Experiences...: Pushpagiri Trek

Trekking is something I enjoy a lot and has done quite a bit while I was at Pune as well as during my Stay at Bangalore (Will write about them in other entry...hopefully). It was high time to do some treks from Mysore and did a small one in January to Kunthibetta followed by a better one to Pushpagiri in mid-Feb.

It's probably end of the Trek season since it was quite hot during the day time but it was enjoyable nevertheless. Pushpagiri is approx 45 km from Kushal nagar and 140 km from Mysore. Thanks to the westeren ghats for the last 20 km or so, it took us almost 3-3.5 hrs to reach the village Beedahalli which is base for the Pushpagiri trek. Now most of the folks trek for overnight stay at the top (rather most can be replaced by all since we did not found anyone, apart from our group, doing day trek).

Total Trek is of 7 km one way as well as add 1 km for the walk till forest check point. There is an entry fee of 200 INR per person to be paid to forest guards as start of trek. First 2-3 km are in dense jungle with nice shadow and negligible slope. Real fun begins after that as there are couple of rocky patches which needs to be tackled to gain quick height. Basically 3-5/5.5 km is what tires one while at the same time provides amazing view of western ghats to relax. Last couple of km at again easy and one suddenly reaches the top. There is good flat plateau at the top for those who wants to stay overnight though there are no structures etc. for shelter. Few important thing to take care are

Availability of water since there is no water after first 2 km and it's important to carry enough water.
For day trek, ensure to start the trek by 9 am. For overnight stay, it will be ok to start by 12 pm also since it takes 3-5 hours depending on number and duration of breaks taken.
Again, for day trekkers, plan for the cut-off time for reaching the top and decide accordingly since trekking back in dark will not be fun, specially if it's unplanned.

Here are some pictures from the trek as well as the details from wiki. Pushpagiri Details