Saturday, June 8, 2013

My first trek- Conquering Kurinjal Peak, Kudremukh

Obviously, destiny had better things in store when it decided to cancel my Chikmagalur trip. Destiny had decided that I shall go beyond Chikmagalur to reach the heart of Kudremukh and do my first, ever trek!

Like all good travel plans, this plan happened at the eleventh hour. Knock. Plan. Pack. Go. At 5AM, I met my friend's brother, who rode his bike at neck-break speed to reach the other end of the city where the others were waiting. It was one of those rides where your nose amazes you by still functioning while speeding against cold, freezing winds.

By 6AM, we four were seated comfortably in my friend's car and off we drove to Kudremukh. The landscape was beautiful and at one point, the view was so pretty that we stopped the car, walked up a small hillock and admired the windmills on the green valleys at the distance.





On our way, we also decided to stop by Belur and visit the Belur Temple. I had been here before but this temple's architecture can never satiate me. The extremely intricate designs, the flawless sculptures, the stories behind... It's one of the most beautiful temples I have seen till date.

Belur Beauty



Ek Garam Chai ki Pyali ho
For lunch, we stopped by a small, road-side restaurant serving Fish-thalis. I had to mention this because their hospitality amazed me. They knew we were not from their area, so they made us sit in the adjacent room which was their living room and served our lunch on their private dining table :)

After lunch, the next two stops were a tea-stop with a friendly dog who ran across the park in lightning-speed-rounds and rolling tea estates where we posed before the camera.




With all these breaks, we managed to reach Bhagawati Nature Camp, Kudremukh, by 5PM in the afternoon. It was my first experience of tent accommodation and I was super-duper excited!

But my excitement was nothing in comparison to that my friend who hurried us up as she took us for a "surprise". Ta-daaa....!

I have been here :)
Isn't this beautiful?! She discovered that the River Bhadra runs through Bhagawati's estate. We loved the quaint waters, glistening in the twilight and the serene silence of the woods. It was so very peaceful.

There was also a small 'activity' area where these guys climbed, jumped and swung about from nets, bars, tyres and what not!

At night, we entertained ourselves with dumb charades and  a 'crab' dance recital. Of course, like all night camps, it had to include the telling of ghost stories!

Dinner was simple and tasty, though a bit late. We slept like logs that night.

The next day, by 8am, we were good to go on the trek. Water bottles, eggs, bread-jam et al. We passed through grasslands, dense forests, carcass of a bison... The only rests were the ones that started with "Leeeeeeeccchhh! Remove!!" Yes, nasty leeches of Kudremukh. Blood Suckers! We donated quite a lot of blood to the forest. Salt water hardly helped to keep them at bay. At one point, I had around 20 of them rolled into a globe, inter-twined, partying on my sock. Yes, it was quite a sight! Woman v. Wild!
I walk alone...



The trek was long, but was easy. The only tough part being the last 5mins where the climb becomes really steep. By the time, we reached the peak, it was raining and I was miserably hungry. I felt faint. There, on top of the peak, we ate bread-jam-bananas-eggs with a ravish! We sat there for a while, enjoying the view, watching the dense white fog around us.

As we ascended
After a while, we started our descent. The rain never stopped pouring. Three hours of a continuous drench. Bheegi Billi!

We started trekking at 8am and returned to the camp at 1pm... From our site to the peak and back, it must have been a total of 20kms. I'm not too sure of metrics. But I'm sure my first trek was a whole lot of fun!

I am glad I did this trek... It was an experience I shall never forget.

Never wanting to leave for the city
Guys, let's do one more soon!

5 comments:

  1. hi can u share the contact no of Bhagawathi nature camp

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  2. Hey do we have to take any permission form forest dept to enter forest or to stay at Bhagawati Nature Camp??

    ReplyDelete