Kuduremukha Trek - 10th and 11th September, 2016

Kuduremukha is a very well known trek, and I obviously had it on my list since an year. Pics of this trek was very alluring and was waiting for a chance to go. Meanwhile, Suchith and I had plans to start organizing treks and we decided to start with this one, since we had all the contacts. We asked all our friends, and a total of 18 members agreed to come. All preparations were made 2-3 days before, and we were all set to go. We started from Majestic at 10 PM, and headed for a night journey towards a village called Samse near Kalasa.

Day 1, September 10th: (Trek to peak and back, stay in home-stay)

We reached Samse at 6:30 AM. We were late by an hour (Our driver was very slow and never seemed to cross 60 anywhere), and the jeep stand was already crowded with 5-6 groups. From this point, we had to go to Mullodi, which is 6 km. There is no proper road, and we should hire jeeps. Despite being late and the crowd, we got a jeep immediately where all 20 of us got in with our luggage. The home-stay owner had informed the jeep owner that we would be coming and he arranged a jeep for us immediately.

After 4.5 km of a bumpy jeep ride, we got down, where we met Shankaregowda, with whom we had booked for home-stay accommodation for that day. He guided us to his home, which was about 500 mt walk on muddy road. We reached home-stay by 7:15, and we all got freshened up and got ready by 8:45. We had breakfast, took packed lunch and snacks packets, and we started the trek. Initial trail till forest department was about 2 km, which was a jeep route. This part was thus easy. We finished all the formalities with the forest department and started our trek. We were now getting into the forest and the path became narrow. Our host himself came as guide with us, and he was telling about the forests in this region. The trek was smooth, and there was no much inclination.

Home-stay

Initial jeep route

We reached Lobo's house, and after a while, we came to an open patch of land, where we got the first view of Kuduremukha peak. It was far, and we were yet to trek another 7 km. We took some pics, and started the trek again. We were slowly moving up now, but it was not tiring since we need not climb, but walk on an inclined path.

First view of Kuduremukha peak

View on the way

View from view point

We reached the view point. Half trek completed, we took a long break. The view from here was awesome. It was lush green everywhere, and it was a very pleasant sight. We prepared tang juice and gave it to all. We also took a lot of pics, and after 15 minutes, we started the trek again.

After Lobo's house

Now we entered the forest, though it lasted only for about 500 mts. Again, it was plain grasslands. Now the path was getting difficult. The route was zig-zag for next 2 km, after which the last km is an easy one. But the zig-zag route took almost an hour, since it was very tiring. All of them were ahead of us, and only Suchith, Jeevan, Vinayata and I were at the last. We made it till the small water stream, and from where peak was only 200 mt short. We took a short break, and we made the final accent to the peak without anymore break.

View point just before the zig-zag trail starts

Last 200 mts ascend to the peak

View on the peak

It was 2:30 PM when we reached there, and we were all hungry. We first had our lunch and then took time exploring the hill. It was foggy and a little cold as well. One moment, the view is very clear and you can see everything around, and the next moment fog covers up and nothing is seen. We wished we could spend some more time here, but we had to start the descend, in order to reach the home-stay in time. Our's was the only group on the peak at this time and we also started trekking down at 3:15 PM.

Group pic at the peak

View while trekking down

Getting down was also a little difficult, since our legs were already aching after the 13 km trek. We also had to be careful, since the path was very narrow, and the hill was inclined too much. If you fall, nobody sees you again. We managed to reach the viewpoint by 5 PM. Again we were at the last, and everyone had gone ahead. We took a short break and resumed the trek. It was getting darker, and we managed to get to forest department before it got dark completely. We took one more break here, had some snacks and water and started the final stretch with torches in hand, since it was completely dark now. Most of us walked for the last 2 km, while few of them took a jeep since they were very tired.

We got back to home-stay by 7:30 PM and freshened up. Few went to take bath, while the remaining gathered near the fire that was put in front of the house. Tea and snacks was ready. Everyone was tired and no one was ready for a dance or a song. So we all sat around the fire having a normal chit chat. Dinner was served at 8:30 PM, and then most of them slept by 10:30, while few of us stayed near the fire for some more time. We then slept next to the fire, somewhere around 1 AM.

Day 2, September 11th: (Horanadu Temple and back to Bengaluru)

We initially had a plan of visiting Hanumanagundi falls, but it was closed for public due to too much water. So we decided to visit another falls near the home-stay, just about a km away. Many of them wanted to sleep, and decided to stay back in the home-stay. I still made an effort to wake up everyone at 6:30, but all were reluctant. Finally, I went with other 2 guys to the nearby stream instead of the falls, which was just about 300 mts down the home-stay. The stream was nice and had very cold water. I managed to take a dip, and I went back to home-stay. Everyone were now waking up and getting freshened up, since we had to leave home-stay by 10:30 AM.

We went to Samse in jeep and got into our bus at 11:30 AM. We made our journey towards Horanadu and we stopped near the river, since few of them wanted to take bath in the river. We then went to the temple, finished darshana and had lunch there only. We started our journey back to Bengaluru and left there at 2:30 PM.

River in Horanadu

We gave a break for coffee and resumed our journey. The bus driver was very slow, and we were sure that we wouldn't reach Bengaluru by 11 PM, as we had planned. We were insisting him to drive a little fast but in vain. He finally reached Yeshwantpur at 12:30 AM, and dropping most of them on the way, we reached Majestic at 1:15 AM! And it was 3 AM when I came back home.

This trek was one of the best treks in terms of view. It offers you a very different experience and it's a must for every trekker. The trek gradient is easy, but the distance to be covered in a day is a little more and thus makes it look like a difficult one. Also, our first trek as independent organizers turned out great, without any hassles :-)