Kuduremukha : Trekking the Horse Face!

After the Stok trek in the last week of July, soul was relishing the moments for about 2 months with out looking for any new adventures. Enjoyed every moment bit by bit. Of course, the mind will not forget, but, the time will hide & erase everything as the event passes from the recent past and soul will start longing for new interesting things, finally the older facts will hide in the corners of our mind!

Malnad Welcomes! : 
We guys started from Bangalore at 10-15 pm, 14-10-2011, from Gandhinagar, Bangalore in a private bus "SUGAMA" which had been reserved a week back. The bus started on time, unlike any other private run buses (except VRL). Reached Kalasa at 6-45 am, the next day. All of our mind & heart were fresh & pleasant (which was appearing in the face) by the scenic of early dawn taking over the night, in the thick forests of the Malnad region. Also, the feeling of stay at this place for the next two days had shaped the pleasantness which had erased all the tiredness of our overnight bus journey.

View on the way to Mullodi

KaLasa town was waking up for the day with a few people in their routine work of loading the news papers, milk distribution etc. We had to reach BaLegallu on the Kuduremukha Town road, which is 8 km away from KaLasa. We had missed the 6-30 am bus which goes via BaLegallu, and the next bus was at 7-45 am, which forced us to wander the town for an alternative. We hired an auto to reach our next place in 45 minutes. From BaLegallu, we have to reach Mullodi, a village at the edge of the Kuduremukha National Park, which is the starting point of the trek. I was surprised not to see any Jeep waiting for us at BaLegallu; the arrangement i had made by contacting the villager at Mullodi around 3 days back had gone in vein. I could not reach him on the phone too. Enquired with the driver who was loading 11 other trekkers into a Jeep, but he had no clue about Satish's plans (The guy whom i had contacted over the phone). We met the Jeep, sent to pick us up after we took the bold step of walking up to Mullodi which is 7 km from the bus stop, luckily Jeep had arrived after walking for 0.5 km. In about 15 minutes, our body started paining severely due to gut wrenching ride on the muddy ghat road towards Mullodi. The amazing view on either side of the road could be compromised for the amount of pain consumed! After 45 minutes of strenuous ride, we were at the Mullodi Satish's home.

Entering the Horse Mouth : 
Kuduremukha is the mountain ranges in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karntaka, India. There are numerous peaks in the region, dominated by a peak of shape which can be visualised as Horse's mouth which translates in Kannada language (language spoken in Karnataka) as Kuduremukha. The peak is scaling to a height of 1892 meter above MSL, one of the tallest peaks of Karnataka.

Guys ready for the trek!

I prepared myself by applying anti-leech stuffs to my legs with extra care, as i had a very bitter experience with the leeches in my previous trek to Brahmagiri. Volini, Tigerbalm, Sprays will temporarily avoid leeches, but not more than 10 minutes. This time, the Nashya powder mixed in Castor oil combination worked better. I had kept salt too as a back up. We started our trek from Satish's home after the break fast of unlimited Idly & Sambar, with packed lunch of Puliogre at sharp 9-45 am.

 The trekking starts from the path which continues upwards from the Satish's house. The road ends after 0.5 km and from here on, its the narrow treacherous trail created by the cows and other animals which led us into the forest. There are some other minor well broken paths which would have confused us if guide had not accompanied us. There are couple of streams to be crossed initially, though it was an easy task i slipped into water in the opening stream due to slippery rocks. Trail was mainly on the thin forests, as coarse as leeches could not survive at the end of the rainy season, still the wilderness could be felt. Path was very slippery through out as algae had dominated the region, due to the heavy rains helped them to build home in the past 4 months. Slowly, we guys started ascending, enjoying the nature, attempting to capture some on the camera, listening to the chirping of birds. The first break point near the Ashwattha tree helped us to gasp for some breath. In 5 minutes, we resumed on the trail which was mainly on the grass lands, exposing us to the clear sky for mild sun burns. There were a couple of huge gorgeous mountains wearing lush green canopy at the far distance on either side of our trail mocking the trekkers on their way!

First glimpse of the peak

Foggy mountains on the way

One more attempt to click!

Slowly & steadily we were gaining the altitude & reached the landmark called Lobo's house. The house is very old, collapsed roof, collapsed walls were posing antiquity in their own way. There are two houses separated at a distance of 1 km both in the ruined state, both of them were at their glory around 20 years back. Lobo used to live in those houses, enjoying the pristine nature. He had built a church too, just before the Kuduremukha peak. Those three buildings would have been the only human construction penetrated the dense forests of Malnad at that time. The peak is still 6 km away.

After 30 minutes of trek from the Lobo's house, lead us into a small break point near the lonely tree, from where we could get the glimpse of entire Kuduremukha range of mountains pasted with lush green color. There were a few Shola forests at the valley, but the meadows had dominated the entire range. The main reason for the abundant shrubs & grasslands instead of thick forest is of the abundant iron content in the soil which does not hold the trees firmly on to the ground. We reached the next land mark of a small wall structure built with stones & cement in another 30 minutes. Ideal place for camping as there is a stream near by. The next stop was near the stream with wide slippery rock spread around. There was a narrow water fall formed by the stream passing on that. Even though it was a perfect location for the lunch break, we had to continue further as we had to reach the peak as early as possible. The path led us to a steep climb, by then cloud's started playing hide & seek game indicating the next ritual. Finally our tired bodies took rest just before the final ascent. We had our lunch on the side of a small stream passing nearby which was coming from the dense forest. 2 km of trek inside this forest will take us to the full stop point. Its called so by the locals because of the dense forests, at that point you can not proceed further. A kind of wall formed by the nature! We were back in action very quickly to cover this too after conquering the peak on our return path. In 15 minutes all 5 of us had conquered the peak scaling 1872 meter at 3-00 pm. It took us 5 hours 15 minutes to scale the peak from the Mullodi village. Already fog had started showing her ugly face which failed us for the hawk eye from the peak.

A picture worth thousand words!

Kuduremukha range

Nearing the mouth ..

We waited for some time at the peak for the fog to subside. All of us fell in sleep for 30 minutes. By this time, we were inside the thick fog layer, clear indication for us to leave. In another 15 minutes we started our descend and immediately it started raining. Eventually the plan to go to full stop point had to be dropped.

The descending was quite tough as the path was already slippery and rain helped them to their skills. It was raining continuously, which forced us to walk faster downwards. Since the path was slippery, all of us including the guide fell at least 3 times, but the thick grass on the sides of the trail cushioning us for safety. The rocky path where in we thought of having lunch on our ascent was about to take its toll now. I slipped and skating down on the rock with out any control. Luckily my body toppled and i could get a hold on the nearby small rocks. Had i slipped below to rock pit, i can not even imagine about the consequences. A billion thanks to super natural king: GOD!

On the way back

 We over took the other guys who had climbed before us and finally at 6-45 pm we were at the Satish's verandha inspecting our body for any leeches. Found a couple of them in my shoes, but none of them bit me! Thanks to the new formula : Nashya powder + Castor oil. Called off the day after having a heavy dinner and our tired body had gone to sleep in no time snoring heavily!

Suthanabbe/Hanumanagundi Falls : 
Woke up early in the morning at 6-00 am to enjoy the morning at Mullodi village. Took bath at the Somavathi falls which is very close to his house. Our plan to departure early did not work out as there was only a Jeep to take around 25 people from Mullodi to BaLegallu. Our's being the last trip, reached BaLegallu at 11-45 am. Immediately got a bus to Suthanabbe falls. The bus charge was 28 INR for the 1 hr 15 minutes of journey on the Mangalore road from BaLegallu.

Suthanabbe falls

Close up

The falls could be reached after descending around 100 steps. Falls was exotic as usual. After spending around 3 hours, we headed to Horanadu via Kalasa. Reached Horanadu at around 6-00 pm. Took darshan of Goddess Annapurneshwari and had dinner at the temple. Had the first meal of the day and boarded the KSRTC bus which was waiting for us to kick out from ...

How to reach :

• Take a overnight bus from Bangalore to KaLasa. From KaLasa, board a bus towards Kuduremukh town and get down at BaLegallu which is 8 km from KaLasa. From BaLegallu, need to hire a Jeep to reach Mullodi village at a distance of 7 km and the charge is 500 INR for a trip

• Hanumanagundi falls is around 30 km from BaLegallu. All the buses which goes to Karkala or Mangalore will go via this falls. The bus fare is 28 INR

• Horanadu is 5 km from KaLasa. There are many buses from KaLasa to Horanadu. Bus fare is 5 INR 

Note:

• Forest permission is needed to trek in these area. Forest office is at the Kuduremukha town

• I had contacted Satish at Mullodi village who takes care of everything including the home stay, forest permission, guide etc

• Money charged was

• 275 INR at the forest office (per head)

• 375 INR for the home stay (per head)

• 500 INR for the guide (for a group)

• 500 INR for the Jeep (one way)(for a group)

• Satish's contact info - 08263-249595 / 9481074530 / 8722847688

• The food and stay was pretty descent
• There is one more home stay from a guy called Raje Gowda who is the distant relative of Satish. He charges a bit more