Kuduremukh - 3rd time

Yes, for the third time I climbed the Kuduremukh peek on 20th Dec 2019 with a whole new gang. Umesh, Indiresh, Swamy & I drove from Bangalore to Balegal. The original plan was to reach Hornadu by night, stay in the temple lodge and next day morning drive to Balegal. But Rajappa, who is our contact in the Mullodi village (basecamp) suggested coming directly there. There is a limit of 50 members per day allowed to trek so he suggested he can arrange for permits the previous night itself. We started from Bangalore by 3:30pm on 19th Dec and reached Balegal by 10:30pm. The drive was good except at few places after Kottigehara where the road repair was in progress. Mr. Jinendra from Balegal owns several jeeps and runs between Mullodi (basecamp) & Balegal (base town). We took a drop to Rajappa's house and checked-in to our rooms. 

     It was very dark & chilling when we woke up at 5am in the morning. As usual, after multiple snoozes finally woke up at 6am and got refreshed. Idli, Sambar & Coconut chutney was served at 7:30am for breakfast. After filling our bellies with hot idlis & a cup of tea, we took the packed Puliyogare rice for lunch and started our trek around 8am. There is a new forest check-post built after a short climb-up from Rajappa's house. They check if you are carrying a plastic bag, alcohol and other non-degradable materials. You are not allowed to carry small chocolates wrapped in plastic. You have to remove everything and put it in one big plastic box. This will ensure that people don't throw that little plastic wrap after eating chocolate. After clearing the security check, we started walking up towards the peak. The initial part of the trek was good as you have to walk on a plain road. Trek gets ugly once you cross Lobo's house, and you have to climb up. I have been out of touch for few months now and was having difficulty to climb the final stretch. Umesh & Indiresh looked very fit and the claimed the peak first. Swamy joined as the third person, and I was the last person to reach the peak at 11:45am.

We spent an hour up there on the peak and finished our packed lunch at the stream just below the peak. We started descending around 1:30pm and reached Rajappa's house around 4:00pm.

After changing clothes, I & Swamy went to take bath in the Mullodi falls. It was chilling water but gave a very refreshing bath. We came back to Rajappa's house and started chit-chat with his kids. Suman & Seema were very friendly, and without any hesitation, they opened up for discussion with strangers. Seems in fact, started asking stories from Ramayan & Mahabharath and I & Indiresh shared whatever that we have learned. Rajappa served us the onion pakoras and we finished that in no time. After dinner, we came back to the room and settled for the night. 

     The next day, we woke up at 6am, and after taking bath we left Rajappa's house. We went to Horanadu temple, but due to the Sabarimala season, it was heavily crowded. We offered prayers from the outside and started our journey back to Bangalore. While having breakfast at Kalasa, we met one of the very good lyricists of the Kannada film industry, Mr. Jayant Kaykini. He was there for the Galipata-2 film shooting, and he obliged to take photographs with him. On the way back, we visited Indiresh's home at Hasan and had a glass of tasty buttermilk. Next, we stopped for lunch at Swathi Delicacy and reached Bangalore by 6pm. It was a nice drive and trek to Kuduremukh. There are a lot of treks in mind, but don't know how many can be attempted. 

     Keep traveling & keep blogging :-). Good night.