Kumaraparvatha
Kumaraparvatha is one of my favourite places. I had always wanted to visit that place again. The time came when Neeraj announced classic treks and pinged me if I would like to join. I had no second thoughts before saying yes. Finally it was on 19th june 2009 we decided to go to that place. We were 12 people together and for a change Sheshadri had come with Sunffy( a trekker Labrador!) . We watched Wall-E before we slid to sleep in our Tempo travellor. I was cribbing how bad the road was after sakleshpur but i was taken by surprise to see newly laid roads.
Welcome KP
We reached Kukke by 5:30 in the morning and then started our search for morning works! Since I knew a place a few people with me had no problems so to say. Later we realised that its already 7AM and we were getting late. We decided to skip breakafast and started our trek. It starts from a gully to our right just before the main temple. After a kilometre of road walk there is a board welcoming the trekkers of Kumaraparvat. We were expecting rains and hence without wasting time ew started our ascent.
Run- Leech attacks
Leeches leeches and leeches everywhere! We had just hit forest and they attacked from everywhere. They were on the ground, on the rocks and the barks of the trees and on the leaves. I ran along with Vishal stopping for every 15 steps to de-leech our legs. After 3kms, we reached a huge rock where we met another group of college students. After resting there for 5 minutes we again started running up the hill. It started raining heavily. This part is very steep and one hits grasslands after about 1.5 kms from the rock. After crossing the grassland it is about 1.5kms to bhatta’s house. Vishal and I reached his house and ate a few methi chapatis and maggi we had in our bag. After about half an hour one by one came in completely tired. A few were badly bitten by leeches and were bleeding profusely. Treatment took some time.
View point
Mantapam
After about half an hour’s rest we went to forest guest house. After obtaining permission we started our trek further up. There is a viewpoint half a km from the forest guest house which offers scenic view of the mammoth mountain. The next 2km till kallu mantapam is very strenuous. There is a campsite and a small stream beneth Mantapam. We rested for a while at mantapam until everyone came and started further up. We could see a peak and the guys of another group were happy thinking that was the final destination, which looked nearby. They frowned when I said that was a false peak and there are two more peaks to be crossed before we could reach Shesha Parvat. Kumar parvata is 1.5 km from sesha parvatha!
Shesha parvatha
After we crossed mantapam we were at the cloud level and it was continuously drizzling. After a while it was pouring and mercury level reduced rapidly. Vision was reduced to a few feet and we had no clue where we were heading to. After about an hour of trek we reached sesha parvatha. I had seen it in clear skies and had admired its beauty. Now it was foggy and the 1000ft free fall was completely masked by the cof and rain. I rested on the summit of sesha parvatha with 4 others and waited for rest of the group. When we couldnt find them even after half an hour, we decided to go further ahead.
Waterfalls
The trail after Seshaparvatha goes through thich jungle infested with deadly leeches. It goes down hill for about a kilometre. We literally ran all the way stopping once to pluck all the leeches trying to getcin the shoes. Soon sfter the jungle there is a waterfall( which had no water this time) We have to climb this steep rocky path which is a 200 ft ascent. Once we cross this, the kumara parvatha summit is just half a km. The mercury level falls further down at this place and rain had worsened the conditions.
Summit
Soon after reaching the summit we opened our bags and ate anything and everything we could find. I did not even had a rain jacket to keep some warmth. After a while Sheshadri and Sunffy joined the hogging party at the peak. We explored the place for a while taking photos( yes, in that foggy misty drizzling wether Karthik vishal and Benjamin dared to take out their camera).
There was no sign of rest of our group. Unable to bear the cold, we decided to start our descent. By the time we reached the falls, we met rest of our group and told them the way up. (It was then Neeraj suggested a better route to go down the water falls which led us to nowhere and wasted half an hour of our time in that cold. I’m still waiting for a revenge). After crossing the jungle, we rested for a while at sesha parvatha. It was 4PM and the rains showed no signs of stopping. It was a marathon run downhill. 5 km nonstop. I reached Bhatta’s house an hour ahead of others and hence was lucky to get some food to eat. I slept for about 2 hours and woke up at dinner time. Everyone ate Rice and rasam af if they had not seen food for days. After dinner no further discussions – straight to sleep!
Next morning we got up early and left the place by 7:30 in the morning. Vishal, Benjamin and I ran ahead of the rest and reached downhill by 9am. There were more leeches this time and we made sure to pluck them every now and then. unable to find our vehicle, we ran straight to a hotel for breakfast. After about an hour and a half rest of the folks reached the civilization. After their breakfast we left to Bangalore. The vehicle had a good tv and sound system. Result? 3 animations back to back! – Finding the Nemo, Madagascar and The Incredibles! What a finish for an incredible trek.
Info: One can contact Bhatta’s house with numbers 9448647947 and 9945618495. Do remember to contact him before hand if you plan to have lunch/dinner at his place. He charges Rs.50 per lunch/dinner and some Rs.50 per head for stay.
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