Trek to Heaven!!!

It feels so good, back after an awesome trek to the Sahyadri Hills. It was the perfect weather since it was monsoons and the climate was ever so pleasing, though we were a lil disappointed with no rains on our entire trek. But overall it was good fun.

With our busy office schedules and leaving late being a hated habit, few of us still managed to make much before time to VT station from where we were gonna board the train to Lonavala which was scheduled to leave at 10.45PM. I have been on few treks before, but never was it during the monsoons so the anticipation was filled with more of an excitement knowing it would be a lil more dangerous. So all of us got comfortable in the train and we reached Lonavla ten minutes prior to our scheduled arrival, which was 2.00AM in the morning. As per our initial plan we had decided that at the break of dawn we would start our trek, but then we decided that we would start immediately in the dead of the night.

As we started our 17Km walk to Rajmachi fort through the streets of Lonavala, which is a well renowned hill station in Maharashtra, we were wondering how commercial it has become over the years, its beauty has lost its true essence. People or rather tourists who dont give a damn, just keep fucking the place around. As we walked towards the base village, Vaishakhare, I was wondering how wonderful it would have been if it was a full moon night, but then nevertheless I was enjoying every moment of it.


Few from our group have been to this place on a number of occassions and this was atleast say 8-9 yrs back so due to a lot of development in Lonavala my friends kinda got lost which direction to take. After enquiring with the night watchman he guided us and showed us the path and we were back in action. After walking for almost 3 hrs we had reach a point where we decided to take a break and wait till there was some daylight for us to proceed.

Me being a not so regular trekker, started experiencing backache due to the heavy weight of my backpack and was almost wanting a break every ten minutes, but then just the thrill of being amidst clouds, lush greenery, beautiful waterfalls, snaky streams of fresh water kept me going on. My lungs were finding it hard to breathe clean pure air which took me some time to get adjusted to, but it was so refreshing, my lungs must have expanded to accommodate as much as it could. Wish we could have this privilege in the city too. After walking for almost 5-6 hours we came across this stream which was more like a large shallow river, we decided to let our hair down and get wet. We all stripped down to our undies and took a dip in the river. The water was so damn cold it took us a while for our bodies to adjust to the temperature of the water. By the time we got out, our bodies were shivering so much we wished we had carried blankets to warm us up instantly. After spending time by the river we decided to move on and not take any more breaks. But then eventually taking breaks are part of any trek, its how long is that break that matters.

We reached the point from where we could see the Rajmachi fort in all its glory, and some part of it covered with clouds, only a valley separated us. We were close to our destination, like they say "so close yet so far apart". It was a good 2-2 1/2 hrs from where we could see the fort. We came across this point from where we could see the largest waterfall on our whole trek and it was such an awesome sight, wish we could have been under the fall that very instant. The base of the fall had eroded and cut through the rocks carving it like a horseshoe. It was so magnificent at the way nature beautifies itself every now and then. It was such a mesmerizing feeling, wish it would last a lifetime.



After enjoying the view of the waterfalls we headed towards the Rajmachi village which was at the base of the Rajmachi Fort where we looked for accommodation. It took us another 2 hrs from the point where we could see the fort. After walking for nearly 10hrs we reached the place at 12:30PM totally famished and eagerly waiting when we can have lunch. Our legs had gone numb after such a long walk... we just wanted to crash. We hurried through our lunches and then just dozed off thinking that we would do some sight-seeing after taking a nap in the afternoon.

In the middle of our doze the owner decided to fix the non-existent door to our rooms, and in the commotion I lost my sleep, which was very surprising. I guess i wasn't fast asleep which is why I woke up, and then couldn't push myself to sleep again. So i decided to wander around and try my hand at photography, which kinda helped me stay awake. And the best thing was that I was the only one who was wide awake while the rest were dozing off to glory. How could these guys sleep with all the chiseling, hammering, nailing, etc. etc.??

At around 4.30PM while everybody was awake we decided to visit an old temple which was a sight for soar eyes. It was so beautiful, a temple made out of stone amidst all the lush greenery. Besides the temple was an artificial lake where you had the usual picnickers (boys) who were taking a dip in the lake, few of them drunk like they have never had alcohol at such a high altitude. It was totally fucking up the ambience of being over there with the greenery the temple ruins, etc. It just was so shameful that people had to fuck up the serenity of the place.

Soon it was dinner time and we headed to the village to the owners house where we were served an awesome dinner, the taste of which still lingers on in my system. A simple basic meal was what made the trip so much more interesting, the simplicity of the village people taking pains to provide us meals and their hospitality was always a welcome. I just loved every moment.

Next day we woke up to a perfect weather, the kind where in you just feel like lazing around, doing nothing, but then we had a task at hand: we had to climb down the treacherous route towards the direction of Karjat. We had our breakfast and started our descent at around 9AM. The descent was risky, the rocks wet & foggy, and my shoes were screaming for a tar road. It was just refusing to grip the surface below, and was tearing apart with every step. The view from the top of the cliff was just amazing and we had to take a deep breath to realize how much we had to travel down. One things for sure on any trek, the climb up may be very tiring, exhausting, you have to have a power horse of a heart to get you to the top, but then the descent is more dangerous & slippery and especially during the monsoon the risk is 5 times the normal. Each step has to be calculated and cannot be taken for granted, cause one wrong step and you would end up down the cliff which could be fatal.

On our way we came across some caves whose architecture was so magnificent. We decided to spend some time exploring the caves, looking at the minute sculptures, all chiseled through molten rock. It was so damn amazing. Except for the modern art ie. people labeling their personal interests on rock with their names and the names of their loved ones. It kinda made us feel the dumbness of few people in this country who do not appreciate basic civic sense. Anyway this is India and it doesn't make me any more proud of being an Indian when I come across such vandalism on our historic & archaeological sites.

We reach the base of the mountain at around 1-1.30PM and we decided to take a break by chilling at the river bank. We spent an hour or so out there and headed towards Karjat station from where we headed back to our individual homes.

As I was reaching home the sights & sounds of this amazing journey on the hills, the lil rivulets, streams, waterfalls, the greenery, walk amidst the clouds, the awesome dinner just rushed through my head like chapters of my favorite novel. I wish I could have spent more time on the hills, explored the place a lil more, but then just the thought of getting back to work the next day didn't seem that exciting at all!!!