GorakhGad

Gorakhgad

Height : 2140 feet                                   Date :  15-16 Jan 2011

Level of Difficulty : Easy to Medium

Writeups by Anand, Amruta                     
Photo courtesy - Amol, Amruta, Durwas

 

Gorakhgad by Anand  :

DH cha ha trek majhyasathi anek karnani lakshat rahil..

ek tar khup diwsanpasun trek karaychi ichha hoti ..pan ya na tya karnamule magche kahi trek miss out zale hote..yaveli pan jamtay –nahi jamatay asa karat Gorakh Gad trek la jayche nakki kela..

GorakhGad  chya navat  jari gad asla tari ha killa nahi kinva ithe kuthlyahi fortification che purave nahi..pan gorakhgad cha vaishishtya mhanje tyacha sulka..tyavarun disnarya machnidragadachya sulkyache vihangam drushya  , samor disanari sahyadrchi rang, sidhagad ani sidhachi lingi..Trekkers la gorakhgadache aslelya akarshanacha ajun

ek karan mhanje Rock Climbing chi maja..

Tar tharlyapramane sakali 7 vajta kalyan  station la bhetnyacha tharla hota..Trek la ekun 7 jana hote..Amol Chaudhary,Amruta,Reena,Mi(Anand Joshi :)),Ani 3 navin chehre Gayatri(Majhi vagdatta vadhu :)) ,durvas ani mahesh (2 nhi amrutache friends) 7:00 te  7:15 paryant amhi sarva tharlyapramane tharlelya thikani hajar hoto,tharlyapramane sakali 7:30chi kalyan-murbad chi lal st amhi pakadli ani sadharan 8:45 la amhi murbad la pohchlo..tithun pudhe amhala Dehri sathi chi lal st pakadaychi hoti8:45 nau te 9:15 ya velat mag amhi garmagaram kande pohe ani vafaltya idlicha nashta kareun ghetla ani chaha ghetla..barobar 9:15  vajta amhi Dehri(base village for Gorakgad) chya lal st madhe baslo..ardhya te paun tasat amhi dehri la pohchlo..

Gorkhgad he sanrakshit abhayaranya aslyamule paythyala amhi eka sarkari register madhe amchi entry keli.Gorakhgadachya vatela survatila ch ek vithhal rakhumaicha mandir lagta...tithe darshan gheun amhi  gorakhgadachya vatela laglo..saharan 10 la amhi gad chadhayla survat keli ani dupari 2 la amhi amchya mukkamachya thikani--caves madhe pohchlo..arthat amhi madhe 2-3 break ghetle..limlets chya golya kha..chocklets kha ..he chaluch hota..gayatri ne Orange  anle hote..amhi citric acid ne energy vadhte asa mhant saglya santryancha fadsha padla..

caves madhe pohchlyanantar  lunch-dinner ani ravivarchya chaha pani asa sagla saman amhi amchya bagetun kadhun thevla arthat lunch cha menu hota Maggy Noodeles..chan chavishta magy banavle..khalle..plates vagare dhutlya ani trek leader(amol) ne parvanagi nakarlyane amhi na zopta lagechach gorakhgadachya sulkyakade nighalo...

ek sangaychi goshta mhanje guhebhovati makdancha aslela vavar..amche khadya padarthancha saman makdanchya najares padu  naye mhanun amhi ek idea keli.sagla saman vyavasthit eka pishvi madhe thevla..ti pishvi bhovti ek Sleeping mat gundalun thevli..ani tyavar ek bhali mothi trek bag thevli(amol chi sarvat jad bag)jenekarun makad ale ani tari

tyana amchya khanyacha padrthancha patta lagnar nahi..

Caves te sulkyacha matha ha pravas khup ch mast hota..adventorous hota ..ek baryapaiki motha rock patch hota ani to par kelyavar mathyavar pohcheparyant dongrat tch khanlelya payrya hotya..rock patch,tyanantar eka side la khol dari ani aniyamit payrya asa par karun amhi sandhyaki 4:30 la gorakhgadachya mathyavar pohclo..var alyanantar amhi prachand khush zalo..var gorakshanath mahadev mandir ahe..tithe darshan vagare ghetlyanantar

amchyakade suryast hoiparyant barach vel hota..paschimela la ek khup chan spot hota tithe amhi darit pay takun baslo.. photos kadhle..magchya tek chya gamti jamti ,athvani share kelya..khup awismaraniya..uttung shikhravar darit pay takun mavaltya surya kade baghnyacha anand kahi aur ch...

surya mavaltana tyala amchya cameryat bandist kelaynantar ami partichya vetela laglo..

lakhha ujedat thoda kathin vatnarya payryavarun anhi rock patch varun sahaj var chadlo hoto parattana matra surya mavalti nantarchya sandhi prakashat ..datun hot challelya andharat amhi vyavasthit one piece khali pohcho karan fakt amol chaudhary..tyane vyavathit saglyana guide kela.

GORAKH GAD trek cha sarvar intresting part mhanje..amhi jevha guhet partlo tevha anek prakarchya feeling amchya manat alya(like..khup rag ala,ascharya vatla etc etc..)karan jya makdanpasun amhi amcha khanyacha saman lapavla hota..te tyani purna palun nela hota..pulav sathi ghetlela bhat,masala,chaha powder,milk pawdar..bscits,maggy cubes..sagla makdani palavun nela hota..amhi yathechaa makdana markatchale kele mhanun shivyanchi lakholi vahili..anhi ata kay karaycha yachya vicharat laglo..

nashibane..durvas ani mahesh kade magy che 4 packets hote..,shev hoti, Gayatri kade tar khajana ch nighala..magy cha ek packet,coffeche saches,milk powder cha dabba,papad,loncha,limbu,glucon d etc etc..mi gayatri la khup jad bag anli mhanun ordlo hoto..he sarva saman anla mhanun mala tichi mafi magavi lagli..(hehe)

sakhrecha puda amrutachya baget aslyamule to tyana milala navhta..mag amol ne mast coffe keli..amhi coffe ani shev,busicuits khalli..amhi coffe nahi tar amrut pyaylo asa amhala

vatla..evhana amcha pot baryapaiki bharla hota..nantar amhi baher caves chya baher star gazing kela..it was also a very good experirnce..yathavkash amhi dinner madhe maggy kela..chan paiki khalla..ani udya chan sunrise baghun sakalich 8 vajta nighaycha asa tharvun zopaychya tayarila laglo..

Mala ha trel lakshat rahil yacha ajun ek karan mhanje..jevan zalyanantar caves baher firat astana mi dhadpadlo ani majhya davya payachya karangalichya baju cha bot jabardast sujla..paul takla ki prachand mothi kal payat yaychi..ashi avastha hoti ki ithun utru kasa ha prashna majhya dokyat hota..dukhlelya botala MOOVE laun mi zoplo asa vichar karun ki sakal paryant bara vatel..

sakali 6 vajta amhi uthlo..khara tar vatavaran khup chan hota,prasanna hota..chan suryoday zala hota..pakshancha kilbilat vagare vagare..khup chan 1 NO.pan majhya sujlelya payachya botat jara pan farak padla navhta..I am very thankful to mahesh and durvas jayani altun paltun majhi bag uchhali..!! utartana mi javlpas 25 takke basun utarlo..kathicha adhar ghet utarlo..yathavkash ralispray cha effect jhala nd suj.dukhana kami jhala..

Dehri varun 10 chi gadi pakdaychi hoti..amhi 11:30 la khali pohchlo..ani pudhchi gadi 1:15 la hoti . .as sakali amhi fakt kahi busiscuites khaun utarlo hoto..saglyana khup bhuk lagli hoti..garmagaram vade ani chaha piun amhi 1:15 chi gadi pakdun dupari 2:00 paryant murbad la alo..lal st cha jo driver hota tyla asa vatat hota ki to  ST namak lal daba chalvat nahi ahe tar Kingfisher company cha airplane Mumbai airport chya runway var chalavtoy.

Dhehri murbad chya khadde padlelya dambri valnavalnachya rastyavar to prachad vegane gadi chalvat hota ani kachakach break dabat hota. Murbad hun sadharan 2:15 chi gadi pakdun amhi 3:15 paryant kalian la alo.sadharn sandhyakali 5:00 paryant amhi sagle apaplya ghari pohcho..

10 Summary points:

1)According to Amol --Gorakhgad ha DH cha pahila medium range difficulty vala trek hota.

2)Rock Climbing chadhtana Utartana khup thriling vatat hota..Amol ha uttam trek leader aslyachi parat khatri patli.

3)machindra gad,sidhhagad ani sahyadri range khup cha bhavya divya  vatat  hoti.

4)Gorakh gadachya top varun khali pay sodun basnyacha anubhav khup ch chan hota.. 1 no.

5)Gorakhgada varun suryast and suryoday keval awismaraniya.

6)Gayatri,durvas,mahesh he navin members add zale.

7)basun gad kasa utraycha he  mi shiklo..;)

8)Makda kase makad chale karu shaktat yacha anubhav ala..

9)*** Amhala Mor nachtana disla,paus nastana indradhanushya navhe tar indravajra disle..sahyadri madhe pandhra

aswal pan disla..makar sankrant mhanun amhi  patang anli hoti ani ti javalpas 10000ft havet udavli.       

10)ani last but not the least: amhi DH che itar members je yeu shkle nahit tyana khup miss kela.

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*** Lapetya

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Gorakhgad by Amruta

 

Like in every trek, finally after several cancellations and few last minute entries, we were all set for the trek to Gorakhgad. The 4 DH members (Amol,anand,reena & me) and 3 new entries Gayatri(anand's fiancé), Durwas(my JP friend) and Mahesh (Damn It.. naame chukla..:D) were the lucky ones to get in :-D

We had decided to meet at Kalyan station at 7.00 AM on Saturday, Jan 15th. And as we always (atleast me :-)) reached there well before time at 6.30AM. Rest all arrived quite on time.

It is 30 KM from Kalyan which took around an hour. There we had the delicious Kande pohe, Idli and "Mendu" wada as breakfast from a roadside tapri. Next journey was to Dehari which is arnd an hour away from Murbad. Dehari is the base village for Gorakhgad.

We reached Dehari at 10, where Amol distributed the food stuff and we began at 10.30.

Initial patch was usual easy going till the orange point (of course, we named it so).It is actually a small hut with a Shivling in it. Gayatri's oranges were a real dose of energy for all. From this point journey was going to be a bit tough. The rocky patches began here. As it was ascend, things went quiet well. The biggest attraction while climbing up was the Macchindragad, standing proudly in front of Gorakh!! The view inspired to move ahead.. After many tiny breaks and hush-hush sessions, we reached the cave at 1.30.. (3 hrs..not bad han).  The view from the cave was just astonishing.. Huge mountain ranges on right and Macchindra pinnacle on left....gosh.. it was just unbelievably beautiful..

The cave there is very warm and also huge. We booked right corner of the cave as our kitchen where Amol cooked trek ka saccha saathi… “Maggi” as lunch!! hmmm ..Yummy it was.. :-)

Post lunch our plan was to climb up the pinnacle and wait there till sunset. At 3, we started the climb and the route got even tougher. But with Amol's backing and support we reached the top in 45 minutes. A shiv mandir and the "Bhagva"..the perfect combo.. wherever u go..

As inspired from Kalsubai experience, we too thot of having a short nap. But before we could actually sleep, Amol gave us a jhalak of the mogli point.. and then despite of the scorching heat, all were dying to sit on that rock and enjoy the literal experience of "Living on the edge"!!!

We chitchatted, clicked tons of snaps but after a while we actually wanted the sun to set as the heat was getting unbearable. Finally at 6.30 the sun decided to say goodbye and filled the sky with beautiful colors. Needless to say that we clicked tons of pics of sunset and began return journey from the pinnacle. The sunrays were still there in the sky which helped us climb down 90% of the patch. But the remaining patch was challenging and it was getting darker. But Amol, the savor helped us in get down safely here. We were back in the caves by 7.30 pm.

Now most tragic turn of the story comes :-)

And… most exciting..thrilling..adventurous…tension filled…  tooooo…..

As we entered the cave, our dinner’s raw material stuff like rice, tea packets, milk powder, biscuits, etc etc were missing. Yes u read it right, full bag was missing!!. We had nothing left to eat for rest of our trek. Monkeys around the cave had a party that night with our stuff L For a second we thought our trek was finished. We just had maggi few hours back and now whole stock was empty.

But but but .. we had new entries in our group who literally saved us that night. Actually we are used to carry only those things which Amol asks us to. But this time as Durwas,Mahesh and gayatri were new entrants, they carried some extra stuff like coffee sachets, milk powder,  maggi packets, biryani masala, papad.. (Imagine papad in a trek..wah wah J  ) Now it was our time to partyyy.. we had so many things to eat !!! Thanks guys.. u rock J

Then we had the tastiest coffee from our very own tambi Amol. It was sumthing more than amrutulya.. After the coffee and shev as the snacks, we relaxed in the open space in front of cave .. did some star gazing , amol’s photography experiments in low light (torch) on reena, etc  and then had a another round of maggi for dinner. Meanwhile  Anand got hurt on his left leg 4^th finger.. it was paining like hell.. he applied moove and slept to know that it was further swollen in the morning…

Next Day Morning we got up at 6.00.. we don’t have a choice when Amol is the leader.. hehee :D

We had a plan to climb up the pinnacle again to see the sunrise from top. But eventually we had to drop it as sunrise was visible from cave itself as it was facing the east direction only. The sunrise was equally serene as the sunset. The rays had spread over the mountains.. and whole environment was glowing in the fresh orange-yellow morning rays!!! We had a plan to leave immediately after the sunrise i.e by 7.30 am..

But according our DH Standard time we somehow managed to leave by 8 (inspite of Amol being our leader.. hahhahahaha ).. Anand had a tough time due to his leg injury. We had to traverse thru the same path from which we had climbed up.. Getting down on such rocky patches is even tougher.. it gets more technical and strategic when it comes to climbing down on such rocky patches.. Amol was the best guide to help each one of us put proper step on proper rock.. he supported each one of us to get down from every patch safely.. Anand too managed very efficiently with the support his “Bhagyalakshmi” Gayatri.. she encouraged him throughout the journey J

Durwas was another helping hand for anand as he supported him from behind, in the difficult patches.

Thus at 11.30 we were in Dehari waiting for our bus to Murbad.. It scheduled to arrive at 1.15 PM

Meanwhile we ate garama garam wada-paav and cutting chai from a tapari in dehari.. Also we got a chance to taste local version of mirinda.. (GINA was the name..)and let me tell you.. it was pathetic.. hehehhe…

To our surprise, bus arrived at 1.15 sharp.. and the ST driver being a retired pilot J helped us reach Murbad in 45 minutes.. We got a bus to kalyan immediately after that.. And in no time, we were in local train heading towards our home sweet home.. J

 So this was our first trek for this year!! The new year came up with the trek which was one level up the difficulty.. Thank you Amol for your wonderful guidance and perfect instructions throughout the trek.. and  also a special thanks for adding another feather to our cap.. and adding Gorakhgad in the list of our trekking career..hehehee.. Hope to experience more of such wonderful treks ahead!!!