Offroad Trails around Bangalore - Part 1

Ever since I bought my Hero Xpulse, I have explored more than 50-60 trail rides over the last 2 years. I am fascinated (read obsessed) to mark these trails over Gmaps Sat view and then discover what lies up ahead.

So it is time to share all that I have learnt so that people can safely plan and explore these trails. I will not be able to share GPX/KML for all but will make it easy for anyone who can open Gmaps Sat view to easily find them and explore

Trail Sections

First let me break down the trail sections in Bangalore to 3 regions.

3 Broad regions for the Trails

• Region A - These are the so called "Thursday" trails I have explored during weekdays. They are nearby, less than 20-30 kms away which makes it easy to return home by 9-10am and resume my work.

• Region B - The "Saturday" trails. These are around 60-100 Kms away and usually takes whole of Saturday mornings. But you will safely return home by 1-2pm

• Region C - These are the trails that require to plan overnighters and bigger trips. I have only a few trails in Region C because the exploration is ongoing

Below, I will mention my experience of exploring trails across the below categories:

1. Trail Length

2. Difficulty on a Motorbike (Easy / Moderate / Hard)

3. Restrictions (If any)

4. Terrain

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants

6. Considerations

Region A Trails

I have explored around 20+ trail sections in Region A. Since these trails are near the city, there could be Forest guards and restrictions in some of them. Although we generally pass through on weekday mornings without concern

Trails explored in Region A

For easy accessibility, I will keep this part 1 blogpost only for Region A trails and continue the Region B trails in part 2 of this blog - (Click Here for Part 2)

A1 Trail - Hessarghatta Grasslands

Beautiful landscapes of Hessarghatta combined with lush trails

1. Trail Length - 5-10 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Restricted. However when we entered the grassland, nobody stopped us

4. Terrain - Grasslands, Flat track

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Breakfast at Udupi Garden Veg in Hessarghatta

6. Considerations - I have explored the lake bed trails on a Bicycle long back but that is closed now. There is one small passage to enter the grasslands which is marked in Red

A2 - Secret Temple Trail

Mini Forest Trails east of Hennur Bamboo Forest with wide open spaces

1. Trail Length - 5-10 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Un-Restricted. However recently few have reported it to be closed

4. Terrain - Proper muddy trail, Flat track

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - There is a Jump Spot near the Secret Temple

6. Considerations - Recently there few of us said this trail is closed and may need alternative entries

A3 - Hoskote Lake

Trails inside the Hoskote lake that has a good marked trail in the west and a deep water crevasse in the east

1. Trail Length - 20+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Un-Restricted. However its closed when the lake is full

4. Terrain - Lake bed trails. Flat track but the trails running east are challenging through a deep water crevasse

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Nandi Grand at Hoskote Toll

6. Considerations - Do check the water levels on Gmaps Sat view before you go (Dark green indicates water and brown color means you are good to go)

A4 - Varthur Trails

Great trails East of Varthur but the access to them is through dense traffic of Varthur

1. Trail Length - 10-15 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Un-Restricted.

4. Terrain - Muddy Tractor offroads. May get slushy in Rain

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - breakfast at Sri Ganesh Bhavan near Varthur Police Station

6. Considerations - Still haven't completed 100% of this trail as the last time extreme slush prevented us completing this. Have covered around 60-70%

A5 - Sarjapura Trails

This is one of the best trails that I have found till date. Completely unrestricted. fairly easy and gives the freedom to do the drills, explore etc.

1. Trail Length - 10-15 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Un-Restricted.

4. Terrain - Muddy Tractor offroads

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Jump spot in the east end of trail and good breakfast at Rasganga just after exit

6. Considerations - This is the Trail when you are in mood for routine

A6 - Ragihally Trails

Have ventured out in Bicycle but not these trails are closed and Fenced

1. Trail Length - 20-25 Kms

2. Difficulty - Moderate

3. Restrictions - Restricted and Fenced.

4. Terrain - Deep Forest Trails

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Tobo Hill for nice views; Hotel Dolphin near Bannerghatta for Breakfast

6. Considerations - This trail is closed and heavily monitored by Forest Officials

A7 - Bannerghatta

Jeep tracks of Bannerghatta Forest

1. Trail Length - 20-25 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Restricted and Gated.

4. Terrain - Deep Forest Jeep Tracks

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Prabhas Upahara for Breakfast

6. Considerations - We were caught with Forest officials in this trail and heavily lectured on Elephants. Proceed with Caution

A8 - Mallasandra

One of the second best discoveries in Region A after Sarjapura. Best part about this is the beautiful forests and trails are closest to Bangalore

1. Trail Length - 5-10 Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Trails pass through Private property but nobody checks

4. Terrain - rocky trail with mild ups and downs

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Veg Gate Restaurant in Kanakpura road for amazing Podi Idly

6. Considerations - Try to enter and exit from the south of trail and try not to attract unwanted attention. Once we got big lectures because we exited from the north due to a puncture

A9 - Urganadoddi

Although the forests east of Urganadoddi are closed from all sides, where there is a will, there is a way

1. Trail Length - 15-20 Kms

2. Difficulty - Moderate

3. Restrictions - Forest Gated but unmanned

4. Terrain - Rocky trail with mild ups and downs

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Small and a peaceful hotel in Ramanayakanadoddy Cross

6. Considerations - Elephant infested area. Lot of Elephant shit along route. Take caution. Also the trails on the east are clear but completely fenced with Barbed wires

A10 - Muninagara and Gullahatti Trails

Elephant corridor but nice and long trails

1. Trail Length - 15-20 Kms

2. Difficulty - Moderate

3. Restrictions - Forest Fenced but has a gap

4. Terrain - Forest trail with Jeep Tracks

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants -

6. Considerations - Elephant infested area. Lot of Elephant shit along route. Take caution. Also there is a trail called Muninagara trail in Map but goes deep in the jungle. This is on the border of Region A, so best to take this over Weekend

A11 - Ramnagara Trails

Long forest trails

1. Trail Length - 25+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Forest Gates but Unmanned

4. Terrain - Single Track Trails

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Shree Renuukamba Thatte Idly

6. Considerations - Border of Region B. Best to do this over weekend.

A12 & A13 - Bidadi Trails

Trails starting right from Mysore road going North

1. Trail Length - 30+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Moderate

3. Restrictions - Unrestricted

4. Terrain - Single Track Trails covered with grass

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Narsimha Swamy Hill Temple, Nelligudde Kere, Shree Renuukamba Thatte Idly

6. Considerations - Border of Region B. Best to do this over weekend.

A14 - Kumbalgodu

After Sarjapura and Mallasandra, my 3rd favorite trails

1. Trail Length - 25+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - Restricted, although its a big forest with lots of places to enter

4. Terrain - Flat track, fast trails

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Breatfast and amazing Coffee at Kadamba Restaurant in Mysore road / Nice road junction

6. Considerations - There is one place in the North east part of the trail where the Forest guard sits. Please avoid it or else the entry to this trail will be closed

A15 - Manchanabele

Short trails around Manchanabele Reservoir

1. Trail Length - 15+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Moderate

3. Restrictions - UnRestricted

4. Terrain - Rolling trails in Manchanabele along with Sandy quarry trails

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Do hit the quarry trails to Basavana betta after the manchanabele trail to get some nice views. Breakfast - Sumukha Grand at Doddaalamara

6. Considerations - Do not Enter / Exit the trail from South as it is a Private property. Always access this trail from North of Thippanagondanahalli reservoir

A16 & A17 - Magadi Pipeline + Solo Hills

Straight Pipeline trail to TG Halli reservoir along with Solo hill climb

1. Trail Length - 10+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Easy

3. Restrictions - UnRestricted

4. Terrain - Flat offroad along Pipeline. Rocky small climb of Solo hills

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Do check out quarry lakes of Solo hills and TG Halli fishing point. Breakfast - Davangere Butter dosa in Seegehalli

6. Considerations - Best to go in a group. Locals keep wandering in this area

A18 - Sulthankatte Trails

Trail is to be explored this week. Will update the post

1. Trail Length - 20+ Kms

2. Difficulty - Unknown

3. Restrictions - Unknown

4. Terrain - Unknown

5. Places of Interest / Villages / Restaurants - Unknown

6. Considerations - Bordering Region B. Best to go over a Saturday half day ride

Conclusion

Request

Finding all these trails in Google maps Satellite view has taken lot of my hours of scouting, searching and marking. Hence if possible do give credits or a tag me (@arunsekhar1 on Insta / fb / YT / blog) if this helped your exploration.

Promise

I will keep updating this post of any other Region A trails that I discover and deem fit for this list. Also I will update the Region B trails which are little farther away from Bangalore and need half a day ride.

Little Gyaan

1. Explore and Research the area well. you can see the villages, settlements clearly in Satellite view

2. Plan your route before going. No point wandering and humping rocks for no reason whatsoever

3. Download Offline maps. Try and zoom in satellite view of your entire planned trail to cache it

4. Try within groups of min 3 and max 5. Get in and get out quickly without drawing much attention.

5. Carry essential first aid, ORS, Water, chocolates, Tools, tubes and appropriate gear

And Finally Gratitude

Finally would like to thank my trail riding buddies. We started as a small Whatsapp group of regular riders and eventually christened ourselves as BOTS - Bangalore Offroad Trail Squad. I dont think any of these trails can be managed solo and BOTS have been the reason and motivation for me to organize, plan and venture on these explorations!

The squad - BOTS