KUMARAPARVATHA TREK [ 12th Aug 2011 ]

As far as I remember, the last time I had been to KP was in my 6th semester with my college friends. From that time, something was striking inside my heart to do the trek again. This time it was with my friend/ colleague Dilip and my green trek colleagues Seena and Rajesh. I love to trek with these guys. They are the energy boosters and their enthusiasm to do any trek is high and they proved it this time. Only Vikas was missing from our usual gang :(

This trek is special to me because we went on to do it in the rainy season where there is high frequency of leeches, slippery rocks and the rain in Western Ghats need no explanation. We boarded Dharmastala bus at 11pm on Friday, got down in Dundya, and took another bus to Kukke Subramanya and by 6am on Saturday we were at Kukke which happened to be my 3rd visit this year!!! It was pouring heavily and the rain god dint show any mercy even when we took bath in that chilling Kumaradhara river. Soon after god's darshan and with a plate of idly vada and Mangalore buns, we set out for our journey. But the rain even got worse which made us to think twice whether to start our trek or not. As I said before, I had the bunch of Amaron high power batteries with me in the form of Dilip, Seena and Rajesh who energised the team to go ahead and do it. We applied neem oil on our legs as a protective measure against leeches and within no time we were at the base of KP where the poster told us the exact distance to various places on our journey to the peak. (One needs to walk approximately 1-1.5 km from Kukke temple to base)  



Kukke temple



The way

Our first destination was to reach Battru mane which was 6 kms from the base. We had the first look into our darling leeches and the pace in which we walked increased tremendously . I couldn’t believe myself when we had covered almost 3 kms just in 1/2 an hour. Believe me the route in this direction is hell. It’s so damm tough. Even though I was doing this for the second time in my life, my energy was literally zero after those 3 kms of continuous hike. I was literally sweating in that heavy rain. Was my heart pumping almost 1000 beats per second? I Donno...!!!! It was strenuous. We told ourselves that we reduce the pace in which we were traversing.

On the way to Battru mane



First view



By that time our fear for leeches almost became negligible and we finally reached the first destination, Battru mane. Within 2 mins, one could see almost a Kg of rice with Minimum 2 litres of sambar in each of our shining plates!!!! We ate hard, I dint know my stomach could bear so much quantity into it. The rain was still pouring heavily and we had to pause our journey for the day. Here we met 2 other trekkers, Kiran and Priyanka (she was doing her KP trek for the 3rd time). Now our team of 4 expanded and became 6. We dint have tents; this made us to stay in forest office which is like 300 mts from Battru mane. Forest guard, Jairaj gave us the sleeping mats. And I should not forget to mention those tasty Guavas we had in the forest office. I went asleep in less than a minute.



In front of Battru mane



Top view off Battru mane

  

 The next day (Saturday) was quite a tough day since we had to make it to peak in 5-6 hrs of time at max. This made us to wake up early by 6 and we resumed our journey . Our next destination was mantapa which is 3 kms from battru mane. With lots of energy, and lots and lots of posing and snaps, we reached mantapa. Had cucumbers, bread-jam, obbattu, chalki for our breakfast. There was no rain on that particular day, but the visibility was totally zero with the mist and the clouds. We spent like 1 hour in mantapa and continued our journey towards the peak. First we get Sheshaparvatha which is an awesome place. Many trekkers get misguided this to be Kumaraparvatha. Actually we get to see the range of mountains, forest from the peak of Sheshaparvatha.We were not lucky enough to experience it. Immediately after Sheshaparvatha, we get a thick forest with leeches of almost my finger size. Leeches exist here even during summer. We were just 1 km away from the peak and we went crazy. Some of us started singing which was soon followed by rest of the team. This last stretch is filled with huge boulders, and water was continuously flowing on them, the trees were almost touching the sky. This is the way which heads to the peak. I told myself " Man !!!! this is life " .Any person would go mad when he comes here. It was mind blowing experience. Yeeea, finally we conquered Kumaraparvatha which is supposed to be the toughest trek in Karnataka. I was lifting this crown for the second time.

Our team

On the way to mantapa

Nice capture from Seena

My happiness did not seem to end. We were getting blind watching that greenery. Even sun was favouring us with his bright sunshine. Within no time all the mist covered mountains started revealing themselves. It looked like those mountains were waking up after a long sleep, taking off the misty blankets. Even 2 eyes were less to sight those spectacular scenes. Truly Nature at its best!!!!

View from Sheshaparvatha

On the way to peak

After spending a hour or so at the peak, we started descending towards mantapa, then Battru mane, had lunch and finally we were there in Kukke by 6 in the evening. Caught 9 pm Bangalore bus and we were back home. 

From different angle

Kumaraparvatha is special. It makes you feel alive. I had a peculiar feeling when I was on those mountains. I was totally away from those ever ringing mobile phones, computer, gadgets, work, tension and what not. I learnt many human values which you tend to forget in this busy, competitive, fast running city life. The best part when you go to these places is that you make lots of friends, get to interact with more people, exchange ideas. You tend to think differently and talk those things which you had never thought in your lifetime.Godess Nature, I promise to come to you again and again. Please treat me with the same gratitude which you always do to anyone who visits you :)

View from the peak

Gentle request to trekkers. After use, please, please, please do not throw waste papers, plastic covers, chocolate rappers etc etc. One of the team member take the initiative to collect it and throw it to the waste bin. GO GREEN :)