Night trek to Bilikal Ranganathaswamy Betta

After pitching tent at night

So on the eve of Christmas, we planned to go on a trek from my MILE Lab. We narrowed down to Bilikal Ranganathaswamy Betta  near Kanakapura town for a night trek, and took permission from from the forestry for the night trek. We have two Army Majors (experienced in trekking) who organized and arranged all the equipment/ materials needed for the trek like tents, sleeping bags, food materials, stove etc. We assembled at EE dept, IISc at 2 p.m. and started off to the foothill at 3 p.m. It was 80 km away and we reached there at 5:30 p.m. The hill had a electric fence put up by Bannerghatta National Park and the watchman had to remove it to let us enter the premises. We unloaded our backpacks, etc and setup up stove, gas for cooking rice. We then divided the luggage among ourselves and started the trek at 6:30 p.m. We got divided into two groups and the first group consisted of 10 guys and 5 girls. It was already dark and we switched on our torch lights.

Early Morning

Packing up

On the way downhill

View from the midway

As it was dark we kept a headcount  at regular intervals for safety. The track uphill was ok, with some slippery rocks and little steep climbs which everyone managed. We took a break after 1 hour where clear sky was visible, the weather was warm as we were sweating. We continued the climb, I was carrying a backpack and a tent with me which was manageable. We reached almost to the top, and further up we had to trace our own path as it was bushy. We climbed the final stretch through the bushes and thorny plants safely. Finally we reached the summit at 9:00 p.m.  The second group followed us and reach the summit within few minutes. We started the bonfire and pitched up the tents all over the flatland. It was grassy which provided cushion to the  6 tents we pitched up. One of my labmates has a huge telescope, which is setup there for viewing the moon and planets in the sky. It was full moon and we were able to see the craters on the surface of the moon. On the other side, we started preparing dinner which comprised of tasty Veg. Barbecue, rice, roti and alu mutter. The ambience was quite cool, not chilling as we would have expected on hill top, moon lit and clear sky. The mobile signals was also quite good, and it was the border of Tamil Nadu, which pulled our mobiles in to roaming scenario. Few others explored the surrounds which was devoid of any wild animals except for a scorpion, and past footprints of an elephant. We started played antakshari on the side of the bonfire and playing cards by the other group. Time passed by having fun and joking around and taking pics. It was 2:30 p.m., I was feeling little sleepy and went into my tent. The insides of the tent was cosy, and the sleeping bag was quite warm.  I had a nice sleep inside the cosy ambience of the tent under the open sky. I woke up at around 6:30 a.m. after brushing my teeth, had green tea and biscuits for breakfast. The we starting unpitching the tents and packing up for going back downhill. At 8:30 a.m., we marched towards downhill, which was quite easy, only needed to be careful of moving rocks. By 10:15 a.m. we reached the downhill and our bus was ready for takeoff back to IISc. After some photosnapping, the trek finally came to an end and we reached IISc at 1:30 p.m. It was a great experience, my 1st night trek, which involved a lot of planning and organizing which was taken care by few of my enthused labmates.

Bonfire in the night

Final pic after the trek