Kumaraparvatha Trek 29-30th November 2008

We made our first attempt to conquer the Pushpagiri popularly called as Kumara Parvatha or KP in short on Feb 22-23rd 2008. We had to abort the trek as 2 of our friends fell sick. So there was a kind of empty space in my heart.. which needed to be filled up with the sense of conquering the most popular trekking spot in Karnataka.

Again.. November 3 rd week..Abhijith popularly called as Bhatta called me up and said "how about a Trek to Kumar Parvatha on a NEW MOON day.. it will be pitch dark at night ..my friends are planning for it will you join?" I was a bit apprehensive as it was raining cats and dogs in Bangalore. Finally i made up my mind and said yes..
So a team of 9 was formed.. Bhatta, Ashwath, Prithvi, Sarath, Pradeep(Model), Manu, Manish, Prakash and Vishnu(Myself) (my friend Vijay Bhaskar dropped out at last minute for personal reasons)


Nov 28th we got into a Rajahamsa bus at 945 pm which dropped us at Kukke Subramanya at 5 AM in the morning. We finished the toilets at the bus stand latrines, and had our breakfast at Neo Mysore Cafe hotel. Some of my friends went for Morning Darshan @ kukke temple, i personally would not recommend a temple darshan in the morning coz then you would not have time to Trek to the Top of KP in a single day. Ideal Time to Star the trek would be 6:30 AM- 7AM. We packed some idlies to save time at Bhattru mane which is halfway b/w kukke and KP. We started the trek a bit late at 8:45 AM... It was fortunately a Sunny Day.. No sign of Rainy clouds ..


Just beside the temple there is a road that leads to the base of KP trek start point. On walking about a km..we get a Board displaying the trek details of the KP.

We started the trek at a normal speed uphill.. There were lotsa leeches on the way. To prevent it we usually dip our Socks in water mixed with Nashya pudi or Snuff Powder, and then we dry it for 2 days before wearing it. And we insert the ends of our pants into the socks and tie the lace hard around the hunter shoes and our socks as well. That will prevent any leech entering the confines of your pant :) (Manu's Idea!)

3 km uphill after about 2.5 hours we got to this place called Bheemana Kallu where if you explore a bit to the right side of the stone you will find a stream of water..where you can fill up your water bottles. If you have time take bath there as well..

but i would recommend not to take bath to save time. This point is more or less the halfway mark to the Bhattru Mane. Now on the way a funny thing happened ..our friend Manish was feeling very thirsty, so he dipped his hand into his friends bag and found a COLA bottle..thinking it to be PEPSI/COKE he took a gulp only to realize that it was KEROSENE.. he spat it out and was looking very very very tense!! as though he might die..we had a good laugh..

Again we started proceeding to Bhattru Mane..slowly now the forest cover gave away to grassland which was getting more and more ...which further started dwindling to become dry lands with Grass here and there...that is when you will get the feel of "Sun Stroke" it was almost 12 by now.

This is where i guess we could avoid the Noon Heat by starting the trek very Early by say 7 AM.

We entered a very flat area..where we could see the Bhattru mane Thota! .. from here Bhaththadharaashi and sheshaparvatha looks really majestic!!

We reached Bhattru Mane by around 1245PM and we ate the packed Idlies for our lunch in Bhattru's house @ Girigadhdhe.

Mr Narayan Bhat is a simple man, who provides shelter, food at nominal rates for trekkers.

Bhatta had bought lotsa fruit juices..which we had to our hearts content(Though it was not necessary)

Then we made a mistake of starting the trek immediately after lunch..not giving sufficient time for digestion..we started the trek again at 1:45..after paying the forest check post a fee of Rs 115/- per head, we proceeded towards the Mantapa which would be our next water point.

At the base of the Baththadharaasi hill myself,Bhatta and Ashwath got the dizziness that we never had got before ... we 3 had reached Bhattrumane 30 minutes later than others so we needed rest..so we dumped our bags on ground and fell asleep for 40 minutes right under the hot sun till 3 PM.

After a sufficient rest and another 30 min trek to Mantapa (a stone made shelter)..where we filled our water bottles. We took rest till 4 and decided that we shall trek as far as possible until sunset.. by 430PM at the base of Sheshaparvatha we had to experience a heavy Downpour of Rainfall..it was like buckets and buckets of water pouring onto you continuously.

It was raining heavily on Sheshaparvatha and Bhaththadharaashi..however the Bhattru Mane and Kukke which could be seen from the place where we camped did not have any rainfall..it was sunny there as it lies in the Rain-Shadow area.

Then the rain stopped briefly..we camped at that place itself and pitched up the 2 tents we had.
At 630 PM sunset ..we decided to call it a day and went inside our tents..had our chapathis and Chatni pudi ,Jam. It started raining by 7pm.

Myself, Sarath,Model,Prakash and manish slept in one tent. Bhatta,Ashwath and Prakash in the other. Manu who was very much used to sleeping out in the wild..slept between the 2 tents. Then by around 8pm..there were heavy winds..that threatened to throw our tents over the cliff where we had camped. We made the mistake of camping between the valley of 2 mountains Baththadharaasi and Sheshaparvatha.

Then came the worst of all .. THUNDERSTORM AND LIGHTNING!!! we were all hoping that we will survive the night..we were soaked in water ..our sleeping bags were wet..worst of all was the cold wind!

Meantime Manu got inside bhatta's tent which was not pitched properly, the only thing that prevented the tent from flying away was Ashwath sleeping at the center of the tent!

After a Nightmarish sleep ..morning however turned out to be a pleasent one..so with our tube sheets and little chocolates we left all out trekking bags in the tents and we proceeded towards sheshaparvatha.

View from Sheshgiri was beautiful..from the cliff top ... Manu showed us the BISLE Ghat on one end and Kumaradhara river valley on the other... and he was able to identify Doddakal Betta and Kagineri Plateau at the North!!

KP was fully covered with clouds so we could not see the top..

From Sheshagiri we had to enter a forest downhill ..and there was a flat land where we had to trek for about 25 minutes untill we reach the base of Kumara Parvatha. There is a very small Stream at the base..which is the last water source.

Last hurdle to climb the gigantic KP is a 15-20m tall 70 degree inclined rock.. we held the bushes around the rock and clambered up..and we crossed a foliage of short trees..
Finally we saw a marking showing us direction to the top..

we reached a arranged stone wall which houses a sacred Shiva Linga . At once we realized we had reached the summit.
What A Feeling!!!!! Ours hearts were fully satisfied..especially after that terrible night!!it would have been greater to reach there in the first day itself...we made it anyways! We were very happy..and enjoyed every moment of the hour we spent at the top.
We rested there took some photo's.

We then met 3 trekkers from Bangalore who had come from Somwarpet side..
They were literally scared to the limits..coz of the heavy downpour on the previous night! where they had to camp on a SLOPE as they did not get any flat land! coz of which the downpour made their tents shift downwards..scaring the daylights out of them. Also they had run out of food..and were wondering whether they will back back alive.. And they had sighted few snakes as well...

They had some very good photographs of one cobra in their Cannon D-SLR. Below is one of the photo taken by them..we were dumbstruck after seeing it!

They had heavy tents ..so we helped them till our base camp.


At 945 AM We decided to get back to the camp..as we had not yet had our breakfast. We stopped by sheshaparvatha took some nice snaps. KP was looking just awesome..with clouds in its background. It was a breathtaking view of KP with Sheshagiri top.

Then we made to our tents and packed it off. We had lots of chapathis.. which we shared with 3 trekkers. By 1030AM we started towards Bhattru mane in Girigadhdhe. We reached there by 1215-1230PM. Lunch was ready by 1. We had lunch and rested till about 230PM.

We refilled our water bottles.. we trekked downhill for about 3 hours fighting mosquitoes and leeches. And reached Kukke by about 645pm just before it became pitch dark!

I enjoyed every moment of the serene forest ..

When i used to see the sky..the clouds were forming patterns which seemed to represent calmness !!

Back in kukke at 7pm..Manu sarath and others took bath in Kumaradhara river.. myself Bhatta took bath in a lodge nearby..

Had a heavy dinner and left for bus stand.

All of us were quite relieved ..that we conquered KP..

Last but not least.. i was happy a lot trekking with my buddies.. so i must mention a few words about them as well

Bhatta: One of my best buddies since 4th std..working in ASM Technologies..

Ashwath,Model, Sarath,Prakash were working in Oracle.. i got to know them through Bhatta.. All of them were fully filled with enthu and jokes....

Manish: the kerosene drunkard :) :) was our trek Garbage collector ..did a fabulous job at cleaning our mess and saving mother nature..

Prithvi and Sarath were nature loving buddies..

Manu pasha was my ISRO Trek club member and colleague .. incidently he was my senior in Engineeering college too..

We all decided unanimously that we shall trek as a group in future too...considering that OUR FIRST TREK AS A TEAM was a SUCCESS..

with this mood we all boarded the buses

Manu went in a different bus .. rest of us went in another Rajahamsa at 9PM. We chatted in the bus for 15 minutes..

Just after the bus entered Sakleshpur Ghat section, it took a big turn to the left..i instantly fell asleep and dreamt of walking towards the KP ... it was surrounded by Red orange skies created by the morning sun! I was enjoying the serene environment between KP and Sheshagiri.. suddenly i fell down from sheshagiri's cliff .... only to realize that i had jerked from my seat forward ... when the Rajahamsa bus driver applied brakes near Bangalore at 530AM.

Love you a lot KP!!