Ride / Trek summary:
One more successful foray into the densely forested Koyna
region with a ride through the lesser known Raghuveer Ghat which connects the
remote villages Shendi, Valvan etc on banks of Koyna Lake
(which is a part of Koyna wildlife sanctuary) to Khed in the Konkan. Also the
amazing views when trekking to Chakdev, Parbat, Mahimandangad with the village
ambience at Valvan where I stayed for two days, and lastly the ride through an
almost unknown dirt road which connects Valvan village to Poladpur-Mahableshwar
road, it goes all around the North West Koyna lake branches connecting all the
remote villages on its banks to the main road, in the process the road sometimes
very near to the lake shore or climbing high above in the mountains with the
thick Koyna jungles all along for company and not to forget the rains which did
trouble me since I was without a raincoat but then it added to the beauty of
the place, bit of adventure and of course my anxiety.
To get the feel of the journey see the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/zenosh/20101104ChakdevParbatMahimandangadKoynaLakeTrekRide
and read the trip report below.
Ride / Trek details:
Since it was a 4 day Diwali holiday I did not want to miss
the chance to once more foray in one of my favorite trekking / off roading
destination – Koyna wildlife sanctuary which has some of the thickest forest
cover in Maharashtra. Some how this region
always throws some surprises and new routes every time I go there.
After evaluating couple of options I fixed to go to the North West region of Koyna Lake
which consists of Chakdev, Parbat and Mahimandangad mountains which I planned
to trek. I took a lesser known route from Konkan i.e. the Raghuveer Ghat which
connects the base villages on the shores of Koyna Lake
to Khed in Konkan.
Raghuveer Ghat was built 6 years back (over a period of ten
years) and was a kaccha road as per my info but to my disappointment it turned
out to be tarred except the last few km’s. How selfish can we be for our lust
for dirt biking. It’s a boon for the villagers who had to walk for hours before
they could reach the nearest road head to catch a State transport bus or
private Jeep to Khed in case of emergencies.
After taking left from Khed on the NH-17, the traffic
lessened and mountains came into view on the horizon giving me a hint of things
to come. After Khopi (that’s when the Raghuveer Ghat starts) there was no
traffic at all.
Since I reached the Ghat earlier than planned I made the
best use of time taking lot of breaks, clicking pictures, having peanuts and
just enjoying the typical hardened Sahyadri mountain views with clear blue
skies.
I guess there is some divine intervention when I am on such
rides, in a way of after some confusion of what to do – I always land up with
some good information / route / contact person which make my trip a success. After
a lot of asking around in Shendi village for the ideal way to tackle my
trekking plans here, and not getting very welcoming response, but at least a
reference to the next village (to ask for Tanaji Jadhav) I moved further to
next village Valvan and asked for Tanaji Jadhav. This person made my ride /
trek in this new region a success.
He knew all the jungle routes thoroughly and also suggested
me the dirt road on the periphery of Koyna
Lake on the way back
home. I had an amazing time at his place for 2 days. He treated me as his
family member and never did even once did I feel out of place, having sumptuous
meals of Chicken, Crab, Fried fish, vegetables, Rice, Dahi and Dal (Crab and
fish are fresh from Koyna lake) and sharing the typical jungle tales and
experiences. Since the mountains around here have Shiva temples on top (real
old ones maybe around 1000 years – as per legend the temples were made by the
Pandava’s) he instructed me to have bath and then only leave for the trek. I
could see a bit of my father in himJ, I even insisted that
I am feeling fresh and don’t really need a bath but he prevailed finally and
also provided me hot water for bathing.
One incident worth mention – these villagers store live
crabs in the matka and cover it with cloth, so they can cook it fresh when
needed. Tanaji also had a matka just below the bed on which I used to sleep.
That night when we were talking about my trekking plans here I heard weird
chewing sounds and told Tanaji about it and he dismissed me saying that it’s
the calf or the hen kept in the same room which is making sounds, but he was
wrongJ
All the crabs had escaped through the matka and were all over the place, one
above my bed too, and I came to know that the next morning when I saw chaos in
the room with Tanaji searching something all over the place in a flurry.
Next morning I along with his 13 year old son Dinesh (who
would be my guide for Chakdev and Parbat trek) left for Parbat and then
followed by Chakdev. All the three mountains here which I trekked are actually
easy scrambles of an hour (one way) if trekked non stop without breaks and can
be tackled in one day.
Since we started early morning at 7:00 am I could capture
some real nice transitions as the sun comes up from the mountains (See photos-
I am not good at words J ). The route to Parbat is a bit complicated with
multiple paths branching off from the main path and forested patches, but a
treat to trek in. As we gain height the topography of the region becomes clear,
Chakdev Mountain to the north with the Valvan
and Shendi villages visible in the valley, with a glimpse of the Koyna lake
branch and the pass through which the road comes in the valley. Both Parbat and
Chakdev have this typical old Shiva
Temple on the top. There
are also some other idols also apart from the typical Shiva temple features.
These temples are considered very sacred by the villagers. I spent close to an
hour at each of these temples appreciating the amazing carvings and idols which
are possibly more than millennia old.
Chakdev which is an easier trek with the route also well defined
has an entire village on the mountain top, very clean and scenic. To reach the
village one has to trek minimum for an hour. Chakdev also has another route
from other side from Ambavli village, it’s a longer route (3 hours one way) and
difficult too, around 300 feet of ladder is fixed at different places at the
vertical cliff on the mountain to make ascent possible without equipment.
The moment we reached Chakdev – clouds started coming and
the whole mountain was engulfed in fog within few minutes and by the time we
reached down at Valvan village it started to rain heavily. What a change within
an hour, in morning it was hot and sunny and by 3:00 PM it was raining full
force with lightning and thundering. Since I was already at the village at the
time rains started I was enjoying the rains from the cozy confines of the
house, lucky not to be in the mountains at that time since I did not bring any
rain gear whatsoever. Who would have expected rains in mid November? When the
rains fizzled out for a while in evening I went for a stroll around the village
road and was able to capture some amazing rain drenched scenery. The waterfalls
had surely grown in size due to the sudden rain and the temperature was also on
the cooler side with the landscape looking fresh and green.
Next morning the sky was again clear and so we decided to go
for a trek to Mahimandangad at 7:00 AM, a lesser known fort near Shendi
village. Except Tanaji no one from the village was even aware of this fort and
no one ventures there. Not sure why the case since it was also an easy trek of
an hour. Due to non usage the trail was almost non existent and broken in
places, and was slippery due to rains last night but it looked like a piece of
cake due to the watch full eyes of Tanaji. Both his sons and a villager had
also come along with us so that they also know the route for the fort.
The views from the top of Mahimandangad were the best I saw
on this trip with the mountains jutting out of the cloud layer below, Chakdev
playing hide and seek with the clouds and cool crisp air due to the rains.
Raghuveer Ghat was clearly visible from this fort. Mahimandangad also has a
temple but not well maintained as Chakdev and Parbat ones. It has 4 water
cisterns carved out of the stone where you get crystal clear and cool drinkable
water, a typical feature of the Sahyadri forts. After coming down from the fort
at 10:00 AM it was time for a meal and final good bye to Tanaji and his family.
By the time I ate a quick lunch and rested again the dark
cloud cover was there. And when I kick started the bike to start my return
journey home it started drizzling. Tanaji advised me not to take the jungle
route via Koyna Lake since it’s a dirt road and would
get slushy in no time if it rained heavily and on top of it I was without any
rain coat. Having come so far I was determined to try this new route and only
turn back if it was absolutely impossible to go ahead, and I had 2 days to
return to Mumbai so I said to myself – “WTF: jo hoyega dekha jayega!”. Tanaji
was kind enough to find some old tarpaulins to cover my luggage and lend me his
umbrella (or you can say he just gave it away to me) so that in case of heavy
rain I can at least stop the bike and take shelter in the umbrella.
Yes- the umbrella was indeed useful since the rains seemed
to play hide and seek with me and I was just standing on the jungle track for 3
/ 4 times, 15-20 minutes each with umbrella in hand cursing myself not to be
bringing rain gear for this ride / trek. The route was beautiful beyond
imagination and the rain clouds adding to the dramatic effect of the Lake and
the surrounding mountains with dense jungles, but it did nothing to ease my
anxiety, since now the bike was slipping badly due to the slush and the clouds
were in no mood to recede and I was in the buffer zone where wildlife spotting
can be reasonably common. I got to admit that I was a bit scared to be in this
situation. But then after a while got comfortable with the situation and
started enjoying the ride, every now and then stopping to click the amazing
dirt road, lake and the mountains and not to forget the umbrella stops due to
rains. To my benefit the road also started getting bit better since the
villagers had laid stones on the dirt road and the bike was no longer slipping
as bad.
I had planned to stop the ride latest by 5:00 PM and to ask
each village by the road the distance to the next one so that in case of any
trouble I know how much distance I need to ride / walk to get help. By 5:00 PM
I reached a beautiful village by the Lake side
named as Walne. I stayed there at a shopkeeper’s house at night. Unfortunately
there was a death of a close relative of the shopkeeper in Mumbai at 9:00 PM
but due to the remoteness of the village and no vehicles plying on this road
they did not have any option but to wait for the launch next morning which
would take them across the lake to Tapole and then they would take a jeep to
Mahableshwar and State Transport bus to Mumbai. Just to add – on this approx
100 km stretch of dirt road I did not find a single vehicle plying here for the
one and a half days which I spent on this road. I did see some tyre marks at
some stretches though. It’s surely a dream ride for the ones who enjoy riding
in the interior dirt roads of the Sahyadri’s.
Next morning I started the ride early at 7:00 AM since now I
had to reach Mumbai the same day after getting out of this dirt road at the
Mahableshwar-Poladpur road. There was one more diversion to be taken to
complete my ride here, the dirt road to Makrandgad fort (4012 feet) which was
built by the villagers just 2 years back. It is just after Dabe village, but
the dirt road was in horrible shape since it had rained heavily last night and
there were no stones laid to avoid the slush and on top of it never used in
monsoons. The route was barely visible at times. I could just manage to ride ½
km out of the 7 km after which my bike slipped on the hairpin bend. That’s it.
I decided to stop here and trek further from here during which I spotted a
small snake too (lucky meJ). Even walking was difficult at times due to the
slippery surface. Walked up for ½ hour to a clearing from where I could see Makrandgad
fort and took the last big break in the jungles before I rush out to reach
Mumbai. I had a quick breakfast of peanuts and apple and just relaxed for half
hour enjoying the scenery around before turning back but with a resolve that I
will be back here someday and complete the dirt track to Makrandgad fort.
