Trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta - Part 1

We decided to go for a early morning trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta .A place 70 km from Bangalore.Vineeth arrived at 4.00 am in morning.We thought 4.00 am is too early so lets start at 5.30 am.We went back to sleep and as expected we woke up at ... 7.00 am.
Anyways we decided to go for the trek as Rangaswamy Betta trek was supposed to be an easy one.This, I say ,is destiny's way to getting its work done .We had absolutely no idea what was in stored for us there ..
we had a quick breakfast and were on our bike towards Kanakapura road.We took the NICE road and with scant traffic we road at around 80 kmph.




We reached Harohalli and biked further towards Doddamaralawadi.The ride was fun as cool air and wide road pumped adrenaline into us.we reached Onaaladoddi by 11.30 am .



We were asked by some villagers to park our our vehicles in front of a house .we parked our bike and started our seemingly easy trek.

As we started our trek, we found a path way.




we followed the path way and all of sudden we came to a dead end.This was going to be the hall mark of our trek for the whole day and little did we realize that it could be frustrating if we strayed from the path.We decided to make our own way thru the hill.




We came across a small hill which overlooked the peak we intended to scale.We climbed this hill and form the top got a bird's view of the terrain.there was a valley between this hill and the one adjoining it.we needed to scale the adjoining hill to reach to the peak.



There was a valley between the two hills.Standing at the top of the hill we could not see any trek paths to the peak.We saw some open burnt areas and thought that if we could reach those area we will be able to figure out the way.






After taking rest for a few mins we decided to get going down hill , and start climbing the adjoining hill after reaching the valley.The descent looked harmless and we were enjoying our trek except occasionally we realized that we were not going on correct path or thats what we assumed ;-)

whenever we followed a path , the path would almost disappear leaving us stranded and we had to figure out and new way ....




Having reached the end of the trail,we took rest in a scantly available shade.As we searched for the trail path we realized that the path was missing again.

It was 1.30 pm and was getting hotter .Breeze had died down and the heat was beginning to take its toll.We were hungry and thirsty , and with scant water supply we didnt wanted to go on another trail search.We knew we had lost our way and didn't had the energy to find another path



So we decided to head back.Now ,we thought, we had two options either we trail back our path the same way we came up or try more direct route down hill.We decided to try the latter as , we thought , tracking our way back would mean we again start looking to trail paths which were not consistent.Now here again ,with no trek path visible we just started heading downwards.

As we moved we found an area of open space .We all were quiet encouraged by this as we thought this would eventually take us down the hill, which we were very keen on.
there were dense shrubs and thorns waiting for us and we somehow managed to make our way through them with hope that we would find a way / path down hill.Also i realized that by finding our own way , we were unable to keep a track of which way we came.The whole gamut looked the same .If we had to trace out paths back ...we wont be do that confidently ....we thought its better to keep moving forward than think of tracing our way back .....(nooo age hi badhna hain ;-) )
As we made our way through the dense and difficult shrubs and thorns .we realize we had come to a dead end .there was no way we could move forward and even if we tried it would be dangerous .

Badri was getting tried by the minute and he was really struggling to keep up pace with us.We decide that al thoguh we had descended quiet considerably but there was no way forward.We could be stuck here if we moved forward so its better to climb up again and hope to find some trek path ....at least that way we knew we were in that place.We strenuously climbed back again .Again as there were no paths we randomly started climbing this time.many a times we realized that even the climb has reached dead end and due to dense shrubs , thorns and the heat we had to change our directions.Atlast at one point we found a trek path and realize that we had been thru this place during our initial climb.We were elated....a bit of frustration had crept into us by now as we were randomly climbing and descending without and path.this path was a moral booster for us..We had lost quiet a bit of blood thanks to the throns and our skin was cut and bruised.

continued in PART 2