TREMALS - The Trekking Mammals

Waghjai Ghat & Hirdi Ghat trek report

Participants: Manoj Bhave, Imran Vasta, Mayur Athalye, Avinash Patil, Swati Chalke, Ramkrishna Chauhan, Gautam Gaikwad, Vishal Dsouza

Date : 15 - 16th June 2013

Manoj and myself decided the date 15-16 June for the trek. We initially proposed to do Mangad-Kumbhe Ghat-Bocheghol Naal-Raigad trek. But this was subject to monsoon and since the monsoon was heavy we did not go ahead with this trek. Instead we planned the Waghjai ghat & Gutkyachi vaat trek in Pali-Lonavla region. This region is very well known to us since we have done extensive trekking in this region. But Gutkyachi vaat was unknown to us with zero information on the internet. It’s a local village route used by the villagers of Aasanwadi & Gutka to descend to Nagshet village. We had a nerdy hunch that this route might not be operative during monsoons. I spent couple of days trying to get the contact number of Telbaila village for food arrangement. Dimesh Patel provided the contact number of Waman. Thanks Dimesh. God bless u. It meant we did not have to carry any meal for Saturday.

So as decided we met at Khopat S.T. stand in Thane on 15 th June morning and caught 6.15 am bus to Thanale village. Swati caught the bus from Kalwa naka. We only managed to get the last seats since the bus was full and cursed ourselves as we could have easily booked the tickets online. We thought the bus won’t be crowded. Anyways this was not the only minor setback at the start of the trek. The other one being Mr Avinash Patil (German) did not bring the Theplas which was supposed to be our Sunday’s meal. We reached Thanale village around 10.30 am and began our trek.

The climate was awesome giving us an excellent feel of monsoon. It was drizzling constantly and in between became heavier. Around 1.00 pm we reached Waghjai temple and immediately set our foot in the waterfall behind the temple. Had a fun filled session in the waterfall. Saw a small green snake nearby. We then moved up to cover the final 10 mins of the ascent and reached the Telbaila plateau. It was now quite foggy and we were not able to see Telbaila walls as well. While walking on the way to the Telbaila village there was another distraction – Karvande. All of us were around the trees, plucking and eating the fruit. The sight was reminiscent of herd of sheep devouring leaves from the trees. We reached Telbaila village at 2.30 pm.

We had our lunch at Waman’s house and enquired about the Gutkyachi vaat with the local villages. All the initial indications were negative but we still preferred to go ahead and find out. We had an elaborate session thereafter on how to reach Gutka village – whether to walk, or catch a late evening bus upto Gutka faata or to hire Waman’s Bolero (but he was not very cooperative in this matter). The rain was now heavy and it was foggy as well. The visibility was poor and we could not take the foot trail or else we may get lost or even drowned in the fields of water. After having tea we set off walking at 4.15 pm to cover the 11 km long walk on the rough tar road from Telbaila to Gutka. But the climate was such that we hardly took break and covered this patch in 2 hrs 15 mins. We had only few glimpses of Ghangad since it was covered with dense fog and we hardly managed to see Sudhagad. We had to cross few small streams on the way as well.

We reached Gutka village at 6.30 pm and enquired about the Gutkyachi vaat which we were supposed to do on Sunday. But the answer was a firm no and that the route cannot be attempted in monsoon since it was very risky. Instead they suggested us to go to Hirdi village (7 kms away from Gutka) and descend the Hirdi ghat to Nagshet village. We took shelter in the Aanganwadi (temple) which was very warm and cozy. And more importantly dry in this wet weather. Enjoyed the tea provided by the cooperative local villager. We had carried chapatti and Bhaji from Waman’s house and had this for our dinner. Also during the course of evening and morning we had about 4 to 5 voting sessions on whether to proceed with the trek on Sunday or return back by bus (there was a resident ST in Gutka village which was supposed to go to Swargate early morning). The continuously heavy rains was creating strong doubts in our mind.

Sunday morning we woke up and saw the ST leave. Though we had doubts of proceeding with the trek and also it rained heavily the entire night, the trekker deep inside us wanted to proceed. Also no one showed any urgency or made any serious attempts to catch the bus. The trekker won and we proceeded with the trek. The entire 7 km walk was through a cart trail and after first 1.5 kms we crossed Aasanwadi (Dhangarwadi) from where Gutkyachi vaat descends. These villagers also confirmed we cannot trek this route and we proceeded on the cart route to Hirdi. On the way we saw numerous waterfalls and crossed many streams big and small. We had to make a human chain to cross one of the bigger streams. We lost the count of how many streams we had crossed. The cart trail also reminded the Lonavla to Rajmachi route. The jungle we passed through was very dense and since Andhaarban was close in the vicinity it appeared this jungle was a glimpse of Andhaarban. We also saw couple of small snakes on the way and big Swati accidentally stepped on one of them –Poor snaky, but it survived.

Half an hour before the Hirdi village we came across the magnificent Hirdi waterfalls. The waterfall was awesome and exotic. This sight was worth walking miles and so we did. At about 10.00 am we reached Hirdi village. We rested for a while in one of the house in the village and had tea and delicious laddoos (thanks Gauti). We had another brainstorming session here – whether to move to Bhira or descend to Nagshet. And we began the final part of this trek, the Hirdi ghat descend.

At 1.15 pm reached Nagshet village and marked the end of trek. Had sandwiches for lunch and we waited for the Koshimbale-Thane bus to come. A local boy came with a news that the bridge nearby was over flown by river water and it was not sure that when the bus would come. Finally the bus came around 2.45 pm.

I must appreciate and compliment the team for doing such wonderful trailing since it was difficult to locate trails with water everywhere. Literally we made way in water. Even the local villagers were surprised how we managed to find our way in the heavy rainfall and complimented us for accomplishing it. It was indeed an achievement of sorts to receive such compliments from the local villagers. Well done team. Another highlight of this trek was the pedometer brought by Avi. We were counting the steps all through the trek and in total we had completed 52000 steps from Thanale to Nagshet. Also nice to trek with Mayur after 5 years.

AN AWESOME START TO THIS MONSOON !!!!

Yours trekkingly

Imran Vasta