I had never before tried searching for a trekking place in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh. After witnessing Thimmapanah Rock Mountain near Ramnagar, Karnataka I was of the opinion that such climbing such gigantic twins were only in my farthest of imaginations since it was impassable.
I was wrong when I stumbled upon a fellow youtuber’s video of climbing a similar structure and even crossing onto the other side through a bridge- this was Puligundu Rock Mountain situated at over > 1000 feet in Chennasamudra Agraharam village of Chittoor district. The goliaths are 221 kms from Bangalore and can be considered to be conquered if you have any other destinations to be covered in the same day.
Until the up to last 4kms from the destination, nothing except the villages were visible and only upon just crossing that milestone, did we see a mammoth arising from Earth and standing like a giant Godzilla.
There is a parking space beneath the hill and upon enquired with people their review to climb the summit was 1 hour against 20 mins review of what people had mentioned over the internet. We kept speculations aside and started the climb at 4:19 pm considering we were the last to start and did not want to end up getting down late after dark. But the hats off to the sculptors who made such steep climb look so easy with their sheer brilliance of cutting a gradient so marvelously looking like peeling an orange skin in single go. 30%v through the trek you find an opening which houses the Ganesh, Vishnu and Devi while Sai Baba is seated look straight into the entrance. One can spend couple of minutes seeing the majestic landscape view from here and then gear up for the real adventure.
The next 20 mins of the climb takes you from a very narrow rock climb very close to the border of the hills supported by thin TMT bars which give a sense of relief. Next comes the spiral steel steps laid out so perfectly right through the hills engineered to perfection. Time to turn on the torch lights and here comes the 1st twist to take steps to the bat kingdom which has rock cut steps to be carefully climbed and they are slightly tilted on the left side. In between you need to climb a very straight steel steps as well with the only disappointment coming in the form of people who have purposely littered the plastic bottles behind the stairs. I kindly request educated and well-read individuals to refrain from discarding plastic bottles and other forms of waste. Let us strive to maintain the cleanliness and purity of our natural surroundings, and simply revel in the magnificence that nature offers.
The cave like opening looks like a crack and you come out to see the other hills right in front of you with the Petronas tower bridge link in between. You may be tempted to cross over the other, but hold your breath and reach the summit of the 1st hill which has a small pond of lotus and atop the water body is the main shrine of Shiva in the Linga form. There are other deities as well – Devi and Navgrahas. The most striking moment for me was seeing a small Aiyyappa Swamy idol with miniature 18 step laid out in the his temple shrine and for me this was the 1st time I saw the God on top of a hill (majority hills have Shiva, Hanuman, Venkateshwara Gods).
We then retraced the same path and came to the bridge crossing with the Selfie stick tightly held to take the next thrilling steps right in middle of the twin hills. The second hill though a touch small than the big bigger one gave another kind of a joy to test our flexibility to stretch and leap over a tree branch right in front of the path with squeezed between two giant rocks. Though a tricky place to be in terms of getting through the small narrow crack the only green patch here takes you to another striking top notch place where you get a feel of accomplished in just 45 mins of starting from the ground zero. It’s a nice place to relax under the shade on a sunny day or spend some time picnicking on top of the world.
We managed to come down to the parking at 6pm fortunately but unfortunately the wait for sunset wasn’t a rewarding one as the sun wasn’t in a mood to show the sunset and went down behind the vast clouds.
Pro- tips when visiting Puligundu-
• Carry along your water bottle and food as there no vendors or shop nearby
• Easy to moderate climb, so bring in your trekking shoes, Cap and sunscreen lotion
• Though the sun appears less (and only when you reach the top) recommended to carry Towels / handkerchiefs for you to absorb the excess sweat due to the climb for appearing the best in your Instagram reels
• There is no security, so try to make the ascent and descent within the sunrise and sunset time.
• Keep the place clean, it deserves to be a hit for budding trekkers who want an easy climb end of the day with family