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| Puliyarasi Hill Trek |
- Place: Puliyarasi Hill Trek (Tamil Nadu)
- Difficulty: Easy Trek. (with last part being tricky)
- Distance: 75 km x 2 = 150 km.
- Directions: Bangalore > Hosur > Shoolagiri > Puliyarasi Hill.
- Krew: Manish (Akro), Karthik (Sp).
- Bikes: Pulsar.
- Previous Visit: Melumalai Trek.
- Budget: Rs 235/head (Petrol = 330/2; Breakfast = 130/2)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Puliyarasi Hill is a beautiful trek which offers both a beautiful trail and the last technical push on the rocks to reach the summit. One can reach upto first temple off-roading on bikes as well, but the last technical push to the summit is a must, and would be very difficult in monsoons. With Akro inducted via steps climb at Melumalai, this had to be perfect choice for his 2nd trek - free trails and technical squeeze to the summit :)
And this marked 354 days, 56 treks, 12 months, non-stop, since Oct 12th, 2025. This was our 44th trek in 41 weeks for 2026, with 41 first-time ascents and zero repeats :)
INTRO & PLAN:
Well, the Grand TN expedition was in full roar (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), and Manish being inducted into the club via the Melumalai trek via proper step climbs, now things had to move from standard steps to something more lightly technical and after some research, found Puliyarasi also known as Chakkarlu Malai.
Sippy - "Oi, this weekend?"
Akro - "Same time, ill be ready, anywhere is okay, do u know what puliyarasi means? - tigress queen, will we find any tigers"
Sippy - "going by that logic, melumalai was pooranmalai (millipede hill), haha"
TIME: 18:00 (1 Oct, 2026)
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| Sippy and the Puliyarasi hill in the backdrop. |
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, was up by 03:30 AM, the usual. Stretched a bit and got ready and left home by 4:30am. Off late had been watching all cult Kannada movies (A, Upendra, Swastik, Om, Nagarahavu etc.,) so for a change, it was not doom metal but kannada songs from these movies. And oh boy did I need that energy. With the three day weekend (Oct 2 being Gandhi Jayanthi) flocks of cars were flooding out of Bangalore. With strict NO GOOGLE MAPS rule in place, I glided through the dark cool city roads, often abusing a few drivers (thanks to the music) and made it to Hosur covering 50km, where Manish was full ready and already waiting.
TIME: 05:30
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| Akro exploring caves at Puliyarasi Hill |
RIDE 1: (Bangalore > Hosur > Shoolagiri > Puliyarasi Hill)
This was the reminder of the 25km on super smooth NH-7 highway. We headed into the Shoolagiri town, and then navigated our way out of the town to join the road which led towards the town of Puliyarasi. At the last point, we took a deviation into the mud roads, where a clear sign board written in Tamil - "Way to Chakkarlu Malai" is written.
This last part on the mud road can actually take you all the way to 80% of the hillock. But we decided to park the bikes at a point at the base. We awake the "astral goat's" spirit and were set for the trek. Oh yeah, almost slipped out, we had not eaten breakfast, we decided to eat it after the trek. And we reached the base without asking or refering maps. New networks formed in the brain :)
TIME: 06:30
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| Akro squeezing through boulders to the summit. |
PULIYARASI HILL / CHAKKARLU MALAI TREK
ASCENT:
Well lets see, it took us about 20-30minutes to ascend the whole hill. It is a beautiful trail which leads you to the boulder section, which forms natural caves. The cave stretch is excellent as well. The last part push to the summit is slightly technical and requires some experience on rock climbing.
Like always, I have divided the trek into phases, so LET'S GO \m/
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| Initial Trails at Puliyarasi Hill |
Phase 1: The Initial Trails
The Initial trails were absolute heaven. Unlike in Melumalai which had man-made steps, even this were man made, but boulders laid onto earth. And this required some level of technicality to balance out the body. This proved to be good initiation to Akro. As we went ahead, the fascination with "Poorans" (millipedes) continued. I picked up a few and started full-blown conversation with the poorans. Akro was just concentrating on his steps - the craziness had already become the new norm ;)
The trail joins the mud road, and we continued on the mud road to reach an opening which houses a temple. Here we decided to go to the other side of hill which houses some intense cave section.
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| Cave exploration in an offbeat path |
Phase 2: Cave exploration
Now, this is not a part of the route, but trust me is fun. To get used to the rocks and claustrophobic feel, this is a stretch one must do. You get that dark, heavy and cool feeling inside these caves. Signs of human movement were all around thanks to littered bottles and "Vimal" packets haha. But yeah, this stretch is too good. We took this detour just to practise :)
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| The last push though the summit. |
Phase 3: Summit Push
Now things got interesting. As we followed the trail, it led us to massive boulders. And we had to squeeze through boulders in a very narrow opening (the training in the previous stretch pays off here). And now, from here you can reach summit via two paths - one normal way, and then "our way". As Akro and me split to scout for the path. Akro went around and climbed a boulder and then found a steep descent into another boulder. Something caught his eye, it was not a monkey, it was me, climbing up a tree, dangling from a branch and using the tree as a medium I climbed up to the summit. Akro couldn't control his laughter. He also got down from the normal route and took the "tree route" up to the summit, it was pure fun and the "technicality" knob was turned to 100. We made it to the top :)
TIME: 07:00
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| The summit of Puliyarasi Hill |
TOP:
Whew, the last stretch was real intense and fun at the same time. Akro was feeling very happy, last time it was boring steps all the way to top. It was 100% entertainment this time. The lands that stretched in all directions had a blanket of fog right on top of them and the sun was up in the sky. It was tranquil to the bone. We paid respects to the summit and found a flatter spot and sat down and hydrated.
Akro said he missed the winds as in Melumalai. I told him to accept whatever is on offer by the hill. The winds of Melumalai was something even first in this 56 treks, so not having it on the 2nd trek is something very very normal :) We fooled around the summit and then decided to head back down, the reason? Our tummies had began growl.
TIME: 07:45
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| Akro rejoins the muddy off road route. |
DESCENT:
The descent took us 15-20 minutes. As we started off from the summit, we had hit an impasse, do we descend the summit boulder, climb back another boulder and then descend to the trails? or do we dangle down the tree and climb it down like a monkey? - yeah, you guessed it right it was the "tree route" no prizes for guessing this one!
As we rejoined the trails, we executed it, neat and surgical. Each step taken with caution as with free style steps, one wrong step could sprain a ankle in a jiffy. So, with a layer of caution each step came one after the other as we retraced our steps back to perfection to reach back the bike silently resting in the forest. Kissed her on the dome, as asked if she was ready to head back home.
Got onto the bike and looked back the hillock. Thanked her for the rich experience and more importantly "LETTING US GO BACK".
TIME: 08:15
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| The beautiful trails of Puliyarasi Hill. |
RIDE 2: (Puliyarasi Hill > Shoolagiri > Hosur > Bangalore)
This was a sweet 75km ride back. As began our ride back, it was complete off road. We could see a lot of cows and bullocks peacefully resting in the fields. I pulled over right in front of the bullock's face and asked Akro, what you call this in Tamil. He said "Maadu". I said that is my friends name, he said that would be "Madhu and not Maadu". Then I started having a conversation in broken Tamil with the "Maadu". It was just staring at me confused.
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| Breakfast finally :) |
We cruised back into Shoolagiri and decided to pull over for a breakfast stop here, as the food is more authentic here. Together we belted 6idlis, 2 dosas, 4 omelettes and left the hotel satisfied :)
Cruised back in a jiffy to reach Hosur. Dropped Manish and rode solo listening to some Iron Maiden and Children of Bodom through the city. Got some stares at the signal as pant is heavily ripped and stitched with great efforts. Didn't care, reached back home :)
TIME: 09:30 (return to KA time)
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| The squeeze between boulders is a narrow path. |
CONCLUSION:
Well, this was one of beautiful chapters. Had a great balance between beautiful trails, tricky technicalities and spooky cave sections. A very good blend. Chakkarlu Malai, you are one of the most beautiful trails. Hope you remain this way. And Akro pulled this one off effortlessly, a perfect 2nd trek compelted.
In the past 354 days, we have pulled off 56 treks, ~11,000 kms in total, 12 months, non-stop. The Flame lives on \m/
KREW:
Sippy: Very happy with the blend of trails Puliyarasi offered. And even more happy to see Akro pulling this off. Towards a historical record of treks until Oct 12, 2026 on the FLYING NIMBUS \m/
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 56 treks, here is the link: 56 NON STOP TREKS.
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| Thought Agastya asked for a high-five! - Cya \m/ |
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