Ramnath Kamat

         Muthathi (or Muttatti) is a settlement situated on the banks of the Kaveri river near Malavalli in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is surrounded by a dense forest which is the home of the Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary. Muthathi is around 90kms away from Bangalore, off Kanakapura road.

Trek as we progressed:





We wanted to go for a small trek as we had girls in our group. Muthathi came out as a first choice since it had many small trek routes and it was nearby to Bangalore. We followed http://www.mysterytrails.com/BheemeshwariToChellurehill.htm  to book the trek. mysterytrails.com is operated by The Eco - Development Committee reporting to Cauvery Wildlife Division, Karnataka Forest Department. But when we reached Muthathi forest departmentit turned out that these two departments had no synchronization in between and the actual trail route we had booked Bheemeshwari To Chellurehill doesnt fall under Muthathi forest department. The forest department officer agreed to take us to a small trek around the jungle. As we had no other choice left, we decided to go with  this offer. He took 200Rs per person as trekking fees from all of us.

Trek began from Muthathi forest department. Destination was a watch tower in the jungle. We walked for about an hour. The weather was pleasant and drizzling, the route was green. So, didnt feel tiredness. The view of the valley from the watch tower was pleasant to the eyes. We had a light food on the towers.

While coming back we took the river bank way. Walking on the river bank of Cauvery was a different experience. We found a small rock in between the river Cauvery. The path to the rock had small stream and we could cross it. We had lunch here. Relaxed for an hour so. And started walking back to the forest dept in Muthathi where we had parked our cars.

Trekking details:
Base camp: Muthathi
Connectivity from Bangalore: Connected by Govt buses.
Journey hours:  2 hours.

Trekking distance: 8-10 kms(both ways)

Trekking season:
You can visit Muthathi any time. 




Difficulty level:
Very easy
 
Total trekking time:
2 hours max one way


Tips for photographers:
Cauvery river gives a good frame for landscape photography.

Trekking rules:

• Trekking without the forest dept permission is punishible.
• Do not carry alcohol. Do not smoke in the jungle
• Do not throw anything during the trek. Dustbins are seen at many places. Keep the trekking place clean for the following trekkers.

 Happy Trekking :)

When it comes to trekking in Karnataka, Kumarparvata(ಕುಮಾರಪರ್ವತ) comes first in the mind. A beautiful mountain situated between Southa Kanara (ದಕ್ಷಿಣ್ ಕನ್ನಡ) and Kodagu (ಕೊಡಗು) districts of Karnataka. At a height of 1712m, the peak is amid astonishing scenic views.

Preaparation for the trek:
We were a group of 8 girls and 8 guys from bangalore. A lot of googling led us to a proper preparation for the trek. The time was October and rain had just stopped. We hired tents to spend night. The next worry was leeches and most of us were scared of that. The Kumaraparvata mountain is near Kukke Subramanya temple, a famous shrine in Karnataka and devotees visit the place during weekends. So, you can always expect full booked buses. Kukke is well connected by trains from bangalore but the booking should be done 2-3 months in advance. We relied on private transport called Subramanya Travels.

Day before the trek:
 We left from office early and collected tents from BMC office near old airport road. We also took 1 ltr of petrol as it would help us to put up camp fire in the night. The bus left from majstic by 10:30pm and we reached kukke around 5 in the morning.


Trek day 1:
When we reached Kukke we found all hotel rooms booked(we had expected that). The hotel manager gave us a guesthouse for 1600rs rent. House was pretty old but we had only 2 hours of business there. By the time we were ready to rock time was clicking half passed 7. We started walking towards the temple which was about 1km from our guest house. There are many hotels available there for morning breakfast.

Trek starts:
The entry to Kumaraparvata is right next to the temple. A small road takes you down near the forest from where the trekking starts. People are very friendly and they will guide you. There is a small board indicating entry to the forest. Trek is completed in 2 stages.


Stage 1:

Kukke Subramanya view from the hill

Forest

Stage one includes walking through a dense forest. There is pretty good trail to walkby. It was raining a night before we went for trek. So the moist soil was heaven for leeches. If you stand up for 1 min, you can find atleast 5 leeches crawling up your shoes. So the best way to avoid leeches is to keep walking. As it was early october, the forest was lush green. The jungle part covers around 4-5 kms and it took us 3 hours since many of us were already tired. Once you are out of jungle you have to climb a moderate steep to get onto the hill.   From the hill you can view the Kukke temple from where you had started trek. There is a good pathway which will lead you to a grassy hill and straight upto the Bhattarmane. Bhattarmane is a house of a bhatta(priest), he does agriculture there. You an find your meal at his house. He charges 60rs for rice, sambar and buttermilk. Bhattar mane is approx 8km from the starting point and it was 1:30pm by  the time we reached his place. Most of us were tired and they decided to stay back there. I had a high desire to goto the peak and my friends helped me with a sleeping bag.

Stage 2:

Trekkers

Way to Mantapa

The second stage starts after bhattarmane. The path goes around bhattarmane which will take you stone benches which are benches kept in circular fashion on the hill top. Next to it is a forest department office where you have to pay 200rs to enter the forest. Its a reserved forest so carrying alcohol and any other flamable items is strictly prohibited. The ascent from here is gradual and the mountain face is covered with thick green grass. It will take around 2-3 hours to reach mantapa, a stone structure where most of the trekkers camp for the night. Here there is a stream of water where in you can collect it for your further trek. This stream dries up after November. So you are thinking of trekking here after november you have to carry water from bhattarmane. From here Kumaraparvata is about 2 hours of trek. My friends had camped near bhattarmane and I was left with only sleeping bag. Unfortunately it was about to rain.So I had to get back near bhattarmane where my friends had put up tents. Reaching Kumaraparvata looked impossible. But I started climbing and reached Sheshparvata which is adjacent to the summit. As I was there thinking to return

Tree covered in cloud near	mantapa

a wind brought a thick layer of cloud on me and the visibility fell to 5 meters. That was the most beautiful moment of my life. For the first time in my life I was above the clouds. I could see a thick layer of cloud passing through half the way of mountain. As I was getting late and the time was 5:30pm, I started moving back to the camp near bhattarmane. It was drizzling and almost dark. Flashlight was usefull though. I reached the place where my friends had put up tents and were waitng for me.Tents were ready and a false attempt was made by them to put up campfire with wet wood. After a little chitchat it was time to sleep.

Panaromic view of the mountain

Sunrise behind the mountain

Day 2:

We woke up early in the morning to view the sunrise and this time we were not late. We reached the stone benches to see the awesome view behind the mountain. After spending dome time here we decided to pack up and climb down as we had a bus to catch by 2pm. Climbing down was easy and effortless and hardly took 2-3 hours. After we reached down a dip inside the river which flows infront of the Kukke Subramanya Temple was refreshing.





Trekking details:
Base camp: Kukke subramanya.
Connectivity from Bangalore: Well connected by Govt & pvt buses and trains.
Journey hours:  7 hours in bus, 8 hours in train.

There is another way to reach the peak. It is from the Somavaarpete taluk.


Trekking season:
October-March(advised)



Difficulty level:
Very difficult for amateur trekkers.
Moderate for frequent trekkers.

Must carry:

• Tent, sleeping bag and mat.
• Good trekking shoes.
• Water(2-3lts). You can fill it up at Bhattarmane
• Leech repellent if you are going before november( Iodex spray, salt). Leech socks are the best options.
• Proper winter wear if you are going after Nov. Temp on the hill slides to 5c during winter
• Flashlight, First aid kit, Knife, rope, energy drinks and food items.

 Important guidelines:

• Reserve your tickets in advance. You cannot expect to get a seat in train while coming back 
• Start trekking early in the morning, sooner the better. Try to reach the summit by eod.
• Lunch at Bhattarmane will be available after 11:30. Bhatta also prepares breakfast and lunch for the next day
• Stay with the crowd always. Kumaraparvata is safe though.
• Woods in the forest will be wet till October sic rainfall is often in the region.
• Keep your backpack as light as possible. Dont carry too much of food. 

  Total trekking time:

• If you are a frequent trekker, you can reach the summit  in 8-9 hours.
• If trekking is rare for you and your stemina is relatively less then you will reach mantapa by the eod.

Tips for photographers:

• Dont forget to capture the macro beauties of the jungle.
• View from the mountain gives a perfect landscape.
• Get up early to capture the most beautiful sunrise you might have seen in your life.
• Stone benches and Mantapa gives a perfect snap with beautiful landscape in the background.Try to avoid people in these pics.

Trekking rules:

• Trekking without the forest dept permission is punishible.
• Do not carry alcohol. Do not smoke in the jungle
• Do not throw anything during the trek. Dustbins are seen at many places. Keep the trekking place clean for the following trekkers.

 Happy Trekking :)

Sakaleshpura is a small town in the Hasan district of Karnataka. It lies on NH-48 which connects Bangalore with Mangalore. Im not sure how this trek idea occured but it was Naveen who planned this trek. We were a group of 16 from bangalore, only guys.

Preparation of the trek:
It was the month of Feb 2011, and the college had just started after vacation. Naveen came up with this idea of trekking to Sakaleshpura. The green route tunnel trek soon attracted 16 guys from our class. We didnt reserve any tickets in the train. Stuffs we carried was basic, food, clothes and torch.We reached Yeshwantpur Railway station from where the train starts with a hope of getting seat in the general compartment since we didnt have booked tickets. We got seats as we hoped and the journey was full of fun. No one slept in the night and we were having the one of the best moments.

Trek Day:

Donigal Station

The train reached near Sakaleshpur station by 4am. we took a bus from the busstand, the driver stopped the bus near some tea stalls somewhere 2-3kms behind Donigal station and told us this is Donigal. We got down and started walking after enquiring route to some localites. The first mission of finding the tracks was quite adventurous as it took us through some tea estates, a graveyard , a small stream of water. We had finally reached the tracks. It was not our day. Here we had our second mystery of finding the direction of walk. Lot of arguements were exchanged among the crowd and finally using GPS we started walking towards our left side. It was just one km of walk and everyone started having the heat of walking on Railway tracks. Reason was quite simple, railway tracks have bars uniformly distributed which are little smaller in width than your foot. So whenever you step on a the cement bar pressure is put on your toe muscle. Little ahead was our first encounter with the bridge and it was an amazing experience for all of us to walk on the railway bridge. After walking for 3-4 kms we finally  saw the Donigal station board and we were as happy as reaching our destination. There was a small stream flowing down amid rocks, the water was freezing cool but it was refreshing for us.

We 16 infront of small stream near Donigal station

 Soon after Donigal station, we found a place to have our breakfast. We started walking again, our next anxious moment was to find a tunnel since we were excited a lot to walk through the tunnel. And the group had already split up. People walking in the front were signalling whether they see a tunnel or not. Soon, we heard the train whistle and we were excited to see the forst train moving next to us. It was a photographic moment. Finally, after walking for some time around 9:30 in the morning, the moment had arrived when we saw the first tunnel. The moment was priceless and it was quite an experience to walk through the dark tunnel. You could feel the water dropping through narrow gaps of the tunnel.

Trek Warning

                                                  

View of mountain

The next few hours went walking on the track with the paining toes and ofcourse, enjoying the scenery n both sides, we crossed numerous bridges and tunnels, met many workers repairing the railway lines. It was 1 in the noon and we were tired, we asked some workers for the water souce near by and they mentioned one stream 3kms away. We took bath in the river and had our lunch there, the bath was refreshing ad the water was crystal clear.

Bridge over a river where we took bath

Yedakumari station

All of us were tired and exhausted. The sun was playing his role.We started walking again crossing numerous tunnels and bridges It was tunnel #18 when we crossed we encountered a split track indicating a station ahead, and soon we saw the board Yedakumari. We were delighted to reach there. We lied down on the platform as if we had never slept before in our life. There was a tea stall in the station where we had tea in he evening. We convinced a localite to take us to the highway. He agreed for 800 bucks. He said the highway is just 3kms away and we have to cross a river, he agreed upon showing us the way to reach the highway. We started following him. He took us down through a very steep mud slide and we encountered a small stream of water. After crossing that, he should us a path that will take us to the riven upon crossing whch we will encounter the highway. He told us that he cannot come with us till the end of the road since it will be dark by the time he reaches back to the station. We started walking through that way and the way never seemed ending. We had split up again, me and Bharatish were leading in the front. We heard some animal sound and we started running without seeing anything till we encountered river. We waited near the river for sometime and we saw 6 of our friends coming. We crossed the river which had a current but it was not deep and started waiting for other 8 people. They were not in the visinity. We waited till 7:30pm and it was pitch dark. We were scared as we didnt know what had happened to them. There was no network in the mobile. Finally we thought of going to Sakleshpur and thought of getting help from there.We stopped 2 jeeps on the highway and when asked the driver he scared us a lot. After driving for some time we found network in the cell and we were keep on trying to call them. Luckily my call got connected to Nikhil and we came to know that they are safe and taking rest at the Yedakumari station.While following us they saw a elephant and they ran back to the station.

We were glad that everyone is safe. If booked a hotel room in sakaleshpura and we rested that night. Next day we got up late, had breakfast and caught rajahamsa bus from Sakaleshpura Bus stand.  Bus reached Bangalore by 6pm. The other group came back in other bus from kukke as they got an early train from Yedakumari to Kukke.


Trekking Details:
Starting point: Donigal
End point: Yedakumari(1day), Kukke Subramanya(2days)
Connectivity from Bangalore: Well connected by bus and train
Journey hours: 7-8 hours
Trekking Distance: 30+ kms

Trekking season:
October-March (adviced)

Difficulty level:
Diffiicult (Just because of the hurting toe after walking on tracks)

Must carry:

• Water
• Good trekking shoes
• Food
• Sleeping bag if you are planning to trek till kukke
• flashlight, forst aid kit and knife

Important guidelines:

• Dont trust locals as these people actually dont know the correct distance they will always misguide you saying its nearby
• Start trekking early in the morning and reach Yedakumari before 4pm
• If you are going in rainy season the current in the river will be high and you will not able to  cross it to goto Highway. So better camp at the Yeadakumari station and request station master to stop early morning train.

Total trekking time:
8 hours to reach yedakumari

Trekking rules:

• Do not carry alcohol. Do not smoke in the jungle
• Do not throw anything during the trek. Keep the trekking place clean for the following trekkers.

Happy Trekking :)