[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

Arun, I did the route to Mullayanagiri last weekend (Sunday, 26th of June) and I can relate to what you have mentioned here. The roads were all the more adventurous as it was raining. It was slippery and lot of people had parked their car at various places on the way...... People literally leave their vehicles wherever they feel like parking
A lot of vehicles capable of climbing the whole distance had to turn back because of haphazard parking.
I also learned that you should never visit this place during a weekend.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Nice! It would have been fun to drive on slippery conditions.

Yes, the authorities should do something about this traffic. I think most of the drivers are not sure on what to expect and hence when they find driving condition difficult, they just park the car where ever they feel. Also there is no option for "U" turn. But its really pathetic when people park like that.

Yes, a weekday is better for such places.

I can totally relate to this. I had a similar experience a couple of year back. I was driving up with my friends in an Eon. I reached almost the top of Mulliyanagiri, and would have made it to the top of not for the haphazardly parked cars.
Unfortunately I had to take a U turn and head back. Don't ask me to recount how I did that. It was raining and there was a moment when the car was sliding sideways on the slippery mud slopes. God knows how I made it out in one piece.

With a little traffic management by me and a couple other folks, we could finally make our way down, not without a few close calls. With a constant line of cars trying to make their way up the hill, people driving down had only a couple of inches between the cliff and the left wheels.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by gkveda

Is the road doable in fortuner without scratches on body by touching other cars? Asking this because if roads are narrow and two way vehicles passing is tough without scraping, then I want to avoid and rent some jeep

Originally Posted by graaja

I did this Mullayangiri drive a couple of months back in my BMW 330i GT, and did not have any scraping issues at all. With a Fortuner, it should be totally doable

I am deducing that gkveda is worried about lateral scraping between two cars passing side by side on the narrow roads and not the GC related underbody scraping. But if it is the latter, then one must try really hard to get a hit, even on those bad roads . On a serious note, if you are driving carefully, specially on the curves and aren't averse to an occasional shouldering of your Fortuner to enable the vehicles coming from the opposite side to pass, there are very less chances of an encounter.

The climb to the top can be managed in about thirty minutes on weekdays when you get to park very near to the steps of Mullayanagiri. On weekends however, all vehicles are stopped at Seethalayyanagiri, a distance of roughly 2-3 km from the base of the mountain.

Originally Posted by GrandTourer

God knows how I made it out in one piece.

There has been a concerted effort on the part of local environmentalists to persuade the District administration to completely ban the movement of private vehicles in favour of Government run mini buses. It will happen one day, but not as yet.

@arun_josie, nice photos! Somehow, nature appears all the more enchanting when seen through the eyes of the camera.

[gkveda]

Thanks Arun, DailyTourer and gRaaja for your Suggestions and inputs.

We had a wonderful and uneventful drive to Chikkamagaluru and Mullaianagiri during this weekend and back yesterday.

To avoid traffic jams on sunday evenings (Which ruins the experience), we started from Chikkamagaluru on sunday morning 9 AM and reached home by beating all the traffic jams by 3 PM.

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

There has been a concerted effort on the part of local environmentalists to persuade the District administration to completely ban the movement of private vehicles in favour of Government run mini buses. It will happen one day, but not as yet.

Hi @dailydriver, what is the status currently? Have they started any bus service or they still allow private vehicles to the top?

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by mohan41

Hi @dailydriver, what is the status currently? Have they started any bus service or they still allow private vehicles to the top?

There are two GIRIS or mountains of importance in the vicinity of Chikkamagaluru - Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri. The former is accessible only by private or hired vehicles while the latter can be reached the same way or even by buses - both private and KSRTC.

If one finds driving on the hills a pain, its always better to hire rental vehicles that will cover all the tourist attractions in a day. Charges range from ₹2,000-3,000/-.

The aforementioned KSRTC service to Bababudangiri was started a few days ago. Buses start from 7 AM and are available at scheduled timings.

Please call the local bus stand on 7760990419 for more information.