Antaragange

 Antaragange: A Cave Exploration Adventure

My friend Amrut and I, along with his friends Manjunath and another, decided on an exploration trip to Antaragange, just 4 km from Kolar city. My journey began at the KSRTC bus stand in Bangalore, where I met Akshay. After a slight wait for Sagarika and Kishore, we caught our 7:45 AM bus to Kolar. Amrut's group took a separate private bus.

We arrived in Kolar by 9:30 AM, a little behind schedule. After a quick breakfast at the bus stand hotel, Amrut joined us, and we packed five portions of vangi bath for lunch, along with bread and jam. Realizing the 4 km walk to the mountain would take too long, we hailed an auto-rickshaw, also utilizing Amrut's two-wheeler, reaching the trailhead near a temple. After a brief introduction to the area, our trek began around 10:30 AM.

The initial terrain was typical mountain path. Amrut and his friends guided us, showing us their usual tenting spot before we moved towards the large boulders. We soon entered what they called a "cave"—a cool, perplexing labyrinth of interlocking boulders. We navigated through, doing some crawling and rock climbing in the confusing passages. It's true what they say: you can easily get lost in Antaragange's caves! The narrow routes required some "jamming" and more crawling, essentially turning our journey into an exploration since our guides hadn't been there in a year. We even tested our rock climbing, bouldering, jamming, and chimney climbing skills in various spots.

Exiting the caves proved challenging. A loud noise from our group seemed to agitate mountain bees, forcing us to quickly retreat back into the cave and find an alternate route to the top. We paused briefly near a "Snake-like rock" for a lemon break, discovering its surprising effectiveness as a water substitute. Continuing our ascent and descent, we reached a small downhill stream around 3:00 PM, where we enjoyed our packed lunch. Afterward, we visited a Village Folk Theater for some photos before finally reaching the main road.

A 2 km walk led us to the National Highway. After a refreshing drink, we caught a bus back to Bangalore, arriving around 7:45 PM, and I reached home by 8:15 PM. During our walk down, we had a debriefing session and visited an old temple that Amrut and his group maintain. The bus ride back was, as always, filled with singing and good cheer, wrapping up a memorable Antaragange adventure.

  The team - Akshay, Manju, Me, Kishore, Sagarika, Nikun, Ravi, Sandeep, Amrut, Ganesh