Camping destinations within 50km radius from Bangalore?

[s1d]

Hi all!

I and a friend plan to get on our bikes, put on our rucksacks and ride
out to a camping place on this saturday afternoon, set up tent and
stay there for the night and then ride back to the city on Sunday
morning. Trip params are as following :

1- Start from Bangalore CBD area about 1.30pm (I have unavoidable
engagements till 1pm)
2- Reach destination before sunset (hence the 50km radius) and setup
camp
3- Start from camp in the morning and reach back to town by noon

An ideal destination would fulfil these requirements :

1- Hybrid friendly for most of the ride (I ride a BC1, though my
friend will be on a F7). I don't mind taking a walk for the final 2-3
km.
2- Not very far from civilization (my first such trip)
3- No surprise visits from tuskers

Current shortlist comprises of Nandi hill and Hesaraghatta lake. More
suggestions welcome!

If this goes well, plan to do this at least once every month,
increasing trip distance and hence duration as we progress.

Any one willing to ride along is most definitely welcome! But we only
have a tent for two people, so you got to carry your own tent/sleeping
bag etc.

-Sid

[Shankar Jayaraman]

Try Skandagiri (also called Kalavarabetta), a li'l beyond Chickballapur and a good hour's trek up the hill... the sunrise is awesome. Don't get lost during the climb though, it can get pretty nasty (I've had that bad experience) :)

Better get a guide at the base while climbing.

 

Its about 55 kms from Bangalore.

 

Regards,

Shankar.

 

 

 

 

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[Siddharth Misra]

Thanks Shankar!

My friend happens to be a pretty experienced trekker who's very good
with maps, so will ask him to do his homework on the trek route.
But reading about it online, I get the idea that it can be a steep
climb. I hope its not too difficult to climb up since we plan to take
our bicycles with us up to the camp site.

-S

[Shankar Jayaraman]

You won't be able to do that; you'll need to leave your bicycle locked and tied at the bottom of the hill (in a temple there), do the trek, stay overnight at the hill top and return back..

[Georg Leuzinger]

try dodballapur and beyond on Gauribidanur road , you will find a big lake after Gunjuru (16km north of dodballapur) with a steep big hill on the left and subramanya ghati temple on the right.. the scenery with the railroad going along the hill flank is superb.but long before you reach Gunjuru take a right after the downhill and the level crossing and take the curving road that leads you to subramanya ghatti  . from the temple go to the bsnl setup on top of the town and from there just push the bikes for ano ther km or so towards tdevarabetta and the ridge, lovely camping spots between boulders with absolutely great view over the lake and hill opposite, very good MTB country behind (north ) indeed!

or try Makali durga to the western side above the railway line, steep , rocky, very fullfilling to reach the top !


Ps:wherever you go You will find a good camping spot,  literally everywher e, of course towards the hills is always better. bangalore has its real advantages over all the other metros in india when it comes to camping!
whowever needs to have a peek into the maps and does not want to go to the survey mapsales office on Sarjapur road can of course give me a call and come by at my place in Vasanthnagar. the jumbo xerox place is at my corner only!

my personal favourite on the north western side of our town is Hulkadi durga (1211m): awesome, you will be alone . at the foot of the hill is the loveliest tank, such a beauty of a lake,half way up is a meadow with old temple and  and a temple tank, full to the brim in this season,,awesome view , further up boulders and meadows in between until the top .
to get there you must pass dodballapur, get on to state highway to dobbespet and you will see the hill ahead to the right at some 15 km distance. at the foot of the hill is the last village Bommanahalli, or Galibilikote, , half way form dodballapur is Hanbi, a big village. but many roads and lanes lead to Hulkadi Durga.

get set ready go !
cheers, georg

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Siddharth Misra <gr8sid...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Arvind Ganesh]

Georg, 

Quite a nice description! I wasn't even trying to find a campsite but now want to know where this is. Hulkadi Durga doesn't turn up on Google and I wasn't able to locate it with my map skills. Would you have the co-ordinates for the base? 

Cheers, 
Arvind

[Sampath Herga]

georg, tussi great ho!!

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 7:52 PM, Georg Leuzinger <gk....@gmail.com> wrote:

[Siddharth Misra]

Exactly my emotions :D
Plan to pay him a visit soon.

[Georg Leuzinger]

Hulkadi durga:
-      77deg 25min east , 13deg 20min north
-      its between dobbespet and dodballapur , just 5 km north of  the state highway from the place called dodda belavangala
Georg

[Arvind Ganesh]

Great, thanks! Looks nice indeed. Here's a maps link

http://maps.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&q=77+25'+E,+13+20'+N&ie=UTF8&ll=13.323313,77.418079&spn=0.076338,0.126944&z=14