Trek: Kohoj

Region: Palghar,Wada.

Difficulty : Medium

Endurance : Medium

Date:14 July2012

Story of 13 July2012.

It was decided all of a sudden when one fine morning Siddhesh called me  & asked me that he  wanted to go for trek. I suggested him options like Songiri, Kohoj. We opted for Kohoj as the  perfect destination. I collected all the  information from the internet. I also got a map for tracking our journey to reach our destination (Thanks to Trekshitiz). Kohoj fort is situated in the Wada road. It is on the right side of the road while going from Wada to Manor or Mastan-Naka. There are lots of buses available to go to Wada from Thane.Siddhesh & his office colleagues (Dev,Raj,Himanshu and Prashant) were also ready for the  Kohoj trek. That’s why I decided to stay near to Thane as I was  convinced that Ajit would  come for trek after lots of persistance. And the total number of people for this trek trip was 7.

Story of 14 July2012.

Start Journey

We all gathered at Thane ST stand at 6.15am. We got the ST bus at 6.30am(Thane-Wada-Boisar). As Kohoj is on the way of Thane-Wada-Boisar route, we directly reached the  base village of Kohoj at 9.00 am i.e. Waghote. Once we enter the Waghote village, one can easily notice the  heart shaped pond on the right side. Most of the villagers were busy in harvesting  rice in their fields. After the heart shaped pond, there are two routes ahead. Select the right side route which will be  going through the fields. Now we wanted to go to visit the dam. We asked the  villagers for the route. We reached the dam @ 9.30 am. Ajit & Siddhesh took lots of pics of each other (mutual understanding). On the river bank,there were  4-5 villagers fishing during that time. We asked one of the villagers to come along with us with us to guide the way but he was busy in fishing only. Then we moved further at the end of the dam, there was a small hut, where there was only one old man living there. We asked for tea. He was instantly  ready  to serve us tea. After we had done with our  tea break ,we left their house at 10.30am.

Entering in Jungle

We had the map of Kohoj which clearly indicated  that the we could  climb from its left end side as it was easier. So we started our journey through the jungle. We found the marking enroute. We were happy but our happiness did not exist for longer time as the marking got disappeard in between. The jungle was densely  thick & full of vegetation. We somehow managed to travel  towards left end side & again we could find the  markings, but only one marking  was there. We tried almost every route except the correct one because we were not aware. We decided to try from the right side also. We moved parallel to the  Kohoj towards the right end side. The path was continuos & the jungle going to be very dense & the mosquito bites started iritating us. Please make sure if you planning for Kohoj trek, be prepared for mosquito bites (use long sleeves shirt & tracks & also use odomos). We were walking tirelessly through the jungle. We almost finished  half the pradakshina to Kohoj fort, then we found one villager  (gurakhi/cowherd) on the way. He directed us to move ahead & take the left turn. We kept walking tirelessly, and further we  could see the woodcutter (Lakudtoda) at 1300pm. He told us that we were in Aamgaon and  there is also route to climb and go to Kohoj. We asked him to help us and he showed us the correct path as we  started our trekking from Waghote village where we were very tired.

He had pity on us & came with us for  half an hour. Then he left us 13:30pm because he had his own work to do. We were exhausted like anything. We sat for breakfast at 13:30pm. Prashant brought Haldiram's Bhelpuri which  was just superb. We had finished having  our breakfast session at 14:00pm. We then moved further, climbing now a little steep path. After the steep part, we took the right turn and  we were on the Kohoj fort right side end. But actually  the bastion & stone man pinacle is at the opposite end. We settled down on the  plateau for lunch at around 15:30pm.

Lunch time

We brought all sandwich materials like bread, cucumber, cabbage, mayonise , tomatoes, onions etc. Our entire team was engaged in preparation of sandwiches.One person started to apply mayonise on the bread. Others started to cut tomatoes while some others started cutting onions,cucumber, etc. We had 2 mayonise bottles ,one is veg (garlic CHILLY) & other is non-veg (cucumber). We made first batch of seven sandwiches. We ate happily to our heart’s content but our happiness did not stay longer as the mayonise (veg-Garlic Chilly) was too hotttt & spicyyyy that everybody started crying, whooo whhhaa!!!!!. I guess this is the most enjoyable painful part of the trek. Fortunately we had Tilgul ladoos which cooled our burning stomaches. (you can watch video of how much spicy it was). We finished our lunch session at 1600pm.

Atop

We kept moving in the right direction & found the temple of God Shankar and  also we could see the stone man from the temple. We found the proper marking there at 1700pm. Himasnu got cramp in his leg hence he was unable to join further. We hurried  towards the top of the temple, climbing was easy and  fully supported by marking. There were steps to the top in between the two bastions. From the temple, it is not clearly visible. But the route is quite walkable condition. On entering between the 2 bastions on the right side there is Hanuman temple. Take the right turn towards stone man pinacle. At the top, there is also one more temple. So there were total 3 temples, but they were small in size. On Kohoj atop,there was  no such place where we could take shelter.

Views from the top freshen our mind & expelled our tiredness. Indeed I didn't want to go from that place so quickly, but considering the forest route, we moved from atop at 6.00pm.

Descend

On the descending journey, we encountered some trekker’s cautionary board. On enroute Dev got cramp in his leg followed by Raj. In the  morning where we missed our route, we noticed our mistake. The correct route was little hidden because of the thick forest & big stone overhead. But you could find out as it is near one  tall tree [it is hint for you].

We reached  half way at 7.00pm. The sunlight was almost dim. We didn't have torch also.

We were unable to find our way. As time goes on, the darkness was increasing & our diffculties too. I realised that it could be troublesome situation for us.

Fortunately Himansu, Dev & Raj had torch options in their mobile. Something is  better than nothing. It was useless to keep thinking about the route. It was now time to action. There were 2-3 paths going somewhere in the thick vegetation. Confusion was building like storm. Everyone felt like Man vs Wild. We did similar kind of thing to solve this confusion. We found small water path going downwards. We decided to proceed alongwith this water path way.

We all 7 members jumping, running through this water path in darkness . Dev, Himansu, Raj was doing gymnastic steps. At 7.40pm, we noticed some marking location on stone & everyone became joyful as we were on the correct path. At 08.00pm, we reached the hut near the dam. We cleared the forest successfully with really great team effort. We were under the clear sky with huge sigh of relief.

Aferwards we discussed about whether to stay in that hut or to continue for Waghote. Then the decision was taken that we should continue.

Journey from DAM to Waghote:

We started at 08.15pm, by tracing the route, with the lights we somehow managed to reach at 09.00pm. Since it was too dark & only heavy vehicles were travelling on the highways. It was very difficult to get transport till Palghar.At 10.30pm,we managed to get truck till Mastan Naka. Mastan naka is the junction point on NH8 near to Palghar Railway station. Everyone was badly hungry. Mastan hotel was famous for biryani. We reached Mastan Naka at 11.15pm. We then went to  Mastan hotel and filled  our empty stomaches. After finishing lunch, we again had to wait at  Mastan naka for lift. Luckily we got lift at 00:00AM till Palghar in Tempo. The tempo driver seemed to be a pilot. But he landed us safely at Palghar.

We reached Palghar at 00.45am. We saw there was train from Palghar at 1.50am. Still we had time to take rest. Everyone was relaxed.

At 1.50am, we caught the train from Palghar which dropped me at Vasai at 2.50am.

Summary:

Eventhough we were lost, but we able to  find  our way through the jungle .Eventhough,we ate horrible spicy sandwich but still it was  really enjoyble and it was life time experience  for all of us.

Keep trekking.

Timing Diagram:

6:30AM- caught ST bus from Thane (Thane-wada-boisar). (90/- per head)

09:00- Reached waghote.

10:00- Reached end of Dam, drunk tea. (40/-)

1030-Entered in jungle

17:00- Reached shankar mandir, near to ATOP

17:25- Reached Atop

18:00- Start Descen

20:00- Reached End of jungle I.e. near to DAM start

21:00- Reached Waghote, Main road

22:30- got lift till Mastan Naka (70/-)

23:15- Reached Mastan Naka

00:00- Got lift from Mastan Naka till Palghar (70/-)

00:45- Reached Palghar

0150: Caught Train from Palghar

0250: Reached Vasai station.

TREK : RAJGAD TORNA

Location: Pune Region

Elevation : Torna fort : 4604ft 

    Rajgad fort:4514ft

Category (Difficulty): Medium

Endurance Level: High

Total Member: 5

Date: 11 October – 13 October 2011

TREK PLAN to Torna & Rajgad

From the return journey of Purandar fort, the Lear group(Abhishek Bawkar n Kedar Tambe) decided to go for Torna Rajgad Trek. It was 3 day trek. The main idea behind this 3 day Trek was to celebrate the Kojagiri poornima on the King of fort i.e. Rajgad & then to walk along the ridges of the hill and then  to reach Torna fort.

The Lear group planned this trek on a week-day as Kojagiri was on Tuesday night. Thus I had to took leave from office. Oh!! My God,I had to take 3 CL’s  for this trek.

The trekking days decided were Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I kept my fingers crossed so that the trek does not get extended and I can attend office on Friday hopefully.

Total trek team includes 5 members:-

1) Abhishek Bawkar

2) Kedar Tambe

3 ) Amey

4) Atul Dhuri

5) Myself (Abhijit K)

Preplan

I had borrow digital camera from my office friend,& I had leave early from office for packing. But guess what, the camera was not charged & there was no electricity in my home due to load shedding. Such a bad luck.

Anyhow  I had to go ahead , I packed up my trekking bag  which includes snacks like  big goodday biscuits in case of emergency. On the other side, Abhishek n Kedar brought their brand new tent for the trek.

Journey Begins

We caught  the  ST bus from Mumbai-Central ST depot at 12.30 am. I slept well but we got bad traffic jam due to the heavy vehicles on NH4 highway which disturbed my sleep. We alighted at Nasrapur at 6.00am (supposed to be 5.00am) & then caught a vehicle for Gunjavane (Base village of Rajgad).

The morning climate was pleasant where the birds were chirping sweetly. The local dairy was collecting milk from a villager who is the supplier for that diary.

We reached Gunjavane at 7.30am, where you can get breakfast like poha, upma n some biscuits for breakfast in Gunjaven & also lunch . We placed order for lunch & dinner in Gunjavne itself.

We moved towards Rajgad fort at 8.15am after re- filling our fuel engine. Kedar, Abhishek, Amey were loaded with heavy weight rucksack on their backs. The sky was almost clear, no signs of rain at all. There were two dogs present at that time which became our guide & they headed our trek for a change. I had given them names Basanti and  Viru respectively. The climb was good, but Kedar finding it a little tiresome as he had just recovered from illness & the weakness due to the illness was still present. But still Kedar managed very well. During this trail we did some photography (bird-watching).

Climbing Rajgad

ATOP Rajgad

We reached the top of the hill at 12:00pm. We entered from Chor Darwaja. We first went to Padmavati Talao which belongs to Padmavati Machi. Rajgad fort contains 3 Machi's viz. Padmavati Machi, Suvela Machi, Sanjivani Machi & Balekilla (the main operating junction of the fort). Padmavati Mandir is a good option for shelter(u will come to know  later why). We settled down at Padmavati Mandir , by that time it was already afternoon & our lunch also arrived at the same time. We all grabbed  our food packet which consists of Bhakri, Pithale and Thecha which added spicy flavor to our lunch. Viru & Basanti got their shares too. After we had  our stomachs full ,everyone was in a  sleepy mood. Our next plan was  supposed to be Balekilla and  then Suvela Machi on the same.

 day & the following  day after that, visit to  Sanjivani Machi was decided.After taking  a good nap, we made a move for the Balekilla. To go there, you will find 2 routes, one is (right side) which will lead you towards Sanjivani Machi & another is for Balekilla and Suvela Machi. We first went to Balekilla. From the top of Balekilla (Citadel), the panaromic view was simply excellent. Indeed, we were happy that we were able to visit such a beautiful historical place built by our ancesters. Citadel place is worth watching destination. On the background, nature started turning its shade. We saw an army of cloud forming in the sky. We missed our Sunset due to the dense cloud formation. We had to wrap up our plan for the Suvela Machi n eventually Nedhe plan also. During that time, Viru returned back to his home,but Basanti was still with us. Nature still had more surprises for us.

We came back to Padmavati Temple at 7pm. Our dinner had already come from the base village. After finishing dinner, we started camping our brand new tent. I also learnt how to pitch the tent .Chit-chat session had started after pitching the tent.Slowly the cool blowing breeze refreshed our surroundings. But our happiness had not last longer. The speed of the wind increased very quickly.The clouds started roaring all over the fort. Nature changed so quickly before we could ever imagine. It started to rain along with the harsh blowing wind. Our tent had been swaying due to the force of wind. But we were still in the tent & fighting the force of the wind. But nature betrayed our camping option. In front of nature, we had to accept defeat and we had to undo our camping tent at 9pm. After vigorous testing of our brand new tent in this harsh weather, we had decided to go to Padmavati temple. Padmavati temple really served us good purpose of shelter. One solar-lamp in Padmavati temple lightened through the entire night which was sufficient for all of us. The rain, clouds and storm ruined our Kojagiri Pournima plan. But still Kedar had surprise for us in stock. He gave the surprize at 10pm. Kedar had brought (condensed) milk for Kojagiri Pornima. After drinking the Masala milk, we could imagine full moon behind the cloud. Everyone retired for the day quickly. One window of the temple was continuously shattering the entire night due to the wind which disturbed our peaceful sleep. It was raining like cats and dogs the entire full night alongwith the rumbling of the clouds. The next day we had decided to visit Sanjivani Machi early in the morning to catch the sunrise but again the clouds deceived that plan also. We woke up early in the morning & went back to our beds after seeing the army of clouds waiting for us to come out.

The clouds ruined our sun-rise watching plan also but we got little more sleep due to these clouds. Nature almost went against us to stop our every event but we were stubborn and never gave up hope. At the top of the Machi, there was a little arrangement for breakfast. We got Poha for breakfast. We had stomaches full, as we got advise from Kedar that dont depend on lunch as we might skip lunch. The floor was damp. We had taken the darshan of Suvela Machi & Nedhe from a distance. We departed from the Padmavati Mandir at 9:45am and headed towards the Sanjivani Machi. Even Bas anti was also with us.

    We had to go a long way towards the Torna fort. Within one hour, we reached the Sanjivani Machi. The beautiful construction & grand exotic work of this Machi enchanted us. After the Sanjivani Machi, we met the villager who was selling Buttermilk in desolate moorland. After enquiring him, he told that he saw our group climbing down from Sanjivani Machi. After crossing the village, we reached ridges of the hills. Sprawling lavish landscapes tempted our attention. We had set a destination target which was small hut which was on the route. But the way to reach the hut was going through the Damber(Tar) road. These are the key hints of the trek i.e. tar road & small hut. We took halt at the small hut where we could re- fill our bottles with buttermilk.

It was nice experience walking on the ridges, but the walking distance was too much.

Ridge

After crossing the small hut, the surroundings became desolate moorland. We again halted at 3:30pm for snacks under a small tree. Big trees are rarely seen on the route. Slow motion of breeze of wind blowing smoothly implies that don’t worry, we will also be with you for your company. Basanti was still with us.

I even insisted  Basanti to go back but she choose  trekking with us than going back home. At 5pm, we hurried through our way, fortunately there was villager to the left side of the ridges. On the way, there was one farmer entertaining their cows. He guided us to the correct path. After walking half an hour, we took rest. Everybody was quite tired. We could see Budhla Machi from there. We almost walking from 9:45pm onwards, everybody were fatigued alot.

Kedar had strived to catch his breath. In between, the nature signaled time out by drizzling.  We prayed earnestly to natures that please wait only 1 hour for the tire-some people who came along far away for trekking. Guess what, our request was accepted by the mighty nature.

Climbing Budhla Machi

In this way,we lend one hour from nature. Kedar had set the target, i.e. Menghai Devi temple. Menghai Devi temple was the only option for shelter, I guess so. We could see flag of the temple only from there.  We started climbing Budhla Machi in exhausted condition. There was one small ladder there also to assist the trekkers. I climbed 2nd in position of the ladder. I was thinking now how Basanti would make it. I saw downwards, Basanti was not there, she was ahead of me only. Basanti skipped the ladder intelligently.  This climb was also associated with rock patch. It seems it was an  not easy task & in exhausted condition, it made more  difficult. On the route, there are rail-links for support & rock patch to test our strength skill.  I really admired Basanti’s effort.

Torna

The Sun was almost on the edge of the shore. There was hardly any light was present, somehow we managed to reach the Menghai Devi temple at 6:45 during the dusk-time. Our condition was really bad. We travelled overall 9 hours walk from morning. Now please don’t expect electricity in the temple. There was a provision for solar lamp but only framework was remained of solar panel & battery case.

The temple is spacious enough to accommodate 15 people at a time. We even didn’t think about pitching the tent. Water cistern was available in front of the temple on 2 min distance away by walking. Our 1 hour limit given by the nature expired, rain started pouring heavily. Everyone’s water bottles were empty. I did not have the guts to fetch water from the water cistern. Amey & Atul were ready to fetch the water. The temple was lightened by the head-lamp of Abhishek. It was raining very heavily outside the temple. We took little rest of 1 hour and then we had also carried rice along with us to make khichdi, but there was no option available to cook. We could not lit anything not even candle in the heavy rain. We only had 1 big Maggie packet, half big Good-day packet & Tang packet. My stomach started grumbling due to hunger, but there was no way to cook anything. Basanti looked hungry & thin too, might be thinking why I opted for this group.

We got 3 good-day biscuits per head (Basanti also included). Now the only option left with us was to eat RAW Maggie. Abhishek took 2-3 small packets of Maggie, shatter into small pieces of Maggie-Ready to eat dinner. Now I could say that Maggie recipe could made in 2 minutes. If ever we send this recipe to Maggie, definitely they will us reward for this. “Meri Maggie, pyarri Maggie, Kacchi Maggie”. We all gobbled it quickly. Abhishek prepared cold-drinks by mixing TANG powder in water. We drunk TANG within a gulp. No way to provide TANG to Basanti. Basanti remained still by licking out her tongue. We finished our formality of dinner. The night was just dark jet-black.  The weather was quite chilled due to the heavy rains. Everyone was trying to sleep with their empty stomachs, initially it was a difficult task but later everyone slept with a lot of effort and fatigue. Of Course of nature turned placid in the morning. Morning was rinsed with clear sky and with damp floor. The backside of the temple gave excellent panoramic view. The picturesque view outside magnetized our attention. The clouds sprinted out. Now you can understand why this fort is difficult to invade, as chief of the fort could keep eye on the vast sprawling surroundings easily.

Mengai Temple

We completed our early morning activities. We did not have so called breakfast or kind of snacks to eat. We did scenic photography (with an empty stomach) & started descending early. We skipped our plan of visiting Zhunajar Machi because of time (or may be its hunger attack). We were climbing down in Velhe village (Torna-peth). On the route, there were  rock-patches & also Rail-links to assist the  trekkers. But it was difficult task when you are carrying tons of goods on your shoulder. Abhishek found proof of leopard on the plateau descending to Torna fort. But we didnt ’t get appointment with the leopard ,indeed,. On the descending trail, we saw a small hut for having buttermilk, but when we actually reached there it was empty.   While arriving towards the base village of the Torna fort, there was a river bed (not much big), where the villagers used to wash their clothes in the bed of the river.We had not bathed for 2 days. When we saw the bed of the river, wow! Amey goes for washing his face. Guess what, I also mimicked him but not the same and I went for bath. It seems that due to hunger, initially the group was not in a mood to bath, may be the appetite was stopping them. Later we realized that after half an hour we somehow managed to get lunch. After that, they also took opportunity to bathe after 2 days. The water was little cold but

everybody enjoyed bathing after 2 days. We were all feeling fresh. We then hurried to the hotel directly then.

We entered the hotel., the hotel was not so crowded. Basanti also came inside the hotel. I brought four biscuit packs for Basanti. We ordered full lunch thali for all of us individually. We were also waiting for lunch deliberately. Once lunch arrived, we started gobbling it quickly. Lunch included  2-3 items of gravy, bhakaris, dal-rice (all were unlimited). I also drunk 2-3 glass of buttermilk (It is very normal for me & abnormal to Kedar). Basanti was still hungry, so I brought more  3 biscuit packets  for Basanti. We moved towards the ST stand, where we came to know that we had missed ST bus just 5 minutes ago.  There was one dairy shop in front of the ST stand. I was just observing the shop & my eyes were stuck onto the Amrkhand. I quickly had a taste for Amrkhand (sweet dish after food). In village side, jeep, tracks were widely used for public transportation.  We opted for the same. We waved off Basanti. Basanti shifted from Gunjavane to Torna Peth. The jeep was only till Nasrapur. The jeep was not crowded before occupying seat. Everyone being asleep till Nasarapur. We reached Nasarapur and we really had to do exercise a lot to catch d ST bus for Swargate (Pune). On the National highway 4/ Pune Banglore highway, no ST bus could be stopped. Eventually a bus stopped which had came from Velhe village itself. As we reached  the Swargate ST stand, we saw one  empty ST bus for Vasai. I thought the bus was just came from Vasai. I enquired about the same bus and got the information that the bus was leaving for Vasai in 5 minutes. Hushh. No more fighting for travelling, what a sign of relief. Everybody was feeling little stressed out, but it was worth the trekking trip.

Summary:

We planned to celebrate Kojagiri Pornima, but nature showed us a different color that day. But on the other hand, we witnessed one of the historical places of our ancestors. The massive construction still withstand strongly. It is really a crown garland in Maharashtra’s treasure.

TREK : PEB / VIKATGAD

                                         
Location: Near Neral/Matheran

Elevation : 2100ft
category (Difficulty): Simple+
Total Member: 5
Best Time: Rainy/Winter season
Date: 23 July2011, Saturday



PEB is also known as Vikatgad.
I had come across an advertisement in Maharashtra times which organizes trek to PEB,and suddenly an idea flashed in my brain(I guess, I also have some kind of brain), hey why don’t  plan for PEB as I have never visited the PEB fort.

Then I searched on google @ PEB and collected info. And then related to PEB fort,it occurred to me that there is left route from DILKAP college of engg.

So I started searching for enthusiastic trek members, the LEAR group is quite busy with their scheduled tasks, HTEFRIEND was also busy so I approached PCT group(my college group).  The PCT group includes Adesh,Sachin,Siddhesh, Amit and myself. All people were ready except Adesh, who wanted to go for PandavKada (waterfall situated near Kharghar). After lot of request and pleading, he finally agreed  and a gave a green signal to the  PEB plan. Special thanks to Adesh.

So the plan was finally decided on 23 July 2011.
Guess what, it was 1st trek for all PCT group members.

JOURNEY

We all decided to meet at THANE station (except Sachin) to catch 6.13 Karjat train. We reached NERAL @7.30AM.

Sachin was suppose to meet us at Neral as he was going to come from PUNE and  suspense was that he was coming late as there was no choice for him to come NERAL from PUNE so early. Sachin was reaching KARJAT till 8.00AM. So till that time we had some snacks like POHA, UPMA in nearby hotel at Neral station.

We moved ahead till DILKAP college, meanwhile we suggested Sachin to join at DILKAP college by RIKSHAW. We took 1 hr from Neral station to DILKAP college(8.00 to 9.00am). Sachin reached at DILKAP college @9.00AM by RIKSHAW paying Rs 60/-.

WRONG TURN

We were supposed to take left turn  from DILKAP college without crossing DILKAP college, but by mistake we  took the right turn by crossing DILKAP college. We reached some very small village, where 2 children (aged 10-12 years) showed us the correct path. The benefit of taking the wrong route was that we encountered a wonderful waterfall and  disadvantage  was that it was long route as compared to normal path.

HINT N FOLLOW

We remembered the hint to reach the  PEB we should followed the MSEB Towers, so we somehow managed to reached the MSEB tower. Till MSEB Tower no other trekking groups were present so that we could follow them, and our trek members started ridiculing me (its very normal n usual). Once we reached MSEB tower, we saw 2 other trekking groups. Seeing them we  cheered up n our spirits got energized.

Fog all

Route from MSEB tower to base of PEB is lavish green but from base of PEB to the peak there was dense forest and tricky rock patch . Rock patch is hardly 15ft but it is better to be cautious while climbing rock patch. We had reached PEB fort by turning around to the front side form there you are able to see Prabalgad-Kalavantin from there.


Rock Patch

NEAR to TOP

After crossing the rock patch, we visited GANESH-GUHA, it’s a very  scenic place where all our trek members clicked  their pics in idol KRISHNA style (picked up the hill  with  little finger). On moving ahead, there was 20 ft wall  to stop us to cross the wall, but one ladder was present to aid the trekkers,by observing its  current condition we could conclude that ladder is from Adam's ancient period. The ladder had been hardly supported by screw kind of thing. When we climbed the ladder, initially  the ladder was steady but as soon as we about to reach  to the upper end of the ladder, the ladder started trembling.

But there is a distinguishable adventure during ladder climbing.

On the Top

After adventure of the ladder, On the way, we could see some tunnel like caves but it was actually for meditation purpose. It took 20 mins to reach the top from there, where could see small house like temple but it was actually a trance [samadhi]. We were chatting with the disciple/priest, who told us that actaully the Budha-followers came here to carve the caves but due to stiffness of the Rock, they had to change their plan.

After we had visited the samadhi, and  then the next place  is the Highest peak on the PEB n i.e. Prati-Girnar which  is similar to Girnar fort in Gujarat. On the Prati-Girnar summit, renovation was going on around "Paduka of the Datta". But Adesh suggested before visiting Prati-Girnar, we should have lunch.

Lunch time:

Responsibility of  organizing the lunch was assigned to Adesh. He came with full preparations. Our lunch was sandwiches. Since we were newbies, Adesh brought only the ingredients of the sandwich like Onion, tomato,cucumber,potato, chutney n bread.

Adesh opened his Sandwich center there. We had lend a hand to cut tomoto, onion,cucumber to prepare sandwich and eat also. After having our lunch, rain started pouring and we had to pack up our sandwich center immediately.

Now nature turns active as we were under the sky. Fog and strong breeze was playing hide n seek with us. From top we saw the shadow of the clouds moving across the  base village. The base village is quite sunny n our location is foggy with little showers of rain, we have came across two sides of the nature.

As sachin supposed to go back to Pune, we had increased pace of our speed. We moved to the bastion, which is on the other side of the prati-girnar ,from there we could see the glimpse of Panaroma point (part of matheran hills).

Return Journey

We decided to climbed down the other side of PEB which was upfront of the Panaroma point. Planned route was along the Neral-Matheran mini-train track to the Dastoor naka (entry point of the Matheran). Route till railway-track is kind of green pathway subsidized by one side valley. So be careful while going thru this route. Route contained two ladders but ladder is in good condition as compared to previous ladder.

Fun on the tracks

Kadevarcha Ganapati

lonely crab

Walking along mini-train track was quite good experience. Enroute we saw Kadevarcha Ganapati (big stones are arranged in such manner that it look like idol Ganapti)After reaching Dastoor naka we had sip of tea with Parle-G. Bunch of Taxi's available for Neral station from Dastoor-naka. We caught Omni(Taxi) from dastoor-naka to Neral station.Fare per head was 60/-. Taxi landed us directly to neral station.

savangadi

Summary of the trek:
It was just begining of the rainy season. all surroundings of the PEB was covered by simply lavish green.
Apart from that, initially i had to bear all the comments from PCT group that where u brought us here n all that,  afterwards they didn't have words for explaining the experince.

PRABALGAD TREK

Place : PrabalGad
Location: Near panvel
Elevation : 2300 ft
category (Difficulty): medium-
Total Member: 4
Best Time: Rainy/Winter season
Date: 2 july2011, saturday

We wanted to explore the beauty of monsoons with Prabalgad, hence we  planned trek to Prabalgad. Four of us prepared for the trek, Our journey started from vikhroli, we caught a train from Vikhroli to Kurla but unfortunately this train was only for train staff and we started off with a nice punishment of paying a good fine. We then caught the 6.15 train from kurla towards Panvel. Train was not so crowded, we all got seats. We discussed if we would manage both Kalavantin+Prabalgad or only prabalgad etc.

We reached Panvel Raiway station at about 7.05AM from where we went to Panvel ST depot.
We reached at 7.15AM to Panvel ST depot where we came to know that bus from Panvel to Thakurwadi had left already and actual bus time was 7.00 AM, next bus was 8.50AM.
We had 2 option, either wait or look for alternate transport. After bargaining with the auto-driver, he got ready to drive us to Thakurwadi (17KM)  in 200/- while the bus, fare was just 10/- per head. This is again fine for latecomers.

We caught auto at 7.30 n reached Thakurwadi at 8.00AM. after some photo session we moved towards PRABAL-machi. It took 2 hours to reached Prabalmachi n reached at 10.30 AM. way to prabal-machi is quite scenic.

While going towards PrabalMachi..

 While on the move towards PrabalMachi, we had taken a wrong turn but fortunately a farmer was just ahead on this wrong route guided us to correct route.

We found a big rock where we all did photoshoot on the rock. On the top of that rock it feels just like a King.

By now we were very hungry, again fortunately a villager was returning from PrabalMachi after his prays. He distributed “PRASAD” to all of us. We smiled, gleaming at each other on how someone could know that we were hungry.

 On the way we saw idols of Lord Ganesh and Hanuman carved out of the rocks.. During this way, there was no rain at all, wether was a little sunny. We saw small homes of villagers & we breath a sigh of relief as we saw some people sincethere was no other group trekking up with us & we had never attempted Prabalgad before.

At PrabalMachi..

As we reached PrabalMachi at 10.30AM., we noticed ZP(Zilha parishad) school. We just couldn’t imagine a school at such remote place.

We got food service at GOMA’s house, (only this house provides food on this plateau. We had carried Maggie with us, which we gave to cook as our breakfast. After finishing it, we left GOMA’s house at 11.15AM.

GOMA showed the initial route towards Prabalgad, afterwards we continued with our own route. The area surrounded by Prabalgad is a dense forest. Once again we went on a wrong turn, n walk about one hour to search the entry point to Prabalgad. After abt an hour walking on wrong route, we met one granny like lady (fortunately for us, otherwise this area is humanless), she was praying in the dense forest. This Granny told that we r on the wrong route, we thanked her n turned around in search of correct route.

While going from PrabalMachi to Prabalgad..

We carried Binoculars with us n were searching the path from where we should start climbing. The Route was hidden in the Fort’s wall like structure. Finally we got correct entry point at 12.15PM. Once you are on correct entry point, then there is no problem for climb. Route is little steep for climb, occupied with all small and  big  rocks. Some tricky rocks also there, where we enjoyed climbing joyfully.

On the top

We reached on the top at 1.30PM. Top of Prabalgad is a  forest. Don’t expect some manmade fort. It is totally natural. After reaching top, we took a left, as we wanted to go to the northen end from where we could see the Kalavantin Fort. It took us 20 mins and much effort to reach the northern end of the Prabalgad fort.

Northern end is quite open to the sky, from where we can see ranges of  Mountains including Matheran, Vikatgad. We did lots of photography on the top. We started descending at 2.45PM.

Our rate of descent was quite good, n we reached (with our hungry stomachs) at GOMA’s house at 4.00PM.

We had lunch @ GOMA’s house. Lunch include Rice+Dal+ POTATO bhaji n it cost us 70/- per head. After lunch we took 15 min. rest n afterwards we left GOMA’s house at 5.00

From PrabalMachi to Thakurwadi à Panvel

We moved towards Thakurwadi at 5.00PM from GOMA’s house. This time we were a little fast as we wanted to catch the 6.00pm bus. We reached Thakurwadi at 6.15 and we saw our bus just enter into Thakurwadi from Panvel (lucky for us). Thakurwadi to panvel took half an hour. We were able to reached Panvel Railway station at 7.00PM. We did not get any rain on the full trek

ST timings that we knew :

From Panvel to Thakurwadi = 7.00AM, 8.50AM
From Thakurwadi to Panvel = 6.00PM, 7.15AM, 8.00PM Last bus

Timing diagram:

Panvel Station :7.15AM

Panvel to Thakurwadi:7.30 to 8.00AM

Thakurwadi to PrabalMachi: 8.15AM to 10.30AM

PrabalMachi to PrabalGad: 12.15 to 1.30PM

PrabalGad to PrabalMachi: 2.45 to 4.00PM

PrabalMachi to Thakurwadi: 5.00 to 6.15PM

Thakurwadi to Panvel ST depot: 6.15 to 6.45 PM

Panvel Railway: @ 7.00PM

Actually our plan was to climb both kalavantin n Prabalgad but due to time constraints we only went  for PrabalGad, and we were also not able to explore the southern end of prabalgad.

It is advisable to go with people who know the route to prabalgad, or take a guide from Prabalmachi. 

Participants:

Sachin B.

Michael R.

Pragdutt G.

Abhijit K.

My First TREK : HarishChandra Gad(Unforgettable)

I was planning to write blog for my 1st trek. n here i got opportunity to do this.

Lear group had planned trek on  27 May'2011 Friday.
We left office at 6.00 P.M. n reached at Kalyan on 7.30 PM by office bus.
We had some snacks n biryani at Prashant house (heartly Thanks to prashant ).
We left Prashant house at 9.00 PM and reached Kalyan ST depot.We did some time pass at Kalyan ST depot as Kedar Tambe n Dinesh were going to come. (latecomers)
We caught bus at 12.30AM i.e last bus or we can say 1^st bus of the next day, bus from Kalyan-Nagar.
Khubi-Phata is d stop where we alighted. we reached there around 3.00 AM (morning)
Khubi-phata is 90KM away from Kalyan n ticket fare is around 85RS.

Khireshwar is d base village which is 4KM away from Khubi-phata

Khireshwar Village

it took us 1 hour to reach d base of d fort. we reached the village at 4.00AM. There were small typical villagers’ houses, in front of these houses we put bedsheets (nothing but newspaper) n took rest for 2 hour.
We started climbing the fort at 6.30 n our 1st point was TOLAR khind (9.00 AM)

Tolar Khind

steep



 We managed to check-in into some of the caves where we took rest, n then started preparing Lunch (all time fav. food ) i.e. maggie.

Santosh Tea

Harishchandra temple

We also made tea at 4.00PM. (Don’t need to carry any twigs/burring material for making fire, Coz Vivek was carrying firewoods with him n we found firewoods on the top)n then we moved towards Kokan kada on 5.00 PM n reached there around 5.25PM

camp fire

tent on the rent

We arranged some material for camp fire.

then we started the camp fire, then we ordered dinner from TUKARM (who is a villager living at d fort.

Tukaram was goin to come at 8.30 but he came at 10.15, till then my condition had got very bad due to hunger. (So for breakfast we back calculated .. and told him to come much earlier … considering his reputation)We played a game “horror Stories” around the camp fire, where each person was telling a Horror story when suddenly we heard some odd terrifying sound…. A Kodak Moment .. worth capturing our horrified faces….

Finally we consoled ourselves saying that it was some animal (wild goat or Shekru)that was making such a noise

We slept at 12.00AM, that means on next day.

Tukaram came on Sunday morning getting Poha n tea along with him.
After breakfast we started our climbing down from d Konkan Kada
12.00pm START from top at 3.00 we reached base village n then some delicious food at Aishrya hotel (after an hours wait): DAL ,khichdi, maggie

n  luckily we hitch-hiked a truck at 5.00 PM towards khubi-phata
on reaching khubi-phata we didn’t get any transport towards kalyan hence we took a bus in the opposite direction and reached AALIPHATA (40KM) at abt 6.30, from Aaliphata we got a Nagar-kalyan bus( at7.30) n reached kalyan on 11.00 PM

This was my 1st trek in which i experienced rock patch climb, camp fire. It was really superb experience.




Trek-members

                                                                                                                                                                Vivek Dalvi                       

Abhishek Bavkar       

Kedar Tambe

Dinesh Badkas

Sourav

Santosh Kandarkar

Rasmiranjan Nayak

Abhijit Khadtare