Kalavantin Durg Trek

Written by Kevin Sanghavi

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...”

― John Muir 

After much debate about keeping the trek on or not the previous night me, Simon, Joe, Ambrose, Sean, Phillip decided to go for the trek on the 19th of Febuary 2014.The closest station from Mumbai is Panvel. I was supposed to catch the train along with Sean from Chembur while Ambrose, Simon & Joe were supposed to catch it from Kurla and Phillip was supposed to meet us directly at Panvel as he was coming directly from Thane. Simon, Joe and Ambrose caught the train  from Kurla and i caught it from chembur. Suddenly we realised Sean is missing and then Sean calls up saying that hes just reached Chembur station and that he would catch the next train. Meanwhile Phillip had caught the train from Thane. We reach Panvel and inquire the travelling charges with the autowallas outside the station and they said they would charge 200 rs .We decide to opt for the S.T. bus which we assumed to be relatively cheaper. Soon Sean and Phillip join in and we head towards the Panvel Bus Depot which is merely a couple of minutes from the station.

 We board the bus for Thakurwadi. The  conductor charged us a meager 15 rupees per person. The bus ride was a bumpy ride and dropped us to the base village of Thakurwadi in about 20 minutes. 

We start our trek towards Prabal Machi (the next village en route). We asked a couple of villagers about the time that would take us to reach prabal machi and they said that it would take around an hour to reach the village. The road was a single road which eventually turned into a kaccha road. We reached a pipe on the road from where no vehicle could go ahead.

 We met 2 trekkers from the Trek Kshitij group who parked their bike before the pipe and started their trek. The trek to prabalmachi is quite tiring as it goes around the mountain but the view en route is amazing. One can see a lot of peaks on the way. 

    

On the way we reached a stone like structure where we stopped to take pics. 

We then encounter a series of steps that leads us to a small fort like structure. We go through it and soon reach the base village of Prabal Machi. It took us around an hour and a half to reach Prabal Machi. They serve lunch as well as have room services though i highly doubt about the room services. We gave our lunch order and filled our bottles from there and continued the trek. 

Now you pass through the village of prabal machi  and soon start the climb to the mountain. The route passes through a forest and the trail is too sandy and skiddy

. Soon you reach the point where one has to start climbing the mountain and start climbing the stairs which kalavantin is famous for. Though the steps look scary in the pics they are not. 

         

   




Soon the trek is over and we reach the summit of  Kalavantin. We now have a huge 15 feet rock in front of us. We are in 2 minds whether to climb it or not. Ambrose with the help of one of the Trek Kshitij guy starts climbing and reaches the top of the rock.

 Soon me and the Trek Kshitij guy both climb up the rock. Soon Joe Sean and Phillip too join us up.We have our victory pictures on the top and soon begin our climb down.

One needs to be a lot careful while climbing down the rock. We help each other to get down and soon descend from the peak towards Prabal Machi.

We climb down all the way to Prabal Machi to the hotel where we had ordered our lunch. The thali served to us included 2 rice flour rotis, aloo sabzi, papad, achaar and dal and rice. The food served was tasty and the family was very amicable. We had ordered 3 thalis between 6 people and it was sufficient. The cost per thali was 90 rupees and then we also ordered Nimbu Pani which was quite refreshing. We rested for sometime over there and then began our climb down towards Thakurwadi.

We reached Thakurwadi in around 40 minutes. We reached Thakurwadi by 3:50 hoping to catch the 4:00 pm bus. As it turned out the bus was gonna come at 4:30 and we waited at Thakurwadi for the bus. The bus came at 4:30 and soon we were off to Panvel station and on our way back home. 

Gorakhgad Trek....The perfect Trek

Written by Kevin Sanghavi



The sixth semester had just ended and we all were geared up for a trek this monsoon. Nikhil and me had been talking about a trek during the exams and we had shortlisted Gorakhgad as the first trek this monsoon of 2k13 . As our friends from the IT Department had exams going on till the 7th of June and an IV from the 10th to 15th June we decided to make it a Comps Dept trek and set 6th June as the date for the trek. Unfortunately we had to submit the final year project topic on 6th and had to postpone the trek to an undecided date. So its the 6th of June and Nikhil calls me up in the evening to go on the trek the very next day as it wouldnt be possible once the rains start. We start calling people up and finally 7 people are ready to come, including moi(Kevin),Nikhil,Kartik,Ambrose,Simon,Preshit and Jason.

So we board a 5:50 train from Vidyavihar to Kalyan and as usual Kartik is late.Me,Preshit,Kartik,Simon,Ambrose board the train from vidyavihar and Nikhil and Jason join in from thane.We reach Kalyan and board a S.T. Bus for Murbad.Nikhil teaches us a game called Mafia that we play during the bus journey and we enjoy a lot. We get down at Murbad and have some refreshments while waiting for the bus that would take us to Dahiri(The base village). But unfortunately the bus got postponed by half an hour and we had to take a tum-tum to Mashi(sounds like fish...and boy there were a lot of fish vendors) and then a sumo from Mashi to Dahiri.

 

We reach Dahiri and our trek starts from a climb that starts behind a temple. (PLEASE GIVE YOUR NUMBER TO THE PERSON AT THE SHOP AND GET HIS NUMBER TOO,CAN BE USEFUL IF YOU GET STUCK).Me and Simon got tired out soon(Damn i've lost my stamina). The rest i must say were doing pretty well. Jason for the matter is a fast climber with an amazing stamina. To reach the Gorakhgad we have to climb a smaller mountain,get onto the other side of it,then walk around on the Gorakhgad hill till we reach the backside of the hill and we reach a baba's hut.The backside of the hill gives us a good view of the Malshej ghats where we had a small photography session. From theres there a series of climbing and staircases that takes us up to a rock cut gate.

From there we climb on till we reach a flat surface. There were a series of rock climbing from there to reach a Cave above and from there eventually the temple at the top(the PEAK). Preshit and Simon couldn't climb ahead because of cramps and stay there. We left our bags with Preshit and Simon and move on.Me,Kartik,Nikhil,Jason and Ambrose climb on and eventually reach the cave.We explore the cave and click some photos over there and move on . 



Now we reach the most tricky part of the Trek. There is an 8 feet patch of rock climbing and then thin stairs that lead to the peak.Even the stairs are tricky as they are steep and small and theres a valley right on the other side. Kartik unfortunately could not climb the 8 feet patch and hence decided to wait there. So its Me Nikhil Ambrose and Jason who continue the rest of the journey and reach the peak. 



The peak is a small area with a small temple of Lord Gorakhnath and no water source on the top. As there was no wind and it was getting hot on the top without water, we 4 decided to climb down after taking some pics.

 

Now the climb down from the top is tricky as theres a valley right at the end of the step at the first turn.So we climbed down slowly and reached back where Kartik was waiting.(PLEASE AVOID CLIMBING DURING THE MONSOONS,THE STEPS GET SLIPPERY)

 

From there we 5 got down, passed the cave and reached where Preshit and Simon were waiting for us. We had some food over there and then got down to the base in an hour or so. We drank our fill of water at Dahiri and then caught an ST for Murbad from there. The rain started after we boarded the bus (Luckily didnt hinder us during the trek) and it rained all the way till Kalyan. The bus from Dahiri dropped us to Murbad from where we got another ST to Kalyan. We got traffic when we reached Kalyan because of some tree that had fallen. Else the trek had been perfect all the way. 

 

We reached Kalyan by 7PM and boarded a local( The trains were half an hour late) and we managed to get seats .



This ended the almost perfect trek that we had. 

The Panaromas taken at Gorakhgad:

Still More Treks to be done this monsoon....

Tikona Trek

Written by Randolph Pereira

It all started on an cold Saturday morning of 5th January 2013 , It was my 4th trek and the first of the new year with  a group called  the JunnarBoyz which we created about 2 years ago ,this time it was Simon who was a new addition in the group .We where 10 of us (me(Randolph),Preshit,Ambrose,Paulson,Tany, Clinton , Kevin, Kartik , Nitish ,Simon). Most of us met at Dadar to board the 5.51 am  Indrayani Express which leaves CST at 5.40 am .All of us boarded the General compartment of the Train Except Clintion who missed the train and Nitish who had to catch the train at kalyan however boarded another train .Both of them then decided to meet us directly at Lonavala station . We continued our journey ,the train was crowded which had become full from CST itself as Indrayani and Intercity are considered as Trains which are usually boarded by people who commute daily between Mumbai and Pune.

        Standing  the Whole Journey we reached Lonavala at about 8.30 am took tickets for Kamshet in the meanwhile Nitish and Clinton arrived . At about 9.30 am we got an local train to Kamshet ,we reached Kamshet in about 15 mins . we decided to hire an vehicle to TikonaPeth Village ,it takes about 30 mins to reached the village from kamsheet station ,we took the drivers number and told him to come back when we give him a call. we started the trek at about 11.15am ,the first 20 mins were slightly exhausting as some of us where out of action for along time gradually we eased-out we first came across an small cave later on followed by an Hanuman Statue

Then after sometime we reached an other temple and then the last part of the trek which are the steep stairs

with taking a lot of stops for photo sessions and deciding to have our lunch at the half way with natural scenic beauty surrounding us we managed to reach the summit at about 1.30 pm (normally it would take 1 hr 30 min)

After playing cards and some games we started our descent and at about 2.45pm we reached the base and at about 3.30pm ,we got in the jeep which we had told to pick us up and after an while we reached Kamshet station at 5.20 Pm ,we took an local train to lonavala and caught the 6.48 pm Intercity express and with no room to enter the general compartment we all entered the reserved compartments the TC passed by us an number of times but did not check our tickets as he knew the general compartment was over crowded. Some  got down at Thane while some of  us at Dadar station at about 9.00pm .Altogether it was a easy and an beautiful trek which we all required before our college started.

Tikona Trek Panaromas:

Ticket price from Dadar to Lonaval Rs 47

Ticket price from Lonavala to Kamsheet Rs 6

Ticket price from Lonavala to Andheri Rs 53

Private jeep to Tikona Peth village both ways Rs 700