Geared up to join BASC trek 2 Rayakottai on 12th January which was the 2nd continuous trek after Siddarabetta trek.   One other reason to join the trek is that we are travelling by train and wanted to meet new trekkers.   13 of us boarded the Bangalore - Nagore train from City Railway Station.  Sunil joined from Bangalore East  followed by Suresh and team from Bangalore Cantonment, Chandrakant and his family joined from Byappanahalli station. Janaki and Neha joined from Anekal Road station.   It was fun travelling in crowed compartment as people travelled from Bangalore for the festival.     

Reached Rayakottai @ 10.15 AM ( delay by 15 mts) after 3 hour journey and had our breakfast @ Hotel Saravana.    We had yummy Dosa's and we (myself and Dr. Harish Babu) packed hot lunch from this place and set to hike.

We went in search of the entrance to the trek and finally at 11.15 AM we started our trek to the summit.

It was good to see a tiny avid trekker amidst us.    Guess this is the first time we had a very young treker in BASC history.    


Neha was our inspiration and motivator throughout the trek.  She scaled to the peak and never complained of getting tired and was guided by her mom Janaki.   Heard she had completed Shivaganga trek some time back and was ready for this one too. 

Rayakottai reminded of Hutridurga trek and was not a tedious one when compared to Siddrabetta trek. Missed some of the Hutridurga mates here.

Sunil engaged the whole team with his group snaps and was particular that every one posed for the pictures at all the interesting scenic places.     We reached a Vishnu Temple which was carved out of a Monolithic Rock and it had a cave temple with stone idol of Lord Vishnu.  Looks like some one had lit the lamp in the morning.   We did not find any one in the temple.        

We had our first group photo session in this serene place.     Most of us wanted to stay back and enjoy the serenity as the place was so cool and after the photo session we headed to the peak as it was getting sunnier by the day.

On scaling up, we saw the architecture techniques of the Tippusultan era,   he had planned to build the fort meticulously with water points, place for guards to rest.    We were welcomed by the entrance.  Was amazed by the technology he had utilized and even today they stood strong.   On scaling high we could see the armory depot and the garrison he had built atop the hill.   It had stable for horses and a resting room for the soldiers.      

We finished our lunch in front of one of the resting rooms for the guards and set to scale further the peak.   

Sindhu was gracious enough to share the sweets and Chandrakant & Sagar   shared bhakri and chapati with the team.   

Sunil wanted to have the final photo session with the team on the peak 

after that we started scaling down to catch the 4 PM train to Bangalore but were told that it will reach Rayakottai only at 5 PM. 

Finally the train arrived at 4.45 PM and we left for Bangalore cherising our memories about Rayakottai and planning for our next 1 day trek from BASC.

Sunil captured the awesome sun set from his camera from the moving train 

before we could land up in Bangalore @ 7.30 PM and bid adios to every one.