Trek to Sudhagad

Our First Trek – Ajay, Amey, Anand, Chihomi, Joy and Sunaina.

Friday 2nd Oct 2009

Beep, Beep – Beep, Beep – Beep, Beep BEEP!!!

Okay, okay, am getting up. Why is my alarm ringing when the sky is still dark? Oh yeah….we have to leave for Sudhagad!! How could I forget? I have been looking forward to this for the past two days.

I rush and get ready. Pack the rest of my bag. Make sure to put in the 2 liters of water needed, Gatorade, biscuits and camera. Spare packets for litter and to protect the camera in case it rains. Joy is up early and calls me as I start to brush my teeth. Anand is not responding to his phone. Oh Gosh!!! Lets hope he wakes up on time.

Joy arrives and we leave for Bandra station to pick up Amey. He is late and we cross over to the East. Finally he comes and we take a rick to Kurla and just about make it for the 6:14 am train to Panvel. Chihomi, Anand and Ajay catch a bus to Vashi and then a train to Panvel and arrive about 15 minutes after us. It is now that we realize that we don’t really know how to get there. Breakfast of Dosa, Idli and Chai and then bus to Pali.

Pali has one of the eight Ashtavinayak Ganpatis.
http://ganpatibappamorya.faithweb.com/temples.htm

We attended the aarti and then Amey and Anand did the 21 Pradikshanas while the rest of us admired the various features of the Sony HX1.

It was a really hot day and so after all the sweating we decided it was necessary to refuel on electrolytes and so had Soda Shikanji :-)

Finally got a six seater (tumtum) to take us to the base of Sudhagad. This part of the journey was nerve wrecking as the rickshaw struggled up parts too steep for its little engine and barreled down regions of declivity. There was no way to get back from there and so we arranged for the same rickshaw to come and pick us up too.

Sudhagad fort is believed to have been in existence since 200 BC. The Bhora devi temple on top is said to have been built by Sage Bhrug Rishi. The rulers of Bhor dynasty were worshippers of Bhoraidevi. The first reference of Sudhagad is in the year 1436 when the Bahamani Sultan won over the fort. In 1657 the fort came under the control of Marathas and the name was changed from Bhorapgad to Sudhagad.

We started all enthusiastic and Amey clearly showing leadership qualities as we headed off from the village school.

After walking a bit, the boys realized that jeans were not the ideal garb for a trek and hence went to change into shorts. Anand’s pants developed an air-conditioning system and so Joy came to the rescue with his spare pair.

It was smooth sailing from there on. The sun shone bright and in a few minutes there were rivulets of sweat flowing down our backs. Joy had a fun time taking very unflattering shots of people.

As we kept going we got separated and suddenly it was just Joy, Chihomi and me. Where were the rest of the guys? Oh no!! This place with its Blair Witch feel and three disappeared boys - Pretty spooky! This is where we did our take on the Blair Witch Project.

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Now the easy part was done and we took our first serious steps of the climb. Not natural climbing, but up a metal staircase against a sheer rock face. This seemed to be a new feature added. The older one was a ladder which then continued with steps cut in rock. The staircase swayed as the wind picked up and we were caught between running up and shaking the staircase even more or hanging on and having to spend some more time in this precarious position.

Ajay chose to show his photography skills and took some good shots here.

There is a point where only the trodden path exists and the rest falls away to sheer slopes and you better not lose your footing. This added to our excitement and Ajay’s dismay as he refused to breathe through his nose.

As we plodded on, there were insect ridden paths, mossy rocks, bottle flies and steep terrain. There were times when you could not see the top and we thought that the path was made by someone trying to trick the unsuspecting traveler.

Almost at the top you get to a 75 foot rock staircase in a chimney between two giant rock faces. This was the best deal of the climb! The wind was awesome and feeling that you are climbing a stairway built ages ago without modern aids, gives you a sense of humility.

Get to the top of the stairs and there is even more to climb. We wondered if the stairway to heaven actually led to heaven. Truthfully, the climb is not that bad, but being our first trek we had no idea how far we were climbing and when we could expect to get to the top.

Finally Joy and I made the final ascent together. The view from the top was breathtaking! We could not even see the bottom of the valley due to the dense fog. Walked over to a wide shady tree and hogged on some food before the others got there.

The only real wildlife we saw besides some tiny mites were two huge monkeys that were quite far away thank goodness!

The rest arrived about twenty minutes later and we headed for the lake nearby. That is when we actually ate lunch and Chihomi tried his hand at fishing.

Unprepared travelers that we were, we had no idea of the awesome artifacts beyond. There were tombs, temple, gateways and secret passages. Unaware of this, we then started our way back down following the same path that we ascended.

Just as we reached the bottom of the rock staircase, it started pouring. The vegetation offers no shelter and so we kept going down. Peak caps were our only protection so that we could see where we were going. The camera went into the bag and no more pictures for this trip :-(

The rocks turned slippery and streams of red mud gushed by. It was dangerous climbing down the hill and we were made doubly aware of this as we got down the metal staircase as it swayed in the wind and small slow steps were all we could manage.

Somewhere on the way we found Chihomi’s cap (Chihomi and Amey were somewhere in front of us). We tried calling to him, but no answer. Then it seemed like we had lost our way as the path seemed unfamiliar. Blair Witch!!!

Reached the village and the six seater waiting for us. Finally out of the rain. If the ride up in the rick was scary, this one had our hearts in our mouths. It seemed like there were no brakes and we were speeding down the rest of the way. What a thrill though!!

The rest of the way home was like feeling in the dark. No one knew how to get back and people along the way were not too knowledgeable either. Somehow, through another six seater, walking in the rain, hailing a bus on the highway and standing for 1.5 hours in the bus, we made it back to Panvel. Oh!! We did get to have the most awesome pav wadas along the way in a small shack lit by candles. Train from Panvel to Kurla and then rick home!

Phew! a warm shower and some food in the belly and off to sleep it was for us.

An absolutely amazing trip and hopefully the first of many more to come!