Nice day outing at Nijagal Betta!. Review on Nijagal Betta, Bangalore

This was the first trek I embarked on, beyond the outskirts of Bangalore. I believe it was January 2016. It was meant to be a day trek organized by an adventure group on a Saturday and I had decided sometime the week before, that I would try this out. Partly because I reminisced about my school days when I did go on some mild treks with schoolmates back then, in Rajasthan and surrounding areas. Also, maybe because I thought it would be fun to do so now, probably because I didn't do the childhood treks with the right mindset around 20 years ago. This time it would be for fun and because I actually felt like doing it.

Nijagal Betta is supposed to be some distance away from the road, 55 kms away from Bangalore, on the Bangalore-Tumkur highway. It is a fort hillock, and as is typical of such hills, there are remains of a fort on the top. It is also believed to be associated with a war fought between Peshwa Madhav Rao and Hyder Ali. Actually, several hills in this region around Bangalore are associated with the Mysore Empire in some way. We decided upon a meeting point and set out in a small van. There were quite a few people from quite a few places. We stopped on the way for a short breakfast where we got to know each other better and then set off again for the foothills of the hillock by van.

THE ASCENT

Soon, we reached our intended destination. The sun was beating down hard and I probably didn't have the best shoes on to do trekking with. But the trek was supposed to be fairly manageable. So, we started the climb at around 10.30 AM along a somewhat visible path at the side of the hills. But there were no real steps (except a few in between near temples), as I had read in some article. But a fairly manageable path to tread on. We walked and walked. I paused at times, to take some pictures of the wonderful natural scenes that unfolded along the way. The hill consisted of large boulder like formations at its sides. At places, owing to wind and water erosion, it appeared some boulders had a large chunk sculpted out very neatly although it was all nature's doing. There was foliage as well, but it mostly appeared dry, or appeared to be drying up. Overall, it was a pretty dry environment. At places, it was a proper hillside, although not really a big deal. I think it would be fair to say the biggest impediment was the sun for the most part. We paused at some scenic places or when posing on top of some rocky projections at the hillside.

We came to a clearing kind of area, after traversing a fair distance where there was a lake and a temple. I think I fared well on some rocky slopes, because of my style of climbing. There were probably a couple of such temples and the trek mostly consisted of a steady walk with some steeper areas but it was still a decent climb. When we had almost gotten to the top, there was a bit of a tricky part where there was an uneven but mostly smooth surfaced rocky stretch to get to the top with no way around it. Slipping there was not a safe option at all, considering what lay on the other side. Some adopted relatively cautious techniques and dual person strategies for this. But I persisted with my rhythmic kind of feel and climb way and although it seemed a bit slippery, I was fortunately able to clear it fairly comfortably alone. Good achievement with the shoes I was wearing!

AT THE TOP

When all of us were at the top, there seemed to be remnants of a fort. We spent some climbing on these semi-rocky structures and jumping off them and took some good pics. It was fun. At the top, view of the below highway and its environs which we'd left behind was quite great! There seemed to be a lake at one side of the foothills too. At one place, there seemed to be a somewhat significant cleavage between two huge boulders constituting the top surface of the hill. It was not too big, nor too mild. I mean one could get their foot stuck there if they were highly unlucky. I remembered the travails of James Franco in Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" for a brief moment! But we all stepped over it anyway. Owing to the enclosure of the boulders, there are cave like formations and we actually sat for a while inside some of these chatting about various things and even had packed lunch we'd carried with us. Took some pics. There seemed to be remnants of an extinguished fire. Someone had been on a night trek here too, earlier.

THE DESCENT

We had lunch and rested for a while and I spent some time taking pics of the scenes we had left below. There was a mild breeze and even a train at one side which looked like a toy train from above. It had probably taken us an hour and a half for the climb and after resting for a bit, we decided we'd set off on the descent. We also came across a hanuman temple on the way, where we spent some time before continuing. The descent was actually trickier with the heavy shoes I was wearing, but it was manageable. Once the tricky part at the top was done, it was mostly smooth sailing except that the rocks along the path are situated to be a bit slippery with their smooth contours owing to the kind of erosion they'd been subjected to, over the years. So, with my shoes, it was slippery but we all moved fairly smoothly, stopping less for pics this time.

I think we reached the foothills by around 2.30 PM. There were some railway tracks at the bottom and we sat at the sides for a bit to gaze around. The sun seemed as bright as ever. Shortly afterwards, we boarded the van meant to take us back to the city and within the hour, we were back to the hustle-bustle of the city, only stopping for a coconut water drink in between. I think the trip cost came to around Rs. 1300 /-. All in all, it was a nice day out with some exercise and good enjoyment. I made some new acquaintances and had a good time.