Kumara Parvatha Trek, Karnataka

October 4th, 2006 → 6:15 pm @ sumesh

9


Kumara Parvatha Trek, Karnataka

[PHOTO ABOVE: Kukke Subramanya temple with cloud covered Kumara Parvatha hill in the background]

Kumara Parvatha peak with a height of about 4000 ft is the second highest peak in Karnataka after Mullayanagiri, but is said to be the toughest trek in karnataka.

The trek starts from Kukke Subrahmanya, which is an important hindu pilgrimage center.

Kukke Subramanya can be reached by road (we took a KSRTC special dasara bus) from bangalore. The route to Kukke is off NH-48 at Sakleshpur. We reached Kukke around 7.00 am. After freshening up and an idli-vada breakfast, we started the trek at around 9.00 am.

This was our first trek along with KMA (Karnataka Mountaineering Association)
KMA Office Address: No 6, Gurunanak Bhavan Complex, Jasma Bhavan Road, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore-560 052
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[PHOTO ABOVE: The beginning of the trek]

During the introduction circle, we met the whole team. There were techies from SAP-labs, HP & Infosys, two lawyers, few students, a business-woman, a HR consultant, a B-school teacher, a guy who was after the leeches, a man with one-wife :) and of-course experienced KMA trekkers Lakshmi Narayan, Mohan Rao, Prasanna and Ravi.
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[PHOTO ABOVE: On the way up the stairway to heaven]

The journey through this part was beautiful, lush green grass everywhere and thick sholl forests between the mountains. We were all really eager to reach the cloud-covered peaks. Our encounters with leeches had already started, most people were armed with hunter boots and salt. So, the leeches didn’t bother us much.

Bhattra Manne at Girigaddhe (half-way point to kp peak) was the destination for the first day. Bhattra Manne is the only accomodation in these hills, if you don’t have tents of your own. The Bhattra Manne can accomodate a maximum of about 30 people.

We reached Bhattra Manne around 1 pm, just before the rain got really heavy. After taking bath at a close-by stream, we had a stomach-full of rice-sambhar lunch, courtesy: the ever smiling, very-friendly Bhat household.

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[PHOTO ABOVE: Outside Bhattra Manne]

Post-lunch, Ravi kept us busy with games like Pointing Game (“This is a pointing game…”, never figured out the solution though), Stick (number) Game and Johny-Johny :)

In the evening, we all sat around chit-chatting and singing songs led by Prasanna & Kamalesh. Later, the Bhat household performed few devotional songs. They sang with great devotion and was a great experience (even for the people who dozed-off). The candle-lit ambience only added to it.

After dinner, the tired lot slept in their sleeping bags with only the soothing musical snores disturbing the pitch dark silence.

We woke up in the morning around 5.30 am. “Ma, can you believe it ??” After a chitra-anna breakfast, the whole team was ready for the trek to the peak by around 7 am. The path to the peak was through the clouds and was literally a heavenly experience.

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[PHOTO ABOVE: Among the clouds and almost on the peak]

On the way, we stopped for rest at a small rock-contructed “Mantappa”. Here, Sumathi was very brave to decide to keep going up, inspite of developing cramps in the leg, the night before.

The next stop was at a rock cliff, which was good photo-op point. However I believe that the mist and nature there has to experienced in self and can hardly be covered enough by the photos. This was called “Shesh-Parvatha”, if I remember correctly.

Next the path took us through what we called “leech jungle”, a very dense and moist forest heavily infested with bigger than usual leeches. But to our relief, it ended with a mountain stream where chill water can be collected in bottles.

The last leg of the trek to the peak involves a very steep rock face, which was very slippery in this monsoon season. After carefully maneuvering around the lose rocks and large boulders, we reached the Kumara Parvatha Peak. The peak was covered with a number of man-made stone conical pyramids called “cairns”, made for the purpose of giving directions to people who lose their way.

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[PHOTO ABOVE: The gang leaving Bhattra Manne]

After a 20 minute rest and refreshments close to the shiv-ling temples, we returned to the Bhattra Manne. On reaching and after lunch at around 3.30 pm, we left for Kukke. We reached Kukke at around 6.30 pm. After a refreshing bath at Anugraha Lodge (Rs. 25 per head), we went to pray at the Kukke Subramanya temple at 8pm, but it had just closed by then.

After dinner, we boarded the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus to bangalore at around 10 pm and reached majestic bus station in bangalore at 6.30 am.

Overall, we made a lot of new friends at KMA and the Kumara Parvatha trek itself was one heck of a challenge.

Till the next time when we push our limits again, take care.

More photos of trek at http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/71333.f71db471c09/overview