Well, we were pretty much excited at the beginning and just after some time we were fucked up, but comparing it with nature, clouds, rain, waterfall, adventure and the hope to reach the base camp, it's all worth it and awesome. Hi guys, this story is about my first trek, rather I will call it our first trek.
My name is Ajinkya, Me & my friends Abhishek, Saket & Deepak are the trekkers (actually we are not trekkers by definition, but we like to call our self) trekking to Rajmachi fort. We all work in the software industry in Pune, so I guess you guys got the gist.
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| The beginning of journey |
It's 5 am on a Saturday dawn when my alarm yelled at me with the big noise. I quickly woke up & called others, made myself ready. We reached around 7.30 at Shivajinagar station and our journey began with the 8.10 local from Pune to Lonawala. We purchased some groceries, rented a small gas stove, had some food again and begun to trek. We had a google map which we trust with our lives, knowing that there would be no signal, I have downloaded the map so that we can use it offline. By following the tracks of GPS we were moving forward. After some time (just 30min) we started feeling something in our body part mostly on shoulder & legs, it was the pain. But the over excitement resulted in full of energy which helped us ignoring the body pain.
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| some fun moments |
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| Trekking on the track |
All the discussion while walking has a different fun of itself. Our discussion topics were changing from agile to extraterrestrial life (aliens). Moving forward we asked some local people how far the fort is, they said 18km, we already walked 3km, map shown 15km total, we saw each other's faces (as we thought it would be just 14/15 km trek but turns out to be 20km) and this was the first moment of getting fucked up, don't worry it is going happen few more times,
soon. We saw so many cars on the route with lots of hot girls (apologies), we were like
wow and also wondering how they are going to take these hi-fi cars at the base camp, but turns out they were going to some 5-star resort which was on the way, we were kinda sad.
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| Track |
We wanted to take a stop, since we were walking for a long time but still walked for some more time and found an awesome place, from there we were able to see the entire valley, even the Rajmachi fort. One of us is an expert in making of babaji ki booty ( बाबाजी कि बुटी ), so he made it and we all enjoyed it. It actually works, makes the pain go away and it's fun. We also had a small sip of port wine for the same reason.
While moving ahead we met lots of people & trekkers as well. At the half way there is a nice waterfall, completely safe and also टपरी (small hotel) which was so costly (single Maggi for 50rs), by the way but still we had egg bhurji coz we needed the energy. Though we carried a lot of food with us but you never know, what will happen?
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| Energy of nature |
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| Rajmachi |
Now it is nearly 5.30 pm and still we weren't nearby of the base camp. We started walking around 11.45 and supposed to reach by 4.30 pm at the base camp, till this time our bodies was burning in pain, carrying the weight of 20kg per head, specifically the sole of the foot/leg (inside the wet shoes) burning like hell, mostly because of uneven, rough & rugged road. We were still moving ahead somehow, I guess due to the enticement of the first trek.
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| We were about to . . . . . |
While operating the smartphone in rain, these rain drop actually work as touch on the phone. I was checking the map for GPS signal, suddenly few raindrop fall on my screen and my map got closed including GPS signal and we were again f__ed up, now what to do? We were in the jungle, there were so many foot-ways (पायवाट ) which can lead to being lost. It was already getting dark and to scare up fog got so dense, we couldn't even able to see 5 feet ahead of us. We really got scared, map wasn't working and it getting was dark so no sign of people. We stopped at one place there were 3 hotels (टपरी) but they were closed. After some time we again started moving ahead and got scared, because we knew that leopard have been seen in that area (as it is connected to the western jungle) and ghost stories about that area as well. Though they are real or not but enough to fuck our minds.
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| The fog was too much dense than this image |
We got too much scared to move ahead, so we return back at that hotel place and started monitoring the area. Due the dense fog and evening time, visibility was very less. We saw some fencing poles, but the fence was got destroyed. We started installing the tent under one of the hotel
(टपरी), since it had some sort of roof and we thought it will add additional protection from heavy rain & wind. Both the tent had installed perfectly, but all our bag and the inside material (blanket, towels, clothes etc) was all got wet, there were not any dry clothes left. As the night was getting closer temperature began to fall down. At that point, we all started shivering with wet clothes on us.
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| Selfie |
The rain was started and was showing the sign to be strong and then it happened, heavy rain started with a strong wind. Each of us was scared at their level, and the wind was so strong, if tents weren't under the hotel
(टपरी), it could have been flown away. This wasn't the only issue, crab started visiting the site and it was like height for us. I was thinking
why I am here? We also tried to cook but the wind was so strong, fire on the gas was not able to sustain. Just for the few moments rain stopped & fog got cleared, it wasn't the good thing, we thought that nature was playing some kind of game with us. Our camp site was on a cliff, just 5 meters back from 200 ft downfall. Just before I mentioned fencing poles, from these poles just 2 steps ahead and one may fall in the valley 200 ft down. We were actually standing there few mins ago. Again surrounding started to become foggy, with heavy rain, wind & darkness of the night, at this moment we were officially fucked up so hard.
Now it is pitch black, we were wet, no dry clothes, cold, crabs hanging out, hungriness but not able to cook and on the top of that body pain with
dark and black night.
From nowhere we saw light coming towards us, it was of a bike, may some of the local people living in the Rajmachi village, we were indicating help by waving the torch, he didn't stop, I guess he didn't understand that we were asking for help. After a long time we again saw a light, did the same and thank of the god so much, he stopped and helped us. The nightmare was about to end. We walked with him till the Rajmachi village, we stayed at his home & he also served us a really good hot meal. We were like in the heaven after going through all the trouble, it was worth it. We ended up the day with nice game decks (पत्ते ) and babaji ki booty.
It was hell of an adventure for me and the journey just began.
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| The four square |
Day 2 will be updated soon . . . . !
Checklist of items that we had with us
- Water
- Tent - We have taken them on rent (300rs per day)
- Raincoat - as it was raining
- Extra pair of dry cloths
- Towels
- 3/4 or shorts
- T-shirt or shirt
- Socks
- Blanket per person (we all brought for self)
- Gas (petromax) - Taken on rent from nearby shop of lonawala station
- Two matchbox and 2 lighter
- Food
- Rice, half kilo
- Salt
- Masala
- Maggie
- Glucose - It gives energy to walk (20km)
- Butter
- Bread
- Banana
- Torch
- Extra batteries(cell)
- Mobile, full charge & balance in account to make a call or access internet
- Power Bank
- Money in cash - per person 1K as there is no ATM
