Travel Log #3
A Little Adventure in Shivagange Hill
Location: Dobbaspet
Altitude: 804m
Surmounted on: 28th February Sunday 2021
A demanding yet easy-peasy trek...
Alright! Finally, after certain futile attempts to get to Shivangange Hill, the trip was confirmed for a Sunday along with one of my friends. Apparently, we took a short drive in car, starting early morning around 6 a.m. from Bangalore and reached the spot on time by 8:30 a.m. There were a few lessons that we had learnt on this short drive.
Lesson 1: Google Maps is not omniscient!
We took a pit stop to have our breakfast just when we had reached the vicinity of the Shivangange Hills. When we had resumed the drive, we were involved in an intellectual and intriguing banter to an extreme level that we forget to take a left turn that was supposed to lead us to the hills. And since we had missed that, Google Maps had showed us an U-turn route which turned out to be misguiding although indirect. We had to travel for another 4km to get back in track to the hills. Interestingly, the path that Google Maps directs to the Shivagange Hill was also a different route. Fortuitously, we saw a board that leads to the entrance of the Shivangange Hill and we confirmed with a couple of helpful natives and reached the place on time.
Shivangange Hill Entrance
So, we geared up with sunglasses, caps and stick; the functionality of the stick will be explicated later. I must state that Shivagange is a hill and not a mountain. So, there's very less vegetation and it's more of an arid landscape. Moreover, the place is full of rocks. So, I felt like rock climbing rather than trekking. Especially, the initial stone steps (staircase in my language) leading to the rock path was extremely tiresome and sapped out most of my energy in quick successions. Impressively, my friend was super fit and athletic, he just kept on going. I had to force him to take pit stops to get my energy back.
Lesson 2: Never underestimate the brains of Monkeys!
If you were wondering what I was doing with a stick on a rocky hill, then you will get your answer now. I had transformed the stick which Kudremukh Mountain had gifted me into an artifact and symbolized it as a talisman. Hence, I brought it along to this trek no matter if it didn't prove to be useful. But, the monkeys made sure that the stick was extremely beneficial in not letting them near us. Firstly, they don't shy away from picking your bags and water bottles. Secondly, even if you are careless for a fraction of a second, they could crawl behind your back furtively and grab your bag.
We even saw a monkey snatch away a box of condiments from a shop while we were descending down. So, beware of Monkeys, if you are going to Shivangange Hill. Coming back to my powerful stick (supposed to be), my friend got reminded of a Biblical mythology and narrated me the story of Moses and his magical stick which was fascinating to hear.
My Shivangange Hill Gallery
A Dog in need...
We had a friendly encounter with a dog. He was trekking along with us and sometimes even blocking the pathway of my friend. But over time he had kinda become our guardian because for some reasons the monkeys were afraid of the dog and hesitated to come near us when the dog was around. But then this good luck, our guardian angel didn't last long for he raced away quickly to the peak for his morning nap. Needless to say, the dog was more agile than we were. It got to the peak first and was already in deep sleep when we reached.
A trip to remember...
After an arduous journey we made it to the peak and relaxed ourselves for a while. It was indeed a breathtaking view from the top and I was conscious to click some pictures; capturing the precious moments at the peak, on the rocks, with my friend. Then we had an interesting discussion about the different landscapes available below that met our eyes. We could notice coconut tree plantations, croplands, a stone quarry, etc. A relaxing and rejuvenating respite!
Recollecting our enthusiasm and energy back, we started descending down. It was quite easy to climb down but we had to be careful. The steps which are carved out of the rocks are very narrow and slippery. So, you need to be be cautious both while climbing up and down. Thanks to the railings installed along the pathway, people could balance and get support while trekking.
Except for the initial wearisome ascend, I felt the overall trek to be manageably easy to surmount. But obviously one needs to be really careful when there's rock around and the whole hill is nothing but rocks and stones. The trip and the journey was filled with camaraderie, philosophy and way of life but most importantly, a tint of enjoyable little adventure.