Date : 19th April 2009 (Sunday)
Trek to : Ghangad (with Chakram)
District : Pune
Route : Mulund – Lonavala – INS Shivaji – Peth Shahapur – Bhamburde – Ekole (Base Village)
Participants : Ameya Gokahle, Rajan, Vinay Kulkarni, Kavita Joshi, Hemlata, Hrishikesh, Savina, Sukahda, Amruta Pradhan, Sandeep Sawant, Suryakant Mhase, Seema Ketkar, Vinayak Vaidya, Jaymala, Talreja Uncle, Suuresh Ramakrishnan, Sada, Parag Javale, Gargi Sant, Mrs. Sant, Aarohi Atre, Mrs. Atre, Rucha, Ketaki Rahalkar, Sneha Tarlekar and Sayali.
Guide – Lahoo/Deoo
Report : Left Mulund at 6.45 am. Halted at Annapurna Hotel, Lonavala for Breakfast. Reached Ekole around 10.30 am. This journey was complimented with beautiful songs sung by Vinayak & Aarohi. Trek started at 11.00 am. Ghangad is on the west of Ekole. Within 15/20 minutes the group was near Garjai Temple. Another 15 minutes and through ruined fortification we entered the fort. A small rock patch needs to be climbed to reach upper part of the fort. We had necessary equipment for climbing this rock patch. There’s one rusted (still strong) expansion bolt on top of the patch. Seeing that I was hesitant to use just one bolt for anchoring, our guide got an Iron Rod from nowhere. We placed it inside the cave. The rod was bigger than the mouth of the cave and on pulling it; it got stuck inside the cave. All 26 out of our group climbed the patch, came up, saw upper part of the fort and descended the rock patch. Sukhada, Ameya & I were helping all to climb up and down. Till everyone (except 3 of us) descended, it was 4 pm. I was giving belay to everyone for climbing up & down. By sitting on a small ledge which was 10 inches long & barely 3 inches wide for almost 4 hrs, I wished my bum had some extra flesh.
We 3 then went to the upper part of the fort. Half way to the top are 2 caves and one perennial water cistern. Lahoo showed us a cave located to far right of this cave complex. As per him this was an exclusive sightseeing for us which for some reason others didn’t get to see. We came back to the cave complex and climbed up some broken steps to reach the top. All structures on top are in ruins. On south is ruined fortification. On the highest point is only a plinth of a house. On north is remnant of another house with only a small wall still standing. To the west of the fort is Sudhagad & further down is Sarasgad. To North-west is Tel-baila.
We 3 came down and had a quick lunch of Rasgullas- Puris- Paneer Roll-Cheese. The group was back to Ekole at 5.30 pm. We decided to skip Pawna Dam and visit Saltar Dam on the way. At Saltar Dam almost all took a much desired dip. We left the Dam at 7.30 pm and started a riot of dance. Sukhdev (bus driver) had a collection of Marathi Songs which were blasting in the bus. Hits were "Mala lagin karav pahije" and "Khanderayachya lagnala". The star dancer of the night was Gargi’s mother. All enjoyed every bit of her dancing. Also, there were junior dancers like Hrishikesh, Sukhada, Hemlata, Ketkar Madam, Vinayak, Vinay and I who entertained all. Our leader, Ameya was so happy with these performances that he refunded Rs. 30/- of trek fee to everyone. We halted at food mall for Vadapav & tea. We also got an ice cream, thanks to Talreja uncle & Gargi’s mother. The bus reached Mulund at 11 pm and a wonderful trek ended. Everyone was thanking each other for making his/her day most memorable.
Equipment - 2 ropes (50 ft each), 1 rope sling, 2 carabiners. Carrying expansion bolt is recommended.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Gorgeous Gorge, Sandhan…..5 Apr 09
Delayed (Apr-Jun 09) circular printing & posting didn’t allow me to take advantage of the rule that Leader to be contacted at least 15 days prior to the trek. Also, trek being very easy and co-operation assured by Ramdas Bande, I wanted to accommodate as many participants as possible. By 25th March list was not touching 10. I spoke to Uday and checked availability of his 14 seater trax. It was available. Within next 3-4 days got 10 enquiries about trek less advance payment. On 31st March few more enquiries, backed by advance payment and I booked a 27 seater. Next day few more enquiries with assurances and booked a 31 seater. 2nd April hit me with about 8 cancellations and left me worried about my decision of booking 31 seater. Then started negotiations with Prajakta Travels. He agreed to charge less for anything below 25 passengers. Spreading a word about cancellations & availability of seats helped. 4-5 participants joined on 4th April giving me much sought after relief.
Aditi & I left at 9.50 pm, picked up Sukhada and Devendra on the way and reached Chakram office by 10.15 pm. Being a leader I had to be there on time, positively before participants. Had I been a participant I would have saved at least an hour by boarding the Bus at Thane. But No regrets, all this comes with the tag of a Leader. In all these preparations in spite of having a personal check-list, I forgot to carry film-roll and missed clicking pictures from my camera. Kiran came in as a help as he had a camera to spare. I never imagined that someone will have a spare camera but nice to have such rich trekking colleagues to fall on.
With few anticipated exceptions all reached Mulund before 11 pm. After some exchange of smses, calls, missed calls, all were together and left at 11.20 pm. Suryakant & Uday joined us at Thane. Now we were a group of 28. We had a good session of Antakshari and songs in the Bus. Jaymala, Mahesh, Surya, Kavita, Dharmshi Uncle, Purvesh were lead singers of Antakshari. I could not participate whole-heartedly; Thanks to my darling, Aditi. We had a short Tea-Toast break at Star of Highway near Kasara at 2.15 am. Seeing Dharamshi uncle drinking Energy, someone commented – “te bagh energy pitayat, ajun khoop gani aikavi lagnar”.
For reaching Samrad, I was going by directions given by Parag. He told me that after seeing a Board, Samrad Fata, turn left. I saw three Boards with Samrad Fata less left turn after/near that. We reached Ghatghar Dam and found Parag’s Samrad Fata Board & a left turn after that. The circus was over when we reached Samrad at 5.00 am. Ramdas Bande, resident of Samrad received us. We had time till 7 to rest and finish potty. Few lied down in the temple, few in the courtyard of Ramdas’ House. The Sun was out around 6.30 am to wake us up. It was a pleasant and colorful morning. Everyone had Tea n Pohe for breakfast and was ready by 8. After an introduction session, trek started. To the south of Samrad is Ratangad, very prominent and magnificent. We also got a close view of Aja Parbat. Kulang- Mandan-Alang dominate Northern side of Samrad.
Aditi & I left at 9.50 pm, picked up Sukhada and Devendra on the way and reached Chakram office by 10.15 pm. Being a leader I had to be there on time, positively before participants. Had I been a participant I would have saved at least an hour by boarding the Bus at Thane. But No regrets, all this comes with the tag of a Leader. In all these preparations in spite of having a personal check-list, I forgot to carry film-roll and missed clicking pictures from my camera. Kiran came in as a help as he had a camera to spare. I never imagined that someone will have a spare camera but nice to have such rich trekking colleagues to fall on.
With few anticipated exceptions all reached Mulund before 11 pm. After some exchange of smses, calls, missed calls, all were together and left at 11.20 pm. Suryakant & Uday joined us at Thane. Now we were a group of 28. We had a good session of Antakshari and songs in the Bus. Jaymala, Mahesh, Surya, Kavita, Dharmshi Uncle, Purvesh were lead singers of Antakshari. I could not participate whole-heartedly; Thanks to my darling, Aditi. We had a short Tea-Toast break at Star of Highway near Kasara at 2.15 am. Seeing Dharamshi uncle drinking Energy, someone commented – “te bagh energy pitayat, ajun khoop gani aikavi lagnar”.
For reaching Samrad, I was going by directions given by Parag. He told me that after seeing a Board, Samrad Fata, turn left. I saw three Boards with Samrad Fata less left turn after/near that. We reached Ghatghar Dam and found Parag’s Samrad Fata Board & a left turn after that. The circus was over when we reached Samrad at 5.00 am. Ramdas Bande, resident of Samrad received us. We had time till 7 to rest and finish potty. Few lied down in the temple, few in the courtyard of Ramdas’ House. The Sun was out around 6.30 am to wake us up. It was a pleasant and colorful morning. Everyone had Tea n Pohe for breakfast and was ready by 8. After an introduction session, trek started. To the south of Samrad is Ratangad, very prominent and magnificent. We also got a close view of Aja Parbat. Kulang- Mandan-Alang dominate Northern side of Samrad.
Sandhan is a deep Gorge on south of Samrad. A pleasure walk of 35-40 minutes took us to Northeast opening of Sandhan. First thing I noticed was a sea of boulders. The walk is through the boulders and I kept on guessing about distance till the other end. It’s a gradual descend to Southwest for about 1.5 kms with a depth of 500 ft towards end. As I got deeper and deeper in to the gorge, some strange mysterious feeling was creeping in my mind. At some places, distance between walls of the gorge is as less as 2 ft. The maximum distance between two walls is 30 ft. This time of the year we had to cross two ponds, one with waist deep level. First pond has a 5/6 inches wide bridge over it. Next pond demands seeing your legs, compelling everyone to roll-up his pants and walk through. Only Aditi managed to cross this pond without wetting her legs; I carried her on my shoulders. The gorge's Southeast end opens in Karoli Ghat. 
Mangesh’s planning to get in Karoli Ghat from here and looking at the end I felt it’s possible. Towards the end the Boulders become huge but for an experienced trekker with technical back-up it seems possible. We took a break here at 10.30, had bakarwadi-samosas-biscuits-Khajoor-choclates-Kakdi-Gajar-Jaljeera. Return trek started at 11. We were back to Northeast opening at 12.30 noon. On Ramdas’ recommendation we saw Kokankada of Samrad. It’s a miniature version of Kokankada of harishchandragad. We were back at Samrad at 1.15.
Ramdas had cooked Kanda-Batata-Tomato rassa Bhaji, Chapati , Rice for lunch. We supplemented it with canned Rasgullas. All were happy with food. We left Samrad at 2.30. Our next aim was Balvantgad which is in Thal (Kasara) Ghat . We took Khodala - Vihigaon diversion in Thal Ghat. We took Vihigaon - Mal Road and got down on the road before Mal at 5.15 pm. The hill on left (east) is Balwantgad. It can be identified by a small fortification on Southern side of the fort. It’s a small fort with great view of Thal Ghat as well as Aja Parbat, Kulang, Kalgonda Pinnacle, Tringalwadi, Anjaneri, Brahmagiri, Harihar, Utwad etc. 2 small roof less temples of Hanuman & Shiva are on top. Back at the base we had a feedback session. Out of 28, 22 were new to Chakram and were fascinated with decent arrangements at low cost. All were at praise for me and I had to announce some refund of trek fee.
Sandeep, Kavita R and Sabir graciously agreed and made up for the delay in reporting at Mulund by giving Ice Cream to all. We had a wonderful team for this trek which ensured that everyone enjoys the trek. Return journey to Mulund was fun filled with lots of songs from all directions, some dilkhush Shayari and joy unlimited.
Sandeep, Kavita R and Sabir graciously agreed and made up for the delay in reporting at Mulund by giving Ice Cream to all. We had a wonderful team for this trek which ensured that everyone enjoys the trek. Return journey to Mulund was fun filled with lots of songs from all directions, some dilkhush Shayari and joy unlimited.
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