Kumara Parvatha Trek

Kumara Parvatha

A Challenging journey of Kumara Parvatha trek, been waiting for a long-time. Until this day on 10th April 2015 when we (Jonathan, myself Santosh and Ishan) decided and booked ourselves on the 2 day Trek to Kumara Parvatha from BMC, also known as Pushpagiri at 1,712 metres (5,617 ft) is the highest peak in Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats of Karnataka.

Kukke Subramanya streets

We started by 10 pm from Bangalore in a tempo traveler, after a nasty journey night through the Western Ghats we reached Kukke Subramanya at 7 am in morning. We got freshen and started trekking from base camp of Kumara Parvatha around 9:00 am along with 31 trekkers, few of them were experienced trekkers and others were second and third time trekkers along with Santosh and Prasanna from BMC .

As we climbed up through the forest cover, we lost Ishan by first 45 minutes of trek. So we were forced to climb KP, hoping Ishan would be following us with other co-trekkers. Since we were informed about non-availability of water, each of us carried 2 litres of water along with glucose, electrolytes and granola bars.

We planned to take 5 minutes break in-between every 45 minutes of trek, which we did initially and as we climbed higher and higher we were tired and took break between every 35 minutes. We climbed zigzag trial and jungles started growing thinner, were the trail eventually opens onto hilly grassland, an indication that we are nearing Bhattar mane.

Buttara Mane

On reaching Bhattara mane by 12:00, we were served lunch (Rice with sambar along with pickles) and can’t forget Butter milk, very much refreshing it was. We filled empty bottles with water and unpacked some clothes and sleeping bag from our backpacks at Bhattara mane, so that our backpacks were light.

Viewpoint towards Kallu Mantappa

By 1:00 pm we then continued our trail from bhattara mane towards a viewpoint; we stood there for few minutes and clicked pictures of mountain, we were above to conquer and trailed towards Forest department for permission to trek to Kumara Parvatha Peak.

After passing 2nd viewpoint, the incline of trail begins and does increases gradually with hilly grassland. Trailing further we reached Kallu Mantappa, an ancient black stone structure, we rested for 5 -10 minutes. When we got clear of the forest, there was only one thing in front of us, and that was a peak, covered at the top in clouds.

Towards Sheshaparvatha

Climbing higher, we realized it wasn’t our destination as an even higher peak loomed behind it. Yes the trek from here on was unrelenting inclines with a series of false peaks which was tricking us to think we were almost at top of Sesha Parvatha (a peak before Kumara Parvatha).

We climbed up to Sesha Parvatha which gave us the most awesome views of the Old Mountain Stone face and the higher we climbed, the more we walked among the clouds, it was as if we were Gods and nature was glorifying us.

We forgot all about the pains, our blue thighs, but that didn’t mean much, because, Kumara Parvatha still looked down upon us like an unhappy Goddess.

We descended Sesha Parvatha into another thick jungle; we trudged through more forest cover infested with some of the most horrible looking leeches.

Massive Stone Cliff

Walked straight up a massive rock face that was slightly over 60 degrees, we have to scramble up steep sections of boulders and rock faces till we reach onto flat ground. As we trekked higher through open grass lands, you can actually feel the air getting thinner, your breaths deeper.

With low clouds and absolute silence, the feel of the place is simply divine. And then yes at 3:00 pm we saw our tri co-lour Flag flying in the wind.

Tri-colour flag at peak

I really cannot explain the feeling you get on achieving something like this. We met awesome like-minded trekkers this time, people who came with the sole intention of reaching up the peak. Doing something this insane makes you look at life differently, you doubt yourself, you fear less, knowing that you’ve pushed yourself physically and mentally to the limit.

Kumara Parvatha Peak

After resting at the peak for a while, we started descending down with intention of reaching Bhattara Mane before it gets darker and covered by clouds.

Descending Kumara Parvatha

While descending down, we noticed a thin guy was climbing up; yes it was Ishan whom we lost and missed throughout our trek climbing up.

Descending towards Buttara Mane

Descending down our knees was paining and our leg muscle was getting tight and was shaking when we stopped to take a break. Yes downhill walk with a heavy backpack is definitely a strenuous task for the knees. While reaching Forest office we noticed there were trees with some fruits, we went closer; it was guava. We plucked some of them from trees and reached Bhattara mane. We slept at flat surfaced view point, under a blanked of shining star’s. We woke up early in the morning; lemon rice was served at Bhattara mane.

Descending KP

Then we started descending downwards to base camp by 7:00 am. Walking downwards we noticed a person carrying a huge rice bag on his head climbing up the hill, we stopped and asked him why was he climbing with such a huge bag on his head and where was he going. We were blown away by his reply; he was person from Bhattara mane who used to carry food items (Rice, Vegetables...Etc) twice everyday from Town to Bhattara mane.  We reached the base camp by 1 hour 25 minutes, spent some time in shopping at streets of Kukke Subramanya temple and waited for other fellow trekkers to arrive.
Fully tired legs started our journey back to Bangalore and reached by 4 pm. Thank you BMC for organizing such a Wonderful Trek. Overall Kumara Parvatha was an amazing trekking experience and should be on your ‘to-do-treks’ list if you intend to take up trekking seriously. Any questions or suggestion leave it in comments, Thank You All.