Trek to Kumara Parvata
Being in the Western Ghats, I couldn’t help but go on treks. I had been to a few other treks, but nothing comes close to what I went through during the Kumara Parvata Trek. It all started with a group of 8 people leaving to Kukke from NITK ( Mangalore), in search for some *adventure*.
Kumara Parvata is easily the toughest trek in the Western Ghats. It tests your physical and mental patience and skill to the extreme and has everything you can ask for in a trek — thick forests, open grasslands, tall mountains, rock climbing, and so on.
In this blog, I will be telling you everything you need to know about the trek before you can go for it! Amateurs can attempt it, but I would still suggest one or two treks in the back before this, because this is definitely going to be tough.
Things to carry for sure:
- A lot of eatables, dry fruits, protein bars, normal snacks — do not under estimate dry fruits, definitely carry them.
- 2 water bottles, even if empty its fine since water can be filled through the streams.
- A cap.
- Normal trek items like shoes, good pants etc. If you have a trekking stick, would be very useful during descent and second part of the trek.
The whole trek can be divided into 2 sections, which can further be divided.
- From Kukke to Bhattare Mane ~ 6 kms.
- Bhattare Mane to Pushpagiri peak ~ 7 kms.
It will take 2 days to complete the trek. Once you finish the first part, you can stay at Bhattare Mane and take rest for the night. You need to call and inform them beforehand for tents and food. They provide both tent and food for 400 (tent) and 150 (dinner). The tents are good to sleep, and are shared between 2 people, big enough to hold 2 people.
A quick summary for people interested:
- On Day 1, you trek to Bhattare Mane from Kukke, which is about 3+ hours and 6 kms.
- You rest there for the rest of the day, start the next journey early in the morning.
- This part is almost 4 hours and 7 kms, has 2 major peaks (Shesha Parvata and Pushpagiri) — steepest part of the trek.
- Descent is 2.5 hours both parts. If you don’t stop anywhere from Bhattare Mane to Kukke (the stream), then you can do the 2nd descent in less than 2 hours as well.
We started off from Mangalore. You can get KSRTC buses direct to Kukke Subrahmanya, we got the 9:30 AM bus. It is recommended you get to Kukke as fast as possible, lunch time would be perfect as you can eat lunch and start the first part of the trek.
The bus journey is almost 3 hours, you don’t climb so much altitude, much of the altitude has to climbed by walking :P. Once you reach Kukke, pay a visit to the temple, eat lunch there since they will be distributing lunch. Then set off to the Kumara Parvata Trek starting point. It is 800m from the temple, location can be found on google maps. The entrance gate is hidden to the left of the road, so do ask the locals where it is once you are close to it.
We started the trek at 2:15 PM. It starts off with slow elevation rises. This is the first part, and is almost 6 kms. Slowly the elevation rise increases, and things become a lot more steeper. Every time you will have to climb up.
The first km is peaceful, with just small elevation rises. The journey from 1st to 3rd km is a lot more deadly, with actual climbing at pretty high angles. There are no man-made structures like railings for catching on to as well, so you have to climb up yourself.
As for a good news, there is a stream once you are around 1 hour into the trek. We reached this stream at around 3:20 PM. You can take a bath, fill your water bottles, freshen yourself up for the climb that is about to come. You will have to stop here while climbing down to take a bath as well, so do not worry about missing the stream while going up. But filling water is essential, since there is no other source of water till Bhattare Mane, so make sure to fill.
The part from the stream, till the top is filled with ascents. There are some pathways made which are less steep, but more in distance. So if you are tired, you can take those paths. If you want to be quick, take the steeper way, but they are actually steep so be prepared to do some actual climbing. This will also train you for the actual Pushpagiri climb as well.
We reached Bhattare Mane by around 5:30 PM. You can do it slower as well, you just need to make sure you reach before it gets dark because once it gets dark, the route is too hard to make out even with a flashlight. The viewpoint near bhattare mane is really epic, do go see it. This view is just a trailer of what you will see when you are on top.
You can retire for the day, or go checkout nearby smaller viewpoints. We went to a close by view point and returned back by 7. The dinner is served at 8. Take rest after that, because you will have to wake up by 5:30 AM.
We woke up by 5:30 AM, got fresh, and started walking towards the forest office. Bhattare Mane doesn’t give breakfast until 6:30–7 AM, and if you start at 6:30, you will be late to come back, and more importantly it will be too hot in the grassland area and you do not want to trek in that. We wanted to finish descent completely by 4:00 PM since the last bus to Mangalore is at 4:30. So we started at 5:30.
The forest Office opens at around 5:45 AM, they check and note all the plastic you have, if you don’t bring the amount back, you don’t get the refund (500 rupees).
We are now at Girigadde, and the Pushpagiri Peak is 6.5 approx from here. Start sharp at 6:00 AM, the elevation rise is real, you need to climb A LOT. At some points it feels as if you are just going above and there is just no end. But the whole journey is so beautiful, it is all worth it. If you turn back and see, you will be mesmerized by how much distance and elevation you have covered.
Don’t forget to eat whatever you have brought in between. We rested at a place and ate everything. There is also a small strem before Kallu Martapa, so make sure you don’t miss it since you can refill your bottles there.
Once you reach kallu martapa, the steepness increases and we can say the hardest part of the trek is here. All you need is some determination and patience to go through this part. The rest of the trek is not as hard and steep as this one.
Once at Shesha Parvata, take a little rest. We reached Shesha by around 8:55 AM, took rest, and started the main journey to Pushpagiri at around 9:15 AM. The view from here :)
It starts with a descent, you go down and then its a forest for 100–200m. Then comes the ascent. It is filled with rocks, and you need to climb through it. Once that is done, the real rock climbing comes, with almost 70 degree inclination. Make sure you hold on to the rock at every point because it is very steep.
After this, there is a small climb of around 200–300m, and thats it, you are the Pushpagiri, the Kumara Parvata is conquered!
We reached Pushpagiri at exact 10:00 AM, took a good rest there. Make sure you take all the rest you need here.
Descent is the same journey in the opposite direction. Going up is heavy on the cardio, going down is heavy on the legs. You will feel the pressure in the knees and thighs. A trekking stick is immensely helpful while going down, but we didn’t have it :(
We started the downward journey at 10:30 AM. Going back is way faster, but is very taxing on the legs at the same time, so be careful since there are high chances of tripping and falling. Make sure to take it steady.
We reached Forest Office back by 1:00 PM. So that's 4 hours to go up and 2:30 hours to go down. We took another good rest, and started the downward journey to Kukke at around 1:45 PM.
Make sure to stop by the stream and take a bath, it will really refresh your body. Fill your bottles, be fresh and complete the last part of your journey. In hindsight, we spent a bit too much time at stream while coming down, but it was fun! We reached Kukke by 4:00 PM, took an auto to the bus stand and got the last bus.
This trek is so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words. You have to go to the top and enjoy it. The view at Shesha parvata is godly, you can see clouds and mountain ranges everywhere. The kukke from where you walked is just a small dot from this hill top, you can see the forest office a looooong way away. It really feels amazing to have walked so much in both elevation and distance.
