An adventurous trek to Tapteshwara Betta

It was already three months since the Merthi Gudda trek and I started missing trekking. On checking with Hari, I came to know that few of them were planning to do a day trek on Sunday, 27^th March 2022. The plan was to hike Tapteshwara betta, a part of the Kaiwara Kailasagiri hills. While there are regular treks under the Karnataka eco tourism (https://myecotrip.com/trailDetail/13/kaiwarabetta), the Tapteshwara trail is less frequented and seems to be dangerous based on a YouTube video that came about an year ago (https://youtu.be/8Mcyq7wJEec).

The regular Kaiwara betta hosts cave temple that is famous. Kaiwara is a popular name in ancient history starting from Krita yuga (Vritasura story), Treta yuga (Lakshmana created a lake here during Ramayana) Dwapara yuga when the town was known by named Eka chakra nagara and the hills were named as Bheema bakasura hills based on the fight between the two. In recent history, the town was known for Kaiwara Tatayya or Yogi Narayana Yatindra who lived between 1726 and 1836. He wrote devotional poems in Kannada and Telugu.  Further information can be read at https://www.tirthayatra.org/kaiwara/.

There were supposed to be 8 of us, going to Kaiwara by two cars. Pratap, Varada, Varada’s wife and I by Varada’s car and Yatish, Vinayak, Yatish’s friend and Hari by Hari’s car. We decided to meet after Devanahalli toll for breakfast around 7:00. I tried to set alarm for the next morning at saw that there was one at 5:10 which I chose and went to bed. Next morning when Varada called after leaving RR Nagar at 6:10, I got up realizing that the alarm set was for 5:10 pm! I rushed through to reach the ring road at Laggere around 6:25. Varada was waiting near Rajkumar Samadhi and Hema dropped me to the place. Obviously, we were running late and reached the restaurant Srinidhi Vaibhav beyond Devanahalli at 7:30. Hari, Yatish and Vinayak had already finished their breakfast. We had quick breakfast of Idli-Vada and left together. We followed Hari’s car and arrived close to the place. Yatish got down on the main road and went looking for the trail. As he didn’t come back in several minutes, we decided to search for him and start the trek. Due to the hurry in the morning, I had forgotten to carry my water. There was a five litre can in Hari’s car that we left as it was heavy. After some time of searching, we found Yatish who seemed to have discovered a way. It was 9:00 when we started walking up. A guy on motorbike (Murali, whom we met during our return) was telling us not to go there and go further, but we had to catch Yatish.

We walked for half an hour through a stretch that didn’t look like a trail and came to a steep rock that seemed difficult to climb. Varada and his wife were a little behind and decided not to continue further. Despite our requests not to go further, Yatish decided this was the way, as we saw the steel ladder further ahead. With lot of difficulty, he managed to climb and convinced Pratap to follow him. I was thinking that even if we manage to cross this hurdle, there may be a bigger hurdle ahead. Hari, Vinayak and I decided to turn back and look for a route to join the actual trail.

 

Start of Yatish's trail!

Rock climbing

We descended and walked next to a big rock, the path was just not there, and we had to make way through thorny bushes. This led to lots of cuts and bruises. In a short while, I found a trail that was going upwards. It was also steep and slippery due to the dry grass but was clearly the path that was used earlier by people. In about 15 minutes, we reached the spot where we had to take an iron ladder downwards. This was the ladder Yatish had seen earlier. We also realized that Yatish and Pratap were stuck after the first climb as the second climb is too steep.

We were wondering how to pull them up. There was a small temple like place with a flagpole bearing God Maruti. The wooden pole looked ling and string enough to get them through. Yatish was particular the two people help the pole from our side. I stayed on top and Vinayak and Hari tried pulling Yatish using the flagpole. It took several attempts, and with Pratap pushing from below, Yatish could come up. Now was Pratap’s turn. For him there was no help from below. After some effort, it was seen that whole holding one end of the pole, moving clockwise made the climb easier. Varada called from down and we advised him to return to Bangalore. Now all five of us were all on the top and had to cross a steep rock with the help of chain that was fixed to it. Some of them literally crawled even with the help of the chain. Once we crossed the rock, there was a long iron ladder downwards and then with the help of a tree, we could get to another ladder that led to the Shivalingas that were inside a cave. While the larger linga and a big trident (Trishul) looked very divine, the place was a mess due to the trash left over by devotees. We consumed the fruits dry fruits and chikkis that were with us. Unfortunately, we had completely run out of water, and were dehydrated due to the tough climb and scorching heat. We spent some time there, took pictures and carefully retraced our path to reach the trail downwards. It took about half and hour to come down the steep trail.

Pratap, Hari and Yatish were ahead, and it took some time for Vinayak and me to trace them. They were resting at Murali, a local farmer’s place. He was the same person who was trying to guide us to the proper trail in the morning. Murali was kind enough to give us enough water to quench our thirst. He normally bought the RO water from a vending place and kept in the small hut in the middle of his land where he grew tomatoes, capsicum and few other vegetables. He also told how revered the Shivalinga was.

Tapteshwara

Savior Maruti!

A temple at the base

With Murali

Now was the time to quench the hunger. Morning’s idly, vada had melted down long ago. We visited a dhaba called “Nature’s aroma” near the Kaiwara cross. The food was sumptuous and delicious. After lunch, Hari dropped us back. I got down at Laggere and caught and auto to reach home by 18:30.

Though it was a one-day trek, The Tapteshwara Betta hiking had the twists and turns of a thriller, and the adventurous experience is unforgettable.