Monsoons were at its best, lashing rains and cool temperature was making it all the more compelling for me to break the shackles of my heel spur and head towards the mountains.So the next thing I did was I called my Doctor and asked Hey Doc can I go for a trek?. As I was talking on the phone so I couldn't see her expressions but I promise you she must have said "Arre Pagal hai kya" but as she is a professional so she coolly told me the precautions to take and not to forget the icing on the feets,( My wife who was standing near me said "Aap ko Doctor ne bola hai itni barish me pain ke sath trekking per jane ko" and I was like "Arre Doctor ne hi bola hai" and I gave her an impish smile.
Sunday morning and I was off on my trek. It was raining cats and dogs I somehow managed to reached Andheri Station.I boarded the train bound to Dadar from where I changed to Kajat local.We were 5 people altogether. It was 9.00 am when we reached Karjat Station. As I was not aware of the route so after getting down from the train I kept asking people as to on which side is Shri Ram Pul aka famous Karjat bridge.
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| Morning walk through the streets to Sri Ram Pul |
A little walk of 5 minutes and we were on course and reached the Shri Ram pul and there we inquired about the auto going to Vadap.
There was this 3 seater auto rickshaws which we took for 100 Rs and it was 5 of us in it! Nikhil and myself were sitting along the Auto driver hanging on to our life and at each bump on the road we were like "Beta ab toh pakka bahar gire " but the regular trekking and travelling to remote villages have got us used to such perilous conditions. Infact I burst out laughing when Shradda asked will the auto be stable with 5 people in it. Actually wanted to tell her "Behna yeh toh ab roz ki zindagi ho gayi hai"Vadap is hardly 5 kms away from station so in about 15 minutes drive we reached the base village Vadap.As soon as we got down from the auto it began to drizzle, so we quickly stole a moment and took a group picture. Kya Hai na roll call ho jata Hai ....kitne aadmi the, ab photo se pata to chalega kitne Gaye the aur return photo me kitne wapas aaye...chodo yaar yeh mera logic. Chalo ab aage badte Hai.
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| Morning Roll Call |
We started our trek from this sign board and walking through the village we come out into open and see a 70 mm screen filled with lush greenery and a Gigantic waterfall I was simply zapped at seeing such a beautiful sight.
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| 70 mm view of Greenery with Waterfall |
We kept walking towards the col on the mountain keeping the waterfall on our right. As we kept walking we could see the dark cloud formation behind us as if gearing to ambush us with flash rains.
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| Clouds gearing for ambush |
In the meantime breaking news yeh thi ki Shraddha madam ki shoes ki sole nikal gayi and her expression was saying it all..yeh lo! itne saalo( by the way saalo means years here, Saalo....not the swear word,ðð) baad trek per aayi hu aur mere shoes ki Tay Tay phiss.
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| Who cares Juta toot gaya... Boss her situation per ek selfie toh banta hai |
Thankfully Rajesh was carrying an extra pairs so the day was saved and we moved on. The trek is quite easy because one can see the top. There is this saffron flag fluttering on the top . One should try to reach the col in the mountain.As the height of Bhivgad fort is hardly 600 feets so we reached the col very quickly. Upon reaching the col . You'll see a signboard with directions marked for Dhak and Bhivgad. If you take left from here you go to Bhivgad and the right from here takes you to Dhak , Thanks to Durgveer Pratisthan who had put up this signboard which gives direction for both the places.
From here we did take left and started to walk up to the rocky patch,but little climb and we realized that it's a wrong trail because there was a dead end .So Nikhil and myself we came down and started afresh from the sign board
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| Wrong Climb |
we now took left and started moving down to the path that we saw going down on left. However as we were going the path was descending instead of ascending, I felt it was time to stop and take a stock of situation, so we all sat on the rocks for a while.
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| Life on the rocks !!! |
Sometimes these kind of break are extremely refreshing because as we sat here on the rocks, absorbing the beauty of the green grass laden mountains dipped in the shrouds of clouds with series of waterfall, I felt it was one of the most enthralling moment of my life.
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The most enthralling moment of my life.
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Just as we were idling on the rocks we saw a villager who was passing by, he directed us that we have to climb from that rock patch, but more like circumventing from right side rather climb straight up. So we did that accordingly, and simultaneously at the same time few village kids too came along with whom we climbed on this rock patch and reached next level where the green carpet again confronted us.
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| Life on natural green carpet |
Standing at the this point we saw paved muddy trail and walking on that we reached the first plateau.
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| Running to reach the first plateau |
Seeing this huge plateau with so much greenery, we realise that as city creatures how much we are losing out on abundance of the nature.
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| Nature is more glorious when you enjoy it with the village kid |
As we were clicking the pictures we saw few people coming from the top , we later came to know that they had started there trek from other side i.e Gaurkamat village . They were ladies trekkers from Ambernath. We shared few pleasantries with them and started to climb from this plateau to the topmost point.
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| Preparing to go to the top |
The top has very little remains of early era. Secondly there is no shelter on the top so you are almost exposed to sun.
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| Few remnants of past |
Then there are 2 water tanks where we squatted rested for a while.I was told that the water is potable here , but I wont advise you to drink. Please carry your water with you.
Due to overcast conditions the view from the top was very mesmerising,
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| Watery silver sheets on farming fields |
Looking at the fields drenched with the silver sheet of water was out of the world kind of experience.Hence we thought why not to have lunch on this natural viewing deck.
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| Lunch at natural viewing deck |
It was here we met Swapnil with whom I had trekked few times earlier, it was a pleasure to connect with him and the team of trekkers who were accompanying him. See mountains are such a lovely place to connect with people you know only through FBð
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| Me and the mountains ..... The love affairs continues |
We spent some time on the top exploring the top and enjoyed the pleasure of the shayadris.
Getting down was not much of a bother,running down this green trail was so enjoyable infact the heart was singing "Aaj phir jeene ki tammana Hai aaj fir Marne ka iraada", we quickly came down and made our way to the waterfall.
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| And just like like Jill of Jack and Jill the weekend wanderer came tumbling town |
Ab monsoon me trek per aaye hai toh thode waterfall ke majje to bante Hai....kyo ki agar nahi Gaye uske pass toh woh bura man jayega ð
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| Chal Yaar Chill Maar !! |
So instead of going straight down to the vadap village we diverted our path to left towards the waterfall and in 5-10 minutes we were savouring the natural distilled water.
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| Enjoying naturally distilled water shower |
We spent some good time here clicking pictures and soon made our way down so as to catch our train back home.
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| Zindagi ek safar hai suhana |
Upon reaching the village we hailed a passing tumtum which dropped us near the karjat station, from where we took the train to CST.
✔️How to reach:
✴️ One needs to reach Karjat station.
✴️ Take Auto from Sri Ram pul to Vadap
✴️ Start your trek from Vadap village and it should take you maximum one hour to reach the top
✴️ Alternatively one can go further one km to Gaurkamat village and start the trek from mountain trunk.
Trekker Tips
✴️ Nothing is available on the top so carry your food with you
✴️ There is no shelter on the top.
✴️ It should take you max 30-40 minutes to explore the top.
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