Monday, December 17, 2007

Chanderi

Fort: Chanderi
Region: Karjat

Height: 2592 ft (above MSL)
Base
Village
: Chincholi
Grade:Medium upto Fort , Pinnacle:Tough

How to reach: get to Karjat (by road/train) – go to Chincholi village via Vangani -> Goregaon (turn left at Chanderi Dhaba) -> Chincholi -> walk from here.

Total time taken: 3-4 hours from base village depending on nature conditions.

We started from Pune by the Sinhagad Express on Saturday morning and got down at Karjat station. Then we took a local to Vangani from Karjat. Alighting at Vangani we waited for a friend who was to come from Dombivili. Once he came we started off towards the road. We were 6 people so we took 2 rickshaws to the phata near Chanderi Dhaba. In 10 mins we reached Chanderi Dhaba. We went inside Chanderi Dhaba and ordered breakfast and waited for the order to come in the meanwhile doing timepass. After having a heavy breakfast we started towards the base village. It was 11.00am and the sun was beating down on us heavily. That was the first fault of ours to start at this time. We reached the base village Chincholi at around 12.00pm after a long walk via tar road. (We made a mistake of not taking bikes this time upto the end of the road which would have saved us more time and energy).

Once we reached the base village we started on the path. The path is via jungle trail with huge bushes around. Some parts are in shade so it was cool but most of the climb was via open and with the sun bearing down on us we got too slow adding to it the weight in our bags made us even slower. In some time we reached an odha where we refreshed ourselves and sat for some time and continued walking. We found out that we had lost our way here and were trying to find a route out. Suddenly 1 villager appeared from far away and we asked him so he gave us the correct directions – we had started to the right side of the odha but we had to take the left side of the odha and continue. We found the correct path and continued via the odha. The odha walk is a nightmare via huge rocks. We were resting every half and hour. The sun was mercilessly beating on us. In sometime we had a small lunch and continued. In all the wrong right path choosing and others it was 4pm now and the col between Chanderi and Mhaismal was still far away till where we had to reach and turn left for Chanderi.

Suddenly, dark clouds gathered around and it started raining heavily. First the sun and now the rain, we were completely wet because we didn’t bring any rain wear thinking it would not rain. The rain continued for another 45 minutes during which we could not even walk as it was very heavy and then stopped. Now the sun was also going down and we were nowhere. The rocks of the odha became too slippery to walk on and we walked on cautiously ahead slipping here and there. We were very tired and now thought we should stop at the odha for the day because it was too far, there was no light – the sun had gone down – we had torches but we didn’t know how far we had to go. But some enthusiastic folks said we would continue. Now at this point we could see white arrow marking to show the directions. We followed the white markings in torchlight and went ahead slipping and falling. Then we made the biggest mistake. We could not find an arrow further (actually there was an arrow on the rock but it was covered with moss and there was a shoe hanging there to show the direction to the right but we missed it and continued straight. We went very far off on the wrong path and then realized that we were nowhere. We had torches but didn’t know when they would go off – we decided we would stop in the middle of the jungle and continue at dawn.

We found a small clearing in the jungle and put our bags down, opened our carry mats and had our dinner. We decided to take turns patrolling while others slept as being in the midst of the jungle we didn’t want to take a risk. In the jungle there are weird sounds coming at night which kept us on the edge and every 5-10 minutes I would shine the torch nearby to see if everything was alright. The night was ok and we all had some sleep.

At dawn we decided to go down and see if we could find the arrow marks and then the right direction. We finally found the shoe and the arrow marks covered in moss which we had missed in the dark and continued towards the col. The route was slippery due to the rain and we walked up. At one point we had to climb a mixture of rock and loose mud where I slipped and hurt my hand. But anyways we continued ahead and reached the col where we turned left towards Chanderi. We could see the pinnacle ahead. We had to climb more 45 minutes from the col over rock and scree slowly and finally reach the top at around 8.25am (we started at 7 from the jungle). Once we reached the top we could see great views of surrounding regions – forts like prabalgad, malang-gad, irshaalgad, peth were visible from here and the view was breath-taking. Once we reach the main pinnacle base we need to take a right over a grassy path to reach the caves of Chanderi. The cave is big enough for 15-20 people and had a Shankar mandir inside with a water tank whose water is not good as people have made it very dirty with plastic bags etc.

We reached the cave and put our bags there and refreshed ourselves with water from another tank nearby which had good, clear and cool water. We had some breakfast of hot Maggie which we made there and had some rest at the cave. We had decided against climbing the pinnacle as we were tired. Just as we were talking we heard some more trekkers come in with a local guide. We asked the guide about the pinnacle route. He said we could go up and its not that hard. Purvesh, Deepak and Saurabh decided to go along with the guide up the pinnacle and the others and me opted to rest out in the cave as we were battered the day before . We had ropes and stuff but the guide said we don’t need it. The route to the pinnacle is via grassy path from the caves upto the rightmost end. Once you reach there we have to climb thru a gully of rock and go up. The pinnacle route is not that tough but it is exposed. There is scree around and there was a very small ledge to walk and go up. The top is not much just 2 m wide and narrow with grass all around. There is a flag and a statue of shivaji maharaj there. Climbing down is also tricky here. Purvesh and the others came back had lunch and some rest and started climbing down after filling our bottles with water. Coming down took 4 hours due to the rocks in the odha, now they were dry but walking over them was a pain esp. because we were so tired. At one point we were confused about the path to the village, again God helped us this time by bringing another villager who was going home. We followed him till the village and drank water there. We were all very tired but we had to get home so we hired a rickshaw till badlapur and then we parted ways with Mumbai friends , we reached Karjat by local and got an express till lonavala and reached home at 12am on Sunday night – Monday morning.

This was the my second trek where we had lost our way (the first being siddhagad – where we climbed through odhyachi vaat ) but it was an adventure spending the night in the jungle and then making the trek successful by climbing the fort and pinnacle (for those who climbed). The most important thing we learnt is do not start late(the sun can kill), don’t carry unnecessary weight and most importantly we cannot do anything against the forces of nature.

Dhodap

Fort: Dhodap
Height : 4750 ft (above MSL)
Region: Vani
Range
: Satmala
Grade: Medium

Base Village: Hatti,Wadala.


Getting there: Pune – Nashik , from Nashik get onto Malegaon Highway – Pimpalgaon - On Malegaon Highway (after 48km) – Vadalibhoi village – Turn left for Dhodambe (8km) – cross Dhodambe – turn right for Hatti (2km).

How to go:

ST bus from Pune – Nashik, from Nashik catch a ST bus to Hatti village (very less frequency – guess 2 in a day) OR get down on the main highway and get jeeps to go towards Dhodambe, Hatti (I doubt there would be any as this is a remote area and own conveyance is best)

Distances of places from turn on Malegaon Highway: Saptashrungigad 44km, Vani – 25 km, Saputara – 60km

Hatti is the base village for Dhodap. It is a small village and one can get food cooked there too – but we had our own cooking stuff so it was not necessary.

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We started on Friday 26/10 from Pune (FC road) at around 11.45pm in the night. We were to travel through the night by bus. After a quick round of introductions – form filling (I had gone through Trek-Di adventures group – so had to fill form and all) we all settled down in the seats and feeling sleepy dozed off – The night was cold and the bus windows were too bad – they used to open on vibrations letting in the chill air and causing the whole bus to get cold inside :). Morning around 5.30am we reached Nashik – the highway is pretty OK but the bus was not OK. Around 7.15am we reached the base village Hatti – we could see Dhodap at a distance – the whole view of the fort is awesome with the pinnacle and the rock cut.

We made a quick breakfast of pohe and chai and started for the climb around – 8.15am. We had hired a local help for carrying the kitchen materials J. The way is pretty ok and climbs gradually via slippery rocks and scree. In about an hours time we reached a plateau. Here is where we saw the first darwaza of the fort. It is in good condition. Looking up it was still a long way to the fort – albeit it looks less. On the plateau we saw small huts (in the books they mention it as sonarwadi – where goldsmiths were living). We can see the ikhara pinnacle at a distance from here; it looks daunting and huge from here.

After the plateau we start climbing up again via bushes and rocks going up and towards the fort. After around 45 minutes we reached a steep rock patch and im wary of rock patches – especially steep ones but usually go up soon and don’t think much – this one was steep albeit cannot define steepness on rock patches and maybe different for different people J , this rock patch will be fun during monsoons – but I wont do it during that time.

Got up the rock patch in around 3-4 minutes (wow ,fast eh) and then up towards the ridge and the 2nd darwaza of the fort – some remnants to be seen here and hanuman taaki – a big tank for water , the water was not potable here. Stood here for sometime as others were climbing up the rock patch slowly. The sun had finally come out in full force and I was beginning to feel the heat but most of the climb was over and it would be only a matter of 20 minutes to reach the fort. Finally when everyone had come we started again. After this plateau there is a gentle climb which leads to the final steps and the main door of the fort – the buruj and tatbandi can be seen from here and is in fairly good shape.

Before the main darwaza there are Persian (or maybe Urdu) inscriptions on the wall (as this fort was ruled by Nizam before). The main door is like a tunnel and at the other end there are some more steps to get at the top. There we could see some water tanks, remnants of construction and the huge pinnacle in front. The local who was leading us told us stories about a sadhu baba who climbed the pinnacle like he was climbing steps with a flag in one hand and pooja thali in the other. The pinnacle cannot be climbed without equipments and looks very huge.

From this point we go to the left side of the pinnacle and keep walking for 5-10 minutes and we reach the caves. The caves are really huge and we stayed in one of them. It was cosy in there and there was a devi mata mandir too here. Nearby there is a shivling too and a water tank. The water is potable here and is available in monsoon/winter and summer too. We refreshed ourselves with the cool water and it was heaven. We reached the top at around 11.15 am (a climb of 3 hours). Finally we started with making lunch – cutting vegetables – cooking dal-rice. We had a sumptuous meal of dal rice with vegetables and mind you the food was too good... it was a wholly satiating meal and we had a good time there. Finally everyone stretched a bit – some people went off to explore the fort and others were just relaxing.

I started exploring the fort and went to the rock wall. The wall width is about 3m and it is a plain walk. At one point I came across the gap which I had seen from below and it’s not a small gap it’s a huge 70 X 70 feet gap. A huge hole we can say although it looks like a small drop from below. People say that the Nizam had ordered this gap to be made so that no enemy could attack from the other side although climbing the other side of the wall is also a heavy risk. From here we can see the forts of rawla jawla , markandeya , saptashringigad and the vani hill.

Finally coming back I went to the back side of the pinnacle base and saw some half finished caves and came back to our cave place. It was tea time now and we had some refreshing tea and some Timepass discussions. Finally we went off once again to explore the fort on the entrance side – we found huge caves and more water inside them there. At this point Darshan a volunteer started climbing the pinnacle free-style and within minutes he was near the top – but retreated back as the top 10-15 feet was full scree and rock and there was no one to guide him up there so he came back. I looked in awe at this fellow who climbed the pinnacle free-style and that too so fast!

We came back from the adventure and it was sunset time so we went towards the rock wall side to the west. The view of the sunset is something one can never explain – its too good. A cold wind had started blowing all around and in a matter of minutes it was dark and we reached the cave. Time for dinner preparation – here we prepared dinner of rassa bhaji – all the while singing songs and doing faltu Timepass. The dinner was good and after that we went out to just do Timepass. Some people were on the phone as we had range of airtel and idea here on top too!

The moon had risen and as it was poornima 2 days back everything was lit in moon-light and looked great. We all sat outside and sang old kishore kumar songs and marathi songs esp. sandeep khare ones. It was cold outside and we were in our jackets. Sometime later when everyone was feeling sleepy we opened our sleeping bags and everybody started settling down.

Although it was cold outside the cave, the cave was warm enough to sleep in and was really cozy.

Morning we woke up around 6am and after all activities , went to the east side of the fort to view the sunrise.

Coming back we started making breakfast of chai and missal. After having breakfast and a round of checking all equipments and baggage we started again down this time. At the rock patch again tense moments were witnessed but this time I descended the patch without problems – one enthu group of people from Nashik were just coming up that time. Finally we descended down the path to the plateau and went to see the temples on the other side. There are 3 temples there, 1 of shiva, and 2 of Devi mata.

After some time we came back to the house on the plateau and rested for 10-15 minutes. Soon we found out that the people there in the house make khawa and sell, so we had some khawa and mind you it was mouth-watering and the taste was so nice after adding sugar, it melted in the mouth. Starting once again we descended the plateau and onto the final path to the village – the sun was beating down albeit it was only 11am and we slowly trudged back to the village. There after refreshing ourselves at the pipe we settled down in the bus once again and started for Pune at 12pm. Found out that there is a puncture and fixed it losing an hour in this process. Halted in between at a dhaba (the great Punjab dhaba) and had a good lunch.

Finally we reached around 9pm to Pune thanks to the habit of the driver in following slow trucks at 20kmph. We were very irritated with the driver but no one had the strength to talk to him.

The highlight of the trek was a 73 old person from Pune, Mr.Vinayak Dandekar who came with us on the trek. He has been trekking from around 35-40 years and has loads of experience in this field and also stories from his trek. He has been on Himalayan treks as well and last year he had been to Chota Kailash in the Himalayas. A truly great person. We (atleast I am) are nothing in front of him as even at his age he is the fittest person.

Kalsubai

Kalsubai
Region - Igatpuri
Base Village : Bari
Height : 5400 ft (above MSL)

I went to Kalsubai the highest point in Maharashtra on 9th December 2007. I had gone with the trek-di group. We were a group of 40 people and started from Pune at 11pm on 8th December 07. The route is via Pune -> Nashik Phata -> Bhosari -> Moshi -> Chakan -> Rajgurunagar -> Khed ->Manchar ->Narayangaon -> Alephata -> Sangamner -> Rajur -> Akole -> Bari

At around 2.ooam we reached the Sangamner turn for Rajur. Here we had hot tea and refreshed ourselves. Manali (a leader from trek-di) was trying to pull out sugarcanes from a sugarcane laden truck and it was a truly hilarious sight to see that..soon everyone started pulling the sugarcanes :)

We started again in 15 minutes towards our destination. The roads were good and we made good time. The road is via ghats and hence has to be negotiated carefully. In between there is a turn for the Bhandardara dam but we continued straight ahead and reached the outskirts of Bari around 4.45am. It was damn cold outside and we found a school to sleep in -- some people slept in the bus. We had to get up at 6am -- however I couldn't sleep due to some over enthusiastic guys from the group who had got onto the roof of the bus to sleep and we rocking the whole bus :-)

We got up at 6am and tea was being prepared. We could see the peak of Kalsubai towering and it was an awesome sight.Breakfast was bread , butter / jam and we had our share along with piping hot tea which was a relief and we got fresh. We started again from that place to the village where we had Kunal, Amit and Chaitanya already present (they had come on bike becoz there was no place in the bus). We got down with our sacks and lunch (paratha packets) were distributed to everyone for eating once we reached the top. We had a quick round of introductions and started on our trek.

At the first halt there is a small temple where people stopped for a breather. The view was starting to get awesome from here. We climbed on till the first ladder (over the rock patch). The ladder was rusty and looked like would fall any moment but we made through it up and climbed. Here there were many rock patches to be climbed but they were easy. We used to climb up and wait for others to come and then would start again.

One by one we climbed the 3 ladders over the rock patches and reached the base plateau of the mountain but we still had a lot to go to reach the highest point. The route was scree laden and was slipping but we got through it and reach a point where there is a well.Here everyone refreshed themselves and we could see the kalsubai peak getting nearer and could see the last rock formation which is the highest point - we reached the peak by climbing a last ladder.

It took us around 3 hours from base to climb till here. The views from the top are amazing - we can see the fort of Ratangad far away towards the south side - on the west side we can see the forts of Alang , Madan and Kulang and other mountains.

There is no other mountain near Kalsubai hence we can see everything clearly from top. On the top there is a small temple of Kalsubai mata. After enjoying the views we sat down for lunch and took our packed paranthas out and had a great lunch with everyone sitting round and enjoying parathas , dahi , pickles and other stuff.

After lunch we laid down in the cool shade of the temple and had a small siesta :). Sometime later we had our photo sessions with the group and then started preparing for our climb down. The climb down was equally interesting and adventurous. Due to the loose mud , scree and rocks we had to climb down with care. We reached the base village in about 2 hours and waited for all others to come.

We had bhel for the evening snacks and started by bus back home. We reached Nashik phata at around 11pm in the night where I alighted and went home.

A great trek thus ended.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Vasota-Nageshwar

Region: Javali (satara) - Koyna backwaters

Fort:Vasota
Base Village:MetIndawli
Height: 3842 ft (above MSL)
Grade: Medium

On the weekend of 15-16 December 2007 we had been to Vasota-Nageshwar for trek. I had gone with the group called as trek-di. Vasota was my dream come true and i had longed to go there from a long time but the forest permission and other stuff were a deterrent for my plans to go there but I took this opportunity with trek-di.

We started from Swargate at 7.10am in the morning total 49 people in a privately hired ST bus. Before that I and my friend had come on bike from home. I had a large group this time around with my BCS friends and ours was a large group there.

We reached Shirval at around 8.15 or so and had vada-paav and tea there and again started towards Satara enroute Bamnoli the place where we have to get the boat for vasota base camp (Met Indawli). After Satara the road is via ghats and truly scenic.

We reached Bamnoli at 10.30am and Pinakin and Chaitanya were already there and had booked the launches and had got permission for the forest camp.

We climbed into our boats (20-22) people in 1 boat and started towards Vasota base camp Metindawli. The boat ride was superb with amazing views all around of the koyna backwaters and the islands. Finally we reached Met Indawli at 12.30pm and kept our bags there and rested for sometime and had our lunch there which we had brought.

After lunch we assembled and had a short round of introductions and finally started for the vasota fort. The forest was dense and cool - even though it was afternoon we did not feel the heat at all. We reached the first point a stream where we filled our bottles and continued ahead towards the fort.

The route is simple but in the end there is a lot of scree which one has to negotiate. Finally we reached the fort in the afternoon at 3.30pm after 1.5 hours of trek. We could see amazing views from the top of the nature all around.

We went to the Babu kada side and had a view. The Babu kada is a U shaped cut in the mountain of Old Vasota - Old Vasota is a hill fort in front of New Vasota (where we were) but permission is not given to go to old vasota fort and the routes also are in dilapidated condition there.

The views from here are too good and scenic. We spent some time resting and came back to a spot where there are 2 water tanks. One is potable and the other is not. We had snacks here and had a look around the fort. There are 2 temples on the fort 1 of Hanuman and the other of Mahadev.

We had a look at the other side of the fort too. There we could see Mhatari cha angtha (old woman's thumb) a structure shaped like a thumb and Nageshwar Pinnacle at a distance. The view was awesome here too.

Finally it was time for us to start down from the fort and we started climbing down. Again due to scree our progress was somewhat slow but we came down quickly and in some time it started getting dark as we were nearing our camp. Once again at the stream we filled our water bottles and came to the camp around 6.45pm , it was pitch dark now. We had got a tent so we put our bags outside and rested for a while in the tent. We drank some tea which was refreshing and waited for dinner to be served.

Dinner was simple with usal and chapatis which we relished and then settled down in our tent. All the people in the tent did some timepass upto 10.30pm and then we slept.

Early morning it started getting cold and we woke up at 5.30am and refreshed ourselves and prepared ourselves for Nageshwar trek. We had a breakfast of upma and started towards Nageshwar. The route was via the stream path and we had to walk over stones of the stream. It was a slow trod over the stones and I went far ahead. In about 1.5 hours I could see the peak of Nageshwar at the end of the stream route.

There is a slight climb ahead and we reach the place in 15 minutes. There are a series of caves at the base of the peak where there is a Shiv Mandir - the view of Konkan from this point is awesome. The way to top of peak is a little risky one as we can go up easily but while coming down the route is full of scree and mud - hence while coming down we have to sit , look and come.

After visiting Nageshwar we returned back , this time taking a different route back to the camp via the jungle , this route meets the route to the fort vasota and then climbs down. We reached the camp at 12.45pm and had a great lunch of pulav , papad and achar and then one by one others too came in. After a hearty lunch we waited for the launches and they arrived at 2.30pm. Once more after a journey of 1.25 hours we were back to Bamnoli and in the ST bus - we reached Pune at 8.30pm.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Uttaranchal - Heavenly Experiences

Uttaranchal – the land of Gods (DevBhoomi) as they say and the mystic Valley of Flowers.

We were a group of 17th people. (Me, Purvesh, Saurabh, Saurabh’s dad,Saurabh’s mom, Saurabh’s mama, Asawari, Meera, Prakruti, Prakruti’s mom, Deepak,Sachin,Sharayu,Tejas,Tanmay,Purvesh’s Dad,Tushar)

Our trip started from Pune on 10th August afternoon to Mumbai and onwards flight from Mumbai to Delhi on 10th night. We reached Mumbai airport amidst traffic and all at around 8.30pm. Our flight was scheduled at around 10.20pm. When we reached at the airport we found out from Purvesh that the flight has been delayed and now is to depart at 11.15. We started for Terminal 1A from where our Go Air flight was to depart. We reached terminal 1A and went in the airport area and checked-in our luggage. Our entire luggage was big sacks and small pittu sacks. The Go Air people were kind enough to provide snacks to the passengers as the flight was late, that was good. After checking in our luggage we went to have snacks and had a small round or introductions. To our dismay we found that our flight was delayed again and now was to depart @ 12.15 am. Now Purvesh was at his nerve’s end but anyway we waited there, charged our phone on the chargers there and did general tp , Deepak showed off his new Canon cam and was taking photos of everyone.
Finally we went through security check and waited in the queue to board the plane. We got into the plane , everyone was allotted different seats so we were not together. As it was night we couldn’t see anything out too so we slept for around 2 hours of the flight. The landing at Delhi was fine and we went into the arrival area and got our luggage.

Saurabh and Purvesh went out looking for the Qualis drivers and we pushed the trolleys with our luggage outside. Finally they found the Qualises and we loaded our luggage onto the vehicles. We started from Delhi at around 3.30am on Saturday morning. The problem ahead was the Delhi – Haridwar highway was blocked due to Mahashivaratri , during which Kavad yartris (shiv-bhakts) use the highway while coming back from Haridwar. So we had to pass through small villages, this further added to the time. In our Qualis people slept sitting as we had no sleep from the night before. We had a halt at a place 40km before Meerut and had chai-pani. Did a great deal of Timepass during that break. There was a hand pump there so we washed our faces there and felt fresh. Started again and we played antakshari in our Qualis, with a mixture of old and new songs and it was great fun! We reached one place around 10am and had our breakfast, we were around 60km from Haridwar now. Asawari had brought a home-baked cake and we relished it , it was tooooo good. We finally started for Haridwar around 10.30am and reached Haridwar at around 12.00pm in the afternoon Normal time from Delhi to Haridwar is around 7 hours but we reached in about 8 hours. Upto Haridwar there was no rain but once we reached Haridwar the rain started in torrents and mind you it was bad than Mumbai, I had a umbrella so I stood with my umbrella open but the rain was so much that my umbrella started leaking, and our bad luck the Qualis drivers we hired in Delhi did not put tarpaulin covers over our haversacks as they cited no rain and here it was raining heavily so we had wet sacks, We had a bad time locating our bus for the further journey and finally found the bus , but by then it had started raining very badly, so we put all the sacks inside the dikky running from Qualis to bus and finally go inside the bus fully wet Thankfully most of the people had put all contents of sack in plastic so no problems, others were not so lucky and had wet wet things.

We had hired a bus from Haridwar onward (18 seater bus) and started for Rishikesh where we would get our permit work done. The scenery on the way was too good with occasional peek of the river Ganga, at one point (guess it was a shortcut from Haridwar to Rishikesh) water from a waterfall had come onto the road and was flowing dangerously, so we backtracked and went by the normal Haridwar – Rishikesh route which was packed in traffic. We reached Rishikesh around 2pm and had our permit work done. We found out that our driver had changed but anyways all the drivers there are too good. Our target for the day was RudraPrayag as we had a hotel booking there. We started well in time for RudraPrayag.The road to RudraPrayag was good with rain clouds threatening but thankfully no heavy rain so we were lucky not to encounter any landslides and reached RudraPrayag at around 8.30pm in the night and checked-in to our hotel. Some of our guys found that each and every stuff in their sack was wet due to the rain and they had a tough time in making them dry. The route on the first day read Delhi-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Byasi-DevPrayag-Kirtinagar-Srinagar-RudraPrayag a distance of around 400km.

RudraPrayag is the confluence of the Alakananda and Mandakini rivers and is a beautiful place to be in though we did not have enough time to see all things we had a walk along the river in the morning and started for Joshimath the target for the 2nd day i.e. 12th August. The sky was overcast with clouds threatening heavy rains. We started at around 6am from RudraPrayag towards Joshimath (distance of around 120km) and hoped to reach around 12pm the day. But nature has its own cards. We reached Pipalkoti a village in Chamoli dist and found out that the road ahead is closed / blocked as a huge landslide had happened and will take around 3-4 hours to clear, with no other option left we had our lunch at Pipalkoti and went to see the landslide. The landslide was truly frightening with almost all the road covered by rubble over 5-6 feet high and no place even to cross over by foot. The PWD guys were working with bulldozers to get it cleared. Finally the road was cleared at around 2pm and we started for Joshimath, in between near Bhimtala our tyre got punctured and we had to wait to get it replaced another 1 hour lost. In between this time some people got down and went down a bridge where the Ganga was flowing in full force and enjoyed the water there, I explored another part of the river alone and took photos. In Bhimtala Deepak had relatives there so he got off the bus and said would join us later. Finally everyone came back to the bus and we had a intro session with everyone, it was great fun introducing oneself with expert comments from Sachin, Deepak and Purvesh put in. Finally we started , it was around 44km more to Joshimath. In between we found out that a bus had collapsed into the valley as a landslide had happened over it. Thankfully we found out that the driver had offloaded people in it and tried to move the vehicle ahead when another landslide pushed the vehicle over the edge and the driver too jumped out to safety, we got down to see the bus in the valley, the bus was similar to our bus and was of the same company as that of our bus. Our bus driver gave some clothes to the other driver and we started off again.

We reached Joshimath around 4.30pm, it took us around 10-11 hours for a 5-6 hours stretch, but you cannot do anything against nature, but anyways we were on schedule. Route for the second day read RudraPrayag – KarnaPrayag – Chamoli – Garudganga – Pipalkoti – Helang – Joshimath. At Joshimath we got down from the bus and got on a rope way to Auli – a tourist destination. Joshimath is around 1845m height from MSL and Auli is around 3016m height from MSL and the ropeway ride was truly a great experience. There are around 12 stations on the ropeway from Joshimath to Auli and at station 8 , one can get down if he/she wants to get an experience of an open ropeway. Some enthusiastic people like Purvesh, Sharayu went to get an experience of open air ropeway. It was raining torrentially now when we reached Auli and we saw some points had hot tea there and started back to Joshimath on the ropeway. In clear weather you can see peaks like NandaDevi (7817m), we couldn’t see any due to the cloudy and rainy weather there. We spent around 45 mins at Auli, had some tea and explored the nature there. Finally at 5.35pm we climbed into the return ropeway car. At station 8 Purvesh and others got in. At Joshimath we checked into a GMVN (Gadhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) hotel at Rs.100 per head per day. It was unusually cold at Joshimath and once we were in our rooms we got under the blankets and slept for some hours. We had dinner for the night at the same hotel and found out that those guys are averse to adding salt and sugar to anything, so we had bland bad food.

After Joshimath to Govindghat we have a one way road which is operated via gate system and the gates open one-way for 2 hours only, the first gate opens at Joshimath for 6.30am.We headed for the gate only to find out that the gate would not open as the road from Govindghat to Badrinath was closed due to landslides hence no way for opening the route upto Govindghat too. So our driver told us that we can get sumos or jeeps upto Govindghat as our bus was in the middle of the line for the gate and there was no option left for reversing, he told us that once the gate opens he would wait at Govindghat for us. We took our heavy sacks and found 2 sumos for 17 people and finally reached Govindghat around 8am in the morning. The route from Joshimath – Govindghat is truly dangerous with non-existent roads, ever hanging cliffs ready to fall and a valley on the other side. Govindghat is a very small town on the banks of the river Alakananda and is the point from where we have to go to Ghangaria the base for Valley of Flowers. Govindghat has some hotels and a gurudwara and you can see many Sikhs there as they go to Hemkund Sahib (the 2nd most religious place for Sikhs after the Golden Temple) whose base is also Ghangaria.

We hired mules for our sacks for the 14km trek from Govindghat to Ghangaria as one cannot carry the sacks all the way 14km uphill. We also go ponchos(plastic covers) for ourselves + our pittu sacks as it was rainy weather. We started at around 10.30am from Govindghat towards Ghangaria. The route is amazing with water falls all the way and it was raining. The last 4 kms are steep and one becomes very tired walking and thinks that when will it end. You can alternatively use horses too, if u find it strenuous enough to climb. We walked all along the way and reached Ghangaria around 4.00pm. Checked into our hotels got our sacks and went to sleep. My legs were like speaking (bolat hote) J , after getting some hours sleep we went to have dinner at around 7.30pm, in Ghangaria lights come from 7 – 10pm and morning 4.30-6am only, rest all time there is no power. In Ghangaria everything costs a fortune due to the inaccessibility of the place via road so the hotel rooms cost around 500 per head per day, also food costs more here…..We used to have daily sessions of fun in one of the rooms there with everyone gathering there and doing Timepass , laughing , doing mad things.

It was too cold in Ghangaria when we had gone there and I was literally shaking …., we put on sweaters and monkey caps and went out and had dinner. Here too there was no salt in the food. Don’t know why…!!

The next day morning we started for Valley of Flowers – it’s around 3km from Ghangaria and the route is scenic with the Laxman Ganga river flowing and some glaciers there. We were lucky as the weather had cleared to some extent and we could see snow clad peaks near Ghangaria. We reached the Valley in around 3 hours time and were surrounded by truly amazing flowers which we cannot see anywhere else. It was like a carpet of flowers ….. The whole valley was in abundance of flowers of different types which flower in that season. It was a truly great experience and I photographed all flowers, hopefully they come up good when I see them…I shall share them too. We also saw the grave of Margaret Legge, a botanist who had died in the valley. There is quite a history about the Valley of Flowers. After enjoying the Valley we started back and I was in the lead. An incident happened here. I was walking over a landslide prone region and had just crossed it and heard a rumbling sound….when I looked back I was shocked…I could see 3-4 big boulder falling down the valley from above the hills from the place where I had just crossed…sheer luck…I was shaken and sat for 1-2 minutes there thanking my stars..

We reached Ghangaria around 4pm and went to our hotel rooms and had some sleep.

Next morning we started for Hemkund Sahib (the religious place of the Sikhs)…it’s an 8km trek from Ghangaria.The route is all steep and there is not even a meter of level land. Hemkund is at an altitude of 4329m(14303 ft) above sea level. We reached Hemkund at around 10am (started at 6am). At Hemkund there is a lake and a gurudwara…it is said that Guru Gobind Singh had meditated here and attained salvation. There were clouds all around and all around the route to Hemkund we saw BramhaKamals and other rare flowers. The Bramhakamals were flooding the valley a truly awesome sight.

At Hemkund, it was freezing weather but they provide tea and khichdi to all those coming there so it was quite comfortable…we had darshan at the gurudwara and had a look all around, there is a Laxman mandir there at Hemkund. We had a look there too. The origin of the Laxman Ganga is from Hemkund. After spending 2-3 hours there we started for Ghangaria around 1pm and reached Ghangaria at 3pm as it was downhill all the way but it was raining heavily. We had some rest at Ghangaria, saw the slide show about the Valley of Flowers at Ghangaria and bought some maps , books and photos there, and packed our things as we were to go to Govindghat the next day morning.

Next day morning we started for Govindghat at around 6am and packed off our sacks on mules down to Govindghat and ourselves trekked down 14km with small sacks.Now this was a downhill route so it was not a problem. We reached Govindghat at around 8.30-10.30am and did some purchases and went to our bus which was there and had come from Joshimath once the gate had been opened. We got a clear weather that day with sun and no rain…and also we found that the road to Badrinath was open and there was no rain. We started for Badrinath around 11.30am and reached at around 12.30pm, the roads were truly horrific. The temple was closed from 12-3pm so we went to the village Mana which is the last village on the Indian border. Mana is truly heaven, and there are some places to visit there. Ganesh Gufa, Vyas Gufa and Bhim Pul (the origin of the river Saraswati). We started back to Badrinath and had darshan at 3pm and started back to Joshimath via Govindghat to catch the gate there for 4.30pm which is the last time for the route from Govindghat – Joshimath route (one way). We got the gate at 4.35pm and reached Joshimath at 6pm. We actually had a stay at Badrinath that day but decided against it because if it would rain we would sure shot be blocked due to landslides because the road was such so we didn’t want to take risk and reached Joshimath. We got our booking at the same GMVN hotel and stayed there for the day. Route for the day was Ghangaria – Govindghat (trek) – Badrinath (Road) – Mana – Badrinath – Govindghat – Joshimath. (Distance of around 70km).

Next day morning we were informed that the road was blocked from Pipalkoti as the road had crashed down the valley due to rains and the PWD was building new roads…!! Hell but the same time we got another news that the road was closed from 3 days and now has been opened. But we got yet another news, a part of the road at Helang, 13km from Joshimath had crashed down and the road is closed for 3 days. We could not afford to delay because the next day we had a train from Delhi to Mumbai and we had reservations so we went upto the spot and trekked up 10 km with our heavy sacks leaving our bus and came down to the other side and got a local bus to Rishikesh. It was truly an experience there trekking up the huge mountain with the 10kg + heavy sacks and coming down over non-existent routes. Finally we got a bus to Rishikesh from the other side of the block as vehicles had lined up on both sides of the block and were turning back. That driver was a maniac and rode the bus like an NFS car over the hill roads. We had a glimpse of the earlier Pipalkoti road which was horrific and bad, anyway we prayed and the bus crossed over.

We had our night halt at KarnaPrayag as in that part of the Himalayas driving is allowed from 5am – 8pm only and after 8pm you have to stop at some place as the police don’t allow you to ride further. We halted at KarnaPrayag and had dinner and booked a room for us. Next day morning we started for Rishikesh and reached DevPrayag at around 10 in the morning and discovered that yet another block has happened and a truck has been stuck here so we had to wait. The truck was finally removed at around 1.30pm and traffic resumed at around 3pm.

We had our train in Delhi at around 9.55pm and had to reach Rishikesh at around less than 7 hours the time we need to reach Delhi. Finally we reached Rishikesh by 4pm and got Qualises to Delhi by 4.30pm. The drivers rode like maniacs as we had told him that we need to get there by 9.30pm. We reached New Delhi station by 9.56pm and the train had already left, we missed by 2 minutes….what a bad situation. The drivers of the vehicles were truly good, they covered a distance of 7 hours in 5 hours still we missed the train , bad luck. It was a sight to see everyone running at New Delhi railway station to get the train and finding out that the train had already left L

We then booked for a flight to Mumbai the next morning. We went to the Delhi airport only to find that the ticket counters would open at 3am , so we slept outside the airport as the police didn’t allow us to enter without the ticket and we did not have the printout of our ticket because we had booked through phone J, we slept out side on our carry mats. At 3am we got our tickets and went inside, where we got fresh, had some sleep and checked-in our baggage. Finally we had our security checks and went inside the flight, once inside the flight we had our own Timepass with leg-pulling everyone. We landed in Mumbai around 7.15am and got our luggage and had last photographic sessions. Finally we bid bye-bye to everyone.

People from Pune hired a Qualis for ourselves, we reached Pune somehow at around 12.30pm in the afternoon. We learnt many things from our experiences, firstly do not have a rigid plan, nature can play all the tricks with you to fail ur plans. Don’t go to such places in heavy monsoons….sure shot failure of schedule. Although our trek was successful and we are thankful to come back safe albeit some problems.

This was the experience of Uttaranchal trek.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Siddhagad

Fort : Siddhagad
Height : 3223ft (above MSL)
Base Village(s) : Narivali , Siddhagadwadi (plateau just below the fort)
Grade: Easty upto Siddhagad wadi , Difficult from there to top of fort (loose rocks)

Route(s):
1. Karjat -> Mhasa -> Narivali (vehicles buses come till here) -> Siddhagadwadi (walk from Narivali to Siddhagad wadi)

2. Bhimashankar -> Bhatti (Forest region) Machan -> Valley down (take left at 1 point) circumvent Dhamdamia Dongar -> Siddhagadwadi

3. Mhasa -> Borwadi -> Siddhagadwadi.

We (myself, Vinod and Aditya) started for Siddhagad on a hot saturday afternoon. The plan was to ascend till Siddhagad wadi , stay there for the night and in the morning climb Siddhagad.

We started from Pune -> Chinchwad at around 3.30pm and went via Lonavala -> Khopoli -> Karjat -> Mhase -> Narivali. Narivali is the base village. Here we met 1 Kaluram Bhoir who told us we could park the car at his home and told us the route. He also gave us phone numbers of 1 Tanaji Nemade who lived atop siddhagadwadi so that we could inform them about where we were in case we got lost.

We started off towards Siddhagad. The sun was setting fast. We came to 1 village and crossed it. At one point the sun gone completely and darkness setting in we lost our way. We climbed through the waterfall route dangerously strewn with big rocks. We had missed the route big time. Anyways we got out our torches (mine and aditya's) as vindy had forgotten his. The route was tiring and night was coming swiftly. At one point we thought we should sleep here and not go ahead as we were all getting too tired and the route didnt seem to end. Finally at around 9.55pm in the night we reached the clearing where the plateau of siddhagad wadi starts thanks to Aditya and his compass watch we were able to go to the correct direction. The sense of elation we got when we reached there was blissful and we started walking towards siddhagad wadi. Once in the wadi we crossed a small school on the way where some trekkers from the Nisarg Bhraman group had settled down. Some more distance we asked for Tanaji Nemade and found him sleeping blissfully. Poor chap we woke him up and told our stuff to which he told there was another route very easier with which we could come up in 1.5 hrs. Imagine our level of frustation on hearing it and we were cursing ourselves on missing the route and climbing for 4 hours.

Tanaji gave us a open courtyard for settling down and we had our dinner with tales of other such foolhardy route climbs. My knee was paining at this point and I decided that I could not summit the next day if it worsens so thought OK thats over for me but lets wait for morning and see how the knee behaves.

We slept like logs and in the night a cat drummed on Vindy's face like a drummer and got us all awake and we had our time laughing out. Morning 6.00 we rose and I declared that I was not going to summit as i did not want to worsen my knee condition. Vindy and Aditya started towards the fort for the climb and i roamed the wadi and took photos.

Vindy and Aditya finally came down at around 11am or so and looking at their faces i could sense that the trek was tough up, anyways i was sad at missing out the scenic clouds and other things.

We went to the village well and bathed. It was pure bliss bathing in the hot sun with the cool water. We refreshed instantly.

Then we had a breakfast of usal and bhakri and started down towards Narivali at 11.49am. The sun was already shining high and heat was increasing but due to the tree cover we didnt get affected that much. We now got the correct way for going down and realized how we had hazardously climbed the night before. The way was cakewalk and we got down fast. But now the sun was beating like hell on us as we trudged slowly towards narivali. Once at Narivali we went to Kaluram;s home and rested for say 45 mins and had some water and cool drinks. Then we started towards home. A good trek but sad on missing out the summit. Will do it again.

Trek 14 accomplished.

Korigad

Fort : Korigad
Height : 3059 ft(above MSL)
Base Village(s): Peth Shahpur , Ambavane.
Region: Lonavala
Grade : Easy

Route(s):
1. Lonavala -> Bhushi -> GhusalKhamb(straight)->Peth Shahapur
2. Lonavala -> Bhushi -> GhusalKhamb -> Peth Shahapur -> Ambavane

Total km: Lonavala -> GhusalKhamb = 16km Ghusalkhamb -> PethShahpur = 6km PethShahpur -> Ambavane = 2km.

After doing Tung started towards Korigad. Came to base village PethShahpur and parked my bike at a roadside shop and started towards Korigad.

Went via a distinctly marked route but somewhere lost my way to go up but got the correct path thanks to the floodlight poles which Sahara group has erected. (Sahara has taken a massive construction of holiday homes and other stuff near Amby valley overlooking this fort. During night time the fort is visible via floodlight via specially erected poles giving a cool look)

Reached the fort steps(incidentially these steps were built by Sahara group to aid trekkers) but trekker dont like climbing over steps....:-) anyways had to go up the fort.

In between there is a temple of Lord ganesha and a cave with water next to it. The water did not seem potable to me.

Reached the fort in 25 mins and started walking along the walls. The fort is huge and has nothing much on top except some big cannons and some good architecture plus the eye soothing view of the Sahara City below.

Circumvented the fort in about an hour and the sun had come down shining hotly now on me. So when done with the fort and taking snaps started down. At 1 point there is a cool cave. Where i sat down and had my dabba and water. Rested for around 10 mins and started down. This time did not lose my way and found it correctly till the road. Had a thums-up and started on my bike towards home. Trek 13 accomplished.

Tung a.k.a Kathingad

Fort : Tung (Kathingad)
Height : 3500ft (Above MSL)
Base Village : Tungawadi
Region: Lonavala
Grade: Easy
Route(s):

1. Lonavala -> Bhushi dam -> INS Shivaji -> Air Force station -> Ghusalkhamb(turn left) again left (narrow tar road) -> Tungawadi Gaothan. Here there is a Maruti (Hanuman) temple. The route for the climb goes from front of the Hanumaan Temple

2. Kamshet -> Pawna backwaters-> Launch thru pawna backwaters -> Tung base -> climb. (difficult route)

Total km: Lonavala -> Ghusalkhamb = 16km , Ghusalkhamb -> Tungawadi = 8km.
Forts seen from here: Lohagad, Tikona, Visapur.

History of Tung: It was used as a watch tower over the maval region along with other forts like lohagad visapur and tikona.

Had gone to Tung fort on 19th May 2007. It is the one which i wanted to go from many days...so thought why not. Started from home around 5am on my bike (Pulsar150) towards Lonavala.The route after lonavala (bhushi) was scenic and cool. Clouds were drifting at low altitudes and it seemed like heaven.

On the way saw a Shivaling type of hill it was truely the most divine sight i have ever seen. Looks like a proper shivaling and its an isolated hill.

Reached GhusalKhamb and turned left but instead of taking the narrow road left went right 4-5km and thought something was amiss. So asked a local and he said go back and take the narrow road near the ghusalkhamb phata. Went back again and took the correct road and the road is too good but narrow. Reached Tungwadi Gaothan and went near the Maruti Mandir.

Took Darshan of Lord Hanuman and started at 7.09am from there onwards up. Takes like around 15-30 mins depending on ur strength but it is very easy. While going up at a short distance there is again a cave with Lord Hanuman in it. The route up is winding and goes easy.
Reached the fort darwaza at 7.24am (imagine doing a fort in the sahayadris in 15min)...was my fastest climb ever :-) )

Once on top took some photographs...Inside the first darwaaza there are two buruz and there is 1 more small door there to go atop. On top the scene is too awesome and cool! Nothing much on top. There is a Lord Ganesh Mandir on top there and a water source which is too greenish (not recommended for drinking atleast).

Once ur there the route goes slightly up circumventing a small rock formation towards the highest point of the fort (which is a buruz). There up the view of the Pawna backwaters is schintillating. You can see Tikona fort, Lohagad fort from here. There over a pole the bhagwa(saffron) flag flutters proudly and there is a small shrine of Tungai Devi in at the end point.

Once this was done started climbing down the fort and got down at 8.10am and again took darshan of Lord hanuman and started towards Peth Shahapur for Korigad. One more trek done.
Trek 12 accomplished

Monday, April 09, 2007

Pandavgad

Fort : Pandavgad
Height : 4185 ft above MSL
Region: Mahabaleshwar
Grade : Medium

Pandavgad is situated in Mahabaleshwar region at the end of the Mandhardevi Ghat towards Wai side. It is a peculiar fort.

After doing Vairatgad we did Pandavgad. We passed through Wai city and saw that the famous ganesh temple was under water due to the heavy rains that year. We traversed slowly in the city and finally came out and started towards Pandavgad. After around 45 mins we arrived at the base of Pandavgad. (Base village : Gundewadi)

History : Pandav gad was built by the Shilahar king Bhoj - II , and it was under the rule of Adilshahi before the Marathas captured it. Aurangzeb again captured the fort and after him the British took over it.

We started up towards Pandavgad and it was an easy ascent. The Mandhardevi Ghat road was looking awesome from a height and we took some photos. We reached up in about 45 mins. The fort is nothing much to look at. Pandavgad is private property as per records and its caretaker is 1 Sher Wadia....we could see his home at a distance there.

Finally we started down in around 10-15 minutes and came down in about 40 mins. Changed our clothes and started towards Pune. We came to Pune at 8pm and went home weary but happy ...

Trek 11 accomplished!

Vairatgad

Fort: Vairatgad (3939 feet above MSL)
Region : Wai
Grade : Medium

We did this trek during monsoons last year July 2006 when the monsoons were on peak. I did it through vxtrek a company trekking group with Shash, Asmita, Abhijit, Swati and one more person.

Vairatgad is located in the Wai region.

We were to assemble at around 6am at Mayfair office but like always IST we assembled at 6.30am and started finally at around 7am from Pune. We went via the satara road towards wai. The sky was overcast and it was raining like hell in Pune too.

We had a break in between at Natraj Hotel for breakfast. I had some Upma which tasted good and again we started towards wai. We reached at around 8.30am nearby wai and asked for directions towards Vairatgad.

Finally we found the right way and went to the base and started climbing. It was pouring by now and the route was too slippery thanks to the rain and the mud which had turned to slush.
Finally after around 1 hour we reached the top. Took some photos and had our lunch in the temple there. After lunch we immediately started down and now the actual fun began. As we were descending we were slipping like hell and I was really scared this time as I was afraid to go down but well anyway with Shash and Abhijit's help we came down and heaved a sigh of relief !!

We started towards our vehicle and went towards Pandavgad. Pandavgad in next blog write up. Trek 10 accomplished!

Rajgad - again

We went to Rajgad again during the monsoons. This time it was planned that we would go to Rajgad enroute Satara to Pradeep's home. Myself, Rahul, Amit, Prasad and Pradeep started from chinchwad towards pune. We halted near Satara Road for more people to join in.

Finally we started towards Satara. Basically we thought we would not do Rajgad as it would be slippery during the monsoons but then later we said we can do it and then at the phata we turned right and went towards Rajgad. At one point we saw Rahul's bike's rear tyre was punctured. Luckily we were at a village in between nasrapur so we repaired his bike and had some breakfast of vada sambhar.

Then we started towards Rajgad. The roads were too good and as it was not raining we were speeding towards our destination. we turned left at one point at Margasani phata and went towards Gunjawane village. Finally we reached Gunjawane village and parked our bikes at a hotel. We changed our clothes at the hotel took some water with us and kept all heavy baggage there and started towards Rajgad.

Initially I was feeling some problem with my stomach so i decided not to go ahead but then i said if i have come this far why not to go up. So I went ahead. It was not raining and the nature all around was too good. The fort itself was shrouded in clouds and was all green over. We climbed for around 1.25 hours and finally reached the rock cut steps. Here we saw a person who was afraid to ascend the steps also because he was having fear of heights...that guy turned back :(

We anyway ascended the steps and had some photosessions. Now it had started raining hard and we were soaked to the skin. Finally we reached the fort. It was heaven there. All clouds had descended down there and we could see nothing. Finally the others decided to go to the balekilla i stood down as i was in no mood.

I stood admiring the nature and taking some photos from my cell. Finally the group came down and we again started down. There were quite a lot of people on the fort and were part of some trekking group.

Finally we started down the way we came and came down quickly. At one point the rain started again heavily and we were at a muddy part of the descent and due to the rain it had become all slushy so we walked slipped and fell down again got up and walked through...it was fun. Finally we came to level ground and saw a small hotel. We asked the owner to prepare some tea and it was very refreshing.

While coming down we talked to 1 villager who told us whether we would take a snake (cobra) to the Katraj zoo. He had basically caught the snake nearby and it was a small cobra. He said he had hidden it on a tree as the villagers would kill it if they saw it. He pleaded with us to take it to the Katraj Zoo because he knew he could not care for it properly and the zoo authorities would care more for it than him. My bag was full and i couldnt take it. I felt so bad for that.We saw the snake in the bottle...it was an awesome sight...it was a small cobra and it was beating against the bottle....

After having tea we again started down and came to the hotel. There it was a rivulet of sorts because of the heavy rain and it had become very slushy. We had a satisfying lunch at the hotel and now I was feeling feverish as though something was wrong. I decided against going to Satara and started towards home. Trek 9 accomplished.

Raigad

Fort : Raigad (2851 feet above MSL)
Region : Raigad
Grade : Easy

Raigad is the capital of all the forts of Shivaji. It is situated 22 km from Mahad and there is a whole district which has the name derived from this fort.

Raigad is a very big fort with many of the things quite present on this fort. There is a hotel too on top and facilities for living are too good. Myself and some friends decided to go to Raigad in the month of December 2004. We left by 10.21 local from Chinchwad and reached Shivajinagar. From Shivajinagar we took a bus to swargate and entered the swargate ST stand.

From Swargate we took an Asiad Bus for Mahad. The route was via Katraj Ghat -Bhor phata - Bhor - Varanda Ghat - Mahad.

The road at Varanda Ghat was too bad and the ghat was too dangerous and we were scared to our limits when on the ghat. It was a long ghat. Finally at about 4 in the evening we reached Mahad. From Mahad we got an ST bus which goes right upto the base of Raigad. We reached Raigad at around 5.30pm with plenty of sunlight. We decided to climb through the steps. Its an easy way up there with steps right upto the top and no problems. There is a rope way too which goes up but we decided against it.

We climbed on through the steps for 1 hour looking at the scenery on the way while going. We also saw the Hirkani Buruj on the way.

Finally after an hour we reached the darwaza of the fort. We could see the vast expanse of the fort and climbed towards the place where we would rest for the night. We had a sumptuous dinner and then did some time pass talking for sometime.

Finally we decided to have a night walk. Being december it was too cold out there and we were shivering. Finally we came and slept at around 11pm. Morning we woke up freshened up and finally started exploring the fort. For exploring Raigad you need atleast 2 days as its a very big fort.

We saw the bazaar peth (market place) which is still intact. We saw Chhatrapati's throne and the durbar which were still intact and the ASI were making amends to some broken structure. It is said that the throne of Maharaj was set of pure gold and with precious stones on it. The English when they invaded Raigad took away everything with them.

We then had a look around the fort and saw the Mahadev Mandir. The top of the temple was looking like a masjid. In those days Aurangzeb and other invaders used to bomb temples so while designing the temples the worksmen would design the top as a Masjid to fool the invaders. There we saw the samadhi of Waghya and Maharaj. Waghya was Maharaj's pet dog who had died on Raigad.

Then we saw the Kali Kada or Devi Kada which is quite steep. We saw Lingana fort from here and the view was breathtaking from this place. We then decided to climb down the fort. Finally at around 12 in the afternoon we reached the base and hired a six seater and went towards Mahad. At Mahad we had our lunch and boarded the bus to Pune via Tamhini Ghat - Mulshi. We reached Pune at around 8 in the evening and started towards home.

Trek 8 accomplished...

Sihangad

Fort : Sinhagad (4320 ft above MSL)
Region : Pune
Grade : Easy

Finally had the time to go for this. Went to this fort numerous times but this time went with friend group.Its near to Pune and is around 34 km from my place. We started by bus from Nigdi around 6.00 am in the morning and went up to Swargate.

From Swargate we caught the Sinhagad bus and started off towards Sinhagad. We alighted at around 8.00am at the base village of Sinhagad and started to trek up. It was tiring as I had not done treks for sometime now.

We walked for around 1.5 hours before we finally reached the top near the door. There we had cool lemon juice and started towards the fort. The fort is a good one and had 2 doors near the entrance. From here you can see the doordarshan tower also on top there. Finally we went inside and had a look here and there.

We sat near a hotel up and had pithla-bhakri and it tasted like heaven.We also had bhaji and tea and then started off exploring the fort. We descended the steps towards the Kalyan Darwaza and sat there sometime enjoying the nature. Finally we went around and made a whole round of the fort and reached windpoint. The wind was blowing fiercely and we could feel ourselves been blown by the wind. The scenery here is too good..finally we started from here and saw the Rajaram Samadhi and then finally started down. While going down we descended in 45 mins and when down had a cup of tea at a small hotel and caught the bus to swargate. From swargate we went home by Nigdi bus... trek 7 accomplished

Monday, April 02, 2007

Rajmachi

Rajmachi consists of 2 forts (2710 ft above MSL)
Region : Lonavala
Grade : Medium
Forts : Shriwardhan and Manoranjan

The Rajmachi fort is located near lonavala and is covered by thick jungles from 3 sides. We decided to do it during graduation on a saturday and a sunday.

We left from Pune at 9.00am and reached Lonavala and went to Deepak's home. Everyone had come along there. We started for Rajmachi at 4.00pm in the evening and bought raw material for food and stuff and started trekking. We crossed the express highway at 1 spot and then the road was like straight but it was covered by jungle on all sides. We kept walking and pulling each others legs and were a merry bunch...we were around 20 people this time.

We reached Rajmachi at 8pm and immediately settled down in the temple there. The night was eerie and we started cooking. The rice got burnt when being cooked but we were spared eating it as we had rotis for us also.

As night advanced the cold took over. It was too cold out. We huddled in the temple and went to sleep like never before. All of us were shivering even under our bedsheets. Morning we woke up at 7.00am and went to Shriwardhan Fort.It was not much effort as its not at a height of more than 1500 ft. From above we could see the Rajmachi Point, the BorGhat , Dhak chi Bahiri and other forts around. We idled there for a few more minutes and started down.

Then we got around Manoranjan. It was also not much effort as the height was not too much. We came down and then some guys said ki class jana hain so leaving. I also left and overtook these guys. Did not have any breakfast or anything. And the walk in the sun had me dehydrated so much that when I reached Lonavala it was fine but in the local when coming to chinchwad I was not able to see anything everything was going blank...my stupidity had made me like this...but well i got down at chinchwad and had some juice after which I regained senses..:)

Then trek number 6 accomplished...!!

Torna - Rajgad

Forts :
1. Torna (Prachandagad) (4604 ft above MSL)
Region : Velha (Pune)
Grade: Tough

2. Rajgad (4514 ft above MSL)
Region: Gunjawane (Pune)
Grade : Medium

This was the greatest ever trek done during my whole trekking life till now. We did this during TY BCS October 30th 2002. It was diwali time and we decided to go for this trek with class friends.

We had 14-15 people for this trek. Saurabh,Deepak, Shankar,Ganesh,Amit,Prasad,Deepak M, Yashwant,Uday,Rahul, Nitin, Sachin,Chetan and Me.

We started at 6.00am from chinchwad towards Pune by local and got down at Shivajinagar station and all of us gathered together.

We boarded a bus to swargate ST stand from where we would board a bus to Velhe the base village for Torna (also known as Prachandagad). Torna was the first fort which was captured by Shivaji at the age of 16 years.

We got down at Velhe and the iternary was climb Torna and stay for the day, morning get up and start for Rajgad, climb Rajgad and stay for the day and then climb down and go home.

We freshened up ourselves changed to shorts , got vessels for cooking and other raw materials and then had some photo sessions and then started the climb. The climb to Torna is difficult and even in the winter the sun shines down hard. Some few minutes and every body was panting. Torna is difficult to ascend but thats what we are here for and nobody got bogged down...all were very enthusiastic.

Finally after 3 hours we reached the main darwaza of Torna. The sense of relief after having got there is like something which cannot be described. We had water and did some timepass waiting for people to come up.

Then we went inside the fort and went to the temple where we were planning to stay for the night. We had our lunch outside the temple. Then we went on a site seeing of the fort on all sides and had a nice time clicking photographs and all and doing things. We went to the machi and looked in awe at the structure there. The sights around were too good and we had good time exploring the fort.

We came back and did some timepass. We collected some firewood and started to make tea for the evening. It was turning dark and we had tea. The temperature had also dropped down as it was winter and we had chilly wind blowing all around. Uday started cooking dinner with every1 doing his part and after that we had a dinner of rice and boiled potatoes which was like a treat for us because we were that hungry :)

After dinner it was time to do timepass but there was a problem...the cooking utensils had to be given back to the villagers from whom we had taken them on rent. So Uday, Prasad and Amit volunteered to go down Torna to Velhe give the utensils and climb back in the dark!! :-O
It was like something I could have never done. They started with torches and went down. We sat there in the cold night talking, singing and doing all sort of antics and stuff.

Uday and company came back within 2-3 hrs after which we all started going inside the temple for a good sleep. There was another group of school girls who had come there too. While sleeping suddenly Amit saw the flag atop the mandir and thinking it was a snake he said "arre saap"...it was mayhem all over and everyone was running like mad. Finally we saw that it was not a snake but the flag and settled down again to sleep.

Morning we woke up and had a cup of tea and started for Rajgad at around 7 pm. We descended Torana from the other side (Budhla Machi side) and had a hell of a time climbing down as it was too steep and slippery. Finally we came to a rock patch which had to be descended :-O and it was a steep one. Saurabh and Deepak brought a rope with which they secured it both ends and one by one we started down on the rope.

Coming down was a weird experience and was frightening too with all stuff but it was thrill.Finally we descended the fort and heaved a sigh of relief but wait we had yet to walk all the way to Rajgad and climb up....

The walk from Torna to Rajgad took us around 6 hours of walking in the sun and we had 4-5 breaks in between as such it was just walking on the ridges but still it was tiresome. Myself,Uday , Shankar and Ganesh decided to go up fast and climb Rajgad faster than others so we started walking very very fast and wat happened is my floater (which should have not been worn) tore and I could not walk with it...i had to walk barefoot now....and the stones were killing me. I climbed Rajgad without any shoes or aid and finally at 3pm in the afternoon we four came up Rajgad.

Rajgad was the erstwhile capital of the Marathas until Raigad was born or made actually. It is a huge fort and is built on the hill Murumdev.Shivaji built this fort using the money from the treasure he found at Torna fort when he had conquered it.

Continuing then..all of the other guys came up and we started to go towards the temple there. It is a huge temple with capacity for 30-40 people. We settled in one corner. There were many groups there who had come. We made some tea and refreshed ourselves and then we had a tour of the fort. Sanjivani Machi and all. It was an awesome fort. We also climbed the balekilla (kings quaters) and saw the BazarPeth over there too.

We came back and it was dark now. Co-incidentially that day Babasaheb Purandhare had also come over to Rajgad so we went and attended his pravachan there. They asked us to eat food there but we politely declined and said that we had made our own food. We made food later and ate it. Every one was tired so we lay down and did some timepass with all singing some songs and laughing and doing childish things. Everyone was tired so by 10 everyone was sound asleep.

Morning we woke up and prepared tea and breakfast.Did some timepass and then started on our way down the other side to Gunjawane....
We started descending and me this time too without any aid descended down. Chetan was kind enough to give me his floaters for the last leg of the journey. We descended to Gunjawane in around 50 mins and waited for some transport to come. We came across a Trax owner who agreed to drop us at Vajeghar from where we could get an ST to swargate. We reached Vajeghar at 3pm and immediately got a swargate ST bus and reached swargate at 5.30pm. I had my floaters stiched from a cobbler and felt good wearing them. Myself and Rahul along with all went to Pune station and the local was just about the start. We entrained a moving local. Some guys were left behind because they could not entrain. So they were left out. Others were there. So we got down at Khadki and waited for the next train so that we all could go together.

Finally everyone got together and we went home. Treks 4 and 5 done. Total count: 5 :)

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Visapur

Fort Visapur
Height : 4000ft (above MSL)
Region : Maval
Grade: Medium

Visapur is a fort near Malavli and is close to Lohagad fort. Though not much to see there but worth the climb.

Me , Mehul and Rahul started from Chinchwad at 7.00am towards Malavli. We met Hemant , Sanjay at Akurdi and Indrajeet, Vikram and some friends at Talegaon. Arriving at Malavli we started our walk. The same way towards Lohgad. At one point there is a bifurcation where 1 road leads to lohgad and the other towards Visapur where one should start the climb. We started on this route.

Mehul was enthusiastic as it was his first time. We actually lost our way to find the climbing route and were helped by a villager who showed us the route amidst bushes which was hard to spot. Thanking him we started on. Here there are no steps but huge rocks on which 1 has to climb. There is shade all along but its quite excruciating climb and everyone was growing tired.Finally we reached after 1.25 hrs of climbing.

The Visapur top is too big and one has to walk round it to have a good view. We went to the other side and walked near to the walls where we could see the route from where we had come. We had a look at the balekilla and it was awesome.

Looking for some shade we started our lunch after settling down and removing our lunch boxes...had a nice wholesome lunch and walked round the fort enjoying the nature and taking photos.

Finally we started descending down. It was another nightmare over the boulders hurting the legs...finally we came down in about 45 minutes and got on the main road. Mehul's condition was worse and he could not even walk. :)

We decided we would go up to see the Bhaje caves.The route we took was over a dried waterfall.It was pure rock climb and we did it. Mehul had to be escorted up with help from Indrajeet and others as he was not even in a position to walk. We sat in the cool caves at Bhaje and had one more lunch session where we ate chiwda and other stuff and had an afternoon siesta.

Finally we came down the steps from Bhaje and walked to the station and took a train to Pune. Visapur done : 3rd Trek!!

Lohgad

Fort Lohgad
Height : 3450 ft (above MSL)
Region : Maval
Grade : Easy

This was my second trek with Saurabh, Chetan, Deepak and Avinash. Lohgad is situated 9km from Malavli station. Vehicles go upto the foot of the fort and then there are easy steps to climb.

I started from Chinchwad at 7.00am towards Lonavala.Met Chetan who had boarded from Pimpri and met Sauri at Talegaon. Deepak and Avinash joined us at Malavli.

There is no bus from Malavli. We started walking along the road towards Lohgad. After 20 mins we reached a village where we stopped and had tea and again started. We started walking through lush fields....the environment was excellent to say.

Some time later towards the right we could see the Bhaje Caves. These caves are of much importance and are said to be of the Buddhist Era.

Next we had to cross a small hill. Though there is a road going up it is winding so walking along it takes most of your time so we decided to take shortcuts...already i and chetan were panting and Deepak and Saurabh further pushed us....:) .We could see the fort at a distance. It looked huge.
We took some photo graphs and again started walking.

Now we were on top of the hill after 1.5 hrs. N we were walking towards Lohgad.To the right we could see the vast expanse of the Visapur Fort. It is another awesome fort. Now we were at the base village (name not known). We started up the steps which were normal ones. We then got towards the darwaza...it was good. Then we started exploring some stuff...some said that an underground route goes directly from here to Sihangad :))

We got on top of the fort after climbing some 100-200 steps. Took photos. There is a masjid on top of the fort. It was learnt that Muslim rulers had also ruled here so the masjid. Then we started walking the perimeter of the fort. At the end was the most amazing form I had ever seen in my whole life. The "Vinchu Naangi" (Scorpion Fang) was an amazing site. It was a part of the fort.

To get to there we had to cross a rock patch which was well my first one. I descended with much difficulty and fear so as not to roll off the edge :)

Finally we started walking along the nangi walls and reached the end. Cool air was blowing and we sat there saying nothing and enjoying the nature. Finally we started back from there and again the rock patch to be climbed. I climbed again with much difficulty with help of Deepak and Saurabh.

We had lunch and then started down the fort. After 2 hours we arrived at Malavli station in the hot sun exhausted and boarded a local to Pune. Lohgad also done - trek count : 2 !

Tikona - My first one

Done this during Grads!

Tikona is a fort situated near PavanaNagar, Maval near Kamshet. The base village is Tikona Peth.
Height : 3580 ft (above MSL)
Region : Maval
Grade : Easy

This fort is not much known among people but its well worth a trip up there. This was my first trek n thus started my love for trekking. :)

Tikona essentially means triangle or pyramid. The shape of the fort is like a pyramid and looks quite a small fort from below.

We started at 7.00am by the Lonavala local from Chinchwad. We reached Kamshet at around 8.00am. Avinash (Khengare) and Deepak came from Lonavala and were already waiting for us. We took an ST bus from the Kamshet ST stand located just outside the station towards PawanaNagar.

Pawananagar is a small village near the famous Pawana Dam. The bus ride was of around 30 mins and we could see the huge Pawana Dam walls from the bus. The bus stopped at the village and we started our walk towards Tikona.The road was well in between green shrubs, trees and more. More or less was flat land then we started to climb a hill. Here the road started steepening and me as it was my first trek was huffing and puffing....

We got a glimpse of the fort from far and it looked like "hey thats too small and easy..eh? "
But the climb got even steeper now and i realized that it was not so easy !!

At one point Purvesh, Deepak and Saurabh tried some stunts. They went down a steep incline and said that we could continue they would join us. Later we heard that they had a hell of their time there because there was no foothold they had to climb over dried grass literally holding onto anything on hand and come up. Quite an adventurous bunch!

After 1.5 hours we reached the entrace of the fort. Though small the steps were too huge..one had to climb over the steps to climb higher...here the place was cool and we took some photos there. After some initial photo sessions and timepass we started exploring the fort. The fort was awesome to say and being my first I started exploring stuff. We went near a cool place where water had collected and refreshed ourselves.The water felt like nectar cooling our parched throats...we collected water in our bottles too.

We had a lunch session where everyone had brought quite a great amount of food and we had a great lunch. Then we explored the fort and went to the highest point. Sat down there and did some timepass.Then we decided to start going down now.

We descended down to Tikona Peth and again had a session of chiwda and asked locals about the bus to kamshet. We were informed there was none until 2 hours now. Reluctantly every1 agreed to walk towards kamshet...we did tp while walking...singing and pulling everyones legs. On route we saw the pavana backwaters and things. We sat at a place for rest. Suddenly we heard a bus coming our way. It was an ST and heading towards Kamshet. Wow....but the problem was again the adventurous bunch were behind busy exploring.We started shouting their names and in a flash all of them came running for the bus. All boarded the bus and started towards Kamshet....arrived at Kamshet took a local for Pune. Whew...first trek accomplished....:)