Siddara Betta means Saints Mountain; this is beautiful place with good photographic spots on top of the mountain. This place has been used by saints from ancient time for meditation. Locals visit the Shiva temple located in a cave around a kilometer from the base of the mountain.
We all planned to gather at my place and start from Vijayanagar at 7AM, so Ram, Renu, Suma and Raj came to my home at 6:30AM. We left Bangalore at 7 AM and took NH4 and reached Dabbaspete in 1.5 hours, here we bought lunch and mangoes . In another half hour after crossing Koratagere town reached the footsteps of Siddara Betta. We were asked to take off our shoes before climbing the hill by a local; it is considered that every stone in Siddara Betta is sacred. With lot of enthusiasm we started to climb, the initial half kilometer is steep and we took breaks and after reaching a small mantap we were able to climb the last stretch to the cave where a Shiva Linga is worshiped.
There is a water kunda (hole) in front of the Shiva Linga and it is considered to be auspicious and if any person takes bath in that water, he or she will be relieved of all bodily pains. We wanted to experience the feeling of that water after climbing the mountain in summer, so all agreed to take bath in that cold water, let me tell you do not miss it, all of us had chilling and wonderful experience. During bath and puja, we were always being watched by monkeys. After performing puja for Shiva Linga, Raj went to keep the prasadam in his bag, and a monkey came and grabbed prasadam from his hand. Though Raj had prasadam and purse in the same hand at that time, monkey only took prasadam, so don’t worry about your purse.
We started climbing the hill after puja and reached a spot where we thought of eating our lunch without getting disturbed by monkeys. After lunch we wanted to make coffee, so Ram prepared a makeshift stove and started fire. After 10 mins, there were more than 30 monkeys surrounding us and reaching for our bags by distracting us (5 friends). We each had taken sticks to scare off the monkeys, after 20 minutes of hard work on fire Suma and Ram prepared coffee; it was amazing to sit on the mountain and drink hot coffee.
Again we started to climb to the top of the mountain in search of the mantap where from ages saints meditate. It took us 40 minutes to reach the top from the cave of Shiva Linga. This climb is has good photographic spots on cliffs and at some places lush vegetation on both sides of the trail , it was worth the effort to the top. On top, we could see a huge rock spanning 10 acres and 4 mantaps and ruins of an old temple or fort. We sat in one of the mantaps where the saints do meditation every day that was an exceptional experience with a feeling of calm and relaxation returning to us. After that we went around the rock to find good spots for photography, there are spectacular views from the hill top for landscape photography. Siddara Betta is surrounded by a forest called Devarayana Durga and has some good photographic spots.
We started to climb down at 2:30PM and reached the cave temple at 3 PM. Next to the Shiva Linga is an entrance to Lakshmi Guhe.(cave - This cave is 1 km and can be traversed with medium difficulty) We took a guide with us for traversing and explaining the cave. We started off into the cave and in 5 mins we reached a matt, where the saints sleep at night. This cave had openings in some places where we could see the sky and at some places roots of plants or trees were hanging on the walls of the caves. After 30 minutes of trek in the cave we reached a spot where a plant root is hanging from stone wall in the cave, it looked like a swing; we had good time swinging on those roots. Then we trekked for another 20 minutes and found wild mango and grape plants. Finally we reached the end of the cave trek and came out in front of the main Shiva Ling cave. It took us an hour for the cave trek.
After this amazing and enthralling trek and cave exploration with my friends, I could not get enough of this trip, Siddara Betta will always be a memorable for me.
We all planned to gather at my place and start from Vijayanagar at 7AM, so Ram, Renu, Suma and Raj came to my home at 6:30AM. We left Bangalore at 7 AM and took NH4 and reached Dabbaspete in 1.5 hours, here we bought lunch and mangoes . In another half hour after crossing Koratagere town reached the footsteps of Siddara Betta. We were asked to take off our shoes before climbing the hill by a local; it is considered that every stone in Siddara Betta is sacred. With lot of enthusiasm we started to climb, the initial half kilometer is steep and we took breaks and after reaching a small mantap we were able to climb the last stretch to the cave where a Shiva Linga is worshiped. 
There is a water kunda (hole) in front of the Shiva Linga and it is considered to be auspicious and if any person takes bath in that water, he or she will be relieved of all bodily pains. We wanted to experience the feeling of that water after climbing the mountain in summer, so all agreed to take bath in that cold water, let me tell you do not miss it, all of us had chilling and wonderful experience. During bath and puja, we were always being watched by monkeys. After performing puja for Shiva Linga, Raj went to keep the prasadam in his bag, and a monkey came and grabbed prasadam from his hand. Though Raj had prasadam and purse in the same hand at that time, monkey only took prasadam, so don’t worry about your purse.We started climbing the hill after puja and reached a spot where we thought of eating our lunch without getting disturbed by monkeys. After lunch we wanted to make coffee, so Ram prepared a makeshift stove and started fire. After 10 mins, there were more than 30 monkeys surrounding us and reaching for our bags by distracting us (5 friends). We each had taken sticks to scare off the monkeys, after 20 minutes of hard work on fire Suma and Ram prepared coffee; it was amazing to sit on the mountain and drink hot coffee.
Again we started to climb to the top of the mountain in search of the mantap where from ages saints meditate. It took us 40 minutes to reach the top from the cave of Shiva Linga. This climb is has good photographic spots on cliffs and at some places lush vegetation on both sides of the trail , it was worth the effort to the top. On top, we could see a huge rock spanning 10 acres and 4 mantaps and ruins of an old temple or fort. We sat in one of the mantaps where the saints do meditation every day that was an exceptional experience with a feeling of calm and relaxation returning to us. After that we went around the rock to find good spots for photography, there are spectacular views from the hill top for landscape photography. Siddara Betta is surrounded by a forest called Devarayana Durga and has some good photographic spots.
We started to climb down at 2:30PM and reached the cave temple at 3 PM. Next to the Shiva Linga is an entrance to Lakshmi Guhe.(cave - This cave is 1 km and can be traversed with medium difficulty) We took a guide with us for traversing and explaining the cave. We started off into the cave and in 5 mins we reached a matt, where the saints sleep at night. This cave had openings in some places where we could see the sky and at some places roots of plants or trees were hanging on the walls of the caves. After 30 minutes of trek in the cave we reached a spot where a plant root is hanging from stone wall in the cave, it looked like a swing; we had good time swinging on those roots. Then we trekked for another 20 minutes and found wild mango and grape plants. Finally we reached the end of the cave trek and came out in front of the main Shiva Ling cave. It took us an hour for the cave trek.
After this amazing and enthralling trek and cave exploration with my friends, I could not get enough of this trip, Siddara Betta will always be a memorable for me. 