Trek to Kumara Parvatha
Kumara Parvatha is one of those treks which are on the to-do list of most trekkers when they take up trekking in Karnataka. Touted as one of the toughest peaks to scale, Kumara Parvatha stands at a height of 1792 metres. Coincidently, I was told that this was also the first trek of BTC to KP.
The best part of venturing out with BTC is that while most are not known to you, it takes no more than an introduction to get started and share each other's trekking experiences. This time was no different as we all assembled at Shantana Silk which is better known to BTCians as the starting point for most treks.
Channa and Raja were the organizers for KP trek. Incidentally, there was another BTC group going to NP that night. I remember Raghunath introducing himself as I am Raghu, I am from AP and going to KP. We reached the holy base town of Kukke Subramanya early morning at around 5:30 am. After having darshan of Subramanya Swamy, we started ascending through dense forest cover for a couple of hours.
Many groups were also geared to scale KP that day. After couple of hours of trekking inside forest, we reach grasslands. The peak was now visible, well in sight but long way to go.
Next stop was at the only inhabited place on way, popularly known as 'Bhattramane'. This is not a village but only one house where you get food and water which tastes like nector when you are hungry and tired. The person named 'Bhattru' has travelled extensively in his hey days and now prefers to camp nowhere in the forest and help travellers with food on way to the peak. Next come the activity of counting the no of glasses of buttermilk everyone gulped. The buttermilk was curd mixed in water but did it not taste super awesome. That is what trekking teaches you. To appreciate things in life keeping in mind the context.
After having a sumptuous lunch, we were lazy to walk but we had to reach the camping point by 3 pm as was ordered by the Channa. Some more walking brought us to a wonderful site on a hill top with a marvellous view of the peak. The walk further was relatively easy and we finally reached the camping point near Kallu Mantapa. This was very strategically located with a water source nearby. Thanks to Channa for pushing the group to reach the camping point first. It got crowded as the day progressed. We then quickly setup our tents in the area and took a quick nap. It was 4:30 pm and some of us accompanied by Raja and Naresh (popularly known as Superman in the group for his heroics) decided to go further up straight to get a good view of the sunset. It was a marvellous site from there to see the entire Pushpagiri range.
We had to rush back to our tents as it got dark soon. Then started the feast, first with cup noodles and then followed by Channa's favourite green murukku which he distributed to perfection in the group. Raghu had brought food sufficient for the entire group. But that is what we thought initially and realized that we were so hungry that nothing seemed enough. Making rotis on the camp fire was super fun. Next day was going to be really gruelling and hence the team decided to go to bed early much to the dismay of Superman who wanted to spend the night besides camp fire.
We rolled two of the four tents the next morning and kept our luggage in the rest two. We started for the peak with some food and water and lot of energy. We reached a point in the middle where one could probably be blown away with the wind. Raja is enjoying the force in the picture below.
We reached Sheshagiri at around 8:45 am which was really good effort from the whole team. Channa then called all of us and told us that the peak is further up and the only way we can all go up was if we trekked really fast. Nobody was going to stay back. It was not a group of trekkers anymore; it was now a team ready to scale KP. And we did it in style reaching Sheshagiri parvatha at 11 am. The peak did give a feeling of accomplishment but it was far from what we had expected. Peaks are admired by many but it makes you feel lonely at the top. We did not miss any opportunity of clicking; thanks to Channa (see pic below).
It was then a matter of reaching Bhattramane and the team surprised Channa when we reached the house well before time without taking a break. It was all buttermilk effect. We had good lunch and lot of buttermilk and rested for a while. We reached the base at around 4:30. While descending, Superman and I decided to take the trash along with us. It felt good to have cleaned the forest even if this effort was very tiny for a range of its size.
We had some time on our hands and then came the best end to the trek with a refreshing bath in the river Kumaradhara.
We then also got a chance to visit Dharmasthala temple nearby. It was a perfect start and perfect end to the trek with the blessings of God. I had really wonderful time in the trek. Thanks to Channa and Raja for being the perfect organizers and to the whole team who scaled KP together. Hope to trek more with all of you and BTC.
Team: Mahesh, Raghunath, Ajinkya, Naresh, Channa, Raja, Vaibhav, Pradip, Sumithra, Sucheta, Neha, Shiva
Written By : Ajinkya Deshmukh
Organized By : Channabasapa Nad & Raja R
Date of event : 15th & 16th Nov 2014
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