This place is incredibly scenic in the monsoons, when the hills and the valleys are lush green and the weather is magical. However, this trail become extremely tricky and challenging in the monsoon
BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Shola Heights (location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/t7WqRmkep63Hgyhh9) is a famous homestay in the offroading circuit. This is located atop a hill, overlooking the majestic Kudremukh Peak (one of the iconic mountain peaks in Karnataka, and a popular place for hiking and mountaineering). In fact, the homestay owner mentioned this is the highest homestay in Karnataka! A nice high altitude place overlooking scenic valleys and mountains all around! This being the highest and the last house on that hill, if offers both a vantage viewpoint as well as total seclusion from the rest of the world.
While the homestay itself is beautiful and a great place for sure, the reason this place is famous in the offroading circuit is because it can only be reached by a 6km of treacherous hill climb on a dirt track where only 4×4 vehicles can ply! Even with a 4×4 vehicle, this trail offers enough challenges and fun, and is a sought after trail for offroading. Rarely do you get a chance to do proper offroading, that too for full 6km, just to reach the place of stay! That is indeed a USP of this place!
For those not going there for offroading, the homestay offers a secure parking space below the hills, where the normal road ends. You can park there and the homestay team will pick you up in the their own 4×4 vehicle. However, most offroading enthusiasts drive up in their own 4x4s, and that drive is often the biggest motivation to visit this place.
This place is incredibly scenic in the monsoons, when the hills and the valleys are lush green and the weather is magical. However, this trail become extremely tricky and challenging in the monsoon. One needs a good support and rescue team to attempt this in the peak monsoon. On the other hand, in this dry month of March, the trail is not that difficult – it is easy enough for a solo traveler, and yet difficult enough to have some good offroading adventure – just the perfect combination for solo offroading.
I love solo drives, as evident from many of my solo travelogues, but solo off-roading is something that one rarely gets to do. Offroading is usually a group activity because of the support (spotting and other help) and rescue requirements. With the point mentioned above, I thought this trail in March would offer me that rare solo offroading opportunity, and I decided to give it a shot on a weekend. Thankfully, it turned out that the conditions were perfect for a solo offroader. Not too difficult a trail where I would need to be rescued, and yet difficult enough to offer me some adrenaline rush and some scary moments. A nice mix of fun and adventure without being too risky!
In this dry month, the main challenge in the trail is that it is full of loose and slippery soil and gravel, and offers very low traction on the steep slopes. Most of the trail is steep slope (it is a good amount of climbing), and some of the sharp hair-pin bends, combined with steep slope, and the loose gravel can become tricky. One needs a 4x4H in the entire trail even when this is dry, and for sure would need 4x4L in the monsoon when this is wet and there is plenty of mud. I climbed the entire trail in 4x4H. I did some driving around the homestay too after reaching there, and it was all in 4x4H. Thus, once I exited the “normal” roads below the hills and started climbing, I had 4H engaged throughout, for the entire weekend, till I got down to the main road the next day!
Given that the homestay is only reachable by that 6 km of treacherous 4×4 trail, the homestay owner described it aptly that it is almost like an island of its own! You are totally cut off from the rest of the world, except for that one link that is that offroad trail. The homestay itself depends 100% on their own 4×4 vehicle (a Mahindra Bolero Camper 4×4) for their survival there. There is just no other option, and no other way.
I loved this concept and the experience! In my entire hill climb to and from the homestay, as well as my local wanderings there on the hills, I did not see any other vehicle, or any other human being other than the homestay owner and the staff. Absolutely alone and secluded time in the hills, and I loved it so much! Just me, my Thar, those scenic mountains and views all around, and that treacherous trail to drive around. Exactly the poetic experience that every 4×4 owner desires to have. I am thankful to this place for offering me that experience!
The drive from Bangalore to Samse, the town where you exit the normal roads and start this hill climb, is about 6 hours drive. The last 100km of the roads, from Sakleshpur to Samse (via Mudigere and Kalasa) is a scenic forest route, with dense forest, green hills and ghats. Even in these summer months, this drive was quite nice and scenic.
However, the biggest fun starts after you exit the tarred roads, and start driving on the trail leading to Shola Heights.
For me, the challenge started with finding the right trail in the first place. Turns out there are two trails to reach this place. The most commonly used is a 6km long trail, and there is another one that is shorter (about 4.5km long), but steeper and much narrower. Google Maps by default gives this shorter trail. However, even worse, it does not show the trail accurately. In general, Google Maps in this area are off by about 200m, and in the hills, that makes them useless. Google Maps wrongly showed that trail at a point where nothing existed, and when I joined the actual trail, it was the longer one (6km long). That was still fine! But now the problem was that Google Maps does not know this trail, and for the entire duration, the maps became useless.
I spotted a couple of old boards of Shola Heights initially, but later they disappeared, and for a long time I kept on wondering if I was on the right trail. So there I was, enjoying my off-roading, tackling the trail in 4x4H, enjoying the views all around, but still a bit nervous that I might actually be lost! Thankfully, and surprisingly, the phone connection worked throughout, and I called the homestay owner a couple of times to describe where I was and used his guidance to find the path forward.
Before I describe the rest, let me mention that my vehicle for this was my beloved “Dusty”, my Thar 4×4! Dusty enjoyed this as much as I did. It was these kind of experiences for which I bought the Thar 4×4 in the first place, and I was so glad I was able to do justice to that.
“Dusty”, my Thar 4×4, on the trail to Shola Heights:
Most of the trail is dry and dusty (in these summer months), and full of loose soil and gravel. The trail is very steep and slippery. The pictures do not show the slope at all. The pictures make it all look flat. But believe me, the trail was so steep that even walking up and down on the trail was tricky.
The slippery and steep slopes that pictures fail to capture: 
One more reason why I loved this trail so much is because in addition to offering a good 4×4 experience, the trail is also very scenic! It is not some boring, artificially created track for the sake of offroading. It is a natural hill path with scenic hills and views and all around. Those landscape views were the icing on the cake for me.
I enjoyed stopping, getting out and looking at such views from the trail: 
Although most of the trail is dry and dusty, there is a section where it goes through thick trees, and passes a stream. It was a nice shaded area there, with a canopy of trees covering the trail. The stream was dry now, and apart from a small puddle of water, there was no water. In fact, there are two stream crossings in this 6km long trail, but both of them were dry in this month.
At a stream crossing (which was dry now): 
One more photo of Dusty on this trail: 
The sharp hairpin bends, with steep climb, were at times a bit tricky. The Thar would not turn that sharply in one go, and I had to take 3-point turns. And when I tried to reverse in those maneuvers, in the middle of the slope (and now reverse would mean I am going downslope), the car would just slide on the loose gravel and steep downslope. I had to stomp on the brakes to stop it, and had a couple of scary moments. I learnt my lesson and later tried to go wide and drive the outside wheel out of the trail just to avoid taking 3-point turns. That turned to be a much better strategy than trying to reverse in the middle of the slope.
Views of the trail and the mountains in the mirror:
As I climbed up, the views in my windshield near the top of the hill: 
After enjoying that hill climb, stopping at numerous places to enjoy the landscape views, taking my time, and yet feeling nervous all the time thinking if I was lost, finally I reached the homestay at the very top of the hill.
Arrived, with a sudden view of this beautiful house, after wondering whether I was lost: 
This is the house: 
I was the only guest in the homestay that day, as has been the case in some of my recent trips, for example, this stay in Konkan. Maybe because I pick these off-beat places, and go there in the off-season, and that too not on any major holidays, I usually find myself the lone guest there.
Dusty being alone there, got this nice parking space: 
This homestay is indeed a very unique place. I had a great time there. However, this is a very basic place. The room was as basic as it gets. It was very clean and comfortable, but very basic. The room had just simple cots and a fan (no AC), a clean but again very simple bathroom, and that is it. There are a total of 5 such simple rooms in the house. And there is a common dining area where they serve homemade fresh meals. Everything was clean and comfortable, but as basic as it gets. No luxuries or special amenities anywhere.
However, what makes this homestay so special was the amazing location, the breathtaking views all around, the feeling of isolation and seclusion, the feeling of adventure, and above all, the fantastic team. The owners, Mr. Abhinandan and Mr. Kumar were both there and they were very friendly, polite and nice. We chatted a lot and became friends. And the staff was very good too. They cooked some delicious food, snacks, tea and coffee. Their hospitality and friendliness made me feel right at home there.
After that delicious lunch, and some rest, I headed out again in the evening for the trails, and exploring sunset views.
Dusty heading out in the evening for sunset trails: 
Crossing another dry stream: 
I parked and climbed a small hill to take this photo: 
View of the trail in the evening light: 
View of a distant tree on that hill, and the other trail passes by that tree: 
As I mentioned, I was there not for offroading for the sake of offroading. But I was there to explore the views and enjoy the landscapes, and I got plenty of opportunities for that.
Sunset in the dry hills: 
The dry grass against the backdrop of the mountains: 
View of one of the steep hairpin bends against the sun: 
View of the trail at sunset: 
Finally, a shot of Dusty on that trail at sunset:
After enjoying this sunset trail and the views, I came back to the house and had a great sleep that night.
Continue reading BHPian Dr.AD’s post for more insights and information.
