I like to enjoy the life and every month, I update to all friends about the happenings in my life.
These I sent by e-mails with titles as "life ho to Aisee".
Hope you'll like it..
Mahesh
Plan: 8th April: Leave from Pune on Friday evening and go to Lonawala by 7 PM local from Pune Station. Dinner and then start the trek in night. Stay at Rajmachi. 9th April: Visit the fort and rest. Start from Rajmachi at 3:00 PM Catch the Pune local at 9:45 PM (Will reach Station at 11:10)
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, Sun glasses 8) Camera (optional) 9) Wind cheater (optional)
A) Food: We will have dinner at Lonawala. And we will get food at Rajmachi, so nothing to carry much. We will buy something at Lonawala. B) Other items: Knife (optional) Paper roll, napkins (optional) C) Medicines: Mahesh:- First Aid Kit All:- As per individual requirement
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Thaks for the review. Have a nice day ahead ! ----------------------------- You can download Project Management Prepcast at http://www.premiumcast.com/vp/19/13608/
