Place: Channarayanadurga TrekDistance: 100kms x 2 = 200kmsDirections: Bangalore > Dobbaspete > Kortgere > ChannarayandurgaKrew: Deepak (Deefu) > Datta (Dattu) > Ashok (Momz) > Karthik (Sp)Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar Previous Visit: Bhairavadurga TrekBudget: Rs 400/headIN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:Once we had finished Kabblu and Huliyar, we were tempted to finish off the spooky Channarayanadurga as well. But the light drizzle made the ascent quite tricky and gave us a few close calls. INTRO & PLAN:As the Ibex of our Group, Deefu was in town, we decided to catch up and ask him about his Vizag life. He had moved to Vizag since 2 months. With the core trek team consisting of Dattu and Momz we formulated a plan to the evergreen Channarayanadurga as it had been quite some while since our visit to this place. TIME: 22:00 (6/10/2019)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Oh yeah woke up at 05:00, did a few push-ups & sit-ups, had a sip of coffee, woke up others & was all set to go! The meet up was scheduled at Kamadhenu Hotel near Dobbaspete as we had figured out it was a good way to put things into motion.Once I reached Dattu’s home, I looked around for the cops who usually end up catching me always, once the coast was clear, called up Dattu and we departed from Bangalore. The ride was smooth and as we reached the hotel, Momz and Deefu arrived as usual swearing at each other for delay by 10min. After a formal greeting, we were ready to belt some yummy breakfast.TIME: 08:00
RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete - Channarayandurga)After munching on some yummy Idly & Vada, we took off from the hotel and cruised along until Dobbaspete. From here we took a right deviation and entered the snake way towards, Koratgere. The roads were in excellent condition and we glided along like butter on a hot pan. Once we reached Koratgere we took the bypass road and it was not long before we could spot the mighty Channarayanadurga. Parking our bikes at the central tree, we looked up at the skies as it had begun to drizzle. We bought some waterbottles and were all set for the trek.TIME: 10:15
ASCENSION:Channarayanadurga is one of those fort hillocks, where you should actually spend some time and energy to get lost, yes get lost. Only then you will explore all corners of this beautiful fort and appreciate the deceptiveness. Like always, I have divided the ascension into the following stages, we were able to ascend in about 45mins and we did so fooling around, but with the drizzle it was not so easy as well:i) Initial Stretchii) Lost Paradiseiii) Layoutsiv) Last Strech
So, keep up with here! And oh yeah by the way, we made the ever forgetful Momz as our guide and Dattu, Deefu and myself behaved as tourists and we would have to rate our local guide Momz. (At Skandagiri, we had climbed up the hillock and while returning back down, momz had asked the name of the hillock we were all at, so yeah :P )
i) Initial stretch:This stretch is the most draining part of the entire trek, it truly tests the climber. And boy oh boy did it test us this time. I mean we were all used to the hike, but with the light drizzle it made the rock face so slippery and we were struggling to get a good footing. It took us about 15min to reach the first gate and Momz pointed us in the right direction, we were all very impressed with our guide.TIME: 11:15
ii) Lost Paradise:The initial stretch opens up onto a beautiful lake, we decided to rest at the mystic lake on our way down. This stretch was a true tester to Momz. This stretch consists of lots of twists and turns. And the right path to the top, lies hidden amidst the mystifying fort walls. But Momz hit the bull’s eye with this one too and we were all in awe. In fact he went ahead and said that this is common techniques used in most of the fort hills and there was nothing great about it. Deefu and myself looked at each other and felt we had wasted 9-10 years.TIME: 11:45
iii) Layouts:Ah, the Layouts. Just before reaching the top, we were flooded with lot of structures and layouts. This is beautiful place to explore. But beware there are many alternate routes which lead to dead ends or death drops. And the “End of the World” spot, which is the first picture of this blog is taken there. And guess what Momz didn’t take us to this place and first negative points were recorded. 
iii) Last Stretch:At the top, there are two pathways to reach the end. One is a by-pass and the main one goes through shrubs and thorns. As the thorns and shrubs had grown thick we could go through it and we went around it and reached. We insisted our guide to go through the shrubs, but he refused and this led to some negative impression :PTIME: 11:00
TOP:As we reached the top, we crashed down into the soft grass. No chocolates, but I had taken a few apples. Munching down on the apples we spoke about all sorts of things and then slowly we began immersing in the silence and dozed off for a short nap. Waking up, we decided to trek back down incase the rain intensifies. TIME: 12:00
TREK BACK:It took us only about an hour to get back to base. But yes, we had fun all throughout. While climbing back down we took an alternate route and decided to sit at the lake for some time. After which we made it down the steep initial stretch and we were surprised to find two hot chicks sitting on Momz bike. He was all excited and came running down and found literally two chickens sitting peacefully on his bike :P next up Witty dhaba \m/TIME: 13:00
RIDE 2: (Channarayandurga – Chandu Dhaba – Bangalore)Okay this was the 100kms ride back to Bangalore. As we left Channarayanadurga, the cool breeze felt good on our face. As we were pretty hungry, we speeded up and zoomed in through Koratgere by-pass and cruise we did at a decent pace to Dobbaspete. After Dobbaspete, as Chandu dhaba was closed we ended up at the excellent Witty dhaba for some heavy lunch.TIME: 14:30We spent a good 1.5hour or so at the dhaba munching & drinking after which we rode back to reach our respective homes.TIME: 17:30
CONCLUSION:“People usually say, we have been to that place already, let’s try something new. But different seasons, different people, and different mind-sets make the place seem new all the time. Last time we visited this place it was the same crew, yet this trip felt so different! “Until next time Ta-ta Cia \m/
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