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 

Karnala Trek

Written by Randolph Pereira

This time we were doing a relatively easy trek as compared to many others done before,only 1410ft approx. We were 11 of us with the usual 7 of us adish , kevin, kartik ,preshit ,tany,clinton and me and here further joined by 4 new members Paulson ,ambrose ,Shannon and nitish .As planned we all met at kurla station boarded a train to panvel at around 6.45am and reached panvel at around 7.45 am and waited for the remaining ones .Once all arrived we asked the rickshaw fellows about the price to reach us to karnala base,they said Rs 200/per rick .Hearing the price we asked the locals about the buses who suggested we walk ahead and catch any bus that went to ratanagiri or pen .As we were waiting for the bus we met some students from another Engineering college from Mumbai and then requested the driver to take us all there ,we all sat in the bus the price of the ticket was Rs. 28 and we reached the base in about 20 mins.

 Once at the base we had to pay Rs20 each to take entry in the Bird Sanctuary and then pay an additional Rs210 as a deposit which we would get back if we brought all the plastics, silver foils, bottles back while coming failing to bring even one item would result in the money going and even an additional fine .As we started our trek few of us where ahead , few of us where seeing the map and realized there was a hard and steep way and a long and easy way so we decided to go by the steep way for that to there were to ways to reach soon kevin and kartik shouted" dude we will all take the route from the jungle instead of walking the road come back". 



Listening to him all started the trek we walked for 20 min and all fell we were on the wrong route soon we seen a sign named transit end but all 11 of us ignored it  and moved ahead. Now we reached a spot whose only way to move forwarded was through the waterfall which was  dry as it had not yet rained we all begin climbing the waterfall and after 45 mins we reached a spot where we got a trail named moor taka trail which was going towards the left .After looking at the map we thought it would be better going ahead straight .So after a break of 10 mins we had again ignored the path and moved ahead in the direction of the waterfall .Again after 30 mins we where literally losted in the jungle all of us removed our mobiles to get gps co-ordinates(so funny) and soon decided instead of going back we make our own way towards the top.As we were climbing it became evident that if we would not get a path above it would be a difficult descent still we continued our climb which went through cliffs and rocky patches .After an hour we had reached the fort but(there is always a but )instead of reaching the forts entrance we reached behind  the fort and the only way was to climb a 10 feet wall .



With the risk of something happening we all decided it would be better to descend and  catch the correct route .The descent at the top was little scary but our past experience made it easy as it took us an other 1 and half hour to reach again at the bottom we realised we missed that left turn that we had got early and we had ignored  so we all decided  to go north and after 10 mins we got that turn .Finally we were back on the right path and somehow reached the base.Half of us were ready to take the path and start the trek all over again and some of us were tired and were hesitating to climb as it was already 4:30 and it would get dark.So all og us decided to chuck the plan of going back up again.We rested clicked some photos of the birds in the cages took our deposits and waited for a bus.



 As we were waiting for the bus we got a tuktuk which took all 11 of us to the station .Some of us boarded the andheri and some the CST train and left towards home .It was a good trek which was easy but because of our stupidity we could not complete it. But the tough jungle route was a far more better experience than it would have been by going by the simple route.So it was fun anyways. And not to forget our group called Junnar Boyz/Junnarites is extending day by day so happy Trekking ...

The Mahuli Fort Trek

Written by Randolph Pereira

    It was 20 th Feb and a holiday due to Mahashivrati  so we decide to go for a trek which was cancelled before for some reason .It was a very a pleasant morning we all where excited, Kevin was excited to such an extent that he woke up 2.30 am instead of 4.30 am and called Adish and Akash  . We were supposed to meet at Vidhyavihar station  at about 5.30 am . Preshit was the first one to reach the sation followed by me ,Akash ,Adish ,Kevin ,clinton and then Kartik who for some reason could not compile what we said and didn't by his ticket for Asangoan . It was 5.45 am and the train to Asangoan was just going to arrive and Tany had still not reached Vidhyavihar so we decided to board the train and wait for Tany at Asangoan  and ya about that Kartik's ticket we told Rahul who was boarding the train from Thane to get one for Kartik.The journey to Asangoan was a long -chilly one and we praised Yashbeer a many times who would travel to Vidhyavihar to college everyday .At last at about 7.30 am we reached Asangoan as we had to wait for Tany we decided to have some breakfast ,having some vadapv,bread pakoda ,mesal pav  ,tea and not to forget Adish's half hour of jokes it was 8.00 am when finally Tany arrived at Asangoan .

        We went to catch rickshaws to the base which would cost us Rs 180 a rick so we decided to just go half the way from where the actual trek started .After 20 minutes we where there and soon we got a truck in which every one climbed after 15 mins we reached the base village of  Mahuli Fort after some time we asked people how to get to the top and at 9.30 am began our journey after half hour we decided to take a break  we took some pics and videos and began our journey .

 1 hour 30 min into the trek we decided to take an second brake before we started to climb a little difficulty part . After half hour of walking we  were at such a point that we thought we have lost our way after a little bit of calling to my friend Pradeep and the man who we meet below we found that we are on the correct path and again began our climb soon on the way up we meet an independent trekker who told it would take us 20 minutes to reach top soon we reached the final part of the climb that is the ladder and walked further and then again descended a little distance to get to Mahuli fort at 12.30 pm we reached the Fort which has merely a cave and a door .

Then after taking some videos ,eating and refilling our water bottles from the tank above we decided to descend at about 1.45 pm .The descend at certain points were difficult .I , Akash and Preshit were in the front we waited for the others at a point but due to some reason they were taking  time so we decided to move on and wait for them at the Mahuli tea stall at the base village .We reached the village at 3.45 pm and after having some tea and cold- drinks the rest of them arrived at about 4.30 pm then we all organised for van who would take us Asangoan station ,at 5.45 pm the van arrived  we sang some songs and arrived at the  station by 6.05 pm, boarded the 6.17 CST train and were on our way towards home in the train we played some games 

.I due to motion sickness vomited a little ,Rahul was the first one to get off the train at Thane and then i ,Kevin and Kartik got down at Ghatkopar and headed home ,over all it was a good trek with one more member added Akash to the group we called JUNNAR BOYZ. 

The Naneghat Trek...The First Crusade

Written by Randolph Pereira

With a lot of enthusiasm i (Randolph) reached vidhyavihar station  at 5.15am where Kevin preshit ,kartik and vinayak had to meet .we then boarded the kasar slow train in which three more companions tany, karthison and akshay we all where on high energy soon tany got a phone call and we realized that our other mate(anshul) was in the train behind us so we then decided we tell him to meet at kalyan station rather we getting down and boarding the train in which he is.It took us roughly 1 hour to reach kalyan at 6.30 we were on the station .

At kalyan we then meet rahul but there was no sign of adish and clinton we then phoned them and they told it would take them 45 minutes so we all went in search of a restaurant but sadly since it was morning we couldnt find one then after some instructions from an local we got an hotel we ordered from some breakfast and then we got a phone call from adish that they have reached and are waiting for us at the bus stop .Soon we had our breakfast and went to the bustop where we seen that the bus to nagar was waiting we ran and caught the last seats the bus left at about 8.10am initially we got some traffic but as soon we where on national highway 222 the bus picked up some speed  .We all got relaxed and started cracking the world famous KPJ's and singing songs tany went to the bus driver to ask what time we will reach naneghathe said by 9.30-10.30am ,then again after 30 minutes adish went and asked he said by 9.30am we should be there .At about 9.30 am our bus halted at tokawade.we then asked some locals that how much far naneghat is the said about 5min by bus ,then we told our bus driver to stop at naneghat.soon naneghat arrived and we got down since the conductor was a female tany gave some comments while the bus left we then crossed the road and found our selfs at the entrance of naneghat.

At about 10.00 am we started our trek we stopped for some pictures and some hilarious Man vs Wild acting he first 20-30 minutes was a plain walk after crossing some streams we meet some 7-8 guys how had hardly  worn clothes   we asked them how much time it should take us to trek upwards as the where coming down they said 2.5hrs we then walked for 10 minutes and then the trek rally started with uneven roads and rocks 40 minutes into the trek i was exhausted and asked my fellow mates to wait for sometime we took a rest as i changed my clothes we then carried on and decided we would halt after every 30 minutes .then after 15 minutes so an open area .we took some photos and some fun was made of me.then we then again started after 10 minutes and soon we seen beautiful views every level we climbed .I have to mention climbed because due to rains water force had increased and our path towards the top had soon turned into an waterfall we still continued our trek determined to reach the top and there came a point we though  it was a dead end as the climb at gone from an angle of 60 degress to a steep 80 degrees .we stood there as rahul and tany went up to check and realized there was no path and as we were deciding to turn back two people arrived the same ones that we meet down who told it would take us just 20 more minutes to reach the top .so  we followed them in between water in a zig-zag pattern in which we couldn't even see stones at some places .at about 2 pm  we reached up we got delayed by an hour due to rains .we then realized that due to rains we could not go down in the same way as we came up and decided to go to junnar on the other side a relatively long but safe root.we waited for some time and took some pics and started our journey towards junnar the other side was justlike a plin road but due to fog we could no longdistances we then came across some villagers who said there was a bus break down and the bus was waiting we ran and reached the bus -stop at abut 3.00pm but saw there were only goats at the bus-stop 30 minutes passed then 1 hour passed there was no sign of the bus and the road looked deserted then at about 4.20pm i and akshay decided we should go as the villagers about an STD as we were asking we heard yelling and as we looked behind we could just see two lights of the bus and we both ran ,

    Then as we sat in the bus we had a conversation with an local and told us the different ways of going to Kalyan .After our bus reaching the last stop a small village it took a return journey to junnar the conductor told we will reach by 5.30pm we then go relaxed and started deciding which root we should take .on the way to junnar adish and preshit got a first ahnd expereince of changing clothes in an ST bus.after somewhile i meet a guy in the bus who i was talking too.soon we passed shivnari  fort and reached junnar at 5.40pm .Then now was the struggle to get an vehicle to kalyan the man that i had meet in the bus was co-operative and was asking various people that if they could take us to kalyan but no one was ready to come.Then we took the advice of that man and went to bankarpada , imagine 12 of us in a small jeep crushed  .we then reached bankarpada at 6.40 pm as we were talking to people for a jeep the St bus arrivedat 7.00pm and we all ran.Some of us sat behind while three (adish,tany and anshul) went to sit with the driver there came  a point were the bus stop due to fog as the driver couldnt  see anything we could hear waterfalls besides the roads but coud not see them due to dense fog adish and tany came abck as they were shocked seeing the driver driving as he wass only looking at the whit line dividing the road and driving.then at about 8.30 am we reached tokawade the same place we came across in the morning then after about an hours journey we finally reached kalyan at 9.30pm we all ran for the train akshay,karthison,me,kartik,anshul,tany,vinayak,rahul ,preshit,kevin got  into C.S.T train while adish and clinton waited for an other train.we then got down at our respected station with me.kartik,kevin,anshul getting down a ghatkopar  and me taking a rick to go  home .i reached home about 11.15pm 

Must say thank you  guys kartik ,adish,kevin,rahul,akshay,tany,clinton,kathison,anshul,vinayak,preshit for this wonderfull experience.