I mentioned about the Red Everedy torch in my last post. Now there are two LED torches from Everedy. One is at Rs. 80/- and other is at Rs. 95/- Both are good. Only difference is in the focus. So one can prefer to buy the cheaper one. 3 batteries are provided with these torch. I have one small headlight (नागमणी) with me. Thinking to buy a new one to add to my kit.
- Mahesh Masurkar
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Pointers to Vasota (Vyaghragad)
Vasota is situated in the dense forests surrounded by the back water of Koyana dam. There are two ways to reach to Vasota. One way is from Bamnoli and other is from Konkan side village called Choravane. The route from Choravane is not so good and I'll rate it as Medium and will recommend it only for good trekkers. (We were amateur trekkers, so opted the Bamnoli route)
Hence I will describe the Bamnoli way only.
How to reach Bamnoli:
If you have your own vehicle, you can directly come to Bamnoli. It is 35 kms from Satara.
Otherwise, you can catch state transport (ST) bus from Satara to Bamnoli. First bus is available at 6:30-7 AM and will reach Bamnoli at 8:00 AM. One need to cross the back water of Koyana dam to reach the base place met Indavali using the launch service available at Bamnoli. This service starts at 7:00 AM.
Formalities:
One need to take forest dept permission to visit Vasota. The office opens early at 7:30 AM during week ends to help the trekkers. If not, you may contact Suresh Salunkhe, who stays opposite to Bhairavnat temple. The fees per head are Rs. 20/-. Boat services charge Rs. 1475/- for to and fro trip to Met Indavali with max capacity of 12 people.
Places to visit:
There are two places to visit during this trek, Nageshwar and Vasota fort.
Hence I will describe the Bamnoli way only.
How to reach Bamnoli:
If you have your own vehicle, you can directly come to Bamnoli. It is 35 kms from Satara.
Otherwise, you can catch state transport (ST) bus from Satara to Bamnoli. First bus is available at 6:30-7 AM and will reach Bamnoli at 8:00 AM. One need to cross the back water of Koyana dam to reach the base place met Indavali using the launch service available at Bamnoli. This service starts at 7:00 AM.
Formalities:
One need to take forest dept permission to visit Vasota. The office opens early at 7:30 AM during week ends to help the trekkers. If not, you may contact Suresh Salunkhe, who stays opposite to Bhairavnat temple. The fees per head are Rs. 20/-. Boat services charge Rs. 1475/- for to and fro trip to Met Indavali with max capacity of 12 people.
Places to visit:
There are two places to visit during this trek, Nageshwar and Vasota fort.
After you get down at Met Indavali, register your entries at the office and then take the road going backside of the office. After 10 mins, you will find one Hanuman idol on LHS. Here road towards left go to Vasota and straight goes to Nageshwar. People who want to do ONLY Vasota can opt for the LHS road. Those who want to do Nageshwar or BOTH can go straight through the stream of water. Follow the stream end. This will take you to Nageshwar. You can see Lord Shankar Idol at Nageshwar, which is in a cave. The scenery from here is truely marvellous.
Just before Nageshwar, you will find water which is drinkable. Get your bottles filled here as there is no potable water at present at Vasota. (People doing only Vasota should also remember this !!). If you have to do ONLY Vasota, it will take 2.5 hrs from office till top of Vasota.
Nageshwar to Vasota is 1.5 hrs walk, half way along the ridge of the hill and remaining through dense forest. One can see Old Vasota, Babu kadaa, Hanuman Temple, Mahadev Temple, Reins of the Wada at Vasota. Vasota to Met Indavali takes 1.5 hrs for descend. Babu kadaa is very similar to "Kokan Kadaa" at Harishchandragad fort.
One have to reach before or at 5:00 PM to catch the boat for Bamnoli. Boat people do not wait for long time. Stay at Nageshwar or Vasota is nowadays prohibited. Otherwise the fine is Rs. 100/- per day per head, if you were found voiloating it.
A word of caution during rainy season. This area is full of litches in rainy days. So be careful and carry salt and/or tobacco with you to remove litch from your body. Don't pull them directly.
Camping:
One cay have camping in the forest, but at the opposite banks of Bamnoli. Charges for boat are Rs. 200/-. If you want tent, then rent for the same is Rs. 400/- for 10 people's tent (which can accomodate 12 to 14, I say). Or You can have your camping at Kaas lake as well. But it will be very dark till you reach there and you will not get same feelings like the forest.
If you want any other information, you can contact me at mahesh.masurkar@gmail.com
Thanks,
Mahesh Masurkar
Friday, October 30, 2009
Dev darshan:- Jotiba, Kolhapur
I was enjoying my deewali vacation this year visiting Shirala, Sangali & Kolhapur.
But this enjoyment has other side as well. My tummy was enlarging at a faster pace. So I decided to do some thing. Waking early and going for a walk is ALWAYS impossible for me. I thought of going to Jotiba by walk. My cousin brother, Saurabh told he would join me for the same.
We started early in the morning at 6:30 AM on 24Oct. The journey so far was good when our bike got punctured.
=====
To be finished..
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mahesh.masurkar/JotibaDarshan#
But this enjoyment has other side as well. My tummy was enlarging at a faster pace. So I decided to do some thing. Waking early and going for a walk is ALWAYS impossible for me. I thought of going to Jotiba by walk. My cousin brother, Saurabh told he would join me for the same.
We started early in the morning at 6:30 AM on 24Oct. The journey so far was good when our bike got punctured.
=====
To be finished..
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mahesh.masurkar/JotibaDarshan#
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Vasota Trek Plan:- 31Oct-1Nov 09
Trek Dates:- Friday 30 Oct 09 to Sunday 1 Nov 09
Total count = 10 with 2 cars
Meeting place:- Next to Toll booth # 1 towarsd Satara.
Meeting Time:- 7:45 PM on Friday 30 Oct 2009
Final Plan:-
Friday 30 Oct 2009
Car # 1:
Swapnil, Mahesh, Sushant, Tejas & Atul (or Milind)
We will start from TCI at 6:00 PM. Get Tejas at Swargate.
Go to my house and collect the materials.
Sushant will come to my house to park his bike too.
Car # 2:
Sam, Rohit, Yogesh, Milind (or Atul) & Phadke
These guys will start at 7:00 PM from JDTCI in any case.
Phadke to make sure that he will do so.
Or else, only 4 will leave.
1) Meet next to Toll booth # 1 towards Satara at 7:45 PM
2) Dinner break near to Satara 9:00 PM
3) Start for Bamnoli at 10:00 PM
4) Reach Bamnoli and rest
Saturday 31 Oct 2009
1) Wake up early. Catch the early boat of 7:30 AM
2) Break fast will be done at the other end at Met Indvali at 9:00 AM
3) Start for Vasota and reach there by 11:30 AM
4) Sight seeing, lunch at Vasota by 12:30 PM
5) Reach Nageshwar by 2:30 PM
6) Start for Met Indvali by 3:00 PM
7) Catch the return boat at 5:00 PM
8) Camping either at Bamnoli or Kaas lake.
9) Dinner preparation and camp fire.
Saturday 1 Nov 2009
1) Wake up, break fast and start towards Pune by 9:00 AM
2) Plan to visit Sajjangad if time permits or else reach Pune.
Individual Items to bring (MUST):
1) Good trekking shoes (& enough pairs of socks)
2) Sleeping bag/mat
3) Enough clothing, including warm clothes
4) A good Torch, candle and match box
5) Minimum two water bottles 1 ltr each.
6) Cap (optional)
7) Camera (optional)
8) A good haver sack to carry.
9) Soap, toothpaste, brush etc
10) Tent (Mahesh)
11) Bed sheet, kambal, shawl etc
A) Food:
Common:- Tejas has taken care of Saturday lunch.
Swapnil and I will be taking care of Saturday night.
Snacks for Saturday morning will be purchased Friday evening.
B) Utensils:
All:- Plate & spoon
Mug (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)
C) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit
All:- As per individual requirement
Thanks,
Mahesh Masurkar
Total count = 10 with 2 cars
Meeting place:- Next to Toll booth # 1 towarsd Satara.
Meeting Time:- 7:45 PM on Friday 30 Oct 2009
Final Plan:-
Friday 30 Oct 2009
Car # 1:
Swapnil, Mahesh, Sushant, Tejas & Atul (or Milind)
We will start from TCI at 6:00 PM. Get Tejas at Swargate.
Go to my house and collect the materials.
Sushant will come to my house to park his bike too.
Car # 2:
Sam, Rohit, Yogesh, Milind (or Atul) & Phadke
These guys will start at 7:00 PM from JDTCI in any case.
Phadke to make sure that he will do so.
Or else, only 4 will leave.
1) Meet next to Toll booth # 1 towards Satara at 7:45 PM
2) Dinner break near to Satara 9:00 PM
3) Start for Bamnoli at 10:00 PM
4) Reach Bamnoli and rest
Saturday 31 Oct 2009
1) Wake up early. Catch the early boat of 7:30 AM
2) Break fast will be done at the other end at Met Indvali at 9:00 AM
3) Start for Vasota and reach there by 11:30 AM
4) Sight seeing, lunch at Vasota by 12:30 PM
5) Reach Nageshwar by 2:30 PM
6) Start for Met Indvali by 3:00 PM
7) Catch the return boat at 5:00 PM
8) Camping either at Bamnoli or Kaas lake.
9) Dinner preparation and camp fire.
Saturday 1 Nov 2009
1) Wake up, break fast and start towards Pune by 9:00 AM
2) Plan to visit Sajjangad if time permits or else reach Pune.
Individual Items to bring (MUST):
1) Good trekking shoes (& enough pairs of socks)
2) Sleeping bag/mat
3) Enough clothing, including warm clothes
4) A good Torch, candle and match box
5) Minimum two water bottles 1 ltr each.
6) Cap (optional)
7) Camera (optional)
8) A good haver sack to carry.
9) Soap, toothpaste, brush etc
10) Tent (Mahesh)
11) Bed sheet, kambal, shawl etc
A) Food:
Common:- Tejas has taken care of Saturday lunch.
Swapnil and I will be taking care of Saturday night.
Snacks for Saturday morning will be purchased Friday evening.
B) Utensils:
All:- Plate & spoon
Mug (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)
C) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit
All:- As per individual requirement
Thanks,
Mahesh Masurkar
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Harishchandragad Trek - 2-3 Oct 2009
This trek was planned in a very short time. Atul and Milind from John Deere showed interest to join. Mukesh told he will be joining along with his friends from Fluent. Then this detailed plan was made for the trek. But unfortunately, Mukesh had an accident (funny one though.. He stroked to one of the electricity poles while walking) causing severe pain in his already troubled knee. He had taken pain killers, but not of use. So he opted out from this trek at 10:00 pm Thursday and so did his friends.
Finally, we three were remaining. After doing a small sms chat, we decided not to cancel and to proceed further.
First Journey
I was not sure about my (oops.. Its BILs(1) bike) bike, but no option than to take it. It had been serviced recently, so no issues. We met at the Nashik phata at 7:15 AM, late by 15 mins than schedule. Milind had already reached at that point. Then we started towards AaLe phata, our next milestone. The target to reach there was 8:30 AM, but it was quite sure that we were going to miss it out because of wrong estimation. Distance from Nashik phata to AaLe phata is around 75 kms. We had our breakfast at Narayangaon at 9:30 AM. Atul did not have a torch. He got a good quality 1 LED Evereay make torch costing Rs. 95/- which was OK. We reached at AaLe phata at 10 AM. We reached at Khireshwar when the clock was showing 11:30 AM.. 30 mins ahead of the scheduled time. After parking our bikes and refreshing, we ordered Pithale Bhakari for our lunch. It took a little long time to get it prepared.
When we were having the beautiful lunch, a group of 5 reached there and they were tired at time. They neither knew anything about the trek nor any plans of stay. 2 guys from that group demoralized with our preparation and info of the trek. I did not see them anytime anywhere for next two days. Surely, they had gone back.
Herbie(2) & Drum beater
We started towards the fort at 1:00 PM. (It meant, we were on time !!) Seeing the past performance and growing age, I was quite sure that I'll be Herbie in this trek. Usually I was Herbie in all treks, but due to other novices, it was not so prominent. This was Milind and Atul's first trek to Harishchandragad. I was the only one, who knew the route. So I asked Atul and Milind to play the role of drum beater and to push me if I were taking more breaks than required. But surprisingly.. yes surprisingly.. I had not to play Herbie. Atul took that role. Milind and I were shocked.. Atul pointed that this was the post marriage effect on him. :)
I,then, had to beat the drum to keep him motivated. This time locating the marks were easy. Normally, we say, "TeJa (3), mark kahaa hai?" (TeJa, where is the mark?). But this time, it was different. We said, "mark idhar hai, magar TeJa keedhar hai? (Here is the mark, but where is TeJa?). We reached our next milestone, Tolar Khind (pass) at 3:00 PM.. not to mention, but again on time.
Final touch up
After a short break, we crossed the rock patch and we were on the top of the hill in less than 1 hr. Then we needed to cross 7, but small hills on the way. We had our bath on the way in a small stream of water. We reached to the caves well ahead of our planned time. There were 3-4 groups already present there. We got one of the caves for our stay at 5:45 PM and then we ran towards "Kokan Kadaa" - the most fascinating location on Harishchandragad. It was clear that we were not be able to see the sunset, but the view there was truely awesome. After sitting and enjoying the scene and the nature for more than 1 hr, we started back to our caves. Though we had torches with us, the full moon did not allow us to use them. The dinner (paratha and dashamya) was very delicious and best. At 9 PM, Atul and Milind were ready to go to bed, when I dragged them forcefully outside the cave. We spent 1 hr gazing at the stars and the sky.
2nd Day
We woke up at 6:30 AM, refreshed ourselves, had milk and biscuits and started towards Kokan kadaa at around 7:30 AM. Fog had filled all the surroundings and we were little nervous thinking whether we could get the view of kokan kadaa or not. But everything was started clearing slowly and finally we had the beautiful, wonderful view of the Kokan kadaa and the hills nearby. We had lots of photo shoot at this place. We started back at 9:00 AM. Nobody was interested to go to the highest peak, Taramati. So we dropped it from our plan. Last time also, we did not visit it. (TeJa.. we have one more reason to visit Harishchandragad again, right?)
We had bath followed by snacks and tea. We then packed our bags and went to visit the Harishchandreshwar temple.
Harishchandreshwar
This temple is marvelous example of the fine art of carving sculptures out of stones. It is about 16m high from its base. Near the temple, the river Mangal Ganga originates. There are three caves near the temple. The cisterns near the temple provide drinking water. Here another temple called Kashitirtha is located. The fascinating thing about this one is it has been carved out from a single huge rock. There are entrances from all four sides. On the main entrance there are sculptures of faces. These are faces of guards of the temple.
Kedareshwar
Going rightwards of Harishchandreshwar temple, we came across a huge cave. This is the cave of Kedareshwar, in which there is a big Shivlinga, which is totally surrounded by water. The total height of the base only is five feet or may be more, and the water was waist-deep. People were going there to make a round to the Idol, but we, after lots of "Ayes and Noes", decided not to go.
Descent
We started to descend at 11:00 AM, setting a target to reach Tolar Khind at 1:00 PM. We were little delayed.. delayed by 10 mins from our goal.. courtsey to our photographical adventure. We had our lunch break here. Few villagers who were travelling thru that khind accompanied us for lunch. By 2:40 PM, we were back to Khireshwar, our base village. We decided to refresh ourselves in the dam water, so we started quickly from Khireshwar and haulted at the dam. At 4:00 PM, we started back to Pune. There were no rain in our entire trek, but we were welcomed by rain in Pune. We reached our home at 8:30 PM, making a successful end to this trek.
Click here for photos of this trek.
JAY SHIVAJI, JAY BHAVANI !!
- Mahesh Masurkar
Note:
1 - BIL - Brother-in-Law - Ankur Tade
2 - Herbie - Slowest moving guy in the trail in 'The Goal' by Eliyahu Goldratt
3 - TeJa - Tejas Jadhav - our regular trek member
Finally, we three were remaining. After doing a small sms chat, we decided not to cancel and to proceed further.
First Journey
I was not sure about my (oops.. Its BILs(1) bike) bike, but no option than to take it. It had been serviced recently, so no issues. We met at the Nashik phata at 7:15 AM, late by 15 mins than schedule. Milind had already reached at that point. Then we started towards AaLe phata, our next milestone. The target to reach there was 8:30 AM, but it was quite sure that we were going to miss it out because of wrong estimation. Distance from Nashik phata to AaLe phata is around 75 kms. We had our breakfast at Narayangaon at 9:30 AM. Atul did not have a torch. He got a good quality 1 LED Evereay make torch costing Rs. 95/- which was OK. We reached at AaLe phata at 10 AM. We reached at Khireshwar when the clock was showing 11:30 AM.. 30 mins ahead of the scheduled time. After parking our bikes and refreshing, we ordered Pithale Bhakari for our lunch. It took a little long time to get it prepared.
When we were having the beautiful lunch, a group of 5 reached there and they were tired at time. They neither knew anything about the trek nor any plans of stay. 2 guys from that group demoralized with our preparation and info of the trek. I did not see them anytime anywhere for next two days. Surely, they had gone back.
Herbie(2) & Drum beater
We started towards the fort at 1:00 PM. (It meant, we were on time !!) Seeing the past performance and growing age, I was quite sure that I'll be Herbie in this trek. Usually I was Herbie in all treks, but due to other novices, it was not so prominent. This was Milind and Atul's first trek to Harishchandragad. I was the only one, who knew the route. So I asked Atul and Milind to play the role of drum beater and to push me if I were taking more breaks than required. But surprisingly.. yes surprisingly.. I had not to play Herbie. Atul took that role. Milind and I were shocked.. Atul pointed that this was the post marriage effect on him. :)
I,then, had to beat the drum to keep him motivated. This time locating the marks were easy. Normally, we say, "TeJa (3), mark kahaa hai?" (TeJa, where is the mark?). But this time, it was different. We said, "mark idhar hai, magar TeJa keedhar hai? (Here is the mark, but where is TeJa?). We reached our next milestone, Tolar Khind (pass) at 3:00 PM.. not to mention, but again on time.
Final touch up
After a short break, we crossed the rock patch and we were on the top of the hill in less than 1 hr. Then we needed to cross 7, but small hills on the way. We had our bath on the way in a small stream of water. We reached to the caves well ahead of our planned time. There were 3-4 groups already present there. We got one of the caves for our stay at 5:45 PM and then we ran towards "Kokan Kadaa" - the most fascinating location on Harishchandragad. It was clear that we were not be able to see the sunset, but the view there was truely awesome. After sitting and enjoying the scene and the nature for more than 1 hr, we started back to our caves. Though we had torches with us, the full moon did not allow us to use them. The dinner (paratha and dashamya) was very delicious and best. At 9 PM, Atul and Milind were ready to go to bed, when I dragged them forcefully outside the cave. We spent 1 hr gazing at the stars and the sky.
2nd Day
We woke up at 6:30 AM, refreshed ourselves, had milk and biscuits and started towards Kokan kadaa at around 7:30 AM. Fog had filled all the surroundings and we were little nervous thinking whether we could get the view of kokan kadaa or not. But everything was started clearing slowly and finally we had the beautiful, wonderful view of the Kokan kadaa and the hills nearby. We had lots of photo shoot at this place. We started back at 9:00 AM. Nobody was interested to go to the highest peak, Taramati. So we dropped it from our plan. Last time also, we did not visit it. (TeJa.. we have one more reason to visit Harishchandragad again, right?)
We had bath followed by snacks and tea. We then packed our bags and went to visit the Harishchandreshwar temple.
Harishchandreshwar
This temple is marvelous example of the fine art of carving sculptures out of stones. It is about 16m high from its base. Near the temple, the river Mangal Ganga originates. There are three caves near the temple. The cisterns near the temple provide drinking water. Here another temple called Kashitirtha is located. The fascinating thing about this one is it has been carved out from a single huge rock. There are entrances from all four sides. On the main entrance there are sculptures of faces. These are faces of guards of the temple.
Kedareshwar
Going rightwards of Harishchandreshwar temple, we came across a huge cave. This is the cave of Kedareshwar, in which there is a big Shivlinga, which is totally surrounded by water. The total height of the base only is five feet or may be more, and the water was waist-deep. People were going there to make a round to the Idol, but we, after lots of "Ayes and Noes", decided not to go.
Descent
We started to descend at 11:00 AM, setting a target to reach Tolar Khind at 1:00 PM. We were little delayed.. delayed by 10 mins from our goal.. courtsey to our photographical adventure. We had our lunch break here. Few villagers who were travelling thru that khind accompanied us for lunch. By 2:40 PM, we were back to Khireshwar, our base village. We decided to refresh ourselves in the dam water, so we started quickly from Khireshwar and haulted at the dam. At 4:00 PM, we started back to Pune. There were no rain in our entire trek, but we were welcomed by rain in Pune. We reached our home at 8:30 PM, making a successful end to this trek.
Click here for photos of this trek.
JAY SHIVAJI, JAY BHAVANI !!
- Mahesh Masurkar
Note:
1 - BIL - Brother-in-Law - Ankur Tade
2 - Herbie - Slowest moving guy in the trail in 'The Goal' by Eliyahu Goldratt
3 - TeJa - Tejas Jadhav - our regular trek member
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Harishchandragad Trek - Final Plan
All,
This trek is now finalized. Plz be preapred for the trek.
Trek Dates:- Friday 2 Oct 09 to Saturday 3 Oct 09
Meeting place:- NASHIK PHATA on Old Pune-Mumbai Highway
We are going on bike. So make a pair beforehand and join at the place
Meeting Time:- 7:00 AM on Friday 2 Oct 2009
Final Plan:-
Friday 2 Oct 2009
1) Meet at Nashik Phata at 7:00 AM
2) Start towards Aale phata. Reach there at 8:30 AM
3) Breakfast time for 30 mins
4) Reach Khireshwar (base village) via Otur at 12:00 PM
5) Rest for 1 hr and then start for the trek at 1:00 PM
6) Reach to Tolar Khind at 3:00 PM
7) Reach the fort at 6:00 PM
8) Temple visit
9) Rest, enjoy, dinner and sleep
Saturday 3 Oct 2009
1) After Tea (??) & little snacks, start towards Kokan Kada at 6:30 AM
2) If time permits, go to Taramati (Topmost point)
3) Start for descend at 12:00 PM
4) Light lunch on the way
5) Reach Khireshwar at 4:00 PM
6) Return to Pune
Individual Items to bring (MUST):
1) A haversack to put in all the things to be carried. So that one hashands free while trekking.
2) Good trekking shoes (& enough pairs od socks)
3) Sleeping bag/mat
4) Enough clothing
5) A good Torch, candle and match box
6) Minimum two water bottles 1 ltr each.
7) Cap (optional)
8) Camera (optional)
9) Wind cheater (optional)
A) Food:
Everybody has to carry
-- food items for Friday dinner and Saturday lunch
-- Snacks items (plum cakes, biscuits, wafers, cream rolls, jam and bread etc)
-- I'll get mosambi (2 per head)
B) Other items:
All:- Plate & spoon
Mug/Glass, knife (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)
C) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit
All:- As per individual requirement
More info of the fort at http://www.trekshitiz.com/
Last trek Photo: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mahesh.masurkar/Harishchandragad#
HAPPY TREKKING,
MAHESH MASURKAR
9881 499 213
This trek is now finalized. Plz be preapred for the trek.
Trek Dates:- Friday 2 Oct 09 to Saturday 3 Oct 09
Meeting place:- NASHIK PHATA on Old Pune-Mumbai Highway
We are going on bike. So make a pair beforehand and join at the place
Meeting Time:- 7:00 AM on Friday 2 Oct 2009
Final Plan:-
Friday 2 Oct 2009
1) Meet at Nashik Phata at 7:00 AM
2) Start towards Aale phata. Reach there at 8:30 AM
3) Breakfast time for 30 mins
4) Reach Khireshwar (base village) via Otur at 12:00 PM
5) Rest for 1 hr and then start for the trek at 1:00 PM
6) Reach to Tolar Khind at 3:00 PM
7) Reach the fort at 6:00 PM
8) Temple visit
9) Rest, enjoy, dinner and sleep
Saturday 3 Oct 2009
1) After Tea (??) & little snacks, start towards Kokan Kada at 6:30 AM
2) If time permits, go to Taramati (Topmost point)
3) Start for descend at 12:00 PM
4) Light lunch on the way
5) Reach Khireshwar at 4:00 PM
6) Return to Pune
Individual Items to bring (MUST):
1) A haversack to put in all the things to be carried. So that one hashands free while trekking.
2) Good trekking shoes (& enough pairs od socks)
3) Sleeping bag/mat
4) Enough clothing
5) A good Torch, candle and match box
6) Minimum two water bottles 1 ltr each.
7) Cap (optional)
8) Camera (optional)
9) Wind cheater (optional)
A) Food:
Everybody has to carry
-- food items for Friday dinner and Saturday lunch
-- Snacks items (plum cakes, biscuits, wafers, cream rolls, jam and bread etc)
-- I'll get mosambi (2 per head)
B) Other items:
All:- Plate & spoon
Mug/Glass, knife (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)
C) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit
All:- As per individual requirement
More info of the fort at http://www.trekshitiz.com/
Last trek Photo: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mahesh.masurkar/Harishchandragad#
HAPPY TREKKING,
MAHESH MASURKAR
9881 499 213
Sunday, May 31, 2009
WI-FI Home
Hi,
My friend, Manoj, calls me as a tech-savvy person. I have a passion to have new gadgets in my personal folio. I had a BSNL boradband at home. For past few months, I was eying for a wireless router. I had a dilemma between D-Link DIR-615 and Linksys WRT54G2. One month back, I saw Linksys WRT54G2 at Akki's (My sister) house. I asked more info and performance of the same and Ajit dada told me that its good and working fine. Then I zeroed in on Linksys WRT54G2. One more advantage of WRT54G2 is that it dont have external antennas, so it looks great on a wall or on a table.
Now, its purchasing part. I had $30 in my paypal. I sent that to Suji who bought the router for me. The final cost was $46.95 from newegg.com. Suji handed it over to Swaroop/Sneha and finally Digambar carried it to India (from USA). When I got it, I was very happy, anxious so tried to install it immediately. I tried it for 3 hours (till 1 pm), but was not able to make it work. Then I thought to give a try the next week end.
Today(31May09) morning, when I was about to do the settings, I remembered Ajit dada told me that he had lots of problems connecting it and now he knows how to do it. So I called him and luckily, he was free. Then he was on support for me (on telephone) for almost 1.5 hrs and finally we were successful to make the wireless work at my home. This was indeed a great achievement for me.
If you need any help for wi fi configuration, do not hesitate to contact me. :)
My friend, Manoj, calls me as a tech-savvy person. I have a passion to have new gadgets in my personal folio. I had a BSNL boradband at home. For past few months, I was eying for a wireless router. I had a dilemma between D-Link DIR-615 and Linksys WRT54G2. One month back, I saw Linksys WRT54G2 at Akki's (My sister) house. I asked more info and performance of the same and Ajit dada told me that its good and working fine. Then I zeroed in on Linksys WRT54G2. One more advantage of WRT54G2 is that it dont have external antennas, so it looks great on a wall or on a table.
Now, its purchasing part. I had $30 in my paypal. I sent that to Suji who bought the router for me. The final cost was $46.95 from newegg.com. Suji handed it over to Swaroop/Sneha and finally Digambar carried it to India (from USA). When I got it, I was very happy, anxious so tried to install it immediately. I tried it for 3 hours (till 1 pm), but was not able to make it work. Then I thought to give a try the next week end.
Today(31May09) morning, when I was about to do the settings, I remembered Ajit dada told me that he had lots of problems connecting it and now he knows how to do it. So I called him and luckily, he was free. Then he was on support for me (on telephone) for almost 1.5 hrs and finally we were successful to make the wireless work at my home. This was indeed a great achievement for me.
If you need any help for wi fi configuration, do not hesitate to contact me. :)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
.... मै तो बाप बन गया ...
I have seen so many countdowns। Many of them are in seconds like launching satellite or starting marathon. Some are in days like new vehicle launch or start of Olympics, IPL etc.
This time, it was a bit longer। Yes, it was in months and precisely speaking 9 months. We were counting down from 9,8,7.... to 2 and then 1. Then we came to days for counting. The wait was slowly inching forward from days, to hours and then to minutes. I was never so anxious and impatient, even in the exam time :) . And after waiting, waiting and waiting, finally the time came, the clock was ticking at 1710 hrs on 25th March 2009, when the new baby angel entered in my life॥ in the life of Anagha and me... in the life of "Life Ho To Aisee". I warmly, heartily welcome the new angel to the family of "Life Ho To Aisee". Thats the time, when there were 3 births, one of the baby, one of Anagha as a mother and one of me as a father. I am so happy at this time that I am not ableto get good words to write.
I'll try to keep you all posted on the updates.
- Mahesh Masurkar
=======
Best wishes and warm greetings of Ugadi / Gudhi paadawaa to the readers of Life Ho To Aisee from Mahesh, Anagha & baby
Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/NewAngel?locked=true# (Sign-in required)
=======
This time, it was a bit longer। Yes, it was in months and precisely speaking 9 months. We were counting down from 9,8,7.... to 2 and then 1. Then we came to days for counting. The wait was slowly inching forward from days, to hours and then to minutes. I was never so anxious and impatient, even in the exam time :) . And after waiting, waiting and waiting, finally the time came, the clock was ticking at 1710 hrs on 25th March 2009, when the new baby angel entered in my life॥ in the life of Anagha and me... in the life of "Life Ho To Aisee". I warmly, heartily welcome the new angel to the family of "Life Ho To Aisee". Thats the time, when there were 3 births, one of the baby, one of Anagha as a mother and one of me as a father. I am so happy at this time that I am not ableto get good words to write.
I'll try to keep you all posted on the updates.
- Mahesh Masurkar
=======
Best wishes and warm greetings of Ugadi / Gudhi paadawaa to the readers of Life Ho To Aisee from Mahesh, Anagha & baby
Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/NewAngel?locked=true# (Sign-in required)
=======
Sinhgad Night Trek
The Katraj Sinhgad night trek was cancelled. Everybody was asking me why and I told I may not able to make it. So the trek was reduced to only Sinhgad. At that time, I was in different mood and waiting for a call from Kolhapur any time.You 'll get these from my next post.
We decided to gather at Santosh Hall at 10:00 pm, but I was late and joined the group at 10:30 instead. We were total 8 together Milind,TeJa,Nikhil & his wife Revati, Jo, sarika, Sneha and I. This was the first trek for Revati and first trek for Sneha in our group. She always complains to Bob that I never take her to treks. So this time, she was in. We reached the base of Sinhgad at 11:30 pm. We parked our vehicle and started for climb. We took 2 hrs to reach to the top. It was a nice experience to go to Sinhgad in night time. Then we put Nikhil's tent at one place. Everybody except Milind, TeJa & I decided to stay back in the tent and we three went to roam around the Sinhgad fort. TeJa had done lots of treks, but this was his first to Sinhgad. So I showed him all the places. At round 4:00 am, we came back for rest.
After sleeping for 2 hrs in the cold wind, we got up at 6:00 am, freshed up and went to Balu's dhaba for the brunch where we had pithale bhakri, bhaji and dahi. At around 9:30 am, we started back to descent.
You can see the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/SinhgadNightTrek#
Friday, March 13, 2009
Fun outing - Plan
Don't be surprised after reading the title.
It's still a trek, but fun outing too !!!
This time, we are going to Sinhgad in night.
So here is the final plan for it.
Date:- 14 March 2009
Meeting place:- Santosh Hall, Sinhgad Road
Meeting Time:- 10:00 pm
We'll start from Santosh hall at 10:00 pm. Park our vehicles at the base of Sinhgad fort.
Start to climb the fort. It will take around 2 hrs to reach at the top.
There are many huts on the top where we can stay/take rest.
Next day, get up early, have the break fast (झुणका भाकरी + भजी) and start to descent.
We should be back to the parking place by 9 am.
- Mahesh Masurkar
It's still a trek, but fun outing too !!!
This time, we are going to Sinhgad in night.
So here is the final plan for it.
Date:- 14 March 2009
Meeting place:- Santosh Hall, Sinhgad Road
Meeting Time:- 10:00 pm
We'll start from Santosh hall at 10:00 pm. Park our vehicles at the base of Sinhgad fort.
Start to climb the fort. It will take around 2 hrs to reach at the top.
There are many huts on the top where we can stay/take rest.
Next day, get up early, have the break fast (झुणका भाकरी + भजी) and start to descent.
We should be back to the parking place by 9 am.
- Mahesh Masurkar
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Dream treks
Hmm.. title looks interesting, isn't it?
Near Stavanger in Norway there is a mysterious rock that rises 600 meters above the fjord Lysefjorden and to get there is not a climber's dream!
The Preikestolen (literally “Rock Pulpit” is perhaps the most famous attraction in Stravanger. Once you've arrived at the parking lot at an elevation of about 270 meters, you're at the beginning of the trail that leads to the summit of the rock terrace from which in a little less than two hours and another 600 meters you will get to the peak of the fjord.
This is really a amazing place. I am planning to go to Norway in next year or the next next year.
Yes, there are few treks which are very interesting and they are my dream treks.
Some of them are in India and some outside.
So here it is:
1) Trek is Himalayas:
There are quite a good number of treks in Himalayan region and full of challenges.
These are really exciting treks. Two important factors in these treks are height and snow.
Youth hostel India arranges these treks and their feedback is very good.
I am planning to go for one next year.
You can get this information at http://www.yhaindia.org/program_bookings/index/national
There are good treks in Ladakh region also.
2) Norway trek:
As many of you know that my sister and brother in law in now in Norway. So why not explore the treks there? So I googled and found few interesting places. One of them is Preikestolen.
Near Stavanger in Norway there is a mysterious rock that rises 600 meters above the fjord Lysefjorden and to get there is not a climber's dream!
The Preikestolen (literally “Rock Pulpit” is perhaps the most famous attraction in Stravanger. Once you've arrived at the parking lot at an elevation of about 270 meters, you're at the beginning of the trail that leads to the summit of the rock terrace from which in a little less than two hours and another 600 meters you will get to the peak of the fjord.
This is really a amazing place. I am planning to go to Norway in next year or the next next year.
I am adding few snaps here so that you can admire its beauty.
Hope you have enjoyed my dream treks. The descriptions are not so elaborate.. why??
Cause I have not yet gome to these treks.. How can I write then?
So plz plz plz wish that I can complete all my dream treks and give you all the information.
After all, its "Life ho to Aisee" ....
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Best Trek Ever - Rajgad to Torana Trek
Hi All,
Its quite a long time I was inactive on my blogging, but now I am back with a new article of Life ho to Aisee. Did you wonder to see the article name ' The Best Trek Ever'? .. of course you do. You may ask, "Mahesh, you do lots of treks and what’s the best this time?" Wait, wait.. I am going to explain everything very shortly.
During mid January, we planned for a bigger trek this time.. a 3 day trek from Fort Panhala to Fort Vishalgad. But this trek did not materialize as some of the members were not available. Then it was January end, and we were still thinking of a trek and suddenly it struck to me that we can do Rajgad-Torana trek. Then I started to gather the information about this trek and the names of interested people. Nikhil (Jo), Mukesh, Tejas, Prasad (Doc), Anant and I were in the first list, but Anant did not come as his fathers' health was not good. Bharat decided to join us at the last moment. And once everything was done, 6-8 February period was decided for the trek. Refer here for the final plan.
We all met at Swargate stand at 4:45 pm, caught the 5:00 pm "Rajgad chi Raani"(Queen of Rajgad). We got a hotel (Hotel Aranyadham) contact number from bus driver. Jo called to the hotel and asked them to prepare dinner for 6 people. We reached GunjaWane at 7:15 pm. Dinner was ready within half an hour. The food was very good; everybody was so hungry that they forgot we had to climb Rajgad afterwards. After finishing this tasty food, we started for Rajgad at 8:30 pm. This was my second night trek, after the Rajmachi trek, but 3rd trek to Rajgad. Initially, we lost the road, but within 5 minutes, we realized that we need to take the other route. The moonlight was enough to keep our torches off most of the time.The journey was quite easy and ok as we were walking in the night time. With sufficient breaks, we reached at Rajgad at 11:00 pm. This was awesome as I thought it might take 4 hrs because of night time. But we're able to cover up in same time as in daylight. Once we reached on top, cameramen started to show their magic. After a short photography, everybody agreed to move to the Padmawati temple for rest. As it was Friday, we found the temple to be closed. We're only present at that time. Normally people come to Rajgad on Saturday & Sunday.
Day 2:-
The Saturday morning was (as usual) very good. Initial plan was to leave early from Rajgad. Few of us (including me) had very good sleep, but some had not. We had break fast at 8:00 am full of biscuits, cakes & chiwada. We also had tea, one & only man from the fort office made it for us. We started towards Sanjivani Machi at 8:15 am. There we needed to exit at Alu Darawaja, but we still kept on going towards the end of the machi only to realize that we had to come back. Once we found the exit, one milestone was achieved, the time was 9:16 am.
The route from Rajgad to Torana was clearly visible through the ridges. At that time, Torana looked very near. We had read that normally it take 6 hrs to reach Torana. Also there was scarcity of the water on the way. So we had enough load of water with everybody. Our final time (to Torana) was calculated as 3:30 pm.
The road was ok, but slippery most of the times because of small stones and sand. Jo & Mukesh were leading us whereas Tejas and Doc were cautious and slow in this patch. It took us little more than an hour to come down from Rajgad. Now the time was 10:30 am, the "red hot sphere" was already started to make us sweat and we came to know that the journey ahead will be more sweaty ( and salty too !!!). We had some water, sweet lemons & Glucon D for the break. After 10 minutes break, we decided where to take our next pit-stop & started again. That was the milestone # 2 in our journey, a road crossing our route. I thought it will take around 2 hrs for the next break, but we reached early (or was the milestone nearer?) at the pit-stop at 11:50 am. Again, the same break menu as earlier was served to all.
Now the next milestone was the base of Torana.
Nobody thought we will stop again in short time, but we did। We found two huts on the way. We hoped to get some thirst quencher here and decided to stop for lunch. We were lucky to get good hospitality welcome here and water too. Time 12:30 pm. We are now halfway of the trek, still 3 more hrs to go. You'll not believe, but still everybody slept there for 20 minutes. The hot sphere was acting as expected !! The break was converted into a lunch break. We had wonderful thepale ( ठेपले) from Tejas with muramba ( मुरंबा ) and lemon pickle. We asked for buttermilk & the villager gave us a full can of buttermilk, 2 ltrs. I was in doubt whether we'll finish it or not. Buttermilk finished very quickly. How tired and exhausted these guys (me too) were !!
Rock patch # 1
After this short break (only 1 hr), we marched towards Torana. Soon others realized that lunch was as heavy as previous night dinner and it is difficult to walk with full stomach. We reached to the milestone at 2:45 pm. This is the first (rock) patch of the trek. Here again, we took a short break (15 mins) before staring the patch. I changed the order as Mukesh, Doc, Jo, Tejas, Mahesh & Bharat. This patch is ok, but very slippery with small stones & sand. When I was walking, I was about to pick & throw a stick on the way. But I was not able to do so as the stick
slithered away quickly. Oops!! I realized that it was not a stick, but a snake instead. The last person finished the first patch at 3:25 pm. Here again, we took a small break to finish the remaining sweet lemons.
Rock patch #2
Time was 3:40 pm & this was the best part of the trek. A rock patch with almost 80 degree climb on one side and deep valley the other!! Jo decided to go first and check the path, without carrying the bag. He managed to clear the patch, but was not able to come back. Mukesh told he would carry Jo's bag & come back to carry the others. Once he cleared the patch, no chance to come back. Remember the climb was 80 degree vertical and view from the top is furious. This was the crucial part of the trek. Was this a good time to get a cramp? Absolutely NO, but I had !!! Then I decided to go a little up and check the feasibility. I collected belts from everybody, tied to one another and made a rope. Mukesh then pulled all our bags on top. Now Jo, Mukesh & our bags had cleared the patch. We then climbed the patch in sequence of Doc, Tejas, I & Bharat. Here are the two videos of this climb (captured by Tejas from his Sony cam)
Mahesh:-
Bharat:-
Rock Patch #3
Completing the rock patch 2 brought us to Budhala Machi, which was the third milestone. We took little more than 1 hr to complete the rock. From Budhala machi, we can see two forts, Lingana & Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Shivaji Maharaj. Guys decided to take some rest here, but clock said its 5:00 pm. I told that we had one more patch and 1 hr of sunshine. So everybody (with more reluctance) started. Rock patch 3 was ok, not so tough. At last, we reached to our next milestone, Konkan Darawaja at 6:05 pm. After 15 minutes of walk, at last we touched our final destination, Mengai temple. (Total duration - 9 hrs.)
This was quite a hectic and tiresome journey on Saturday. Three patches were the best and most enjoyed by everybody. Mukesh, Jo & Tejas immediately went to the water tank to freshen up, followed by Bharat & me. Doc decided to rest in the temple.
We started our khichadi ( खिचडी ) preparation at 7:30 pm. We had the delicious khichadi along with thepale for dinner. As expected. by 9:15 pm, everybody were done and in their bed except Bharat & me, who preferred to do sky watching. Luckily, we received mobile signal to talk to our parents and convey our status. We also went to bed at 10:30 pm.
Day 3:-
Sunday morning, I was able to get the sunrise pics with Rajgad as the background.
Completing our morning activities, we started to prepare upama ( उपमा). By 8:40 am, upama was ready. We then prepared tea too. As per the plan, we started to descent at 10:00 am.
This time we beat our original plan and reached at Velhe at 12:00 pm, nearly 1 hr early !!!
After finishing lunch, we proceeded for Swargate.
This trek was really good. Few accomplishments’ of this trek are night trekking, climbing rock patches, 9 hrs of walk and most important, two forts in 1 trek.
We 6 thought that this was the best trek to be done.
I am sure those, who were not able to make up for this trip, are really thinking that they missed the best ever trek. But not to worry, you can see the photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/RajgadToToranaTrek
Also enjoy a small documentary clip of this trip.
Its quite a long time I was inactive on my blogging, but now I am back with a new article of Life ho to Aisee. Did you wonder to see the article name ' The Best Trek Ever'? .. of course you do. You may ask, "Mahesh, you do lots of treks and what’s the best this time?" Wait, wait.. I am going to explain everything very shortly.
During mid January, we planned for a bigger trek this time.. a 3 day trek from Fort Panhala to Fort Vishalgad. But this trek did not materialize as some of the members were not available. Then it was January end, and we were still thinking of a trek and suddenly it struck to me that we can do Rajgad-Torana trek. Then I started to gather the information about this trek and the names of interested people. Nikhil (Jo), Mukesh, Tejas, Prasad (Doc), Anant and I were in the first list, but Anant did not come as his fathers' health was not good. Bharat decided to join us at the last moment. And once everything was done, 6-8 February period was decided for the trek. Refer here for the final plan.
We all met at Swargate stand at 4:45 pm, caught the 5:00 pm "Rajgad chi Raani"(Queen of Rajgad). We got a hotel (Hotel Aranyadham) contact number from bus driver. Jo called to the hotel and asked them to prepare dinner for 6 people. We reached GunjaWane at 7:15 pm. Dinner was ready within half an hour. The food was very good; everybody was so hungry that they forgot we had to climb Rajgad afterwards. After finishing this tasty food, we started for Rajgad at 8:30 pm. This was my second night trek, after the Rajmachi trek, but 3rd trek to Rajgad. Initially, we lost the road, but within 5 minutes, we realized that we need to take the other route. The moonlight was enough to keep our torches off most of the time.The journey was quite easy and ok as we were walking in the night time. With sufficient breaks, we reached at Rajgad at 11:00 pm. This was awesome as I thought it might take 4 hrs because of night time. But we're able to cover up in same time as in daylight. Once we reached on top, cameramen started to show their magic. After a short photography, everybody agreed to move to the Padmawati temple for rest. As it was Friday, we found the temple to be closed. We're only present at that time. Normally people come to Rajgad on Saturday & Sunday.
Day 2:-
The Saturday morning was (as usual) very good. Initial plan was to leave early from Rajgad. Few of us (including me) had very good sleep, but some had not. We had break fast at 8:00 am full of biscuits, cakes & chiwada. We also had tea, one & only man from the fort office made it for us. We started towards Sanjivani Machi at 8:15 am. There we needed to exit at Alu Darawaja, but we still kept on going towards the end of the machi only to realize that we had to come back. Once we found the exit, one milestone was achieved, the time was 9:16 am.
The route from Rajgad to Torana was clearly visible through the ridges. At that time, Torana looked very near. We had read that normally it take 6 hrs to reach Torana. Also there was scarcity of the water on the way. So we had enough load of water with everybody. Our final time (to Torana) was calculated as 3:30 pm.
The road was ok, but slippery most of the times because of small stones and sand. Jo & Mukesh were leading us whereas Tejas and Doc were cautious and slow in this patch. It took us little more than an hour to come down from Rajgad. Now the time was 10:30 am, the "red hot sphere" was already started to make us sweat and we came to know that the journey ahead will be more sweaty ( and salty too !!!). We had some water, sweet lemons & Glucon D for the break. After 10 minutes break, we decided where to take our next pit-stop & started again. That was the milestone # 2 in our journey, a road crossing our route. I thought it will take around 2 hrs for the next break, but we reached early (or was the milestone nearer?) at the pit-stop at 11:50 am. Again, the same break menu as earlier was served to all.
Now the next milestone was the base of Torana.
Nobody thought we will stop again in short time, but we did। We found two huts on the way. We hoped to get some thirst quencher here and decided to stop for lunch. We were lucky to get good hospitality welcome here and water too. Time 12:30 pm. We are now halfway of the trek, still 3 more hrs to go. You'll not believe, but still everybody slept there for 20 minutes. The hot sphere was acting as expected !! The break was converted into a lunch break. We had wonderful thepale ( ठेपले) from Tejas with muramba ( मुरंबा ) and lemon pickle. We asked for buttermilk & the villager gave us a full can of buttermilk, 2 ltrs. I was in doubt whether we'll finish it or not. Buttermilk finished very quickly. How tired and exhausted these guys (me too) were !!
Rock patch # 1
After this short break (only 1 hr), we marched towards Torana. Soon others realized that lunch was as heavy as previous night dinner and it is difficult to walk with full stomach. We reached to the milestone at 2:45 pm. This is the first (rock) patch of the trek. Here again, we took a short break (15 mins) before staring the patch. I changed the order as Mukesh, Doc, Jo, Tejas, Mahesh & Bharat. This patch is ok, but very slippery with small stones & sand. When I was walking, I was about to pick & throw a stick on the way. But I was not able to do so as the stick
slithered away quickly. Oops!! I realized that it was not a stick, but a snake instead. The last person finished the first patch at 3:25 pm. Here again, we took a small break to finish the remaining sweet lemons.
Rock patch #2
Time was 3:40 pm & this was the best part of the trek. A rock patch with almost 80 degree climb on one side and deep valley the other!! Jo decided to go first and check the path, without carrying the bag. He managed to clear the patch, but was not able to come back. Mukesh told he would carry Jo's bag & come back to carry the others. Once he cleared the patch, no chance to come back. Remember the climb was 80 degree vertical and view from the top is furious. This was the crucial part of the trek. Was this a good time to get a cramp? Absolutely NO, but I had !!! Then I decided to go a little up and check the feasibility. I collected belts from everybody, tied to one another and made a rope. Mukesh then pulled all our bags on top. Now Jo, Mukesh & our bags had cleared the patch. We then climbed the patch in sequence of Doc, Tejas, I & Bharat. Here are the two videos of this climb (captured by Tejas from his Sony cam)
Mahesh:-
Bharat:-
Rock Patch #3
Completing the rock patch 2 brought us to Budhala Machi, which was the third milestone. We took little more than 1 hr to complete the rock. From Budhala machi, we can see two forts, Lingana & Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Shivaji Maharaj. Guys decided to take some rest here, but clock said its 5:00 pm. I told that we had one more patch and 1 hr of sunshine. So everybody (with more reluctance) started. Rock patch 3 was ok, not so tough. At last, we reached to our next milestone, Konkan Darawaja at 6:05 pm. After 15 minutes of walk, at last we touched our final destination, Mengai temple. (Total duration - 9 hrs.)
This was quite a hectic and tiresome journey on Saturday. Three patches were the best and most enjoyed by everybody. Mukesh, Jo & Tejas immediately went to the water tank to freshen up, followed by Bharat & me. Doc decided to rest in the temple.
We started our khichadi ( खिचडी ) preparation at 7:30 pm. We had the delicious khichadi along with thepale for dinner. As expected. by 9:15 pm, everybody were done and in their bed except Bharat & me, who preferred to do sky watching. Luckily, we received mobile signal to talk to our parents and convey our status. We also went to bed at 10:30 pm.
Day 3:-
Sunday morning, I was able to get the sunrise pics with Rajgad as the background.
Completing our morning activities, we started to prepare upama ( उपमा). By 8:40 am, upama was ready. We then prepared tea too. As per the plan, we started to descent at 10:00 am.
This time we beat our original plan and reached at Velhe at 12:00 pm, nearly 1 hr early !!!
After finishing lunch, we proceeded for Swargate.
This trek was really good. Few accomplishments’ of this trek are night trekking, climbing rock patches, 9 hrs of walk and most important, two forts in 1 trek.
We 6 thought that this was the best trek to be done.
I am sure those, who were not able to make up for this trip, are really thinking that they missed the best ever trek. But not to worry, you can see the photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/RajgadToToranaTrek
Also enjoy a small documentary clip of this trip.
Thaks for the review. Have a nice day ahead !
-----------------------------
You can download Project Management Prepcast at http://www.premiumcast.com/vp/19/13608/
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Rajgad to Torana - Final Plan
All,
This trek is now finalized. Plz be preapred for the trek.
Let me know your availability / unavailability at the earliest.
Trek Dates:- Friday 6 Feb 09 to Sunday 8 Feb 09
Meeting place:- SWARGATE BUS STATION.. Near BHOR platform (# 13)
Meeting Time:- 4:45 PM
Final Plan:-
Friday 6 Feb 2009
1) Catch bus to Gunjawane at 5:00 PM from Swargate
2) Rest and Dinner at Gunjawane.
3) Start trek for Rajgad at 10:00 PM
4) Reach Rajgad by 2:00 AM and rest at Rajgad
Saturday 7 Feb 2009
5) After Tea & little snacks, start towards Torana at 8:00 AM
6) Walk of 5-6 hours towards Torana
7) Light lunch on the way
8) Reach Torana fort at 3:00 PM
9) Rest and sight-seeing of Torana
10) Dinner
Sunday 8 Feb 2009
11) Light snacks
12) Sight seeing of Torana
13) Descent from Torana at 10:00 AM
14) Reach Welhe at 1:00 PM
15) Lunch at Welhe and then proceed for Swargate
This trek is now finalized. Plz be preapred for the trek.
Let me know your availability / unavailability at the earliest.
Trek Dates:- Friday 6 Feb 09 to Sunday 8 Feb 09
Meeting place:- SWARGATE BUS STATION.. Near BHOR platform (# 13)
Meeting Time:- 4:45 PM
Final Plan:-
Friday 6 Feb 2009
1) Catch bus to Gunjawane at 5:00 PM from Swargate
2) Rest and Dinner at Gunjawane.
3) Start trek for Rajgad at 10:00 PM
4) Reach Rajgad by 2:00 AM and rest at Rajgad
Saturday 7 Feb 2009
5) After Tea & little snacks, start towards Torana at 8:00 AM
6) Walk of 5-6 hours towards Torana
7) Light lunch on the way
8) Reach Torana fort at 3:00 PM
9) Rest and sight-seeing of Torana
10) Dinner
Sunday 8 Feb 2009
11) Light snacks
12) Sight seeing of Torana
13) Descent from Torana at 10:00 AM
14) Reach Welhe at 1:00 PM
15) Lunch at Welhe and then proceed for Swargate
Individual Items to bring:
1) Good pair of shoe (& enough pairs of socks)
2) Cap
3) Sleeping bag/mat
4) Enough clothing
5) A good Torch
6) Minimum two water bottles
Food & Medicine:
I'll send a separate email later to those joining the trek.
HAPPY TREKKING,
MAHESH MASURKAR
1) Good pair of shoe (& enough pairs of socks)
2) Cap
3) Sleeping bag/mat
4) Enough clothing
5) A good Torch
6) Minimum two water bottles
Food & Medicine:
I'll send a separate email later to those joining the trek.
HAPPY TREKKING,
MAHESH MASURKAR
-----------------------------
You can download Project Management Prepcast at http://www.premiumcast.com/vp/19/13608/
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