Channagiri Trek - Best ever of BTC

About Channagiri:-
Channagiri / Channarayagiri - One of the tallest peaks around Bangalore with a total height of 4398 ft. (1340 meters) above sea level. It is one the hills amid the Nandi Hill ranges. The Nandi hills range has views across the plains and ideal for hiking. Channagiri hill is densely covered with shrubs, thorny buses. The others hills in this range are Nandi giri, Skandagiri, Brahamagiri, Dibba giri (Skandagiri). At the base of the hill is a Shiva Temple with a huge Nandi, built in Chola Architecture. The trek starts from a temple near Sultanpet and the track goes behind the hill and culminates at the hill top. Adjacent Nandi Hills and Brahamagiri are in full view from Channagiri. The hill is very steep and at some points is at an angle of 70+ degrees.

Trip Outline:-
All 17 members assembled @ Vayu Vajra Bus Stop, Majestic by 7:30am. Wished all of them good morning. So we moved to KBS Bus Stand - Terminal 3 & boarded bus to Chikballapur. Everyone got seats in bus & started speaking with each other. Within few stops, bus is jam packed with out any space. Few of them slept nicely in bus, rest speaking with each other. Reached Chikballapur by 9:15am. Me, Viru & Vijayananda went to small hotel for taking breakfast. Got Idli, Vada (For Breakfast), Palav & Lemon Rice (For Lunch) parcel. Got into same bus which is going to Nandi village. Got down @ Nandi village by 9:30am. Asked few villagers about Channagiri Hills & they are showing Skandagiri hills. So, asked Sultanpet & they gave correct way now. As all are feeling hungry, went to "Sri Bhoga Narasimha Temple", sat in lawn & had breakfast. Later, everyone made a circle & introduced each other. I explained plan of travel with timelines. Started from Nandi village by 10:15am towards Sultanpet.

Sun is already high & temperature is more. It is 2kms walk which we got to know that it is less than 1km only. From Nandi Village, we can see Nandi Hills (On left), Channagiri (Middle) & Skandagiri (On Right). Everyone walking on the road leading to Sultanpet.

Reached finally to Basavanna temple, Sultanpet which is base of Channagiri Trek. Relaxed for 5 mins & got to know the trail from temple priest & a guard. We started @ 10:45am. Way is mixed of grass, bushes with thorns, rocks. As grass is high, we couldn't see the trail clearly. So we started checking, making our own way to top of the hill. Dinesh was not well as he slipped today morning & got hurt again. He is coming slowly to the top. Good thing is that, there is cool breezes from time we started trek. So, we didn't feel high temperature & moved top smoothly.

Reached top by 1:50pm after 2-3 breaks on the way. From top of Channagiri, there is awesome view of surroundings, Nandi Hills (left) & Brahamagiri Hills (Right).

As Channagiri Hill is joined peak of 2 hills, we need to see trail which goes from 1 hill to other. I went ahead towards North (as per our friend - Dr Sir guidance) & searched for trail which was full of thorny bushes. My search was no avail. So returned back to place where all of us camped. Everyone had lunch which we got parceled - Lemon Rice & Palav. After lunch, relaxed for sometime & took group pictures @ 2:20pm.

As we need to go down half of the hill, take south direction & reach the 2nd peak of Channagiri. By the time we go to 2nd peak, it will be 5pm or so & also we need to descend down, return back to Bgl. We decided to get down directly, go to "Sri Bhoga Narasimha Temple" & spend sometime there. Now the real fun starts & best one too.

Me & Ruwise lead the way to down as there is no clear trail for descending. Our target is down & started making new trail for our folks. Sandeep, Gautham, Heena, Pavan, Anusha, Viru & Megharaj started after sometime. Heena slipped & fell on grass. She got up & fell again 2 more times within fraction of seconds. This picture was taken when she is getting up after 2nd slip. Everyone are laughing (You can see in pic) and helping her up. Once she moved ahead, Pavan slipped & later Viru too. Complete way descending everyone started slipping & others helping them to get-up (see below pic) - batch wise they are coming. It was fun filled descending.

Me & Ruwise breaking all thorny bushes with sticks, legs & making a trail. While doing this, I holded thorny bush & big thorn went into my finger. Blood started coming out, nearly 5-6 drops. Immediately took Tissue & wrapped to my finger. Started leading the way again. On way, Heena slipped again & Viru told he is coming. Within seconds, he also slipped completely. It was too funny & everyone laughed, shouted. After lot of slips & Falls, we reached base of the camp @ 5pm.

Took group & individual pictures with Channagiri Hill as background. Except Me & Megharaj, everyone felt down after slipping. Everyone had thorn scratches on hands, legs - including me. We got nearly 50 liters of water which got completed when we reached base of camp & everyone are feeling thirsty. Reached Basavanna temple & saw water pipe. It seems, it is drinking water only. So everyone went there, washed their faces, drank water & filled few bottles also. Saw an excellent view of sun rays (Sun set time) falling on Skandagiri Hills. It was awesome view.

Now, it is time to walk to Nandi village for bus. Through out the way, we are speaking about today's trip, fun filled memories, seeing bruises on hands, trying to get lift from coming vehicles, taking pictures through out the road.

While walking got bus which goes till Chikballapur. Had Badam Milk @ Hotel in Chikballapur bus stand. Got bus to BGL @ 7pm which was jam packed. Few only got seats & rest of us standing. On the way started speaking, sharing our treks information. We reached Bangalore by 9pm. Everyone dispersed to their destinations.

Travel Guide:-
Bus:
1. We can go in KSRTC buses from KBS Terminal 3 - Platform 10, 11 till Chikballapur / Nandi Hills directly.
2. If you take bus to Chikballapur, then you need to take bus to Doddballapur & get down @ Nandi Village.
   If you take bus directly to Nandi Hills, you can get down @ Nandi village only.
3. From Nandi village, take left of "Sri Bhoga Narasimha Temple" to go to Sultanpet.
4. Go straight till you reach "Basavanna Temple" which is base of Channagiri.
   Trail Route: Ask temple priest way to reach temple on top of hill. He will guide you correctly
Note: If you ask villagers about Channagiri, they will guide you to Skandagiri only. So, you should ask for Sultanpet only.
Train:
1. We have Dodballapur passenger @ 8:30am from Bangalore Central Station (SBC) which goes to Nandi Station by 10:20am.
2. From station, you can hire auto & reach Nandi village / Sultanpet. Rest will be same as above.

Best moments in trek:-
* Cracking jokes all way from starting to ending of trip.
* Heena slipping 3 times after lunch @ top of Channagiri
* Viru saying "Main Aaraha hoon" after seeing Heena falling. Immediately he slips & falls down.
* Dinesh & Ajita slipping & falling down on grass
* Everyone slipping one after other - Looks like competing with each other how will slip max times & Winner - SWETHA C (more than 20 times). Hope you got to know how we need to descend down without slipping.

Thanks Giving:-
# First of all, thanks to all 16 members participated in this trekking event name by name. It was my Best 1 day trek till date with lot of fun & memories. Thanks for making it so memorable for me as Organizer & Participant.
# Welcome to Trekking & Congratulations to Pavan, Swetha & Anusha for successfully completing your 1st ever trek.
# Thanks to Vijayananda for assisting me in getting info from bus conductor & food.
# Thanks to Ruwise for being front runner along with me while ascending & descending for making new trail.
# Thanks to Viru & Ajita for taking care of Dinesh while ascending & descending.
# Thanks to Megharaj, Pavan for helping out Shwetha & Anusha descending down.

IMP: "Channagiri Returns" will be back soon to have one more wonderful part 2 :)

Looking forward for more treks with such a wonderful, joyful team. Keep trekking & enjoy Mother Nature.


Written By          : Chaitanya Kumar Adusumilli
Main Blog            : Adusumilli2nature
Participant Blogs  : Gautham
Organized By   : Chaitanya Kumar Adusumilli
Date of the event: 2nd-Feb, 2013
Place                 : Sultanpet, Nandi Village
Pictures              : Chaitanya, Vijayananda, Gautham

Swetha Write-up:-

“My First Ever Trek” - Channagiri

I wasn't that sure that I will actually go for trekking even one day before. Finally I experienced trekking. February 2, 2013 Saturday morning got up at 5:30 AM (unusual than my normal timing). Got ready and we all met at a meeting point in Majestic by 7 AM. After everybody came, we team of 17 wonderful people started to take a bus to our trek place. We boarded the bus along with little planning inside the bus, whether we should get down to have breakfast or pack it. Then after little discussion with bus conductor it was decided that 3 among us will get down and pack the food meanwhile our bus return from the center stop.

After that we reached Sri Bhoga Nandishwara Temple around 10:30 AM and finally started having breakfast in straight circle ;). All enjoyed during the breakfast, one lucky guy got 4 Idli’s in his parcel and everybody started interacting with each other. After that we had introduction and it was one of the best video introduction round. After that videography we took group photo in front of temple then we started to base of the hill. And from there started our trek it was easy for me in the beginning as I could see the path well and walk. After sometime I was not able to see the path but saw that all my trek mates were casually walking. Well for me my friend was there and made me walk on right track and was guiding me as to how I should go ahead. It was too sunny. I just kept on walking and walking, not aware when I would reach the peak or will I? We stopped thrice for resting and at times when I got cramps in my legs. I was very slow but still managed to climbed being in the center with others pace. Whole time I was just thinking, how I will go back, and got different responses too. Finally we made it to the top. After series of photo-shoot, we had lunch in shade. I got place where Dinesh was resting in peace till we arrived.  There was little confusion about Palav and lemon rice, was pretty nice and funny discussion with Ruwise’s Malayalam, Dinesh’s Tamil, Ajju’s Hindi. One couldn't control laughing when these guys start talking. Well Kudva brothers and Megharaj would agree for this. It was again time for group pic on the top after that we started descending. Well somebody told that descending would be easier than ascending but it was opposite for me.  Well I started to descend with a small slip and reached base after multiple successful slips (which includes big n small) J. And I think while descending everybody enjoyed most coz of many slip’s i.e., Heena’s back to back 3 slip’s, Viru’s “main aaraha hu” slip and Dinesh and Ajita’s slip were most memorable ones. And after reaching the base it was time for group snap.

 Everybody was tired and searching for Amrit (water) the only source nearby was next to temple. That water was sweet and tasted better than packed water. Everyone took their own time to get freshen up, drink and relax for some time.

 After that we started for bus stand. All snacks, biscuits were out of the bags and all were attacking as if they were damn hungry. The chocolates purchased in the morning had become Chocolate shakeL. We reached a hotel were we had Badam milk and waited out for Bangalore city bus. After half an hour gap one bus came but was too crowded and we need to get into that only to avoid reaching home late. Somehow we made it inside and found some seats. All had fun and discussion about future treks in bus and reached Majestic by 9:30 PM and everyone departed to their respective places.  

Though I slipped many times, highest among 17 BTC members I enjoyed and surprised that I finally completed my trek. Thanks to all for making my first trek memorable one. Special thanks to Ajju and Megharaj J. Thanks to the organizer as well for being so kind and nice. Now I know why Ajju talk so much about BTC. Looking forward to see you soon in future treks hope.