Choosing SUDHAGAD:
Our enthusiastic group of friends planned to visit/trek one
of the forts around Pune during this summer. (Usually we are habituated to plan
a trek at least couple of times in a year). One of our friends is a frequent
traveller, who suggested that trekking Sudhagad would be a wonderful experience.
He does have some experience over this place although he visited it 10 years
ago. So we have decided to visit Sudhagad on next day of Ramnavmi i.e, 20th
April 2013. Keeping fingers crossed our planning done.
Making up to the place:
Finally the day of visit arrived, so our backpacks filled,
itinerary fixed, boots tightened and food packed. Our itinerary prepared in
following way.
Saturday 12:30 PM – gathering @ Pune railway station
01:00 PM – Take Lonavala local train - will
take us there by 2:30 PM
03:00 PM – From ST stand take the bus to Thail
Bail – a remote hamlet to start trek.
04:30
PM – Start towards the actual fort, we expected to reach there by 8 PM.
08:00 PM – have dinner and take rest.
Sunday 07:00 AM –
Morning wakeup call & refresh.
07:30 AM – look around the places on summit.
09:00 AM – Have breakfast
10:00 AM – return trek towards the village at
mountain footsteps.
01:00 PM – Have lunch (if possible) and start
return journey.
And hence it was mere planning; in a short while we came to
know that “sometimes if nothing works as expected it may give more fun than
actually expected”.
Project Sudhagad:
Unfortunately
fortunate day in life started in a normal way rushing towards grocery stores
and food preparation. I was busy half day in preparing food (Lemon rice which
is favourite food for many of my friends) and making arrangements & packing.
I started at home around 11:30 AM towards station. Here is an important note;
they charged Rs. 19.00 to reach station my place (12km) and the later journey
from Pune to Lonavala (68km) over a local will coast Rs. 15.00. Yes, Indian
rail ways are always best in most of aspects. Also we had an idea in mind to
make this a budget trip so our intention was clear to make it as cheap as
possible. Our local train journey was another amazing experience. We reached
lonavala around 3:30PM. Even though its mid April, summer, it was not that
sunny. We were able make our journey to ST bus station very easily. Oops, we have
a direct bus to thail-baila only after 4:00 PM. There is no option to think
about secondary route, just wait. And finally we reached the base village thail-baila
around 6 PM. There is a Hydel power plant & a fort in this small village. Initially
we thought that this one could be Sudhagad, but actually not. It’s another 4-6
hrs of trek/trek away. So our great adventure started..!!
Pic i: Thial-Baila fort view.
Un-Expected trek:
Now we are totally out of the concrete jungle rushing
towards paddy fields, nature. We started
following an unknown path which may lead towards Sudhagad. Local farmers helped
us in some ways. On our way we tasted some forest fruits, of course they are natural
and organic. Its beautiful dusk, so we need to make our journey as early as
possible. It’s down trek from top of summit on 45° inclination path and again up
trek with almost similar condition. Believe me the path was so dangerous at any
point of time we thought of giving up and return to thail-baila. But no chance,
we came here on a mission to capture the Sudhagad. Somehow we managed to reach
the base point of the first mountain. There is a water fall (will be active
during monsoon, totally dry now) between these two mountains. And we lost our
self in middle of the forest.
Missi(ng)on Accomplishment:
Its 8:00 PM in the night and moonlight helped us a lot. We
are running with low water reserves. Our very aim was to find a route which may
lead us to either a village or the actual summit. Secondary option was, find a
safe place, start camp fire (of course not only for fun but also for protection),
have some food, manage till morning and start the journey/return. Situation
turned from trekking for fun to trekking for survival. Our wild guess made us
to follow the water fall journey which may direct us. Bingo..! Yes our
sixth sense worked and we found a small path with human access. Here is
the catch, on our way we found some Chula (natural stove made up of three hard
stones placed in three corners of a triangle shape and wood used as combustion material)
so it’s an evident of human access to this place. Also we found the way with
the help of chocolate/biscuit wrappers. Sometimes our litter also helps others
in some way. We started following the path which may lead us to the village or
mountain top. Our very aim was to make it up to mountain. Eventually our clock
ticked 10 PM mark.
Some time in life it’s great fun if we really don’t know
“Where to go, How to go, What to do, How to do”.
As mentioned earlier our team members know the route from
this point. They said we will find some water recourse near the moustache hanuman
mandir (typical temple). In olden days people used grooves that made on big
rocks to hold the water. So we were managed to find one. It’s not an easy task to
take water out. One should bend down inside 4” depth and capture the water.
That was the only Bisleri/Aquafina mineral water available there. One of our
members got two small pet bottles of capacity 120ml each, crazy enough. Finished
our dinner (10:30 PM) and our journey started. Frankly speaking, our energy
levels are low (actually we are running on extended battery mode). But
it’s very much essential to reach the top before the dawn. Me and another young
lad from our team walking in front and the others following us.
All of a sudden we found a moving object sound from one of
the thick bushes. It could be a
mammoth or a wild cat. We don’t have an experience to handle a
canine, how come we are going to deal with it? But we know that by keep
talking in louder voice and by making some sounds we can avoid the attack. We
are ready with match box to put fire also a big stick in my hands will badly
hurt the opponent in first attempt. We are ready. Nothing happened as expected.
OMG, this is almost a re-birth. We crossed Maha-Darwaja (main entrance) in
between. And finally we reached the summit around 12:30 AM in the mid night.
There is a temple (Bhrai Devi) located on top. It’s time to take some rest.
Exploring around the summit:
We were so tired that we couldn’t make to wake up till 7 AM
in the morning. After refreshment we were heading towards the one only
inhabitant house on summit. We had nice tea there and finished our scheduled
breakfast. On the large plateau at the summit, there are two lakes, a house, a
big granary, some tombs, a shrine (Vrindavan) and numerous other ruins,
scattered around the fort area. It’s totally different world from what actually
we are living in. We need to have such kind of experience at some point of
time. Most lovable places around the world are really far away from our reach.
One needs to plan, work and explore to have an experience.
Returning journey:
After a couple of hours of exploration we just started our
return journey for down trek. It was also wonderful experience as we are tired
too much and still need to make it. We had some of the nice snaps during our
return way. Had some snacks at a small hut. And finally reached a small village
from where we can get the bus to Pali. We are also blessed to have a holy
darshan of Pali Vinayak mandir at Pali. From pali its another couple of hours
journey to lonavala to catch a local train to Pune.
I think our love and attitude towards Mother Nature made us
itinerant travellers/trekkers.
Trekking level : High if you follow thail-baila route, medium from other routed.
Precautions : Carry as much water as you can.
Expenditure : Around Rs. 250.00 (Yes Budget trip) if you can manage.
