Hulukadi betta trek

There are many hills and hillocks around Bengaluru, and we could broadly classify them into two categories. Fort hills are one category where a fort or its remains is a part of the hill. The second category of hills consists of a temple on the top. The fort hills are generally neglected with some exceptions, while religious people try to take care of temple hills by building some infrastructure. Hulukadi Betta belongs to that category.

Travel to Hulukadi betta

Chaya and I started on a Saturday morning towards Hulukadi betta. Though the hill was near Doddaballapura, Google maps suggested we go via Nelgamgala and join Dabaspet-Doddaballapur road via a shortcut. It worked very well, but Google ditched me at the last stretch. The asphalted road suddenly turned into a mud track, and I felt it was risky to drive the car on that stretch. I took a reverse, and after taking a roundabout route, we reached the base of the hill.

The base of the hill consisted of a small parking lot with some benches to sit and relax. It was a nice place. Apart from few monkeys, there was no one to welcome us!! Seeing only mobile phones and video cameras in our hands, they were disappointed and demoralized.

We started climbing up. The path was clear, with steps neatly constructed all along the way. Apart from few construction people, there was nobody on the hill. I was surprised at the total absence of the local crowd, but I understood that the temple on the top was closed. It meant that we were the only visitors on the hill that day.

The climb was straightforward. As we climbed up, the views got better and better. At midway, we could see huge rocks with beehives. We crossed a rocky section. It would have been tough to climb that section, but the task was made simpler by railings. Hence, without much difficulty, we reached the top in 45 minutes. The weather was just right, with clouds hovering around but without any rain.

It was a windy day at the top. A small pond and some old structures welcomed us at the top. The path continued further to the two temples. The pond looked like a bathing place, and a changing room next to it confirmed our thoughts.

We spent some time at the top enjoying the beauty of the place.