Ohh…!Shesha parvatha we were almost there last time ,but due to blustery weather and incessant rain we were forced to walk down. Almost a year it all started again with

A bunch of mail chains digging the debris of the mad gang fellows (Hari, Me, Vijay and others) for a response. This time some more baby trekkers joined Sumanth,Sampath,Swapnil,Yuvasree,Sarath.Finally Jan 4 and 5 were decided.

One can google about KP(Kumara Parvatha) but its a formal way to tell to  the readers about the KP and so ,The Kumara parvatha is the second highest peak in Coorg district (Karnataka state) after Tadiandamol peak. Trek starting point is Kukke Subramanya. Famous Kukke Subramnaya temple is located in Subramanya.If you go by the number of people who gives away in the middle,this mountain is one of the difficult ones to trek. The total trek distance to reach the peak is 13kms and it takes 8-10 hrs of time to trek the peak.

 It is considered to be the most difficult peak of western ghats as one has to carry their own needs(food,tents,bags etc) to the top and stay at the top with what one has.It is the case of an individual who  has to exhibit the character which shows  patience,determination and planning and more importantly never giveup attitude(one more a sense of humour J), provided that one has good physical condition.The Mother nature doesnt provide us any shortcuts and it is the hard way to reach the destination and  to trek in the dense forests surrounded by huge mountains,one has to go through all the difficult terrains to reach the peak.One thing is for sure the first 2 to 3 km is very steep and here you need lot of perseverance and energy.

 The Pre-trek...

And the preparations had begun and we had prepared a checklist by gathering info from the blogs.The checklist contains the following things to be carried individually for the trek.

- A light and strong backpack.
- Extra pair of clothing.
- Tents, Sleeping bag and sleeping mat (optional) (personal)
- Water bottles (at least 2 liters each), energy drinks ex glucose/ energy bar/electrolyte
- Wind- cheater & warm inner
- Personal camera, Torch, Mobile & sufficient battery back up
- ID card, sufficient cash and emergency contact info (personal)
- Iodex spray, Volini,cramp bandage & personal medication
- petrol (for making fire) and match box/ lighter (shared)
- slippers to roam around at top (personal), salt/ snuff powder to avoid leeches
- Nylon lightweight rope & knife (shared)

It had all started on friday jan 3rd , we (Hari,Vijay,Sumanth,Sampath,Sarath,Swapnil,Yuvasree and Me )boarded a bus to Kukke subramanya from bangalore. It was a overnight bus journey to reach kukke and it takes 6-7 hrs of journey.It was a bumpy ride all through the ghats and most of us didn't quite get the sleep and so early in the morning at about 5:30am we were in Kukke subramanya.

Far way from the Urban jungles, we were greeted by the cold breezes of the Dawn in the small town subramanya. Near to the temple road  there were public toilets and we had done our morning ablutions and by 6:30am we all got ready. So we had an very early breakfast in one of the hotels on the  temple road and so all had a stomach full breakfast thinking that trek is strenous :).

Kumara parvatha at the backdrop of Kukke Subramanya Temple.

The Beginning...
Kumara parvatha trek route  :
Trek can be logically divided into 4 stages.
Stage 1 : Trek starting point (Kukke temple) to Battara Mane
Stage 2 : Battara Mane to Kallumantapa
Stage 3 : Kallumantapa to Sheshaparvatha
Stage 4 : Shesha Parvatha to Kumara Parvatha Peak.

The Nukes were in position @ 7:30am and we all set ready and all our bags are supplied with eatables ,water and energy drinks.
But before starting we have checked weight of our bags and found that Hari's and Yuvasree both had got some more weight on their backs so they both have decided to putoff some luggage in the cloak room available there near the temple.We have hired two 4 people capacity tents and one 2 -people capactiy tent was bought.

Having made sure all that, we have started the trek.Initially it was about half a kilometer on the road  to reach the foot of the KP.

Sumanth,Hari,Vijay and Swapnil.

Sarath,Sampath and Yuvasree

After a walk of  5-10 minutes we have reached the foot of KP and we can see the board which says "Way to Kumara Parvatha".And from here can see the real trek starts and as we were excited, we have entered through the gate with great energy.

Way to Kumara Parvatha.
As we have started on the trail path, at the very first leg we had seen that it is avery dense forest covered with huge trees and bushes.The initial route of about 15-20 mins is an easy walk with many ups and downs and we could observe the birds chirping and the sounds that one could only hear in the forests and it was very pleasant to walk.There were many fellow trekkers passing by.greeting one another with frequent question of "Are you from Bangalore?".It is easy to guess the people and most of the trekkers are techies from Bangalore.As we walk through the forest,  we were slowly out of civilization voices and absolutely in to very deep forest.

Deep in to the woods.

After the initial stretch of 45mins we had taken a break and we were sweating, aahs.. oohs..  are coming out involuntarily from everone and we were breathing very heavily :).From here onwards everyone realized that it was going to be the most tiring trek.Literally everyone's breakfast got digested.We had continued passing through innumerous old trees and fallen logs along the path.It was calm and serene going through .Since it was Fall, the trees had shed their leaves and the trail path was covered with all the dried leaves and can hear only  the sound generated from the foot steps on the dried leaves. The climb became steeper and steeper  and slowly the Sun has started penetrating in to the huge trees and occasionally we were intersecting the rays.By the time sun becomes hotter,we had thought to cover the Bhattaramane.The pace started to vary with us and we had made a protocol with our whitsles for stopping ,continuing, signalling among us .This kaizen was given by Yuvasree :).The idea is to give a long whistle for stop
and a double whistle for continuing.We were constantly taking the small breaks as we were getting exhausted by continous steep climbs and in between were exchanging the load of carrying the tents with us.Apart from Vijay, none of us able to cope with the steepness and literally Sarath became exhausted now and then.But he likes to be in these kind of situations and that what made him to carry on.All the energy drinks,Lemons and salts were constantly and involuntarily being taken by us.This phase had gone along till we have seen the zig-zag path which means that initial phase in dense forest has comes to an end.And could see the distant town Subramanya from the mountains and soon we have realized that we had trekked a long distance.

Town at a distance.

The steep climb has come to an end and from here on about 2kms walk in the grasslands we can reach the bhattaramane.Infact our steep climbing was not as slow as we expected and we thought to take a break at place where one dustbin kept and it was a great sigh of relief...!!!

sigh of relief....

Now we were competely exposed to sun and the sun was beating down heavily at us but the best part was that we were silmply walking on the dried grass lands.We were going along nicely with lots of sweat but sun has started to sap all our energies.we had started to feel the dehydration.

easy walk on grass lands.

It was time again to take a small break at the "Pushpagiri vanyadhama board" to prepare our energy drinks with glucon-d and lemon.

Pushpagiri forest reserve

Glucon-D

Walking under the sun is not an easy task and all our liquids were completely sapped by sun within no time.

And after a walk of 15mins from the pushpagiri forest reverve board we had reached the Bhattaramane.

Bhattaramane inside the dense betel nut trees.

To our surprise the clock still read the time 10:30am.We were astonished by our efforts and as soon as we reached the bhattaramane, we have refreshed ourselves and ordered for lunch to Mr.Bhatt.He is a man who lives there in the mid of the mountains along with his assistants and relatives and has his own farm land.His business is to prepare food for the trekkers and charges Rs 90 per head.Mr.Bhatt has one transporter who will everyday carry the rice bag of 25kgs from kukke to bhattaramane and that guy has got huge strength to climb up and down to bring the needed materials from the town .We all got amazed by that guy's stamina. By 11:00am we had started to have our lunch .The lunch was very simple which will have rice,sambar,butter milk and pickles.we had started to eat it very tastefully and had stomach full.You cant find a better lunch than that in the mid of the mountains after having uphill trek through the dense forests.Ofcourse we all  became fond of the buttermilk and had multiple glasses.we had taken a small nap of 15-20 mins and got re-energized with the relaxation.

Relaxing after having anna sambar and butter milk :D at Bhattaramane

The Realization...

After the lunch , we had started again at around 11:45pm.From the Bhattaramane at around 300-400mts there is forest office,where we have to take permission from the office by paying Rs200 for each individual.The forest guard there collects all the individual's contact information and gives the receipt in return.By his words,at that point in time we have still 70% of the trek to be compeleted.We all had got some sarcastic views about that,thinking that we had done the difficult part climbing through the deep forests to reach the bhattaramane.At that point in time we had actually no idea how much difficulty from there on.So after having different views in ourselves regarding the amount of trek left, we had continued from forest office.

Still a longway to go.

The sun was in full form and the trail now from forest office is quite easy for some time as we were walking along nicely through many ups and downs till we had started to see the steep climbs.The steep climbs were at an angle of 40-50 degrees and this proved to be a tough task ahead for us under the sun.The small breaks had become usual for us ,but at that point in time we never had any specific time in our minds to reach the Kallu Mantapa.We were literally going at snail's pace.But Vijay was execeptional,we all were rallying behind him.It was that time when we had realized that it was going to really hard for us to do or to abort it.But we were constantly buoyed by the last year's failure which made us not to give up.By 2:30pm we had reached kalu mantapa and whenever the break was taken,Sarath used to indulge himself in preparing the lemon water with salt,which is the secret of his energy :).
we had refreshed ourselves near the water resource available there and really it became treat for us soaking our heads with that water.That refreshment given huge boost for us to start again.After a break of 30mins again we had continued again and sun was really scorching on us. 

Kallu Mantapa

Tough task ahead....

 After the kallu mantapa, the trail  had become very steep and so the trail path was in zig-zag fashion and  has unrelenting inclines with a series of false peaks which will trick us into thinking that were almost on top of Shesha Parvata.

The trek here onwards involves unrelenting inclines with a series of false peaks which will trick you into thinking you are almost on top of Sesha Parvata - See more at: http://www.gearforlife.in/event/2-day-trek-kumaraparvata#sthash.Gu4JajJC.dpuf

The trek here onwards involves unrelenting inclines with a series of false peaks which will trick you into thinking you are almost on top of Sesha Parvata - See more at: http://www.gearforlife.in/event/2-day-trek-kumaraparvata#sthash.Gu4JajJC.dpuf

The trek here onwards involves unrelenting inclines with a series of false peaks which will trick you into thinking you are almost on top of Sesha Parvata - See more at: http://www.gearforlife.in/event/2-day-trek-kumaraparvata#sthash.Gu4JajJC.dpuf

The breaks hadn't become any constraint for us but the ability to reach the shesha parvatha before dark had become question for us as we were climbing out of phase to one and another.Sarath and Sampath had really become exhausted after the kallu mantapa.Their pace had become a worry for us

waiting period at one of the false peaks of SP(shesha parvatha)

and we had to wait for them in order to give company(friend in need is a friend indeed ;)).

As we were nearing the shesha parvatha,we were energized by the fact that one of the fellow trekkers who were returning from the peak had told us that we could reach the peak before dark.After climbing the so many demanding steep climbs we had reached the sehsa parvtha peak by 4:30pm.

Climb to Shesha Parvatha

View from Shesha parvatha.

On reaching the Shesha Parvatha we had regrouped ourselves and taken a brief moment at the sight of mountains to realize that we had really trekked passing through those difficult terrains.As the distance was almost covered,now it was a matter of time for us to complete the final leg to reach the kumara parvatha peak.But it gives a false sight from shesha parvatha that kumara parvatha peak  is still way beyond our reach, by the sight of huge inclined rocks and the peak lies beyond those rocks(seems a rock climbing in store :) )

And now the trek from Shesha parvatha was descent path into deep jungle up to while follwed by the huge rocks and boulders to climb and

boulders

Traces of wildlife (bisons, etc.) having passed through this stretch can often be noticed - See more at: http://www.gearforlife.in/event/2-day-trek-kumaraparvata#sthash.Gu4JajJC.dpuf

huge rock to climb to reach the peak

This stretch traverses along a saddle formed between Sesha Parvata and Kumara Parvata. Traces of wildlife (bisons, etc.) having passed through this stretch can often be notice - See more at: http://www.gearforlife.in/event/2-day-trek-kumaraparvata#sthash.Gu4JajJC.dpuf

 traces of wild life(bisons ..etc) passed by in that stretch can  be noticed.The final leg continues to climb up the rock untill it levels out on to a flat rock ground which indicates that peak is attained.By 5:30pm we had climbed the peak.

The Camp fire...

After reaching the peak , we had a brief sigh of relief and soon started pitching the tents as it was getting dark.Some of us started collecting the fire wood for camp fire and some of us got busy in pitching the tents.

Pitching the tents

Fire wood

After pitching up the tents we had completely involved ourselves in the photo sessions  even though were competely exhausted and slowly it had become dark.Everyone got comfort with themselves and in the meanwhile everyone started having the eatables.Soon we had made the camp fire, ofcourse the fire man was Mr.Sampath :)

The conquerors

The camp fire on the peak..

tents

We had chatted for a while with the warmthness of camp fire and slowly the tempertaure had dropped down and it became so cold and windy and at about 8:30pm we had putoff everything and had decided to go for sleep.Soon everyone got settled in the tents and was slowly getting to sleep but due to windy conditions, the tent's covers were continously making the sounds,due to which hari and me adjusted the support ropes with extra weights on them.But it was so sold that we were shivering when we had come out to adjust the tents.Having made sure all that we had finally got in to sleep.It was never easy to go into sleep staying in the peak of the mountain, i was constantly haunted with the sounds that we can observe in the mountains.And it happended that hari and me observed an elephant's roar very faraway from the peak.With all those events we had finally slept.

The Sunrise @KP....
we had got woke up by 6:00am in sunday morning  and we were waiting for the sun to come out.It was very pleasant morning as it was absolute silence in the mountains.The view in the peak was absolutely stunning and we were competely lost in gazing at the mountains.We were drawing our own conclusions through those sights pointing out to particular locations of possible existence of towns/villages.Soon the Sun had come out to give us even a beautiful view of the western ghats.

The western ghats

Sunrise @KP

The Return journey...
After the sunrise, we had quickly wrapped ourselves with photo session.By 7:30Am we had started to descend.The descend through the sheshaparvatha forest was so pleasantful as sunrays were gushing out through the thick vegetation and it was treat to watch.

penetrating sun rays in sheshaparvatha

the descent

 As the hours passed by we had continued our trek to descend .It was nothing to be mentioned that the descent is not as easy as one might think and by 12:30pm we had reached again bhattaramane to have our lunch and had a long break of one hour in bhattaramane.we had started our descent by 1:45pm, we took our own time to reach the foot by 4:45pm and it was a staggering walk to reach the foot of kp.Finally it was a job done :)

That sumsup the story

The end of KP