Travel Log #10
Picnicking Along Mildly Elevated Rocks
Location: Tumkur
Altitude: 823m
Surmounted on: 24th July Saturday 2021
Alright! After getting deceived by MyEcoTrip, I had booked slots for trekking at Bidarakatte which is just next to Savandurga Hill. Having surmounted the mighty Kodachadri on a monsoon I didn't want to endure hardship in the very next weekend and hence booked the trek for myself and my buddy, at Bidarakatte which was advertized as "moderate" level difficulty. But it turned to be nothing more than a picnic spot on a slightly elevated rock hill.
Consider this situation. You take your car out for a highway drive but you end up driving along the narrow streets of a well flourished village, wherein the cows, chickens, and dogs block your way. Guess what? We exactly experienced the same situation on our way to Bidarakatte. In fact, the roads got narrow to an extent we thought were driving into the homes of the villagers. It was hilarious but a bit annoying at that moment. Somehow we did reach the destination at the end of the vexatious drive. Well, not so funny Google! 😡
Now that we had reached the spot we were exhilarated to surmount the peak of Bidarakatte. But the hill had a different idea for us. Starting out on a mud path which had small parks on both sides of the pathway, the trail started on a rock along a pond which was fenced with bamboo trees and dense vegetation. We treaded along the rock ascending upwards for a hundred meters and encountered a confusing water body; we were not sure whether to term it as a big pit or a small pond. Anyways, we progressed forward on the adjoining rock and moved upwards. There was a dilapidated fort into which we had to enter in order to proceed further. For every hundred or two hundred meters we met a guide who was instructing us to navigate to the way top.
Once we crossed the fort, we came to a beautiful pond; definitely I would like to call this a pond because it had lotus leaves. The pond was so mesmerising and enigmatic that my buddy wanted to have breakfast near it which I ruined unwittingly. We took photos for it was irresistible, threw small rocks into it for there were no stones and enjoyed the charming water body as long as we could and moved forward. My buddy shot an enchanting picture of mine at the backdrop of the pond and the Savandurga Hill. So enchanting that it became my mobile wallpaper.
We continued along the trail for another five minutes or so and then TA DAAA ! We reached the peak. Hard to believe ? Well, I am telling you the truth. So, it would have hardly been less than 30 minutes approximately and we had reached the peak. What a BUM !!! Couldn't complain to no-one. We sat down for our breakfast and had a palatable dish prepared by me, yes I can cook, deliciously indeed. We tried taking a nap but the majestic marvellous display - sky and the clouds did not not allow us. Damn! I forget to take pictures of those pleasurable clouds. One thing to note here was that since it was monsoon we could observe grass cover patches, dense vegetation and small canopy here and there. Only when we saw Cactus plants we were reminded that this rocky hill is usually an arid area at other seasons.
After a sumptuous break time, we started climbing down or rather walking back. There's no point in using ascend, up or descend, down for this spot. Quite interestingly, the trail continued along a different way from the enigmatic pond we had earlier encountered. It led to temple at the foot of Savandurga hill which we skipped and progressed along the derelict fort walls. There were stone steps along the walls which my buddy coined it as 'The Stairway to the Heaven" and to my delight shot another appealing picture of mine at those staircase - the first picture in this blog. Then we came across another pond which was suspiciously deep because the rocks that I threw made a weird submerging sound. After a small break at this absurd pond, we made our way back to the parking spot and found monkeys loitering around. We washed our faces, relaxed a bit and started our return journey to Bangalore. Good news was that this time the drive was de-stressing.
Bidarakatte - A family picnic spot on a small hilltop!
Go for rejuvenation and not for trekking, alright!
Check out my Bidarakatte Gallery here.
MaddiE's Bidarakatte Gallery
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