मोरगिरी

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

मोरगिरी.. the lost frontier or ?

One of the many ways to identify climb-able mountains ⛰️ is 1. to use Google maps 🗺️ in Terrain mode. 2. If a peak is surrounded by marked roads in two or more directions, there are high chances that it also has a trekking route paved to the top. 3. If there is no pin 📍, zoom in to check if Maps reveals more. 4. Learning about options (if there are multiple) and to work out a starting point🏁 then needs a bit of blog surfing, which also helps in realising if it is technical (needs ropes / helmet / harness etc).

One such discovery, a ruined fort, was lesser known मोरगिरी 🦚 in Lonavala region.

31 March 2019

Sujeet asked if the fort will not be a difficult grade, and can consider Advit (his 4 yr old young son) too. Will be a stupid waste to discuss and question his endurance 💪. Suggesting him based on my blog learnings, Karle family and couple of more joined for the adventure. Next time, when you read 'discovery' / 'adventure' like words, you'll know what I mean.

After the bumpy ride till the base at south of the fort (almost all the mountains have this unwanted feature - bumpy roads), we parked at a farm house 🏡 and kick-started. While all was good till we reached / climbed half of it, we least knew better was yet to come. Sarcasm! 😜

Came the traverse and we took left / went in the West direction, strictly according to the trodden route, downloaded from one of the blogs. Failing to observe an anticipated diversion to the top, even after going a few extra steps 👣, we gave up on West and opted for a U-turn ↪️. Time was to check for an open door in the East. We failed and gave up again. For some time, we rested on an open ground, Chhaya rightly suggesting, gazing at the waving flag 🚩 at the top, teasing and provoking us at the same time.

Definitely, we did not yet / never wanted to give up on the way to top 🆙. So, it was time to pull-up the socks 🧦 and explore. Redoing the West, diverting from the point where we were earlier / now expecting a diversion to the right, we decided to discover our way to the top, no matter what. Through the trees 🌳, their dangling branches and thorns, webs. After a while came the ascend without any sight of a walk-able option as we were surrounded by nothing but stick-like, dried-up, Strobilanthes Callosa. Ok, let's keep it simple - कार्वी. 🎋

With a Never Give-Up attitude, began the adventure through those white pegs, having Advit repeatedly moaning, मला हा गड नाही आवडला. After battling through the stems, we found ourselves over the East ridge, which means it was time again to go West towards the top. The ridge was relatively easier. Please note the use of word 'relatively'. 😉

Now we were facing a 20+ feet rock patch, another geographical structure not having a walk-able / climb-able option. Rahul and his height 🗼 managed to climb it, but was it worth it? Was there actually an option to descend from the West side (which we had missed earlier today)? After sorting it out, he pulled-up rest of us, one after the other. Soon, we were atop and celebrated the triumph 🏆 with शिवगर्जना.

In this all chaos, a friend on a short US trip was getting all notifications about our proceedings. Keep wondering why? I still am. 😏

Descend was (again) relatively easier, but still required cautious efforts negotiating the rocks, loose soil and Strobilanthes Callosa. After the descend till the traverse, realising where we had lost it, the U-turn we did, was hardly 10-15 steps away. 😢

Directly jumping to the end of story now. During all this, none of us got physically injured even in the slightest manner, which was an achievement 🥳 in itself after all the adventure we had. Only thing we lost was Yojana's bottle 🍾 full of besil seeds (सब्जा) soaked in water, and the time ⌛, which meant we had to drop our next activity involving तुंग fort (कठिणगड).

All is well, that ends well जे म्हणता ते हेच. 🙃

PS: If you ever wish and plan मोरगिरी (from south), when at traverse, keep going left, till you observe a small white signboard indicating 'go right'. Hope, it is still there.

राजमाची

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

राजमाची.. fort twins and a todo waterfall

This was another recording of 852 meters in elevation gain (could be a miscalculation, as the route is relatively mild when compared to other trekking adventures) but error-free reading of covering 25 kms by feet which was then the longest distance for a single day activity.. and all this was aided with less than 2 litres of water 😌..

19 October 2019

Starting the day early enough to get maximum out of morning energy (as always) paid off its best.. it was still dark when we parked our car near Upper deck resort and kicked-off the marching.. where is this? yes, we chose to start slightly different than popularly opted Della adventure - reason will follow ☺️.. 

Not losing the momentum, we had our breakfast stop at the river crossover, under a small hut.. a wooden spoon 🥄 carved from a stick served the purpose of spreading jam 🧁 over the bread 🍞.. another group of 5, who had rented SUV, could not manage to drive beyond this and devoid of options, parked, alighted and hiked the rest.. 

Soon (at 09:00 a.m.) we were at उधेवाडी, searching for lunch options.. an old man directed to his hut where a beautiful old lady gracefully agreed to prepare noon meal for 3 of us.. आज्जीला 👵 "१२ पर्यंत येतो" सांगून we were off to explore the forts..

By this time, we have had views of श्रीवर्धन fort from almost all the sides.. such is the beauty of long distance treks 🙂.. no Sun ☁️ showing up for the party; breeze contributed the most to build up the environment to best of its altitude.. After resting a while on the top of श्रीवर्धन fort, we went to its east end for the breathtaking view of horse shoe 🐎 👞 waterfall.. Not living to its expectations, a little more outflow of water at this कातळधार would have made it a complete package, but this remains an open topic till the next time..

मनरंजन fort was a quick bite as Nilendra spotted a big snake at a distance.. next-in-line was झुणका भाकर and cherry-on-the-cake 🍰 ठेचा 🌶️, ending the first half at peak never before..

Almost non-stop return journey never felt tiring compared to anticipated matters, thanks to the on-and-off drizzle and the Sun, still shy..

Reason to start from this side was to seize the opportunity of enjoying some leisure time pedicuring.. Quarter 🕒 (of an hour) and high tea well spent at Tungarli lake post finishing line was: what else can be put above cherry (on the cake)?

सिंहगड ते विंझर

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

सिंहगड ते विंझर.. एक होता विंचू आणि एक होता नाग

नुकताच भर दिवसा 🌞 🏜️ केलेल्या तोरणा ते राजगड range trek ने उन्हाळ्यात शक्यतो trek टाळावे हे खूप चांगलच शिकवलं होतं.. पण ह्याच trek ने "सिंहगड ते राजगड पण कधीतरी करायला हवा" ह्या इच्छेला 🤨 चिंगारी दिल्यागत झालं.. माहिती गोळा करायला सुरुवात झाली आणि लक्षात आलं की अंतर जरा जास्त आहे, त्यात शेवटचे ८-१० किमी. डांबरी रस्ता.. आता trek करतांना इतकं डांबरी रस्त्यावरून चालायचं हे जरा नवीनच / अजिबच होईल आणि अजून काही करता येईल का? ह्या विचाराला चालना मिळाली..

तर ठरलं असं की trek डांबरी रस्त्यापर्यंतच करायचा.. कोणाला उन्हाचा त्रास नको आणि परतीला पण योग्य अशी 🚙 सोय झाली पाहिजे म्हणून वेळ ठरली रात्रीची 🌃.. but this distance was now a little less for a night trek.. after adding couple of nearby spots, the plan was finalized..

०६ एप्रिल २०१९

धायरी फाट्याला मी, हर्षद आणि सुजीत रात्री 🕙 १० ला सिंहगडचा board असणाऱ्या bus 🚌 मध्ये चढलो.. नांदेड city हून वैभव आणि विजय बसणार होते.. आतकरवाडीला उतरणारे आम्ही फक्त पाच जण होतो.. ११:३० वाजता सिंहगड parking ला पोहोचून थोडी rest घेत पुढे 🥔 potato point la निघालो, अंदाजे २ किमी. अंतरावर असेल.. आणि वाटेत दिसला एक विंचू 🦂.. कदाचित हा आयुष्यातला पहिलाच प्रसंग असावा.. 😇

credits: Vaibhav

ह्या टेकडीला (actually टेकडी हा शब्द मोठा आहे) एका पसरट cone सारखा आकार आणि सगळ्या बाजूने खोल दरी असल्यामुळे वारा भरपूर असतो.. वरती बटाट्याच्या गोल-मटोल आकाराचा साधारण १५ फुटी दगड आहे, ज्याच्यावर एक छानसं शिवलिंग कोरलेलं आहे आणि बाजूला लहानसा नंदी 🐂 पण ठेवलेला आहे.. उन्हाळा असूून वाऱ्यातला गारवा जास्त वाटत होता आणि थोड्या वेळाने आम्ही परत सिंहगडच्या दिशेने वाटचाल केली.. विंचू नंतर आता वाटेत आम्हाला दिसला नाग 🐍..

"सगळंच आज नको, अजून भरपूर trek करायचे आहेत" 😉 म्हणत पुढे पुणे दरवाजाला break घेत, घरून आणलेल्या half dinner 🌯 वर ताव मारून झाल्यावर वेळ होती सिंहगडाच्या wind point ला जायची.. काही public इथे झोपलं 😴 होतं, त्यांना त्रास नको, म्हणून लागलीच u turn घेऊन आम्ही पोहचलो कल्याण दरवाज्याला.. रात्र भरून काढण्यासाठीचे इतर दोन्ही points आता आटोपले होते..

वाजले होते ०२:३० आणि mini break घेऊन आता वेळ होती ridge follow करत final destination विंझरच्या दिशेने वाट शोधायची.. हे काम सुरुवातीला अवघड नव्हतं, ठिकठिकाणी arrows 🎯 बनवलेले आहेत आणि काही ठिकाणी SRT च्या खुणा सुद्धा..

शेवटच्या डोंगराला वळसा घालून डावीकडे उतरायचं होतं.. अरुंद आणि घसरड्या वाटेमुळे हा traverse थोडा अवघड आहे.. डोंगराच्या डावीकडे उतरायला काही रस्ता दिसत नव्हता आणि सरळ जाणारा रस्ता पाबे घाटाला जातो, म्हणून चुकीचा आहे, हे लक्षात आलं होतो.. तरी थोडं पुढे जाऊन बघू असं ठरलं.. हव्या त्या दिशेला असलेल्या एका arrow ⬅️ ने आमची भीती घालवली..

आता बाकी होता तो फक्त descend.. आणि इथला हा प्रकार आजचा सगळ्यात कठीण असलेला प्रकार होता.. फक्त slope, माती आणि अती बारीक दगडी.. support ला ना गवत, झाडी, ना sizeable दगडं.. घसरुन पडायच्या भीतीने अती दक्षता घेत, हळू-हळू खाली उतरुन झाल्यावर शेवटच्या water break साठी थांबलो.. उतरुन झालं होतं पण विंझरला अजून अवकाश होता.. हा शेवटचा patch साधारण २.५ - ३ किमी. असला पाहिजे.. चालायचा कंटाळा येत होता पण अगदी समोरच्या दिशेला राजगड छोट्याचा मोठा होतांना दिसत होता आणि हर क्षणी फक्त एकच विचार मनात येत होता, "plan तर सिंहगड ते राजगड चाच बनवायला पाहिजे होता".. असो, there is always a next time..

दिवस उजाडायला 🌄 आणि आम्ही रस्त्याला पोहोचायला वेळ एकच.. कसलीही वाट न बघता, एका मागे एक गाड्या भेटत गेल्या आणि पहिल्यांदाच रामभरोसे सोडलेलं transport चं option सफल ठरलं.. 🎉

credits: Sujeet