Trekking into the Woods and waterfalls - Ulhas Valley, Khandala

Greetings Wanderers….

Monsoons are back… and so are We.

There have been few treks over the past year at different locations, but there was a need to explore/ visit new places. One such trek on my mind was Ulhas Valley/ Canyon valley trek.

This is the place situated in the midst of the scenic Khandala area.

 For quite a few days, I was continuously gauging the route to reach this place. Using google maps and other modes, we finally decided to implement our “strategic plan”.
It was estimated that this year there will be moderate to heavy rains, but till 22nd June… no hint of rainfall. Small drizzles were what we saw.
We were almost on the verge of changing the plan, but then decided to stick with it.
To our surprise, there were heavy showers starting Friday night, the entire Saturday till Sunday morning.

Rain drenched Koyna express and Pune bound EMU

We thought our trek would be washed away.

On Sunday 25th June, the day of trek our first setback was – Indrayani express running late by 20-25 minutes and we had to board the return train towards khandala.
Another setback – the general compartment at thane was jampacked and many were not able to board. you can imagine what will be the condition at Kalyan. So we boarded the Reservation compartment.
Glad we were atleast able to stand near the door. Luckily we met our fellow trekmates who had been with us at Padargad in the month of May.
Finally reached Lonavala by 8.45am. had breakfast at a nearby hotel which was ok ok and carried packed lunch with us as there is no scope for food at the valley.

We waited for the next train to arrive and finally boarded Coimbatore express which halted at khandala for just seconds… and in those few seconds we had to pull out all our participants from the jam packed train. Luckily all were alighted unharmed.
aisi time pe ek group photo to bant hai

We did an introduction round at the platform itself and started towards the valley.
Google maps, blogs and other media showed a clear path from St. Mary’s Villa, but to our Horror….. that area of plateau was a private property now and trespassers would be prosecuted.

NOW WHAT…..???? we were lost, our minds were unable to think anyway out. An old vendor lady saw our despair and suggested a “CHOR RAASTA”,
Ab CHOR ho ya POLICE… route to dhoondhna hi hai. And whoa…. We found it. 

We divided the team into a batch of 5 people each and asked them not to click any pictures and move out ASAP, as we didn’t want to encounter the risk of getting caught.
Descending from this plain, we reached a lower ground flat plateau from where we had to search the route.

Kune Falls 

The view of kune falls just awestruck us.

We searched for a while for the narrow passage that leads down the valley,

the entire route is created by fallen boulders and rocks cut by water flow.
For almost an hour we kept descending till we reached the rappelling point which was around 15-20 ft.

The group was enjoying the pleasant weather and clicking pictures, as rain had taken a break for sometime
We reached a point where there was a good waterfall and people thought of spending some time here. So we had lunch there, enjoyed in the waterfall and by 2.30pm we decided to move back.

Unfortunately 2-3 guys had to part with their beloved shoes as their ‘SOLES’ were worn off. We tried our Indian juggad to keep them along atleast till lonavala.
Again reaching the rappelling point, everyone was waiting for their turn, but to our surprise all of them climbed up so quickly. we had carried rope for security, but hardly few used it.

Once everyone was atop…. Me, nilesh and Gaurav decided to have a small break for 15 mins and kept admiring the natural beauty Sahyadri has.
Those 15 mins were like “being in Heaven”

 When we reached back atop, most of the group members had already changed their clothes and were ready for a nice photoshoot session.

Manil Trying his selfies

The Waghmare brothers- Chetan and Pankaj

3 musketeers

all set for photosessions

Love is in the Air and Valley

Nagercoil express ascending the Bhor ghat near Monkey hill

A group photo

The WildWanderers

Everyone was busy clicking pictures here and there. Around 5pm we decided to move back to khandala station.
On the way we had wadapav and garma garam chai from a handcart vendor. Most of us tried to catch Deccan express, Udyan express and koyna express.
Those who managed to catch got into respective trains.

This was our first trek for the season, but got awesome response from participants and were willing to join us for upcoming treks.

Stay tuned for more such treks for 2017.

yours Wandering Trekker
Sumya - the Wildwanderer

Why to go for Treks --- More often????

Why to go for Treks --- More often????

Greetings friends, many a times I meet people who have only 1 Question in their mind for me…

“Tu ghar pe rehta hai ki nahi? Kya milta hai tujhe TREKs karke?”

Well gave a thought and decided to answer them here.

Get away from the Chaotic City Life: most people tend to visit the same Malls and do shopping and other stuff and by end of Sunday start cribbing about the weekend that went so fast. While trekking you get away from the chaotic and Polluted CITY lifestyle and enjoy a day in the lap of nature.

Explore Nature: we get to see various species of animals, birds, flowers, plants and many more… and more than that the locals tend to be so grateful with your visit, they present the best for you whatever they got.

Stamina: many a times there are steep climbs or slopes where you get to know that this is not a joggers park walk, you have to be constantly gearing yourself up and maintain the stamina. Doing frequent treks helps in increasing your stamina that will inturn help you maintain your stress level in city life.

Optimal use of resources: once you start the trek, you have to be cautious while using the resources that you have. That includes food, water and other consumables. So you tend to use them cautiously and optimally. At times when you exhaust your resource you get to know their importance. Most important is WATER. Where we Urbaners waste water like anything, Rural folks die for a drop of water.

Explore alternatives: in case of emergency we look for options/ alternatives for travel, food etc

Discipline: you tend to manage things properly and learn new life hacks when with the group. Each person has his unique experience to share that he learnt from past experience. Many groups strive to maintain cleanliness while on treks and also urge people to implement it in day to day life.

Improved Concentration: when you set out for a trek, you have to keep your senses active all the time as you may encounter something that you don’t see or may not see anywhere else. Kind of “this might be the Last chance” thing.

Flow of Positive Energy into the soul: I feel the Colour GREEN is the major source of positive energy. You get to see the innumerable shades of Green that act as a stress buster for the upcoming stressful week

Experience the Village life: We get close to village life and locals during treks and here we understand that many a times their income source depends on us. i.e, the trekkers/ groups that visit and these locals provide them with food/ lunch at reasonable rates.

Social responsibility: only then we realize that 5 figured salary provides you with living, but the 100rs thali/ lunch gives you inner peace.

Conservation: many forts in Maharashtra are turning to ruins and may not sustain the urbanization. Its our duty to preserve the heritage and history which needs to be passed on to future generation.

A Bright future for the future generations to come: we have already set the clock for destruction that might be killing our coming generation. While on treks you realize the importance of nature and its balance that needs to be maintained only by us. We do not have the Right to Alter the World we live in. We have borrowed it from our Fore fathers and have to hand it over to the coming Generation.

Lets join hands and pledge for a bright future for the upcoming generation by changing our way of living and also implement some good habits in our kids from now on.

Thanks for reading and appreciate your assistance in improving our and the future generation.

Regards,

Sumeet Rao (Kavya Tours and Treks)

Summer trek to the Iron Fort- Lohagad, Malavli

Welcome back….

It was February and summer was ready to make some hot performances. 

One day my Partner, Jay called me asking for a trek as he and his friends were desperate for a break.

After a  good 40 minutes discussion, considering the Pros and cons, “Dil pe bhaari, aur Jeb pe halka”, level of fitness of participants etc. we settled on Lohagad.

famous view that represents Lohagad

The Iron fort of Chhatrapati shivaji Maharaj. Simple, decent but still not to be taken for granted, such is the grade of Lohagad.

Lohagad (iron fort) is one of the many hill forts of Maharashtra, it rises to an elevation of 1,033 m (3,389 ft) above sea level. The fort is connected to the neighboring  Visapur fort by a small range. The fort was under the Maratha empire for the majority of time, with a short period of 5 years under the Mughal empire.

Lohagad has a long history with several dynasties occupying it at different periods of time: Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas,  Yadavas,  Bahamanis,  Nizams, Mughals and Marathas. Shivaji Maharaj captured it in 1648 CE, but he was forced to surrender it to the Mughals in 1665 CE by the Treaty of Purandar. Shivaji Maharaj recaptured the fort in 1670 CE and used it for keeping his treasury. This fort was used to keep the loot from Surat. Later in Peshwa time Nana Phadnavis used this fort for living for sometime and built several structures in the fort such as a big tank and a step-well.

Early morning of 28th February, we started our journey by The “All time hit, Jam Packed” Indrayani express trying to get in and out during our entire journey. Finally we somehow managed to alight at Lonavala, and till we can come to our senses, the departure of connecting EMU Local to Pune was announced, but lucky to catch the train.

WCAM-3AC/6P and other WAG-7 await their duty as bankers at Karjat

Malavli is the next station from Lonavala Towards pune, on the right you can clearly see 2 mighty forts, Visapur and Lohagad.

We got down at Malavli and started to walk, with the village view around us, we were enjoying the vicinity.

deserted Malavli station

Group photo

pic wahi.. location nayi

seems like Kaante film k heroes

 After walking for some 20 minutes we had our breakfast and continued our journey.

anna Jevayla.. jevaylaa.....

To the left lies Karla caves, a complex of shrines built by Buddhist monks around 3rd to 2nd century B.C

Bhaje caves

The tar road goes to till the base of Lohagad fort. Slowly with the increasing heat, each soldier was surrendering and denying to go ahead.

let me try my hands on a DSLR

exhaustion starts

Since I had always stressed on finding new routes, we continued the search for another route apart from the regular HOT tar road. Here we took a right into the forest which had a small walkway moving towards the fort. From here you can get a clear glimpse of the Mighty Lohagad fort.

side view of Lohagad with Vinchukata

Taking breaks and sipping on with Electral water, the group managed to find a way which was so cool and into the dense shadows of over grown trees, that they decided to stop there itself.

After a big break of 30 mins, where 2-3 were almost asleep, we wokeup all and started again.

Climbing from the narrow area was so challenging and tricky, but all managed to make it easily.

new route

this must be a waterfall in monsoon

Alas… the heat and Tar road met us again. So walking along quickly from the area, we reached the base of Lohagad fort.

Visapur fort

Most people take their food here. U can get nice and hot breakfast, Lunch with option of Veg/ Non Veg and most important… WATER.

Easily accessible and proper maintenance of some areas kept us happy about the preservation and conservation of Forts under Maharashtra tourism.

aamche Raje... _/\_

Board detailing about the fort

Here we were greeted by our ancestors who were expecting some food from people, at times I hate such So called Educated” fools who hit these little monkeys if they try to snatch bags from you.

Ancestral family ....hahahaha

We were enjoying the cool breeze and kept walking and doing photography.

Visapur Fort - Parallel view

Clicked some nice photographs at every entrance admiring the structures and ideology behind making such structures.

Bastion

Since we were a bit in hurry to explore the Vinchukata (Scorpion’s Tail) we directly headed towards it crossing the hexagonal pond and nearby places.

Some of the people stayed back and others rushed towards the tip.

enroute- Vinchukata

side view - Vinchukata

The cool breeze refreshed and we did a solid “GHOSHNAAA”

Returned back and started our decend. However one of my friend started to exhaust, cant wait for him as we were already running behind schedule and wanted to move towards Lonavala. he took lift from a passerby bike and met us at station.

It is always a preferred option to have food/ Lunch at Lonavala than Malavli as you have more alternatives for food and Transport here.

Lonavala station

Since it was a Sunday we had a super Non-Veg lunch.

Luckily we had ample time to click some pics at station waiting for the train.

WCM-6 reting at trip shed

Finally our day ended with Cramped legs, Exhausted body but refreshed Mind and soul.

See you again….

Jai Maharashtra.

Aapla- Sumya