Skanda Giri (Kalavaarahalli Betta)

Beautiful place for your weekend getaway. Although one has to climb upto 4000 ft, the trek is moderate and can reach the top in 2 to 3 hrs time(including breaks).

To Reach there?
Distance: Approx 55 Km from the Hebbal flyover(Bangalore)
Town: Chikaballapur
Landmark: As you enter chikaballapur town, Take left turn just before Balaji Talkies. This road leads towards TownHall. From here you can ask for directions or you can study the map.
Contact person: You could contact little Master Amarnath or talk to his dad Veerappa (preferred language - Kannada) Ph: 9341663672.

It all started when I (and my friends) wanted to break free from the daily chores and throw ourselves away from this bustling city. The day was October 2nd 2007 (Gandhi Jayanthi). As planned, we all assembled near HP petrol bunk @ 4.30am near Hebbal Flyover. The weather was quiet chill and perfect to hit the road. With a small discussion on safe riding, we seven guys started off on four bikes.

Before I continue with my narration, Let me introduce you to the star casts. To begin with: ArunKumar (Nvidia-Tech Guy), Vijay(Artist), Rajesh-Alias Munna(Fashion Designer), Iytal ( photo-freak), Sunayan(programmer), Ravi(Maya-expert) and myself Niranjan(Navigator and Graphic Designer).

This was our first trip to Skandagiri and I was the navigator. I had sketched a rough map indicating prominent landmarks and route to reach the hill from Chikaballapur town, All courtesy-wikimapia.
Around 5.15 am we were nearing Chikaballapur town, the weather was slightly rough, and it started to pour incessantly. But undeterred to reach there before sunrise, we rode through the spiking rain. When ever a vehicle approached from the other side, we could see the rain drops spearing like the arrows from the movie ‘300’. It was as if Mother Nature had put us through an endurance test.

At 5.45 am we were near Balaji Talkies in Chikaballapur town. With a little direction help from an early bird, we took a left turn just before the talkies and with the guidance of my sketched map; we reached the foot of the hill at 6.00 am. To our surprise there was a villager turned watch man to welcome us with his not so bright torch. We parked our bikes near his house and started of with our trek.

Wading through the Greenchilly, sevanthige and tomato fields, we were on the initial climb of the hill. From here we could not see the top of the peak, as it was covered with mist. After climbing a few hundreds of feet, it was all woos and wows. The vast expanse of green around was a great visual relief. We all started taking pics with our varied megapixel mobile phones.
... to be continued