KumaraParvatha affectionately and passionately called by trekkers as KP, is one of the most common trekking spots. This is one of the tallest peaks in Karnataka and towers at around 4000 ft above sea level. This peak is on the border of two very beautiful districts of Karnataka namely -
We were a group of 5 trekkers - Naveen, Purusha, Siddu, Muddu and myself; we managed to make it a one day trek.
We set out from college on to do this trek on Friday night from Mangalore. We caught a bus that would take us to Somavarpet.. We reached Somavarpet quite early 6:45am.. ditch the details here. We had a local bus that takes ut to a village that is around 45 min from Somavarpet, it was scheduled to leave at 7:15am we just did some quick breakfast and then a purchase of fruits before we boarded the bus.
After we complete a 45 min journey, we reach a small village from where we have to start our trek. I don’t recall the name of the Village now!! Well some distance form here we had met a stream this is the "KumaraDhara". This stream has its origin in the Kumara Parvatha. During our trek a bridge was under construction…, we had to take a make shift bridge to cross over. Then there is a wide mud road which takes you over to another village. It is from this village that we get to see the KumaraParvatha for the first time.
Joys walk through the paddy fields and we were near a temple. We just took a break here and then continued on our trek. It was very sunny and a walk in the dusty mud road was killing our interest... after a small distance covered in this way we get to see a forest check post. This is the where we enter into the actual trek. We have to pay some nominal amount as entry fee for the trek route. The route after this is through dense forest and is a real fun to trek. There are tall shady trees all along. No noise, all that you hear is just the chirping of birds and sometime the wind. I am sure in rainy season there would be a lot of leeches here.
Some trek through the forest and a few steep climbs we will come to a good sight seeing spot were we can hang on for some time and have nice pictures taken, we did exactly that. Continue on further from here and another climb we will come to a nice spot, a good resting place. You will find some cement seats and some sort of shelter here. You can take a small nap in case you want to here. Continue on the same trail, you will reach a small falls (I was completely dried when we went, so we could not appreciate it much) . A little further and then you can see a deviation. One way is pointed toward the Heggademane while the other is toward Pushpagiri (KP) peak. We did not want to waste any time any were and wished we reached the peak as early as possible, so we chose the route towards the peak. A small distance from this diversion we get to see a steep climb, its rock surface and I am sure it’s hard to climb if you don’t have good grip, not undoable though. Just wait for a small time and look around, you have a very nice view for yourself. The peak is not all that far from here and so you can spend as much time as you want to take the snaps. Once this session is over you can continue with the trek, just a small trek through the short shrubs again and you will be at the peak, some sign boards to indicate the direction, one indicating towars Kukke and the other towars Somavarpet.
We reached the peak ar around 12 noon!!! oh what a time to reach the peak, no shade over there, jus a few temples, some stone heap, and a flag. When we reached the peak, we met a family that had trekked from the Kukke side, and were planning to get down from the Somavarpet side. They had a small kid think it was around 1yr old, carring it on the back was its mother, her husband was there along, there was another person .. he seemed to be their giude and was carrying all the luggage of tents and stuff for trekking. It was an ispiration for us to see this family; they had even brought their little kid for this trek!!! After some enquiries and hai/bye stuff we parted ways.
We spent some time picking snaps and looking at the view around. We were also searching for a suitable spot for our lunch that we had carried. We spent around half an hour at the peak and the continued to descend on from the Kukke side. We received the information from the family that there was a small stream of water a lil further on the other side.. it was not too good to drink but could be used for other purpose in case you needed it. We were searching for this spot and found it in no time. We just sat there in the shade for some time, had our food and took a nap for 30 min. It was a nice sleep that we had, not much of a problem at all. We set out from the spot at around 2:15 pm.We continued on our trek, now slowly the sun was moving west and was really nice to see the distant villages and the route that we would follow to go to kukke. 
We moved on slowly though the huge stretch of the mountains, looking back sometimes at the Peak, some times at the path we followed to reach the peak. I looked at the vast stretch of the mountain... and just got lost in some philosophical thought. After a small trek this way, we reach a nice water source, generally called "Mantapa" by a lot of people. There is a small pond near by that stores water. It’s a nice place to rest. You will get very nice photographs from this place.
We continued our trek and then reached the forest check post on the other side; some distance away you have the famous "Battara Mane"... a nice resting place for the trekkers. We had some tea here and then continued our trek to Kukke. It was a nice time to do the descend trek. We just wanted to reach Kukke before it was late and hence did a hurried trek. It was though winding path and dense forest, high huminidity would sack all the energy that we have. We continued on with the trek and finally reached Kukke at 5:30pm.
We then caught a bus to GunDia then to Mangalore and finally reached college in the last bus to Surathkal. It was a memorable trek for us. Wish I make a more planned and leisurely trek to this place some time again to spend the night at the peak.
For Photographer it’s a very nice place to pick a lot of snaps. I bet the towering KP has a lot in store for the
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