2 February 2014
This was an instant trip planned with Krishna and Subbu. On
Saturday evening, we suddenly decided to go somewhere. After little bit of
googling, I suggested Hutridurga which was instantly accepted by them.
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| Hutridurga from village |
There were two ways to reach Hutridurga. One via Magadi and
other from Kunigal. The four lane road via Kunigal was attractive and we
decided to take that road. Not many good eateries can be found on the way and
hence we had our breakfast in a hotel in Bengaluru.
The drive till Hutridurga was uneventful expect that we
missed the last deviation to the village. The last stretch to Hutridurga was on
a small ghat section where we climbed a hill to reach a valley of sorts. We had
reached Hutri village nested amidst two hillocks. The village was in a picturesque
setting but the villagers seemed to be poor.
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| Hutri village |
Having parked our vehicle at a place reserved for cowshed (!!)
we started our walk to the hill. The path was well marked and clear. It was now
clear that the climb would be quick and simple as we had already gained
significant altitude on ghat road.
There was one point of confusion at the entrance of the
fort. The main route was hidden behind the bushes. Thanks to a villager, we
could easily locate it else, we would have spent a long time finding it. The
climb was mostly on rocks with steps carved out of it. We crossed several gates
in the fort and crossed the last section of rocks to reach the top.
A temple is situated on top of the fort providing some good
views.
We had just taken about 30 minutes to climb!! We decided to
explore little bit rather than lying idle in the Temple. There is quite some area
on the top. Rocks, grasslands and dried pools!!
We spent another hour exploring the fort. Also tried to find
an alternate route to come down. We almost succeeded but could not climb down a
section which was rocky. As sun grew stronger we abandoned our effort and
climbed down on the same route.
One thing I liked about the place was its relative isolation
from the crowds. Although widely known, it does not attract lot of visitors.
Even on that Sunday, we were the only people in the fort.
For the first time, I was able to have lunch in my Home
after completing a trip near Bengaluru!! It was so quick and simple.
Labels: fort, near Bengaluru, trek
