Midnight at Skandagiri

Skandagiri is a hill situated about 56 kms north of Bangalore, near the small town of Chikkaballapura. It is an ideal weekend trekking spot for people of all age groups.

On 4th Sept, Friday night, it being a full moon day, we AOLers set out on a midnight trekking expedition to Skandagiri.
We started from Bangalore around 10 p.m. and reached Chikkaballapur around 12 a.m. It was a quiet drive through the town, with the entire town fast asleep. The tiny mountain range beckoned us behind the dark cloudy background. By 1 a.m. we were all raring to go with the head count done. Amidst all the chattering, and with a bunch of searchlights flashing around, we made quiet a sight.

For the first half an hour we scaled the hill with relative ease. Then we started moving amidst the narrow bushes in the dark. It was quiet slippery as it had rained the previous day. As we moved higher up we could see the lights of the neighboring town of Gauribidanur. For the next hour and a half we climbed on boulders, dodged slippery stones, taking breaks frequently and enjoying the night. We reached the summit at 3.a.m. Guess what, we were literally in the clouds!! It was freezing and very windy. There was a temple with an idol of Ganesh(some of us took refuge in there to escape the cold). We set up a bonfire and started out wait for the sunrise. Must mention the weather reminded us of Shimla, and spending time out in the cold clouds was quiet an ordeal.

There was quiet a crowd atop with a lot of fellow trekkers up there to savour the sunrise which unfortunately was not visible because of the thick clouds. We started descending down around 6.30 a.m. The air around was awesomely fresh and it was a lovely sight to see the morning light spread out across and beyond the mountain ranges. It looked as though the ranges were bathing in the rays of the sun.

We reached down around 8.30 a.m.and excitedly discussed about the journey down. The coconut water we drank quenched our first pangs of hunger. We started back thoroughly satisfied and reached Bangalore around 11.am.

How to get there:

From Yelahanka, take NH7 via BIA, Devanahalli and you reach Chickkaballapura which is approx 56 kms. In Chikballapura take a left turn at the Police Station(one near Bus satnd). After about 2 kms, make a left at the Papagnimatha arch and a narrow street leads through Mallapura and 5 kms later you are at the base of Skandagiri.