Kumar parvatha, 26.03.2016. One of the most extraordinary and challenging treks I have ever been to. Located near Somwarpet, this is one of the highest peaks of western ghats. This was one of those treks where we would repeatedly question ourselves, "When will we reach the top? When?!". One of those treks where we would cry for food supplies. Since we weren't that professional at trekking despite our earlier records, we set out to this peak on bikes. First and biggest mistake !
Starting our journey from Tumkur Road, with minimum breaks, we went on to reach the town at 2 P.M. Several times we tried to replicate the 'hand signs used by bikers' routine but failed miserably. Terrible hand signalling. We stopped several times to keep the bags from not falling off the bikes. Escaping the face of death due to the blind spots became very common as the Ghat section got onto our nerves pretty wild. Dangerous ! Somehow after a lot of wandering around and death-defying stunts on the road, we somehow made it to the place. Getting ready by equipping ourselves with water and glucose, we started the climb. Our target, Bhattar Mane. At first, we started the climb easily and were confident of reaching early. But soon we realized that the path became steeper and steeper. Thankfully, we found a water source on our path to refresh ourselves. Soon, we were losing our patience as it was extremely hot and humid. Every 10 mins we sat down for a break, exhausted. Despite climbing after 2 hours, there was no sign of respite. No sign of life around us, no sign of any peak. We were beginning to wear out, but couldn't stop as we had to reach the peak before sunset. But after a while, we could feel the air getting colder. We felt that we were getting closer. I reached the place with a sense of satisfaction as I had not consumed any supplies. But as soon as I reached the checkpoint (Bhattar Mane), I emptied the juice bottle I had purchased before starting the climb. Proudest feeling ever !
We had reached Bhattar Mane but we planned to sleep on the platform itself since we had sleeping bags. (There is a platform near the house itself with concrete base about the area of a 60 by 40 site) Best. Experience. Ever. We saw the moon rise as if it had taken birth from the hills to rise up in the sky, changing its colour from red to orange to yellow to white. We had forgotten all the worries we had in life at the moment and just admired the sensational sight in front of our eyes.
We tried to catch some sleep for we had to wake up at 4 A.M. to reach to the top and see the sunrise. With a torch in our hand and a stick in the other, we went literally 'Into the Wild'. With the permission from the forest department, we reached the peak totally out-of-breath. With water bottles on the way (found out of surprise), we felt like 'The Gods must be crazy'. Reaching the peak was what we sought after and the view was simply spectacular. Eating biscuits and some buns, we felt like some medieval people. My friend was on a repeat mode with the word 'Hue' as the view was worth the climb. We wondered and immediately related it to life.
"Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you." - David McCullough Jr.
Well, we went uphill but coming down was one hell of a task as we kept falling due to slippery surfaces again and again and again, and well yet again. We reached a spot where there was a coke bottle unopened. Now we really thought that 'The gods must be crazy'. Me and my friend tried to open it and a fountain of coke erupted. (Too much of 'fizz'). Hurrying up to Bhattar Mane we ate all we can. I filled my bottle with Majjige, you know just in case we run out of energy. While going back we encountered a wild animal farby, which made sound after I kept throwing a heavy bottle filled with water downhill so that I would carry it for lesser time, which till date no one understood what it was. With sticks and stones in our hands and fear in our hearts, we made it to the water reservoir to find a crab under a stone and to empty the majjige (butter milk).
We stayed for the night after the visit to the famous Kukke Subramanya temple. Having a hefty dinner, we made it to the hotel for rest, for we needed to leave to Bangalore in the morning. With our bones virtually broken, we woke up and began to leave. 'Mad locals' tried to meet with accidents with us, for some strange reason on the Ghat section again. Then we just dwelled on the road till we reached Bangalore. For some reason, we lost track of one of our friend as he went on too far ahead of us, which worried us unnecessarily. Like the rule in 'Top Gear', we left him to his worries. Turns out later, he went on too far ahead and reached home safely 2 hours earlier than us.
