KumaraParvatha 1 Day Challenging Trek !!

Members: Sumeet, Harshad, Amit, Raghvendra and Sorujit

Alright, I was done with most 1 day treks around Bangalore but those were not just good enough to quench my thirst for the weekend hardcore trek. Looking with the limited options that I had , I short-listed Kumaraparvatha trek to be covered in a single day. Although I have earlier attempted this trek, I was not able to reach the peak due to certain conditions. So the mission this time was to reach the peak and get down - all in a day. Plan was to start from Kukke - KP Peak - Descend from Other side - Somwarpet and next day cover Mallali falls and then back to Bangalore. To complete this mission successfully, I decided to pick only few people whom I believe had good will power and stamina. Here it starts....

Its Friday evening and Bangalore traffic is at its best mode - terrific. Being the organizer, I start in time and reach Raghvendra's place to park my bike and start for Majestic. Crawling thorugh traffic, we finally reach majestic after an hour and have some nice hot rice-bath. In short time, Amit and Sorujit join us there and we head towards the bus. Almost on time, bus starts from Majestic and starts making terrible sound from the axle. Hearing those noises, we wonder if we are going to reach

Kukke or not. Finally, our last member, Harshad joins us at Yeshwwantpur and we are set on the highway for our destination. Amit, with his loud tone, continues chatting with Harshad, disturbing fellow passengers. We sleep off in some time.

Its around 6 AM and we wake up and find the bus crossing the dense forest near Kukke. The entire area covered with dense fog and cold winds make it a fresh morning for us.In another half hour, we reach Kukke. With some search around, we manage to find room nearby. We quickly freshen up and

have breakfast at hotel nearby. A very short prayer from outside the famous Kukke temple, a snap

and we start off for the trek. A kilometer walk on tar road and then starts the entrance to the Kumaraparvatha trek. There is a board mentioning the same. Few snaps here and we start the main trek from here.

The first stretch of the trek is dense forest for 6 km till Bhattaramane (small house providing food and shelter to trekkers) and its heavily infested with leeches. So you cant dare to stand at any place whatever the matter. Being used to trekking, I along with Harshad and Amit continued to walk at decent pace while Sorujit and Raghvendra are looking slow and soon we are pretty ahead of them. 3 km of non stop walk with our bag pack and we desperately await for the BIG ROCK. This rock has been mostly known for it being leech free and acts as a good break for trek between Kukke and Bhattaramane. We reach this rock and are happy sighting it. We are however unaware of the surprise. We sit on the rock only to know that this rock is also covered with leeches this time. Harshad and I decide that its useless sitting here and we start off from there with hardly a minute break. Amit gets left behind soon.

Another 3 km of non stop hike and with no rains, we had begin sweating enough. Finally, we are out of the forest , with open sky view after long time and just 500 metres away from Bhattaramane. We just turned around and we are treated with a beautiful view from the height and also the Kukke village (covered with mist) from where we started.

We continue and reach Bhattaramane only to find that there is no food, no tea....just nothing. We get back to the spot from where trek needs to be continued so that we can get hold off the other 3 folks on the way. In short time, Amit , Sorujit and Raghvendra arrive.

Briefing them about Bhattaramane situation, we decide to continue and reach the forest post in short time. Looking to quickly wind up formalities, we are waiting outside as we send Raghvendra to complete formalities. Its here where we get the shock that trekking down from KP on other side is not allowed. With not much options in our hand, we decide to keep all bags at forest check post and move all food stuff and water into a single bag pack that we would carry till the top. We continue and we are shortly greeted with a beautiful view point.

We take some snaps here. In few seconds, heavy rains start and we get a trailor of howz the next 3-4 hours are going to be like. We continue and reach Mantapa by around 12:30 where we decide to have lunch...(Dates,biscuits, oranges, juice, energy bars). Lunch program being almost over, suddenly very strong winds start along with heavy showers and we decide to continue in the rains. The ascend seems tough and we have no idea of whats going to be the place for our night stay - Forest check post, Bhattaramane or the Kukke village. We continue with very less and small breaks. Harshad and I carry the bag pack for most of time. Amit assists at times. We couldn't expect much from Sorujit and Raghvendra as they were not used to such long treks itself.

We keep the momentum going and reach Sheshparvatha in some time  from where KP is another 2 km. From here, forest starts and the trail starts descending for few minutes. Everyone is awaiting the top given the long stretch that we had covered with very less breaks. Ascend starts again and then its time to trek for some time through the stream. A big slippery rock lies ahead with stream originating from there. Heavy winds with rains but we still manage to take few snaps here. A narrow trail from left side of the rock is the way to proceed.

From this rock, forest is over and the winds here are so strong that it can blow off a person off his feet. At times, we sit down, hold grass on the ground or the rocks to save ourselves from getting blown away. Somehow few more minutes of trekking and we reach the temple which marks the top of the peak. The strong wind, heavy rain and dense fog all completely hide the view.

All we are restricted is 20-30 metres of visibility. Its 3:15 PM when we reach and we are almost sure that getting back to Kukke is not possible anymore with time passing fast. We eat whatever food is left with us and start back in 15 minutes.

On the way back, soon after we start, we take a wrong turn and we end up spending 30 minutes to figure out the right way. Its almost 4 PM and we are yet to cover the 6 km till the forest check post. We decide to go down with no breaks at all. Mid-way, the sky finally gets cleared and few of us manage to capture few snaps with a clear view.

We reach back to forest checkpost by around 6 PM and wait for Amit /Sorujit who are slightly behind. We have to make a call - and I along with Harshad decide to make it back to Kukke on same day. By 6:15 PM, we pick our bags from check post and start on the way back. Non stop walk from there through the leech infested forest and finally we are out of the forest by 7:30 PM.

The next agenda is to quickly look out for a room and we walk to the Kukke temple where lodges and stay options are there. To our surprise, being some festival at Kukke temple, all lodges are full and we are not able to get any room. Few suggested to skip Malalli falls for the next day and leave back to Bangalore. We thought of it as a good option and quickly booked a bus. Other folks not being so hungry decide to freshen up and they enter the Kukke bus stand. I decide to have my dinner instead and enjoy 2 masala dosas. The private bus we booked had the last row for 5 of us and so you can imagine the bumpy ride full night, specially after 13 hours of trekking.

All in all, the best and most challenging trek of my life with lot of uncertainties throughout.

Thanks to my team for accompanying me on this trek !! And to God , for keeping us safe !!

Accessory References helpful for such treks:[Get Flipkart on Mobile]
Rucksack Bag

Hiking Shoes

Hiking Pole

WaterProof Sony Mobile

WaterProof Panasonic Mobile