Conquering mighty Kumara Parvatha!

Crew Members: Arun, Geo and Myself! (Yes! Just three people)

Duration: Two days. (A perfect weekend!)

Expense: ~2200 (per head)

Dates: 18th and 19th of January 2014.
Terrain info: Kumara Parvatha is the third highest peak in Karnataka standing tall of 1712m above sea level with Mullayanagiri being the first and Tadiyandmol the second.

We were a group of five when we decided to make a trip for the weekend. We had set every plans to visit Kudremukh. (Yeah! We did not plan for Kumara Parvatha initially). We booked to and fro bus tickets, home stay and made all arrangements only to find out that the Kudremukh will be closed on January 15th 2014 and will not be open for a month at least. Kudremukh is suppose to be visited during the time frame November - January. By Jan, the grasses starts drying and thus dimming the 'green carpet' look of the place. And the most depressing part was that we learned about this the morning of the day we were suppose to board the bus.

We didn't have a choice but to drop the trek plans and make the weekend another lousy one or to plan for another one. The moment Arun told lets think about another place, the word Kumara Parvatha dropped from my mouth. Shockingly, Geo also suggested the same. We checked the tickets and found almost all the KSRTC Rajahamsa and Airavat seats were sold out. There was one bus service named 'Kukke Shree Travels' with extremely poor rating in redbus.in. Mean while two of our five member gang dropped out seeing recent turn outs. We three are nuts and decided to face whatever is to come and booked three sleeper tickets in Kukke Shree Travels. We didn't have a tent, but we did possess Quechua S20 sleeping bags that we bought for our Skandagiri trek. We were following an online blog and we equipped ourselves with 80% of the stuff they suggested as mandatory. We boarded the bus at 10:15PM from Majestic. Bus started 30 mins late and on top of this the rating of the bus service held in redbus made us see our plans getting ruined. I got an upper berth, and the moment I strectched my leg, I was off.

Next thing I remember is bus guy shouting Kukke Kukke. I jumped from my berth and got down and grabbed my bags and shoes and got down with the other two. Time was 4:30AM. Actual arrival time of the bus was suppose to be 5:30AM. We reached one hour early! Arun and Geo were complaining about the way bus driver drove the bus. We couldn't find a single lodge with vacant rooms. Finally, from the person from the reception of the hotel Mysore Neo Cafe in front of the temple, we came to know about this lodge Mahamaya where he said they have a Dormitory with attached bathroom. All we needed was a bathroom. We took a rick to the hotel for 30Rs. We got the dormitory and towels. We were literally shocked to see the cleanliness they maintained. Bhatru mane (means priest's house) is the only source of food and shelter in the trek path! We took a swift shower, made a call to Bhatru mane to remind him about our arrival and walked back to the same hotel and had a good break fast. I had chow chow bath! ;)

We could see the mighty gigantic Sesha Parvatha behind Kukke Subrahmanya temple. We took another rick to the Parvatha trek starting point for 50Rs. The moment we got down from the rick, Geo had this enlightenment of getting the rick guy's number so that we can call him to pick us when we return the next day. We started our trek and suddenly I felt something less in my hand discovered the absence of sleeping bag! Thank God, we had the guy's number! He came back in 10 mins and I had to pay him 30Rs. Thus we started our pursuit at 7:45AM.

There were lot of other people at the starting point. We took our time and moved slowly as reaching Bhatru Mane was our only aim for the day. It took us 2 hours to cross the dense forest with which the hike starts. 

In between, we had taken at least 5 halts and at one place we could hear a stream flowing close by. We had the location marked in our mind and we decided to pay a visit during return. By 11:30AM we reached the grassland and it was too damn hot! We used up 70% of our water and our energy drinks were done. Bhatru Mane was still 1Km away.

We were hungry and we had one and only one thought in our mind - reach Bhatru mane as soon as possible. In another 100 mins we reached Bhatru mane the very sight of the place made us invincible to the heat! 

We moved as fast as we could and we had rice, sambhar and mango pickle. As every blog says, the food appeared utterly delicious especially the pickle. I took two glasses of butter milk as well. We moved to his courtyard where he had betelnut plantations and took a nap. Mean while we had this new crazy idea of night  trek to Kumara parvatha. We analysed every possibility and tried understanding the pros and cons over our original plan and settled on taking up the new plan. I checked with Bhatru about the forest office permissions and I learned this - Forest office won't let people cross the check post between 4PM and 6AM. It was 3PM in the evening and we packed our clothes into one bag and left it at Bhatru mane. We carried all the other necessary stuff like water, snacks, medicines in the other bags. Forest office is 300 meters from Bhatru mane and we were there in 10 mins. We payed 200Rs per head and moved on with the trek. The forest guy warned us - You may not be able to reach the peak as it would turn dark by the time cover half the distance! So better camp somewhere in the middle of the route and start moving early in the morning next day. We have enough experience of night treks in our Bangalore hills so we didn't care. We could see the mammoth Sesha Parvatha with amazing view.

We walked and walked and mean while I could spot few white and black dots moving on the top of Sesha Parvatha and it took some time for us to realize those were the guys who left Bhatru mane long before us! :D (Note: The pick below was taken with full zoom in my 18-200mm lens)

We spotted the first tent at 5:45PM and those guys informed us 500 more meters of walk would take us to the Kallu Mantapa (an ancient stone architecture). They confirmed us the availability of a small stream near to Kallu Mantapa from where we could refill our empty bottles.

By 6:30PM, we were at the stream and got our bottles filled, we had got ourselves freshened in the stream and another crazy idea struck us! Why not do the remaining climb with our shirts off! Not a second we pondered about it, we removed our shirts and tied it with the bag and started moving ahead. Sun had gone completely off the sky and we started climbing Sesha Parvatha. By 7:30PM we almost reached the peak of Sesha Parvatha. It was extremely dark by then and we could see clouds covering all sides. We took a halt there and enjoyed the way the clouds embrace the mountains in the dark. Full moon day was couple of days back and we were expecting moon light and we didn't have any support from moon's side!
We started descending the other side of Sesha Parvatha and we found couple more of tents and there were guys cooking and we ended up ourselves drooling over the aroma. I hope they didn't get a stomach upset the other day! :P
The last tent among them suggested us not to go further in the dark as the path is pretty rugged and has lot of loose stones. But we didn't care and moved ahead. There are lot of small peaks which can fool you especially when in night! We moved to the next peak that you can see after the Sesha Parvatha and climbed to its peak and there found the most amazing view we could get in the night! A clear view of the moon! And then we realised! The moon was always there, this gigantic Sesha Parvatha was masking it and made us walk in the dark! (Geo captured this image with his Point and Shoot)

Finally, we decided to put our shirts back as the temperatur had gone so low that we started shivering! Few yards ahead, found yet another group camped over there! It was 8:30PM and one guy came out to see us trekking in the night and warned seriously saying its thick forest ahead and he strongly recommend not to enter it at this time. I was so determined to reach the peak. We tried gathering as much information from them. They pointed us to the Kumara Parvatha peak and spotted us the dots of lights and said those are people who are camping there. They also said, if at all we could manage to cross the jungle, there are ample flat surface on the hill where we can camp. Geo and Arun thought of camping there but I so wanted to go to the peak. I would give anything to reach the peak at that time. We couldn't find a flat surface there and so we decided to take up the forest! Another reason we decided to move in to the forest was the wind. We didn't have a tent and cold wind was so furious then which could have turned us to stones had we slept there in the open with just a sleeping bag. We moved through the thick forest hoping this would end soon! We had that endless walk for almost an hour and finally we ended up finding a crowd of people camped in the forest. They were all cooking, singing, shouting and creating all sorts of possible nuisances. We checked with one group who camped almost at the end and learned Kumara Parvatha peak, our destination is just 15 mins walk from there. I wanted to climb that. But Geo and Arun were convinced with one place we found almost at the end of the forest. It was 9:30PM and we decided to call it a day and started our preparations to setup a campfire. We didn't have kerosene! But our adjacent group lended us some and we could successfully set up one. We had our dinner - Coconut bun, Chikki and few biscuits and we slept by 11:45PM with alarm set at 5:30AM.
All three of us had a sound sleep and none of us heard the alarm. By the time Geo woke us up, it was 6:30AM and I was so restless and I didn't want to miss the sunrise. We packed our bags and moved as quick as we could. That one stretch to the peak was difficult to climb as it was steep rocky terrain. I was running in front giving no rest to my lungs! I spotted the beautiful clouds pattern welcoming sun.

I reached the peak by 7AM and in another 10 mintues my fellow trekkers also was there. There were nearly 50-75 people there at the peak with tents setup all over the place. We could see the beautiful sunrise over the ranges and it was such an eye candy!

I was ecstatic and was feeling so accomplished! We not only have conquered the mighty Kumara Parvatha, but also viewed sunrise from its peak. We clicked enough photos in and around the place. There was this flag with Om written on it and holy place set up at the peak.

We decided to descend by 7:30AM as we knew later we go more is the probability of us becoming tandoori on the way back in the sun. So we reached the steep rock area and we were alarmed to see the forest that we crossed in the night. We couldn't believe ourselves. And that is one advantage of nigh treks! You wont realize how difficult it is!

We crossed the forest in a short while and clicked few pics of Kumara Parvatha.

We had few more photo sessions here and moved as quick as possible. But slowly the sun rose up! It became unbearably hot and we were sweating like anything. The walk seemed endless! I remember Geo saying this - We can really feel the concept that one of the soft drinks depicted in their add, sun sucking water out from us with a straw! Literally, that was what was happening. There were people climbing hill at that time and I was wondering about the way they had planned their hike! But every one has their way and we should respect that. We moved and by 10AM we reached the Kallu Mantapa!

We rested there for a while, finished off all our water, attempted calling Bhatru in order to keep him informed about our arrival for lunch. But no one picked out call! We got our bottles filled again at the stream and we continued the walk. We decided to take lesser number of halts. Me and Arun walked in front and since Geo had some trouble with his leg in our last trek at Skandagiri, he was a bit lagging. We just had one thought - Lunch!! And that drove us forward! By 12:30PM we arrived at Bhatru mane and we were so exhausted! Lunch not only had rice, sambhar and pickle. Left out rice upma and pulav from the breakfast added to feast. We had as much as we could and went back to his courtyard where took a nap during our upward journey. We decided to sleep till 2:30PM. We all slept like babies and woke up at 2PM. There was a kitten lying next to Geo in the sleeping bag and we played with it for a while.

We packed our luggage, met Bhatru and had small jovial talks. He is very friendly and cracks jokes every now and then. He could speak malayalam. He charged 90Rs per meal and it came to 540Rs and we payed him 600Rs. Such a meal in such a condition is priceless and a person who provides that facility is Godly! We took a pic with him and asked him how long would it take to reach Kukke and he replied this - "For me it would take one hour!" :D

We also noted that there were two additional number to contact Bhatru which we couldn't find in any blogs. So we decided take a pic of the same.

We started our last stretch of the trek and till we reached the forest part, it was tandoori stove experience all over again. We tried not to stop anywhere in order to avoid deep fry cases. :D
In 45 mins we reached the forest section and from there we could move faster. We walked till the spot where the deviation towards the stream is present. Our shirts were dripping with sweat! We removed our shirts and checked with a guy about the stream and he enlightened us saying its just 5 mins walk from there and so was it. The stream was so cold and rejuvenating! I tried few experiments with low shutter speed photography there while Geo and Arun was taking bath.

Once they were done with their bath, I got in and there small fishes pricking inside and it was fun! We got our energy levels back and we started our walk again. It was 4:30PM then. We continued our walk and the forest was very much deserted. We didn't find any other trekkers except two on our way back. By 5:30PM, we could hear the sounds of vehicles honking and we realized that the amazing trek is coming to an end! By 5:45PM we were out of the forest and we reached the point where the rick dropped us. We made a call to our rick driver and in 10-15 mins an auto came and we left the place.
We directly went to the Mysore Neo Cafe hotel and ordered Idli, Masala Dosa, Bajji, Porotta, Juices and what not! I took a pic of Kukke Subrahmanya Temple with Sesha Parvtha standing behind guarding the temple.

We satisfied our tummies and we made our move towards Mahamaya lodge and asked for the same dormitory. Geo wanted to rest as he had his knees strained. At 7:30PM, myself and Arun went to the temple and had a good darshan! We boarded bus from KSRTC bus stand at 10:30PM and all of us were ruminating over two days of priceless experience!

Mahamaya Lodge had advance booking facility of rooms. Contact info. is as follows:
M. Shivakumar Kamath (9141408895/9880908325/8762208325)
Room Tariff's are as follows:
Double Room - Rs 700
Family Room - Rs 999
Double A/C - Rs 1300
Dormitory facility should be available irrespective of the crowd unless they are hosting some function there.

What our experience taught us:
Dont's:
1. Never attempt to walk the grass lands in the sun. Walking that stretch in sun is unavoidable. Plan in such a way that you keep yourself in Tandoori stove for the minimal time as possible.
2. Never attempt night trek unless you have enough torch and thermals.
3. If you are in a small group like ours try not to camp in the forest unless you find some other group near you. We learned after returning to Bangalore that Bysons used to roam around in the forest we camped! And that's something that you wouldn't want to find when you are alone.
4. Never leave the plastic covers and bottles there and love the nature and let it love you back.

Do's:
1. Always carry a 2 litre water bottle per head.
2. Carry as much eatable as possible. Include more fruits, energy bars and less biscuits and such thirst driving food items.
3. Call Bhatru in prior and keep him informed about your arrival and number of people accompanying you.
4. Carry additional phone as Bhatru mane doesn't have a charging facility and network coverage isn't stable through out the stretch.

Things to remember:
1. Forest office won't allow people to cross the check post between 4:30PM and 6:30AM.
2. Forest fee is 200Rs for Indians and 1000Rs for foreigners.
3. You need not have to carry snacks all the way from Bangalore as Kukke Subrahmany Temple is pretty crowded place and you'll get all sorts of snacks there.

Things to Carry:
1. Sleeping bag or Tent (Choice is yours)
2. Snacks and Water.
3. Torch (Even if you are not attempting for a night trek)
4. Glucose and ORS
5. Camera (Optional)

Finally, here is our team pic:

More Pics here!