Saturday, July 14, 2007

Higher than I could dream

Last Sunday, I had 2 options: Either to reach the height of dreams OR to reach the heights that I could not dream. Well, I decided to risk the Sunday and go for the later. My motivating factors were a group of friends whom I love spending my time with and “trek”.

So we met at 6:30 at Borivali (as usual, I was late). Little had I expected that the overall group would be 52. From there began the journey into a crowded Virar train and from Virar thru a packed shuttle to Palghar. There I saw the true capacity of a ST bus…the group of 52 and some more passengers, comfortably fit!!!

Guess it must be an hour by the time we reached the base camp, Vaghote. A cup of hot tea and the sight of the target cleared the little bit of sleep that was wandering in my mind. With a guide to show us the route, we started the trek. On the way, we saw a huge lake that they called the “Heart shaped lake”. Initially it looked pretty simple, but we knowing where our target was, we knew it was going to get tough…and it did! The walk upwards was a real sweaty one. It took us about an hour and a half to reach half way. Here we got a better view of why the lake was called the “Heart shaped lake”…and that makes me call the nature as “amazing”We were almost drained out of our water resources by the time we reached here. Luckily for us, this place is full of natural water resources…and I was wondering if the branded “Mountain water” actually was bottled from here. We definitely were exhausted, but we never let the enthu down (as if we had an option). Eventually we reached what we thought was the top, but the guide mentioned that we still had 10 more mins to go upwards. “Huh!!!” that was the general reaction. The 10 mins walk was not much stressful…but at the end of it, we were on top of the world in a literal sense.
We had trekked all the way “from the crowds to the clouds”…beauty of a place, terrific view, wonderful breeze. Once upon a time, this was fort Kohoj. It still has that covered water tank which stores natural water. Anyways that we were down with water resources, we replenished our resources here. No Aqua-Guard, no filter, no boiling, no bottling and yet so pure…that’s the wonder of nature. It was lunch time and we were craving for food (very obvious). Simplest lunch for a Sunday afternoon…regular veg sandwich smeared with ketchup (anything goes with ketchup) and theplas with chutney. It was hunger in first place and the love with which it was served that made this feel like a feast. A little bit of rest and the return journey commenced. “Concentration” was the key. Probably the fact that no one recalled clicking snaps on the way down, probably speaks on how much we concentrated.From the base back to home was a long journey as well and by the time we reached home, we were completely exhausted…not a bit of energy left. A lazy Sunday was converted to fun-filled, extensively exhaustive day that took me to a new place, gave me new friends, brought me closer to my existing friends and took me to such heights that I could never dream of!

For those who have missed the stuff, here are pics from my album, from Uma's album and from Kaustubh's album.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely Ashutosh agree with u that all those missed the trek have missed something really wonderful in their life. Worth visiting for all trekkers especially during the rains in company of special frnds who make the trek all the more special. A heartfelt thanks to Ashutosh who never made us feel thirsty all thru the trek. God bless u buddy !!!!!