A Trek To Remember

It has really been a long since I have jotted down any of my experiences. Yesterday, I got an opportunity to experience something that was worth noting down.

It was 4am, SUNDAY morning and 4 alarms started ringing. Me, Mukta, Sonal and Prachi had planned to go for a trek to Duke's nose and so we all got up without snoozing alarms. It was raining heavily outside and one of us (not so enthu about trek) thought we better stay at home only. As it is, trek would be most probably canceled due to rains. However, somehow we managed to convince her and reached Shivajinagar station around 5:15 am. We were going with “Yuvashakti”- a trek group in Pune. All Yuvas were there by 6am. I could feel the excitement and enthusiasm in all the youngsters present there.

We took 6:30 am train and reached Khandala around 8:30am. The moment we stepped out of the train, it was already showering. People were helping themselves with umbrellas, windcheatres, raincoats, caps etc. But by the time we reached under roof on station, almost everybody was soaked. Then, with some instructions from trek leaders and a nominal breakfast we headed towards Duke’s Nose. It was really a beautiful morning….very refreshing!!

The rain took a break for some time and so we started with a photo session. It is one of the main reasons for me to go for such treks. After all it is the only way to capture moments :P Rainy season is best for sightseeing. We just couldn’t stop clicking. We had reached a place where we were surrounded by mountains and it was greenery everywhere. We could see a mountain peak at one moment and the second moment it was lost in clouds. It was so foggy that after some time we couldn’t even see a person at 2m distance. We were very happy and felt proud of ourselves that we made a right decision to come here ;)

We walked some more distance and then we could hear gargling of waterfall. The sight of waterfall made everybody to go “yippee, oh wow, sahii” :D Trek leaders were as enthusiastic as participants and made everybody to get under waterfall. That was an awesome experience!! It reminded me of all the rainy songs in the bollywood :D

And now, it had started raining really heavy. All so called water resistant apparels proved useless. We were in the middle of woods, drenched due to downpour but still energetic. Every step we took made us to unfold new face of nature. We were amazed by its beauty.

It was very slippery and we had to put every step with caution. We had reached a point where we had to climb a peak. We were climbing it and there was a sudden torrential rain. It was as if we were getting beaten by the rain. We were at such a height that loosing balance for a moment would have leaded us to lose ourselves forever. It was too difficult patch to climb. Even in such position we couldn’t afford to miss to see the scenery. The beauty of nature or I would say “rudra avatar” of nature was breathtaking. It was like we are watching Mani Ratnam’s movie. And I must say Mani Ratnam is missing a lot of locations ;)

Fighting with rains we somehow crossed that patch and now there was something more thrilling in store, we were “LOST”. There was a gap between us and other members. It was quite dark amidst woods and we even couldn’t see the sky. There was no chance to know which direction to go. We were 8-10 members left behind. Me and sonal were at front the “so called Trekkers”. We followed the way through which water was flowing down. This was a true Trekking Moment. We were kind of scared, had no idea of where we are going and still had the spirit to find a way. J

By God’s grace we were on right track and after 10-15 minutes leaders came searching us. We finally reached a safe destination.

We continued progressing in the rains which was getting very irritated. We reached our “Lakshya”around 12pm J still there was no sign of “noon”. We couldn’t see any view from such a great height as everything was covered with clouds; it was all smoky, foggy! All we could see was a temple of Shiva .We were supposed to have lunch at this point but heavy wind was blowing along with rains and we couldn’t even open our lunch boxes. I would have flown off due to such wind if I was a little thinner :p. After sometime, we had our soaked lunch and headed towards base. We took off from Khandala and descended in Lonavla. Trek wasn’t over yet, we had to travel or to be precise WALK a long distance to reach to station. But this was a simple road and it was just drizzling so we were chill!

We enjoyed this route. We chitchatted, sung songs, pulled each other’s leg, and again had photo session. We were feeling very cold. Also, we were hungry by now so had tea and bread-omelet at a thela on the way. We reached station by 4pm. The train was at 5:30pm. Now we were eager to go home as we were completely wet and each limb was aching.

We reached home by 7:30pm. THIS WAS IT!!

This trek made me realize my limits. It made me test my will power as well as stamina. Most of the people enjoy going alone or with their friends for treks. I prefer going with a big group where I get to meet variety of people. Many of which are amateur, some are professionals and some are like me, just nature lovers ;)

It is a great feeling to walk with a stranger… give a hand of help…. Take a hand and climb….. Share a same goal of reaching the zenith!

I am really looking forward to have such experiences in my life. Wish me luck for that!!! J