Kumaraparvata Peak

A journey into the unseen or untold world:

Going for a trekking to Kumaraparvata peak in the month of August can really be fascinating but at the same time can prove to be terribly a stern challenge but our GHAC team was all ready to set out to explore the challenges which may come on way.

This was my first trek to Karnataka and I would heartily like to thanks to Sudheer Rao (GHAC member) for communicating with the people in local language there. We were the team of eleven members having a bit experience and knowledge on trekking and hiking. Ahead of us was a challenge to overcome……

As it was our first trek to Karnataka so we first endeavored to gather together as much information as we can on the place we were about to set out for. What we gained through websites and webblogs on this trekking is this that our trekking would be laden with unseen difficulties and unvanquished challenges. To prepare ourselves, we started exercises on endurance a week before and eventually trained ourselves to be fit for the trek.  

The days rolled by while we were busy in practicing and polishing our trekking skills in order to be able to undertake this trek. Ultimately the day arrived on which we had to go about Pushpagiri and Kumaraparvatha.

Kukke Subramanya Temple

Kumaraparvatha is the most popular trekking spot, located in Subramanya Village of Sullia Taluka, Dakshina Kannada district near Mangalore, Karanataka. Kukke Subramanya is the famous temple of lord Subrahmanya, located in the village. People come here from various places for Ashlesha Bali pooja and Sarpa dosha pooja.

We all gathered at MGBS on 17^th August 2012 and took the Garuda bus to Bangalore and from there hired a tempo traveler to Kukke which was, a distance of some 280 Km from Bangalore. Owing to unbreakable continuity in our journey, we were all a bit tired and laziness but when we are about to reach near the village (Gad section), climate conditions changed automatically, the road path with the shadow of both sides of the trees given us the refreshment and the beautiful waterfalls kicked out of the laziness and water streams brought in us the enthusiastic energy to trek.

Walking towards to trekking point

We reached Kukke at or around afternoon and started walking towards the trekking point. Kumaraparvata peak is 14 km from the trekking point and it is the hub of King cobra snakes, leeches and even giant elephants. It was mid afternoon 2 pm that we were all ready to set out what we were there for. As an organizer, I was given few trekking instructions and decided to camp at Batt’s house which is 6.5Km from the point.

As soon as, we entered the forest, one of the members (Vissvapradha) stopped us all of a sudden and showed us the baby Russell viper (Daboia) lying, a bit coiled, on a small plant, near to our foot. The head was flattened, looked to me a bit triangular and distinct from the neck (It is one of the dangerous, venomous snakes among the four big snakes in India). Initially, most of them felt that it is a dead snake but it was not, It started scaring us and not interested to pose in front of the camera, went away. 

We continued our trek and after some time we found an elephant shit which might be three days old. Leeches then started their painful campaign targeting us from in and around, in simpler words, started attacking from all sides which made trekking a bit difficult. After an hour of trekking, we were in a thick forest and the heavy rains started hitting on us, the leeches come upon and sucking our blood, few of the members pouches and rain sheet couldn’t able to cover their bags and made the trek more tricky. Almost the entire route was covered with leeches and we couldn’t able to take a rest for a minutes and the day is becoming dark. However, we all managed sacrificing our blood to the nature and reached to the Batt’s house by 6Pm.

Fog Covered us

It was raining and raining perpetually but we were lucky enough to have got the permission to stay at forest department house and had a delicious dinner at Batt’s house. Our plan next day was to reach kumarparvatha peak and descend down to somwarpet village which is only 7kms from the peak. But, unfortunately forest dept was not in favor to trek as we planned (It was due to unexpected heavy rains and the slippery nature of the rocky surfaces there). So, from kumarparvatha  we had to trek back to the same route. Our day one, trek tested our ability and dared us to face the challenges.

Kallu Mantap (Rock Temple)

   
Next day……., we woke up early morning 6AM. We prepared ourselves for the challenge, carried water, energy food etc and started trekking at 7AM. The whole place had a blanket of fog, the climate was utterly cold and we were breathing in the purest oxygen from the air.. We feel like we were walking towards to the gate of heaven. The hills were completely covered with clouds which in fact, to a certain extent, blindfolded us as we were unable to see the person who was leading us all the way to the highest point of the peak. From time-to-time, we had to whistle to signal others and thus maintain eye contact. It was after some two kilometers of trekking that we reached Kallu Mantap( rock temple).

Awesome trekking experience:

Trekking to the Gate of Heaven

The trek was just awesomely different in the coldest weather there. We were just trying to ascend, with couple of breaks and finally reached Sheshaparvatha peak. We were speechless to have found such wonderful place, covered with fog and where the wind was blowing in continuity, touching the very roots of our skin. We were excited to be there so we wanted to capture our moment of triumph. We started posing for snaps and caged in our memories. 

Continuing our trekking:

Clouds touches the trees- Rain forest

We continued our trek and entered the thick forest area- the clouds touches the trees and converting into rain water droplets which are falling on us. We really were flattered by the treatment of the nature.  The forest was very beautiful and tinkling sound of the water stream.

Finally, we reached to the rock area which was very slippery; we all managed to climb and reached on to the top of the peak. To our attention, we spotted there a rat snake (non-venomous snake) which reminded us again of the wilderness of the forest area we were in. 

We even took video clipping of the team descending down or back to the forest office. The sun murkily showed high up in the sky when we were looking for some warmth in the atmosphere. I must mention here that the view of the hills was just mind-blowing.

We reached Batt’s house by 3:30 pm and had our lunch there and then continued our trek and came to our based point by 6 Pm.

Since morning, we had been trekking so most of our team members had body pain, blisters, minor injures etc. We rushed to the Kukke Subramanyam room to take some rest, spent our rest of the time in chit-chatting, sharing our fun-stories and finally slipped into superficial slumber………… Good Night…..

Morning again – back to home

History Of Hoysala Empire

Next morning we visited the temple, went to Haledid temple which was situated at a distance of some 7 km from Belur. It is said to be built by Hoysala Empire (period of the early of 11^th century A.D). It came to be known as ‘Halebeedu’ after it was plundered by the Delhi Sultan’s armies (twice, in 1311 and 1327). The walls of the temple had myriad inscriptions, variety of depictions from Hindu mythology (It must be of great interest to historians to find pictures of animals, birds and Shilabalikas or other distinctly dancing figures. Yet, no two sculptures of the temple are the same. This magnificent temple, guarded by a monolithic Nandi Bull, is said to be never completed, despite 86 years of labor going into it. Number of sculptures in the temple has been destructed by invaders).

We spent some time there and then back to the Yeshwantpur railway station or choice-less-ly has to say here, back to the polluted city of Nizams– Hyderabad.

How to reach: From Hyderabad we have train facilities, bus and flight services to Bangalore or Mysore

From Bangalore, KSRTC have very few buses to Kukke subramanya. Prefer to hire a private bus or car.

Things to bring:Food, trekking shoes with ankle support to keep your blood in your own body (otherwise it will all be sucked by the leeches), first aid kit, rain sheet and torch light.

Food and Restaurants: Mr Narayana Bhatt arranges food and camping for trekkers at nominal price – contact no: 944 8647947

Permission from the forest department: They charge 200 per head and the guide charges are 200 INR extra. Night trekking is not allowed

Peaks: Pushpagiri (1748m), Kumara Parvata(1712m), Seshagiri (1500m).
Trek Pictures:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.422020821168189.81900.331822426854696&type=3