My Life.....: August 2008

Kalsubai

Kalsubai (5,500Ft above MSL) is the highest Peak in Maharashtra. It is about 230Kms from Pune and 12Kms from Bhandardara. Kalsubai, Ratangad and Harishchandragad are all of the same Mountain Range. This is one place any Treker should never miss. It takes about 4:30Hrs to reach the top and the climb is pretty challenging. I wanted to climb Kalsubai since long. One of my friends from Bombay phoned me and informed me that they (a group of 30) had planned to trek Kalsubai during the weekend. I immediately agreed and asked my room-mate and a couple of friends, they too were interested. We were supposed to leave for Bhandardara (220Kms from Pune) by 1:00pm so that we reach before dark. Bhandardara is known for a lot of Wild-life and it is not safe to roam around in the dark. But when it was time for us to leave, my friends were not reachable. We (my room-mate and i) waited till 4:30pm and then decided to leave. So just the two of us left at 5:00pm and reached Sangamner by 6:45pm (130Kms in 1:45hrs - pretty fast !!). The rest of the journey was all ghats and lonely village roads. We could not find anybody even to ask for directions. No vehicles at all, we were the only humans and mine was the only bike, our Headlight was the only light. Finally we reached Bhandardara at 10:00pm and found a lodge, had good seafood, set the alarm for 4:00am and went to sleep. Woke up in the morning and got ready for the trek and when we were about to leave, the guy from the lodge told us to go once it is bright because of Wild animals. We were waiting near the window for the sun to come up. Left at 6:45am from the lodge reached the base village at 7:00am and met the group from Bombay. The 32 of us started treking by 7:15am and reached the top at 12:15pm. We had taken a lot of breaks because we were a big group and had to wait for everyone. The temperature was close to 16 degrees C on top and the wind was moist. The feeling of having climbed the highest peak in Maharashtra was awesome, felt a new kind of energy in me. We had to trek down and ride all the way back to Pune. So we did not spent much time on top. My room-mate and i bid goodbye to the rest of the group and started treking down. Reached our bikes by 3:00pm and started off immediately. We wanted to cross the ghats and cover maximum distance before darkness. Everything was going as expected until my bike had a flat-tyre and luckily the puncture shop was just about a kilometer away. Got it fixed. There was a kid at the shop who was amused at the collection of crabs, snails and the live snake that we had in our bag. We were taking it all home to grow as pets. After getting the tyre fixed, we left at around 7:00pm (1hr delay, but anyway we were lucky to find a shop near by). We had dinner at Narayangaon and reached home at 9:30pm. This was a very hectic day and the end of another awesome weekend ! Check the Photos below.

So green and beautiful !

Crossing a stream

My pet snake

Village Kids

Half-way up

The steep side

The first Ladder

Still a long way to go !

Looking down

Awesome view

Trust me.. this pic has not been edited (in fact, none of the pics on my blog have been edited)

The garden

The Snail posed for the pic

This is the highest point in Maharashtra

It was so cold, that even guys were hugging one another...lolz !!

The Top

Trying out my 18x optical zoom : Check the Bus (without zoom)

This is the same bus (zoomed 18x) clicked from the same place as the previous !

Playing with Kids

Bhandardara Dam

Foggy Waters

Beside the Dam

On the way back - Still a long way to Ride !!

Cheers !!

Lonavala

"Lonavala" - A very beautiful Hill-Station just 40Kms from Pune (Chinchwad). I really cannot count the number of times i have been here. The roads are too good for Bikers. It is real fun taking sharp turns on bikes. The photos explain the climate. This is a good place for a one-day trip. I've always enjoyed this place.

Bikers !

Wet Roads...

Awesome view !

A Pillion's view....

Time for a break !

Relaxing Off-Road

Time for Photos

Is this India ?

The Beauty and the Beast !

Awesome Balance !

I like this Pic

Looking up to me ?

Trying to Pose....

Amby Valley

Motography

Bikers

Harishchandragad

Harishchandragad is about 220Kms from Pune. The most beautiful thing about this place is the Konkan Kada (a concave cliff with a 1800m drop). Feroz, Rohit, Vijay and Myself left from Pune at around 8am on 3 bikes to Pachnai (the base village). The route that we had taken was Pune - Narayangaon - Sangamner - Akola - Rajur - Pachnai. The roads are pretty good till Sangamner and then it is all village roads for the rest of the journey. We had awesome lunch at Akola and also bought dinner. Reached Pachnai at 3pm and we hired a guide (Prakash) to take us to a cave on top where we could spend the night. We reached the cave by 7pm and found a pretty decent cave with a nice little pool of water inside and frogs playing in it. We had our dinner and started sleeping early we none of us had slept the previous day (because we all did night shifts and left immediately after our shift). Harishchandragad is known for Leopards and it was not safe for us to come out of our caves at night. So we were little (only we know how LITTLE :p) scared to come out of our caves. We just turned on the torch and left it near the entrance so that we will know if anything enters our cave. Rohit stayed awake almost all night with wierd imaginations running in his mind. We will never forget the way everyone was trying to scare one another with the Wild-Boar pranks. The night was really really thrilling. We came out of our caves with the torch and as there was too much fog, we could not see anything beyond 4 - 5 feet. There was no light at all. We slept pretty well and woke up in the morning, freshened up and went to Konkan Kada (just about 20 minutes away from our cave). Bad Luck as we could not see anything due to a lot of fog. But still the place was very good. Our Guide threw a empty bottle from the cliff and the bottle came flying back to him. This was due to the pressure of the wind. We captured this on tape. It was fun. We clicked some good photos and started our trek down to our bikes. We reached the village and started off at around 2pm. Went to Akola and had our lunch at 5pm and left for Pune. We wanted to cover the maximum distance before it got dark. We stopped just once at Narayangaon for a snack break and reached Pune by 9:30pm. We all met at Nasik Phata and bid good bye to one another and left for our homes. This was another good trip that we will never forget. Had a nice hot water bath and retired for the day.