Skandagiri trip on bike

I was just looking for some place which is around 100 km from Bangalore to trek and can be reached on bike. Then I zeroed on Skandagiri as trek involves approximately 80 km bike riding and 4km mountain climbing. We were 7 guys on 4 bikes. I left my room by 9pm and we all gathered near vijayanagar for dinner except 2 of our friends. After the dinner, they also joined near navarang theatre and by the time, we left it was already 12:30 AM midnight. It was fun to go on long drive in night on a highway. I had bought new bike so for me it was first long drive. Before I share my experience, I would like to list some important points if you are planning for skandagiri trek on bikes or cars.

1) Carry a torch or two. We went on full moon day. Hence, We did not have that much difficulty in climbing the hill. I had a torch which is of medium size. Even if we go on full moon day, we need torch as you to walk on steep path and also you will encounter with lot of dense bushes.

2) Carry some food to eat in mid way of your hill climbing. Better carry atleast 2 liters of water and some biscuits. Don't take too many breaks while climbing as it will hamper your speed.

We took almost 2 hours to reach papagni mutt from Bangalore which is the base of skandagiri hills. From Bangalore we have to take new airport road and reach chikballapur. From chikballapur it is around 6-7 km.

3) When we just entered the village, 2 police constables blocked our way and narrated some stupid story of suicides which have been committed by few youngsters near that place. Obviously, story is not true and it is just to scare us. They will tell you to either go back home or ask you some money as bribe. They demanded us 100 Rs/bike and we told them that we are students and convinced them for 100 bucks total. Never tell them for which company you are working and if possible tell them you are govt employees. I said most of us are still students.

4) Wear a jacket and shoes which can keep you warm as weather will be cold and chilling.

As we reached papagni mutt, it was around 2:45 AM. Some people of that village blocked our way and advised us to park bikes inside the farm land and take one of them along with us as guide. We denied their offer and went ahead to the temple and few more men from that village were there and showed us the way for parking. We parked our vehicles just beside the temple and they started demanding 30 bucks for each bike as parking fee. They had covered their faces with blankets and since it was dark, we could not even see their faces properly. But we argued for some time and finally gave them 30 bucks for all bikes. Parking our bikes there, was a big blunder.

They also advised us to take one of them along with us as guide. But we did not pay them as 2 guys in our group already climbed the hill before and they knew the way very well. So We ignored them and started climbing. If you do not know the way, you can take one of them with you and they will charge you around 200 bucks.

We took few breaks in between and took almost 2 hours to reach the top. It was very chilling and cold breeze was blowing over our faces that we were even struggling to stand still. At the top of hill, some villagers will be there to sell tea/coffee and bread omlette. Its a decent business for them and you will find them only in weekends. It was 5 when we reached the top and the place was already crowded with visitors. We were exhausted climbing the hill and feeling hungry badly. We ate maggi noodles, omlette and had tea. It was still dark and heavy cold breeze was blowing over our faces and I was even struggling to stand still. We found some place to lie down for a while as there was still half an hour left for sunrise. By 6 AM, We could see sun rising and with that beautiful clouds floating around us. All started capturing the beautiful snaps in their camera and I just forgot everything else for sometime. I climbed on the top of a broken temple to get the better view of clouds. By 7.30 AM, clouds started disappearing slowly and we started feeling hot. We started getting down and it took around 1 and half hour to reach the bottom. When we reached the place where we have parked our bikes, we were just shocked after seeing the condition of all bikes parked over there.

Some drunken villagers have damaged our bikes very badly. Seat covers were scraped with knife, both front mirrors were broken, air has been removed from rear tyre. My bike tank alone was dented with a brick i think. They had broken my helmet lock and stolen my helmet. I felt like crying as my bike was new and did not even have a small scratch before. They had not even spared cars. Bikes which were parked later were not touched. I think they came after those idiots damaged our bikes and flee away. We took a honda activa which was not damaged to find a mechanic. To our bad luck, We could not find any mechanic as it is a remote village and we had to go to chikballapur to get a mechanic. Thankfully we found a bicycle shop. But he was not ready to come with us and he said if i come there, police will trouble me for my no fault. We tried convincing him but he was adamant as this type of incident had happened earlier also and he was screwed up badly by police. We somehow convinced him to give his pump so that at least we can fill air to rear Tyre and can drive till chikballapur at least. I filled air to my bike rear Tyre but unfortunately, my friend's bike Tyre was punctured. We went to chikballapur and got a mechanic. We roamed there for around 4 hoursto get all our bike repaired. We did not have sleep whole night and were completely exhausted.

We left chikballapur by 2 PM. After reaching bangalore, again for my bad luck, traffic police caught me for not wearing helmet. I narrated my story and they advised me to pay 100 Rs as fine and show the receipt to police if I am caught again. I reached my room by 4 PM.

It was my first trip on bike and I will never forget it!