KALSUBAI CONQUERED....WELL ALMOST !

After the trek to Siddhagad had been done in the sweltering heat of March, it was unanimously decided that the next trek that we would undertake would have to be in the rains. So, as soon as the monsoons hit mumbai, everyone started discussing the next location that we should go to but...... the rains had other plans. As is the case with the monsoons here....when it rains it pours ! The rain went on and on and made the whole thought of getting out of home itself an ordeal ! Finally, after having waited for over a month wondering if a trek was ever gonna be possible in this weather, the rain Gods decided to show some mercy and bring normalcy to the proceedings ! Google became our best friend again as we searched for locations and spots. The general idea was clear about having a night stay this time and making it more of a picnic than a punishing trek. Accordingly, Bhandardara became the spot to go to. With Kalsubai (Maharashtras highest peak), Ratangad and a few lakes and waterfalls nearby, this location seemed like the one stop place for trekkers and nature lovers. Further searching revealed a few budget hotels in the vicinity of Igatpuri as the ones in Bhandardara were already booked. We zeroed in on Hotel Ashwin which seemed like an inexpensive option with reasonable facilities and a proximity to all the above mentioned locations. After Pranays successful haggling over the price, we managed to book 4 double occupancy rooms which seemed a fair bet to accommodate the 9 of us who had shown interest for the trip.
So, yet again, the 9 of us(Pankaj,Oscar,Goldie,Shantanu,Pranay,Prashant,Alind,Shalendra and me) converged at Thane(the starting point) from our respective locations.

A breakfast of hot vada pav and cutting chai later, we were on our way to Igatpuri.

The Journey...and the hotel

A lot of brainstorming(we are IT folks after all...that term had to be used) had gone into deciding the mode of transport.The budget conscious ones felt going by train would be the best option while the comfort conscious ones were adamant that hiring a 10 seater was the way to go. No prizes for guessing which group won as we all sat cramped inside a Qualis and took in the beautiful scenery outside.

Having conversed for quite a bit, we all got into the mood for a picnic atmosphere and asked Alind(sitting in the front) to play some songs on the car stereo. Alas, big mistake !! We were subjected to about an hour of lavni music and Nadeem Shravan songs(apparently the only kind of musical stuff available to us in the qualis).

The trip was punctuated by the mandatory loo breaks. Taking a leak out in the open countryside is ofcourse one of the most liberating things to do but not when others are hellbent on taking snaps of you and that unfortunately was the case with Shantanu and Pranay who got hounded by the groups cameramen while in the act.

Needless to say, by the time we had reached the hotel, our ears could bear no more. Even Himesh Reshammiyas songs would seem like masterpieces !

The hotel turned out to be a pleasant surprise with neat rooms and plenty of indoor game arrangements. The TT professionals(read Shalendra and Alind) started their matches almost as soon as we had finished with changing into our trekking attire while the rest of us targetted the football that Pankaj brought along very thoughtfully.

The hotel staff told us that trekking to Ratangadh was out of the question unless we intended to stay in the caves there. Kalsubai, however, was pretty close and apparently had a moderate level of difficulty. A quick lunch consisting of idli-sambhar(took the restaurant at the hotel almost an hour to prepare) and pohe done, we were all set for Kalsubai !

Highest point of Maharashtra...here we come !

We reached the base village to go to Kalsubai and left our Qualis there. Again, getting a guide here wasn't too difficult as we offered a villager 50 bucks to take us to the top and back.

As we began walking, we kept tallying the difficulties we were facing in this one to the Siddhagad trek that we had done a couple of months back . We did the Siddhagad trek in the most trying of conditions as it was extremely hot(not the most ideal conditions to trek really !) and the lack of drinking water hurt us later. Here, we were faced with a more pleasant weather but trying conditions for walking because of the rain. The mud was slippery and the climb was comparatively steeper.

As was the case then, Shantanu charged ahead with the guide and surprisingly Goldie(probably stung by us teasing him for almost collapsing on the Siddhagad trek !) kept up with him. I fell back with cramps in both feet and the idli vada that had just been consumed before the trek wasn't helping ! The groups leader cum physio Shantanu came in to help me on my way.

The walking continued with the guide pointing to some temple at the very top as our destination. The distance between the temple and us did not seem to change even after an hour of huffing and puffing through the vegetation on the way. The guide ofcourse embarassed us by running along barefoot and making us look rather foolish !

Having walked a fair distance, we finally came to the first of the three ladders to reach the top. To be honest, calling it a ladder would be an overstatement as the thing was basically rusted steel held together by strings while hanging precariously on one side of the cliff. The rain made it very slippery thus making our situation very similar to someone skating on thin ice. The regular photo sessions with everyone smiling in front of the ladder was followed by a session of gingerly climbing the ladder while holding on to whatever we could !

The trek after this got even tougher and Pankaj continued his wisecracks along the way to keep everyone in good spirits.

The second ladder was worse than the first and by this time it was getting dark and chilly . Half the group had enough and decided this was as far as they would go. The remaining went along a few more meters and came across a plateau and thats when the place seemed heavenly. We had absolutely no idea of where we had reached as we were surrounded by clouds on all sides. Slight glimpses of the valley below actually showed us the height at which we had reached. To our surprise, we found a few monkeys jumping around at the place. We had our snacks here and having rested for a bit, we started on our downward trail.

Going down was easy but slippery so people losing their balance was a c0mmon though hilarious sight. Having reached back, the fact that we never actually made it the peak hurt us. Accordingly, it was decided that a few more trips be made while we had the time. So, off we went to Bhandardara where we had been told that we could see a beautiful lake and Wilson Dam.

Siddhagad Trek

The start..

This ones taken a long, long while....after weeks of indecision regarding the idea to trek, the spot to go to, the people who would come and finally the date when we would go, the Siddhagad trek came about literally due to Pankaj(in typical TL manner) forcing me to drop a mail to those interested to come on Saturday the 24th of february ! The place itself was decided after a lot of googling and assumptions based on the photos of the fort posted on various blogs and sites.
So finally, early in the morning( very very early in my case :-( ) 9 of us i.e Shailendra, Pankaj, Goldie, Pranay, Shantanu,Satish, Oscar, Sachin AKA the Unix guy and me set off to meet at Kalyan station at the decided time of 7.30. Surprisingly, the group reached on time mainly due to the threat that had been issued the previous day warning latecomers that they would have to sponsor the breakfast for the rest of the group !
Light breakfast done and after a futile search for bananas near Kalyan station, we boarded an ST bus to Murbad. ST buses suck...they simply do coz theres absolutely no way you can sleep in them unless you want to develop a bump on your head due to constantly slamming it onto the rod, the windows, the seat in front...just about anything while you are asleep (which is only if you have been given anaesthesia!!). Moving back to the journey...the ordeal lasted just over an hour and we reached Murbad bus depot. Much to the delight of Pankaj, we found bananas here and absolutely hideous looking caps which Goldie and i purchased. From here, we took another ST to Narivali village.

Damn the kids !

We reached Narivali and were surprised to see a reasonably large village with cemented bylanes ! After having alighted from the bus we saw the imposing view of both Siddhagad on the right side and Gorakhgad on the left...both blurred due to the mist but imposing nonetheless. A welcome party of kids of all shapes and sizes awaited us at the village. The cheekiest of the lot in a grey sweater asked us why we didn't come with much fanfare and followed this up with more wisecracks asking us whether we intended to take a helicopter and so on! Kids..lovely, innocent kids....a good spanking is all that was needed to set them straight which for obvious reasons we could not try !!! After a bit of confusion, we finally managed to hire a guide who said he would take us till the base point for the trek and thus...finally...the trek started !

Such a long walk !!!!!

We began walking towards Siddhagad by first crossing a few fields. At this point the trek seemed ridiculously simple especially with a guide leading our way and the route looking easy. Punctuated with loo breaks, Osci and Goldies photo taking sessions, Pankajs jokes and a supercharged Shantanu keeping pace with the guide...this part of the trek went along at a leisurely pace. The biggest problem was the nonstop guzzling of water which would prove costly later. The route got trickier as the rocks made its appearance and the one thing that kept worrying us was that Siddhagad still seemed very, very far despite having walked a considerable bit. The breaks became a bit more frequent and the water guzzling even more so. The guide suddenly informed us that he would have to leave us and that the rest of the trek was a straight route. It wasn't a very comforting thought when all we could see around us were rocks and sparse vegetation. Cursing the guide, we made our way upwards but the fort still seemed impossibly far.

Aur Kitna mere bhai ??!

The number of bottles of water we still had now assumed a lot of importance as we started getting very desperate at not having reached anywhere. Just when we were getting mighty pissed, we saw two village ladies go past us at a brisk pace ! They told us the route to the fort and we continued along that path. By this time, Goldie looked like he could go no further. Every break saw him lie down flat on any piece of rock he could find ! The guy swore that this was the last time he would go on a trek! In the meantime, the UNIX guy who gave the rest of us the impression of having been here before kept clambering up the rocks with remarkable ease ! The rest of us puffed and panted and followed behind him. Finally, we came across the gate that marked the beginning of the fort territory. This felt like a major achievement for us and we celebrated this with a lot of snaps. Continuing from here, we reached the next landmark of the trek...Siddhagadwadi, a small village which according to many blogs was very close to the fort. We refilled our bottles over here but to our shock..found out that the fort was supposedly an hour away according to the villagers. However, a cave belonging to a Baba was 15 minutes away. The group was divided over here about continuing further or returning back. Accordingly, 5 of us went ahead to go to the cave and the remaining went back the gate of the fort where they would wait for us.

How the heck did he make a house here !!

The 5 of us i.e Shailendra, Oscar, Shantanu, Sachin and me who went ahead to search for the Babas cave were absolutely unprepared for what followed. We had no idea of the route and couldn't even see the cave anywhere. We tried one route and reached a dead-end and just when we were thinking about going back, we heard someone yelling at us. At first, none of us could make out what was being said and whether it was being told to us but soon, we figured that someone was giving us directions. We heard 'right...by the mango tree' and we went in that direction and found a rocky path leading upwards. We followed this route which was easily the toughest we had encountered yet. Legs protesting, lungs exploding and every step seeming impossible...we moved forward guided only by the voice. Finally, we reached the cave and the sight was jaw-dropping ! Lying on a swing hung from a tree right on the edge of the cliff was the Baba. The view from here was awesome...gorakhgad could be seen clearly and the ranges were now completely visible and near us. As we all sat in the courtyard, the trek finally seemed worth it. We clicked a lot of pics here and refreshed ourselves and then decided to go on our way back.

Reunite with the group and back home

Considerably reenergized by our stop at the cave, the journey back, though dangerous as it was slippery due to loose sand, went along fast. We reached Siddhagadwadi and again refilled our bottles and moved downwards faster(Shailendra frantically shouting and running along must have surely scared whatever animals there were in the forest!). Very soon, we reached the gate to find the rest of the group enjoying a picnic of sorts having lit a bonfire. Satish obviously getting his much needed cigarette break here. Having munched on whatever stuff we had, we moved down even faster, reaching a small house where the guide was waiting for us. The guide then took us on the long and boring way back to Narivali. We were trying to target the 6 PM bus back to Murbad but couldn't make it. Finally we managed to reach Narivali at around 6.15 and waited for the 7 PM bus back after our attempts at trying to hire a jeep proved futile. The bus dropped us off at Murbad in an hour and the next bus from there made us reach Kalyan at around 8.30. From here, the group disbanded to go home.
As a footnote, i must add that this was definitely the most difficult trek i have been on(not that i have been on many). The thought that we didn't really make it to the fort does keep coming back so maybe...just maybe...another trek to the same spot could be on the cards in the near future.Till then..Adios !