Kabbala Durga Trek

September 05, 2014

Kabbala Durga Trek

Well, lot of them speak about living in the present. Yes we should live in the present but how about the interpretation that we give to that advice? We should live in the present to make the best out of the moments, to unhook ourselves from the past, to look forward to future, to find new reasons. But it never means that you should live ignorant, careless, or think about shortcuts, momentarily pleasures and happiness that won’t last long.

We planned our Independence Day ride to Kabbaladurga which turned out as an awesome trekking experience. However I wouldn’t want to write anything about the seasonal patriotism that rouse us for two days in a year and make us throw the national flag on the road sides the next day. This page is just about some crazy decisions which eventually gifted us with the some of the fun filled moments in our life.

Apart from the riding experience, this story tells about our decision to climb the hill from the wrong side :p . We had parked our bike on a place, which we thought to be the starting of the trekking route, and started walking only to realize that we were not on the right path. However, we had this crazy idea to find a new route and go up even though there was a huge protest from Vindhya and Reuben. They followed us while me, KV, Sandeep and our new guy Nirmal went ahead looking for possible trails. There was cutting of bushes, climbing rocks, crawling on knees through tunnels made by bushes and all possible crazy stuff on our event list.

To be frank, the result was a dead-lock point where there was no going ahead (the bush was twice my height by then), scars and blood on hands, Nirmal’s jacket spoilt by thorns and shouting from the two lame people who were playing spoil sport right from the beginning :p :D . But there was a lot more to the trek than the disappointment. A lot of adventure, lot of craziness, lot of fun and a lot of memories.

Now you might wonder why I talked about living in the present and momentarily pleasures. Yes, I am coming to that. Living in the present was just about our decision to go for the trek and the options to choose momentarily pleasures were many, which we didn’t. We could have directly gone to the regular trek trail and climbed the hill instead of wasting all our energy and emptying the only bottle of water we had, exploring a useless route. We didn’t have to take the pains of scars from thorns and didn’t have to get our cloths spoilt. We could have climbed the hill up and down in half the time we actually spend in total.

But would I be able to see KV laughing hysterically like I have never seen before? Would I be able to see Sandeep all excited and full of energy? Would I collect the porcupine spine (my first treasure from all the trips and treks)? Would I be able to make such beautiful memories? Nope. Even though unknowingly, I preferred long term treasure over momentarily pleasure.

It would have given us a moment's comfort if we had chosen to climb the hill through the regular trails but would have never compensated for what we were about to miss. Climbing the 1000 meter hill (will have to walk around 2kms to reach on top) without even a single drop of water and that too on empty stomach might seem stupid but the soothing ritual and the splash of theertha on your face by the temple priest in the end is invaluable. My only regret would be that I lost my flag in the forest while we were trying to find the new route.

HOW TO GET THERE

100Kms from Bangalore

Ride to Channapatna through SH17 and take a left turn from Channapatna town

Another 25Kms after the left turn towards Kabbaladurga. Stick to the left side and take the deviation towards left when the first deviation comes.

Stick to the road and you will reach Kabbaladurga

THINGS TO REMEMBER

Carry sufficient water while climbing
Food options are minimal. Therefore remember to keep some light food in your bag
Avoid heavy backpacks because the climb is long and tiring

PICTURES

Kabbala Durga