Jab We Went – Midnight trek to Skandgiri !!

P.S This is not my original Creation however i am one of those fantastic five(discussed bellow). Credit goes to Sayan Pal for writing this beautiful travelogue..

Thwarted by rain in the previous two occasions, I almost gave up my long cherished dream of midnight tryst with Skandgiri. But my ever-enthusiastic roomies forced me to give it a last try. Immediately the group was formed (which I call “Fantastic Five”) and off we went to Skandgiri , the mysterious hill.

After completing our regular TT and pool sessions, we started around 11:45 PM from Hosur Road in our own vehicle. It was really refreshing to see silent Bangalore roads where one can easily drive at 80 km/hr. With no proper map or GPRS we somehow reached NH 7 and zoomed past new airport to reach Nandi Hills road. The real journey begins!!

Around 1 AM, we took a tea-break at a road side stall and picked up important road direction to Skandgiri from the shop owner. However, despite of losing our directions on few occasions, we did manage to reach the foothill at around 2:00 am. As soon as our car entered the parking, some local lads popped up from darkness and offered their services as guide. After completing a round of bargain we started our trek around 2:30 AM.

My meeting with Skandgiri can’t be a smooth one and I was correct. The guide wanted to finish the trip as early as possible (to catch the next party) and guided us into an ever stiff and untraced trail. Not knowing that there exists a relatively easier path, we took the challenge and started following our guide with lots of determination and enthusiasm. But gradually it become increasingly difficult to meet guide’s pace and we forced him to take it easy. We took snaps in between and enjoyed the nocturnal beauty of the pristine mountain. A faint melodious music from nearby temple set the perfect background score to our journey to uncertainty. Slowly but steadily we entered into the realm of cloud as we reached the halfway mark. (As per our guide 55% ).

We started feeling the chilly wind and it became really difficult to move ahead steadily. Once into the cloud, the visibility suddenly dropped down to threatening magnitude and we could not even see each other. Only hope was light emanating from torch and constant vocal-tonic from my teammates. The most difficult part of the trek was to climb up those wet stones without any support from either side. After a certain point, we realized that this cannot be the normal route as we could not figure out a single trekker nearby. Although the fear of climbing down this trail creped in to our mind yet we enjoyed every step of this adventurous trail. Our constant fight with gusty wind, stiff climb, pitch-black darkness and freezing cold continued till we reached the hilltop.

Around 5 AM we reached our destination i.e. the bread-omlette shop at the topic. Being hungry and cold we instantly ordered for tea, bread-omlette and maggi. The shop owner also cross-soled his campfire service to us. But later we realized that it was only the heat generated from the campfire saved us from strong and chilly wind. We circled around the campfire and started taking snaps. It was complete dark. Around 6 AM we saw faint ray of light in the horizon which signaled sunrise. We woke from our semi-sleepy stage and hurried on to the top to watch the much awaited sunrise. We heard so much about the beautiful sunrise in Skadgiri that we could easily brave the gusty winds and cold.
But alas! God of rain (or cloud) took the revenge with vengeance in the morning and our wait got extended. A thick layer of cloud prevented us from watching the heavenly sunrise. As the sun started accepting the defeat, wind speed peaked up to unbearable magnitude and forced us to take shelter in a small temple. The comfort we experienced inside the shelter was relieving. Whenever there was a shout outside we rushed out of the shelter to watch sunrise but without any success. At around 7:30 AM we finally gave up and prepared to climb down. As our guide had already left us we had no choice but to follow the crowd. This time crowd intelligence worked and we took the normal path.This trail is less frightening (or you may say less-adventurous) but equally beautiful. We took snaps at regular breaks and slowly climb down to foothill around 9. It took another one and half hours to locate our car as we reached the other side of the hill while climbing down.

Finally we started our journey back to Bangalore around 10:30 AM and reached our sweet nest at 1 PM. It was my first mid night trek and a lifetime experience. The sheer joy of adventure, thrill of moving through darkness, ecstasy of stumbling on the clouds …. the memory is unforgettable and will remain etched to my heart forever.