Day Trek to Uttari Betta

Day Trek to Uttari Betta – 27^th January 2019

Bangalore is in the proximity to a lot of amazing trekking trails. There are lot of adventure groups in Bangalore and due to this we keep getting newsletters or articles on all the treks they conduct in and around Bangalore. One of my travel buddy is a regular trekker. She does at least one trek per month and she asked me to join her for this Uttari Betta trek on a Sunday. So, what else you can expect then, best weekend stress buster after a long stressful week.

My friend goes for regular treks with BMC (Bangalore Mountaineering Club) and she had told me that they plan and organize treks well. So, without a second thought I also enrolled for this trek with them. And I also thought of an opportunity to meet her on this trek since due to our mundane lifestyle we hardly find time to meet each other even though in the same city. Imagine what fun it must have been J .

Let me give you an overview a about Uttari Betta. This place is situated at 65km from Bangalore. This is a 5 kilometers trek across a spectacular lush green landscape which offers a quite unique scenic view. The trek starts from a small village, entering the fort wall and passes through seven doors of stone to reach the halfway point of the hike which has a temple of Shankareshwara at the top. The view from the temple top is beautiful enough to seize your mind for a moment. Once we cross the temple, the trek continues ahead crossing a small jungle-cave, experiencing a whole new unexpected world and ends at the grassland top of the hill which is surrounded by huge boulders.

We were picked up from different designated points around Bangalore at 7 am and we stopped for breakfast break on Mysore Road. Post breakfast we set off to the base point of trek which took us almost 2 hours. We finally reached the base point which is a small village at around 10:30 am.

We were briefed about the trek by our trek leads (there were two of them – one to lead the group and one at the back to help slow pacers). So first look of the hill gave us a kick start and we knew it was a tough trek but a memorable one. After a quick introduction session, we started our trek.

The gradual ascent makes it easier for the first timers as well, although a basic level of fitness or stamina is essential. As you make your way to the top, the terrain gets rocky. Ensure you are equipped with good trekking shoes so that you get good grip. Every 5-10 minutes of trek, you stop to take a break the view is breathtaking. 

The view itself will relax you a bit and give you a kick start to walk ahead. The stunning views from the peak of the hill can bring out the photographer in you.

And it is really astonishing to see the different fort walls you cross every time. 

Halfway through the trek on top, you reach Lord Shankareshwara temple. There is also a Nandi idol at the temple entrance

steps depicting that we are entering Lord’s Shankar’s abode.

Here you can take a short break and admire the spectacular view around you. Needless to say worth a picture moment.

In between we reached a point which was totally unexpected but for me it was the highlight of the trip. There was a nice view point above one boulder but the path to reach there was amidst two close knit boulders. So, it was almost like a cave with just one single ray of light showing us way on top and only one person can go at a time. Second person need to wait till the first person makes his way on top and then only start. Trust me your body flexibility totally comes useful here and you will thank yourself for that. Because at few places you will really be clueless how to twist your body and pull yourself up. It was the most challenging and adventurous part of any trek I had done so far. Finally, some of us made it, some decided to stay down and click our pictures when we reach on top. We sat on the boulders, sighed a relief of accomplishing such a daunting task. But it was not over yet. We also had to descend the same way back. Again, one of our trek leads guided us and we made our way back. One point I want to highlight here, if you are claustrophobic please avoid doing this. Because at some point when you are really struck, you might feel there is very less light and air. This might panic you a bit. Hence a warning J.

After this thrilling experience we again started our trek to the high point of the trek. It was almost 12:30 pm when we reached here. We all sat down under boulders and had our packed lunches. Few people had come down with cards and they were teaching everybody art of becoming bluff masters. We really had fun time on top. Then around 1:30 pm we started our trek back.  This time again we stopped to click some breathtaking views. 

Descending was pretty easy, and we really made it faster. We were down in the village our base point by 3:30 PM. Our vehicle was waiting for us there. We then set off to Bangalore reaching home with wonderful memoirs of this adventurous trek J.