Kalsubai .. The Thrilling and Adventurous Trek of the year!!

Trek to Kalsubai ... 19 Dec 2010

This trek started with adventures for me.. Thou being a core member of the deccan-hikers (DH's), I was not at all aware of any such trek being planned!!! Strange but true.. since I myself was out of town for 4 days, and these guys just did plan a trek within those 4 days only. Very very luckily I checked my email on the day when I was back from my outing, and found out a trek has been planned, and that these guys r leaving the same day in the night, by Mahanagari Express at 12.00 in the night from CST. I talked to Alpana, and found out tickets were still available of the train, and I imdtly booked it for myself, then i started preparing for the trek. This was somewhere around 8 pm, and I had to leave home at 9.45 pm, and reach CST. And ... I did it.. hehe.. .YESSS... I, was a TRUE last minute entrant to this trek, who made it to this thrilling trek just in time, otherwise would have regretted for lifetime.. to have missed it...

And so, as I mentioned, my Entry to the trek was quite exciting... But more of the excitement and thrill was yet to come..

I, Reena and Appu were the first to reach CST station, at around 11 pm, and I broke all my records and reached much much before time (which i have never done till date...hehehe), Even before Amol reached CST station.. hehehe.. so I myself pat my back for this, being last minute entrant, I made it to reach first at CST station!

Till then also i didnt knew, who all r going to join for the trek, what is the schedule for the next day, when will we be reaching back to mumbai... nothing known... all puzzle for me. Then came the DH's, one by one.. Amol, Alpana, Ninad.. nah.. Nandi only suites best ;-), and Also, Tushar who somehow made it to reach Thane Station before the Train reached, and could finally become a part of the trek too.. :)

So this way, we were total 7 ppl.. going to Kalsubai Trek... We had planned to Start by Mahanagari Exp, till Igatpuri, then from there, to Baari village (the base village of Kalsubai) by ST and then trek the highest peak of Sahyadri and back home by late evening.

The Train journey was also not less interesting.. hehe.. everybody wanted to take some sleep, but none of us could actually sleep.. we all were chatting, listening to chats, having fun.. but didnt sleep :) thou we had switched off lights, lying on our berths.. Except... Nandi.. who was actually snoring!! which proves he did have his sleep :)

Igatpuri at around 3.15 am, and a wait till 4.30 am and then a quick round of Wada Pav - Chaha, and walk towards Igatpuri Bus stand. This is our routine schedule in this route.. :) same was during Ratangad!!

We got a bus at around 5.15 am, reached Baari in an hour or so.. and at approx 7 am, we started our ascend..

It was a very lovely chilling morning.. freezingly cold, and we were longing for the SurajDevta to wake up!! Morning sun was soo beautiful, its rare.. or actually never in the city that at least I have experienced such lovely morning sun!

With the same old feature, of doing lovely photography.. and this time I too had my Brand New camera.. SX 30 IS .. to be explored for the first time for a Trek!! And I must tell, I enjoyed photography with my New Cam... to the fullest!!

ok, enuf of me.. so we kept on moving up and up and up..

We walked past a small temple, few huts and cattle around, and then climbing high and high.. till we reached an iron "shidi", which was not difficult at all.. very strong and nice one.. not like ratangad of course!!

Then, we walked past a huge tree, and also enjoyed climbing on it and doing nice photography around it.. :) we all experienced our ancestors' fun.. of being on trees.. hehehehee..

Then, we crossed another big Iron ladder, which took us very near to the top.. but by now, we had lost all our energy.. we were extremely hungry, and all battery down! but we quickly had a bread jam slice, and moved ahead, slowly and steadily, and finally made it to the top.. in only 4 hours.. hahaha...

of course, with breaks, and our photography included!!





And truly, Kalsubai ni ghaam kadhla amcha.. it proved to us, ki sahyadri chya sarvat unch shikharavar svaari karna khanyacha kaam nahiye!!

And on reaching the top.. we simply relaxed!! Had our pack lunches, and we actually Slept!!

after some time, we woke up, did some gud photography.. and then started to descend. This was around 1.30 pm. While descending, we just took 2 breaks, one at a tea stall near to the top and another, directly at the base temple. We descended in just 2 hours and 15 mins. and reached the bus stop in Baari village at around 4 pm.

Yahan tak to sab thik thak tha.. only thing was, we all were tired, legs knees paining, hungry and lost all our energy.. bass.. nothing more.. we were all happy to have completed a very nice trek.. but.. but.. but..

Asli mazza toh abhi aana baki tha...

We ordered for Pohe and Chaha, at the Baari bus stand. And also enquired about the bus. 3.30 pm's bus hadnt arrived yet, another was scheduled at 5.30pm, then 8 pm directly.

We were having our pohe and chaha, when, at around 4.30 pm, a Bus to Igatpuri arrived. We were not yet finished with our Tea, and were knowing tht another bus is there at 5.30 pm, so we LEFT tht BUS.... aaahh.... BIGGG MISTAKE... all trekkers.. NEVER MAKE THIS MISTAKE... MISS a TEA.. but NEVER MISS AN ST in a small village...

so, as we finished our tea, and kept on waiting for the next bus... which did arrive.. but at arnd 6.30 pm... full packed, and the driver didnt even wait for us to climb in it.. and just left .... OOO NOOOO.... another blunder... we missed another buss...

Now we started getting nervous... bcoz... Reena had to catch a flight next day morning at 7 am, Nandi, tushar and Appu had to report to office the next day.. and we were still.. at the base village... much much far from Igatpuri, to get any transport back home..

So we started waving at every vehicle coming towards us, for lift.... but.. ALL IN VAIN... nobody helped us.. :(

Sometime later, a Trax stopped, and asked us to adjust 6 ppl in 3 ppl's space in back seat, and 7th guy in already packed front seat.. which we again REFUSED... anooooooother BIG blunder....

After that, no Trax, No ST, no private vehicle.. nothing was stopping for us.... O Shit...the clock was ticking.. and time passing.. it was almost 8 pm.. and NO VEHICLE at all!!

Meanwhile..we did so many permutations combinations... like, who all r in major emergency to reach back home at earliest shld board the next vehicle and go ahead.. so tht at least they reach on time.. others can either come later, or even stay back.. Alpana even enquired abt stay facility in Baari.. :)

Finally... A BIG THANK U to a Tempo guy.. who stopped for us.. and we decided whtsoever..we have to get into this Tempo and go... The Tempo guy warned us, tht there's a BUFFALO tied up in the back, make sure whether we cud travel with her.. and we have NO other option left.. than to say YES!!

We just climbed in.. and those 45-50 mins journey was a TRULY Thrilling and full of fun experience.. Firstly, the road was full of so many curvatures.. and the buffalo tied up, with its baby buffalo on her left, so due to curved roads, poor buffalo was getting inclined towards right.. slipping, skidding .. o God... really she was such a nice buffalo.. she didnt kick or disturb us at all... and shared her space with us so generously!! We are really thankful to her!!

And over and above this lovely adventure of travelling with the buffalo... our very own Reena Madam.. started telling story of an adventurous movie about similar group of friends gone for some outing, and caught in some trap.. as they were given some coffee by the man who gave them lift and blah blah blah... O M G... we all were like... no other place Reena found for this story-telling.. :) we were already nervous for being late, plus, tied with a buffalo, and then such dangerous stories.. ufff.... we ourselves know how we were holding ourselves strong...

Woh kehte hain na.. Daarrr ke aage jeeet hai.. hahahaha... and we finally won!! and... moreover... We didnt drink any coffee.. hahahaa !!!

After that thrilling, exciting, adventurous journey.. from Baari till Ghoti Naka, which connected us to the Nashik - Mumbai highway, we pulled up our sacks,paid and thanked the tempo guy, and started waving again, for another vehicle. .to help us reach.. some place..at least Igatpuri.. or Kasara.. or even Mumbai if possible..

After a few misses, we finally succeeding in stopping a Bus, which was headed directly to mumbai, and helped us give a lift directly till mumbai!! O God.. Another BIG thank u to tht bus driver, who helped us by allowing us to sit his driver's cabin till Mumbai.. and drove sooooooo fast, and reached mumbai in just 2 hrs... uff.. unexpectedly, I was back home by 11.30pm, and others, who boarded off the bus at Thane along with me, reached home by 12.30..

Wow... where at some moment we felt.. we will be unable to make it to mumbai on time.. and now.. we were well within time to our home.. with help of generous ppl.. the Tempo wala and the Bus Wala.. Thanks to those guys... really...

And then.. we slept with peace at home... next day morning.. Reena succesfully caught her flight at 7 am, Nandi and Tushar went to office.. Appu missed her office and slept till late afternoon, similar to Alpana, and Amol, And I woke up at 9 am.. for some work!!

And we successfully completed the Trek to highest peak of sahyadri!!...

Kalsubai... a truly Thrilling, Exciting and Adventurous Experience!!

Also a big lesson learning -- WHAT NOT TO DO, IN A TREK!!!!! (hehehe.. synonym of wht not to do in IIT by chetan bhagat)

Siddhagad

This month’s trek’s one common thing was last minute decision to arrange trek.  After 19^th Dec’s Kalsubai trek this was again planned last moment. But both treks were different. One of the major difference was in Kalsubai, Sun keeps on smiling (or rather laughing) on you continuously but for Siddhagad, more than 85% trek is through thick forest. That makes it very pleasant experience (So it is OK if you do not have Cap for this trek). But the same reason makes it tricky because there are lots of chances that you may select wrong “Vaat” in forest.

Trek was scheduled to start from Kalyan at 7.00 am with onwards journey through public transport. But Nilesh had some work at his village which was nearby to our base village. So he decided to get his car to travel till base village. Nilesh, Sanket, me and Pramod reached at Kalyan on time but Vishal (Nilesh’s friend) reached 2 hours late (BIG SIN in treking). So we utilized that time by helping ourselves with Bhaji Pav and Tea in nice cool, foggy morning. Surprisingly we had fog till 10 am.

         We started trek from Narivali (base village) at around 11.00 am. Path is through nice forest. View of Gorakhgad and Macchindra gad at one side , Siddhagad on other and Bhimashankar mountain in between makes it very beautiful landscape.  

After leaving Narivali, we crossed small river and after some walk reached “Siddhagad Pada”. This is the village from where gradual climb starts. (Narivali to Siddhagad Pada is straight walk).

As we started our climb Nilesh started guzzling lots of liquid (water, energy drink etc.). So we realized that this heavy vehicle will have less mileageJ. But he, along with whole group, keep climbing steadily with few breaks. Vishal periodically keep asking same question “yeh rasta to sahi hai na?” till we reached Kalyan.( yeh, he even asked same question to Nilesh in car when we were coming back) .

Sanket was wearing t-shirt with hood and his fav. goggle and looking like Phantom (Name courtesy : Pramod).

Almost midway we crossed stream (where we had mini break for snacks) and after around 3 hours (after starting from base) we reached a “Darwaja.” After this darwaja there is temple and further a small village “Siddhagav” This whole village is situated on Siddhagad forts "Machi". Not only people stay at such height but electricity is also available in this village.

Climb after this village (towards Balekilla) is bit steep (after darwaja, no need to go till village, one vaat starts climbing before that).  After another hour (from darwaja) we reached at Cave . From cave one can see Gorakhgad, temple on top of it, Bhimshankar and tip of Bhimshankar temple.

We quickly finished (in 10-15 min.) our lunch in cave and then started our upward journey towards top of Balekilla. Many group finish trek at this point. Climb beyond this point is very very steep and one has to be very careful. Also on top nothing much to see except few remnants.

Before we could reach top, we realized that it was already 4 pm and in order to reach base before dark then we had to start our journey back. Also climb was getting steeper and riskier which means that it would have taken much more time to reach top and come back even though it was very very near. So we decided to start descend. We reached back to caves at 4.20 pm and started descend with very very few halts. Nature of slopes was reducing our speed.

With all efforts we managed to reach “Siddhagadpada” before it got total dark but after that we have to put our torch lights on. Path till Narivali even though on plane, it was through forest which made looking for “Vaat” in darkness bit tough. Some how we reached Narivali around 7.30 pm (couple of times with the help of some villager in total darkness).

After that we simply had to sit in car with Nilesh driving. We took a couple of halt, once at Nilesh’s uncle’s house having nice hot tea and another at Murbad for having snacks break. We reached at Kalyan at around 9.00 pm and then dispersed for our homes.

It was another nice enjoyable trek.