K2S redefined (2020 - 2022)

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

from the backyards.. K2S redefined (2020 - 2022)

खंडोबा टेकडी - had heard 👂 about this small hill, not very far from here (my residence 🏢), during one of the casual discussions within society members.. consequentially, had a few out-and-back activities (per 8 kms) to this hiking facility without any possible need of a transport 🚗 🏍️, for an investment 🧘‍♂️ of 2 hrs.. later, also learnt about an another खंडोबा टेकडी within पुणे suburbs, so let me clarify before starting this post 📋, this one being referred here, is the one closest to the k2s route..

येळकोट येळकोट.. जय मल्हार..

during one of those 2 hrs, saw some enthusiasts hovering on the next hill, adjacent to this one.. also were some cattle 🐄 grazing in their own lost little world.. inquiring later, came to know about a possibility to continue even further till सिंहगड if u-turn ↪️ at this temple atop is not the opted target 🎯..

another topic to clarify then is the subject.. I am nobody to redefine k2s.. but, had recently learnt about multiple hiking options in and around this area, which people (including me) use very conveniently and frequently to their favour 🤠.. ohh, if you don't know what 'k2s' is, please check with your best friend, google 🌐, or else, you can even check a short post in this very blog on 6 k2s evening / night hiking activities, here..

now, finally and wholeheartedly getting back to this article.. it's about those 5 specific night / day activities, including but not just limited to खंडोबा टेकडी, and also having some or the other part of k2s included.. in other words, needing more than 2 hrs of investment..

08 November 2020, home <> k2s (touch and go)
14.55 kms, 750 meters 📈

today was nothing more than "let's give-a-try" by prolonging the u-turn till k2s route.. simply put, k2k2s.. while the route post the adjacent hill is almost flat 🏃‍♂️, with a gradual increasing slope in isolations, it takes hardly any different planning-cum-preparations 😋 than the regular outings to खंडोबा टेकडी..

at this junction, now, there is a 'धायरी नवरा-नवरी खिंड' signboard - as if, two adjacent hills enroute k2s are 👈 नवरा and नवरी 👉 - just a guess.. spotting some regular hikers on either (whatever that hill is called) नवरा / नवरी (going by the assumption), in the East ➡️ direction, had to confirm if it actually was the k2s route.. why was this required? because all 6 previous appearances here were in absence 🌃 of source-of-light, the mighty Sun, ruling out the possibility of being any confident 🤐 about the (second) guess (of the day).. one of them confirmed, but also continued with 'but you are in the opposite direction 🚫' - how?.. why to speculate, where anybody wants to go?.. anyway, not my problem 🤷..

on the way back home, then decided to celebrate this new year, again at सिंहगड, but slightly different than last couple of ones - by going to सिंहगड, starting (hiking) right (technically left 👈) from home..

17 January 2021, home - गोळेवाडी
21.26 kms, 1061 meters 📈

being in नाशिक (courtesy: work from home house) during new years, सिंहगड was not on the cards 🎴 this time.. but it only meant a shift in time.. the first Sunday of 2021 in पुणे was the unplanned and unprepared execution of the longing plan (by ~2 weeks).. when the breakfast 🍲 was unexpected / unusual early history ◀️ at 09:00 a.m. 🕘 that day, told the better-half 'I'll soon be back'.. acknowledging her 'don't go far' (considering the late start), with a half-hearted 'yes' 😉, the one way solo journey (range trek) kick-started towards the special most (सिंहगड) 😇..

recent discovery, "५ टाकी" (5 water cisterns), was an additional card to be played today (GMaps location).. when navigating here only revealed 2 ✌️, it was an immediate disappointment 😔 towards the obvious question ❓ on its christened process / source..

k2s is famous for its first hill 🏁 and final 3 🔚, each of them exhaustive enough 😓.. so, it absolutely is not a routine to discover about 50 school 🚸 going kids, accompanied by handful of volunteers / leaders on their entire k2s journey in the full presence of scorching sun 🌞.. सिंहगड is still ok, but isn't k2s too much for kids? 🥺.. in this group, was also a couple 👨‍👩‍👦 (accompanying their son), who apparently were also first-timers but out of choice to keep up only with the pace of the leader, leading from the front.. sensing their extended break, they joined me to march ahead, with the final 3 prominent hills coming up next 🙄..

it was something past 11 on the dial and I too was almost washed-out 😰.. slow and steady 🐢, we made it to the घाट road around 01:00 p.m. 🕐, only to be amazed again 😳, this time with the mob of all age groups.. goverment had just released the imposed restrictions after the first wave 🌊 was neutralized.. as a result of this, people were out of their dens ⛺, as if released from prison, and the vehicles 🚗 🚙 🚕 here were lined up from सिंहगड parking area till the घाट road junction (from कोंढणपुर) - that's 3 odd kms..

duly respecting the position of clock ingredients ⌚, it was time to re-think and change the plans to go south 📉 (technically North ⬆️) rather than north 📈 (technically West ⬅️)..

22 October 2021, home - आतकरवाडी
20.42 kms, 1279 meters 📈

k2s, the original one, was long forgotten now 😬.. discussion started to relive the same, but the recent and incomplete attempt (you just read about 👆) of home - सिंहगड was not to be forgotten / forgiven so easily.. initially, Rahul was not letting go his approach of going the old tunnel way, but then agreed 🤝 to accompany for duly completing the incomplete task from 9 months ago 👍..

it was supposed to be a night trek (range again) after a long time ⌛.. we (+Aman) started as planned.. the last companion, Tanmay, was to be dropped on the way by his friend.. contributing as a co-leader, along with Vishal in last few months (before moving recently to UK 🇬🇧) had surprisingly developed his stamina 💪.. completely different than Tanmay from 6-7 months ago, he was leading from the front along with (as usual) Rahul.. disappointingly, I was the slowest 🚶 today..

being a night time activity, we had all choices but to change the plans interim.. that's not actually the disadvantage, but the beauty of night treks, coupled with less exertion (due to dehydration) ☺️.. after reaching around 02:30 a.m. 🕝, we recovered a while at the घाट road and started towards our next target, सिंहगड parking.. in the slowest possible of all forms, we made it around 04:00 a.m. 🕓 for some 🦀 खेकडा भजी (कांद्याचीच 🧅असते).. seriously, at 4? not really, but that also is not very impossible.. we slept 🛌 / tried hard to sleep for about an hour and then tea ☕, भजी, maggi 🍝were all à-la-carte single / multiple..

after relishing the long awaited redrise 🌄, we were on the way to lose altitude 📉 towards आतकरवाडी..

16 January 2022, home <> partial k2s
23.5 kms, 1103 meters 📈

delayed start than planned ensured we missed the sunrise by quite a margin 😐.. कोई नई, there is always a next time, and this time, the "next time" was not more than a month away / is not more than a few lines away 👇..

we had thought 💭 over multiple options for today.. finalized of them was to get to the top of the last hill, just before descending to the base of the group of final 3 massive ones..

Vaibhav - अंडी 🥚, Mahesh - चहा ☕, Sushil - पराठे 🥙.. these pairs were repeated observations from the recent activities and were not to be any different today, but only complemented with राजगिरा-गुलकंद वडी 🍫..

on the way back, it was the moment to confuse ourselves again 🤨 with the count of water cisterns at "५ टाकी" - claimed to be 5, observed again just 2.. Vaibhav even went a few meters ahead to check if the other 3 lie somewhere further West, but returned without any luck 🙁.. may be the bigger one has few compartments inside, which fail to expose themselves in presence of (dirty) water.. but this still (till today) remains only a guess, to justify the christened..

20 February 2022, home <> कात्रज
24.5 kms, 1380 meters 📈

कात्रज new tunnel was the only opted start point for all of the 6 k2s instances.. for this, Rahul and Vikas had always insisted on trying the old tunnel route 👻.. today's plan was to experience the same, but the "k2s redefined" way ♻️.. same as last time (above), today was also supposed to be a superset of the first entry, but in the opposite direction, East, instead of West.. what was missed last month, was duly accomplished today - those shades of red, orange and yellow 🌇..

while the start was clumsy, once we reached खंडोबा टेकडी, the confidence was boosted enough to at least continue till वाघजाई मंदिर 🛕, exactly above the कात्रज old tunnel.. there is a barrier 🚧 midway while descending the खंडोबा टेकडी on the opposite side.. today's guesswork 🤔 was - to avoid the cattle getting on this side..

as we were crossing one hill after the other in the opposite direction (of conventional k2s), we reached till the intersection of routes from old and new tunnel.. indicatively, next part was supposed to be our first time 🙋.. but before that, structure similar to dyke 🤘 at धोडप fort was calling for attention, somewhere towards South-West ↙️ of सिंहगड in the opposite direction, in some other mountain range.. failing to guess its exact location, we resumed in the East..

many hikers can be seen here on the left side actively ascending / descending the first k2s hill, popularly known as हत्ती डोंगर 🐘.. after reaching the top from this side, we had our चहा ☕ and पराठे 🥙 break.. should not be a difficult guess now, who was accompanying me today.. here, we even met प्रथमेश and महेंद्र.. the beautiful view 😀 of the new tunnel road on either side of this hill is a visual treat.. far away can be seen पुरंदर and राजगड 🚩 forts.. in two minds, we decided to get down to old tunnel and help ourselves with some local transport 🚌 to home..

after reaching the temple, somehow, I was not completely convinced to betray plan A 😎.. parting our ways, it was time to encash some combination of preparation and opportunity, popularly known as "luck" while on a solo return journey.. a deer 🦌 like animal, grey in color, jumped / leaped to run away, rustling the surroundings, good enough to make me look back to catch a glimpse of it.. second one in about 4 months.. 😍

लेण्याद्री-हटकेश्वर

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

the drone material.. लेण्याद्री-हटकेश्वर

"कोळेवाडी-हटकेश्वर-कोळेवाडी out and back करावा का लेण्याद्री-हटकेश्वर-गोद्रे range करावा?" हे discussion काही दिवसांपासून group वर चालू होतं..  त्यातून ठरल्याप्रमाणे (आणि माकडनाळ 🐒 postpone झाल्यामुळे) लेण्याद्री-हटकेश्वरसाठी आजचा रविवार ☀️ ठरला.. दोघांपैकी कुठे जरी गेलो असतो तरी post लिहिणार ✍️ होतोच.. so, माकडनाळ साठी थोडी वाट ⌚ बघावी लागेल, मला लिहायला आणि तुम्हाला वाचायला..

 
अष्टविनायक - पुणे जिल्ह्यात पाच, रायगड दोन आणि अहमदनगर जिल्ह्यात एक, असे distribution असलेल्या आठ गणपतीच्या मंदिरांना आपण अष्टविनायक म्हणून ओळखतोच.. तुम्ही कधीतरी ही यात्रा 🚌 केलीपण असेल.. धारणा अशी आहे की मोरगाव हुन चालू करून, एका ठराविक sequence मध्ये ही फेरी ⭕ पूर्ण करायची असते परत मोरगावला येऊन.. पण मग, 'हे protocol आपण follow करतो का?' ठेवणाऱ्याने 🤔 नवविनायक नाव ठेवलं असतं तर कदाचित आपण परत आलो पण असतो 😉.. बरं, आठच का? ५, १०, १२ किंवा इतर आकडा का नाही? महाराष्ट्रातच का? in fact, पुण्याच्या आसपासच का? ह्या प्रश्नांची समर्पक अशी उत्तरे ठरवलेल्या timebox मध्ये काही भेटली नाही, म्हणून त्या विषयी इथे काही लिहीत नाही 🤫.. मराठी wikipedia वर थोडी माहिती आहे, पण मन भरलं नाही.. असो, ह्या postचा तो विषयही नाही 🙅‍♂️..

तरी, recommended sequence,
मोरेश्वर - मोरगाव
चिंतामणी - थेऊर
सिध्दीविनायक - सिद्धटेक
महागणपती - रांजणगाव
विघ्नेश्वर - ओझर
गिरीजात्मज - लेण्याद्री
वरदविनायक - महड
बल्लाळेश्वर - पाली 
मोरेश्वर - मोरगाव

लेण्याद्री - ह्या आठ / नऊ पैकी सगळ्यात उत्तरेला आणि समुद्र सपाटी पासून सर्वात उंचीवर, ⛰️ डोंगरावर / लेणी मध्ये असलेला एकमेव अष्टविनायक, अनुक्रमे सहावा - लेण्याद्रीचा गिरिजात्मज..

गणेश माझा पुत्र असावा ध्यास पार्वतीचा
अन्‌ गिरिजात्मज हा तिनं बनवला पुतळा मातीचा

भारतात सर्वात जास्त लेण्या जुन्नर तालुक्यात आहेत.. त्यातल्याच साधारण ३० लेण्या असलेल्या ह्या ठिकाणी पूर्वेपासून जर आपण मोजायला सुरुवात केली तर ७व्या (सर्वात मोठ्या) लेणीत गणपतीची मूर्ती आहे.. ५१ x ५७ फूट असलेल्या ह्या लेणीत २० निवासकक्ष आहेत, आजच्या भाषेत bedroom 🛌.. आता तुम्ही लगेच हिशोब 🎲 लावायला सुरु व्हाल - किती area होतोय? आपण राहत असलेल्या location मध्ये किती किंमत होईल? etc. etc... आपल्या (males specifically) चर्चेच्या विषयांमध्ये हे दोन विषय, दर रोज / आठवड्याला repeat होत असतातच, अगदी न चुकता.. एक तर flat / plot ची किंमत काय आणि दुसरा म्हणजे, चहा ☕ टपरीवाला आपल्यापेक्षा जास्त कमवतो..

०६ फेब्रुवारी २०२२

आकाश 🥘 आणि श्रीराज / बजरंग 🥛 बद्दल प्रत्येक post मध्ये लिहीत नाही आता, गृहीत धरून घ्या..

आजच्या trekची सुरुवात होती लेण्याद्रीहुन.. ticket counter वर विचारलं तर "लेण्यांहून वर जायला वाट नाही, खालूनच कुंपणाच्या बाहेरून जावं लागेल" असं कळलं.. मग मंदिर skip करायचं का? का मंदिरात जाऊन येऊन (४०० पायऱ्या आहेत) परत बाहेरून trek चालू करायचा?.. हो-नाही करत ticket काढलं आणि gate वर पहारा देत असलेल्या इसमाने सांगीतलं, "वरूनच वाट आहे" 🙋.. #CannotAskForMore

जुन्नरहून दिसणारा शिवनेरी आणि इथून दिसणारा शिवनेरी, दोन वेगळे किल्ले आहेत, असा भास होतो.. viewला अजून काही नाही / आम्हाला स्पष्ट दिसलं नाही 🙈.. दर्शन घेऊन, उजवीकडून (पूर्व दिशा) 👉 वर जायला व्यवस्थित arrow marking ↖️ आहे, शिवमंदिरापर्यंत.. पण आमचं target पलीकडच्याच्या पलीकडच्या डोंगरावरील शिवमंदिर "हटकेश्वर" होतं.. थोडा चढ चढल्यावर जेव्हा (AllTrails app वरचा trail बघून) traverse घ्यायचा आहे, असं लक्षात आलं, तेव्हा arrow markingशी break-up 💔 करत डोंगराला डावीकडून (अर्धा) 👈 वळसा घालायला सुरुवात झाली.. हो, तुम्ही बरोबर वाचलय.. जरी आम्ही लेण्यांपासून उजवीकडून चढायला सुरुवात केली होती, तरी arrow marking follow करत आम्ही डोंगराच्या डावीकडे आलो होतो.. 

ह्या डोंगराचा traverse संपला, तेव्हा आम्हाला हटकेश्वर natural bridge दिसायला लागला 🧐, जो थोडं जवळ गेल्यावर परत गायब होणार, हे माहित होतं.. trail flat असल्याने इथपर्यंतची आमची पायपीट 🚶‍♂️ non-stop होती.. दुसरं डोंगर traverse करत असतांना जेव्हा break साठी थांबलो, तेव्हा गानकोकिळा 🎤 लता मंगेशकर गेल्याचं कळलं 😔 (आज दिवसभर mobileला range होती / 📱 mobile range मधे होता).. त्यांना श्रद्धांजली अर्पण करत माजी सैनिक 💂 रमेश खरमाळे यांनी इथेच cycle 🚲 घेऊन जुन्नर-हटकेश्वर-जुन्नर असा २४ कि.मी. प्रवास (bike-cum-hike) केला (१२ कि.मी. cycle उचलून).. ह्या संदर्भातल्या facebook postची link..

spot the natural bridge

लेण्याद्री on the left (not in the photo)

इथे आणि दुसऱ्या डोंगरानंतर (हटकेश्वर चढायच्या आधी), भरपूर photosession 📸 झालं.. तासकाट्याने अकराचा 🕚 आकडा ओलांडला होता, आणि पुढचा टप्पा आता भरपूर दम काढणार 😥, ह्या मानसिक तयारी सोबत आम्ही baton शेवटच्या relay partner कडे देत धाव घेतली, कासवागत 🐢.. साधारण तासभराने आलं हटकेश्वर मंदिर जिथे भरपूर नंदी 🐂 वाहिलेल्या दिसतात.. समोर दिसत होता पिंपळगाव जोगाचा पसारा.. शेजारी असून हडसर दिसत नव्हता पण काही अंतरावरचे म्हशेडी, निमगिरी, देव दोंड्या, वनदेव, वेताळ, घोण्या, उधळ्या, सिंदोळा वगैरे स्पष्ट ओळख देत होते..

इथून अजून १५ मिनिटाच्या अंतरावर आहे, the drone material, नैसर्गिक पूल.. अंतर मिनिटात मोजतात, हे नक्कीच आपल्याला शाळेत शिकवलेलं नाही 📏.. ही संकल्पना आहे वृत्तपत्रात जाहिरात देणाऱ्या builders / promotersची.. तिथूनच आपल्या सगळ्यांनाही ही चुकीची सवय लागली आहे.. असो, "इथला trek drone सोबत असल्यावरच करायचा", हा निर्धार मोडत, जे आम्ही इथपर्यंत आलो होतो, त्यासाठी परत कधीतरी दुसऱ्या वाटेने (गोद्रे किंवा कोळेवाडीहून) येऊन ती इच्छापूर्ती करू, हा विचार करत फक्त सावलीचे photo 👥 काढून तेवढ्यापुरतं समाधानी झालो.. आम्ही होतो ४ - पुलावर ह्याहून जास्त लोक मावू पण शकत नाही.. ऊन्हात गार वाऱ्याचा 😇 आनंद घेत पाऊण तास गप्पा झाल्या..

ह्याच साठी केला होता अट्टाहास

from the mentioned facebook post

exact दुपारच्या जेवणाची वेळ झाली होती 🕐.. परत हटकेश्वरच्या मंदिरात येऊन जेव्हा दिलीपने bag मधून, जुन्नरला घेतलेल्या फळांची एक-एक variety बाहेर काढली, तेव्हा आम्ही मागच्या वर्षीच्या कांदाटला फस्त केलेल्या कलिंगडच्या 🍉 flashback मधे जाऊन आलो.. चिक्की, अंडी 🥚, biscuit 🍪, पराठे, भाजी, भाकरी, लोणच्याच्या सोबतीला होते बोरं 🍒, संत्री 🍊, केळी 🍌, सफरचंद 🍎 आणि द्राक्ष 🍇.. म्हणजे अजून तासभर timepass..

गोद्रेला उतरायच्या plan ऐवजी लेण्याद्रीलाच उतरायचा निर्णय घेत आम्ही परत non-stop धाव घेतली.. पुढचं target होतं - राजगुरूनगरची संध्याकाळची traffic ⛔ कशी चुकवायची? अपेक्षेपेक्षा लवकर आल्यामुळे आम्ही थेट पुण्याच्या रस्त्याला लागलो.. थोडा अजून उशीर झाला असता तर आमचा 'नारायणगडहून sunset 🌄 बघूनच निघू' हा विचार सुद्धा करून झाला होता.. पुन्हा ह्या areaत येणं होईलच म्हणून अजून एकदा 'नंतर कधीतरी' म्हणत ह्या postचा होतोय the end.. पण त्याआधी श्रीनिवास जोशींनी लिहिलेल्या काही ओळी 📄..

लता

लता, कुठले ग हिरण्यगर्भ वरदान 🧚‍♂️ घेऊन आली होतीस?
सरस्वतीने तिच्या वीणेचे 🪕 स्वरतंतू बहाल केले होते तुझ्या कंठामधील संगीतस्मृतींना..
हलवायचे का ग होते तिला हळूवार त्याद्वारे आमच्या निद्रित हृदयांतील 💗 पार्थिव विस्मृतींना? 
आज तू गेलीस दिगंताच्या यात्रेला तेव्हापासून आमच्या मनांमध्ये लखलखत राहिल्या आहेत तुझ्या स्वरांच्या असंख्य स्वर्गीय रत्नप्रभा..
आमच्या अस्तित्वांच्या विझलेल्या वातींवर दीप्तीची 🪔 फुंकर घालणाऱ्या या एका क्षणासाठीच करवून घेतली गेली होती का तुझ्याकडून तुझ्या पवित्र कलेची अविरत प्रकाश-तपस्या?
​हे कलानिधे, क्षितिज बनून राहील तुझ्या कलेतील सौंदर्य - आमच्या श्रेयार्त आणि त्या जगन्नियंत्याच्या श्रेयसंपूर्ण अस्तित्वांच्या मधले..