Parvathamalai Trek Experience

I have visited parvathamalai and the trek is one the amazing trek which is a adventure and endurance.

A very good trek for people to have a ride from Chennai. I have started and reached Melmaruvathur. On the way got stuck in traffic and got 30 minutes wasted. Traffic is due to the road maintenance and at saturday usually many people will go to their native. From Melmaruvathur started to reach Vandavasi, Chetpet, Polur and reached parvathamalai.

In short

Start from Chennai : 8.00 AM

Reached Destination : 12.00 AM

Started to Ascend : 12.40 PM

Reached summit : 2.20 PM

Started to Descent : 2.40 PM

Reached parking : 4.30 PM

My trip to Melmudi Ranganathar temple

I came to know that the Melmudi Ranganathar Temple is open only on the four Saturdays of the Tamil month Purattasi. I also heard that it’s a good trekking spot, so I planned and prepared for the trek.

Since I’m from Chennai and the temple is located in Melmudi, I first traveled to my hometown, Tirupur. On the way, I chose the route via Thuraiyur. There, I visited Perumal Malai — also known as Tamil Nadu’s Tirupati — and decided to do a short pre-trek. The hill had about 1,500 steps, and since I started in the afternoon, the heat made it a bit tough, causing some leg pain. Still, it was an enjoyable experience overall. I returned to Tirupur the same day.

This Trek can be reached in two ways. One by Thadagam route and another by Palamalai route. I chose Thadagam route as it will be shorter and faster. Palamalai will add more kilometers but will be gradually sloped.

The next morning, I started my journey to Melmudi. After reaching, we parked the car and began the trek with my family, carrying snacks and water.

Initially, the trail was quite easy for about 500 meters, with a gentle slope. Along the way, forest officers were checking for plastic bags. After that, the trek became steeper and more challenging, and it remained that way until the summit.

After about three hours of trekking, we reached the Ranganathar Temple. It was quite crowded, and the Annadhanam area was full, so we skipped it and went straight for the main deity’s darshan. After that, we continued to the summit, where Lord Shiva is worshipped as Nadukandapolisherwarar. While we were there, it started raining, adding to the experience.

We then began our descent — it took about an hour to reach back to the Ranganathar Temple and another one and a half hours to get down to the base camp (parking area).

The trek was excellent — a true test of endurance and adventure. It was slightly tougher than Parvathamalai but a bit easier than Vellingiri. Thanks to my trekking shoes, I was able to complete it without fatigue or major leg pain. I didn’t take any breaks during the ascent, which shows improved stability and the benefit of my previous trekking experience. While descending, I started to feel some leg pain around the last 1 km.

In Short

Trekking Start time : 8.40 AM

Reaching Ranganathar Temple 11.40 AM

Reaching Summit(Shiva) : 12.30 AM

Reaching back Ranganathar Temple : 1.30 PM

Reaching Basecamp : 3.00 PM

A lovely trek and must visit place.