Trek to Bheema Shankar - Part 1 (Plan)

Trek: Khandas Bheema Shankar Khandas (KBSK)
Dates:- 14-15 AUG 2010
Finally, only 5 people are available for trek as Anant, Kapil, Atul, Milind and Mahesh
We are going by Kapil's car.

Final Plan:

14AUG2010:-
1) Atul will come to Kapil's house in the morning
2) Kapil will pick up Mahesh at Pune Station at 6:45 AM
3) Then Anant will be picked up at Dapodi chowk at 7:00 AM
4) Finally, Milind will board the car at Nigdi Fly over at 7:15 AM
5) Reach Karjat by 9:30 AM, and have breakfast.
6) Reach Khandas by 11:00 AM
7) Start towards Bheema Shankar at 11:15 AM by Ganesh Ghat (Not going by Shidi chi waat?? .. may be)
8) Reach Bheema Shankar by 4:00 PM
9) Stay at Bheema Shankar

15AUG2010:-
1) Morning visit to the temple (one of the 12 Jyotirliga temple in India)
2) Roam around Bheema Shankar, visit gupta Bheema Shankar, Nag phani
3) Lunch at Bheema Shankar at around 11:00 AM.
4) Trek back to Khandas
5) Travel back to Pune
Plan to reach Pune by 7:00 PM


Individual Items to bring (MUST):

1) A haversack to put in all the things to be carried. So that one has free hands while trekking.
2) Good trekking shoes (& enough pairs of 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)
10) Tent (Mahesh - Sneha's tent)
Its raining heavy these days, so pack your bags accordingly to save them from getting wet.


A) Food:
Everybody has to carry
-- Saturday lunch
-- Snacks items (plum cakes, biscuits, wafers, cream rolls, jam and bread etc)
B) Other items:
Mug/Glass, knife (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)
C) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit
All:- As per individual requirement


Thanks,
Mahesh Masurkar

Plan: Harishchandragad trek via नळीची वाट

Trek Dates:- Friday 29 Jan 2010 to Sunday 31 Jan 2010
Total count = 10 with 2 cars

Meeting place:- Nashik Phata
Meeting Time:- 6:30 PM on Friday 29 Jan 2010

Final schedule:-
Day 1: Friday 29 Jan 2010
Two cars by Nikhil and Gauss
Car # 1
Nikhil, Mahesh, Sam, Sachin and Anant
Mahesh is responsible for this car.
Car # 2
Gauss, Amol, Atul, Swapnil and Kapil.
Swapnil is responsible for this car.
Except car onwers (who are initially fuelling their cars), everybody else pls pay Rs. 600/- to me.
(Cost details:-Approx. Rs. 600/- per head
including tea, snacks/break fast, lunch, dinner, travel etc)

Both the cars will meet at Nashik Phata at 6:30 PM.
Then start towards Bail pada, have dinner on the way.
Reach Bailpada and hault.

Day 2: Saturday 30 Jan 2010
Wake up early in the morning (before sunrise), fresh up and start for the trek at 7:00 AM
Snacks/bread break fast at 8:30 PM
Reach top at Kokan kadaa by 11:30 AM.
Reach the caves by 1:00 PM.
1-2 PM is lunch/break time.
Start for descend at 2:00 PM. Visit to temples.
Reach Pachnai by 4 PM and then base camp by 7:00 PM
Then camping at base, dinner and rest

Day 3:Sunday 31 Jan 2010
Return back to Pune by 12:00 PM.

Things to carry:-
A) 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 & Nikhil)
11) Bed sheet, kambal, shawl etc
B) Food:
Atul:- 4 Breads, Jams, Pickles, Chutney. Cakes, Biscuits, knife, Glucon D
Amol can share this with Atul (after their discussion)
Anant:- 1 Paatele, kerosene, maachis, men batti, rope, zaaraa/daav/paLi
Mahesh:- Paraathe, khichadi mix, paatele 2 (small), zaaraa
Sweet Lemons
Sam:- 2 kg onions
Swapnil:- All items required for chicken. (including onions and lemons)

C) Utensils:
All:- Plate, cup & spoon
Mug (optional)
Paper roll, napkins (optional)

D) Medicines:
Mahesh:- First Aid Kit (band aids, cream, spray, tabs)
All:- As per individual requirement

Thanks,
Mahesh Masurkar

New torch in the market

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

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.

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

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

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#

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.

Thaks for the review. Have a nice day ahead !
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