Kudremukha - Karnataka

Kudremukha!

Kudremukha is one of the beautiful place located in the Western Ghats of south India. The name "Kudremukha" means "Horse Head" because of its exceptional shape of the Peak. With an altitude of 6207 feet, Kudremukha stands as the 3rd highest peak in Karnataka. The trek is so unique as you will be passing through grasslands, forests and a number of water streams.

STAY / PERMISSON / ENTRY / FEES
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You can come come to kudremukha / Mullodi on the previous day of your trek, and spend the night at one of the home stays. There are a number of home stays in the area, we stayed in Red Castle Homestay (Contact No: +919611112828).
The owner was very friendly and he took al the responsibilities to ensure a smooth and convenient trekking experience.

Basically you have to pay the following for the trek:

INR. 575/- per head as the entry fee (to be paid at the check post forest office)
INR. 1000/- as guide fee for a group of max 7-9 people (to be paid at the check post forest office)
INR. 1500/- for off road jeep drive for a group (for 2 way from home stay to the starting point and return after trek)

Your homestay owner / representative will come with you in order to take the entry pass and he will assign the Guide and Jeep drive required for the trek. They will also arrange dinner, breakfast and lunch (to be carried when you hike) during your stay.


TREKKING
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Once you take the pass from the forest office, you can proceed to the starting point by the off road jeep and with the Guide assigned by your homestay. The trek begins from Kudremukha trek forest office. They will ask for the entry passes and will check your backpacks. No plastics / covers are allowed to carry while trek. Even chocolates / energy bars you have to open the packet and leave the cover at the base before entering the trail. Keep in mind that only one plastic bottle is allowed, they will say you can refill from the streams which are available throughout the trail.

Once you enter the trail, follow the guide (basically the trail is very well marked and visible without much of diversions, you can do it your own but as per the rule a guide is mandatory to do the trek)

As mentioned above the trail is though grass lands, forests and streams, the scenery keeps on changing one after the other. With the presence of fog, mist, low clouds and light showers, it will be an unforgettable experience.

You can view the peak (Horse shaped) after 4km hike from the view point. One way is about 9km (as of my recording, it is about 8.5km due to some fluctuations, GPS errors etc.). The ascend / descend is gradual except couple of places has a short steeps but still not much difficult pass through. The challenge will be the trail gets slippery if there is continuous rain. We took ample time resting and taking pictures while going up. It took about 4 and a half hours to reach the summit. After resting and having lunch from the summit, we retuned back through the same trail. At summit we had light showers and while descending we had to face the rain in multiple areas. It took 3 hours to come back (again with ample time for rest).

The description wont be completed without mentioning the presence of leaches. There are many of them as it is usual in India when you hike through grasslands / shola forests. They will come out more when it is rainy (when the trail is wet), make sure to keep sanitizer / salt water in a spray bottle to remove them easily.

POINTS TO NOTE:
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- Mobile network only available at some point of the trek. Even in kudremukh / mullodi you will struggle to find coverage (Except for Jio)
- Trail starting point is accessible with off road jeep only
- Trail is accessible only with guide and permission from the forest office
- Keep rain coat, cap, hiking poles, sanitizer / salt water spray as they are mandatory
- Hiking sandals or Water proof hiking shoes are recommended
- Avoid carrying plastics, NO LITTERING PLEASE

Location : Kudremukha / Mullodi
Difficulty : Moderate
Highlight : Spectacular views of green hills, presence of low clouds, beautiful trek through shola forest and grass lands with a number of water streams to cross.

Note the waypoints and read their description. Please reach out for any other info / clarifications