Trek to Makali Durga

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for everyone’s welfare and continued prosperity.

Trek to Makali Durga – 17th Dec-2011

Our passion for trekking is increasing by leaps and bounds and the team was raring to go for the next adventure. With such enthusiasm exhibited it was only a matter of time in identifying the next mountain to scale on the appointed date. We chose to scale Makali Durga as our next destination.



View of Makali Durga

Makali Durga is about 60 Kms from Bangalore. On top of the hills there is a dilapidated fort in ruins and a temple dedicated to Lord Basava ( Shiva). As always timing was on top of our agenda and all of us left Bangalore by 5:15 AM sharp and reached the village Makali Durga by 6:20 AM .

We parked our vehicles in a narrow stretch of mud road , about a kilometer away from the Makali Durga railway station.

Nature enticed us with a show of her majestic beauty. We saw the Sun rise, a huge orange ball of fire from the surrounding mountain ranges displaying the land beneath covered by fog, as a Milky ocean. It was awesome and worth the early starts.

Nature @ her majestic best - Sunrise in Makali durga village

We started our trek by 6:50 AM and crossed over the railway line and reached the base of the hills trek in quick earnest.



Our Team was On Track !!!

The Makali durga mountain is mostly made of granite rocks and the ascent was steady without much difficulties. Althrough the journey the view from the mountains was breathtaking and scenic.

Scenic view of Makalidurga village covered by Milky white fog

View of the Lake

We shared many jokes and motivated each other. All though the ascent, the picturesque views were enthralling. There is a lake at the bottom of the mountains. Makali Durga also doubles as a good spot for Rappelling and Raft building with the help of professional organizers.

Pathway to the Summit - The road less travelled!

The ruins of the fort welcomed us. Definitely the fort has been well planned and laid out and should have been used as an shelter for the people beneath during attacks or invasion and now remains in abandonment in halcyon days.

The ruined fort atop the mountain



Entrance of the fort

We took 2 short breaks in-between and reached the top of the summit by 7:50 AM. It tooks us an hour to reach the top.The scenic view from the top of the hills was just enchantingly beautiful. We spent 40 mins on the top and After taking few photographs we started the descend.

Team @ Summit

Team safely retuning back to base!

We had breakfast in Dodballapur and reached Bangalore by 11:30 AM

Team Members:

1) Srinivas Kulkarni
2) Srinivas Bonu
3) Baba shanker
4) Koteswara Rao
5) Uday Verma
6) Hrudaya Kumar
7) Madhusoodan
8) Raju MRC
9) Sundaresan J



Some helpful tips for trek enthusiasts wanting to explore this place:

1) Makali Durga – 60 Kms from BLR. Take a left in Yeshwantour and proceed to Dodabalapur. From Dodbalapur proceed to Makali Durga village. ( About 12 Kms) Once you reach the Railway station, proceed for another 1 KM and take the Mud road on the left and park your Vehicle adjacent to the Railway tracks.

2) Difficulty rating: Moderate. There are thorny bushes in many places and take care to cover yourself properly.

3) It takes approximately 1hr and 30 mins from the foot of hills to reach the top.

4) If you are attempting night trekking, take the help of locals for assistance.

5) Park you Cars/Bike near the railway tracks. It is safe to park your vehicles here.

Signing off for 2011 and see you in the Next edition - Next year 2012 :-)