Treks and travels: Weekend at Sakleshpur hiils

Few years ago, we had been to Jenukallu. It was a memorable experience and we (I, Krishna, Girish) decided to do something similar. We had seen a ppt of Rottikallu which I must say was very impressive. So, we decided to head towards Rottikallu. I also roped in my colleague Vageesh for this trip.

And on Saturday afternoon we were at Rottikallu. Evening we headed towards “Dal Dudhi”, a hillock in front of the camp. It was climbed in little less than 15 minutes. We were also joined by other group who had come to the resort but they took their own sweet time to appear on the top. While they were tired but jubilant on reaching the top, we were perplexed. Our body was just ‘warming up’ to the climb and we had reached the top!

We had not driven for 4 hours just to climb for 15 minutes. The hill range on the opposite side looked promising. When asked the guide to take us there, he simply said that it was “Not climbable”. He must be thinking that we were just city rookies coming for time pass!! That was bad. I told that it would be a shame if we take more than 30 minutes to climb that range. Guide reluctantly allowed us to proceed. In 25 minutes we were on top of “Saalu gudda”, an impossible hill!!

We had a nice time there and after sunset we decided to head back to resort. Evening was spent in front of the camp fire where we tried to photograph the fire.

Next day morning, we headed to Halu Holla, a hill range where we could get the views of Jenukallu that we climbed few years ago. The trek was easy and we did it in about an hour. The pleasant sun, green valley filled with followers boosted our spirits to climb quicker.

Once we climbed the hill, as expected we saw Jenukallu in front of us!

The valley opposite to the hill was covered with thick Kabbinale forests that run all through Gundya.

Back to resort and we had our breakfast. Then we were all set to return back. But we had one last place to cover. That was a waterfall the name which I do not remember now!!

It was a small but a beautiful waterfall. We had planned to spend about 10 minutes there but ended up enjoying the waterfall for more than an hour. A butterfly also kept s busy for a long time.

It was a weekend well spent with beautiful hills and waterfall but we felt that Rottikallu resort was hype. The price we paid was too much when compared to the facilities available. It is suited for large gangs of people who just come for fun. I had seen better places for lesser price. But I must also say that the staffs running the resort were very hospitable. Their service was simply superb.