Kunti Betta Trek

The onset of Monsoon brings with it the joy of trekking all over again!!

We started this season's trekking with one day trek. We decided to ascend Kunti Betta, located close to Srirangapatna, in Pandavapura village, 140 KM away from Bengaluru.

As the saying goes, most unplanned trips are bound to be the best ones, so was this trekking!! :) We planned this trek only the day before!!

Itinerary:
Bangalore to Srirangaptana :KSRTC Bus
Srirangapatna to Pandavapura :KSRTC Bus

We had our breakfast near a street side food centre in Pandavapura and packed Rice bath for our lunch.

We walked the stretch of 3 KM from Pandavapura bus stand to Kunti Betta base, which took us around 30 mins.

Midway on this stretch, we found a mini jaggery plant. We didn't miss to give it a visit.

This is how Kunti Betta twin peaks looked as we approached its base.

We reached the Kunti betta base at around 10:30 AM. Kunti Betta consists of two rocky hills. They are at a height of 2,882 feet above sea level and are separated by a valley. The place has both historical and mythological importance. Legends has it that during Pandavas' exile period, they along with their mother Kunti stayed in this part for sometime and she liked the hillock, hence the name Kunti Betta.
The valley houses the Mallikarjuna Swamy temple. There are also Nandi and Ganesha idols, both carved out of a large monolithic rock. 

The trek started with ascending a slope rock. The trails were more or less traceable and hence we found it rather easy to trek. We had expected a cool cloudy weather, but Sun had his day, which made our trek a little tiring.

We were at the peak at around 12:30 PM. We took rest at the peak for about an hour and had our lunch. Needless to say, we took enough pics of ourselves and the breathtaking views all around.

There is a lake close to the other peak. We decided to descend towards the lake and then planned to reach Pandavapura main road from there. 

When we reached the lake, we found that the path to the main road was very obscure and not trekable. We were already tired descending all the way down towards the lake. The only way out of there was to get back to our actual trek path. This added an additional 3 KM trek, which drained us to an extent. We had carried only half litre water bottle which was nowhere enough and felt parched and dehydrated. We were longing for water like anything.

We could see many species of lizard family amidst the rocks!

After reaching back to the temple, we quenched our thirst by drinking enough water. 

We again walked 3 Kms back to the Pandavapura bus stand. Thinking of the Sunday evening traffic nightmare on the busy Mysore road, we thought we would be better off taking the train instead of bus. We caught an auto in a hurry to catch the next train which was scheduled at 3:30 PM. We reached Bengaluru by around 6:30 PM. 

As always, awaiting the next trekking expedition...!!!