Ahupe Ghat Trek

Flashback !!
I still remember it was few months back when I was planning to do this trek to Ahupe Ghat I asked my friend would she like to come to ahupe Ghat. her first question to me was Maine yeh naam suna nai...Kya hai udhar. I was speechless

because Mere ko khud nahi pata tha ki udhar hai kya. I bluffed and said arre it has beautiful scenery, waterfalls and Upar top per say view ek dum Mast.( akir me sahyadri ke har trek me itna toh hota hai ,socha aapna bluff chal jayega ).But thanks to this query by her that I started to do my research about this trek to Ahupe Ghat. However something or the other came up and I always ended up postponing this trek
The weekend was drawing close and there were numerous plans which were doing rounds in my mind.But alas !  all my plans got smashed when on Wednesday evening my motorbike skidded and I got severely injured. 

But I was still positive that I may be able to pull it off. But on Thursday morning the swelling increased so I called off all the plans and told all my co-trekkers friends that I may not be able to go for any trek.
It was Saturday evening and my friend Harikesh called me and said

Aashish Ahupe aate ho.... Ab meri ek nazar injured tang ko dekhe aur ek trek ko...as usual Trek wins hands down and I said buddy I am in, but problem is that I am not fully fit,Harikesh however very encouragingly said hum hai na, dont worry. bas ab kya tha bag nikalo,aur ready ho jao !!!

I was given to understand that Ahupe Ghat is long and strenuous trek so one must start it as early as possible, considering this requirement I took an early train at 5.18 am from Dadar to Kalyan. It was 6.30 am when we reached Kalyan ST stand.Today we were having a luxury of car to take us to the base village Khopivali however those who want to to take public transport can catch ST buses going to Murbad and from Murbad they can catch ST bus going to Khopivali.

(Lto R) Hardik,Pankaj,Myself, Harikesh and Jayesh

We were five of us Harikesh,Jayesh,Hardik,Pankaj and myself. we all jumped into the car and zoomed towards the base village. Negotiating the crazy traffic of Kalyan it was a relief to hit the NH222 what with beautiful scenery passing you, early morning breeze and the songs of Aashiqui 2.. playing.Life set hai boss..
In an hour time we reached Murbad and just as you cross Murbad ST stand take first right turn, this road goes towards Mhase. We took our first halt at Mhase village for Breakfast.How can one resist Garam garam vadapaw and Rustic village flavour of Misal.

Stop over at Mhase For Breakfast

Finishing our breakfast we moved toward Khopivali village. From this Mhase Village we took a left turn and drove for further 20 minutes crossing Narivali( Base village for Siddhgad  Trek), Dehri (Base village for Gourakhgad Trek) and just within 10 minutes of drive we reached Khopivali, a prominent signboard is there so one cannot miss this village.

A prominent signboard

 just to the right of this signboard the village is there. We have to walk through this village
and take small left and then right and you soon realize that you are on the backside of the village overlooking vast expanse of paddy fields in front of you and Machindergad on your right side.

Vast expanse of paddy fields in front of you and Machindergad on your right side.

 The start to this trek is little confusing because to find the way from the paddy field is always a task. But one thing is there, as you can see in the picture above, right in front of you is Ahupe ghat Top and on your right side Machindergad and Gourakgad. 

Following the stream

One can take the help of the villager to get initial directions or can take a local guide.  Crossing the fields we find this stream and we walk along this for some distance and enter a shady forest section. 

Water caressing you at some patches

its a pleasant walk with water caressing you at some patches, we also found quite a few villagers specially the ladies on this trail. We later realized that they were going to the stream for cleaning clothes.Stream ka naam sunte hi sab ke kan khade ho gaye , Photo session aur masti ka full mocka milta hai na. Soon we reached the point where the villagers were washing clothes

Spot where villagers were washing clothes

Ab kya tha pani dekhte hi hum sab khud gaye 

Full fun time to get refreshed, because as the weather was sunny, with no rains at all  jumping into the waters seems to be the best moment for us.Thankfully Jayesh and Pankaj had different ideas ,they didn't want to get their shoes wet...Hum log to floater wale the isliye khub maje kiye 

Seeing us wasting time Jayesh called out and said guys lets move warna late ho jayenge so reluctantly we all came out and moved further lekin yeah kya we had hardly walked 2 minutes when we came across the bigger stream and better waterfall then the one which a moment earlier we had enjoyed

This waterfall looked better, Dil toh bahut kar raha tha ki thoda masti aur ho jaye , but keeping in mind our tight schedule in mind we just took a dip (sudar toh hum sakte hi nahi na) took some pictures but with a promise ki wapas aane ke baad pakka time pass karenge. Guys remember that you have to cross this stream and the above waterfall will be on your right side and once we crossed this stream we turned right. this detour is important because one wrong turn here and whole trek can get messed up

Crossing river with the above waterfall on the right side

After crossing this river and taking right we walk through high growth shrubs and plantation which finally leads us to lovely forest which for a change was a wonderful experience . This forest cover helped us to beat the heat of the sun.

Walk in the forest

We kept walking through this forest for some time and suddenly reached a large clearing.

Large clearing  Take right side route to trek as left diversion will take you to Waterfall.

One has to be very careful here because at this point we saw two trails one was leading towards to the right side, this trail will lead you to Waterfall (25min utes walk)and the other trail on left is the trail to be followed to reach Ahupe Ghat. Our guide left us here because he said that from here onwards the trails is well marked and its very difficult to lose the way.
 

Time for real trek

If you ask me the real treks starts now because as you can see in the picture above the top pinnacle is the point where the Ahupe village is.The trek gets quite demanding here because all the time you are only climbing with no respite of flat walks in between.
 

Climbing through rocky patches

All the time when we were climbing the trek offered us beautiful view  of Gorakhgad and Machindergad from different angles.

 view of Gaurkhgad and Machindergad on the way to Ahupe Ghat

The climb is through the forest again and all the time the Ahupe Ghat is in front of you.we were gaining height quickly because of the steep ascend 

    

Steep Ascend

 There was a small stream which provided us a respite in this arduous trek we quickly filled our bottles and our tummy with water from here.

We filled our water bottles here,

we finished this continuous climb and reached the Ahupe Plateau. One look around me and I exclaimed Oh my God what Beauty !!!

and I shouted loudly yaar yeah toh pura paisa wasool trek hai. I am putting the pictures below, as they say a picture is more than thousand words put together and you can understand my ecstasy.

once on the top as you enter you see lovely valley , a gigantic plateau overflowing with lush greenery and a small village. Mind blowing breeze and 360 degree view which can leave us mesmerized. 

View from the Top

 

View from the Top

 

View from the Top 

View from the Top 

We quickly had our lunch , visited the Village Temple but it was closed. Descending from this trek was a crazy affair because the young guns were sprinting like there was no tomorrow. We reached the base village by 5 pm and started our onward journey to Home.

 

Thank You Team