Places covered: Yelagiri, Swamimaalai Hill
Total distance: ~400 kms
Number of days: 1
About
Yelagiri is a small hill station in Tamil Nadu. Located at an altitude of 1,410 m above Sea Level. Just ~160 km from Bangalore. The uphill ride consists of 14 hair-pin bends, each named after a poet.
Possible trek routes
1. Mangalam to Swamimaalai Hill 2. Tourist information center to Koosi Kuttai 3. Puthur to Perumadu 4. Kottaiyur to Pulicha Kuttai 5. Nilavur to Jalagamparai Waterfalls 6. Niiavur to Amma Kuttai 7. YMCA to Karadi Parai
Route 1 and 5 is what I planned, later cancelled since waterfall was dried-up. There is a small artificial lake nearby, not worth going unless one is going with kids. There is a Telescope Observatory, now closed. List of shutdown activities also include Paragliding (YASA – Yelagiri Adventure Sport Association).
Note: – YMCA is probably the best place to stay there, requires prior booking. – Conform the weather condition from before heading to Yelagiri. (noon time weather can be very harsh) – Conform about the waterfall. – For paragliding details get in touch with YASA. – Carry packed food, food here isn’t worth. (atleast we didn’t find any) – Need accomodation? There is guy named Javed at Hotel Nigress, he runs his own guest house, Rs 800 – 900 per night. I can’t share his number here, send me a PM if you need it.
Route
K R Puram> Hoskote> Malur> Bangarapet> KGF> Kuppam> Nemili> Vaniyambadi (Stay)> Yelagiri Hills
K R Puram – Hoskote is NH4, perfect, traffic-free roads.
Malur to KGF via Bangarapet goes a through village, but roads are awesome and traffic-free.
KGF – Kuppam – Nemili, roads are fine.
Nemili – Vaniyambadi – Yelagiri, roads are perfect (NH 46 + SH 130).
Trip
We planned a trip to Yelagiri, Tamil Nadu on 1st September 2012. But for some reason it kept getting postpone. So finally on 15th September 2012 we were able to make it to Yelagiri. There were 6 of us (me, Srinivas, Sandeep, Ramesh, Mani and Suresh, 4 bikes in total).
Me and Srinivas started early in the morning. I started by 0630 hrs from K R Puram. Srinivas joined me in Hoskote, had breakfast there and headed towards Yelagiri. The other group was supposed to join us at Yelagiri late in the night.
The phone mount setup + charging arrangement I made recently worked real good. We took alot of breaks on the way, regular butt breaks/ cooldrink break in Kolar, coffee break in Kuppam and BBQ’ed phone break in Nemili (thanks to the climate over there) :).
Snap of navigation setup :).
Few random snaps on the way.
Just after entering Tamil Nadu.
We reached Vaniyambadi by 1500 hrs. Seeing the hot climate over there (40+ degree C), we decided to find a place nearby for the night stay. Found a lodge (A/C), had lunch and took some rest. We planned to trek Swamimalai Hills the next morning. By 1700 hrs we starting Yelagiri climb, plan was simple, get the max info about the place. We reached Yelagiri by 1830 hrs. The cimate over there was much pleasing (20-25 Degrees C).
Few snaps of Yelagiri.
Notes about the places of interest: 1. Telescopic center is shutdown. 2. Jagamparai waterfalls was dried up at the time of our visit. 3. No paragliding .
We stopped at Hotel Nigress for an evening snacks. The waiter over there was very friendly. Though the food was horrible, except the Tandoor part.
Headed back to the room. Got noodles and fried rice as takeaway.
The other group reached our room at around 2300 hrs, they took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up covering 60 km extra.
Next morning we headed for Mangalam, start point of Swamimalai hill trek.
Few snaps on the way.
Mangalam Village, where we parked our bikes. Start point of Swamimalai hills trek
The next trek we planned was to Jalagam Parai waterfall, but one of the local informed us that its dried up. We cancelled the trek, went to Hotel Nigress for lunch. The waiter (some new waiter) kept suggesting us to order Hyderabadi biryani, so we gave it a try. It was the worst biryani I ever had. After the crappy biryani lunch, we went back to our rooms, took an hour rest and left for Bangalore by 1500 hrs.
The group got separated at some junction, we all took different routes. Me and Srinivas went by the same route we came before (some diversion after Malur to KGF, goes through villages, free from traffic). Other 2 went by the route suggested by google map.
We regrouped in Malur, took some rest and left for Hoskote. We were in Hoskote by 2000 hrs, had pav bhaji there. By 2030 hrs I left for K R Puram, reaching home by 2100 hrs.
End of one free suntan trip.