Swamimalai Hills – Trekking in Yelagiri Hills
Experience Trekking To The Top Of Swamimalai Hills. Hoping most of our readers must have already read my article Road Trip To The Unexplored Hill Station Yelagiri. As this is the 2nd part where I will take you to the journey of Swamimalai Trek. The Swamimalai Trek is approximately a 6kms trek to and fro and must recommended trek in Yelagiri by the locals. It has been a long time since I took any trek so was totally excited about the same. So read on how I explored the trail of Swamimalai Trek.
Reaching There…
After 5kms from our resort we reached this small village called Mangalam which is the starting point of Swamimalai Trek. To recognize the point there is a temple and for us it was easier looking at vehicles parked there. We parked our bikes and followed the badly drawn arrows to guide you to reach the fields behind the village. Walking the muddy path for 5minutes you get a view of the Swamimalai hills. The path has been cut with proper directions guiding you to reach the top of the hills.
Although the distance uphill was of 3kms but the path ahead was with hurdles of different patches. After you cross a patch of stone stairs you walk through even muddy paths and go on. Patches of large and smaller rocks and again to the stone stairs which are oddly created with roots of trees on either sides. Going higher you can see the flora getting dense, beautiful sounds of the birds and also spot some of them. The roads are narrower covered with the trees where you can rest for a while in the shed. At the end you will encounter with boulders and after successfully crossing those the tiny temple is visible. The Shiva temple is engraved in the rocks which stands out with its white and yellow colors on top of the hill.
The Top
The view from the top is spectacular as the edge is fenced so you can grasp a closer look at the view. The breeze out there gives you chills and you deserve it after the tiring trek. But there is more after reaching the top just adjacent to the temple you see many big rocks at the edge of the cliff. But there is one which anyone can climb with the iron ladder build on the side of the rock. Climb the ladder to get most of the fantastic view of the hills around Swamimalai.
Locals say that long back there was a Trishul atop the rock. The pujari who took care of the temple used to climb the rock to offer his prayers to the Trishul. But the Trishul was stolen later and people started climbing the rock to look around the hills. You must try the trek in morning and definitely carry a water bottle as you won’t get any food or drink while going to and fro the trail.
After the trek we returned back to our resort to pack our bags finding our messed up stuff in the room. Checking out from the Resort and Thanking the staff there we moved out to journey back home. Leaving the beautiful hillstation with a hope to return again in future. Yelagiri is a must try for weekend or even a one day trip location which you can explore.
If you looking for stay hotels or resorts & food suggestions in Yelagiri visit this article -> Click here.