Madhugiri Fort Hiking
After my first trek with Bangalore AdvenTuRers (BAT), I wanted to go for another and decided on a one day trek with them (again!) to Madhugiri Fort.We - 10 AdvenTuRers including BAT organizer Dr. Srinivas - started our journey from Bangalore in two cars in the morning. Another four trekkers joined us on our way in a
After having breakfast at Vrindavan Veg Restaurant (a few kilometers before Dabaspet), organizer Srinivas called all of us for a formal introduction and briefed us about the day's plan, do's and don't's etc. We took the right turn under the flyover at Dabaspet and passed through Koratagere town to reach Madhugiri.
We have started our hiking from the base around 10:20 AM after distributing packed lunch to everyone.
Few details about Madhugiri Fort
Madhugiri, also known as Maddagiri, is located around 43 km north of Tumkur town. At 3930 ft (1200 m) elevation, Madhugiri is a single hill. It is the second largest monolith in Asia. Genesis of the name Madhugiri is derived from the Honeybee colonies which were prevalent in those days towards the northern parts of the Madhugiri fortress. The erection of the fort at Madhugiri is ascribed to a local chief named Raja Hire Gauda of the Vijayanagar dynasty in the 17th century around 1670 AD. The fort was greatly improved by Haidar Ali. After the conquest of Bednur,he had kept the Rani of Bednur imprisoned in this fort until its capture by the Marathas in 1767 AD.
Initial one-third of hiking is relatively easy with proper steps carved through rocks. We visited an old jail inside the fort. After visiting jail, we progressed further.
It started to become little difficult for next part of the trek as steps are not present at many places, we had to climb/walk through rock. There are railings present at some places, It was adventurous and scary at one specific stretch as the railings are broken and no support available.
Luckily the Sun was not too harsh and the wind was helping us to hike towards the top. When we reached at each entrance (as the fort has multiple layers), we thought that peak of the hill is almost near, but had to cross multiple such entrances. After few such entrances / layers, we reached the top around 12:15 PM. There is an old and ruined Gopalakrishna temple on the top and some water tanks and other ruined structures. View from top is magnificent as we can see many surrounding hills as well as entire Madhugiri town.
We had our packed lunch in the temple vicinity. All of us are relaxed for some time post lunch, thanks to Shashank and Fazil for singing songs, you guys are amazing.
We started descent around 1:30 PM, which is comparatively easy - thanks to food, the Sun, and the wind :) On our way back, organizer Srinivas showed us hidden treasure in the fort which is an old grain storage. It seems like nobody is aware of this place and surely, no one visited here in last few months! To enter into the storage area, we had to take a small entrance through which only one person can pass through at a time. This part was most adventures of this trek, there was no proper way to go down after small entrance and it was very dark, had to take the support of some stones in the wall and other people.
Some numbers for no reason:
Distance from Bangalore to Madhugiri : around 110 kms
Route taken: Bangalore - Nelamangala - Dabaspet - Koratagere - Madhugiri
Road condition : Very good other than road construction between Dabaspet and Korategere
06:00 AM Start time at Shantala Silk House, Majestic
10:00 AM Reached Madhugiri Fort
10:20 AM Started trekking
12:15 PM Reached top and had packed lunch
01:30 PM Started descent
03:00 PM Reached base
04:00 PM Departed to Bengaluru
06:45 PM Reached Bengaluru (Goraguntepalya)
On our way back, had tea and juice at Koratagere. Thanks to all BAT members for being awesome in this day trek.
Photo credits: Sunil and Faisal
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