[SmartCat]

KUMARAPARVATHA TREK PICS CONTD:

Pic 1: Note the strange glow over my head - that happens whenever I get new bright ideas.



Pic 2: Taking macro pics of the grass.



Pic 3, 4 & 5: Sun behind the clouds - time is around 5:30 PM and the Mantapa is nowhere in sight.







Pic 6: Jagga gets a bit impatient with our nature photography sessions - Banro Bega, Makkalraa! (Come on guys, let's move!). He continues his trek to the Mantapa leaving us behind.



Pic 7: We continue taking photos of the skies & the trees. An unique hairy tree this one.



Pic 8: We hear a crackle in our walkie talkie. It's Jagga. Apparently, the Mantapa is hardly 10 minutes away. We finally get to the Mantapa after a 20 min trek.



Pic 9: Jagga always makes up for his height disadvantage by perching himself on the tallest tree or a structure.



Pic 10: Aha! I finally reached the destination. The stone boulder was more comfortable my own bed.

[ampere]

This does not look like a forest trek? Looks more like dry? Is it so?
I was told that is goes through thick/lush green forest.

Or is it the season doing the tricks?

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Pic 6: After breakfast, we then headed towards Kumaraparvatha. In this trek, you will find signboards everywhere. If there are no signboards, you will atleast find "arrow marks" carved on trees by previous trekkers.

These days, you will find a big vinyl board with distances and pictures of Kumaraparvatha. The total distance of the trek from Kukke to the peak is supposed to be 13 kms (according to the board) and Girigadde (bhatta's house) is supposed to be 6 kms

Pic 10: After a couple of hours, the forests give way to "grasslands" - and we can see the Western Ghats.

These grasslands are surely heat sapping and moreover, you have to trek in the open sun for a majority of the trek. Inside the forest, it is the humidity that kills you.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Pic 1: Who on earth would try to tease a King Cobra? Anyway, we were the only wild animals on the trail.

Yeah, the only animals (I wouldn't call them wild) that you find on this trek are other trekkers. The place resembles a picnic spot during weekends. On any given weekend, there will be at least 30-40 people on the mountain.

When we trekked, there were easily more than 50 people on the peak and and around 60 people were camping in Bhatta's house and Mantapa.

Forget a King Cobra, you cannot find a more common rat snake or a cobra or even a squirell for that matter during this trek.

If trekking on weekends is not regulated, the place will surely go to the dogs.

Pic 7: That's our destination - 5600ft tall Kumaraparvatha.

Actually, you cannot view the peak from this angle. Only after you climb the peak in front, you can see Kumaraparvatha.

Pic 8, 9 & 10: Our immediate destination however was the Mantapa - a stone structure a few kms away from Bhattara Maney. The plan is to fill up our water bottles at a small stream near the Mantapa, stay put for the night and leave for Kumaraparvatha the next day. However, the owner of the house had mentioned that the stream near Mantapa had dried up completely - so we probably won't be able to reach the top. Anyway, we carried on our trek to the Mantapa.

Then what did you do for water? AFAIK, there is one more water source just before the rocky climb to the peak. But, if the water source at Mantapa had dried up, the chance of the other source drying up is 100%.

[KRRaj]

Nice Pics Cat.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

These grasslands are surely heat sapping and moreover, you have to trek in the open sun for a majority of the trek. Inside the forest, it is the humidity that kills you.

Agree. Never been here, but been to Badajje Arbi and I was completely dehydrated by the time we reached the falls. But the sights that you see makes all the struggle worth it

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ampere

This does not look like a forest trek? Looks more like dry? Is it so? I was told that is goes through thick/lush green forest.
Or is it the season doing the tricks?

We get to go through the forested area only for a couple of hours. After some altitude, I don't think trees can grow on such sloping hills. The grass is quite tall by the way - almost 6 feet at some places. In the rainy season, the whole area will probably look green (rather than yellow).

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Actually, you cannot view the peak from this angle. Only after you climb the peak in front, you can see Kumaraparvatha.

Oh hehe! OK. I thought that was the peak.

Then what did you do for water? AFAIK, there is one more water source just before the rocky climb to the peak. But, if the water source at Mantapa had dried up, the chance of the other source drying up is 100%.

Yes - we didn't find water there, and so we came back the next day. So the title of this trip should be "The Mantapa Trek" rather than the "Kumaraparvatha Trek".

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Agree. Never been here, but been to Badajje Arbi and I was completely dehydrated by the time we reached the falls. But the sights that you see makes all the struggle worth it

No wonder I was totally pooped by the time I reached the mantapa - didn't know that trekking in grasslands would be so difficult.

[svsantosh]

Smartcat (sorry for the late read) - The Optra bang with route# 22 bus... that turning is still a scary place. That bus route takes a U Turn and up a ramp and 5Kms away you have a cute little temple called Pattha-Kotta.(=Old fort?). Its a Ram Temple along a river side, looks nice on rainy evenings...

[SmartCat]

hey you even recognize the bus we kissed? We didn't know it was a government owned bus actually.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

5Kms away you have a cute little temple called Pattha-Kotta.(=Old fort?). Its a Ram Temple along a river side, looks nice on rainy evenings...

umm no thanks. My Optra doesn't like that area for some reason

[MX6]

Originally Posted by smartcat

umm no thanks. My Optra doesn't like that area for some reason

Try your punto when it arrives. Now that you are a very safe driver with over 90K on the odo since that kissing incident, your punto wouldn't complain that area.

[sami316]

Hey smartcat!!

Amazing writing skills you have!! It was indeed good to read about the various places you have visited and the writing certainly helped. You come across very few people with humor nowadays. Keep'em coming mate!!

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by MX6

Try your punto when it arrives. Now that you are a very safe driver with over 90K on the odo since that kissing incident, your punto wouldn't complain that area.

Punto has to wait till the Optra finds a new lover. I'm already thinking about what to write in ads. How does this sound?

Parsi Owned, sparingly used, accident-free Optra for sale!

I'm thinking about investing in a white coat and a stethoscope too - that should improve the car's resale value when I meet the potential bakr.. I mean, the potential buyer.

Originally Posted by sami316

Hey smartcat!! Amazing writing skills you have!! It was indeed good to read about the various places you have visited and the writing certainly helped. You come across very few people with humor nowadays. Keep'em coming mate!!

Hmm. It could be the side effect of watching too much Top Gear on DVD - I think I have watched each episode of each season atleast 4 times.


KUMARAPARVATHA TREK PICS CONTD:

Pic 1: Seeing Jagga on the Mantapa, many others followed suit.



Pic 2 & 3: And this guy needed around 10 minutes to muster enough courage to get down from the Mantapa, and 10 more minutes to actually complete the process of getting down.





Pic 4 & 5: Sunset view from the Mantapa. Back here, the sun drops like a stone and it becomes dark very quickly. Anyway, the scout team reported back saying that the stream close to the Mantapa had dried up - so we were going back home the next day.





Pic 6 & 7: After sunset, we made a fire. After lots of trial and error, the fat log (left behind by the previous trekkers) finally catches fire. We then had a nice hot Pizza (30 minutes nahi tho paisey waapas) for dinner and retired for the night. I slept outside the tent out in the open, in a sleeping bag. What a fun and scary experience - with lots of wierd animal sounds in the background for company. We woke up atleast 5 times, shining our powerful torch in different directions, half expecting a bear to appear.





Pic 8: Jagga & myself woke up first in the morning and we decided to go some distance towards Kumaraparvatha.



Pic 9 & 10: Early morning views of the landscape.

[MX6]

Jagga refused to buy your treadmill. He wouldn't buy this car either. He's the only Bakra I can think off, for all that you've written about him here. He might politely say to you: Dr Billi Gaadiwala. I'm not interested in your car. The white coat looks very clean. Where do you give it for laundry?

[ampere]

And Karthik's WagonR has miles to go before it sleeps.

So no water no KP?

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by MX6

Jagga refused to buy your treadmill. He wouldn't buy this car either. He's the only Bakra I can think off, for all that you've written about him here. He might politely say to you: Dr Billi Gaadiwala. I'm not interested in your car. The white coat looks very clean. Where do you give it for laundry?

Maybe I should say some nice words about Jagga - see, he might have a compact package, but he has a very big heart. In this trek itself, you will see him carrying the heavy tent, making fire and even preparing breakfast (pics coming up tonight) for everybody.

Originally Posted by ampere

So no water no KP?

We can trek without air, but we cannot trek without water. So yes, no water equals no KP.

[MX6]

@Addyhemmige. Ensure Jagga joins our next planned trek. If he buys SmartCat's optra, we have a car as well. He might have a compact package, but he has a huge utility value (that's how bosses interpret Mr. Billi!)

What is KP? I've raked my brains and the only thing I can think off is Karnataka Police.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Maybe I should say some nice words about Jagga - see, he might have a compact package, but he has a very big heart. In this trek itself, you will see him carrying the heavy tent, making fire and even preparing breakfast (pics coming up tonight) for everybody.



We can trek without air, but we cannot trek without water. So yes, no water equals no KP.

True. In fact, it should be "no water, no trek". Water is difficult to find on any trek during the summer. I went to KP in December and the stream near the Mantapa was just a trickle. We took our time in filling our bottles from this trickle. The problem was that there is no water near the peak and Mantapa was the last source of water.

btw, I'd say that Jagga must be sharpening his knife for all the good PR you've been giving him in this travelogue.

@MX6. Yeah, I'm sure the utility value would be of immense help.

KP is short for Kumara Parvatha. IIRC, Ampere has put this with a disclaimer in his earlier post.

It says, "please do not mistake KP with Kevin Pieterson, it is Kumara Parvatha" or something like that