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| Jala Siddeshwara Trek in Ramanagara |
- Place: Jala Siddeshwara Betta Trek (Ramanagara)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Distance: 50 km x 2 = 100 km.
- Directions: Bangalore > Bidadi > Ramanagara > Jala Siddeshwara
- Krew: Madhu (DD), Karthik (Sp).
- Bikes: Pulsar.
- Previous Visit: Devarayasamudra Trek.
- Budget: Rs 200/head (Petrol = 200/2; Breakfast = 200/2)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Alright, Jala Siddeshwara is a perfect short grinder. It has vertical rock faces, but offers good grip. The view from the summit is something out of this world as it is covered by many hillocks. Pulling this one off for our 25th first ascent of 2026 felt really special.
And this marked 39 weeks, 40 treks, 9.0 months, non-stop, since Oct 12th, 2025. This was our 28th trek in 27 weeks for 2026, with 25 first ascents. :)
INTRO & PLAN:
Initially, we had planned to continue either our Grand TN Expedition (Rayakottai, Anchetty Durgam, Ratnagiri Malaikottai, Udedurgam, Mallapadi, Jagadevi Fort, Thattakal Fort, Ankushagiri, Periyamalai) or the OMR expeditions (Ambajidurga, Kurbooru fort, Devarayasamudra), but then thought, hitting different routes is one thing, but reviving an old school member meant much more.
Called up one of my oldest and closest friends, Madhu, who has been with the club and covered 47 chapters with us. But the last chapter he participated in was in 2021. So, reviving an old friend felt equally valuable here. The conversation went something like this:
Sippy: "Macha, Madhu, you up for a small hike this Saturday?"
Madhu: "k."
Hahaha, we had in fact named Madhu "k." for some days, a girl had proposed to him during engineering days and "k." was his response. We had rolled around in laughter during engineering days, looking at that text :)
TIME: 19:30 (23 June, 2026)
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| Sippy is enjoying the short, beautiful grind :) |
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, I was up by 01:30. Madhu had told me strictly give him a wake-up call by 04:30, which when I did, he promptly lifted the call and told me he would be there at my place by 05:30. Not knowing what to do, got ready by 4am and went on the curb and sat down beside the road watching the vehicles float listening to some slow doom metal. Don't know why, but this brings me a lot of peace. Madhu arrived at my place by 05:30 and, after parking his bike at my place, we exchanged formal greetings as it had been years since we hit the road, and left Bangalore.
TIME: 05:30
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| First glimpse of Jala Siddeshwara Betta |
RIDE 1: (Bangalore > Bidadi > Ramanagara > Jala Siddeshwara Betta)
Well, this was a 50km ride on the butter-smooth Mysore road, as usual, the NO GMAPS rule applied. As it was a Saturday, we could see a lot of traffic right from 4am. Looking at the traffic and the well-dressed bikers, Madhu expressed his concern about whether the hillock would be crowded. I turned around and asked him the inevitable question, "Madhu, can you tell me which hillock we are heading to?" Haha, he looked at me puzzled and knocked me on my helmet :)
He tried justifying, saying he slept at 2am last night. I said I woke up at 1:30am, and we could have started early then. BAM, the second strike to the helmet followed back-to-back. We pulled over at our regular Bidadi hotel for some yummy breakfast - Tatte Idly and Vada.
TIME: 06:30
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| The OG of Bidadi Tatte Idly - Shivasagar Bidadi Idly :) |
Post breakfast, we rode flawlessly, negotiating each turn to perfection in the direction of the hillock. The first glimpse of the mighty hillock was amazing. The sun was making its full effort to rise, but a thick blanket of cloud was wrapped around it. It was something else :)
Parking the bike, we awoke the "lizard's spirit" within us, and it was time to pull it off. As we ascended the first few flights of stairs, I ran back and kissed the bike and said I would be back shortly and requested her rest :)
TIME: 07:00
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| Jala Siddeshwara Betta Trek :) |
JALA SIDDESHWARA BETTA TREK
ASCENT:
Well, this trek is a very uplifting one. Yeah, that is the word "uplifting". It can be moderate for beginners and great for seasoned trekkers as well. We do not judge the mountain. We just enjoy as they come. It was fun and perfect to get Madhu back on the rock phase. It took us about 20minutes to reach the summit. Like always, have divided the trek into phases, LET'S GO \m/
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| The initial trail starts next to the Shiva Temple |
Phase 1: The Initial Trail
Well, there is a small Shiva temple at the base of the hill, and the trail starts right in front of it. And the trail is simply beautiful. It's more of boulders assembled. Navigating them with the forest surrounding was a pure joy. It is the perfect warm-up for what was to ensue.
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| The Vegetation Trail |
Phase 2: The Vegetation Trail
The initial trail starts becoming faint and opens up to the second face - the vegetation trail. Here, you can really feel the forest creep up on you and surround you. Well, if you are used to this, it is like an old friend greeting you with a hug :) Finally, the Vegetation clears, giving way to the two grinders.
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| The grind begins |
Phase 3: The Grinders
Well, as the vegetation cleared. We had to navigate a steep rock face with very good grip. I dashed ahead, my calves had turned into springs, happily jumping around. After a quick reconnaissance, I gave a thumbs up to Madhu and tried to head back down to help. But Madhu knew the rocks and how to read them well; there were no lessons required for this big guy. Very steadily, he navigated the rock face. Here, this had actually landed on the shoulder of the mountain. Not that we had to get on the neckline and push to the summit.
We could see a lot of small caves on the walls of the mountain. They looked like ancient meditation capsules. We decided to check them on our way back and pushed to the summit. As we approached the summit, the rock face gave way to beautiful greenery. The whole of the summit was draped in a lush green carpet and looked jaw-dropping.
TIME: 07:30
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| Lush Green Carpet at the Top :) |
TOP:
A cool wind greeted us at the top with a Karnataka flag wavering at high speed; it was like it was saying hi and welcoming us. There existed a mild dew which made the carpet extra cool. We removed our jackets, mine weighed like a ton, like Goku's. We rehydrated and just crashed on the lush green carpet. Felt Wow!
We just slept there, recollecting old days. In 2019, had taken a sabbatical for a year, and Madhu was one person who always took leave from the office and joined me for treks and kept the club alive. We spent about an hour, crashed out on the grass carpet. Then we explored the summit and then decided to head back down :)
TIME: 09:00
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| Relaxing at the summit of Jala Siddeshwara Betta. |
DESCENT:
Now the descent took us around 30 minutes. Now you might ask why the extra time, well yes, it should be done cautiously as the strain on the knees would be immense. But that was not the reason. We took the detour, and when we climbed ahead climbed the sheer vertical wall into the Korean Meditation Pods haha :) It was pure and unadulterated exploration.
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| The Korean Meditation Pods like structures. |
After fooling around like monkeys on the rock face for some more time, so that Madhu could get used to it, and get back his mojo in nature. There was no time constraint, and we were in no hurry to return home :)
We finally retraced our steps to find ourselves back at the Shiva temple. Peeped inside and waved a big HI to the deity and left towards the bike.
TIME: 10:00
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| Modho getting his Mojo back :) |
RIDE 2: (Jala Siddeshwara betta > Bidadi > Bangalore)
As we reached the bike, we looked back at the mighty hillock, thanked her for the rich experience and more importantly, "LETTING US GO BACK". The ride back was a smooth one, with the Mysore to Magadi road being inaugurated; there were cops all over the place. We rode back slowly and ended up back at our regular bar at 10am for some ice-cold beers. Post the beers, we had some awesome "Mudhe Oota" at our regular hotel, the same hotel where we used to sit on the curb and have during engineering days in 2009. Post lunch, we returned home :)
TIME: 13:00
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| A new artery in the club revived :) |
CONCLUSION:
Well, Jala Siddeshwara was one superb find. The trek appeals to a lot of spectrum of people. Anybody can pull this one off. But yes, during rainy days, the rock face could get slippery. And, sometimes routes that have to be tapped need not be roads. It can be an old, reliable friendship. The club was never about places or treks. It was and always will be about true brotherhood - Cheers to that \m/
Past 39 weeks, we have pulled off 40 treks, ~8000 kms in total, 9 months, non-stop. The Flame lives on \m/
KREW:
Madhu: Well, felt good to have an old friend back. It had been over 5years since his last trek. But he is a natural and knows the game well. With barely 2 hours of sleep pulling this one off, says a lot!!
Sippy: With 25 first ascents in 2026 alone, it literally feels like floating on a "Flying Nimbus".
Until next time, Ta-da Cia \m/
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| Let us go 52/52 |
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