Trekking Moments: MAHULI FORT TREK

Mahuli Fort Trek...By Aashish Chawla

For last few days I was getting restless to go on a trek and the worst part was that none of the group trek were suiting me as most of them were overnight trek... it is here that I decided I would go to the trek on my own.... I asked few of friends to join me but unfortunately they were all busy with their exams(Thank God..I am over with this misery of exams...)..."कोई trek में साथ चलने को मिला नहीं so I thought just like that song.."अगर कोई साथ न दे तेरा तू खुद से प्रीत जोड़ ले "...on I went ahead with my trek it was here that I am happy that my wife came forward and said she will join me despite her been having arthritis and the other gentleman whom I want to thank is Om prakashji who readily agreed to come along when he too was suffering from cold and cough.

So as usual we tried to catch the early Kasara local but this time unfortunately I missed the train but thankfully as I was on my own so there was no fear of the rude reminder.....if you miss the train you miss the trek....ha ha small mercies of trekking on your own...Aap apni marzee ke raja hai....

We all met at Asangoan station at 8.15 am which is supposed to be quite late in terms of trekking and from there we took an autoriksha to mahuli village....we reached at the village at 9.00 am.

enroute to Mahuli Village... when we saw Mahuli peaks we got down and took pics

Omprakashji and my wife

we started our trek immediately because we were worried that it could become very hot later on...(which later on indeed proved to be true)....just walking for 5 minutes we came across a small stream of water which we crossed very comfortably .and moved into the forest.....as you can see below..

The start point of our trek.....

Mamta all ready to start her trek...crossing the water stream....

The mesmerising sight of Mahuli Peaks.....

as we were trekking this sight above never left us as the most part of the trek is along the outer side of the mountains and you can watch the peaks most of the time

Morning session was good as you can see the cheerful faces of Mamta and Omji...ab aage dekte hai inka kya hal hota hai....

There was one thing I noticed about the Mahuli Trek was that you don't get respite at all.One after the other some kind of climb is there.....you get very few spot where the trek is flat walk...that is why Mahuli is every Trekkers delight.

sun was getting hotter so rest.......

Abhi trek arrange kiya hai to coolie toh ban na padega...aur agar wife ka bag hai toh koi choice he nahi....beware before you get married... meri halat dekh lo......

Anyway we kept on trekking but from here onwards the sun was getting hotter and hotter ....trek was becoming more difficult because we were all sweating a lot, secondly most of the section of the climb was rocky and steep... as the trek was on the outer side of the mountain most of the time you are exposed to direct sunlight which makes you feel more dehydrated....

As we started our trek I must mentioned we met Paresh and Sachin of Durgaveer Pratishthan who helped us and motivated us ...actually it so happened that Paresh was bitten by snake due to which he was taken to the doctor but see his zeal for trekking that he came back from the doctor and started the trek ....

This is Paresh... snake bite man...isko dek ke lagta hai ki snake ne isko ko kuch der pehle kata tha

As we were climbing we met few people who were coming back...they were quite breathless and perspiring like a water tap....Hafte hafte mere ko bolta hai......"arre boss bahut upar hai...chalte chalte mar gaya..bahut upar hai...khatam hi nahi hota....Hum log to wapas ja rahe hai..." hearing this.. that too from a group of teenagers I was little surprised and more worried !!!!!..surprised because Jani abhi to tum hate kate jawan ho...and worried because Ab tera kya hoga Kaliya.....kya humlog trek complete kar sakenge...ya nahi....???? but some one has rightly said" ke dar ke aage jeet hai "...So I , Mamta and Om sir moved toward our goal of conquering the Mahuli peak.

Torrid Noon session:

Time was 11.30 the heat was becoming unbearable by every additional minute Om sir was feeling the heat a lot...hitting his water reserve again and again...but hats off to his resilience that he kept on moving forward....

Similarly Mamta too was fighting the heat and fatigue at one point she was feeling so dehydrated that she almost collapse and sat down...panting she asked me aur kitna chalna hai...believe me this is the most common dialogue that you hear on almost every trek . Seeing her condition I too got worried , luckily for us that I was carrying electrol with me so immediately I gave her the same and one chocolate for some energy. It took all my effort and motivation skill to make her walk again... at one point I felt we have to turn back and abandon the trek....

Getting the sun burns and walking with paining knee I feel is a big effort and specially for someone who has never trekked before in her entire life and further don't wish to .....with pain written all over her face she still carried a brave smile and moved on....just like the Clint Eastwood character in the movie The Good Bad and Ugly dying of thirst was moving through the desert we too were dragging ourselves to the Top.I enjoyed this trek also because it tested our endurance level to the hilt.

This trek was an interesting lesson for me....I learned to manage people....care for them...motivate them...manage the lead and follow the trail.....Had I not done this trek I would have never learned otherwise.

Barkudar Zindagi ki haqeeqat bahut kuch sika deti hai....idar woh trek ki haqeeqat ne shikha diya....I learned the most primary lesson how to motivate people when within you... you are fighting your own fatigues.

Sitting near the the top opposite the ladders..

Once when we reached near the top we saw the ladder which was the indication that we have almost reached the end of our trek. just before the ladder there is a superb point from where you can have a panoramic view of the entire valley....

View from the top

we climbed the ladder and walked for a small distance and Loo! what we see is a small water tank!!!! I cannot explain to you our emotion of ecstasy and exhilaration.After bearing the brunt of scorching heat I just wanted to jump into the tank but then my subconscious mind yelled at me "Abbe Ohe...tere ko swim karna to aata nahi aur tu kudne chala hai...Kantrol papaji !!!!..so I stopped my emotion from going haywire and "Slashing se hi kaam chala liya".

Cool water..What a relief !!!

aur apna Omji ki to heat se buri halat thi...so Omji ne to apna pura T shirt he bigha diya bole anyway dhoop itne hai ki T shirt sukh jaye ga...kam se kam garmi se toh bachhe"

kya cool hai hum!!!!

Mamta just went crazy with relief and dipped both her feets in the water and savoring the pleasure of natural spa and started relaxing aaram se... it took lot of effort on my part to pull her out from there.

next we moved down from here ...little ahead we were surprised to see so many people...later we came to know this was the same group with which Sachin and Paresh had come...they were all busy cooking lunch and the main dish was Khichdi

Zakaas Khichdi !!!

Dekne me toh ekdam Zakaas lag rahi thi.... they offered us to have lunch with them but hum log to bukh, pyas aur garmi ke mare the so hum logo ne apna lunch Fata fat kar kiya tha...

After the lunch Paresh and Sachin told us that there are ruins of old Kusumeshwar temple and also a lake nearby... here again Paresh and Sachin took us around showed us different spots at the top. ,I am very thankful to them because otherwise due to fatigue and also ignorance we would have never been able to discover these lovely spots.Imagine a lake on the top of the mountain!!!! oh !!! what a sight it was....

lake at the top

Stone Deity at kusumeshwar temple ruins

SACHIN BHOIR

PARESH PHARDE

After this sight seeing tour we started our desent rolling,plodding, knees rattling we managed to reach the Base village where all three of us had steaming hot Kanda Poha.along with a hot cup of tea. Poha as usual always taste superb specially if you have them in a rustic background of village....mountain...and a gentle breeze which we almost missed today through out our trek.

As we were trekking on our own so we had no means of return transport. The hotel owner told us that there is a ST bus at 6.30 which will take you till the highway so we waited near the temple...in the meanwhile slowly all the members of Durgaveer Pratishthan members also came down...I still dont understand ki yeh log kya uda kar neeche aa gaye kya...perhaps hum log hi slow honge...

Mahuli Pinnacles at sunset

It was getting dark the pinnacles were looking more beautiful under the setting sun.It was 7.15 pm and still there was no sign of ST bus.Atlast the bus came but as you know how hitech the ST buses are in Maharashtra that bus ka gear hi fail ho gaya and we were all stranded at Mahuli with no transportation to go back at our disposal.

Stranded at Mahuli....

Here again Durgaveer Pratishthan members helped us because they had booked 2 8seaters out of which only one had come but they accommodated us and due to their kindness we were able to reach Asangoan Station at 8.15 pm...a complete circle of 12 hr trek, At 8.40 pm the Asangoan local came and we just collasped on the seat of the local train. Om sir got down at Thane and by the time I reached home it was almost 11.00pm.

Sitting back and watching all the photos I forgot all my fatigue and savored the bliss of this Breathless Trek.

For viewing the Mahuli Trek Album please click the link below
https://picasaweb.google.com/112989754557849314605/MahuliFortTrek?authkey=Gv1sRgCPP__NWIgNW6Iw