Here are we back with a big thing this time. This week we had a long weekend 15th-16th n 17th. So we planned for a three day trek to Ratangad-Harishchandragad. Also this was the first time that all the three branches of Adventura group were coming together - namely Pune(Deccan Highlanders), Banglore(Adventura) n Hyderabad(Hydventura).Now where to start when there is so much to talk about ............ OK the plan went like this. Pune guys were to go ahead leaving a couple of us to get Banglore and Hyderabad guys which were supposed to arrive by 11 a.m. The pune guys will be leaving at 6 am in morning so that they can check all the situation, reserve space for us in caves and caution us if something is too bad.The team was supposed to be of 55 but 1 batch from banglore was cancelled considering the strenous schedule.
15th August Friday :-
On the ocassion of Independence day the Pune guys 6 of them started for Ratangad at 6:00 a.m. On the other hand Abhijeet and Srikanth went to Pune station at 10:30 a.m to greet the Banglore guys. I started from office at 10:00 a.m; went to Sri's home where Hyderabad guys had already arrived. The banglore guys were late due to some reason. So we started for Ratangad (Ratanwadi - base village) at around 1:00 pm towards Nashik. The village is in Ahmednagar district near the BHandardara dam. Afetr getting in bus with couple of talks here and there I soon went for a nap considering the situation which might get worse later on (just imagination - but YES it proved right). I woke up at around 3.30 pm when all the guys were trying to - sing and make others sing. Soon there was a serious of some gud old hindi songs sung by some of very gud bathroom singers - seemed so. But nobody had a brkfast so everyone was asking to stop the bus for lunch - but due to strict timelines we were delaying the lunch. Just for name sake everybody was given a couple of "theplas". Finally at 4.30 pm we did halt for the lunch at a hotel on the highway.
Then we had a big announcement from Abhijeet.We had been cost a fort due to the delay.Out of three options which were feasible everybody came to a consensus. We chose to skip Ratangad; start for Katrabai pass early in morning to Harishchandragad. We went through Bhandardara dam-Rajur towards Ratanwadi. The landscape provided by the dam was just awesome in the small lights which were lit around. I was just imagining if what it would be in day. But as it was late and the fog was redusing the visibility almost to zero; we decided to stay in a colony on the way. In dinner we had just 3 theplas each. At that time itself I got a hint that the next day is going to be real tough. We stayed at some Samrad colony with only 4-5 houses of cement. We reached there at around 10:30 pm. But one thing we came across was there were some lights lit in the houses but no one came out to see if who was there. We were surely making enogh noise that anybody will get disturbed. Some of even went to couple of houses and tried knocking but to no avail. Maybe there weren't any people living over there.
We chose a empty school (dont know what it was but the corridor was big enough to accomodate around20-25 people).
6 of us - Abhijeet,Gaurav,Me,Animesh,Pashupati and Sami chose to sleep in bus itself while others took there sleeping bags & mats and went outside to sleep. The point was to start at 5.30 am towards base village Ratanwadi so the outside people have to get up by 4 and we insiders were to be up by 5 as we dont have to pack and make any arrangements as such.
16th August Saturday :-
But the people did wake everybody of us at 4:00 (Obvious you cant sleep if 17 people are making noise around you and going over you every now n then). Only me,shiva and couple of us brush our teeth.(Such bad people).We did start by 5:30 for Ratanwadi. There is a very famous temple over there called Amruteshwar. We took a guide from there as the way towards Katrabai pass is very misleading. We did skip brkfast to accomodate time for future delays.
The way towards the pass includes a bifurcation where the right one goes to Ratangad and other towards the pass. We waited for the Pune guys left earlier to Ratangad. On their arrival there was a quick small intro and a group snap. A big applause followed for the first time meet of the 3 groups for any trek. We then marched for the Kumshet village which was supposed to be our lunch point.Even after taking the guide the people who were lagging did missed the path several times extending the delay.
We reached the Kumshet village by around 3:30 pm. Everybody was in hope to get some food there. But we had crossed the timelines and the localites said it will be very difficult to arrange food for 30 people at this time.So we had to keep on walking satisfying ourselves with couple of munchies. So we started for our next destination called Pachnai where we thought will get something to eat. We came acroos a very nice stream of river flowing in the valley nearby. But to our surprise we came acroos it as a strong flowing river which we were supposed to cross to get towards our next halt. Nishant and abhijeet with Nitin did fight a much to get a proper path to cross it. Finally the 100 mtrs rope brought by the Banglore people came to our rescue. But it did cost us more than an hour. On the way we came across a village but to add to our frustration it wasnt the Pachnai and a localite suggested that we shouldn't had crossed the river cause the village is on other side. So we had to cross that river again - this time the current was not that much strong and the couple of the localites came to help us. Bur the width of river here was more than 100 mtrs. Add 1 more hour. This experience was just awesome as while crossing I did took Abhijeet with me in the stream - but we both managed somehow to get on our feet ... GOD I had prepared myself to get carried away with the stream by then.
We then climbed our way to the village on top of the hill besides it(which wasnt Pachnai again). There we got info that a short cut route to pachnai from there includes a river crossing again and the longer one is a 'proper' tar road but will take time. Just to cut down the thrills this time we chose the longer one. Just after we started I found that me in Donald were literally racing down towards the village (I never in my life was so desperate for atleast a nibble of food). Then I realised others were also racing in pairs. Abhijeet-Nikhil, Horst-Ashutosh ... rest were way back. First time in the series of trek it happened that I completed a particular patch in less time than estimated by any localite. We reached the Pachnai finally at 7:15 pm. The gang way back were confused about the path due to darknes falling fast. A river stream on the way caused the road to hide. Thanks to Nikhil n donald who went in search of them and everbody was in by around 8:00 pm.
Best time of Saturday :-
By the time everybody arrived we had ordered for a tea and dinner for all of us .. a localite had taken the responsibility for it. It was the best time to watch everybody relaxing near the fire. The Besan dal and rice served for dinner was far more welcomed than the burgers and pizza which everybody is fond of. The hot food which went in our stomach really charged up our body chilled due to drenched in rain the whole day. Soon after that everybody else went to a temple nearby to sleep. But me, Ashu n Bhabani had an excuse of not having sleeping bags. So we slept very well near the fire in a warm environment. I was really thankfull to that villager who gave us place in their small hut to sleep. On top f that they also provided a blanket to cover us.
17th August, Sunday:-
I got up by 6:30 am with the hen's shout - the natural alarm. We soon got a news that only four of us will be going for Harishchandragad and rest will march for Pune. Due to network problem we will not be abl to contact the drivers and so we will have to march till Lavaii village. We three had just waken up when we got the info that Pune folks had already started to descend and we will have to run again to catch them. Abhijeet was waiting for us and he told that everybody had forgotten us :-(. It was a straight 7 kms walk and we soon caught the others midway. All of us were just getting sick of walking when we saw our saviours - the bus and the tavera coming for our rescue from nowhere. We sent them backway to get the ones lagging behind. Later Hyderabad guys went in Tavera as they had to catch their 4 o clock train.
The luxurious journey back :-
Then started the picnic for us. We changed to our dry clothes and started enjoying the scenery in a different way. We had to keep trying for the guys who had gone for Harischandragad as we had to arrange something for them and the network wasnt available. We waited for sometime in Narayangaon for snacks where we got a call from nikhil that they are nearby the place. So finally we started with all of us by around 7.30 pm for our final march. I reached home at around 9 pm while Sri went ahead with banglore guys to seeoff them. Ya forgot to add - we ate a lot whole day to compensate for the saturdays hunger.
Really at the end the result was like most of us didnt made it to the peak. But its not always about reaching the peak - the journey which you make with people totally new to you in such a challenging environment is truly worth it.
Also during the trek only one expression was common on everyones face; as said by Robert Frost -
"And miles to go before I sleep".
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