Rajmachi was the first trek done by me in my life undoubtedly with my "kamine" friends..i developed a lot of interest in trekking after this trek because it was a wonderful feeling to go out of the city for 2 days that 2 with your friends and sit in the mother nature's lap who just knows to give you everything and doesn't expect anything back..i developed a serious interest in trekking thereafter.now,after completing rajmachi on 30 and 31st dec,2011 we guys had planned harishchandragad in diwali 2012..advance planning you know :)..no one had visited it but everyone had heard about it and i had asked it to many people..their response was making me eager to get there..days passed by and then came summer..i thought we can actually make it to harishchandragad during that time but it wasn't possible so we had to stick to our plan in diwali.meanwhile,parth(1 of my friends) was going for this beautiful trek..he asked me to join him but since he was going with some commercial group and also my lovely friends weren't coming so i said know..(aangaat masti na)..after parth returned i asked him,"how was the trek?"..he said,"it was awesome..i have never seen anything like konkan kada".. he narrated his whole experience to me only to increase my excitement and love for this trek..he visited via khireshwar..i was badly waiting for diwali now..days kept on passing and i had picked a sufficient enough information about the trek from google...i was waiting and waiting now meanwhile,i had done lohgad in between.diwali was near and i was so happy..wow..i had asked my friends(sanket,parth,vaibhav,gautam) to inform me 1 week prior to diwali so we can actually plan the trek well..i started to ask everyone individually whether he will be able to come but i was quite shocked to hear "NO" from everyone..everyone had his reasons..vaibhav had exams so he couldn't join us..sanket's parents didn't let him go because it was diwali then same was with gautam and parth..so finally my wait of 10 months was quite illogical then..dekha,itni bhi future ki planning mat karo..its of no use because anything can happen in future you don't know it..you haven't seen it..live in present and enjoy your life..i was very angry with everyone but i could understand everyone's problems and even gautam wanted to do ths trek badly so he said,"don't worry,we'll do this trek in december at any cost..if no one will be ready to come at that time i'll accompany you...we both will go"..this words gave me relief but i obviously wanted everyone to come..now after enjoying in the diwali it was the time for my exams..i was waiting for the exams to get over now..i wasn't worried for them at that time atleast :)..finally exams were over on 19th december and we had planned harishchandragad on 22nd-24th of december..i was itching to get there and was waiting for 22nd december to finally arrive..i asked every interested/non-interested person to join us..me and gautam were in..finally our team of 6 people me,kaushal,gautam,aniket,abhijeet and aditya were ready to do this trek..and now the pictures of konkan kada which i saw on google started popping into my head..the day before 22nd i was spending a sleepless night and was dreaming about the beautiful and amazing place..we decided to leave at noon(now this was again irritating me because i wanted to go in moring only so that i can actually reach the place faster)..initially we had decided to go via khireshwar,the most popular and frequent route to harishchandragad but gautam asked one of his friends who had already visited this place so that he could help us by giving us some local person's no. whom we can contact for food and accomodation purpose and believe me it worked wonders for everyone of us..we contacted bhaskar,our guide and a localite of belpada(now,walivare) and he(bhaskar) suggested us with the nalichi vaat..it wasn't the case with me that i didn't know about nalichi vaat having read many blogs about harishchandragad..i knew it was tough and no one would recommend it for the freshers and we hardly had any trekking experience..it was just my 3rd trek..i had heard about this route and one of the bloggers suggested me not to go with that route but gautam was not in a mood to listen..he said,"lets see what happens..bhaskar is there to guide us..and now,we will go via nali only and no other route"..to be honest,initially i was scared and the lone reason being i saw one picture of a man rapelling the mighty konkan kada and i thought it was nalichi vaat(what a childishness)..so we decided finally to go via nalichi vaat..i informed it to abhi,aniket,aditya that we have changed our route and now we'll be going by nali and not khireshwar after a bit of discussion everyone agreed but kaushal was left uninformed till we actually met at shivajinagar..all of us finally met at shivajinagar and now we were ready for our long waited trek..kaushal came and said,"see our bus for khireshwar is here so for what are we waiting now?"..i told him we are not going to khireshwar..he was muddled..he again asked me about the same i told him to be calm until we get on to our bus..finally we got our bus at around 4 pm and our journey towards harishchandragad began...since all of us were talkative it didn't take much time for us to get along..i introduced aditya,aniket and kaushal to gautam and abhijeet and our group of 6 awesome people with awesome attitude wa quite eager and excited to trek this place..since we had gautam,the notorious and best person of our group fun was always going to be limitless,he entertained everyone of us including the whole bus..he is superb..now kaushal asked me again,"what is the reason of us not going via khireshwar?"..i repllied,"we are going via the toughest route possible to reach harishchandragad i.e. nalichi vaat(maakad naal route)"..he was supershocked and gave me a puzzled look..he was completely clueless and restless..i told him,"we have changed our plan..and now we are going via nali... you are ready to come so the route shouldn't make any difference for you".he was still a little angry..but i later told him,"don't worry,relax at the moment and make your mindset strong now..even i am doing the same"..meanwhile everyone else was chilling nad relaxing..and finally around 7 pm we reached at alephata..from there we had no means to reach belpada now so we were searching for some vehicle to drop us till moroshi.bhaskar was going to pick us from there..we waited for almost 1/12 hrs but we didn't get anthing..finally,a bus came but its cost was 2 much..it was 88 quite unaffordable since we had reached alephata from shivajinagar in 88rs :).at last,we prepared group of 3 people..one gropu included me,aniket and aditya while the other included gautam,abhijeet and kaushal and we started doing masti..once again my patience was being tested but i knew it was just the matter of time and i was right..while doing masti we saw one jeep and aditya asked him"could you just drop us till moroshi?" and what he heard as a reply was rib tickling answer..the driver was drunk..he said,"moroshi?" and what aditya heard was mauritius..we all started laughing like hell..the driver demanded 1500 rs(as i said he was drunk,now we had a proof then :)..finally,we saw 2 trucks of mother diary passing by the same route..mazak mazak main aniket asked them to drop us and wow he agreed and he said he would charge 40..i was very happy then..i called abhi,gauti and kaushal and since there were two trucks we had to seperate..me and aniket stayed in 1 truck and rest four stayed in another truck..we also had some locals sitting with us and our night journey towards moroshi via malshej ghat started..our driver was full of life,talkative..he started talking with us and even we asked him questions about malshej ghat,the life he led ad harishchandragad..he said its an awesome place to go..i smiled..he told about many incidents rather incidents leading to accidents..we thoroughly enjoyed with him..we laughed a lot with him..we didn't even know each other but the bond we had developed within 15 mins was special..remember,always talk to locals they feel good and makes you feel good too..their life is tough and they are very honest,happy people..he was happy with us too..first truck went way too ahead..we didn't know where to stop so again i was quite afraid..meanwhile i was completely enjoying the ride through the jungle of malshej ghat..it was simply superb and very cold out there..you can't experience that air and that feeling in city..we stopped at khubi phata and he asked us to call gauti and ask him where to stop but there was no network..vaanda zala re!!!!(quite tensed)..after sometime we reached our destination i.e. moroshi and gauti stopped our truck and i was relieved now..that driver charged 50rs. from us..(i think 10 rs rxtra for his badbad)..and finally we met bhaskar and we had tea there at bhaskar's friend's house..while having tea,we were talking about the trek and since i was quite afraid i asked bhaskar about the trek..he said,"why are you worrying when i am there with you"..i gave a sigh of relief..now i was relaxed..we met four other people who were there to trek with us..they were from mumbai..they had already done this trek twice but via khireshwar now they were here to do it via nali..they were very good people and got settled with us pretty fast..there names were ganesh,suraj,pankaj(same as that of me..famous people with famous names are everywhere you know :)and aswin..we now started our journey towards base village i.e. walivare and had loads of fun in the jeep..i was harassing bhaskar by asking him hell lot of questions..i knew almost everything about this trek and everyone present in the jeep was surprised about my knowledge regarding this trek..at that time came an absolute gem of a joke from gauti-the best entertainer..since i knew everything he named me "GOOGLE"..and everyone started laughing..this time more loudly and for a very long time..we finally reached walivare..had dinner there and went for a walk..we then had some fun there listening to some good music..i was getting restless now..i was very very happy to be there..there were people who had rapelled kada..it was superb to hear that..meanwhile,wild rangers,a group of trek and sahyadri lovers came but i didn't know much about them then..i was just 2 treks old so i didn't had much knowledge about different groups and trekkers..finally we slept and we slept in the open..it was very cold there..i was sleepless..we decided to start our trek at 8am..everyone was taking rest now..while i was sleeping a dog who stayed nearby came and slept with us i realised it when after sometime and then i slept quietly..even he was feeling very cold..and finally the day arrived..23rd december,2012 when we are going to trek the harishchandragad..one of the most beautiful mountains in the world..when i wake up i started looking for the beautiful views of malshej ghat and mountains around it..the view that i got was superb...finally we started our trek at 8 am..and our journey began..always remember,"It is journey that matters and not the destination"..bhaskar started with us..slowly slowly he was telling us evrything about this trek..we were enjoying the initial short walk in the jungle..we came at one point where we had fil our bottles since there wasn't any source of water till we got to the top..from there the actually trek..the actual nalichi vaat was starting..so bhaskar said,"enjoy here itself,it's going to be quiet tough road ahead"....now we parted ways..gauti and aniket were climbing very fast..me,abhi,kaushal,aditya and rest of our team slowed down..the climb had started..for almost 10 mins we kept on climbing it was the first rock patch among the 4 rock patches and we were tired..our heart started beating very fast..we rested and then again started..bhaskar said we have to do this till the end of the trek because this is not even the 10% of the trek..the sun was on our head..we started feeling the heat..we proceeded slowly..for a moment i thought,"this trek is going to kill me..why the hell am i here?"..i was losing it at the begining only..but then i decided not to give up..i thought of komkan kada and after that i never thought in a negative way..we hiked it and now started enjoying our climb..it was fun..it tests your stamina,mindset and everything but you enjoy it..we were able to view the mesmerising rohidas peak and konkan kada since we were climbing keep kada parallel to us..the view we got was a view to die for..when we had climbed 1st rock patch we weren't able to believe ourselves beacuse the climb was complte 90 degrees..everyone was bit tired but since we wre taking rest at regular intervals it wasn't that tiring..i was feeling blessed to get such a view..we were covered by rocks and the climb was getting tougher and tougher by the time moved on..finally after a long time of almost 2 or 3 hrs we completed first rock patch..2nd and 3rd rock patch are difficult..1st is not that difficult but it sets you in the mood..1st rock patch takes a loto f time..2nd rock patch is really very tough and it tests you..we had a wonderful guide in bhaskar with us therefore we didn't have many problems...now we required rope..i had never before in my life climbed so i was quite nervous so i decided to go last..i was enjoying the view till that time and was collecting beautiful views and making wondeful memories..it was treat to eyes..finally i climbed and it was fun..majja aali..i got stuck at the end point but abhi,kaushal,bhaskar and aditya helped me out..we completed the 2nd rock patch..when i looked down to what we had achieved it was very satisfying as well as thrillling..i was clicking pictures like hell..harishchandragd is a superb place or call it a paradise for photographers..3rd rock patch takes you almost to the top.it is quite slippery here..its all about scree here..while i was cimbing and kaushal was following me the soil was lose and i wasn't able to spot it and then came 1 of the scariest moment of the trek..i left 2 back to back rocks and it went on to kaushal hurting him on his hand..he got saved from a serious injury since the rocks were quite big..he ducked them..everybody scolded me and i was silent...finally to reach the 4th rock patch we had to take a turn and had to climb again with the rope but this time it was real thrill and very tough..a mistake here and it would have costed dearly..may be you could even lose you life.i decided to climb last once again...and the most scariest moment of the trek came when abhi was crossing that point..he was climbing it neatly but he was clueless where to take the grip..it needed streching..he climbed halfway through successfully but then he slipped and was hanging in the air..ohh my gosh..what a scary moment it was!!! everyone there was looking concerned and i watched it closely so i was afraid too..next turn was mine but i was pretty confident having climbed the 2nd patch successfully..i was again enjoying the view..we were on a great height now..abhi somehow climbed it and i could see him being very afraid and his heartbeats were rapid..for a moment everyone had their hearts in their mouth..it was my turn now..everyone motivated me and it did it quite superbly..now we were nearing to the end of the 3rd patch..we had to climb a bit again and then a walk through the mountains was going to take us to the end of the 3rd rock patch...the climb was looking simple but it wasn't..i got stuck at that moment but again aditya,kaushal and bhaskar's friend helped me out again..now were quite on top..had to cross a little patch again and then we were going to get refreshment..till that point of time i was looking here and there enjoying every bit of it but at this point of time i gave up..i didn't had the daring to view down..it was very scary...a huge mountain infront of us and a slip making us a past..we got stuck ther ince wild rangers had lot of members and they were slow movers..we waited for almost half hour there..badi mushkil se khada tha yaar waahan pe..it was very precarious man..finally we crossed it and came very close to the 4th rock patch..we had refrehment(limbu paani) there..everyone drank almost 7-8 glasses.saala mujhe to ek bhi nahi mila..i was clueless..but well i didn't need it when i had beautiful mountians surrounding us..we had lunch there..meanwhile gauti and aniket had already reached on top..they did it in 6-7 hrs only..finally after finishing our lunch and refreshments which again took 1 hr we started to climb again..we were only 10 mins way from the mystic konkan kada..the last patch was quite easy and very very scenic since it was almost the top..we climbed that patch and yes we did it..i did it..we were there..i was there on my dream destination after my long wait of almost one year..the view of konkan kada was superb,mind blowing,mesmerising...it was massive,incredible man..hats off to the nature for such a wonder..we were surrounded by mountains everywhere..it took 8 hrs for us to complete the trek..but patience pays off..and in what way..everyone turned on their cameras..we were just sitting and capturing the beauty of konkan kada..it was awe-inspiring..kada is circular,concave shaped cliff..it is very mysterious..some people were rapelling kada and it was great to see them rappel..they did it quite superbly..hats off to them....meanwhile gauti and aniket went for a bath where the water was very cool..even i wanted to take a bath but we were specially there for the sunset..i had heard from someone that to watch sunset from kada its an absolute treat for eyes so no way i was going to miss it..we were sitting on the kada now and wow..it was such a divine and amazing feeling..we had some food there..and it was all smiles there..everyone was very happy and satisfied..sunset was nearing so i took out my camera and what a beautiful sunset and golden light it was..heavenly!!!!! now we started discussing about various topics and shared our experiences with each other..it was superb feeling to sit on kada and chit chat..it just makes you forget about everything else..then we went on to have our dinner..after having dinner we were finding a place to rest..we decided not to go for a tent and sleep in the once space only since that would be the kind of experience which we have never experienced before..our plan of bonfire was partly successful since some people came and claimed that we used their place..they had done all the hard work for it..we didn't knew it so we started it but later on when we came to know this we went on to sleep..we laughed hard then..me,abhi,aditya,aniket and kaushal slept in the sleeping bag whereas gauti slept using our shawls that we had brought along with us..it was very cold there..we had to wake up early in the morning since we had to see the beautiful sunrise from taramati which was 20-30 mins walk from the mighty kada..i slept without caring too much..the day was satisfying so the sleep was much needed..we woke up at 6 and bhaskar started shouting at us and told us to get ready quickly since there was a chance that we could miss the sunrise..we rushed and started our walk towards taramati..there was a lot of crowd there since it was the weekend..i thought thi walk will be easy but it was little bit steep but we kept on moving and pushing ourselves..here also,there were 2 small rock patches..."kya yaar,bachche ki jaan loge kya?"..rock patches everywhere..i had to watch the sunrise a any cost so time around i stayed 2nd or 3rd and not last and now i had got some confidence in me..the kada was looking beautiful like always..i was only 2 mins away from the peak now and someone said,"sunrise jali re"..i got irritated and worried too..i started moving quite fast now but somewhere down the line i was like,"what's the use of rush now,i have already missed the sunrise"...but then i heard gauti calling me and he said,"patkan ye ajun nahi jali sunrise".i ran very hard..took out my camera and as soon as i did that the sun rose..this was the most beautiful and best moment of our trek to HCG...every single person was there to witness it..it was stunning silence there and the views of surroundind area from taramati were commanding..pimplejogaon dam was easily seen in the background..everyone was busy clicking pictures..this is the place where we clicked our maximum number of pictures..ganesh was not feeling well..his vomitted many a times so he was not able to enjoy that much with us..we felt quite bad for him..finally,it was time to say good bye to pankaj,suraj,aswin and ganesh..the decided to descend via pachnai whereas we were going to descend via khireshwar(from where we are actually going to ascend..phew!!!! :))..no one wanted to leave..its always difficult to leave you know..we decided to trek somewhere again if possible and told them to keep in touch on facebook...finally they left and we started descending taramati..we did it in 20 mins..clicked some pictures there..and we were back again on the kada..i told everyone to have one last look at kada again since we don't know when we will visit this place again..we again spent 20-30 mins there..we did a small experiment there..we took gauti's handkerchief and threw it..i had heard due to gravity and the wind,sometimes on a windy day if you throw a coin it returns back..initially the handkerchief came back but then it just went away..it was fun there..it was damn windy..we had our breakfast and now we were on our way to khireshwar for descend..it was time to say good bye to bhaskar..it was again a bit emotional moment..without him the trek wasn't possible and hence we thanked him..he charged only 300rs from us which was a surprise to us...he normally charges a bit more but since he knew pavan,a friend of mine and gauti through him only we got to contact bhaskar so bhaskar thought we were great friends of pavan he charged less from us..we moved on..we started our descend towards khireshwar..i didn't want to go again but aisa thodi hi hota hai bhai..keeping a stone on my heart we moved..now we were relaxed and the walk through the jungles began..we had to cross 7 jungles but since it was descent and since we had done the difficult route way towards khireshwar was a cakewalk for us.we decided to take a bath at that shivalinga..gauti and aniket had already taken it..i had heard about the water being very cold and indeed it was very cold..it was -1..you can imagine it now!! we took a bath there and i felt so fresh,i can't tell you..i didn't even feel like i had trekked through nalichi vaat..it was very very refreshing..now we left for khireshwar.we kept on moving enjoying each and every moment of our journey..it was again very beautiful..i kept camera in my hand and was clicking pictures..the nature was offering a lot to us so i grabbed this oppurtunity to watch it with both my hands..we descended quite fast even though we had no hurry..we descended and descended..we didn't take a single break and had already crossed 3-4 jungles..i had heard of a rock patch that comes while descending khireshwar..it is the only rock patch from khireshwar to harishchandragad..it took merely 5-10 mins for us to descend it..damn good man..finally,kaushal wanted to take a break so we took the lone break on our way to khireshwar..after 10 mins of break we started descending again..now we didn't wait till the time we got to khireshwar..the pass through the jungle was enjoyable and simple..it was very dense pass though..finally we were in the khireshwar and we had decended only in 2 and half hours..not bad people!!!we were going towards the bus stand but we saw one bus which just came in and was going to leave in a minute or so..we ran like hell and finally catched the bus..now it was the time to rest in the bus and watch some beautiful scenes of mountains and pimplejogaon dam in khireshwar..we took a bus going for otur..so after an hour or so we finally reached otur..we had to wait for the pune bus there..we almost waited for 2 hrs but we didn't get a single bus..it was irritating for everyone of us..the otur bus came back once again and the lady conductor asked us,"you people are still here?" gauti said,"kay,tumchya ithe tar punyala jaaysaati bus ch nahiye"..we laughed in unison including the lady conductor..finally we got a bus which was going to drop us till manchar..now everyone was quite bugged so we rested..we reached manchar..we got our bus for pune but it was crowded so we had to stand now which irated me..already we were all tired and now we had to stand for almost 2-3 hrs but after the trek my mindset had became even more strong so i decided o stand happily..everyone got place after sometime but i didn't get one..i had to stand for a very long time..finally i got a seat and i was relieved..i was feeling sleepy now..we came near shivajinagar and gauti said,"chal aala shivajinagar,uth"..i was like'"evdhya laukar aala"..everyone giggled..we reached shivajinagar..we had a wada pav there and everyone was on there way towards home..me,gauti and abhi stay nearby so were together..kaushal went via rickshaw and aniket and aditya went together..so this was how we completed out trek to HCG..i would like to say,"PATIENCE" is ver important in our life..in a way,it is key to success..if i would have visited HCG in diwali it was sure that i was going to do it via khireshwar but god tested me,my patience and i was given a beautiful and pleasurable surprise of doing it via nali..wait for your turn..life is beautiful..god had planned it beautifully for you..special thanks to gauti and pavan too..this was arguably the best weekend of my life..that's way the title of my blog reads "WHERE I LEFT MY HEART"..don't forget to post your comments/views/suggestions..they are most welcome..happy trekking people..enjoy!!!!
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| first view of mighty konkan kada..this was the reason we were here..we were lucky to witness the kada from the bottom itself..damn lucky..i was stunned by this view.. |
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| i was thoroughly enjoying it... |
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| our group of 10 people..gautam,pankaj,ganesh,suraj,aswin,aniket,me,kaushal,aditya and abhijeet from left..all set to go.. |
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| view from walivare |
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| me climbing the 2nd rock patch... |
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| left side view of mountains at the start of our trek |
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| see how steep it got after sometime..and what a superb view we got..we weren't able to believe that we came through this route.. |
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4th and the last rock patch and finally we were on top...great moment...
great... |
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| wow.. |
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| mountains..they always fascinate me.. |
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| keeda...aniket,gautam and ahijeet from left.. |
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during our walk @ night
at the begining of our trek
mesmerising view of kada and rohidas while climbing..superb...
in the middle what we see is rohidas peak and to the left is the mighty kada..how beautiful!!
how's this one????
2nd rock patch which was quite tough..abhi was the first to climb it..
aditya climbing the 2nd rock patch
peeping throughh the nali..mind blowing..
how good is this...
couldn't believe my eyes..we came through this narrow route..phew!!!!
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