Its been more than five months now since I have been on a trek. Put it to my laziness or job or my bro’s wedding preparations or manoj settling down in the married-life space but the last proper trek was Mekadatu, aeons ago. So this trek was most coveted and specifically Manoj aspired for trekking Kudremukh for long. There was tremendous pressure from my dad that I should abandon such wild plans and be at home (Hyderabad) for the long weekend. But I cannot take any reason to let away this long Easter weekend without a trek. The plan was done fifteen days in advance. As usual most people had other plans, so this time again it was Meenu, Manoj and Me for the trek.
The plan was to have a quick breakfast and start at 7:30am. Some office stuff on the previous night and Friday morning delayed my start. We finally started at 9:00am. The initial plan was to cover Sravana Belagola on way to Hasan and reach Kalasa by evening. But because of the delayed start and the traffic thereafter, we changed the plan and went to Kalasa directly. We halted for an early lunch at the Kamat Upachar (after Chanarayapatna). After crossing CR Patna, there is a hill with five wind mills. Though this is not the first time we were seeing this, it was equally fascinating as the first look.
As we crossed Hasan, we were hoping it rains, so that we could cherish the drive. In fact in one of the drives to Horseley hills, it rained so heavily that we could never forget the drive till date. We could hardly see three feet away from car. Switching on almost all the lights of the car, we drove for more than 30kms to find a drive-able path. Though we did not hope it to be so adventurous this time, we wanted it to rain. Our prayers were answered as we crossed Belur. It started raining so heavily that there was at least one feet of water at certain places. (Check here: Pic of the car in rain). In one such place, an auto wading the rain waters was caught in mid and there a Getz and my vehicle stranded behind it. I had to keep the clutch pressed for more than ten mins, which triggered a weird pain in my left thigh. At another instance we were confused with the route and we had to take some help. In the mid of such heavy rain I had to go out, get drenched and get the guidelines. Gosh!! I was then hoping I had the GPS in my system.
As we crossed Belur, and reached Gottigere, the rain subsided and the weather was pleasant. In fact it was so pleasant that we desperately wanted to take a break and enjoy the weather. We suddenly thought of swinging on the Banyan Tree roots. Next moment, we spotted the most convenient one and did some tarzan stuff. (Check pics of swinging). We reached Kalasa (a popular town near the foot of Kudremukh) at around 5pm. We checked in the Yatri Nivas hotel, booked Chandan Lodge for the next night and started off for Hornadu (8kms). Hornadu is home for Annapoorneswari Devi, Goddess of food. After the darshan, donation of rice, we had food in the temple premises. We returned back to the hotel at around 10pm and thought of gearing up for the big day.
That night is one of the night mares one could ever have. As I lay in bed, I felt asleep within minutes, but I was woken up by a continuous hissing/whistling noise. I sat up startled. It went on for next half an hour. I was pretty sure, it was coming from inside the room and started tracing the sound. But could not find a thing beneath the bed or in the cup boards. I slept again only for a while when my blanket was pulled down. This shocked me, for whatever it was, it was trying to come on to top of my bed pulling the bed sheet. I switched on my laptop and started playing some songs. I want to keep away the creature (my guess are it might be a rat or a snake) and the sound from laptop helped me with that.
Next morning we woke up at 6am and got ready in next half an hour. We went to bellagallu, parked the vehicle and took a jeep to Satisha’s place in Mullodi. Satisha’s house would be our base camp and we would start trekking from there. What irked three of us, was the exorbitant rates the jeep guy charges to drop to Mullodi. He took Rs. 500 for a 7km drive. For once I thought the Bangalore auto drivers are modest in cheating. :P . We decided to trek down while coming back and avoid patronizing cheaters. On way to Mullodi, we realized that Manoj has left his wrist watch on the bed in the hotel room. Once we reached Satish’s place I called up the hotel owner Jagadish to search and keep the watch safely. He was a kind man and obliged with the request. We had our breakfast: Ragi idli, Sambar and Chutney. Though I cannot call it yummy, it was good, mainly in terms of nutrional value with Ragi especially when we are embarking on tough journey. We also got a fistful of puliogare to savour on the hill top. Then Satisha introduced us to our “Nanha sa” guide: Rakesh. He is in his 7th class and studying in a school in Kalasa. Saturday being off for him, he was there to help us scale Kudremukha.
We started at 8:40am slowly and steadily, but with a lot of determination. Kudremukh was the eighth mountain from Mullodi and we have to climb up and down the eight peaks before the final one. In between the two mountains, in plain valleys lay the forest. (Check: pic of the peak and forest). Here in the forests lay the dangerous and treacherous creatures: Leeches. For Manoj and me, we had more than three encounters before with leeches. So we were emotionally prepared for the ordeal. For Meenu this is her first tryst with the blood sucking worms. Our past experience came handy. The previous night when Chandra Mohan (a coffee estate owner and self proclaimed Prince of Kalasa) told us about the leeches, we bought 1kg of common salt. We also abandoned shoes and wore sandals. Most people believe that shoes give better protection from leeches. But they do not know that shoes are better havens for leeches as they peacefully get into the corners of shoes and socks and sit idle for hours before preying. (Check the pic of the leeches in socks)
The initial forests lines were cleared easily. During the second forest we spotted a couple of leeches. Meenu quickly swapped her shoes to sandals while I smeared salt all over my legs. As we entered the third forest, we saw copious amounts of leeches waiting to suck blood. As we crossed that forest, one of the members from the other group (group with Somu, Deepak, Suhas, Karthik, Srikanth, Chetan) got so badly stung that his entire left feet was soaked in blood. We gave generously the salt to all the members of the other group who wanted to pluck away the leeches. By end of the fourth forest, it has become a ritual to smear salt before entering, pass half of the jungle, pluck out all the leeches which were strangling to the legs/sandals , cross the second half and again pluck the remainders. And Ahoy!! we did the job pretty good. I had only one sting bite, while Manoj had none. So now we can claim to be true pros when it comes to battling leech-infested forests.
On the way, Manoj spotted a mountain which resembled the face of a chimpanzee. On the lines of Kudremukh we rechristened the mountain to ‘ChimpMukha’. (Check: Pic of chimpmukha). After crossing the fourth forest and around one hour of trek, we had the first glimpse of our destination: The majestic Kudremukha. (Check: pic of kudremukh). I had a mixed feeling when I first saw it. I was happy to have a glimpse of it and also happy to know where I would be in a couple of hours. Even before the happiness could sunk in the next thought was of the fear on how to reach the peak. Here I remembered the quote used by Neev’s co-founder Santo: When the will to succeed is more than the fear of failure, you would achieve. Then I made up my mind that for the next three hours, come what may I would keep walking and scaling each meter. I would do it at my own pace, but would do it. The next one hour was easy, we had to cross a couple of more forests and scale smaller peaks.
The tough part started when the sign board said KMP - 4kms. (Kudremukh peak 4kms). I realized that we had covered only 6kms in last two hours and we had a steeper climb ahead of us and we would take the same duration to cover the next four. From here onwards, the climb was very steep. It was so tough that there were instances when we climbed for 15 mins and took a ten mins break. My left thigh now started troubling. (I got some cramps while pedaling the clutch for long while wading through the rain waters previous day). At one point I almost broke down, but for my determination. Manoj was suggesting to use Volini spray (pain-reliever). I was purposefully avoided using that, as it would cause a unbearable pain later in the night. Then he gave me a support staff, which I can use as a third leg and put less weight on the troubling thigh. This worked pretty well even when the climb was very steep. In plain grounds I used to rest it on my shoulders and while up climbs, I used it as a compensate some weight for my thigh. The last fifteen minutes climb was the steepest. But by now the sense of achievement and the goal in front made matters easy. We rested for ten mins before this climb and had small eats. We did not want to stop in between in the next 15mins for two reasons: it would delay us on reaching the goal and anyone resting on the way would block all the trekkers behind as it was very narrow path. The small stream running just below this climb also helped in quenching our thirst. The last fifteen mins were the most heaviest but also the most jubilant steps. Once we reach the peak the sense of achievement, sense of happiness, a sense of relief and complete fatigue were palpable on everyone’s face. The view was amazing: it was 1:00pm in the day, but there were clouds all over the place. In fact with so many clouds below you, one definitely feel being on ‘Cloud Nine’. (Check pic of top of the kudremukh peak)
Once the happiness has sunk in, my tummy started prowling. We savored on the halwa (Indian ghee-maida sweet), marie and oat meal biscuits (Can you believe I have eaten something, on the trek, which or else I would always avoid? I always thought there is no taste in eating Marie biscuits and avoid it. If not for the exhaustion I would not even touch it.). We also devoured on the puliogare. (in fact every grain was eaten.). I started on a small siesta when the Sun showed his flaring face on to mine. It was so hot (especially when one is above the clouds, there is no protection from UV rays.) (Check pic of sleeping). In all exhaustion I forgot that I had a sun screen lotion in my trekking kit. I covered my face with my pocket towel, but that still left my hands exposed to sun directly. By end of next three mins, there was a burning sensation on my hands and they turned red. I could not lay there any more as I was sun burnt. I immediately got up and desperately looked for a shade. Nothing in vicinity I took help of a huge stone. By 1:30pm Rakesh signaled for trekking down. I realized that we have spent more than 4 hours to stay at the top for less than 30mins and that is life. We struggle all through for a cause whose happiness is ephemeral. What we savor or cherish more is the journey (with all hope, excitement and determination) to the top rather than being on the top.
The way down was uneventful except for two big breaks. The first one was near the waterfall. The water dripped from the mountains. There was a small bamboo outlet made to help trekkers fill water. The force of water has decreased considerably when compared to the morning. It took us almost ten mins to fill a 1 liter bottle, while on way up it took less than three mins. It explained how sunny the trek down is going to be. In a way it was good, as leeches did not show up because of the day’s heat. The next big break was for waiting for a few members from the other group. At one point we thought they lost their way, but finally they turned up almost after 20mins. After trekking down for almost 3hrs we reached the base-camp. We were exhausted and dead tired. We quickly squatted on the ground and spread the legs. We asked for some tea and a quick lunch. The lunch was red rice and hot Rasam. It was yummy probably because we were hungry.
The exhaustion was so tiring that we left the ideals for another day and thought of going in a jeep to bellagollu (where we parked our car). We shared the ride with Somu, Karthik and Srikanth from the other trekking group. We quickly exchanged our contacts at end of the journey and started way back to Kalasa. Reaching Kalasa we checked in the hotel chandan. We had a quick and heavy dinner with kerala parathas, egg curry and curd rice. By now my gait of walking has completely changed for the pain in thigh bones. I started walking more like webbed feet. On way back we spotted a little green snake on the road. But we were too tired to explore more. Once at the hotel , I quickly freshened up, changed and got on to the bed. Probably I would not have felt more happy any day than then when I hit the bed after a 20kms trek. When I close my eyes that night, I could see flashes of the entire day: the leeches scrambling and wobbling to get hitched, the stream where we filled water, the view of the forests down below from the hill tops, the paths that showed our way to the peak, the clouds that lay below us when we reached the peak, the majestic Kudremukh, the tired and yet happy faces of Manoj and Meenu on reaching the top of the hill. (alas I did not have a mirror to see mine). As any other trek, this will be one of the most cherished treks in my life.
Pics: Check my facebook albums
Contact numbers: Satish Mullodi (Base camp): 08263249595; 9481074530
Kudremukh Forest Office (if not travelling from Mullodi): 08263255998
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