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| Heggunda Betta Trek |
- Place: Heggunda Betta Trek (Dobbaspet)
- Difficulty: Easy.
- Distance: 60 km x 2 = 120 km.
- Directions: Bangalore > Dobbaspet > Heggunda
- Krew: Dileep (Koof), Karthik (Sp).
- Bikes: NS-400.
- Previous Visit: Kavaragal Betta Trek.
- Budget: Rs 220/head (Petrol = 440/2)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Heggunda is one of the most beautiful treks done so far. The trail is straightforward and clear. It is a 15-20 climb to the summit. The most unique thing is the diamond-shaped rock face as seen from the road approaching it. We have never seen anything like it. And this time, we spotted a complete rainbow - the full circle, an absolutely surreal moment :)
And this marked 369 days, 58 treks, 12 months, non-stop, since Oct 12th, 2025. This was our 46th trek in 43 weeks for 2026, with 43 first-time ascents and zero repeats :)
INTRO & PLAN:
Well, the Grand TN expedition was in full swing (Rayakottai, Anchetty Durgam, Ratnagiri Malaikottai, Udedurgam, Mallapadi, Jagadevi Fort, Thattakal Fort, Ankushagiri, Periyamalai, Virabhadra Fort, Maharajakadai Fort Trek, Musattu Malai Trek, Saanarappan Malai Trek, Sanjeevarayan Malai Trek, Arulagiri Fort, Mookankur Malai Trek, Melumalai Trek, Puliyarasi Trek).
We had tapped back into Tumkur with the previous week's trek to Kavaragal. As the weekend was approaching, and Dussehra was around the corner, we had to pull one off under the general public's nose. For a trek like this, Koof was the perfect choice.
Sippy - "Oi, this weekend free?"
Koof - "Macha, wait, eating outside"
Sippy - "Oi, tell!"
Koof - "READY! LET'S GO! Need to be back by noon, ashte!"
With Koof around, entertainment was guaranteed!
TIME: 18:00 (16 Oct, 2026)
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| The first glimpse of Heggunda. |
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, was up by 03:30 AM, the usual. Stretched out a bit and loosened up muscles. Got a text from Koof: "bro, good morning". I was taken aback and confused. It is I who usually disturbs others, haha. Then replied, are you ready, he said he would come to my home at around 5AM. At 5 AM, we met at my place and decided to head out on his bike NS400.
TIME: 05:00
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| Aye, let's ask locals which way to enter! |
RIDE 1: (Bangalore > Dobbaspet > Heggunda Betta)
The cruise to the place was absolutely madness. With NS400 we could actually cruise at good speed. (of course with NO GOOGLE MAPS) And with Dusshera around the corner, half of the city was exiting. We glided through the heavy traffic-infested Tumkur Road. Half of the crowd took the Hassan route, which was a relief to us.
After that, we cruised along towards Dobbaspet and took the Kortagere route. We decided to skip breakfast entirely, as usually neither of us eats breakfast. 10km after Dobbaspet, we could spot the hillock. It had this surreal blanket of fog just flirting with its summit. As we approached the hill, we called out to a school kid; he was very sceptical about interacting with us. We told him we wanted to climb the hillock; a wave of joy flooded his face, then he started explaining the route. We parked our bike near a Rama Temple, and awoke "the lizard's spirit" and were all set for the trek.
TIME: 06:45
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| Heggunda Betta Trek |
HEGGUNDA BETTA TREK
ASCENT:
Well, the ascent took us about 20-30 minutes. If you head straight for the peak, yeah, then it should be 15 minutes. Then why did we take 20-30 minutes? Well, we went to the neighbouring hillock and explored that as well :)
Like always, I have divided the trek into phases, so LET'S GO \m/
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| The initial trails at Heggunda Betta Trek |
Phase 1: The Initial Trails
Now, ask any local for the way to "Ramadevara temple", and you can park your vehicles here and start the trek. The initial trails were very clear. It had rained heavily the previous night, so there was a lot of dew on the leaves and the mud was slushy. Taking each step with caution, we made it to a Hanuman Temple. From here the the left takes you to the summit point, and the right takes you to another neighbouring hillock. We took the right first.
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| The neighbouring hillock served as a good warm-up. |
Phase 2: Neighbouring Hillock
Now, there were clear fortwall-type constructions. It was a freestyle rock face climb; it felt really good. After we reached a point, we could spot the summit and the stairs that led to it. But we had to descend steeply on a boulder, and considering the damp conditions, it was not an ideal choice. Hence, we decided to double back to the Hanuman temple and take the normal route.
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| And the fog returned as we approached the summit. |
Phase 3: Summit Push
After double-backing to the Mantap and the Hanuman temple, we had to search for the narrow path that we saw from the neighbouring hill. This was a really beautiful stretch. The amount of dew that was on the grass left our pants completely damp. Then we could spot the final stretch - a pure stairway to the summit etched into the rock face.
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| The final beautiful stretch :) |
And we hate stairs. Yes, rock scrambles we do not mind one bit. But considering the damp and slick rocks, we felt it was helpful. We ground out the last bit nonstop. As we approached the summit, a wave of fog started engulfing the hill, and it felt really surreal. Pushing through the last part, we made it to the temple on top, which marked the summit :)
TIME: 07:15
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| A full rainbow seen for the first time :) |
TOP:
Now, as we reach the top, we usually rest and recuperate. But on this one, it was the first time; we did not even sit down. The wind speeds picked up, making the blanket of fog strike Heggunda and split into two streams. The sun was fighting for dominance on the other side. It passed through the first layer of fog and created a potential for a rainbow; all we needed was a screen on which it could be projected.
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| The rainbow show was ON/OFF. |
And guess what, the secondary fog which went on the other side of the hill acted as a screen and held the full rainbow (full circle). Our jaws dropped! We had never, ever seen anything like this in all our expeditions. We had seen a double rainbow long back in 2011 during our Shivanasamudra ride in 2011. It was truly surreal!
The gallons of fog kept sweeping in from the Dobbaspet side, and we just ran all around the summit, awestruck. In between, we peeked inside the temple and waved a BIG HI to Rama and thanked him for the wonderful summit experience. After spending 30 minutes at the top, we decided to head back down, capturing the moment at its peak. Before the aura could fade, we hydrated and decided to head back down :)
TIME: 07:15
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| Chasing Rainbows all the day:) |
DESCENT:
The descent took us 15-20 minutes. But had to be done with utmost caution. There was still lots of water running on rocks, so we had to get each footing with precision. As we were descending, Koof called me out and said:" Macha, if I had come alone, I would have climbed that diamond-back stone with ropes; you know my skills, right?" I slowly turned my head to see him struggle on a normal slick staircase. And he didn't stop at that: "macha, for your safety I had to take this easy normal route". I broke a branch from a tree nearby and started chasing him all around; well, that is Koof, alright :)
We made it back to bikes, looked back, thanked the hillock for such a rich experience and, more importantly, "LETTING US GO BACK".
TIME: 08:00
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| Koof at the all important Stone Mantap Deviation :) |
RIDE 2: (Heggunda Betta > Dobbaspete > Bangalore)
This was a 60km ride back. As we bid adieu to the hill and all the school kids we could see. The ride back was surgical on the NS400. Even though my butt was hurting from sitting behind when the bike was cruising at 100+ km/h, I kept calm and trusted Koof, as he knew what he was doing :)
Instead of heading back to our regular bar for some beers (no breakfast btw), we decided to explore RR Nagar. We entered RR Nagar at around 09:30AM, and the game was the first open bar we saw. And, as we did, we met a few nice people there, laughing and enquiring about where we had been for a ride/trek. After an ice-cold beer, we headed home for some well-deserved rest :)
TIME: 09:30
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| Diamondback Hill - Heggunda :) |
CONCLUSION:
Well, this was a trek I had written in my diary about a year back, but never considered it seriously. But sometimes, you just "feel" the moment is right. And even until the last moment, this was not the choice, but it pivoted on the night before, and this is the experience we came back with!! Crazy.
In the past 369 days, we have pulled off 58 treks, ~11,320 kms in total, 12 months, non-stop. The Flame lives on \m/
KREW:
Sippy: Extremely surprised and happy with this trek. Never had I expected Heggunda to be so beautiful. And more importantly, with zero people. Now, let's see, we take this 2026 year seriously and do zero repeat 50+ treks this year. LET'S GO ON THE FLYING NIMBUS \m/
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| INTO IBR :) |
And guys, one important announcement: "THE LOAPERS" have made it to the INDIAN BOOK OF RECORDS - for maximum treks undertaken - 52 treks in 11 months. You can check out the top right banner on this page :)
Until next time, Ta-da Cia \m/
Oh yeah, if you want to read about the past 58 treks, here is the link: 58 NON STOP TREKS.
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| Sippy signing off :) |
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