Madhugiri Night Trek

About The Place :

Madhugiri is a town in Tumkur district in the Indian state of Karnataka.

At 3930 feet elevation, Madhugiri is a single hill. It is the largest in Asia and second largest in the world. Nestled in its steep slopes is a fort, once credited to Hyder Ali. Antaralada Bagilu, Diddibagilu, and Mysore Gate are the three gateways of the fort. A series of doorways leads to the hillock. The ruined temple of Gopalakrishna is located at the top.

The Journey :

After a get together on a Saturday night, all of a sudden, we, the ten bored souls, planned to go to a night out to have some fun. When you say night out, the first options that spring into your mind are Maddur Coffee Day and Skandagiri. We had already visited those places many times. So we decided to go trek some hill at night, since you won't get much tired during night usually. 

From many days, me and my roommate had planned to go to Madhugiri once, since we hadn't yet trekked it. So we thought of going to Madhugiri only, for a night trek. So, the ten of us ended up riding in Tumkur road within an hour after deciding.

The route to Madhugiri is simple. From Bangalore, go in Tumkur Road and take a right in Dabaspet. Madhugiri is just around 50 kms from Dabaspet, which is around 50-60 kms from Bangalore. There is a road from Tumkur as well. 

Madhugiri is a small village mainly known for the Madhugiri fort. We had reached the base of the hill at around 2 and parked our bikes, collecting some dried up leaves and branches, so as to prepare a camp fire later.

When we had told some friends that we'd be going to Madhugiri, they warned us about the Bears over there. Even in the village, when we asked some villagers regarding trekking at night, they warned us that there are too many bears in the hill, which is very very dangerous for night trek and people never do night trek over there. We, who just wanted to spend a night trekking, so as to view a beautiful sunrise from the peak, got scared since whomever we asked, they were warning us about the bears.

We started our trek cautiously and even the slightest of noises around us made us to turn all our attention towards it. After trekking for half an hour, we decide to prepare a camp fire there only, instead of taking risk, climbing at night. So we lighted the fire, which used to go off in every five minutes. One of us stood guard for us, constantly watching the surroundings, and others had a brief but sound sleep.

At around 5 in the morning, we decided to continue our trek, since the sky was getting lightened up by the approaching sun.Since we were all afresh from a sleep, we started to trek at a faster pace.

The initial phase of the trekking has steps constructed properly, till an old pool, which contained nothing but muddy water now. From there, we started to climb the huge monolith. It was similar to Kabbaldurga, which we had trekked an year ago. proper railings have been constructed to make the trek easier. Railings have been put up till almost 75% of the peak, which we covered in 30-40 minutes. There, we had actually thought the trek ended and rested for a while. But once we trekked ahead, we realized there was much more land to cover and took us some 20 more minutes to reach the top. 

We ate some cakes, chocolates and snacks which we had brought with us finished off all the remaining water and sprite. We couldn't see the sunrise properly because of the clouds and the clouds were creating amazing hues and it was windy throughout, which made us to enjoy the landscape more. The view from the peak of the Madhugiri village is amazing, since the entire village would be lit up always.

We then entered the old temple at the top, which is almost ruined now. Spent more time trying to take photos of every possible poses and once we were done, we started to climb down. Our legs started to pain during the descent, since you have to make sure about your shoe's grip while trekking down. It took us around 30 minutes to reach the base of the peak again. We had reached down by around 9.30-10am. Then we had breakfast at a hotel over there and rode continuously till Bangalore, and we were home by 1pm. A proper night out worth the fuel.

Guidelines :

- The road from Dabaspet to Madhugiri has some potholes and speedbreakers. Be careful while driving in the night.

-Devarayana durga and Siddarabetta are two other nearest hills, famous for trekking.

-If trekking during the day, be sure to carry ample amount of water and food. 

-There are two routes to trek. One goes straight, which is rumored not to be safe for night treks because of the bears, and the other route is towards the left, which seemed to be safer.

-Night trek might be dangerous. Beware of the much rumored bears.

Final Review :

Madhugiri is again, one of the easiest treks, especially if you trek during the night or early morning. The best option would be to start the trek at 5 am or so. You can view the sunrise on the way ascent and reach the peak in 2 hours as well. During afternoon, or after 10 am, it might be very tiring since there are no trees or shades anywhere.

Routes :

Bangalore - Dabaspet - Madhugiri