55kms WOWbhp : kudremukh & Kilchikia

Two weeks before when me and Raj were doing our first RIDE + TREK at chembra, ma’am patiently waits for me to climb that peak, while trekking ..

Raj : I wanna do Kudremukh Peak too,

Ros : Wow, nice. I had been there via bike 

Raj :  Good, I might do it soon too.

Ros : (in my mind) All the best babes, huffing n puffin lemme get to chembra peak first before thinking of anything else

Just after a week I get notified on FB that Raj opened an event in BTC regarding the trek, I was like wow I love this woman’s’ determination. I quickly called her up and registered as a member of BTC- and also for the event. I got damn lucky that I got to trek with BTC for an overnight without qualifying with a day’s trek as it is for all new bee’s . I got to know the registrations are quite hard as there were only 12 slots and all were booked quite quick. Little did I know the person who I rode with that day was a window to me to meet 10K  + trekkers across Namma Bengaluru city.  With a minimal amount of 3k , i was all set to begin my first over night journey in a cage with a group of women who I had no clue off .

Being a biker , getting to a cage is a nightmare but well by now I have gotten used to face my fear so I was all set. Mother booked a rick for me which dropped me at shantala silk house majestic.

In no time all got into the TT , i had no clue all that I could get to choose was the last seat my hard luck, I should have been early but its ok  , all learning. I just wished and prayed I don’t puke and sleep like a baby.  The bus moved at 10:25pm i was surprised there was absolute no delay infact we started 5 mins early. As i was settling to sleep our organizers wanted us to introduce ourselves, My turn arrived and i found it a bit weird to say i am a biker .. i wanted to be recognized as a seasoned trekker However Raj was very keen on introducing me as a biker. So on my name then became the “Avenger Gurl” The intro’s were quite interesting , there were super fit house wives to working and married women and our own Raj had got her daughter too.

Below story will have names of all the girls who was my family for the two days. (strange that I traveled with folks i dint know at all, except Raj) Just a picture to relate names with faces.

L-H SumAkka, Raj , Meena , Hema , Viashu , Rashmi , Harshu, Raksha, Archu, Prathi. Mousmi is missing in this pic

Day 1 : 

2:30am TT stopped ,off-course the first thing i did when i opened my eyes to see my watch. It was a nature call break, I was happy I dint feel unwell or any kind of discomfort while travelling in TT  post break we rushed to sleep again I wanted to be in my cosy warm chair now. Exactly three hours later we reached Kudremukh foot hills. It was still dark and we waited for a bit of light to start off walking to the home stay, It was really really cold once we got off from the TT. We were told its just a normal walk of 7kms but what we discovered was its a a steep walk. It was quite a painful thing to trek first thing in the morning with our bag packs the 7kms never seemed to end at all. Enroute we saw a lot of jeeps loading people to the respective homestays so i asked Raj why we dint take one.. she said.. this is our warm up anyways we were not doing Kudremukh on day one. I walked and walked and walked.. Found a dead green snake too

We reached the homestay and it was crowded with too many people already. We were given one room for 11 girls . I was kinda mentally prepared because something of the same sort happened in my KODACHADRI TREK . Raj and Raksha wanted all of us to freshen up.. pack lunches , eat bf and get set to trek a hill called Baamikonda. I Just washed my face and hands and was busy eating bf which i dint like at all but well, no option eat what you get thankfully as long its edible.  I thank Raj who carried lunch for me as i had forgotten to get my lunch box.

The entire team was all set to get to explore our day one now. Enroute our way to Baamikonda we saw some bikers i was excited and i missed my Avie too,  As we took a deviation and started the climb slowly we were now engulfed by mother nature. There were water streams , the spectacular view of the Kudremukh hill which was our target hill for next day. As the ascent got difficult we saw cows grazing that those dizzy heights I kept telling myself if cows can I can too.

Soon we reached a place called Shola Heights, it was aother homestay on top of hills from our guide we got to know that they charge 2500per night and also could get you chcicken an all to binge on, It was a beautiful looking place. But its a pain to maintain such places in mountains n I personally dont feel its worth paying so much to just eat, sleep and shit.

Last few steps felt really tuff as the sun was on top of our heads,  but soon we reached to have lunch. We got busy eating with the boring puliogare, Mousmi had got bannana chips and Raksha a home made dry fruit laddu. What a food to relish. At this moment the clouds also made some time to the Horse’s mouth. While we got busy eating ,the horse ate clouds To have  a plate of food in front of you & a mountain cloud view is truly a bliss.

when the Horse’s Mouth was covered with clouds

Interestingly the dogs guided us during descent, they were stuck to Meenaksi just like a hutch puppy. Soon we had our guide taking us to a nearby waterfall, I personally dont like waterfalls much, but I went ahead for two reasons.

1. I know my foot will feel much better when the natural water gushes into my bare foot and massages it.

2. I had come soo far , I dint wanna be a spoil sport so just wanted to see it and wrap it up.

All the ladies went into the waterfall like a pro, I mean I dont know why I fear water soo much, I cant stop thinking of what if I slip and have a really nasty fall and I cant reach the kudremukh peak. Folks who know me also know I am extremely lazy to change the wet clothes, I dont know I find it a disgusting feeling.knowing I wont have a best of place to change and I feel entagled in my own clothes. Raksha somehow held my hand and got me near close to the water zone, I got extremely scared and just cant forget , how SumAkka just was in the mode of dragging me until I screamed out to her telling her, the way she fears riding I fear water .  Mousmi was a bit tired and wasn’t doing much there either I asked her if she wanted to come along with me to the room as I wanted to take bath asap. Before the entire Junta from other groups also came back to the homestay. Raj escorted me back  very sweety giving up her fun . I reached the homestay and for the next few mins felt the yukiest because I had to have bath in almost an ice cold water, in a bathroom that was quite dark and wasnt clean enough. I sorted all  asap . By the time I was out to have chai our gurls were back one by one. I was amazed to see how these women do things so quick and adjust so well with ZERO cribbing  Archu offered me tea first selflessly. Well I wasnt verbally telling anyone I had issues, but I am writing here Its quite difficult for me to stay with minimal amenities. Not like i am born with a silver spoon its just that I got ocd issues. I carry a small bottle of soap where ever i go, I  carry towels, wet tissues and blah blah blah.  Soon as the sun was deciding to hide behind the mountains we were having chai and hot pakoras, the pakoras got empty in seconds, The surprise that we had Harshita had got cup noodles and in that climate hot noodles felt like the best thing ever.  We had formed a circle and we had  to take a bite and pass on, its reminded me of how we used to pass smokes or daaru in the past during my over night rides.  For the first time after a long long time I felt extremely happy about myself. There is absolutely no necessity that if it gets cold one needs to drink to feel warm. I had the warmth of the company I spent with the right people. I loved everything about the company and the place. Slowly one by one girls started to head to the room I wanted to stay out enjoy the cold and the conversations but once I went in , it was very difficult to get out again. The tiny room was packed with 11 girls talking what not and waiting for dinner which was supposed to arrive at 7:30pm but due to delay it happened it at 8:30pm. In no time we were off to sleep.

Day 2I dint sleep properly the whole night sometimes it was because of the cold or sometimes it as because of the fear of the rest rooms being blocked in the morning considering the crowd that was there in our homestay. As per instruction we had to wake up at 5:30am but I woke up at 4:30am. I freshed up and was back to bed but to only watch the gurls getting ready one by one.  Again I couldn’t stop thinking of how things are now, I was with some completely different set of people to be around people who dont wake up to a smoke in their mouth or drink the left over beers was nice.  Please note I am not trying to demean anyone’s lifestyle as few months ago I was with them too. I am glad I am choosing the healthy life.  During Riding the first thing in the morning before chai was to check if the bikes were fine over here we had women doing Pranayama , it felt werid to be around them but I am glad i lived with them , I love the way they respect a gift called LIFE.

We packed idlis and chutney for bf and were all set to hit the mountains at 6:45am with the forest dept permission the trek kicked off. The sun was just rising , the mountains were getting back from black to green at the rays. I really can’t describe what it feels to meet these huge creations of God and the way they open their arms and take in the vitamin D of the sun abundantly , that is why they stand strong and beautiful.

Most of the route was water streams and a walk with hands held high as the grass was tall too. I had to give up to them before they gave me hickeys I wasn’t interested now considering I had the entire day to go by . with doing all the monkey things I could we reached the 5k mark girls decided to have bf.  I was busy clicking picks of while the ladies decided to feed me. yay.. pampering to me never ended.

It was now that the climb began to get steeper and steeper  and the pace of mine reduced drastically with time. Hema gifted me a stick now. I remember teaming up with harsh for a while doing 15 steps and then breathing out heavily. and redoing it again.  Raksha and Raj never left me alone. I was amazed to know women who were 35+ went off and me who i just 29 found is quite difficult but i don’t know what tired me or gassed me out.. the elevation or was i stopping too many times to click. I wasn’t getting enough of the mountains and the water streams . one of the videos were i was having fun via water streams.the mouth in the back groud was now 4kms away

I now began to be a pain to myself, I knew I could complete it but I also knew I had slowed Raj and Raksha I would look up to see the other girls but only find them missing they were out of sight now.  I began to enjoy the view less and concentrated on climbing faster. I think at some point I said to Raj that if I faint not to leave me, she then shouted at me and then said why she asked me to eat well in the morning. She went ahead to grab a bottle of ors from other gurls and in that peak she got back to me while Raksha was with me along with Rashmi and offered chikkis. That thing worked like a charm , now I decided to just keep my phone in and just be on the move . The more I would stop my heart rate would come down and it would be quite difficult for me to maintain the pace. I realized I still lack a lot of stamina , realized strength has got nothing to do with stamina. I wanted both badly but at this hour under the sun I wanted Stamina , I wished my engine had more power to catch up with the ladies just the way my bike does at times  but damn, It was quite difficult . Mind taking over matter.  Every time i would compare the trek trail to the roads on mountains , the twisties he views etc. Here also it was the same just that the path was extremely narrow no way could one take a cycle or a bike, One fall and you could go tumbling down.While the body got busy telling me to give up, my mind wanted to reach the peak and the self quarreling time lead me to a stretch of flat land finally before the actual last ascent to the main peak.

Just before the last stretch the girls were chilling out in the last shade available waiting for us to go up together. Raj ordered me to eat a sweet which I did eat but I dint want to stop and chill out, I just wanted to be on the move.  With a feeling that I would get no more oxygen , every nerve screaming to stop , FINALLY i saw the board which said KUDREMUKH PEAK.  I looked 360 degree. I was spell bound not because I completed the trek but because now I could see the world . Felt how faaaaaaaaaaar from home it felt like only mountain peaks and clouds and me. I couldn’t help but wanted to capture this moment upside down which i did, my head down to earth. !!!                                                                                                                                                                           Raksha and Raj wasnted to descent down as soon as possible considering it was already 1:30pm we had to have lunch too and the top did feel estatic but I knew my weakness I was slow I dint want the team to suffer to dint complain much when the organizers decided to leave the place post a group picture. I dint feel like eating those idlis for lunch so ate one for the heck of it else Raj would be pissed with me. Sweetly she offered me honey oats biscuits which I ate. The pampering never seemed to end .

At about 2:30pm we decided to descend down, my left leg gave up and I was in constant pain at the knee which I cant define. For about 2 hours of the journey I had constant hand holding from Raj or Raksha else I was extremely slow . I felt if I jumped my knees would be sepearated. At some point I had to roll up the pant and tie it tight to my knee for support , apply volini which was offered by raksha.  After quite a lot of time Raj explained to me to trust the body and showed me how to just focus on going a tad bit faster to avaoid the pain.

My trip changed after that, I believed my leg was designed to take the shocks it was not necessary for me to go slow , I jumped hopped skipped and went. Soon I could join some of the girls who went ahead . I wondered why Raj dint tell me this before. anyways now i had her daughter to gimme company, this kid was the fittest in the group. It was amazing how the guys from other groups began to give me way. Whilst sometime back I was giving them way .  I was now feeling like getting out of mountains not that I had got bored of the views but I had enough of it in a day.

soaking in the sun in the sneak n peaks of the green forest

A short video captured by Raj where i was running with her daughter.  HERE  At almost the end when I was waiting for some gurls to catch up I remember telling Raj, that I dint feel the fear so bad of getting rejected by BTC – WOW for the next trek . I knew I wasnt so bad end of the day and would definetely be shortlisted for future treks . It was a great thing to know my weakness I know I have a lot to do to increase my stamina now.

We reached our room at about 4:30pm and were asked to quickly eat lunch and pack up to leave the place as we had to go to Hornadu to temple.  I had a sinking feeling, I kept thinking was I too fast or did I spend quality time with mother nature. There was no room for anything to think, soon we were loaded into a jeep like a bag pack. It was unbelievable that we had walked quite a lot of distance to the homestay. Sumakka was shocked I began to sing a lot of Kannada tracks on the drive back  snapshot of the video here . We were dropped to our TT and we stopped for chai .

I did a mistake of having stale chips with it , I felt extremely dizzy in my last seat till we reached Hornadu. Sadly even this time I dint go inside the temple , I prayed from out to have made the trip successful and also prayed to keep me asleep till i reach home the next day . I dint wanna wake up to feel the un easiness.  Some girls had dinner there , while i just chose to go back to sleep again after buying some lemons and souff. I opened my eyes when at 3:30am driver yelled it was nelmanagala. He prolly drove like there is no tomorrow. We arrived at majestic at 4:30am hema  and prathi accompanied me in the auto as we were all enroute . I reached home paying 600Rs to the auto driver. Maa opened the door I straight went to my room and I was off. I had to report to work at 1:30pm .

Written By     : Roshini S Miraskar

Organized By : Raksha & Raja Lakshmi

Date of event : 10th & 11th Dec 2015

Place              : Kudramukha