When we were planning for a trek, we wanted something simple since we had a few newbie trekkers in the group. But since most of us did not want to travel a lot to reach a trekking place, we decided to do Skandagiri thinking that we can take a lot of breaks on the way to the top. My friend Amol who had been to Skandagiri before warned that it was by no means a rookie trek, but if need be, we need not go all the way up. So after much deliberation and bit of white lie (telling the rookies that it is a easy trek :) ), we homed in to Skandagiri.

Skandagiri is about 15 KMs to the north of Devanhalli, a few kms beyond Nandi hills. You have to drive to a place called Chickabelapur (spelling probably wrong) and then take a left. It is a well known place, so it is not easy to get lost once you reach Chickabelapur. Once you reach the place, there is a short walk till you reach the base of the mountain.

CAUTION: If possible, do an overnight trek or a very early morning trek. Skandagiri does not have a lot of tree cover, so it gets very hot. We started the trek at 9:00 AM, so it was by no means a comfortable trek.

Now that I got the caution out of the way, lets get back to the trek. When we reached the base of the mountain, a small hill beckoned us. It was not impressive, so I was wondering if this is a difficult trek after all. We started climbing the mountain following a well marked and laid out pathway on the mountain. The trail is pretty easy to follow, so if you get lost, you need to brush up your direction skills :) As we started climbing up, we started seeing trekkers descend after finishing their trek. They were the smarter bunch who trekked early morning or the previous evening. As we started climbing, we saw some locals selling butter milk and other eatables. We were pretty  stocked up with water and Gatorade, so we politelydeclined and moved on ahead. After climbing for 30 minutes and taking a few pictures on the way, we reached the summit of the mountain.

We felt that the climb is over, thats when Amol showed us the path to the next summit. So we were basically only at the first summit of a series of many summits (each higher than the other) till we reach the top. This is when it dawned to us, that the trek has only began and we are nowhere near the end. We took a short break and we started making our way to the next summit. The climb was more tiring since the sun was now beating on top of our heads and it was energy sapping. Just before the second summit , we saw a huge rock which provided some much needed shade to rest and refresh ourselves.

After another short break, we started climbing again and started making our way to the top. Every time we made way to what seemed like top of the mountain, we saw another new “top” to walk to. The last 30 minutes of the trek was extremely tiring as the leg muscles started showing signs of strain. After a few more false “tops”, a few short breaks, some more photo sessions and a lot of huffing and puffing, we finally reached the top. There were a few locals on the top selling butter milk and eatables. We started walking around to check out the amazing view. The scenery from the top is breathtaking. There are a couple of old temples on the top which were in a dilapidated condition. It was noon and there was no shaded area in sight. The only shaded part was a small shadow of one of the temples. We huddled ourselves below it and started our lunch.

The two gujju ladies in our group, Archana and Sejal had made some amazing tepalas. It was complimented well by some good sandwiches made by my wife. We ate to our hearts fill, drank a lot of water and decided to rest for an hour before we start our way back.

After the rest session, we started making our way back. The climb down was easier, although getting a grip on the loose soil at few places was a tough task. We slowly slid and slipped our way down. We made it down half way and again took a much needed break below the big rock. We took a short nap and then climbed the remaining distance in one shot.

Once at the foot of the mountain, we again took some pictures, looked back and felt proud of our accomplishment. After downing a few tender coconuts, we got into our cars and started driving away from nature towards the concrete commotion called Bangalore.

Some advice and take aways from this trek:

• Start very early and try avoiding the sun
• If sun is unavoidable, carry plenty of sun cream (SPF 30 minimum).
• Carry plenty of water.
• Be a responsible trekker. The idea is to enjoy nature and leave it the same way for others to enjoy. So please carry a plastic bag to collect all your trash and please don't litter. And of course, don't leave the trash bag behind :)

Thats it folks. I hope this description gives a good overview and helps you plan your memorable trek to Skandagiri better. Adios!!!