Kumara Parvata Trek - III March 25th - 27th, 2010

KUMARA PARVATA TREK

Narayana Bhat had advised me to be wary while picking out guides, as many of them are addicted to drinking and hence are unreliable. His talk seemed to suggest that Nagaraj would be the best choice. And it turned out to be true too! For it was my pleasant experience that Nagaraj was a happily optimistic guy, and one who had a knack of constantly suggesting that the goal to be reached was easily reachable, and just beyond that short hump up yonder! He would advice where one had to be careful, and also had a good knowledge of the places on the way.

A further advantage was that he was on very intimate terms with the ‘Bhattara Mane’ household and a family friend of theirs and I too became very chummy with the household. He had trekked up the peak about twelve times prior to my visit. Though being on the skinnier side, he is amazingly resilient and can carry loads up to 8 or 10 kg up the hill with ease. An easily amiable fellow, we got on very well.

When I look back, I think of how blessed I was throughout the trek. To begin with, the bus from Bangalore to Subramanya had only eight people including me. Beside me, there was one other family of four going there on a pilgrimage. There was another traveler to Puttur. These were the travelers who commuted the entire distance. Besides one or two got in and off at intermediate distances. The bus seemed specially chartered for the six of us. When the window on one side got sunny, I shifted to the window on another side. The bus had only three stops – at Channarayapatna, Hassan and Sakleshpur, besides halting for lunch at Kamat’s some distance after Channarayapatna and before Hassan.

The other coincidence is that Narayana Bhat was with Nagaraj precisely at the time I went inside the restaurant. Further, it was a blessing that it turned out to be Navami (Ram Navami) and the next two days (Dashami and Ekadash) were holidays for Nagaraj and he was free to come up with me (which are the only days he finds twice in a month to go up). Everything worked out well in the end, and that after the initial scare of the very real possibility of my not being able to find a guide.

Nagaraj said he would only be able to leave after 8:00 a.m. the following day, as he had to sign off at the office at that hour. Accordingly we met at the Ratha (Chariot) in front of the Subramanya temple on March 25th at 8:00 a.m. and after he had his breakfast, we left on the trek at 8:30 a.m. I had earlier visited the temple in humble submission and seeking the blessings of God. Later I had had my breakfast and vacated the room. To reduce the weight of the luggage for the trek I transferred some items of clothing from the rucksack to a bag which I deposited at the free luggage deposit centre being run by the temple authorities.

So I and Nagaraj started the trek at 8:30 a.m. The initial parts of the path traverses through a wooded terrain and the path does not appear to be too steep initially (left). It is common to find a crowd of butterflies along this path.(See photo below) The path goes through a shaded area, but the presence of the forest prevents any breeze. The air is perfectly still and quite hot and humid. Even the mildly increasing gradient slowly makes one run out of breath over short distances. The trek can be quite strenuous if you are not in good shape.

 A main marker point where trekkers seem to take a long rest is at ‘Bheemana Bande’ (Bheema’s rock) which is at a distance of roughly 2.5 to 2.8 km from Subramanya. We reached this point at 10:00 a.m. So it had taken us 1.5 hrs to trek 2.5 km. We rested for a while at the rock and took a few photographs. We met a group of four trekkers from Kasargod who were returning after their climb of Kumara Parvata. After about half an hour’s rest we left for Bhattara Mane. The climb becomes increasingly steep and I found this stretch very strenuous. Every few tens of meters I was out of breath and would halt to catch up with my breath. About a kilometer before Girigadde we met the Forest Guard of Pushpagiri Forest Wild Life Sanctuary under whose jurisdiction these areas lie. He had come to clear the garbage which trekkers so mindlessly leave, destroying the beauty of the place. I’ll talk about that later. (Bheemana Bande shown below)

We arrived at Girigadde (Altitude 868 m above MSL) at 11:15 a.m., and I sat down on the ledge of the house quite exhausted. The householders served us unlimited quantities of cool and refreshing buttermilk until we were satiated. They offered that we could bathe from the hande and bucket using mugs. But I chose to relax for a while. Later, as I tried to recline and relax on a foam mattress I found various parts of my body developing spasms of cramps. First it was the left calf-muscle, then the right thigh. Then it was both the feet arches. Later the toes started cramping up. Mahalinga Bhatta, the elder brother who mainly looks after the affairs at Girigadde, suggested me to drink water mixed with common salt, as it would reduce the intensity of these cramps. He seemed to know that we lose a lot of salts due to perspiration while on a strenuous trek and this causes muscular cramps. Hence salty water is an effective cure. On drinking it, there was a partial relief. Nevertheless I was getting these spasms of cramps throughout the evening at various intervals.  And that caused me some worry about tomorrow!

On the Trek from Subramanya to Girigadde you climb (868 - 123) = 745 m  or 2460 feet

                                                                              To be continued ...