I had quite a good start to this year with scaling KumaraParvatha, touted to be the toughest trek of South India, and being spellbound by a breathtaking view of the sunrise from the peak. For 2 years straight I haven’t woken up with a headache owing to the sins of the night of New Year’s eve. My friends and I had booked a guided trek to KumaraParvatha in advance. We started our journey with the group from Bengaluru on the 30th of December there were about 25–30 of us.
We reached the town of Kukke Subramanya, which was the starting point of our 28km round-trip trek. We freshened up and kick started our journey at 6am which was to be a couple of days that I would always remember and cherish those moments that made this trip great. After receiving an initial briefing from our trek lead we set out to Bhatrumane where we would stay the night as attempting the trek in a day was a mammoth of a task for novice hikers. The trail to Bhatrumane was not a well worn path we had to heave ourselves up the winding road. We had really good trek leads to our assistance all three were friendly and didn’t frown upon you if you were falling back from the rest of the group.
Moving along the trail there was a stream with a beautiful back drop of boulders and trees where we took a break from the excruciating trek, we could refill our bottles here. The water was so pure and refreshing, felt like staying there rather than in a tent. We moved on, Bhatrumane is 6.5kms from the starting point and I had barely finished 3kms when I started feeling the pain in my legs I could run 10kms without a break but this was a different ball game. However I pushed myself and made it to Bhatrumane.
Calling it a resort is a bit of a stretch, there is just a modest house where the food will be served and toilets are anywhere you can find a place where no one’s watching. We pitched our tents, gathered around and got to know each other better. When it was 17:30 we went to the sunset point which is also the only place you get mobile network. The sky turned crimson and view of the Sun disappearing among the mountains was a treat to the eyes but it was really disheartening to see everyone checking their mobile phones and texting someone instead of feasting their eyes on the sunset. I had completely forgotten about my phone, I thought it would be more appropriate to call it ‘Network Point’ than sunset point.
We had dinner at Bhatrumane, it was a decent meal I mean you can’t expect much luxury atop a mountain. The owner of that place is a monopoly when it comes to food and stay there, he is a very witty guy and slightly short tempered I would call him the king of Kumaraparvatha as he is a well known and respected figure among the trekkering community. One other thing that was special about this trek was the night sky you wouldn’t have seen such a beautiful sky in the city, its impossible with all the light pollution(yes that’s a valid term), but here being away from civilization everything seems so pure the water, the fresh air and even the goddamn sky. We were awake until late to revel the New Year and consequently the new decade. My watch beeped and it was 12, we wished each other and to our surprise our trek lead had managed to get a cake for us so we cut the cake as the old habit goes but of course there was no alcohol that was a break in tradition.
We started off early at 4am, it was necessary to not miss the sunrise. After logging all the plastic items we had with the forest officials, which we had to bring back or pay a fine to the tune of 500 rupees. They sent along a forest guard with us, that dude was climbing in his fucking flip flops! He was doing it like it was his morning walk or something while we were gasping for every 200 meters. We made it to the first hill called Sheshaparvatha everyone were quite gassed out. The sun was just about to rise and we had a good a view of it. Though I’m no OnePlus Phone user ‘I never settle’(I know that was lame but still) I wanted to watch the sunrise from KumaraParvatha but I had to be quick didn’t want to miss it. So my brother and I left our group behind pushed hard and we made it in time to a very picturesque and exquisite view that made the whole tiring trek worth it. I was at an altitude of about 6000ft, I was above the clouds and sometimes inside one, the sunrise was so overwhelming and breathtakingly beautiful. I’m not really a morning person but I didn’t miss the first sunrise of the year and of the decade. I know how the old adage goes ‘Its more about the journey than the destination’ but screw that you’ve got to get to this peak however difficult it may be. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year.
