Sinhgad - The final destination.

Date : 17-Jun-2006
Time : 2:00 a.m.
Location : Sinhgad, enroute to the fort.

By the time we had found out the right path to take, the moon had risen over the hill. The moonlight provided a surreal feel to the surroundings. Everything, plants, valley, rocks, bathed in the milky white light. We could not see each other' faces but could make out each others' silhouettes.

The group at the base. All are happy to have found the right path.

Our accent was not so troublesome, the path was relatively flat and wide enough. We took intermittent breaks. But very soon, the whole team split into two groups. One which was moving quickly, and the ones who were relying on the breaks to provide them with strength to move on! I was part of the latter. The breaks offered us opportunity to take some snaps too.

Over the hill, we could see a telephone tower with the customary red and orange lights. That was where we had to go. Keeping that as reference, we kept on trudging along the rocky path. Every 15 minutes or so, we would take a break, have a look at the tower. Every time the tower looked only as far as it seemed last time around. Somewhere up there we could hear the "alpha team" (let's call them that way for reference:) ). Every now and then they would shout out, "Aage jaake right lena, phir chourahe pe left lena.", telling us how to go.

Soon we reached a clear, rocky section, which afforded a amazing view of the city from top. We could see low hanging clouds over some parts of the city. Following picture is a shaky version of what I saw from top.

Shaky picture of the city lights.

As we climbed up, we were getting more and more weary. A time came when we could no longer manage to move on. That's when Anup's prompting help. "Its just 20 mins more, with ample rest time in between". He kept on saying. For me things had come to a point where, I sat down for rest, and closed my eyes and dozed off! It was close to 4:00 am now. That's when we could hear the alpha team say "We have reached the top, its not so far off, just 5 minutes away." And this time no one was bluffing. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, I was climbing the last flight of stoney stairs that took me to the main door of the fort. Finally, we had made it. The rest of the folks started pouring in gradually.

Finally, at the top.

The view on the top was outstanding. We all huddled up in a open space and drank chai and pakodas that a native brought for us. Beyond that I don't remember much as I slept like a log. Woke up at 7:15 to an amazing, breathtaking scenery. I will shut myself up now, and let the pictures do the talking. All these pictures are courtesy my friends.

A misty morning.

The lush green valley behind the fort.

beautiful pathway at the back of the fort.

Don't know if his trek is more difficult or ours.

The lush green valley behind the fort.

Misty morning at the fort.

I have very mixed feelings about this trip. On one side I am proud that I completed a trek (made) as difficult as this. On the other hand, I was exhausted, and the week I spent recovering from it was like hell. But all said and done, I can proudly say, "Been there, done that."

The view from top of the mountain we climbed.

Conquering Sinhgad - Part 1...

Date : 16-Jun-2006
Time : 8:30 p.m.
Location : Sinhgad, at the base.

(Note: For once, my blog does not carry only the photographs clicked by me. I am grateful to all the friends who shared their pictures with me to publish on the blog. I was physically and mentally exhausted to have clicked any!)

After enjoying the bhuttas and the sunset at Khadakwasla, we started off for the main destination, Sinhgad. High spirits [not high 'on' spirits :)] marked the moment when we reached the base. With due permissions, we parked our vehicles at the hotel backside and proceeded to order our dinner. Well, you can barely call it a dinner! We had poha (for the veggies) and omlette-pav for the non-veggies.

(The group before we started the trek.)

After a hearty 'dinner' and a round of snaps, we started off for the actual climb at 9:15 p.m. The crowd was in a fun mode, joking and laughing out loud, somewhat unmindful of the sleepy village through which we were passing.

Somewhere along this road a dog joined us. It reminded me of the dog that was our 'guide' on the trek to Bhimashankar. But this one was different as we gathered later in the night...

Within an hour we had complete grasped the magnitude of this trek. (Or atleast we thought we had grasped...). Visibility was like daaye-haath-ko-nahi-maloom-baaya-hatah-kahan-hai! Though we pulled out the torches we had but decided to use it sparingly (keeping in mind the distance we had to cover). Cellphone screen illumination provided the additional lighting.

As we started climbing higher, we could see glow worms all around us on the trees, in the bushes and in the valley. The city lights started to show up in the distance, providing a magnificent sight.

We continued our trek, interspersed with brief breaks. Suddenly, the trail started getting narrower and narrower, until it became no more than 1 feet wide, and the rocky steps gave way to soft (from rains)and muddy surface. Some voices suggested that we may have lost our way, another said "I dont remember coming this way when I trekked here last time", third said "The road is going upwards, must be a more adventurous route to Sinhgad". Adventurous, ehh?

(The trail we had chosen to walk upon.)

After trekking for some distance (I frankly dont remeber how long), the leading folks said "There is a dead-end. But a rocky path takes us up.". "Lets take it" was the call. And off we start on a rock climbing 'mission', which soon became, from easy, to difficult. And from difficult to treacherous. It did not take long for us to realise that we are climbing up a dry waterfall! Few of us (from the lead pack) were helping us out to climb the rocks.

After 1 hour of climb, we reached a point, where there was nowhere to go. We were facing a cliff, which cannot be climbed. No where else to go, we all waited there, catching our breath and contemplating our plan of action. At that moment, a cell phone ringed!!! "Hello? Yes! Estimates will be sent... Documents... Blah Blah...". One of us had got a call from US!!! Of all the times, now!!! Man, we are struck up in a forsaken place with no where to go, and there is this call from US. It took our really cool-headed project manager to handle the call.

(Where is he trying to climb?)

(We could not see the path we climbed!)

(Catching our breaths.)

After all this, we decided to trace our path back. The climb was long and tough. The descent was short but tougher!!! All the efforts spent during climbing ensured that the rocks were loose and ready to move as soon as we step over them. Cautiously, we descended. Rather over-descended. We soon found ourselves in a valley. The more enthusiatic of us scouted around for the path, until they found it. (God bless them). And off we started on that pagdandi.

(While we were waiting in the valley.)

The return was not so bad after all, we knew what was in store. We reached the starting of this trail. There we observed another path going up in the opposite direction. Again a scout mission was dispatched, and this time too they came back with news of some hut and a rocky path going up. We followed them until we came to a big open hut. By this time the moon also had risen up over the mountains. In the moonlight, we could see a path going up. That was it!!! There it was... Our destination lay at the end of that path. A 15 minutes rest was taken and snacks were consumed. It was 2:00 am in the morning.

Soon after we started off on our actual trek. Our diversion had been bit costly, and at the end of it, we were left with no water and with a bundle of shaken nerves. The final journey will be covered in the final part of this blog!!!