Kurinjal peak

We are back from a short trek to Kurinjal peak in Kudremukh national park. Kurinjal doesn't sound like a Kannada word and I was wondering why this name came for a peak in Karnataka. Later a forest guard told me that it is because of the "Natikuranji" flower that blooms every 12 years in this hill. But, I was not given the complete details and few questions still remain on my mind. 

When I look back at this blog posts, 2018 is a very disappointing year. We did not do a single trek last year. Maybe the passion for trekking is dying slowly? or we are stuck with family, work and other personal problems? No, we should not let it die. We should take some time out to spend in nature and connect with nature. A few years back, we used to go often, and camp overnight on the peaks of western ghats looking at the dark sky filled with millions of stars. But now, a lot of restrictions from the forest department and banning of camping inside the forest has made life difficult for us. Sometimes I think, all these restrictions and bans are the result of some of us creating a nuisance by throwing the liquor bottles all over the campsite, snubbing the forest guidelines and disrespecting the laws of nature. We don't deserve the precious gifts from nature. 

Okay, coming back to this trek report. We hired an Innova car and decided to leave Bangalore by 11pm so that we can start the trek early and spend some good time relaxing on top of the peak. But there is always a "man" up there to dispose of our plans :-). After all the pickups we left Bangalore by midnight on Friday. There was little traffic on the Tumkur road because of the long weekend but the Mangalore highway was free, and we could cover up the initial delay by driving faster. We took a tea break at Kottigehara around 4:30am on Saturday morning and resumed the journey. It was very foggy and visibility was only a few meters. A few kilometres before Kalasa, I noticed some dead animal on the road and asked the driver to stop the car. 

It was an Indian civet cat, perhaps hit by a car very recently. Though there are signboards all over the highway that mentions to driving carefully these incidents happen. This Civet cat is a nocturnal animal and is my first ever sighting and it happened this way. We reached Kuduremukh at around 7:15am and went straight into the forest office to seek permission. There was no sign of life on the campus and the Kudremukh town looked like an abandoned city after a world war. We thought it is best to go to nature camp, a Jungle lodges property and ask for information there. The best way to do this trek is to book a room or dormitory in this nature camp, start early in the morning from Bangalore to reach this camp by noon, take rest and do the trek next day. You will be entertained only if you are a guest otherwise you will be denied of any of the services here. After pleading with the camp manager, he allowed using the lavatory which was a dire need at that time. You can live without a lunch or dinner, but you can't live without proper shitting & only an experienced person understands my statement :-). We were told to go back to the same office for permission, and this time we found one person to speak to.

We were asked to wait until they find a guide for us so, we walked to a local shop cum hotel to finish breakfast. When the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) was running at its peak, the town supported 2000 workers and their families, but when the company was shut down in 2005, people had to abandon the town and move to other places in search of work & food. I was told that all the buildings in the town will be razed down shortly and the picture of once beautiful town will remain only in the memories of those who have seen it in the past. The hotel where we had breakfast is run by a single lady, and once all the dismantling work finishes, she also has to vacate the town. We asked her to prepare and pack the  "lemon-rice" for the lunch, and after paying the 500Rs fee per person which included the entry fee, guide fee & eco-development fee, we started our trekking finally by 11am. A clerk named Nagaraj Bhat accompanied us as the guide.

The trek starts from 500 meters after the Bhagwathi Nature Camp entrance. All the blogs that I read about this trek suggested a 7kms one-way distance, and an estimated time of 3 to 4 hours to the peak. I don't know from where they calculated the distance, as we found it to be a very short trek. Our average walking speed will be around 1.5 to 2 kilometres per hour. We started our trek around 11am and by 12:45pm we were at the abandoned house at the base of the peak. That gives roughly 3 to 3.5 km maximum distance. The first kilometre is ascending but it is a jeep trail, so there are no challenges involved except that you will be sweating. If you are not carrying luggage or a heavy DSLR camera then it is an easy walk. The next kilometre is almost on a flat trail, where you will go around two or three hillocks. The final stretch of 1 to 1.5 kilometres is a steep climb and puts a little load on your heart while climbing up, and stresses your knees while coming down. You can also avoid this steep climb by taking a few extra steps on the jeep trail. There are no water sources on the way except a very small stream mid-way. So carry enough water till you come back to that point. Just before you start the steep climb, there is a viewpoint. From here, you can see the Kurinjal peak and the valley below. Since this is winter, there is no beauty angle to the ghats & valley. It is all dried and brown coloured all over. The forest department will be closing the entry from 15th January as the chances of wildfire & human-caused fire accidents are common. All along the trek route, we could find Leopard scat which was thrilling but the big-cat chose not to appear in front of us. We reached the abandoned house around 12:45pm. Ravi, Sangeeta & Roopa climbed to the top of the peak and Sibhasis joined them later. I & Prabin had a nice one hour sleep at the house. I wanted to climb up but thought there is no fun in seeing the dried out valley. After the rainy season, when it is lush green all over then I will revisit the peak. This peak will surely be mesmerising post monsoon, and when the Kurinji flower blooms.

We finished lunch and started coming down by 2:30pm. We had plans to visit the Hanuman gundi falls the next day, but the guide told us that the entry is banned from last 2 years. We could have returned to Bangalore on the same day but the driver had not slept well, and we were also very tired & sleep-less. So, we went to Horanadu and checked-in to Bhadra Nivas temple lodge. It is the best and economical stay option for tourists coming to Horanadu. After a refreshing & chilling cold-water bath, we visited the temple and had a nice dinner at the temple. 

Today morning, we left Horanadu by 7:30am and reached Bangalore by 2:00pm. The trip cost is around 3k per person. At the time of this blog, the dormitory cost at the nature camp is 1100/- Rs, and the cottage cost is around 1700/- Rs (excluding GST). At Bhadra nivas lodge, there are different room options varying from 250Rs (Standard room with no TV), 500Rs (Room with TV) etc. As I mentioned earlier, the best and economical way to do this trek is to 

• book the dormitory at nature camp, 
• drive your own car by leaving Bangalore at 5am
• check-in to dormitory and take rest
• Next day, start early trek to the peak, come back to camp for lunch
• take some rest, and start driving back to Bangalore

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