First trek in Himalayas: Valley of flowers and Hemkund Sahib

These are the views which Valley of flowers and Hemkund Sahib that soothed my eyes in August. 

Hemkund Sahib

Carpet of flowers

I had strong desire to visit valley of flowers from 2011 after seeing some stunning pics on Facebook of friends album. 2012 went as 1st year in job, 2013, the disastrous floods and 2014 it was closed. In 2015, working on weekend in office in July, a sacrilegious sin, I hatched a plan to cover valley of flowers and came to know Hemkund Sahib can also be done in the same trip. I did some background research sitting in office and I decided to go with IndiaHikes. It will be a honest review of IndiaHikes as I was going for the first time through them and neither I knew anyone in my friend circle who had opted for IndiaHikes.

Searched air tickets and I got a good deal on Air Vistara tickets from Hyderabad, same price band as the low cost flying carriers and coupled with credit card, got a pretty amazing deal three weeks prior to the trip. Train tickets were booked onwards from New Delhi to Haridwar. With some shopping of clothes and medicines done, I was all set for the trip.

8th August:

Hyderabad had cool weather early morning and I requested my cab driver to not switch on the AC. Zipped through Hyderabad and reached airport. Air Vistara has brand new aircrafts and it is divided into three sections, namely business, premium economy and economy. I always opt for back seats of plane as thrust experienced is maximum and you get uninterrupted view. The food served onboard was exemplary and we landed at T3, IGIA. Moved to aero express line. As I soon I stepped from the metro railway station, it was so humid, that the five minute walk from aero express line to Ajmeri gate side of New delhi railway station exhausted me. I was carrying a backpack and I was sweating as if I am in coastal area of India. As I was carrying my luggage at station, I chanced upon seeing the board of IRCTC executive lounge and checked in. At lounge, my two and half year old Nexus 4 started misbehaving and it gave me jitters for some time. After some relaxing, I checked out and boarded 12055 New Delhi- Haridwar JS which started bang on time. Crossed western Uttar Pradesh and entered Uttarakhand, the land of Devbhoomi. Haridwar was a complete mess due to some festival going in the city. I had booked a dorm through IRCTC at station itself and it was manageable for me to stay at the same as my transport to Govind Ghat which was arranged by IndiaHikes was to start from Haridwar Railway station. The railway dorms are decent place to retire for night for as low as 100INR. 

9th August:

After contacting the transporter of IndiaHikes at 0600 hours in morning, I reached our tempo traveller. We started around 0730 hours as five trek mates train got late. Due to some coordination issues between IndiaHikes and the transporter, we six people had whole tempo traveller for us. More on how we negotiated with them regarding the sharing of cost of the tempo traveler for six people at the end of travelogue. We were till 0900 hours in Haridwar city itself due to huge traffic jam. Since reaching Rishikesh was impossible due to festival, it was decided by driver to enter Uttar pradesh and back to Uttarakhand skirting Najibabad and going through Kotdwara, Satpuli and Srinagar to get back to our original route. Once we left Kotdwara, the route became scenic and we were gulping miles till we joined our main route at Govindghat at 1600 hours. It was race against time as commercial transport is not allowed in Uttarakhand after 2000 hours. Seeing the snow line of Himalayas for first time en route was blissful experience. Innumerable landslides had occurred and one looked to cleared just two days prior. We reached Joshimath at 2015 hours and were stopped by police. After much pleading we were allowed to go ahead to Govindghat while a private car from Delhi was not allowed as it was land slide prone area. We reached  Govind ghat at 2100 hours. We stopped only twice during entire journey due to risk of spoiling our trek on first day itself.

Our camp leader, gave a introduction of himself, told us do’s and don’ts and collected non disclosure and medical forms from us. They advised us to take our last bath at GovindGhat itself as people in batch before us took bath at Ghangria and fell ill. We were 14 people in the batch from varied background. From now on India Hikes is taking care of us. We had a good dinner nearby where we were placed and trek starts form tomorrow. 

10th August:

We started early at 0700 hours from our hotel to our base village Ghangria. I was carrying my 11 kg back pack with me. We got ourselves registered near the main arch of valley of flowers and then we continued our 14km trek to Ghangria. The main leader trekked ahead while sweeper of IndiaHikes was behind me all the time. We would be gaining an altitude of 3000 feet in course of 14km. We saw few Tata Sumos going up on the road. Later we found out that the Tata Sumos go till 3 kms to some village. We all started slowly as we were getting acclimatized to the hike and slowly we covered 3km motor able stretch. Then the trail narrowed and we were continuously climbing big stretches of up gradient followed by small but insignificant descents. We covered 7 kms by 1030 hours and they had arranged our lunch at the midway hotel. 

The lunch was pretty decent and tasty. We started around 1130 hours. After lunch, carrying a 11 kg backpack was the toughest part of trek. After one kilometer, we all had a good time besides the bank of Laxman Ganga. After may be 8 km or 9 km mark, the trail started climbing steeply to Ghangria. We were gaining height very fast and after 11 km, I felt the drop in temperature. I was dead carrying my back pack and had fallen last in the group. The sweeper of India Hikes then carried my back pack and I carried his light back pack. After too much huffing, we finally reached the helipad of Ghangria at 1630 hours. The 600 meters board looked deceptive as we took half hour to walk to Ghangria. We all were dead tired. IndiaHikes put us at some under construction hotel at Ghangria. The walls of some rooms were damp and we had to raise our voice so that we had our quilts and bedsheets changed as we felt it was damp. We had good dinner and slept early.

11th August:

Today, we were trekking to Valley of flowers. Since we had trekked 14km and our body had got acclimatized at 9000 feet, this 4 km trek to valley of flowers was not that tough for us. We started around 0700 hours from our hotel. The trail was medium grade and thankfully no mules on this route. The weather was cool in the morning and we crossed many temporary man made bridges. And finally, we reached the valley of flowers. Below are few HDR pics from my modest phone Nexus 4.

Climbing the 4 km trail to Valley of flowers

The trail to valley of flowers

Photosphere pic of valley of flowers

                                              Tomb of botanist Margaret Legge

The valley of flowers had opened after two years. Though the flowers had bloomed, the pop or carpet was missing this year. I walked the extra mile and visited the grave of Margaret Legge, the botanist who documented all the flowers at 11000 feet. Unfortunately, she slipped and died in this valley. Roamed the valley for two odd hours. The misty fog was scaring us but it used to clear in few minutes. But around 1300 hours, the mist was thick and we could see clouds were coming towards us. Our India hikes team lead told us that the weather was deteriorating and told us to descent. It started raining and I took out my poncho. The path had become slushy and some people were slipping on that path. After descending some 2000 feet, the weather cleared up. We reached Ghangria at 1530 hours. Relaxed at the hotel. 

The previous batch of IndiaHikes completed Hemkund Sahib and we lit a bonfire in the verandah of the hotel. The team lead of that batch was taking active participation and our team lead was dead tired and slept in his room. We had a good time with other batch. After covering so many kms in span of 2 days, the pain in the legs had started to disappear. I kept on drinking loads of water. Everything is sold at double rate in Ghangria due to lack of road to this area. Again slept like a log as tomorrow was going to be toughest day of trek.

12th August:

Hemkund Sahib is the pilgrimage site for Sikhs and a Gurudwara is present at a height of 14500 feet. It is accessed by a very tough 6 km trail. We woke up at 0530 hours, I quickly freshened up, had breakfast and carried some lunch given to us by IndiaHikes. The trail is very steep with no flat surface anywhere. After climbing some 2.5 kms, I could see the trail of Valley of flowers which we took yesterday. I was around 12000 feet. I had crossed the tree line and could hear the chants of reading Guru Granth Sahib. At my pace, I would be reaching Hemkunt Sahib around 1230 hours. I didn’t want to miss out all the views from the top and wanted to spend some time at the lake. Took a pony midway for 400 bucks and reached top at 1045 hours. I had some hot tea and dal Kichdi at langar which felt something like out of heaven. Few people from my group had reached the Hemkund and were contemplating taking a dip in the lake. I just dipped my hands and feet in the lake and it was bone freezing cold. Four to five people finally took courage and dipped themselves in the lake. They came out as quickly as they went inside the lake. We visited the Gurudwara and after climbing a small hill overlooking the lake, we got some good views whenever the weather cleared up. The high point of the trek was at this point that we felt we have have achieved something remarkable and the effort to reach this place is worth every penny. Since at such altitude, there is chance of getting hit by altitude mountain illness, I decided to descend down at 1300 hours. 

Few pics taken from Nexus 4:

Steep trail to Hemkund Sahib

The serene lake at the top fed with glacial waters

Yours truly.

Valley of flowers trail is in opposite mountain

The descend was again painful and exerted too much pressure on toes. Then I decided to descend sideways by putting pressure on side. And lo, I had a side tear in my shoes. It took me 3 hours to descend at a leisurely pace as weather had not deteriorated like yesterday. The feeling of waking on flat land after 3 hours is something which I can’t describe. Again we had a good dinner, lit a bonfire, shared some crazy stories and then went to bed as tomorrow was last day of our trek.

13th August:

I am not that much interested in dev bhakti and I planned to go to Auli instead of Badrinath. Started around 0730 hours from Ghangria by thanking cook who served us some excellent food for three days. Raced down like anything as target was Auli, a ski resort. By 1000 hours, I was halfway. Took some rest at a hotel where I had lime water. Started the race to Govindghat. The shoes which I had side tear were giving tugging along with me. Reached Govindghat and then came bad news of landslide. The previous group had not left the hotel where IndiaHikes had put us. The landslide was very bad as the team lead of our group went till the point of landslide as it was just 1km from our hotel. IndiaHikes advised our group to leave Govindghat as there is less possibility of road opening again. 

We 12 people took collective decision to leave that day itself. We got news of one more landslide. And there goes my plan to reach Auli down the drain. It was decided to halt midway at Rudraprayag.

We started in same tempo traveller as we were still haggling the price for 6 people from Haridwar to Govind Ghat 9th August. We covered some kilometers quickly and at 2000 hours, we were at Rudraprayag. The hotel was overlooking the river Alaknanda. 

14th August:

I had a good sleep at that place and then we started for Rishikesh. Rishikesh was reached at 1230 hours. We did some haggling with tempo traveler fellow as it was not our fault that 6 people had to pay 11500 INR for transport, the extra 1500 as we took some long route. The return was flat 10000 INR which we 12 people settled without fuss. After some calls, we six people who traveled by this tempo on 9th August paid 6500 INR which I felt was reasonable. We told the tempo traveller guy to take remaining money from IndiaHikes as they had cancellations and six people were given a tempo traveler due to it. I visited Laxman Jhula at Rishikesh. Since I had to board early morning train at Haridwar, decided to give Ganga Aarti a miss and headed to Haridwar. 25 kms took some 1.5 hour due to three railway crossings. Checked into hotel, rearranged my stuff in back pack went to sleep.

15th August:

Independence day. Took 12056 DDN NDLS Janshatabdi from Haridwar at 0620 hours. Reached NDLS at 1120 hours. Forgot to take my trekking pole from trains rack, realized it when I sat in airport metro express. Spent time at Delhi T3 reading book. Caught flight to Hyderabad at 1730 hours and reached home by 2100 hours.

I had a good time throughout the trek. It was my first experience with the mighty Himalayas. Planning Rupin Pass next year which will be done. One Himalayan trek every year from now on.

Trek to Harishchandragad

Trek to Harishchandragad is a dream trek on the itinerary of every avid trekker who loves Sahyadri’s and likes to explore the beauty of nature around him. This trek was on bang on schedule due to some advance planning and the enthusiasm that creeps in when you go for the first time for a two day trek.


29^th and 30^th December, the dates that were fixed as we wanted to avoid the new year partygoers rush and wanted to trek only in winter to avoid any risk of getting slipped on a treacherous rocky path that we will shortly be encountering on the path to summit.
Pre-planning- Scanning google earth for all the information and landmarks as we were going without a guide. Get a big bag such that you have enough supplies for two days. This made our bags really heavy. No plans to cook on the top (we are not bad cooks) Necessary enquiries from friends about their trek to the same place.


29^th Dec:


5.30 a.m.- I and Sushrut arrived on time below our building and still no news of our third companion, Angad. This is usual thing. His bag was small and packing it was proving tedious job for him. Finally, we left our building at 6.05 a.m.
We got a 2*2 semi-luxury bus to Kubhi phata much to my satisfaction and I took extra precaution not to sit with Sushrut in the bus.


8:35 a.m.- The conductor of the bus forgot that there were passengers on board to be dropped at Kubhi phata and when I informed him about our presence, he dropped us at the middle of NH-222. We walked down to the wall of the dam. It was a long walk, four kilometres to Kireshwar. We were praying that we get a lift from passing vehicle but it was difficult even to spot a man walking on the wall of Pimpalgaon dam. This is the place where ‘Bingo’ effect took place on me. Cold wind was blowing over the dam and I was sweating profusely due to sweater and the heavy back pack. Couldn’t decide whether to remove my sweater and monkey cap as the wind was harsh and the sweat was trickling inside. A perfect recipe for getting cold on the trek. After completing more than half way, we got a lift from a tractor. The ride was bumpy, Angad and Sushrut bore the brunt sitting on the top of tractor. I tripped while getting down the tractor. Not a big deal! A slightly peeled off right hand. We ate ‘garam’ poha which had not so hot green chillies which tasted fine in the cold morning at a nearby hotel.


10:49 a.m.- The trek started bang on time. The gradient of slope was not so steep and time passed quickly till we reached Tolar Khind. Khind is narrow strip of land between two mountains. We had refreshing lime juice here.


12.45p.m.- we started to climb the rocky patch after Tolar khind. It was the most challenging part of the trek. The rocky patch is steep at some places coupled with loose soil at some places. Never look down while climbing this patch. 600 feet plunge awaits you if you take a wrong step anywhere. Villagers have installed iron poles on the patch but they too vibrate due to heavy gush of wind due to narrow gap between the mountains. Be careful in every step that you take while climbing this patch. It requires effort and concentration while climbing this patch. It took one hour to clear this patch.


2.00 p.m.- We cleared the patch and ate boiled eggs on a small thatched roof shelter with the view of dam and Kireshwar village form the top. Awesome view from here! We took a wrong turn and we were a bit lost as the path ended and frantic use of GPS and GPRS made us realize we took a wrong turn and turned back and here we wasted our 20 minutes. Back on correct path, shouting ‘arrow baba ki jai’ we were cruising towards the main temple on Harishchandragad. We knew that we had to climb seven small mountains but the magnitude of going up and down four times drained our whole energy. A small pit stop on the route and we got clear view of temple complex around 3:45 p.m. and we were so relieved to see the caves in which we were going to spend our night. We misjudged the time required the time required from rocky patch till the temple complex and were really exhausted climbing the small seven mountains


4.00 p.m.- We ate our home packed lunch and visited the temple of Lord Shiva. The temple is beautifully carved and artistic impressions of Hindu mythology were clearly seen carved on the rocks. One group of around 8 people was stationed inside the caves of the temple complex. We dropped our plan to see sunset on Konkan Kada as we were tired and decided to see it the next day’s morning.


6.00 p.m.- Hot tea by a cook who was stationed near Ganesh guha, the cave at which we were staying for the night. We were surprised to see a family of four with whom we would be sharing the cave. The family consisted of cute little twins. The time passed quickly looking at the dark sky above our head. The stars were shining brightly and we were unable to guess any of the star formations. Wish we had an Android phone and the cool app that points out the star formation when phone camera is pointed at the star formation.


9.00 p.m- We took to sleep. The cave has a bit rough surface and adjusting our bed sheets on the surface was a big pain. I tried very hard to sleep but the rough surface was not the normal one that we sleep in our home. Really the tiles of your home are more comfortable to sleep than the surface at the cave. I slept at around 1.00 a.m only to be woken up by hard surface 3 times. Finally the next day dawned.


30^th December:


7:30 a.m.- We set off to Konkan Kada. We trekked all way to see Konkan Kada. Missing this point is like your 5 hour trek is worthless. A small 25 minute walk takes you to this beautiful point. We were breathless seeing the concave mountain and we looked like small specs on the huge concave mountain. The sheer depth of the valley below us was simply awesome and a must see place on earth. You bend and look how you are standing on the patch which is hollow below you. Amazing place to be on this huge round earth. The experience standing here was extraordinary and the feelings can’t be described here. We could also see the tough ‘Nali chi vat’, another trekking route to Harishchandragad. We bid adieu to this place here and started to trek down towards Tolar Khind. One last look at the temple area and started our way back. We ate bread jam and bread butter near a small stream before rocky patch.


11.50 a.m.- We started to descend the rocky patch. It required lot of concentration and the loose soil at some places made the matter worse. Though I was afraid at some places on the rocky patch, I managed to go past all the tough patches where we all were really scared. Finally we made it to the bottom of the patch and I was overwhelmed by joy that I did it!


1:30 p.m.- We started to descend with very good speed and were at the base village by 3. We had a small lunch and walked back to NH-222. Luckily we got a 3*2 bus whose fare was 18 Rs. cheaper than the 2*2 bus.


We headed back home with a bagful of memories and loads of experience to be cherished in our mind.


Photos of the trek can be viewed at
Harishchandragad

Trek to Lohagad

I can only say one thing after this trek, easy one for all to trek. All you had to do is walk and walk unless you choose a difficult path to have some thrill. This trek was full of moments that I will cherish my entire life.

Lohagad is a majestic fort situated in Pune district and the closest accessible village by road is Lohagadwadi while by train is Malavali which is the very next station on Lonavala-Pune route. It is roughly 9 k.m. from Malavali station. We were a small group of three Musketeers hoping for some adventure and the first shock we received was at Kalyan station when Sushrut forgot to take his wallet. At that instant his face was worth seeing to be captured. Unfortunately that expression lasted for a few seconds as the thought of me taking his photo early morning in that state made him smile. He was regretting the whole trek of not being able to buy chocolate fudge of some good outlet at Lonavala. At that point we figured out that his reliance *mobile* is more important to him than his wallet. Our journey started and I took the photo of Rajmachi mountain as seen from the railway route. As soon as we reached the Lonavala station, we took local train tickets and just boarded the train before it took off. The trek begins from Malavali railway station. For those who want to go by road from Mumbai, catch the old Mumbai-Pune highway after Lonavala, take a left turn at an appropriate sign on the road going for Malavali. Also there is a direct road going to the base of the fort from Pune. After crossing the expressway on a small suspension type bridge, I noticed that the Malavali was bisected by the express way and the villagers might be having a tough time to cross the village everytime for work.

We reached Bhaje village and followed a small group like ours who took us through paddy fields instead of the road. The first sight of Visapur fort was mind blowing and the walls of the fort were clearly visible from base. The climb we thought was becoming monotonous with no such challenges on the path. Hence we decided to take some short cut path to avoid the road. We climbed for half an hour till we reached a place where there was space left between Lohagad and Visapur forts for movement of air. And at that point the wind was moving at such a high speed that we being pushed in the direction of wind. For the first time I sensed the power of wind. After crossing that windy area we reached the footsteps of the fort. The steps are well maintained though broken at some places. The view from every point of the fort was breath taking and the Pawana dam was visible from that place. We were told that five forts are visible from Lohagad. The fort was well maintained with strong walls and gates. Every point view was best for a snap but the clouds and fear of rains coming at any instant holed our cameras in our bags. As we climbed higher and higher, the visibility reduced considerably. We followed a small group of children which was headed by an elderly person as they were going to Vinchu ‘tok’. But huge dense fog blocked our way and cold started gripping us due to rains. The droplets of the rains were sharper than the prickle of a needle and that experience was worth remembering. At that moment cold started gripping us and we decided to retreat our steps towards vinchu tok as the road towards it was a small path and chances of slipping were more due to the gushing wind. We came towards the main entrance and started descending down. There are some good stalls at the base of fort and a small snack refreshed us.

The descend was simple and we decided to visit Bhaje caves via a different route. We came across a path which was dangerous to go as there was no guarantee where the path will go. I decided to retreat my steps and the other two went in that direction only to be found out that they were helped by a local guide to be bought down. I was happy that it did not go with them as it was extremely risky to go on the path they had chosen. In the end we did not visit Bhaje caves! On our way towards Bhaje there were numerous waterfalls and we resisted ourselves in going in them as the aftereffects of cold would have been disastrous.

Now the climax of our trek. We reached Lonavala around five p.m. and let three trains go as we had reservation on Indrayani express. We sat there in cold only to be relieved by hot coffee we drank. The train came and as usual we ordered a family sitting on our seats to get up. They showed their tickets and we showed them ours only to find out that we were issued tickets of 25^th September, 2009 instead of 25^th July,2009. 25000 volt shock gripped my body as this was a human error of the railway clerk and we all three were unable to see our mistake before boarding our train. We traveled ticketless and were lucky ones as the ticket checker went in front of us without asking us tickets. A close shave!

The total duration of trek is roughly two hours to the top and anyone can endure this trek. Lohagad is place to be near Lonavala and a fort worth to watch. Easy one for first timers and everyone will enjoy it.

Trek to Rajmachi.

Trek to Rajmachi was my second weirdest trekking experience for me as well as my friends. Unlike last year’s trek to Duke’s nose, we completed our trek successfully. It was a new experience for me to trek on a route which was all the time steep.

For all those who are planning a trek to Rajmachi, here’s a short gist of how to reach Rajmachi. All the references are with respect to Kalyan. It’s a sincere request to all those who want to complete the trek in one day to get as early as four in the morning. Catch the early trains for Karjat or Khopoli. The precise timings of local trains from Kalyan are 5:30, 5:42, 5:50, and 6:10 a.m. Alight and walk towards the Pune end bridge and get down at your left side of the station if you are coming from Kalyan. The east and west of karjat sometimes drives you mad hence it is easy to remember to get down at your left side. Ask locals for a bridge and there you will get ‘dum-dum’, ‘kali-pili’ or rickshaw to Kondivade Phata. There are adequate signs telling which rickshaw to catch. Don’t tell the rickshawallah Kondivade as he may charge more. The Kondivade Phata is located in Khandpe village. The standard rates are Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 to Kondivade phata on share basis. From Kondivade phata, you should be willing to walk 15 minutes to reach Kondivade village. Ask the locals for correct directions in the village and trek starts.

The above things mentioned above were for those who are searching on net how to get to Rajmachi. My personal experiences are little weird and it starts now.

The 4^th July, 2009 was the date assigned for our trek. We were three of us and after huge debate and discussions we decided to leave at 5:15 a.m. sharp. I as usual arrived 5:15 sharp and after making frantic calls to my friends, I was given the orders to buy tickets for all of us. After buying tickets, I saw the 5:30 a.m. train go past by my side still no sign of presence of them. I again made class saying we are late by 45 minutes. Again another train came, 5:42 a.m. and now I was dead sure that there will be no train to such a far destination after this train. No sign of presence of my friends and I started to get frustrated before dawn and to my surprise the indicator displayed 5:50 train and the blokes arrived on time. Karjat came in talking and pulling legs of each other. As soon as we alighted we were greeted by ticket checkers who found three blokes walking in garden on railway station. The joy of showing them the tickets gives me great pleasure as they could not get ‘Bakras’ early morning. We reached Kondivade village at 8 a.m. after helping a ‘cross country rider’ pull out his bike in mud. The trek started after asking locals directions and we were unsure of the path till we reached the white markings which tell the path to Rajmachi. I was happy that we were on right path. The climbing part began with steep slpoes and crossing huge stones. There was 95% humidity in air and we were feeling it and I was sweating profusely and had to stop many times for water which annoyed my friends a lot. The climbing part is easy one for regular trekkers but a difficult one for annual ones like me. I had to stop many times and in this process a small group overtook us which annoyed Sushrut a lot. But I couldn’t help as I was feeling heart beats in my ear and the sweat made me take out my towel every 15 minutes. We were climbing and there were no signs of flat plateau. Every time we thought we reached a place the top of mountain would appear to be far away from us. Finally we saw a small hut and that was 12:00 p.m. the time when we reached that spot. The owner of the hut gave us refreshing lime water and dried peanuts to eat. That energized us as we had only eaten ‘Batata vada’ at Karjat station. The view from that point is worth remembering.


 A small walk of 20 minutes and we reached Rajmachi. We dropped our bags at one of the houses of locals taking precious things with us. We started to trek and reached a small temple and took rest for nearly 25 minutes and started taking snaps of beautiful scenery around us. Them it started to rain torrentially and we dropped our plans to go to top forts namely ‘Shrivardhan’ and ‘Manoranjan’ as they were still far away. We trekked down to village and ate ‘garam dal-bhaat’ at the local house. Eating hot food gave us energy as we were drenched in rain and giving out vapours from our mouth.

We started to trek down at 2:30 p.m. We came across the same hut that we had encountered and ordered hot tea. The smell of kerosene made me fell dizzy and as soon as I drank the hot tea, I vomited and I lost all my energy to trek down. Then the hardest part started, that is to trek down when it was pouring cats and dogs. The path became slippery and my legs started to tremble on the path. Then the narrow muddy part came which had a steep valley running down and I fell at least four times on that path frightening my friends. I started to lose my confidence and the trek became the hardest part of my life. The small paths of a deep valley near the either side became more frequent and the trek started to get dangerous for me as well for my friends who cared for me. I became completely covered by mud due to my frequent inability to place my foot on right spot of path. The rain lashing my body acted as cleanser and I was kept clean but the trekking down gave me an experience that I will never forget. I was also helped by members of other group namely a 42 year old fellow named John who helped me to trek down on difficult parts of path. The trek down became hard only due to me losing my confidence and the rains. We took three and half hours to reach Kondivade phata while the usual time taken is one and a half hour. All this happened solely because of me. I ate greedly as I reached Karjat station as I had eaten less amount of food since morning.

As we were trekking down some groups of people were going up for night stay and that is more suitable if you want to complete trek in peace. Trekking in rains was enjoyable as we were racing against time to reach Kondivade before dusk. Short synopsis of trek:

   1. Carry lots of water.

   2. Good food is available at Rajmachi.

   3. Follow white arrow marks, you will not get lost.

   4. Trek via Karjat is more interesting as we have to climb up while trek via Lonavala is easy as you are coming down.

  5. No need of guide.

  6. The honking of horns of railways is heard on most of trek, a vital sign that assures that you are on right track.

Lastly I would like to thank my friends Angad and Sushrut without their help this trek would have not been possible.