Salher Salota

Salher  and Salota

Author : Amol

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” - John Muir

That was the call again and we packed our sacks and ready to go. This time the objective was also to start New Year on higher note…. And Salher was perfect for the occasion because Salher is not only the highest fort (5141 Ft.) in Maharashtra, but it has also witnessed very important historical events during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj era.

Salher fort is situated in Nashik district, Baglan taluka in Maharashtra. Nearest big city is Satana which is 91 Km from Nashik. There are three routes to go to Salher Fort - 1) From base village Salherwadi 2) from base village Waghambe and 3) from base village Maldar (माळ्दर). First two routes are more frequently used by trekkers.

We planned to climb from Waghambe route and get down through Salherwadi route. That way, we could climb another fort Salota, on the way while climbing to Salher. (Buy 1 Get 1 free :-)). We took ST bus from Mumbai on the 30^th Dec night and got down at Tahrabad (28 Km ahead from Satana) at around 3.45 AM. It was nice, cold, dark winter night with temperature 10 degree celsius. There was a tea stall nearby, serving hot tea. In Mumbai it is OK to find such stall serving a tea whole night but at such small place on the highway that too in the winter, running a tea stall whole night is something special.  Anyway, that tea provided us much required warmth. 

There is ST bus available to go to Waghambe from Tahrabad but that is around at 8 am and that would have impacted our planned schedule.  So we negotiated with one Tumtum (6 seater auto rickshaw which actually carries 12 people :-)). This is where group size of 10 – 12 people help as whole group fits in one vehicle.

Enroute to Tahrabad to Waghambe there is a village Mulher (or Mulherwadi), which is base for fort Mulher, Mora and Hargad.  However due to short of time, we just waved ‘Hi and Bye’ to these forts with the promise of coming back to them soon. 

We reached Waghambe just before sunrise. Wagambe is a small hamlet surrounded by mountains with less than 300 household having total population of less than 2000 people. However notable point is that such a small village has School (Ashramshala) which is the only big structure (Ground +2)  in the village.

After quick breakfast of Pohe and Tea, we started our ascend. From Waghambe, you get a clear view of Salher (towards Right), Salota (towards Left) and Khind (Pass- Lowest point between two mountains) between these two mountains. Keep eye on Khind and there is no chance of missing the trail. We first crossed fields, then climbed a hill and then a mountain ridge would take you straight to Khind. There is hardly any greenery on the way. It was bright and sunny morning but low temperature of winter was making it less tiring. It takes around 1 – 1.30 to reach till Khind from Waghambe.  

At Khind (Pass), on the right side there is Salher, on the left, Salota fort,  In the front side below Maldar village and backside, offcourse Waghambe village. We kept our sacks at Khind. Half of our group decided to wait at Khind while Rest of us moved to Salota. 

To reach at top of Salota from khind, move little ahead towards Maldar side and you can see Steps and Darwaja at top of Salota. Path till steps is fairly straight. However this trail is steep and full of scree. So one needs to be very careful while negotiating at this patch. After this patch, crossing long steps and Darwaja  (door or gate) would take you to top of Salota. On top of Salota, there is only one small dilapidated hanuman temple. Some cave and one water cistern (It provided us much needed cool water that time) But it offers magnificent view of Salota as well as two parallel mountain ranges of Selbari and Dolbari. Selbari range has Nhavi, Tambolya, Mangi and Tungi forts on it. Dolbari range which is parallel to it has Mulher, Hargad, Salota and Salher forts on it. 

 

We came back to Khind. Rest of our group had enough rest till now. Some quick food bites and we started moving towards Salher. Steps on Salher are visible from Khind but to reach there, trail moves first towards Maldar side, then takes U-turn and return to steps which are facing the Salota and Khind. After crossing these steps and Darwaja, straight trail takes you to other side of mountain. On this edge of mountain, there is another Darwaja and steps. After crossing these steps and Darwaja, one comes to broad plateau. From here, trail towards left goes to highest point of Salher (Parshuram Temple). Trail towards right, takes us to Gangasagar Lake. Near Ganga Sagar lake there is Renuka Mata temple (Mother of Parshuram). Moving little ahead from lake takes us to two big caves, where 50 – 60 people can stay. This was our shelter for tonight. 

Salher has historical importance. It is situated at crucial juncture of old commercial route of Pune to Surat. This fort also witnessed a historical battle where Maratha forces of Shivaji Maharaj, for the first time fought war on planes leaving Guerilla warfare technique in the mountain adopted till then. It involved 1 Lakh 20 thousand soldiers. Maratha forces had very huge win in this battle marking a strength and maturity of force. This later (in time of Peshwa) enabled them to spread Maratha empire till Atok (now in Pakistan) in North and almost to entire Hindusthan.

As per Hindu Mythology, Parshuram is sixth avtar of Lord Vishnu. He is the son of Renuka and one of the saptarishis, Jamadagni. He is immortal. Twenty-one times he got riddance of all Kshatriyas on the earth. With his arrow, he pushed sea back to create a land. This Land is called Konkan. Sahyadri ranges runs across Konkan and rises to highest point at Salher top.  

After quick round of instant noodles (at such height, it doesn’t remain that instant as it takes some time to cook), we started moving for Salher top where Parshuram temple is located. A trail start near caves (No need to go back to Darwaja to go to top, this is another trail). Ascend is a bit steep and at some places there is scree. This patch requires careful negotiation. That made climbing this part very entertaining because everyone in the group used different ways to cross (and sometime slide :-)) the patch. In 20-30 minutes, we were on top most point of the fort. There is small Parshuram temple at the top.

Sitting at the top most point, with mountains all around and cold breeze, watching last Sunset of the year was serene feeling. We soaked into that experience for some time, clicked few photographs and came back to caves before it got dark. 

Now temperature was dropping and a round of tea provided some warmth to everyone. After couple of hours, we had candle lit dinner (as that was only source of light :-)). After that, some of us preferred to sleep while few of us went out to observe star studded clear sky. After some ghost stories and chit chat, we welcomed New Year and went to bed.

Next day, it was pleasant (and lazy for some) New Year morning. After quick breakfast and tea, we started descending towards Salherwadi route. On this way there are Six Darwaja (Entrance or Doors), few water cisterns and some other structures with nice carvings. This trail is also well defined. After three Darwaja. trail moves to the other side of the mountain. A big darwaja, after that, is in much better shape. It has some stone carvings which has some images and texts. 

Soon we came across a Goddess temple and then touched down at Salher wadi. Salher wadi too is a small village. Public transport is very infrequent. We have to take bus to Kalvan then to Nashik. In Kalvan to Nashik journey, a woman lost her ornament, then police investigated it for some time. It provided some added adventure to our journey. From Nahsik we took bus to Mumbai.

It was perfect adventurous start of the New Year.

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Salher and Salota

Author : Surbhi

 

“31^st December at the topJ”, read the message I received from Amol, announcing about his plans for the last Trek of the year 2016 ! This short message got my heart singing with joy, but also made me stop soon when I realized it was my parents’ wedding anniversary on 1^st January. But as an overnight camping / trek was always on my wish list since many years, I did not want to miss out on this very first opportunity. Thanks to Amol for telling me to at least ask parents about it and to which they finally said yes. **Eyes wide open, jaw dropped from shock** along with old Tata Sky tag-line being played in the background mentally- Poochne mein kya jaata hai? :D

So after weeks-long discussions, confirmations, subtractions and additions of people, we were finally a team of 11, ready to welcome New Year in style ;) by way of trek to Salher.

All set with backpacks, I reached the first destination- ST Bus Depot of Kurla by 8:30pm on 30^th December, along with my younger sister and bestie. Meeting my other friend at the spot, we waited for Amol and rest of the co-trekkers who arrived after 15-20 minutes. After brief introduction with every new co-trekker, we rushed to catch the late-arrived ST Bus for  Satana and the journey began…

As the night got mistier and cold giving chills already in the speedily rushing bus, some co-trekkers took nap, enjoyed music and others had fun at the forever-bouncing backseat. (Amol obviously was on GPS Mode throughout- constantly being alert about ’Where did we reach by now?’:P) Peeping outside the window at 2am in the morning, witnessing the glittering night sky was simply a stunning view and a silent way of Nature for letting me know that Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost. :D

Hours later when alarm Amol rang, we all got down at Tahrabad @ 4 am in the morning, had lots of chit-chat while waiting for daybreak (as we reached too early to continue following the schedule) and had tasty, much-needed hot tea from local tapri which was discovered by our tea-lover-co-trekker Kiran, who proudly declared ‘18+’ whenever someone asked about his age. Hehehe :P After tea-time, we got into an auto/tumtum which somehow miraculously managed to accommodate 11 of us (+1 driver, of course :D) and started our journey towards base village- Waghambe.

By 6am, we reached Waghambe and laid our eyes on mountain peaks with background of beautiful morning sky and soon saw Salher and Salota peaks; standing tall with pride, slowly beginning to bath in mild sunlight.

While Amol went looking for breakfast options, some of the trekkers began with their Selfie Tradition and others joined the villagers around the bonfire to beat the morning cold. We had tasty Poha and hot tea in a humble villager’s home, again lots of chatting and then Amol distributed the stuff to each one of us that we had to carry to the top. Soon we began moving towards the top…

We began to see the Nature’s splendor around us as we trekked our way ahead. Amol leading the group and finding trails; everyone else followed. Now the cold was leaving our body and warmth began to creep in. Soon within half an hour I vomited. We had a halt and quickly got back to trekking in a few minutes. Now I had my humsafar :D, my energy-booster ‘Elektral water’ with me as suggested by Amol. Throughout the trek, I sadly was the one who got tired too quickly and frequently (far quicker than I expected from myselfL) and so took multiple halts and made people wait as we all had to move together until the end (some though were silently waiting for my every next halt, so they could rest without guilt. Hehehe). So skipping details about my every tale of my further breakdowns, I will talk about everything else worth sharing :-). But before that I would really like to thank Kartik and Akshay a lot for voluntarily carrying my heavy bag for most of the time (even though I begged them to return it back to me, with completely drained look on my face that I couldn’t help anyway :/) my sister Shaila for being my sukh-dukh ki saathi and Bharat for his encouraging words from time to time. So a THANK YOU in Bolds goes to you guys :-)

 Throughout the trek, we walked, (and I crawled on rock stairs) took Catch-Your-Breath breaks, admired the beauty around, felt the now strong breeze and had fun talks. By now we reached the ‘V’ point between Salher and Salota which was simply a treat to our eyes. Amol soon asked for people who were still interested to go to Salota now. After listening to description of physical and mental requirements to get Salota done, I happily chose to lie down and let my upper and lower eyelids kiss each other for long. Along with me stayed back Shaila, Monika, Swarali, Kiran & Bharat……… and Akshay, Amol, Kajal, Kartik & Navin went for Salota. Hats off to them really.

I had an hour-long nap at just the perfect place with only sound and feel of blowing wind in my ears, smile on my face and all the peace in my heart. A nap like that is what I always have craved for! Every other trekker back here had  slept by now and later myself, Shaila, Monika and Kiran just made awesome memories by talking ourselves out to each other more openly now. Kiran’s humor was simply at its best! Thank you Kiran :D. After spending such a pleasing time there, we at the end did not feel heavy at heart for not going for Salota. We were simply happy for staying back and enjoying in another good way. We also began to imagine funny human faces by looking at top of Salher. I again had a great laugh while writing this now. About another 90 minutes later came the Salota achievers and we all welcomed them with a long-lasting applause for their accomplishment and then had Thepla and Jell-O break before moving for Cave in Salher.

Journey began again and this one was soon a bit of an illusion to me and for few others. This was because as we every time saw some gate-like structure, we had this feeling-‘and we are finally here!’ but we actually were not! Also, ’Only 10 more minutes from here’ is simply a trap. Not even enemies should do that to anyone. Because of my need for multiple and frequent halts, I waited for longer at a place, passing which a friend told me ‘‘we are now almost there after this gate’’ and like themselves, I too fell for it so I asked them to leave and I will follow soon. Aware that two other members were still to reach where I had taken halt, I was relaxed and at peace. Soon they came and we started moving forward together only to realize that we were lost!

We three could just not see a single trek member anymore. Forget about team member, we could not see any other human body; dead or alive! After walking for 15-20 minutes, we realized that we were now surely nowhere to be found. Soon getting ourselves in ‘Man v/s Wild’ mode, we went on exploring paths looking like possible trails, nearby caves, screamed in the air to Amol for help; our aim was now to find the cave or be found. When all of this didn’t work, we started with recollecting everything that Amol spoke regarding complete trek plan like- “Can you see that tiny ‘orange flag’ up there, that’s where we will watch sunset from”, “A cave with ‘lake view’, that’s where we will be spending the night” etc. to connect the dots and get ourselves anywhere closer to our fellow humans. At one point we even had almost finalized on cave where we might have had to spend the night if we were not found. But soon we saw three Ray of Hopes walking towards us; members from another trek group. Asking them if they saw a group resembling ours (giving funny descriptions for easy identification :P), they guided us to the right cave. At last! We were there, finally. :D

We now all got settled in our caves, people already marking their territories by simply lying down and some of them dozing off. Amol began with preparations of Maggi, our most awaited lunch at 5pm around. We all had that hot and tasty Maggi and left for Parshuram temple to watch the sunset. The team began to walk, I began to crawl (kidding this time :D) and step by step we got close to that tiny ‘orange flag’. Soon, at one point I thought to skip further remaining stairs and enjoy the sunset from just where I was. Sensing the weak will and watching the exhausted look on my face, Amol and a few other members from different group encouraged me to keep going. I surely had annoyed Amol a lot during this one, I know, as I remember that silent but scary look on his face when I asked him to carry on with the remaining trek and I will stay back now. That look actually worked as it got me going soon :D. At this point, my head literally began to play one of my favorite songs ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus. This song just suited the actual situation of mine so much and gave me all the inspiration to get this done and finally I did it. Meanwhile, I got to watch my sister perform a funny stunt which was not under her control too. Had a great laugh there :D.

So now we were at the top of Salher. The first cold and strong blow of wind just took all my body pain away (or made me forget about it for quite long :-)). I could not stop smiling. I didn’t even want to stop. Sitting there at one place in silence, trying to capture the beauty of nature around, trying to feel every breeze and hear every natural sound, I found myself losing it all to Nature. My eyes just could not have enough of the mesmerizing art displayed by Nature. No human habitat was visible to me now anymore. Sitting at my favorite ‘Mowgli Point’, I endlessly watched forever lonely sun getting all set to spread its beauty in the landscape of evening sky before bidding us a warm goodbye, which then left us with a silent message that Nothing Lasts Forever. Simply nothing else can beat this wonderful experience that I always get after reaching at the ultimate point that we aim at any trek. Surely this climb was tough for me compared to previous two treks of mine, but the view from the top was again worth it! And personally my aim this time was to eventually make it until the end, though slow, but it should get going and I am happy it happened. :-)

Spending great time there and getting clicked by the end, we soon began with descend towards cave before the Nature’s light goes off. Getting down was really a skillful and fun task. By now we had learned about Kiran’s fear around getting down. He took slow and small steps and I and Shaila teamed up with him to help him get down with ease only to realize that he is about to have his confidence all shaken up further more by what he was about to witness. I had a sudden and speedy sliding fall towards a big pit. It got scary and my sister held my hand midway, laughing all this while when I am sliding furthermore while attempting to get up. I just lied completely facing the sky so as to slow down the speed, was laughing a lot with my sister and then asked Amol to rush down and help me. He at first thought I am in the most relaxed position to even ask for help, but he soon realized the need and rushed only to unknowingly slide further and mark heroic entry in an already dramatic scene. Finally, got up with the required help, we burst into laughter and Kiran simply frowned. His faith was shaken now, but he bravely managed to overcome his fear and reach the cave. This incident went straight to my treasure box of memories. :D

Reaching back to the cave; everyone helped the team with filling water bottles and Amol was getting ready for making tea and dinner. After amazingly tasty and satisfying tea (I still remember the taste Amolzzzzz :D), I, Kajal, Shaila and Kiran assisted him with dinner preparations whenever required and had lots of fun talk, trek experience until now and other tiny tales. Soon Akshay called me to come out of cave and witness something that he was sure, will take my breath away. I rushed and looked straight up in the sky. Sooooooooooooooooooooo many tiny little stars. Many dim and many bright ones, the black night sky perfectly owned them all with pride. Thankfully Nature is not racist in nature; otherwise how such beautiful the black sky could have ever been without the millions of white stars in it. I never had seen so many stars in my life in real. I was mesmerized and my soul was lifted at that time. A view I will never forget!

After our trek lead-GPS-alarm clock-cook-guide-friend Amol was ready with his tasty tadka rice preparation, we all finally had an LED light dinner together :D and our soul was fed well with abundance of Nature and the warm food at the end of the eventful day. Half of the members slept by 11pm only and 5 of us went outside the cave and welcomed New Year by wishing each other under the Nature’s star-studded giant black umbrella. Soon we all began to talk about ghosts (the most exciting topic for friends during night outs) and had fun watching Kiran while he dismissed his belief in existence of ghosts. Fun was to actually watch his words being something and his expressions saying something totally opposite. You added more fun to that time Kiran…hehehe…Oh, look whose there behind your back?! :O :P Soon Akshay and Kiran too left as they were feeling cold, and we 3 stayed outside until 1:30am, talking about lots of different things while shivering with cold (but none of us wanted to really leave), we too than left for cave as rest was a requirement of body now. Amazing time it was! :-)

 

Next morning, i.e., on 1st January of 2017, Amol got up at around 5:30am I think and I got up at 6am (2nd person to rise :D) and moved out of cave to watch sunrise. But sun wasn’t up yet and it was too cold still. Spending wonderful 15-20 minutes in silence with my own self, I went back in cave to start the day. Amol providing the lenience to rest for that long; everyone got up by 9-9:30am around and we started with our again tasty morning tea. We then helped each other with every other work and packed our bags and made sure the cave was as clean as possible and all that the waste was burned off.

After a team click, we began to descend at around 11am. Getting down surely was tricky and risky, but we got down way too faster than expected. We saw all the six darwazas and throughout descend, Amol informed us about historical importance of different structures and complete story behind the significance of Fort as we took mini halts. Talking, enjoying, walking we got down to the base village again. We all turned back and raised our eyebrows & dropped our jaws after realizing what high peak we had climbed. The ‘orange flag’ was as tiny as a dot again. Everyone surely had an invisible pat on their backs by themselves and additional ones by those who did Salota too :-).

We all snacked on Pav Wada, Bhajiyas and tea until we got our bus around an hour later. Everyone was filled with joy, but we were also tired by then. Abnormal behavior like- from being suddenly energized to feeling completely lazy and dozing off immediately was witnessed among few members :P. After long wait, we caught the arrived bus for Kalvan  and from there we caught another bus for Nashik. The trek though was over, but not the events. An old aunty wrongly accused Akshay for her lost gold chain and the drama magnified when he (unaware of why all of that was happening) was examined by police officers and also other team members were put through this. Bags were checked, but of course in vain. The old lady now settled down. All the bus passengers surely got a source of entertainment for quite some time, but finally the bus then left for its destination. We changed another bus from Nashik for Mumbai at around 8:30pm. Everyone settled down in their seats, making oneself as comfortable as possible while Amol on the other hand was just not feeling well. He had been experiencing stomach ache since weeks but he completed the trek and only revealed this at the very end, so an additional pat on your back again for this one Amol. You so deserve it :-) Hope all is well by now.

So now the time had come for everyone to part their ways back to their homes. Everyone got down to their destinations and reached home safely with lots of Happiness, Memories and Contentment in their hearts….

Thank you Amol for having us all together for this tiring, but worthy Trek :-) and now try to control your laughter on this question coming from me- When is the next trek??? :D :D :-)