Our team...from left to right...shreyas...santosh..me..gangadhar...shashidhar...
mr bhat(not our team...hehe)..harish...
rohan and goutham...
It all started wen suddenly shreyas asked me to come for a trek to kumara parvata(KP)...i knew it wud be one of the hardest treks....so was a bit apprehensive abt my participation...and also since it was a 2 day trek i really wasnt sure abt it...but somehow agreed to go(amidst the some of the busiest days of my life)....
the day was 12th of jan 2007...that day i had already been to a resort on the outskirts of bangalore and had already punished my body enuf...also had hurt my ankle badly while playing cricket..!!...it was kinda paining like hell...so now the real apprehension started...whether to go or not to go...whether not to go or go...but since the bus tickets were already booked i really had no chance to back off...
That day finished enjoying at the resort and came back home by around 6 PM...and since nothing was packed , started packing evrything in a hurry...(luckily dint forget anything...hehe)...finished packing...left home at 915...reached the bus station by 920...
The supposedly 945 leaving bus came late(IST)...maybe around 10 PM...boarded the bus and there began the journey... To my astonishment the bus was crowded...ppl were even standing...and the narrow margin between the seats worsened my ankle pain... Reached somwarpet at around 5 in the morning...took a room in one of the hotels...(i dont hav to say y... ;) )...got ready by 7AM to catch the 715 AM bus to Beedhalli(or is it Beeghalli…I m still not sure…hehe..)…Beedhalli is located 20 kms from somwarpet…we reached there by 830…and without wasting anytime started the trek…
Initial 2-3 kms weren’t much interesting but for a narrow bridge which we had to cross over…and the dirt-filled path almost encourages u to get totally demoralized abt the trek…and also thanks to some misguiding ppl who say that landmarks are so close and u walk forever to find them..!!
Just after an hour’s trek we get the shantalingeshwara temple…the place is quite calm…and more refreshing is the cold water u get outside the temple….one point here is that we had already overtaken “the uncles” team by the time we reached the temple…we and “the red bulls” were neck to neck at this stage….there was some kinda implicit competition going on between us…but the red bulls just by-passed the temple wen we were inside it….so managed to gain quite a handy lead of say abt 15 mins….
Let me deviate from the topic just a bit and tell u all y we nicknamed them “the red bulls”….well wat can ya call trekkers with heavily stuffed backpacks and a bunch of transparent plastic covers filled with cans of the “RED BULL” drink…hehe…
Hence the name…
A check-post marks the beginning of the forest area which was incidentally closed cos of sankranti…there isn’t much scope for getting lost in the thick forest since it has well defined path….infact there isn’t any chance to get lost in the whole trip which is undoubtedly attributed to the 6000 trekkers who go by this route every year…the path leads us thru all kindsa terrain…ups…downs…planes…and the like….climbing the ups pulls ur thighs pretty badly…and don’t ever think downs are aaram….downs put all kinds of pressure on ur knees….and that’s pretty much worse than ur thighs being pulled….no complaints about the plain terrain….hehe….
At one point inside the forest u hear a loud gush of water which obviously is that of a waterfall…but trying to reach it wud b asking for trouble unless u hav pro trekking equipments…and worth mentioning is the fact that wherever u find water in these forests , its colder than ice….believe me on that…
Proceeding further up the tree covered steep hills we reach a point which leads to 2 paths…
The path to the right goes to girigadde (and subramanya) thru the forests and is a shortcut….taking this path means u are skipping the main KP peak and ensures that ur trek is shortened and also less fun…from this point girigadde is 6.5 kms and to subramanya it is 12 kms….
The path to the left takes u to one of the most steepest rocks…probably 70 degrees wrt to the horizontal…a first luk makes u wonder if it is climbable…little do u know how fun it is to climb…once u start climbing that u ll really fall in love with it…to get to the peak we need to climb three such steep rocky hillocks…once that’s done a 15 minute trek uphill takes u to one of the most scenic spots…1700 metres above the sea level…that’s KP….once u r here u find ppl who hav taken the route from subramanya to this point…
By the time we reached this spot it was about 330 PM…and thanks again to some horrible misguidance from some ppl which resulted in us simply wandering the peak luking for an alternate route to kukke…1 precious hour wasted….this is the half way point…from here on its only descend descend descend….all the way….thru the grassy mountains leaving behind all the forests…
The descent starts with the king of kings…the steepest rock…and descending it is slightly harder than climbing…then about 15-30 mins of dense green cover…and then begin the grassy mountains….
a picture of the grassy mountains to the right...ppl descending it are also visible
These grassy mountains are plain at most of the parts and occasionally leads us down as well…this part of the trek makes u feel as if u were Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamjee of the lord of the rings…u will trek past approximately 5-6 such hills with dead drop on both sides until we reach the mantap…it just took us abt an hour from the KP peak to the mantap…it was about 545 in the evening wen we were there….we found some plain land so that we cud unwind our tents just abt about a few feet below the mantap since the mantap was already occupied by another gang…this place is ideal to pitch ur tents since this place is plain , pretty much protected by the winds and most importantly u get running water here….wud u believe that…!!...and that since we were already running short of water this place was like finding water in desert…this place is way way better than a desert though…no comparisions whatsoever…given a chance I wud live my entire life there…!!...no kidding…
sunset time on the left...
It was getting pretty dark and we had just enuf time to pitch in our tents and watch the sun sink in…in style…hehe….lighted campfire…though it wasn’t that cold out there…but campfire is a different experience altogether…Ate chapatis which we had brought from Bangalore from our homes…then dozed off in the tents at about 830….
It wasn’t in anyway chilly…Bangalore we thought was way cooler…and just as if to prove us wrong…at 430 in the morning winds started blowing so fast that everyone woke up fearing that the tents wud fly off…!!...it was as if the winds and the tents were fighting to show us who the ultimate winner is…our tents easily won though…J…this was the perfect time for campfire as
we lit it again and really had amazing fun...the pic to the left shows a bird's eye view of the forest checkpost and the paths we treaded...
Then started our second day at about 8 in the morning…a bit late though…waded past abt 7-8 grassy hills again till around 930 till we reached another checkpost which incidentally was open…everyone who passes this check-post has to pay 70 bucks(ie 70 per person)…tuk some rest there and left the abode of the forest police…J…then reached girigadde at 10 AM….ate our breakfast….uppit and chitranna…everyone ate so much of it which proved that we were already bugged of chapattis…hehe….the breakfast costs 25 bucks per person and each coffee costs 5 bucks…dunno abt a meal though…we then tuk off for the last segment our trek…all the way down to kukke…
We started at 1030 AM…and trekked past some plains until dense forest cover started again....this way down , I shud admit is to steep…I fell off thrice trying to cover large distances in short time and also twisted my already sore ankle twice….
A slight detour from the topic…I had already mentioned that my ankle was paining so much even b4 the start of the trek that I cudnt even walk…well…the pain was gone now…gone for good…and I was feeling as if I was still a teenager….hehe…
Back to the topic…coming to the steep way down….the best feature of this route is that wherever it is too steep to climb down , there are 2 paths…ones the steep one…and another almost plain…which I think is specifically made for ajjis and thaathas and all other kindsa weak people…
We climbed down and down and down so much that it felt like it wud take an eternity to reach down…until finally it ends kinda abruptly…we finally reached kukke at 1230 PM after 1.5 days of pure thrill…the hardest trek in karnataka was over after 38 kms of trekking…From this place a 1 km walk leads us to the temple…
From there we had a bath in the kumaradhara river which flows thru that place…had darshan…took a bus to dharmasthala at 530 PM since all buses from kukke to Bangalore were already booked…reached dharmasthala at 730…booked the 945 bus to Bangalore and simply wandered around the place to kill time…its worth mentioning that dharmasthala has buses to Bangalore every 3 mins…unbelievable…!!...
Its finally 945….time to leave…but the bus is late again….it left at 10…no complaints though…hehe…the bus driver is probably trying to fill in schumacher’s place…we were in Bangalore at exact 5 in the morning(jan 15th 2007)…
We ran along to the bmtc bus stand…was amazed to see a bus to my place…it was like as if it was waiting for me…it started instantly…I was home within 20 mins….cool isn’t it…
Its 545 in the morning…I hit the sack and dozed off….and so did everyone when they reached their homes…
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