Harishchandragad via Nalichi vaat - 22/23 Feb 2014

I had camped at Harishchandragad, Kokan-kada in Nov'13 and since then Nalichi vaat or maakad naal had captured my imagination. As usual the number of enthusiast dropped down to just 2 of us on the day before the trek started. My co-trekker from Mumbai joined me at Moroshi on the Kalyan - Nagar SH near Malshej Ghat where we took a turn towards remote Belpada village, the starting point of the trek. Moroshi-->Belpada is 10 kms.

Route

Pune --> Alephata --> Otur --> Malshejghat --> Savarne --> Moroshi --> Belpada (Aliware) <-- Moroshi <-- Murbad <-- Kalyan <-- Mumbai. Total odo from Pune is 170 kms. We synchronised time to clinical precision to reach Belpada from different directions in different cars at 10 am.

Preparation

1. Guide: Kamludada Pokle (+91 92253 47757) is a local expert who has been thru the gorge (nali) many times.
2. Tent & food: Prakash or Bhaskar. Bang on Kokan-kada. It is crowded near the temple. 

What is this Nali chi vaat?

It is one of the 3 or 4 routes to summit Harishchandragad. Arguably the toughest. The other 2 routes are via Pachnai, the easiest and Khireshwar.

Pic 1 - This snap is taken on my way back just before malshej ghat begins on the Mumbai --> Ahmednagar SH. The arrow points to the 4th gorge (nali) in a series goes up to the right most end of the Kokan-kada.

Pic 2 - Starting point of the trek. Markings are indicative and not accurate. Kokan-kada is our destination.

False start

"Putting your best foot forward" - We use such idioms without thinking about it but this trek made me realise what it means. Immediately after this pic 2 was taken and within 10 minutes of starting the trek, I sprained my left ankle badly rolling over a large pebble culminating into a fall. It would have been a sure fracture were I not been wearing ankle length trekking shoes which almost came off because of the impact. My colleagues helped me settle down and assess the damage. Luckily it was bearing the load albeit with pain but I was not able to flap the foot so I was not able to shift my weight from the ankle to the toe as we do while walking. This meant I will have to land it exactly horizontal position. Longer strides were ruled out. My right leg will have to do all the hard work and the left leg can only be in supporting role. The swelling was considerable & internal bleeding clearly visible. I decided to push against obvious common sense decision to turn back.

There are many misconceptions about this trek as being 'very tough'. Graphic details about the injury is only to highlight the fact that it is not as bad as we read on the net. Yes, it is not recommended for freshers but someone who is physically fit and used to basic trekking can complete it easily.

Pic 3 - The initial part is made up of smaller stones. Not much trouble. 

Pic 4 - The stones get bigger as you go further. Our destination at the top corner. 

Pic 5 - First snack break at this point. Our destination is now looking daunting.

Pic 6 - The gorge begins. Last chance to turn back. You are entering a zone of no return. We had lunch somewhere here.

Pic 7 - You get tired of scaling so many heaps. The guide tells us picture to abhi baaki hai mere dost.

Pic 8 - The gorge looks like this after some distance. We heard calls of another group trailing us. They could probably see us but we couldn't see them. We responded back but the connection didn't happen owing to wind direction. More later. 

Pic 9 - My swollen foot posing in front of a channel just crossed. Jackie Chan would have climbed up like spiderman.

Pic 10 - Walk in the park for our guide.

Pic 11 & 12 - First vertical rocky patch from each sides. Impossible without this man (our guide) who could face the camera while climbing up. Note the ground floor at tree level.

Pic 13 & 14 - Rock face 2. Cliffhanger.. Our man in fielding position waiting for the catches. Had he dropped one, I would not be writing this blog. You have to dig your toes horizontally into the face to push yourself up.

This is where you take a traverse. The group trailing us missed and went straight. More later about this group. 

Pic 15 - The gorge from the second rock face.

Pic 16 - Killer climb. No better than the rocks. In fact riskier because of the scree @ almost 70 degree incline for good part of the last 90 minutes after crossing the rock patches. Endless torture. You have to pull yourself up with the help of shrubs. 

Pic 17 - Too happy to be on the plains. You can see the swollen ankle thru the shoes now after so much abuse. 

Pic 18 - Finally, our destination in within reach. Kokan-kada from so near. It took 7 hours. We could have done better on the speed.

Prakash was there ready with a 5 man tent. We settled down. I crashed into the sleeping bag trying to forget the pain while my colleague made an excursion to the temple after watching the sun set from Kokan kada. Dinner bhakri, pithala, bhaaji and bhaat was just perfect which bought some much needed normalcy. 

It was pitch dark and we enjoyed the starlit dome yet again sitting on the Kokan-kada. Far in the jungle on our trek route we saw lights flashing. Suspecting sos signals, we flashed back from the Kokan kada. They were moving very fast when we realised they are on the plains already. Bhaskar, the other shack owner had gone to fetch them without even a light. This was the same group that was trailing us earlier in the day. They had been thru harrowing time as they had run out of water at around 6 pm. It was too much given that they had started walking from a farther point than we had since 9 am. They were a group of seasoned trekkers with 2 of the 6 people being qualified well equipped mountaineers but they were first timers in the gorge and hence lost the way. They reached at around 10 pm. Hats off.

Bhaskar offered me boiling water laced with some medicinal leaves to dip my foot into. It was soothing.

Pic 19 - Spot the Belpada hamlet in this picture taken next day morning. My colleague took 7 hours to trek back there via Pachnai and Sadhale ghat. After a 2 plus hour trek downhill, it was impossible for me to even limp any further. After reaching Pachnai, I took a jeep to Belpada via Brahmanwada and Otur. 150 kms approx. Reached at 4 pm where our cars were parked to be received by my colleagues who had reached about 15 minutes before me on foot.

Late lunch at Kamlu's house, rice bhakri, fresh vegetable and rice was equally satisfying as the dinner previous night was. 

Another 4 hour uneventful drive brought me home. 

Some takeaways,

1. Camp at Belpada the previous night and start early in the morning. We started at 1045 am and the sun sapped good amount of energy.
2. Go well equipped for climbing the rock face. Though it can be done even without ropes, proper equipment like Carabiners, harnesses reduce the risk significantly. 
3. Carry a lot of water. 
4. First timers - Take a local guide. It is very easy to get lost on the way. 
5. While going from Pune, park your vehicles at khubi phata/Khireshwar and travel by alternate hired vehicle till Belpada. Coming back to Khireshwar via Tolar Khind is much easier and saves time. This way, the trek can be completed in one day as well. 

What next? AMK..

Kalsubai - 8th Feb 2014

We left Pune at 545 pm and after picking up the last member at Chakan, it was a long frustrating drive negotiating the narrow, busy Nasik highway. After a quick dinner at Daulat, we reached Sangamner at around 930'ish. Took a left towards immediately after Sangamner bus stand to Akole --> Rajur --> Shendi. The last part was really lonely, no one to ask for directions and no GPS. Reached Shendi at 1130. Stayed at Yash resorts which we had booked a day before. Decent clean place.

8th morning: Started off with cold, probably stale kande-pohe in the morning. While driving towards Bari village the terrain keeps you guessing which one is Kalsubai. While driving in the previous night we didn't realise that we are gaining height. Once the pinnacle is spotted, it doesn't look like 1646 m at all because of the fact that Bari itself would be at approx. 500 m.

An enthusiastic guide Kiran caught hold of us even before we parked the vehicle. School-going sharp kid. The other Kalsubai temple you reach almost immediately after starting is in a nice location. We met an English speaking gentleman who was a sort of care-taker at the temple.

It is an easy climb up.

Pic 1: The steel ladders are something different that help you navigate some difficult patches. Total of 4 of them. The 3rd and 4th one nearest to the peak is steep. It must be fun when its raining.

The 2 camping spots are one each near both the temples. There is a well just before the peak so one good itinerary could be reaching up there, almost up to the peak in the evening. Pegging your tents there. Summit the peak next day morning, hardly 10 mins climb. Pack up and leave by 9 am.

Pic 2: A clear day that it was, the view is 'Top of the world'. Bhandardara reservoir, the AMK range and far-away in the horizon, Harishchandragad.

The small pinnacle gives you a summit feel. 2 hours 20 minutes was the time taken.

 Pic 3

Pic 4

Some uncalled for histrionics make the descent interesting. Pic 3 and Pic 4.

Lunch at Hotel Anandwan was good. The local fish was different. We took the other route via Bota avoiding Sangamner. Dont think we saved on distance. Definitely didn't save on time..Took 5 hours to reach home in Pune. Total odo was 420 kms. How apt.

Korigad - Jan 18th/19th, 2014

Giving the kids a taste of camping was the simple purpose of this trip. So here we were, 2 families off to Korigad accompanied by Mama-Mami from Mumbai. Korigad is an easy trek for kids, not far from Pune, not remote in case of emergency, ample water up there etc. Just ideal for the purpose. The winter chill is gone but it is cold enough to enjoy a camp fire.

We had to discourage the youngest one (3.5 years) out of the plan by describing the place with exaggerated details but the elder two cousins (10 years old) were all enthusiastic.

Route

Pune --> Lonavla --> INS Shivaji --> Bhushi dam --> Amby valley --> Peth Shahpur. Our total odo from home to Korigad and back was 177, so not very far as you can imagine. After a little confusion the 2 cars took separate routes, old highway and the expressway. We reached exactly the same time, so no value in paying extra for the Expressway. Lesson No. 1.

Pic 1 - Getting ready. The white structure you see on the left is amby-valley. The heaviest bag seen in the boot is left for the guy not seen in the picture. Seriously considering an alternate career.

Pic 2 - Initial portion is a bullock-cart road (gaadi rasta). This was followed by a jungle patch and finally the last portion was about 500 plus steps. Simple and easy. 60 minutes approx. The kids started picking up firewood as soon as we started and when it got too much to hold in the hand, we emptied a bag for the purpose. Anvit started feeling like an early man for whom firewood was the most important asset. And we haven't changed at all. Have we? Even today for the modern man, fuel is the reason to wage wars, albeit we have hopelessly complicated things.

Pic 3 - It was my turn to feel like an early man now. We had the whole fort-top for ourselves and it was a problem of plenty. Selecting the best spot to peg our tents. No constraints at all. I am sure it was the same question that haunted early settlers. And possibly like early man again, we had to get the ladies to approve the location. We pegged our tents on a flat area a bit away from the main darwaza to stay as far as possible from nuisance of others on the fort if at all. But not far from the pond.

Pic 4 - The kids were super excited once we were all set up. We trekked downhill a little to pick up a ready pack of unutilized firewood left back by a previous group. They were kind enough to point it out to us. The last batch of 3 reached while we were going down. Its a good feeling when all sheep is home.

Pic 5 - The sun went out. The toil of climbing up and setting up the camp ensured that the puri's and paratha's were quickly consumed. The kids were asked a question that had an obvious answer. Maggi?? YES. Came out the stove and flame-O. Thanks Ameya. It was for the first time I learnt maggi tastes so delicious when sipped from a funneled paper dish. No fork or spoons. Some really juicy black grapes made a perfect desert.

Pic 6 - It gets chillier when your stomach is full. After wasting a few newspapers to stoke the fire, a small piece of leftover flame-O from the stove came to our rescue. It was almost full moon. Some star gazing, some chit-chat kept the fire raging. There were no takers for the ghost stories I was trying to bring in for the kids. There were spectacular fireworks blazing from amby valley. And it was fun watching them way below us. We retired to bed at 915 pm but I couldn't sleep well. The tent started fluttering vigorously after midnight and the it was too bright moonlight piercing through the tent. Till 4 am we had the whole of fort all for ourselves until a noisy group appeared. I couldn't but help compare the civilized troop of curious monkeys who bothered us a little while setting up the earlier evening but disappeared into their homes leaving us to ours as soon as it was dark.

Pic 7 - Some tea in the morning. We used the natural stove this time and the tea was yum.

Pic 8 - Packed up. The only trace of a camp left behind was a bunch of leftover unused firewood for the next group. Don't want to get philosophical but hope you get the point. I kind of gained perfection in folding sleeping bags (seven of them) and a tent (twice).

Pic 9 - We started our descent at around 9'ish followed by high drama.

Two of us lost their way and ended up in an unintentional security breach for Amby valley. Thanks to cellular network, we got a frantic call by the lost party of having reached a place that has tar roads and bungalows around but no soul in sight whom they could ask where they are. Turning back was ruled out. We asked them to stay where they are until further instructions. After painfully explaining the situation to a zapped security apparatus at Amby valley and a going thru a meticulous SOP to resolve the crisis, they finally let our car inside accompanied by a security guard. One hour lost in the bargain but happy reunion. Last lesson: Though you are in a group, remember landmarks and names of places. 

Some chikki shopping and late breakfast at Ramakrishna, we were off to Pune. This time the old Mumbai Pune highway and it wasn't bad.