A moonlight trek

After a week's debate on can we make it, will it be safe and all that, just caught by the chill of a "moon Light Trek" we decided to go on leaving all the inhibitions aside. The journey started with charging up both the torch lights to lead the heights and our vibrant minds to bind the spirit. We, a bunch of 8 people + a driver started at 12.30 in the night or rather early morning and after a mix-up of flyovers across Bangalore, finally managed to reach Skandagiri at 3 o clock in the morning. The trek involved climbing up a few rocks, walking on the flat mud surfaces for a while (much awaited, of course) and resting on some flat rocks for a while. We could find some torch lights signaled from the summit rotating in all the directions which may very well be misinterpreted for a light house signal. It was really a different feeling lying on a rock and staring at the sky, teasing the sky for blotting out the moon, trying to create our own moons with the torch. After an easy but tiring trek of two and a half hrs, we reached the summit at around 5.30 a.m and there were these cranky guys sitting in the dark and chattering loudly for an entry fee. On the hill top as you rest, you feel there is really nothing between you and the sky, just lying down flat and gazing at the sky when every part of you is shivering in cold is indeed a very different experience. There was a small Ganesh temple and a Nandi statue on the top. We could see a fellow lying flat inside the temple just on the pathway and no one could’ve missed a couple of bottles kept just in front of the temple :-) (People have their own reasons to climb a hill.) Anyways, the prime purpose of our trekking was three things, first to see the sunrise and second a moon light guided trek and the most important a campfire on the hill top. There was no moon as it was just 2 days after the new moon, to add to that, the mist and fog concealed the sun too. Our guide was very happy to play the human villain adding up to these villains of nature, by refusing to arrange for a campfire with his own excuses. After a joyous photo session in and around the hill, we decided to get back at 8. The return journey was much easier and less tiring than the climb as expected. And it was fun to watch people breathing hard to climb up on our way back. After some thunderous snaps, we finally reached the plains where a journey full of disturbed sleep with aching legs awaited us.