Chembra Peak Trek

 I was planning from 3 years to go to chembra peak trek and wayanad, but nothing went right till 2012 monsoon. Always when i saw the pictures of the beautiful heart shape lake in chembra, I wonder how i missed such an awesome place even after traveling almost all the best places in kerala. I thought of going to this trek with my girl friend and propose her infront of the heart shape lake... but I find it difficult to choose whom to take for the trek!!! ....  just kidding. In this post I'm going to give a detailed info about the chembra peak and my trek experiences.

Location:
Chembra peak is located near Kalpetta in wayanad district of kerala. Kalpetta is situated at a distance of 150km from Mysore, 80km from Kozhikode and 140km from Madikeri(coorg). Chembra peak(7k feet) is the highest peak in wayand and also one of the best tourist attractions in wayanad. 


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How to reach chembra, wayanad??

                  Inorder to reach starting point of the trek, one has to reach meppady, which is 8km from Kalpetta. From meppady you have to travel for atleast 8km to reach forest checkpost. We have to pay 500rs as entry for 10 persons at the forest checkpost and a guide will join you at the checkpost. From checkpost after travelling for atleast 5km through the tea plantations, you will reach the base camp of the trek. There is one watch tower located at the starting point of the trek.

Distance of trek?
The total distance of the trek from starting point till peak will be around 14km(round trip). But if you just want to trek till the heart shaped lake, the distance will be around 8km(round trip).

Difficulty?
Most of the tourists who visits wayanad, come to this trek assuming that it is an easy trek. Chembra peak trek is a medium difficulty trek. But if you are not well prepared and don't have idea about the distance and about the terrain, this will be a high difficulty trek. Because i have seen many people who stopped in the middle of the trek because of the lack of food and water. In monsoon, most of the trek route will be very slippery and descent will be difficult. 

Best time to visit?
The best time to visit chembra peak would be in monsoon. Even though it will be difficult to trek in rain, but one can enjoy the beauty of nature more in monsoon. Monsoon in Kerala will start in June and will continue till august. So my suggestion is go for chembra peak trek in between June - September. But if it rains so heavily, then you might miss the beautiful views because of the fog.

Leeches??
If you are going to chembra peak in monsoon, be prepared to face leeches. In monsoon, the chembra mountain will be completely covered with green grass and stagnated water. So there are more chances of leeches to be present in that place. 

(Source: CTC Forum)

And the height of the grass in some places is so high, that we can't able to see our feet, and it will be very difficult to if leeches bites your foot. Its better to carry tobacco powder with you so that you can save yourself from leeches.

Our Trekking:

        As part of our monsoon trip to wayanad, we planned a half day trek to chembra peak. We thought of starting our trek @7AM, so that we can complete our trek by afternoon. But we started at 8AM and reach the starting point of the trek @9 AM. From kalpetta , it took 45mins to reach the starting point of the trek. To reach starting point of the trek, we reached meppady from kalpetta, then we traveled for 2km and reached forest office. We have to purchase a entry ticket of Rs.500 for 10 persons and also a guide will accompany us from the forest office. From forest office we traveled for 5km passing through the tea plantations and reached the parking area. 

          The day before our trek, it rained heavily in wayanad, so the trail was very slippery. We trekked for atleast 45mins to reach the first lake. Till the first lake, the trail was covered with big trees and we felt like we were trekking in a forest. Even we can't see the chembra peak till the first lake. Some people assume that the first lake as the heart shape lake. But we have to trek for another 30mins to reach the heart shape lake. The trail becomes beautiful after the first lake. 

                       After the first lake, the chilling winds, greenary and beautiful views of mountains made us very relaxing and we started enjoying the trek. The trail from the first lake is completely covered with the grass and it was completely a different experience for all of us walking through those green trail. 

             Finally after trekking for almost 2hrs we reached our dream destination - magnificent 'Heart Shaped Lake'. I have no words after seeing the lake. From that lake, we can have a clear view of the chembra peak. At that point, i was completely confused on what to see, beautiful heart shape lake or chembra peak covered with fog or stunning view of valleys. If you want to enjoy the beauty of the heart shape lake, you have to trek some distance uphill. For reaching chembra peak from heart lake, it will take around 1hr. 

                    By the time we reached the second view of the heart shape lake, the climate start changing and also we realized that we were running our of time. So we decided not to trek till the peak as the descent will be more difficult.  It took around 1hr for the descent from the heart shape lake to the starting point of the trek. Even though it was not raining at the time we started trekking down, we find it difficult to trek down at some places because of the loose rocks and mud. Even though I was completely exhausted after reaching the starting point, I was very happy that I completed the trek which I'm awaiting for 3 years. 

My trek mates....

Happy Traveling........