Gorakhgad Trek!!!
Trek Participants :9
Shraddha(S/w Engg) ,
Khyati (BSc Student),
Rags (S/w Engg),
Sajuba ( Msc Student),
Preeti (Grad..to get married),
Kushal(Advertisement & Promotion),
Pratik(Dads Construction Business) ,
Aateek (Indian Express Journo) ,
Mayank (Mid Day Journo).
Trek Duration : 1 Day
Grade : Easy
Route : Dadar--> Kalyan (Train)-->Dehari (ST Bus)
Description :
This trek was quite different from most of my treks and one of
the most adventerous ones I have had...Well to start off I logged
on to the Internet at night 10:40 PM on friday night and decided
we shall goto this place on saturday..The trek to Dhak-Bahiri got
cancelled...But Saj insisted to have this trek so I decided lets
do an easy one and have fun...But boy oh boy I never thought this
one would be so not easy!!
Anyways..after that we were on time at dadar 6:10 am..Swaminaryan
temple...took the kalyan return tickets....and took a 6:20 Kalyan
slow local...Rags was also on time..and we caught him at Kanjurmarg
Station...He wanted to sleep in the train as he slept on friday night
at 1:00 am..But we did not let him sleep :)...Even I had slept at 2:00
but the spririt of adventure kept me alive...
Next we reached Kalyan at 7:44 am...And took a Mhasa Bus to Murbad...
I & Saj rushed to get some Vada-Pavs for breakfast in the bus as rags
was really hungry..Really nice & fresh & Soft Vada Pavs....Good
Breakfast is really important for a good trek!!
We reached Murbad at 8:45 am.... And the bus to Navrili was at 9:15 am..
So we killed some time out there..The conductor saw us with our rucksacks
and guessed we were goin to Gorakhgad..The bus ride was really noisy..But
it is okay...
We Reached the base village by 10:00 am and started our adventure in the
wild woods.... To mark the start of the trek...We saw a nice Temple....
The trail starts from behind this temple..The locals were nice....They
told us to write our names in the register as someone had been murdered
2-3 days on this very same trail..Terrific start dont u think so??
Next we took a wrong turn and some local guided us to come down and showed us
the right path..he also took 10\- bucks from us per head for some stupid
donation for the forest!!! But anyways we paid..
The trail was pretty straight forward...But we took a wrong turn and landed
up bein lost again....we walked for an hour or so and realised the trail was
a dead end leading to a ridge... A bit disappointed we decided we shall go back
to the plateau and take a turn...
On our way back to the plateau we heard 2 people telling us to wait...It
was Mayank n Pratik...apparently they had lost their way...We thought they
would show us the right path..But look at the luck!! We found lost trekkers in
the woods on the wrong path!! Faith it looks to me was against us on this one..
ANyways we reached the plateau and decided that I,Saj & Mayank(apparently we
thought we are good trekkers) will go back to the temple and get some local
guys to show us the path....So remaining people were chillin at the plateau
when we 3 trekkers rushed back to get some local people...Once there we met
another group of trekkers from Hewitt Associates..the typical Maharashtiran
type trekkers who told us they will show us the way.... So we trekked
with them till the plateau...
Once reaching the plateau the typical-maharashtrian-trekkers zoomed ahead
and did not help us with the path..... When I reached the plateau I saw
2 more people added to the group..Krushal n Aatek..apparently that had
a near death experience and Rags had rescued them from some waterfall trail
where there was no water!! ;) .. Way to go Raghu Jetli!! :D
so 9 of us decided we shall finish this trek no matter what...Saj was really
tired with the double trek...So I had to keep motivating her...to move on..
And even the 2 adventerous guys...They were apparently very tired...So
motivating everyone we somehow managed to reach the righ trail and were
enjoying it... At a point i thought Saj would not finish the trek..But
Parle-G & Nice Biscuits along with some water & TANG(Vitamin C) helped us
all to go on...and capture the mountain!!!
While food & water was a source of energy for me atleast...For Kushal
and Aatek it was cigs...to give them stamina..Whatever it was..It kept
all of us going...
We reached a flat plateau after which we were supposed to climb the
rocky staircase to get to the cave...This part was really scary...As
when you are climbing if u look down its a valley..u look ahead u cant
c anything but rocks and u look behind u have a valley...People get
stuck on the stairs and scream...Was difficult to motivate people...
But ours was a group of fighters...and all of us made it to the cave..
Next we had more stairs to the Gorakhad Balconcy Seat Caves as what I
call!!! Beautiful View...nice monkeys also..Terrific view...
Worth all the effort.... We had a bitch(yes..an
actual dog)...right from the start to the end of the trek..man what
stamina do dogs have!!
Next Rags got water from the cistern...somehow he managed..we freshed
up and had lots of clean water....and now it was lunch time.... We
clicked a couple of snaps..listened to some music.... And had nice
lunch..
Mayanks Theplas n Chunda rocked!!!! N people tried thepla with Lays
tomato chips,chunda,masala rice.....Giant Gujju Frankie as I call!!
We guys got along really well..Listened to some more music...these
guys took an after lunch fag..n Kushal's cigs ash was comin down
on my trek pants..which was not so cool!!!
We were on the top till 4ish...Then we started out our descent....
Which was initially a bit scary .. But once done with the rocky
stair case..it was a normal descent trek.....
Kushals Designer jeans were awesome...with his broken shoes he
somehow managed to get down!!!
And Preeti did really well..considering it was her first trek..her
fear of heights...n her migrain problem....
Rags did really well..Helped Khyati a lot during the descent and
he I think thoroughly enjoyed the trek..... He kept on singing
like me to keep the gang going on.... Khyati sang some really
irritating Punjabi songs in the jeep on our back to Murbad..
From Murbad to Kalyan..in the jeep we played antakshari....
which was fun..coz we sang all crappy songs!!! And as u know
the guys lost to the gals! ;)
Next we took a fast train 8:06 PM from Kalyan to Dadar...
And for the first time i reached home at 10:00 Pm...a very
decent time to reach home..
Nice trekking experience!!! Very adventerous!!! Met new
trekkers n rescued people...got lost... had a slightly risky
rock climb... n great water n food..what more can u ask on
a trek?? :).....