Ever since I wrote about my bike ride & trek to Skandagiri (aka Kalavaarahalli betta), I’m getting lot of mails asking for more details, authenticity of those cloud view. Few people even called me to get info on the place. Reason for all this is a set of beautiful photos of Skandagiri & owner of them unknown! And two days ago I got a comment from Pramod saying those were his photos. Via mails, I collected more information about the place from him.
Photo by Pramod K (pramod_chinu at yahoo dot com)
More details:
Best time to visit: November to January – Pramod captured these clouds during his visit in mid-Jan. Pre-monsoon will be foggy.
Trek time: 2 to 3 hours to reach the peak during daytime. A very nice place for moon-light trek.
Distance from Bangalore: 75 KMs
Route: Bangalore – Hebbal Flyover – Devanahalli – Chikkaballapur – Skandagiri. Take a left turn inside the city, follow the narrow road to reach Papagni Matt which is at the foot of Skandagiri.
Thanks Pramod, for letting us know such a beautiful place.
Wow! It is such a beautiful place. I have to pack my back and be there now. Your picture is really cool as well.
Picture is just amazing !!
The clouds are so low or the peak is very high ?
I received those pix too. Really beautiful. Even Nandi betta offers such pretty views in the winter for those who reach early in the morning. But Skandagiri seems to be much better.
Check out http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=5262
Sooooper! Now that I have appreciated your blog, let me know how to get there. Had heard about this place, but unfortunately no one seems to know how to get there…
Rcon, do that ASAP 😉
Cuckko, clouds are low… peak is of average height, one that can be found around B’lore.
Arun, thats an amazing pic! And Nandi still remains as a place to visit in my list 🙁
Anon, check my previous posts on Skandagiri.
Hey there!
Nice pics like all of them say who vist your blog!!
Please could you give me directions on how to reah there, which route to take if we were driving down there??
I wuold really appreaciate if u could ans these Q’s as i am thinking of doing this tomorrow night itself 🙂
Dear all, I”ve been to this amzing place…..only one thing to note: never take a guide name Muniraj.
Neeraj Jain
Lovely Pics.. You mentioned that the trek uphill takes 2-3 hrs.. is it steep? Is the trek for beginners??
for routemap to this place, have a look at this blog.
http://www.98tronix.blogspot.com
i did visit da place!!!!reallly gr88 place man!!thanx for da post newayz!!
Great place dude. Worth the climb
hi there,
good post..hey i heard that they are not allowing for a night trek now a days..do you have any information regarding this please let me know. if incase you have any contact number that might help please pass it on.we are planning to visit this weekend.
Regards,
Santhosh
hi friend can u tell me wat time it takes to go and come back. and is there any bus fecility over there and how much time it takes to climb the hill, can girls climb. send all details of skandgiri to mail id that is casubbubg@gmail.com
regards
Hi subbu,
It took about 2-2.5 hrs to reach there. I have no idea about the public transport.
Probably you can do this, take a bus to chikballapur APMC market and then proceed a little further until you see a bar named deepak(the name mostly this,i am 95% sure of the name) bar.Take the left there and pass through the small town there until you get a dead end and take a right. then proceed further and pass 2 villages then you will see the paapagni mutt which is at the foothill.
You can take girls with you. It took about 2hrs for the trek. But it is freezing cold there in the morning before the sun rise, from 4 to 8.
you dont need a guide actually because that is the way we did it.
We came back the next day by afternoon.
Regards,
Santhosh
from where do u guys get a guide to go up.
We experienced Skandagiri on 24th Jan 2009 and took the not so usual trek path to feel this hill. It was night to day trek and we saw the sunrise just when we were about to reach the peak. We did not see any clouds but the view of the nearby hill tops covered under the heavy mist was breathtaking. This was the best outing I have ever had. I am still so thrilled and excited about it. There are no professional guides. The locales can be your guide if you want to and they will charge you straight Rs.300/- and they won’t negotiate and beware, DO NOT MESS with them, they are good but have the ability to misguide you. Have a happy and afe trek.
The ideal time to visit this place is just before the monsoon arrival and will even more exciting if you do it during full moon. Every person should carry a torch. It should be in the ratio of 1:1. Same applies to the water bottles. You can have dates if you feel exhausted. They will keep you going. This trek is for the people who love live their life on the edges. You need to have that gut and courage to feel this dangerous yet beautiful Skandagiri. Once you start, there is no looking back.
After reading all the comments i m too excited to go there!! the thing i want to know tht wht will b the ideal time to start trekking. how much time will it take us to reach the top.
I Went to the trek on 31st Jan 2009. There were no clouds to be seen but the scene of sunrise and the surrounding mountains were excellent. I would recommend you start climbing by 2:30 AM, so that you take enough pit stops during the trek and reach top by 6 AM. One more warning..there are 2 mountains side by side and most people get lost in the smaller mountain. After you walk for around 5 mins you will have to take a deviation to the lest to reach the top of the correct mountain.
Hey Guyz
this was ammazing………..
we have started our journey in the night
there is no one for getting permission…….
easily you can enjoy the tracking in the night……
but dont forget to take high resoulution torch with you
good spot to enjoy.
shri……..