Its 2017 and my first few weekends of the year have started with some light 1 day treks. Not far though was waiting my first 2 day trek of the year to Naneghat-Jivdhan. This was being hosted by the Sahyadri Adventure Club. I quickly booked it and set myself for another adventure of life.
Its a beautiful Saturday morning and 10 AM is the pick up time for the tempo traveller at ShivajiNagar. With my usual trek avatar, I catch a PMC bus and head for the point. Its a quick journey and I end up finding that the TT is slightly delayed and is supposed to be more so because of few people who are coming from a distance to board the bus. In the mean time, I meet Dhiraj, who is one of the organizers. Also , I meet other members - Bunny, Jaya, Richa, Manish and Jijatma. Some spend time waiting and I and few others decide to have breakfast
Finally, we start by 11 AM and I start wondering how the 4-5 hours journey is going to be in the noon time. The TT reaches Nashik Phata and the final members Neelesh (organiser) joins us and we hit the highway.
Shortly, Dheeraj distributes some nice rotis stuffed with lot of jaggery. Must say that the taste is too yummy to resist a bite. The route reminds of the Harishchandra trek's bike ride which I had done on this route early morning @ around 4 AM.
Its 1 PM and finally members turn around to Dhiraj to ask for lunch plans and we take a break at a hotel for lunch. Neelesh takes the lead here and gives a kick-start to the trek info and we have a quick round of introduction. As we are about to complete our round of intro and about to feel starved, lunch finally arrives. Shortly, we start with our travel. While crossing small towns like Rajgurunagar, Peth and Manchar, I observe the traffic and wonder if the word "traffic disclipine" will ever be followed here. We hit Narayangaon and take a left turn there which marks the end of the routine traffic on the Pune-Nashik highway. The journey feels much better now. Soon, we cross Junnar where we get a glimpse of the famous Shivneri fort. 30 min later, we finally hit the Malshej ghat. Passing through this ghat itself is a amazing feeling. Nice views, steep valley , well constructed roads and few tunnels make it all exciting.
Its 4:30 PM and we reach the trek starting point where Dhiraj has a word with the TT driver about the meeting point at the peak. All said and done, a few pics here at the starting point.and we start for our trek.
With different stamina levels of each one of us, the group of 15 quickly split into multiple mini groups with all of us uniting at regular intervals during breaks. The notorious Bunny was capturing pics throughout the way in his funny ways. After around 90 mins of plain walk, the elevation starts and we wonder if at all we will reach our destination before its dark. The arrangement to stay was in the caves up there. Around 8 PM or so, we finally manage to hit the caves.
The Naneghat is a very deceiving peak. What seems to be the peak from one side, is nothing but a properly constructed road which goes through multiple villages on the other side. And this leds one to wonder - itna mehnat karke upar aaye aur yaha toh proper road bhi aati hain.
We quickly start out for dinner. Dhiraj , Bunny and Neeraj set the mood here with some really weird and funny games. This keeps our all entertained for around an hour or so and then the dinner is served. After a tiring trek and long TT journey, we finally get some home made food , so we pounce on it and eat to our heart's content.
Post dinner, we take out our bags from the vehicle and head back to the caves. It is not as cold as expected, but we didn't knew the night was yet to show its power. Now comes the funny part. There are always people who get disturbed by the least amount of disturbance and I fall into that category. Soon I start hearing multiple people snoring at very higher volumes. With not much option, I still try to sleep. Not long since I have fallen asleep, another trekking group of around 25-30 people enter the caves and with their due amount of disturbance, I am convinced that I am not sleeping anymore. Not just that, this new group upon reaching had brought lot of home made food. They open the dabbas and start eating. The smell of the food at around 5 AM in the morning made most of us feel hungry and I even thought of asking them some.. :P.
A fresh morning (despite lack of sleep) and everyone is wakes up as the plan is to visit Nanacha Aangtha point which is the top point of the Naneghat trek and also stands right above the caves where we stayed. Around 6 AM or so, we start for the point and the feeling is something which one can experience only going there. Cameras take the lead here and everyone is busy with either selfies or some group pictures. Neelesh wins the maximum number of clicks at this point. :)
Back from this point , we pick up our bags and head for the breakfast point. We freshen up there and await some nice garma-garam poha and tea. The mission for the day is Jivdhan peak. Putting our main bags in the TT, we start with our trek. This trek involves around 2 km of walk before we reach the hiking part. Soon we start the hike and must say - there is some very high degree of ascend due to which we attain altitude very fast. Dhiraj carries the maximum weight in his bag which includes - Climbing Rope, Food stuff for all and few water bottles - Respect !!
We reach a spot called Vaanar Lingi which is pretty tall and very limited in width.Some of us go ahead to visit that spot and capture a few pics there. Others prefer safety and await our return. Few more snaps and we continue our ascend.
Finally, we reach the most interesting part of my trek - Rock Climbing for few minutes. Dhiraj detecting the presence of some folks takes out the ropes just in case. However all are able to complete the tough stretch without any issues. Bravo Team ! A break here and we continue our trek and finally reach the peak by noon.
We continue our trek to descend slightly to capture view of Vaanar Lingi from the peak and spend some time here. Then we start back for descend. A bit of confusion locating the descend route and we first decide to take a food break. Dhiraj takes out the jaggery rotis and everyone enjoys it. I somehow manage to explore around and find the way down. We are descending and suddenly come across a tough patch. Being the person ahead, I try somehow to cross that patch. Everyone does it without much of a trouble.
The feeling of a strong group of people around you often motivates everyone around. Enroute, we come across a 79 year old person with small group of people hiking above. On asking him about what keeps him so much enthu at this age for the trek , his answer was : "Thodi fattati hain...lekin mazaa aata hain...".
Inspired, we wish him luck and we continue descending. Bunny and few folks are way ahead of us and manage to play cricket with the village kids down at the base. Our TT vehicle is waiting for us and we reach back to our place for lunch at around 4 pm. A heavy lunch and that marks our start for the return journey.
Being tired with the trek, some members take a nap and others continue enjoying the funny one-liners shot by Bunny. A temple visit on the way and a quick tea back, we cover the return journey pretty fast. With 1 hour to reach Pune, the team decides for some fun on the way and Bunny is on top of it with his voice and dance moves. Some inspired souls join him perform and other enjoy the treat. We are almost in pune and at one point of time, dance and noise is so much in the TT, that the driver gets irritated and shuts down the music system. We get the signal and quietly settle down on our seats. The TT finally reaches Shivaji Nagar station where we get down. Everyone happily bids each other and start for their home. With beautiful memories of the weekend trek, I catch an auto and head home.
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