The Kurinji Bloomings of Kumara Parvata

Kumara Parvata is a dream and considered as the toughest trek in Karnataka for the fact its 22kms both ways ( from the Kukke side) and for about 90% of the trek its a ascend and usually people do it in 2 days and taking a night break in Butter mane in the middle... The last time i did KP was in 2013 and with some exuberance of youth and rush of blood we did it in one day ( 5am to 9pm) and that day I decided I wont do this trek again for its toughness...

Years roll by and this time suddenly I thought why cant I do KP again and came to know there is another side to reach the peak from the Mallali falls side and its a relatively easier trek of about 14kms and goes through a gradual inclination...

On a beautiful month of October we packed our bags and started our weekend trip to KP and also planning to explore some unknown falls around the Area.... We started Friday late evening from Bangalore and reached the base at Malalli falls and stayed in a homestay resting for the day...

We started the trek about 6am from the morning and post some official permissions from the forest department we started our journey. Well what can I say, Kurinji flowers which blooms once in 12 years were all over the western ghats this time around ( Mandalpatti, Kotebetta etc) and was also seemed to be blooming in the grasslands of KP's initial pathways.. We enjoyed the scenes and the memories and started the trek on a misty beautiful forest.. Just to add Kurinji flowers also bloomed in my farm land in Kodaikanal 3 years back.

The initial 6 kms of Trek is so so so beautiful and passes through dense and green foliage's and most places sunshine hardly reached ground.. It was kind of a fairy tale ride as we never got tired for the 6 kms as it was so so gradual and very nice. The pathway was dense, misty and very satisfying and couples of small waterfalls and streams also pass by...

The final 1 km is a little difficult one due to the sliding and slippery rocky surface and after some struggle we reached the final grasslands and peak where it was completely misty.. It took about 4 to 4.5 hrs to reach the peak from the base..There is a small board and a stone temple at the peak and we stayed about 1 hr at the peak enjoying the mist and the silence..I said to myself will I come here again? well I dont know, time has to say.. We had a quick lunch and then after a short nap around 2.30 pm started our way back to the base..

The way back was pretty quick and in about 2.5 hrs we reached the base before we rested in a hanging bridge stream to remove some leeches from our shoes... We reached the homestay about 6pm and rushed to a nearby waterfalls for a much needed bath and peace...



The beauty of Neela Kurinji Bloomings





Initial path to the Trek

























The Slippery area in the last 1 km mark

Enjoying the Mist

Going through dense Folliage



Finally the Peak




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