Naneghat

After a good opening of the trekking season '17 with the Bhimashankar Trek, the next trek was to Naneghat. We trekked to Naneghat on 22nd July 2017.

A few points about the trek:

• Trek Difficulty: Beginner level
• Risks due to rains: Low ( No direct exposure to valley)
• Base (Kalyan-Malshej Road) : Easily accessible by public transport as well as personal vehicles
• Alternate Access: Naneghat plateau can be trekked to or reached directly by vehicles via Junnar side

After Bhimashankar, the next trek on Mr Rakesh's (alias Fowdy's) wishlist was Jivdhan. The initial plan was to do a stay in the Naneghat 'Guha' on Saturday and then ascend Jivdhan the next day and return. Even before Bhimashankar, Nithya and Dimple (my engineering mates, roll nos. 1 and 6) had suggested that they would be interested to trek with us. They weren't available for Bhimashankar but Naneghat-Jivdhan was an affirmative. My childhood friend Tej became interested as well. (He was also interested for Bhimashankar. So was another childhood friend Prithvi. Their interest had potential. Tej's became kinetic for Naneghat. Prithvi's is still a potential.) Because of this newer and bigger group and a circulation of a random post on our WhatsApp group regarding the risks of Jivdhan in monsoon, we decided to avoid a hectic climb and a stay and changed our earlier two-day Jivdhan plan to a one-day Naneghat one. 

Nane means coin in Marathi. Naneghat was earlier a pass used by traders to reach the higher plateau from the west. There was even a toll collected. (One can see a big broken 'Handi' atop Naneghat which people claim was a storage for the toll coins collected)

I had been to Naneghat in 2008. One fond memory was seeing rain at a distance, as a translucent white patch between the sky and the land. I could see it coming towards me. (When I see now the same phenomenon from my house on the 19th floor I think I do feel like a veteran.) The others being eating hot Maggi noodles in the cave, singing songs on guitar and sleeping awkwardly in the cave with cramped up bodies. Though not for a stay this time, I was excited to revisit so that I could visit the excitement of a revisit. I would also like to quote a dialogue from an excited uncle in one of our Kesari tour visits, to Kashmir - ''Humne 25 saal pehle Kashmir dekha tha. Ab firse dekhne aye hain"

The Pune group (Rakesh, Chaitanya, Sameer and Akhil) reached Kalyan by the Siddheshwar Express. The Mumbai public ( Nithya, Dimple, Tej and I) reached Kalyan by 0700 hrs instead of 0630. (The reason being that trains usually have an unconditional halt between Airoli and Thane according to Dimple. Or maybe she woke up late. Though amends were made, as she was the bearer of cream biscuits)

The Pune group had already had breakfast when we met them outside Kalyan. And tea. You can only do so much after waiting for an hour outside Kalyan station. Probably this wait frustrated them enough to inspire them to deceive us into drinking an 'Amrutatulya Chaha' which was actually very 'Vaalka'. Nithya and I had a decent Pohe breakfast while Mr. Tej Tambe treated himself with a bit of South India. I cannot proceed without giving due justice to the aroma of the Kalyan bus depot's gent's urinal. Simply rejuvenating and blissful.

We boarded the S.T for the Malshej route at 0730 hrs. The conductor had some trouble understanding our desired stop. Finally she consulted a regular traveller and punched 4 tickets for the Mumbai group. I gave her a 100 rupees note. With one of the looks of the century, she said the total was Rs. 410. Phew.

It was a very scenic ride due to the fresh flora outside and life chats with the ladies, inside. Dimple, Nithya and I were meeting together after 3 years and the first time since Dimple got married. 3 engineers analysing the phase.

We reached the Naneghat base in around 2 hours. Overall, the climb was comfortable - not slippery, not steep, not with any risk of a valley fall. It was raining just the right amount.

In one of our breaks, Chaitanya sang a wonderful rendition of KK's 'Abhi Abhi'. There is something about a well sung song in the middle of a trek surrounded by trees. Thank You Chaitya. While it was raining, we also managed to take some pictures with Dimple's 'You hold the umbrella, I will take the pic' strategy.

Finally we reached the toll pass atop. One difference I noticed immediately was that the cave now had grills. And it was amazingly windy and foggy atop.

We managed to take shelter in a dilapidated food truck shed and ignoring our packed food completely, gave order for hot and fresh Vada Pav, Bhurji Pav for the egg-eaters and tea. I tried to distribute the dozen bananas in my bag but my execution fell way short of my enthusiasm. 

With the Pune travel time in mind, we decided to start the descend quickly. I clicked pictures whenever I could while protecting my phone from the water.

Chaitanya brought back a lot of memories by discussing about Sandip and Salil's amazing works. There were an emotional few minutes during his recital of the last para of 'Mi Pappancha Dhapun phone'. There were a few exchanges of Zakir Khan's and Rahat Indori's Shayaris with ample contribution from Fowdy. *This reminds me that I have to add to the previous blog, Sameer's wonderful narration of the Peshwai and the Peshwa hierarchy, while we were ascending Bhimashankar. Belated Thanks, Samya*

Our descent took around 2 hours and we took rest in the food-shed stalls. We had toop-gool poli, chutney poli, Maggi and tea. 

We then boarded the S.T for Kalyan and the ticket was Rs. 310 instead of Rs 410 for 4. Bittersweet indeed. Destiny awarded Tambe and me seats on the last row. We were in dire need of sleep but the driver did his very best to keep us active and occasionally jumping. The situation reminded me of Pu La's 'Mhais'.

Tambe and I got down at Dadar at 2000 hrs. Vaseline was a silent warrior during and after this trek. 

Tips:

1. Start your ascent by 0900 hrs. This timing is strictly with respect to monsoon.

2. You can comfortably reach the base by both public transport and private vehicle from the Kalyan-Malshej side. 

3. A road can also directly take you atop Naneghat via the Junnar side.

4. From Mumbai, there are local trains till Kalyan. Punekars can take Siddheshwar (has sleeper facility) so that they start and end early.

5. Take any S.T plying along the Malshej route from the Kalyan depot which is just outside the west end of Kalyan station. Inform the conductor to stop the S.T when it reaches the Naneghat base. (There isn't a planned stop otherwise.) Bus journey is approx 2 hours.

5. Since there is a jungle area during the trek, avoid wearing shorts.

6. This is a very simple trek and an excellent choice for beginners who want to enjoy monsoon trekking safely.       

Bhimashankar via Shidi Ghat

I am writing this blog post to summarize my Bhimashankar trek of 9th July 2017. Mostly, when I had searched for the information for this trek, it was more or less suited for large trekking groups.
I think this post may help individual /small group trekkers like me.

Till Bhimashankar base (Khandas):

I did this trek with Rakesh and Sameer who were coming from Pune. As I was coming from Mumbai, the plan was to meet at Karjat station where the Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express comes at around 0800 hrs. Tip: Try to reach Karjat by 0600 hrs.

After meeting at Karjat (got out from the left end when facing Pune end), had some Chaha, Pohe and Shira outside.
For reaching Khandas, usually larger groups take a direct 'tum-tum' which is convenient and time-saving. For smaller groups or individuals, one has to take a tum-tum (per seat basis) to Katav.
From there, one can get an S.T or another per seat vehicle till Kashele. Here, there could be a waiting time up to 30 mins till the vehicle owner completes his/her wish for filling the full capacity of seats. Or rather even more. Once at Kashele, you will need to take another per seat vehicle till Khandas (Waiting time there as well).
If you are short on time and more on money, you can also do a direct vehicle or buy out the remaining seats.

We took a per seat till Katav (Rs 20), then an S.T till Kashele (Rs 10) and then took the entire per seat till Khandas (Rs 250 total). We reached Khandas at around 1040 Hrs and started the climb.

Just FYI, there is also the Ganesh Ghat route which is easier but it takes more time. We had already decided to take the Shidi Ghat route for saving time and having an adventure. Just search for Shidi Ghat pics and you will know why!

This was the view when we started:

The Ascent:

As we started walking, at times there were multiple ways ahead to take and we had to rely on 'Maushi, Shidi Ghatacha Rasta Kuthcha' for the right direction.
We proceeded walking for about 20 mins when we reached a stream with a group of people enjoying the splashes. Unfortunately, while crossing the stream, I got my shoes all wet. Rakya and Samya, the keen observers they are, removed theirs. And had a laugh over my plight. Their laugh was only short-lived though thanks to the rains of the future.

We were getting blazed by the heat. Quite a sudden change in climate. Had a tough one and half hours during this time. It then became cloudy and pleasant once again. After some time, we reached the first set of ladders. Your fright of height if any will be duly tested here. Also, there are a few steps broken and missing to add to the Masala. I climbed up first and saw Sameer literally looking down, slowly climbing one foot at a time, and chanting something profusely. While Rakesh was climbing, we tried all sorts of banter to make him more nervous (Please don't try this ;) ). The part after the ladder was the most difficult of the trek. At first, we thought there was no path up ahead. Probably due to Monsoons, there might have been some damage due to rocks displacing and falling.
We somehow made way through a steep rock patch by trying to grip our shoes and faith somewhere on the rocks and made it up. I think the Shidi Ghat is an average trek overall wrt climbing risks but for this patch. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, PLEASE AVOID THIS ROUTE, ESPECIALLY DURING THE MONSOON. After some time, we reached the second set of ladders. These were small compared to the previous ones. The first one didn't have a good grip; when I set my foot on its first step, the ladder's top left its resting point momentarily. Probably the upper lock wasn't tight enough to keep it unmoved all the time. Nevertheless it was safe to climb on. After climbing the ladders, again we had to move around a bit to find a path to reach atop the high rocks above us. A guy from another group found one and hence we followed. The view was mesmerising as ever now. We could see the rains approaching.

It started raining heavily and with the kind of scenery around, it felt that this was all worth it already!
After some time, we reached a resting hut wherein they also sold tea, limbu sarbat, corn cob and Parle G biscuit packs. One can only know the true value of food and rest in such situations. Although, please carry sufficient water and food for the trek as there is nothing available till this point.
We then entered a forest type trail for quite some time.

Finally we reached the top at around 1500 hrs. After a few minutes, reached the entrance of Bhimashankar temple. We walked our way till the temple entrance but came back because of the long queue. Here, there were lot of corn, 'kandi pedhe' and other stalls along the path. We couldn't resist the aroma and taste of fresh kandi pedhe and hence took 'pav kilo' for a nice sugar shot.
After a while, we had a wholesome Punjabi Lunch outside. An Engineer's hunger priorities sorted for now.

Back to Pavilion:

Based on previous online searches, we had thought that we would get an S.T from the Bhimashankar stand. We did find the stand but without any sign of S.T buses. After asking a few people, we started to walk down till the parking lot which was around 2.5 kilometers. This road was very beautiful with the evergreen trees. A lot of people were walking up as well for the darshan. Saw a lot of Marwadi and Gujrati Women (A guesstimate) walking barefoot for the darshan. After reaching the parking lot, the only way to come near a public transport facility to Pune/Mumbai was to take a per seat vehicle till Manchar Bus stand (Around 60 km, Rs 100). We reached Manchar by 1830 hrs.
I got excited to see a 'Parel' Hirakani Nim-Araam(Semi-luxury State Transport Bus) only to see it full and leaving. And came to know it was the last bus to Mumbai for the day. Finally I was able to connect with a per seat guy to take me till Mumbai. The charges were Rs. 300 and the journey was around 4 and half hours. For Pune guys, there is a good frequency of buses till night so no worries. Only drawback is that they mostly arrive full so you may have to go standing.

We stopped for some fuel on my way back just after Manchar:

Tips:

1. As mentioned earlier, try to reach Karjat by 0600 hrs. 
2. In this trek, we ascended from the Karjat side and came down via road through the other side. For Mumbaikars, a better way to do it would be to start early, probably start the ascent by 0730, climb via Shidi Ghat route and descend via Ganesh Ghat route (during daylight) so that one can take the Khandas > Kashele > Katav > Karjat route back.
3. Another option (especially to avoid Shidi Ghat) is to ascend leisurely via Ganesh Ghat, stay for the night in hotels nearby Bhimashankar and again descend via Ganesh Ghat the next day. 

Overall, it was one of the most memorable treks. Had a nice time with friends, nature and the rains though at the expense of a few itches whose exact nature will not be discussed here for the sake of not being improper.