Ettina Bhuja Hike

Ettina Bhuja is a cozy hike located in the beautiful town of Sakleshpura, a small hill station located around 230 km away from Bengaluru. Its name when translated to English means "Ox's shoulder". This is because the peak, when viewed from a distance, looks like a bull's hull. The reported trail length ranges from 3-3.5 km (various websites) to 4-5 km (official Karnataka government signage). It's mentioned to take around 3-4 hours, but if you are even mildly fit, you can complete it much faster. Hike is only allowed to start between 07:00 and 12:00. And hikers must exit by 16:00. We were running late by an hour and hence reached at the basecamp by 13:00. After loads and loads of requesting, the forest ranger reluctantly called his superiors for permission and we lucked out! This could be an one-off case though. If you are planning to do the hike, it's better to reach in time :). One really good side-effect of us being late was, there was absolutely NO ONE on the trail. It felt like we…