kudduru forest (known for bears) in its purest and wild form. Something magical :)
Once we set foot on flat ground, we cleared off all the thorns and other things from our jackets and trousers. We felt a sense of relief. Sweat was pouring all over our faces as it was hard gruel. We felt a sense of relief and kinda missed the action, haha, as we made back to our bikes and were ready to ride back home.
TIME: 09:30
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| Shivagange afar |
RIDE 2: ( Kuddur – Solur – Nelamangala – Bangalore)
As we started, we said screw breakfast and quenched our thirsts at a local bar. We spoke about engineering days and, as usual, pulled each other's legs. From there, we cruised along at a superb pace to reach near college for some well-deserved "Mudhe Oota". Whew, tasted so good :) a perfect finish to a crazy chapter.
TIME: 12:30
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| A perfect end to a wild chapter. |
CONCLUSION:
"Gotta say, this was one crazy chapter where the hillock tested us until the last moment. Getting lost amidst the thickest of forests, we could actually feel the forest trying to make us bend down and keep us to the ground. It is a force you wouldn't wanna mess with!!
Koof - as usual, an old schooler, ready for any adventure. Anwar - had a totally crazy experience, enjoyed the trek down more than the climb up. Sippy - will shut and bow down, voluntarily to any place I visit (before the trek only, next time, haha)
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| Until next time, tata :) |
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