Karnataka’s toughest Trek: Kumar Parvatha
A virtual tour of Kumar Parvatha Trek.
This blog takes you on a virtual tour of the Kumar Parvatha Trek. It is one of the most exciting and adventurous Western Ghats treks. We attempted and completed the Kumara Parvatha Trek on 28–29 December 2022 to add some adventure to our 2022 and to have one more story to tell in 2023.
Day 1: Kukke to Bhattara Mane
We got off the bus at Kukke around 12:45 PM. We visited the Kukke Subramanya Temple and had our lunch there before starting the trek at around 2:20 PM.
Walking to the Trek starting point
The starting point of Kumara Parvatha Trek
All the smiles were about to disappear in the next thirty minutes but we barely had any idea.
Thirty minutes inside the forest and we were all tired and sweating. We were taking stops for almost every 500 metres.
There is a big rock on the way, and a small water stream 50 metres to it’s left. We relaxed for around half an hour here before starting the trek again at around 4:00 PM
At around 4:40, We had climbed up a good altitute, the forest started to fade and grasslands started. We could see mountains in the distance. The view was relaxing after 150 minutes of trekking in the forest.
“We are almost there boys”
Finally, We were completely out of the forest and in open grasslands.
We stopped at a board saying “Bhattare Mane — 500 metres” to wait for everyone to catch up.
After a good rest, we started our final stretch to Bhattara Mane. We reached Bhattara Mane around 5:50 PM, got our tents and relaxed for few minutes before going to the Sunset Point.
After leaving our bags at the tent, We walked around 500 metres to the sunset point. We were already late for sunset but the view was still beauty.
After spending some time at the sunset point, we went back to our camps. We had our dinner at around 7:30 PM. The dinner isn’t very *five star* and you can’t really expect much, and it tastes good when you’re tired ;)
Day 2: Trek to Pushpagiri Peak and back to Kukke
Woke up around 4AM to this beautiful view outside our camp, clicked few pictures and got one more hour of sleep before starting the trek. Woke up at 5:20, freshened up and started walking to forest office. Four of us decided to return to Kukke from here, other four went to peak.
We carried only necessary items to the further trek in one bag and left. We carried the bag in turns, not putting all the weight on one person. You can carry smaller alternate bags for further trek if possible.
Exactly at 6 AM we were clear to start our trek to Pushpagiri Peak.
Around 6:20, we took a small five minutes stop at a viewpoint. We reached the same spot again at 12:40 PM during return.
The views started to get better as we climbed up.
Sun was out and the surrounding mountains looked beautiful. Luckily we were still in shadow of another peak.
At around 7:20 AM, we were at Kallu Mantapa (see trek route). We trekked 3km from Forest Office till now. For the next 2.5 km, Trek was going to be very steep.
Every peak we see, we think it’s the Shesha Parvatha and get disappointed everytime. and no more hiding from the sun :(
Around 9 PM we reached Shesha Parvatha. From here we had 1km forest trek remaining. We stopped here for around 20 minutes, we were quite confused whether we should return from here or complete the trek. It’s not that hard from here and don’t use google maps to see distance ;)
We started the forest trek at around 9:20 AM, It’s steep descent for some time and a very steep climb later.
After an *adventurous* 4-hour trek, We reached the Pushpagiri Peak at exactly 10AM. We spent half an hour at the peak, took some pictures and started our descent at 10:30AM.
Unfortunately we didn’t find any hotels nearby so we had to climb down to Kukke and get a Bus to Mangalore. We started our descent around 10:30 AM and reached Bhattara Mane at 1:00 PM, and then trek base at around 4 PM. Trekking down is faster, but you need to be a little careful to not hurt your legs.
We stopped by the water stream for few minutes to fill up our bottles and get some rest.
Taking a quick nap *_*
Around 1:00 PM, we were back to Bhattara Mane. We picked up our bags, refilled bottles, took some rest and started trekking down around 1:30 PM.
On our way back, We stopped for around 45 minutes at the water stream and took a bath. It felt so refreshing after a looong trek. Around 4 PM, we were back at the trek starting point. Grabbed a Mirinda (kyuki “pagalpanti bhi jaruri hai”) from the shop right before the start point and took an auto rickshaw to the Bus Stand. As we reached Bus Stand, Mangalore Bus was ready to depart. We got on the Bus and lived happily ever after.
