I don't know how many of you guys agree with this ideology, it is said that everyone has one compartment in their mind called as "NOTHING" compartment. The beauty of this compartment is that even though it’s named as nothing compartment there is always something in it for most of the people. It is discovered that for all those creative minds their unfulfilled desires and virgin ideas are hatched at this dark corner of the brain.We generally shut ourselves into this compartment in situations where we don't have anything to do or we have so many things in front but don't like them to do :). Any way I find myself in this cabin most of times with my unfulfilled desire to conquer Kumara Parvatha (KP) orPushpagiri.
This is one of those procrastinated item that filled my planner for quite a years and I am glad that I made more space in my nothing compartment to fill it with fresh ones now :)
I usually request the trek members to pen down all their experiences at the earliest or else they might tend to forget or miss out on details, but this trip experiences can be vocalized by each one of us even when woken up from our dreams by our grand children :).
I am very poor in capturing the moments but let me try to get things together as much as possible so that the effort finds some help for others.
I have put across the things as the days passed in the expedition. Generally most of the trekkers consider KP trek as a two day affair but we were royals in all sense, hence we planned and executed the expedition in 3 complete days.
Day 1
We boarded the Somavarpet bus from Majestic at 11 pm and reached next dawn at 5am. We got ourselves refreshed at Udaya lodge opposite to the bus stand and took bus (BhagyaLaxmi travels - 9964027923/9902918003) to Biddahalli at 7am. Beedahalli is the small remote village at the base of Pushpagiri hills from where we started our expedition and it is around 45 minutes journey from Somavarpet.
We got ourselves geared up for the trek with each one equipped with a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag, 3 tent items shared and good amount of food items. Even though everyone was loaded with excess of luggage, I found each face lit up with pride that they are doing things which generally many doesn't and with those trekking gears we were like soldiers armed with weapons and ready to capture anything that comes our way without any fear.
We walked along the newly laid concrete roads surrounded by lush green gigantic tress and beautiful mountain inviting in front till Hegde mane. This is the last human habitat before entering into the forest. We had initially planned to hire some local guide to accompany us but all our efforts went in vain because none was willing to join us :( except two sweet dogs!
When we really we want to do something then the whole world conspires in getting that thing done. This was proved once again by introducing those two lovely creatures to us. And they accompanied, guarded and guided us till the destination. I have to specially thank and mention them at this point. They were affectionately christened to be Silver and Baby by Vikas.
So twelve of us now started the actual trek from Hegde mane towards forest check post at the hill foot. On the way we found a beautiful temple at the backdrop of lovely paddy fields and mountains. The concrete road ends at this point and we started climbing across the small route towards the mountain. After walking around 2-3 km we reached the check post. We registered each of our personal details along with an entry fee of Rs. 115 each.
The forest ranger briefed us that it’s a very tough trek and we need to cross the two huge rocks and reach the peak or summit before the sun goes down. He warned us never to camp before that in the woods since it’s very dangerous and lot of animals roam around during nights. He also took signatures of each one of us that we are solely responsible for any untoward incidents if it happens in the forest.
With all the warning left behind we crossed the hanging bridge after finishing our breakfast (roti, chuttney & pickle) at the nearby stream.
We walked with ease with each of us taking their our sweet time only to realize that it’s getting dark very shortly and still we have cross two huge rocks to reach the summit (still 3.5 km to cover). Slowly we found each ones face covered with fear and tiredness but still managed to walk as fast as we can, only to find ourselves in front of the first rock with just few minutes left for the sun to go down.
I remembered the ranger’s words for a second. The rock is huge enough and slippery as the water was flowing down in the center. Only way we can climb up to the top was to move around the corners of the rock holding the trees branches at the sides. But with the amount the luggage each of us carrying on our backs it was impossible to climb the rock with weights on our back.
By the time we worked the plan to climb up the rock it was already pitch dark and nothing can visible. Thanks for Rajani, Vijay & Karthik for coming up with a plan and taking the risk in helping others. They climbed the rock with those dentist torches :) in one hand and clinging to the branches with the other hand. They climbed to the top and found a way out and returned down to us with a rope tied to the tree at the top. Then we made a human chain and moved up the entire luggage’s we carried and the each of us made it to the top.
There was a smile on each ones face as we stood at the top of the rock and then started walking with touch lights in the pitch dark night. We were happy and surprised to see that the two dogs were also accompanying us all the while and staying with the person at the last.
The smiles on our faces did not last long as we approached the second rock. By that time there were stars shining brightly on the dark sky and a monstrous huge rock in front of us. This was the first time we experienced what exactly darkness is, literally nothing was visible around us.
Most of the members were in panic as the situation confronted was unfamiliar. But daringly Rajani & Vijay climbed up the second rock once again to check out the way to the peak and after nearly 30 min of struggling through the dark they returned back claiming that it’s too dangerous and difficult to get all the people to the top.
Few of us were thinking of returning back to the base and couple of them were trying to reach the forest ranger but he was unreachable. Most of them were sensing some fear in the cool breeze waved through the jungle and we decided that we all will stay together at the same place till the sun pops up again. We spread across the sleeping mats and zipped ourselves into the sleeping bags with a gulp of blenders pride down the throat to keep ourselves warm from the November night of Malnad.
Silence prevailed for quite some time and soon each one accepted the situation we were in and started enjoying. We all tried to get some sleep as we were walking almost the whole day. It was great night that would remain in our memories forever.
Find below the memories I tried to capture on day 1.
Day 2
Hardly we slept through the slept, we were awake by something or the other the whole night. As the rocks were slippery and water flowing down the rocks, the sleeping mats were sliding down hence we need to support ourselves with our legs clinched to the cracks between the rocks around us as we tried to get the some sleep. And the prayers of Vijay & Vikas who chanted some slokas and devotional songs were not in vain as there was no rain till the dawn.
It was the longest night for each one of us and i don’t remember how many times i had seen my watch that night. Finally the sun was out.
We were all so fresh even though we did not slept the previous night. We started climbing the second rock carefully as the rocks were slippery from the fog. And once we reached the top it was great sight to watch. There were clouds everywhere and we saw down the rock where we spend the night and laughed at ourselves.
There was no looking back after this, we reached the peak by trekking another 3km and got down to the water stream at the top. It was very slippery and we took quite some time to reach to the base of the falls. We hurriedly collected woods and Sowmya cooked upma for breakfast and we started descending the peak towards kallu mantapa.
Initial 3-4 kms were through the thick jungle habituated by only leeches and hardly any sun rays would touch the ground. Even though we had equipped ourselves with some anti-leeches smearing still everyone was bitten by quite a few of them.
After the jungle walk, we were exposed the vast blue sky with clouds under us. It was indeed a great sight that all the pain we suffered was vanished in no time.
We trekked to Kallu mantapa by around 5 pm and got ourselves refreshed in the small water place nearby and hurriedly hoisted our tents and got the fire burning. We had maggi and also fed our loyal guides too.
Meanwhile the sun set was a great sight to watch just in front of our tents. Few of them were so tired that they already retired to bed. Then we decided to have a great dinner by preparing pulliogara and starting cooking rice but the rain god does not like this. It started pouring heavily and we have to pull ourselves into our tents saying good night to each other by 7.00 pm without dinner.
I was woken up quite a number of times during the night. First due to the heavy winds blowing off our tent tops and the pegs were pulled out of the ground as it could not withstand. We need to peg it again and give support with bigger rocks in the middle of the night. Secondly the girls were afraid and screamed that they could sense and hear some wild animals sounds. Few of us even got out of our tents just to realize that it was sounds from Bhaskar’s tent (snore) :).
Day 2 was more a pleasurable journey.
Day 3
we had a good sleep and wake up at 5.30am. It was great sight to watch those huge white blankets of clouds covering the whole mountains below us. It’s a great sight to watch the sun popping cross through those white clouds and shining brightly with colors changing each second.
The plan for the day was to reach Bhatta's house and have lunch and proceed to Kukke. We had puliyogare & vegetable soup for breakfast said last bye to the beautiful place where we tented and started climbing down the hills towards Bhatta's place.
This trek down to his home has the most picturesque sights covering lush green hills wrapped with milk white clouds. The scene changes every minute by the passing clouds and literally you are walking in the clouds, it’s such an experience. Most of the trek down is through beautiful green grass lands with beautiful flowers spreading across the mountains. I hardly could resist switching off my camera but we want to reach Bhatta's place at the earliest hence trek continuously and reached his place around 12.30 pm.
We took bath at bhatta's place after three days and had hot lunch comprising of sambar, curds and said good bye to him before taking photos with him. Then we started walking our last bit from bhatta's home to kukke , most of the path is through thick forest. The two friends who accompanied us from Somvarpet also returned back from bhatta's home and we were feeling low departing them.
The bath & food at bhatta's place have rejuvenated every one and we were walking fast till we reached the base with minimum breaks spanning around 3 hours. All of us were happy that our long time dream of capturing KP was finally fulfilled and when we entered Kukke the whole city was lit & celebrating as if they were welcoming us.
We had a good meal at a decent hotel and took the bus to Bangalore. I know for sure that this trek will be talked for a very very long time :).
I am really thankful & happy to be associated with such loveable members of Royal trekking club and i guess this would be my last trek. These memories will always have a special place in my heart for ever :).
