Kunagalu Betta Trek

 

It was Diwali's long weekend, and we wanted to go for a long drive. So off we went for a day trip to Kunagalu Betta. It is also known as the "Puppy-hill" trek - because one of the boulders at the base of the trek resembles the face of a pup. It could have been called a dolphin-nose trek as well, but Ooty has already taken that. 

Our pit stop was at Kamat Lokruchi - good breakfast is part and parcel for a good trek for us. A few Dosas, Khara baths and coffees later, we resumed our drive and reached the Kunagalu village. 

The trek is to a small temple for the village deity at the top of the hill. The initial stretch was a nice path with tall trees on either side. We were a little disappointed that this seemed to be too manicured and wouldn't be that much fun.

I only start counting when it starts hurting because that's when it really counts!

                - Muhammad Ali

The "IndiaHikes" website also had something similar to say: "The initial concrete road will give way to mud road which would lead you to a huge boulder. A faint trail will be seen on the left. This is where the actual trek begins."

 This trail looked promising. 

Soon it got quite interesting. There was a cave to go through. Nothing too big, but not too small either.

The last bit was up the steps carved out on the boulder. I have tried to point that with a red arrow . The red circle denotes the spot at the base where we had parked the car.

The view from the top was quite nice. The summit is a small plateau and we could spend 30 minutes catching our breath, savouring the views and clicking a few pics.

A few other interesting pictures:

And, the absolute highlight - our Toyota Hybrid vehicle gave a stunning 27 kilometers per liter as the average.