Travel: Madhugiri Trek

Warning: This post doesn’t have any analysis, views or opinion.

Last Saturday I went for a trek to Madhugiri. Madhugiri makes a good one-day weekend trip. I couldn’t find all the information in one place on the Net. So, I thought of compiling it. In the rest of the post, I’ll answer the FAQs.

What is Madhugiri?

Madhugiri is a small town in the Tumkur district of Karnataka. It has Asia’s largest monolith and the second largest in the world. On this rock is the Madhugiri Fort. This is the fort we climbed. The fort is initially easy to climb but eventually becomes very steep. After a point it is so steep that there are small ‘poles’ mounted to help in climbing. Just before the top, it is so steep that I couldn’t climb till the top. There is a ‘patch’ where we need to walk horizontally in the incline, i.e., perpendicular to the slant height of the slope. That is what I found the most difficult part and that is from where I retreated. Being a ‘holiday-trekker’ as opposed to professional trekker, I had enough adventure/fun to take that risk.

How to go to Madhugiri?

There are frequent buses from Bangalore (Majestic) to Tumkur. We took a bus at 7:30 am and reached Tumkur at around 9:30 am. If you take an early bus (6:00 am) – then you can get to Tumkur in an hour. At Tumkur, we enquired for the timing of the bus to Madhugiri. They said it was at 10:00 am. We went out of the bust terminal for breakfast. Just on the opposite side of the bus terminal is a local ‘tiffins’ eatery. I liked the masala dosa there. If you, like me, don’t like the ‘red chattney’ in masala dosa, you need to tell them that explicitly. We also packed our lunch and boarded a bus to Madhugiri. We reached Madhugiri around 11:15. The Madhugiri fort is just a few minutes walk from the bus stop. The way to the fort is through Madhugiri court. Once there, you can start climbing. Unlike other forts that I had visited – like Golconda fort in Hyderabad, Daulatabad fort near Aurangabad – Madhugiri fort doesn’t have any entry fee.

What to carry?

Lunch: As I mentioned, we had packed our lunch in Tumkur. However, we found that there were quite a few eateries in Madhugiri. So, carrying lunch is optional.

Water bottle: Unlike in Vaisho Devi or in Shikharji, there are no food and beverage stalls on the fort. So, it’s better to carry a bottle of water per person. You can also carry easy-to-carry snacks (biscuits, chocolates, etc). We didn’t carry any snacks and we didn’t need any snacks :)

Shoes, for good grip: Chapals can carry you to a certain height but not till the top

Goggles/Caps: The fort is on a rock and is not shaded with trees. It’s very arid. Sun shines bright on the fort.

Camera: Apart from the names of unknown lovers inscribed on the fort, you can spot weird shapes in which the rocks have been eroded in, chameleons, etc.

People: Yes. Go in a group of three or more people. This place is safe but it is largely deserted. We couldn’t find any trekkers/tourists while climbing up. We, however, met one group while climbing down.

Returning:

We climbed down by 2:30 pm. Then we binged on the sugarcane juice, coconut water and cold drink. Having filled ourselves with water, we were in no mood to eat. We slept/rested for about an hour beneath a tree. It was bliss. There are frequent buses from Madhugiri to both Bangalore and Tumkur. However, enquire about the bus timing if you plan to check out the town. We caught a direct-bus to Bangalore at 4:00 pm and reached Bangalore around 7:00 pm.

What was to total expenditure?

The total expenditure for the trip was around Rs. 250 per head.

Since we were very tired after the trek we didn't go to any other place around Madhugiri. If you are interested, there is a blackbuck sanctuary which you can check out. In case you have any other questions, do let me know. Also, do share your experience if you visited Madhugiri and more so, if you could climb to the top.