This time it was with my college group. We were just waiting
for the waters to start pouring. It was a few days before the college reopened.
It was a group of 15….all beginners. I gave them two options- either a one day
trek or an overnight one. After much discussion, they said they wanted to try
for an overnight trek. Well it had its own pros and cons. I was a little
reluctant since everyone was a first timer. My thought was to arrange a small
one day trek so that everyone gets acquainted with the concept of trekking.
Once that is done we can chalk out for a big one.
Since it was a trip planned after a long tiring summer
internship, everyone wanted it to be big. So for an overnight trek, 3 names
were shortlisted- Kalsubai, Bhimashankar and Harishchandragad as I had already
done these treks before. I wanted it to be a known place since it was my responsibility
to execute this trip.
The date, location and count were now finalised. Each one of
us started building our own fantasies about the trek. I personally called and explained them the
‘realities’ of the trek so that on the D day nothing comes as a shocker. The
complete itinerary, things to be carried, dos and don’ts were clearly
discussed. All set we were now ready to conquer Harishchandragad on 4th
July 2014.
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| The herd at the top |
As usual, the night before the trek I couldn’t sleep. Got up
at 5.45 am and left home at 7.00 am. We were supposed to meet at Kalyan station
by 8.15 am. After reaching Kalyan, we had a quick breakfast at a nearby hotel
and waited for Michelle who was kind enough to reach Kalyan by 9.30 from Kalwa.
After catching hold of her, we proceeded to the Kalyan bus depot to catch a bus
to Khubi Phata. We had to accommodate in 2 different buses due to inadequate
space. The journey would take a little more than 2 hours to reach the base
village. But our ST buses broke down near Narewali almost half way from Kalyan.
It took over an hour to make that creature come back to life. The other group
was informed to proceed to Khireshwar village after getting down at Khubi phata
so that we don’t lose time. We reached Khubi at 1.30 delayed by one and a half
hour.
Quickly we started marching towards the base village located 5 km from the stop. We met our colleagues from the other bus who had parked themselves on the benches outside a house and ordered some food for lunch. The lady took her own sweet time to prepare 6 plate maggi and after spending 40 more minutes we finally started the trek at 3 pm, now delayed by 1.5 hrs.
The route via ‘Tolar Khind’ is extremely long and takes around
4 hours for a beginner. Given the fact that it was monsoon and the weather could
change drastically as we climb higher, it was a fair idea to reach the top
before 6. Now it seemed rather impossible to make it in time. Within the first
thirty minutes, half of the herd was panting, taking a break every 5 minutes.
By now everyone realised it was not going to be an easy task. After an hour
into the climb, we reached a small table top of the hill. I announced that we
cleared level 1. To that the counter question was “aisa kitna level hai?’. Well
I had no answer for that. Proceeding further we reached ‘level 2’. From there,
the entire Pimpalgaon Jog dam was visible along with the route we had taken to
Khireshwar. Hot and humid weather with no traces of rain made climbing
difficult. We were at the top of Tolar Khind by now and after passing a small
Hanuman temple the famous rock patch stood in front of us.
Our speed had slowed down because of the nature of the
terrain. Abhilash was scared to wet his pants as he has acrophobia. He was
abusing me at every step he made for selecting this trek. Rekha had problems with
breathing, so she was finding it very difficult to climb. Few others had
similar issues. But we had already crossed the point of no return. So we had to
keep walking anyhow. It took 30 minutes to climb the rock patch. Once that was
done, we were 60% through. We halted for a small snack break and quick photo
session before initiating the mammoth task of climbing and descending 7
mountains to reach Harishchandragad top.
Now the weather started changing drastically, cold breeze and rain showers followed. It was a treat to the eye to see clouds sweeping past us. The moment the cloud covered the area, visibility dropped to a few feet and there was a sudden drop in temperature. It would clear in a few seconds. But as we proceeded, things started to get more intense, with this phenomenon continuing but the cloud cover never disappeared and we could never see everyone in one sight. We would keep a track of each other by shouting at regular intervals. If you receive a reply, it means the team is up and coming. I was ahead of everyone to trace and locate the route by following arrow marks. But the fog intensified so much that it was becoming very difficult to locate the marks.
At one such point, we followed a dry stream and went off track. Soon I realised that we were lost. It was past 6.30 pm with very little light left. I instructed the group to wait while I came back to retrace the route. They all were chilling in this weather taking pictures while I was sweating and jumping from one rock to another trying to locate the lost route. I was very much scared for those few moments. After searching for around 10 minutes, I found the track which was hidden behind an over growth. Changing our course, we once again marched to the top. Every 2 minutes, one of the group member would ask “aur kitna time lagega?”. I had no answer to that question. No matter how many times you have done trekking, but being in an isolated place like this with fog and vegetation around, everything looks same. It feels like a maze. The only parameter which you could rely on is time. It was 6.55 pm and gauging by that we should be reaching the top in next 20 minutes.
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| The Harishchandreshwar mandir glowing in the morning sun. Photo taken on my previous visit in Feb 2012. |
Finally, after 4 hours and 15 minutes I saw the red flag on top of the temple and that was it. We were at the top. I lay on the ground there for the next 5 minutes….relaxed!!! Then went near the caves where I met the villager whom I had contacted for food and stay arrangements.
We made our lodging arrangement in one of the caves in the
temple premises. It was freezing cold outside. The good villager brought us
tea. The next two hours were spent chit chatting. It was 9.30 pm when our care
taker got dinner for us. Bhakari, kanda-batata rassa, dal, rice and mirchi cha
thecha was on the menu. The food wasn’t that tasty but we were hardly in a
position to complain. Post dinner, we all sat on a bench outside the temple, with
our horror stories which everybody knew by now. After some time, the cold
became unbearable and we decided to get inside the cave.
There was a rumour that an Aghori Chillum baba comes to the cave at night. That was enough to scare a few female members who wouldn’t sleep because of his thought. I dispersed myself on the cold rock floor while others entertained themselves by playing cards. I was too tired to take part in any of those activities. Heard a few screams in the night. First I thought I was dreaming, later I came to know a few of our folks were screaming during the night because we had big black rats for company inside the cave. Some claimed to be bitten by them. I was in deep sleep to feel anything of that sort.
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| The return route to Pachnai |
The total per head expense was just Rs.450 for an overnight
trek that included food, travelling expenses and guide charges :P
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