Garden Path Sentence – A very interesting article on linguistic formulations, that I happened to come across. No wonder you thought you were right and the teacher was wrong in your fifth grade !

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If you’ve hit this page looking for directions on the Ratangad – Harishchandragad trek; I’m afraid, the bots have routed you to the wrong page. This is a travel tale of 30 wise morons from various places in India, on a mission to accomplish the R-H trek in three days as India rose to it’s 61st year of independence on August 15th. That said, you may want to refer to this link for more info and details. And if you just thought you’re going to find your way out and complete the R-H trek with the help of blogs and posts alone; Be forewarned, you’re surely in for hyper trouble and your close one’s would soon be contacting the forest gaurds to scout for yet another moron. Get the rules right and tread the path with someone who’s been there ample number of times!

The Planning:

Sometime during the month of July, one fateful day; Gourav drops a mail to Abhijeet and Suma on a long weekend trip to Pune for a trek. The plan then involved Kalsubai-Ratangad-Katrabai pass-Harishchandragad for a three day stint starting August 15th. With some cross checking and information from reliable sources, the plan is rejected, condensed, reworked and finally tuned. Two weeks before the dead line the plan is sort of base-lined. A team of 10 from Hyd, 12 from Pune and 35+ from B’lore were to touch base Pune on the early hours of August 15th. A series of conf. calls and mails throng the network in preparation for the I-day trek. Abhijeet monitors the status remotely from Kolkota. Nominations, food and travel arrangements are almost frozen.

On August 12th comes the bomb shell – Incessant rains strike Pune, Dams are full to the brim and a set of places are evacuated. Forecast for the weekend was remotely positive. Nishant gets updates from Nikhil and co. that doing R-H would be a bit dicey. Considering the situation, the B’lore team takes a call and all first time trekkers are given a NO-GO signal. The team is now brought down to 10 from B’lore, 8 from Hyd and 9 from Pune. All of us were to complete Ratangad – Katrabai pass- Harischandragad. The initial option of dropping out after Ratangad is obviated. So one mini bus and Travera is cancelled. At the last moment Nitin, Manzuma, Bhabhani and Balaji pitch in.

The final plan was that a set of seven people – Nishant, Nikhil, Kunal, Ashutosh, Suhas, Nitin and Bhabani would leave for Ratanwadi village by 6:00am and pilot the remaining team. Abhijeet and I would pick the Hyd and B’lore folks in a mini bus and move down to Ratanwadi.

Aug 15th:

Shekar wakes me up asking me for directions to Visapur. Giving him the directions I look at the watch. Damn! It was already 05:15am and I’d asked the Travera driver to be at Aundh by 05:30 am. I quickly contact him and wake him up from his slumber. By 06:00 am he hits for base and we go about the city picking up Ashu, Bhabhani, Nitin , Nishant, Nikhil and Kunal. The vehicle finally leaves for Ratanwadi at around 07:00am. I head back home and prepare a sumptuous breakfast for myself. A few more calls and I head to pick up the Theplas and chocolates that I’d ordered two days back. At 08:45am Gourav calls me informing that the Hyd team would be reaching Pune at about 10:00am. B’lore folks would be reaching at 10:35 am by the Lokmanya tilak express. To be on the safer side I google a bit on the place and important village names. At about 10:00am, Sami and I leave for the station with the mini bus. Siva joins us at the station as we wait for B’lore folks to arrive. A few minutes later the team arrives and as we hurl the Backpacks and other trekking gear onto the vehicle, Donald, Balaji, Sridar and a couple of other folks head to the station master to get the return ticket modified. For some reason this takes a while and we head for Breman circle at about 11:45am. Hyd folks meanwhile freshen up at my house and head for Breman Circle with Suhas. Abhijeet who’s been waiting for a while, gets into the bus at Shivajinagar. We finally leave the city outskirts by around 01:00pm.

The driver for some reason just wouldn’t cross 60kmph even on the Highway and we happen to reach Sangamner pretty late at about 05:00pm. All through the travel Abhijeet and I try contacting the pilot team to get status of the roads and weather there. As we have a late lunch finally we’re able to get the call across and Nishant hints that one of the roads to Bandhardara was blocked due to a landslide and by the time we reach, we may not be able to get a ferry across too. All that we had left was a longer route to traverse through and that would mean adding a couple of hours to the schedule. With no other option in hand we proceed towards Bandhardara through Akole and Rajur across the dam. The travel to the destination goes about with a weird mixture of anxiousness and enthrallment. We have a tough time rationing the Theplas. We were under the assumption that food would be available at the base villages but since we’d screwed the whole schedule totally, We had no other option but to stock them for further use. Bad news peps in soon with Nishant calling us and informing that climb uphill to Ratangad should be avoided as far as possible! We finally decide to split into two groups. Balaji, Manzuma, Sami and Pandey were to trek upto Ratangad and then get back to Pune on Saturday while the rest of the team would meet the Pilot team at the R-H bifurcation and proceed via Katrabai pass to Harischandragad.

At Rajur, we’re advised not to go further beyond Samrad colony as the dense fog and rain would make visibility close to zero. A bit of tinkering here and there in the dense fog and we hit Samrad colony finally. It’s close to 11:00pm. Hunger just adds up to the long travel strain that the B’lore and Hyd folks have had and all that anyone around there was thinking of was to hit the floor as soon as possible. Kedar and Sridhar distribute the Sleeping bags and mats and in a few moments everyone dozes.

Aug 16th:

Morning at about 4:30 am, we’re woken up and by 06:00am we head towards Ratanwadi. Abhijeet and I scout for a route, find the wrong one and lead the bus there. Fortunately a villager redirects us to the right path and from there on we manage to reach the Ratanwadi village. We pay a brief visit to the temple and about 07:45am leave for the R-H Bifurcation with two villagers as we didn’t want to lose any more time. At about 09:00am we reach the bifurcation. The pilot team too happens to reach at almost the same time. We have a quick introduction and from then on decide to walk as soon as possible to reach Kumshet village. After a series of getting lost in the foliage , despite having a guide we manage to reach Katrabai pass at about 11:30am. All that drives us ahead is the assumption that we’d find food in the base village. The road never seems to end and it takes a while before we reach the village. The moment we reach Kumshet all eye’s scout for a fireplace and a vessel above it. Ah! Surprises never come when you need them. The villagers inform us that had we been there a bit earlier they could have arranged something. Cooking now for 30 of us was simply out of question. Nikhil then informs we may be able to find something to eat at Pachnai village. But for that we’ll have to leave as early as possible as a river was to be crossed. From hearsay we get to know that the river was in spate and crossing it would be very risky and difficult. Theplas had to be kept as the last option and we move ahead after gobbling a set of munchies. Had blessings been tangible, I’m sure I’d be suffocating to death from people showering them on me for having made such wonderful arrangements for food.

Everyone is literally pissed off and we finally take a call. Not one of us walks slowly till we reach Pachnai village. Gourav, Animesh and Kedar brief people and we move on with high spirits. Food at times can be such a motivating factor! More so, if you’ve had literally nothing for the past two days! About fifteen minutes of pure hiking and thankfully we get to see a river flowing about 300 feet below us at the end of the plateau. It’s a breath taking sight from here and we’re literally hooked to this place for about five minutes. ‘Something’ again reminds us of our destination and we head down through the hillock and reach the base.

Learn the Fisherman’s knot !

As we near the point where the river is to be crossed we really get to see and feel the real currents. From the 300ft hillock, what looked like a silent stream was indeed a river in full spate. Nishant tries wading through to test and see if the stream was traversable. The rock climbing rope that the B’lore team got all the way from B’lore finally comes to use here. Nitin and Abhijeet wade through the currents to the other side of the stream and tether it to a bark of a tree. While Nikhil and a couple of other folks tag it to a stout tree at this end. One by one each of us cross the stream with the rope’s support and reach over to the other side. You need to have a look at the snaps and videos to really admire the team work that happened across there! Nitin was really helpful in doling out his scout expertise there but I guess the fisherman’s knot was the best part of it all ! As we cross the stream and walk a bit ahead, we get to see a village not far across. Moments before we fall under the impression that this could be Pachnai, we’re told by a few villagers that we crossed the stream unnecessarily and we had to head to another place instead of this. From here starts the way back across the stream but from a different point where the current was not that powerful. A couple of villagers help us cross the stream and get to the other side. Once on the land, we had to walk a few more yards ahead and cross another easily traversable stream and finally we hit land for good. I wonder what we would have done had we not carried the ropes along with us!

Trust your instincts.

The stream crossing sort of re-vitalizes us and we move ahead towards Pachnai. Walk, Walk and Walk was the sole mantra! Two hours and still no sight of any village. Every turn round the corner we hope in vain to spot a villager, but then Murphy always wins! At around 7:00pm, the gap between the team widens and people slowly start giving up. To avoid blackout’s we finally remove the penultimate reserve of Theplas and chocolates. About twenty minutes is spent flat in the middle of the road. Siva had brought some sweet bun and mixture. We’re least bothered of anything, as we rest in eternal glory chomping on the little food that we had in our hands. Having regained a bit of energy the ten of us walk along the path. Rains are something that we now start detesting! Dusk looms and we get our torches outside. Not one of us is really sure if we’re moving on the right path. All that we knew was that we had to keep moving on and on till wherever the road leads. At a certain point the road bifurcates into two. Tired of taking decisions we follow our instinct and take the road to the left. Finally after about thirty minutes of walk we come across a tarred road. A bit of relief thumps in our veins. The tarred road for sure meant we were heading to a village – How far was an issue, but then we at least had a goal now!

Someone’s found us!

As the quest for human beings continues, somewhere far ahead we hear a double whistle hoot. Boy, Oh! Boy. We’re overwhelmed. I instantly pull out the whistle from the sling and respond the call. We run a bit ahead and make sure the call is from one of our folks by the adventura whistle code. A bit ahead as we turn round the corner we see headlamps flickering. We’ve finally found the team! In a few moments we have Nikhil and Donald running in our direction. They guide us along a bit ahead and inform us that they’ve found the Pachnai Village. Food arrangements have been made and everyone in the team is safe! We’re sure had Donald and Nikhil not traced back the route to find us we’d stopped right at the spot where the tarred road was submerged by a small stream in spate. We finally make it to the village in about fifteen minutes guided by a villager. These villagers rock!

The expressions on the faces of everyone, as we huddle in the cow-shed warming up in front of the Kerosene lamps is something that I’d never forget! As the Besan dal and rice go down the our throats, a burning sensation grips the flow. Getting to eat proper food after about two days of hiking,wandering and losing the way is heavenly pleasure. Every little step becomes painful and all that anyone was looking forward to was to hit the floor. Nikhil and Nishant help in sorting out the temple floor for everyone to sleep.In moments we’re equivalent to dead logs!

Aug 17th:

At about 7:00am after a hot cup of milkless tea, Nikhil, Nishant, Kunal and Nitin decide to move ahead to Harishchandragad. The Hyd team had to reach Pune by 4:00pm and not many from the B’lore team were ready to walk another mile. The final action plan was to reach Pune ASAP! We had to contact the drivers of the Mini bus and the travera as they’d not yet reached Pachnai village as asked to. As there’s no network coverage in the village, Our host at the village volunteers to take us to a place about 3kms from here where we could get coverage. Once we reach this spot and dial the numbers, we’re in for more surprises! The drivers are not reachable. With no option left, we decide to walk another 4kms and reach lavaii village from where we could PROBABLY find a means of transport to Khireshwar and then to Pune. Abhijeet and I have literally no idea how we’re about to spell this out to the B’lore and Hyd team. As we almost come to a conclusion that the Hyd team would have to miss their train, round the corner the Pink Satava mini bus followed by the Travera winds up the road. Phew, We’re more than exhilarated!

The Hyd team leaves in the travera and later we get to know they’d reached right on time. The remaining twelve of us head for Rajur hoping to get news from the other four who’d started their climb up Harischandragad. All attempts to contact them turns futile as none of them are reachable Finally at about 02:00pm we get a call from Nishant from a village booth giving us their location. At about 05:30pm we reach NarayanGaon and stop there for tea. As we have a befitting snack, Nishant calls us and lets us know that they were somewhere close to Junner and would be able to make it to NarayanGaon in probably another thirty minutes. At about 07:00pm the group of four finally make it to the place where we were waiting and we head towards Pune. At 11:30 pm as I make the final payment for the vehicles at Aundh and head back home and recall the eventful past three days, I’m reminded of the first mail that Gourav had dropped .

Most of us haven’t covered Ratangad and Harischandragad as planned. But I guess, there’s a lot of learning and enriching experiences that we’d take back home from the villages that we’ve hit.

I wish I could capture the moment when people got to see real food on the second night at the Cow-Shed! That would have been the Kodak moment of the trip. As Abhijeet once put it, Trekking is not all about reaching the peak, It’s the expressions that you get to see on the faces of people at times that makes the trip all the more enriching. Miles to go before you Sleep !

(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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The Bombayz had come down to Pune a few hours before I reached home after rappelling at Kondividi. 10:30 pm at night,Tiwari and Pranesh join us for dinner at Rasoi Ghar. It’s been close to a year that I’ve had dinner with any of my Engg. mates. This time during dinner, there are no tickets to ponder on, no actions items to be worked upon, no resolutions to be done; Just plain simple talk pulling each others legs! This would probably be etched as one of those few dinner’s I’d remember for quite sometime. We reach home at about 11:30pm. I hit the ground with an aching knee reminding me of today morning’s incident while rappelling. At times, pain is pleasure!

10th Aug

My alarm hoots at 04:45 am. While Chandru gets ready in a jiffy, I literally kick sriram and get him on his toes. Sunil had come down to my place yesterday night. Hitanshu’s almost done with his morning breakfast. Suhas finally makes it to Aundh at about 05:40am. Suhas, Sriram and I hire a rick to ShivajiNagar bus stand. Half way through, I get a call from Akhilesh telling me the Bus to Bhor was to be boarded at Swargate and not at ShivajiNagar as I had mentioned in the final coordination mail yesterday. Damn! This is when it looms over me that what he said made real perfect sense. For the Rohida trek too we’d boarded the bus to Bhor at Swargate and not at Shivaji Nagar. I’d asked everyone to reach Shivajinagar by 6:00am and here I was to ask them to come over to Swargate again. As I call people and inform them of the change, I literally hear them swearing on me for my timely notice .

The bus to Bhor was at about 06:45 am. Twelve of us – Akhilesh, Ashish, Arjun,Suhas, Swati, Hitanshu, Sourabh,Sriram, Shekar, Sunil, Rohit and I board the bus while Soujanya narrowly misses it. We decide to proceed and wait at Bhor. At about 08:15 am we reach Bhor. We had to reach Korla village which is about 20kms from here, to start the trek to Raireshwar. The next bus to Korla was at about 09:00am. Suhas and I decide to talk to the local guys there and arrange for a Jeep. After some deliberations we hit on a guy who accepts to drop us and pick us from the base village for 550Rs flat. We’re more than happy and strike the deal. It would take at least another half an hour for Soujanya to reach Bhor, So we decide to have breakfast at Bhor itself. At around 09:00am Soujanya finally makes it to Bhor and at 09:15am we depart for Korla. The thirteen  of us hunch into a Jeep. Ashish, Shekar, Sriram sit on the front troubling the driver right from the start while Hitanshu, Akhilesh and I hang out from the rear of the Jeep enjoying the drizzle as the vehicle speeds up the road to Korla. About five kms ahead of the Korla village we come across a thumping river crook. The sheer force with which water was making it’s way out of the canal was simply exhilrating. A few minutes here and we move ahead to the village. At about 10:00am we reach the base village and start the trek.

From the Korla village a diversion to the left takes you to Kenjalgad fort while the one to the right takes you to the famous Raireshwar temple and village. As we start walking up through the clearly paved road up to the village, we have an uninvited guest who further happens to be the 14th member in the team. Dogs are known to be pretty faithful beings and they follow you everywhere you go. But I guess it’s the other way round when it comes to hills. You’re compelled to follow them !

The path up to Raireshwar for the most part of it is already clear cut. But what’s really spectacular about this place is that, unlike any other fort/ hill village; once you start from the base and walk a few yards ahead, You’d be walking literally through paths surrounded by high rise hills everwhere around you and it all looks so spaced out that you’re really showered down by the magnanimity of Nature. The incessant drizzle at a distance makes you feel as if Nature’s trying to unveil it’s creation slowly through a striated screen. It looks so damn beautiful that you’re literally left spell bound. The innumerable falls that rise out of nowhere keep you on your nimble feet and every turn round the hill only gives way to more picturesque landscapes!

Half way up the hill, we come across a person by name Gopal who says he could arrange food for us up there in the village. He then suggests he’d get there to the village and prepare food by the time we reach there. What he said made perfect sense so we agree. A waterfall on the way keeps us busy for a while and even before we realise we’ve almost spent close to half an hour there. Finally we decide to move further and cover quite some distance. At one point we come across a diversion and decide to take the one that went upwards. A ‘No Overtaking’ board round the corner indicated that this road was slowly being developed to help ply regular vehicles up the fort. We follow the path mindlessly only to realise a while later that we’re on the wrong path.. A frail old village woman finally guides us in the right direction and we tread forward. From here on, the further we go, the better it gets! There’s this particular spot wherein you climb up a small hillock and the moment you reach this spot and look ahead you get to see a massive rock ahead of you and a series of cascades to either side of it. A splendid combination of Beauty and Magnanimity, I would say!

From this spot, to reach the Raireshwar village you need to climb a series of about 3oo steps. At the end of the climb a metal staircase has been built to facilitate easy climb for the regular villagers. But for this, the climb up would have been really difficult. Once we reach the top of the hillock and walk a few yards ahead, we get to meet a person whom Gopal had sent in search of us. This guy leads us to the village temple which is believed to be the spot where Sivaji took his oath to Swaraj.  Based on the land they own each villager is given authority to maintain the temple. A small but extremely well maintained one! We then move over to Gopal’s house for a sumptuous lunch. None of us realised how cold it was up there until we sat still in the house for sometime. The moment we enter his house and settle down, cold fumes come out of our body! Sriram literally sits beside the stove to keep himselves warm. At about 3:00pm we leave from Gopal’s place and start out trek down. The way downhill is done with in about an hour and a half. The Jeep driver is a bit cross with us for having turned up almost an hour late, but a few minutes with the Bombayz is all it takes to get him back to form. The next bus to Pune was right in the Bhor Bus stand. The Bombayz too are compelled to get back to Pune and from then on move over to Mumbai as they’re left with no other option.

On a personal front, I’d rate Raireshwar to be my second best trek. Most of the credit goes not to the endurance or difficulty but to bounty that Nature’s got in store for you here!

Details:

Team :13

Route: Swargate -> Bhor -> Korla village -> Raireshwar/ Kinjelgad

Distance: Bhor -> Korla village [ 20kms ] Korla -> Raireshwar [~8kms]

Altitude: ~4250ft. above MSL.

Endurance: Low | Difficulty : Low/Medium [ At the fag end ]

Time : Uphill: 3hrs. Downhill: 1.5hrs

Transport:Reach Bhor by Bus from Swargate [ 6:45 am ; 07:30am ], Bus to Korla from Bhor is at about 09:00am. Jeeps available if required.

Expenses: Rs 180

Stay: At Raireshwar village

Prominent Spots:Raireshwar temple , Kenjalgad fort.

Best time to visit: Monsoon!

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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The blue tarpaulin sheet suddenly gives way and my feet impulsively tries to gain hold on the rocks. I lose grip and one of my slippers hits the rocks about hundred and fifty feet below. Even before I have time to think on what’s apparently gone wrong I foolishly tag the rope in my left hand instead of the right. And just one thought zips in my mind.. Damn! I shouldn’t have volunteered to be the first one to rappel down!

Aug 8th:

I pick the 4:00pm service back to Aundh and reach home at about 4:45pm only to learn that I didn’t have the room keys with me. A brief sprint towards Breman Circle and I manage to hitch a ride to Pune station. As Bhavana and Nikunj make their way from Kothrud , I purchase onward tickets to Karjat for the 6:30pm Indrayini express. At about 8:15pm the train hoots into Karjat. Amps travelling from Mumbai was to be at Karjat at around the same time. In about ten minutes she joins us. The plan was to camp at Kondu’s place at Kondividi that night. Folks from the Dhumketu trekkers group were to reach Kondividi early the next morning.

At about 09:00pm we get some light dinner packed for the night. Means of commutation to the Kondividi village is pretty scarce. Thankfully, for 250 bucks a rick. driver agrees to take us there. The 20kms of travel on the kutcha road devoid of any lighting with rain pouring all way through made for an indeed interesting start! To add thrill to the already distraughted travel , the rick’s headlight kept blowing off every time the rick bumped on the pothole ridden road. At about 09:40pm we reach Kondu’s place. As I learn later, Kondu’s place has been a vital pit stop for Dhumketu trekkers for quite some time now. We’re provided a warm welcome and a lady sets up the courtyard of their house for us to sleep. After a quick dinner we hit the floor. Sleeping in an open courtyard of an old village house with rain splashing on the extended roof of the house is not something that you get to experience nowadays! Besides company of a smelling dog all night long is also something that you never get to experience .

Aug 9th:

At about 02:30 am the Dhumketu trekkers core team arrives from Mumbai. The dog’s given me company long enough to keep my nose and eyes shut. At about 06:30 am we’re woken up from our slumber by Sanjay. In five minutes we’re up and start walking towards the Kondividi caves. The hike up till there reminds me of the Rajmachi trek. Kondividi caves is at the base point of the Rajmachi trek at the Karjat side.

By the time we reach the caves, the DT team had almost completed setting up the ropes for the rappelling. A blue tarpaulin sheet was being setup from the 150 odd feet rock to avoid bruises while rappelling down. A quick cleaning up of the caves and we’re set to have a great time. The Pune team was yet to reach so Nikunj and I hit to the waterfalls, while Bhavna and Amps pick a conversation with Sanjay and team. At about 10:30 am we decide to start rappelling. A quick climb up the hillock through the left side and we reach the top. Just another small yet powerful waterfall grabs our attention. A few minutes under the frothing waters and we’re asked to get back and adorn the rappelling gear.

Bhavna and I volunteer to be the scapegoats. This was my second attempt on Rappelling. The first was during the Skandagiri trek at Bangalore almost a year back. As I straddle the rope against my body, position my feet and let my body loose giving full control to the rope and the descender; a chill passes down my spine for no apparent reason. I get the go command and slowly start descending the cliff. The first few steps backwards and I already start faltering shamelessly by bending my knees and not giving appropriate distance to the feet. A stern look from the person above gets me back to my senses and I slowly gain control.

Rappelling at Kolar caves was on a low height, dry and flat surface all the way to the bottom. There you could get support from the vertical side too. But here after a few feet from the top, the cliff caves in and you have nothing to get grip on. The blue tarpaulin sheet in a way was misguiding and even before i knew the cliff was caving in, my left foot prods through the tarpaulin, trying in vain to get hold of something. One look down and I see one of my slippers hitting the rocks below. The rope suddenly swivels and I literally hang in thin air almost 100 ft above the ground – all at the mercy of the person controlling my speed of descent. In anxiety I let loose more rope from my left hand instead of holding it close to my body . Down I go faster than gauged. Fortunately, I soon gain control and stabilize myself. From then on the descent down goes pretty subtly and in about thirty seconds I touch ground! Bhavna follows suit in a few minutes. And it’s all done!

Nikunj and Amps warn me twice before I rappell down to click shots of them rappelling once I reach the base. I pick the cam from the bag and move over to a suitable place to get the snaps. In about another ten minutes they’re done with the rappelling too. It’s close to 11:00am and the team from Pune hasn’t yet turned up. Nikunj , Amps and I get back to the falls and spend almost an hour or so in the freezing waters. The pressure in the falls has tremendously increased. I finally manage to find my lost slipper amidst the rocks . At about 11:30am the Pune team finally arrives. DT folks give them a general precautionary briefing and starts the rappelling activity for them pretty soon. As we get out of the falls Bhavna asks Nikunj for a pic. This is when we realise someone’s stolen the cam from the bag. All cellphones, wallets and cards seem to be intact.There seems to be no leads as to when and how someone could have flicked it off!

Finally we decide to leave Kondivide by around 2:15pm. Amps was to get back to Mumbai and Bhavna had booked return tickets for three of us by the Deccan Express at 6:00pm from Karjat. So we had to rush! Bhavna’s throat gives in for no reason and she barely manages to speak a few syllables. We’re literally left penniless and hunger seems to be growing by the minute. Finally, At about 08:00pm we reach Pune station.

On another dimention, the Bombayz had already reached my home at Aundh. Nikunj drops me at my place at about 09:00pm. Pranesh and Tiwari join us for a sumptuous dinner at Rasoi Ghar and we head back home at about 10:30pm. As just another exciting day comes to an end, and as I hit the bed, I set the alarm to 04:45 am. The Raireshwar trek was planned for Sunday     .

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There are three reasons why I’d not forget this trek! The first being, I wasn’t the youngest member in the team; the second being we had a 10 year senior,quite oblivious to us, sitting silently listening to all the *facts* about organisations and policies that we were putting forward; the third would get pretty evident as the print runs through till the end of this post!

01st August:

I manage to fling the much awaited Sev2 resolution off the DS3 connection and zip across the eggs to board the 9:15 service back home. Thankfully , there’s a seat left just beside Walia in the Medipoint bus. Even before I get to settle down, my cell beeps with an unknown caller at the other end. Chetan, I re-collect had not responded to the mail that I’d fired sometime earlier in the day. He’d called just to enquire if he could still make it for tomorrow’s trek. Some cross checking and linking and we’re all set for co-ordinating tomorrow’s trek. Walia bangs his head to the seat in front of him. Damn! You never change . He’s got no questions to ask on my plans for the weekend!

02nd August:

A couple of wake up calls gets me back to real senses and at about 5:30am I rush towards Aundh Junction where Prayank and Vishal were to pitch in. Hitanshu soon joins in a few minutes and we manage to reach Shivaji nagar station by 6:05am. Rahul, Vishal and co have been waiting there right from 5:30 am ! Soon people pitch in and by around 06:15 the final count swells to 26. Lohagad-Visapur spells out to be a sequel to the Koraigad trek. The 6:30 local to Lonavala pulls into the station right on time. Rahul,Trupti,Abhijeet, Chetan and I hurl ourselves into a coupe and soon in minutes everyone gets into form. From nowhere a heated up discussion starts about job roles, company issues, policies, coding goofs and what not. Amidst all this Hitanshu just confirms with others if none of us were Job band D or above. Wonder why the ball was never thrown to Chetan. This chap remains silent all through the discussion and just keeps smiling now and then. Later we get to know the reason for that wierd behaviour of his. 10 years of Experience does take it’s toll. NOM !

We reach Malavli station at about 8:00am. You’ve got to reach Bhaje village which is about 2kms from here by walk and from there on start towards Visapur/Lohagad. Dhok who’d been here before leads us through the follow-up over-bridge above the Express highway to Bhaje village.As our order of VadaPav and Chai gets processed, probably for the first time ever in DH’s trek history we have a formal introductory sesssion . This big a size definitely called for a formal introduction! As people go about introducing themselves to the group, we get to know there’re about seven folks less experienced than me in Infy. I’m on cloud nine! Nothing really spectacular about it. But I guess small things do make a difference .

At about 9:30am we start moving towards Visapur-Lohagad. Just a few yards away from Bhaje village, you get to come across a beautiful waterfall. Though a couple of us decided to cover this in the latter half of the journey, not many of us could control our anxiety to get under the chilling falls. Dhok and Swati are blessed with minor bruises. Probably, you could call it a sacrifice that they’d pledged to nature! About half an hour here sets the right spirits and we sprint over to the main path and get back on track. The road from here is pretty much well laid out and is motorable to a certain extent. In about an hour or so we happen to reach the Visapur-Lohagad diversion. Lohagad stands to your right and Visapur to your left. A small confusion pops in as to which is the right place but soon it all precipitates down and we decide to finish Lohagad first.

Giving consistent company to the monkeys, We hit Lohagad peak in about another hour or so and while away quite some time on the fort. One particular spot ( Burj) gives you a spectacular view of the valley below. The gusty chilly wind and the mist make it all the more beautiful. At the other end of the fort , there’s one another spot wherein the thumping force of the winds on the bulwarks, literally raises water from the down flowing cascades and spews it across all over causing an illusion of rainfall happening in the reverse direction.I’ve never experienced this powerful and scenic a phenomena as this till date.We loose track of time and even before we realise it’s already 3:00pm. In twenty minutes flat we hit the base and have a quick lunch. By four we reach the Visapur – Lohagad diversion. To have consensus and re-confirm if everyone was fine with doing Visapur a poll is done. Not surprisingly, everyone’s game for it.

Patience pays when Reasoning does’nt!

The Visapur trek starts at about 4:30pm. Rahul, Trupti, Dhok, Prayank and I happen to walk a bit ahead of the group and even before we realise, we make our first mistake – Loose track of the actual place where a diversion is to be taken to climb up the fort. Fortunately, we get to meet two people who’d already lost track before us and were on their way back looking for the actual path. You’ve got to take a left a few minutes after you take a left at the L-V diversion . The path from here to the fort up there is an awesome piece of the whole cake! Indeed thrilling to climb up the small rocks amidst water flowing through the whole path. As none of us were sure of the path up the fort, a few of us had to stay put in between while Dhok, Prayank, Parin, Rahul explored further. Abhijeet and I try in vain in exploring for a simpler route. Finally at about 5:15pm, having got not much of a positive response from the folks who’d gone a bit ahead to check for the path, Abhijeet gives the NO-GO signal and part of the team heads back to the base diversion point. I was sent to get back Dhok and a couple of others; but it so happened that I ended up reaching almost three forth of the climb so didn’t mind getting to the top altogether . At about 6:00pm Dhok, Parin, Akhilesh, Prayank and I head back downwards through the cascades to the base and meet up with the rest of the team who’d been waiting there. The moment I arrive, Abhijeet pulls me out and takes me away from the group. I was almost sure he’s going to give me a sound bashing for not having followed his advise and got back the people who’d ventured before me. Surprisingly he takes me to a small diversion just before the path we’d taken and shows me the path. One pointing made everything crystal clear – We could have taken the whole team up there and avoided the cascade climb . But damage was long done!

The sprint back to the base:

Visapur was indeed the apple pie of the Visapur-Lohagad trek. Probably this weekend trek wouldn’t have been as interesting as it was had we not covered Visapur. Vishal and I sprint all the way from the diversion to the base village Bhaje in about 15 minutes. We come across another waterfall that we had not stopped during our climb up and decide to jump in with no second thoughts. This waterfall was far more powerful than the first one and indeed pretty much comforting after the sprint. It starts raining heavily and only then do i realise that I’d left my Cell without much protection in my bag. Ah! There it goes…Plop – Contact service.

A quick bout of vada-pav’s and we board the 7:30pm local back to Pune. To be frank, neither of these two forts can be counted in as treks. I would put them in the Hiking bucket instead. But I guess it’s the smile that you get to see on people’s faces when they hit the peak after a tiresome climb up the hill that really brings in the vibes!

Details:

Team :26

Route: Shivaji Nagar –> Malavli ( One stop before lonavala) –> Bhaje village –> Visapur-Lohagad diversion –>(Right at diversion)Lohagad climb –> Lohagad Descent–> Back to Diversion –>(Left) Visapur climb–> Waterfall/ Cascade climb uphill–> Visapur Descent ( same route ) –>Back to Diversion–> Bhaje village –> Bhaje caves –> Malavli station –> Shivaji Nagar (Pune)

Distance: Malavli –> Bhaje village (2.5kms). Bhaje village –>Diversion (3kms). Lohagad Uphill (1km) Visapur Uphill (1km)

Altitude: ~3600 FT above MSL

Endurance: Medium | Difficulty : Low / Medium [ taking into account climb up the cascades]

Time :Malavli- Bhaje village: 15mins; Bhaje village to Diversion: 45mins; Diversion to Lohagad peak : 30mins. Diversion to Visapur top : 30mins.

Transport:Reach Malavli by train. No other transport required to Bhaje village.

Expenses: Rs 75.

Stay:Not Explored. Bhaje caves could be a probable place.

Prominent Spots: Bhaje caves, Lohagad kada ( A hole formed on a part of the fort / rock formations because of the wind pressure ).

Best time to visit: Monsoon!

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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