Trek to Rajmachi
The day before the trek, I planned to get
a good night's sleep. The night was going to be long and the day longer
still as the Rajmachi trek was to begin at 3 AM! The usual excitement made me restless and I kept checking my bag to see
if I had everything I needed for the trek. We were going to depart from Vile
Parle at 11PM by bus to reach Lonavala which was our starting point.
Mumbai was cast with heavy black clouds and
the rain had been pounding the city the entire day. The temperature had
dropped considerably and I wondered if I should carry a sweater with me to keep me warm. I recalled my Kalsubai trek and I remembered by chattering teeth and cold
hands. But I decided against carrying it, there was no point is increasing the
load in my bag.
We waited near the domestic airport to board
our bus which was coming from Borivali. We chatted excitedly about the trek and
debated if there would be enough rain or not. Heavy rainfall was going to make
our trek even more difficult, but a monsoon trek would be incomplete without thunderstorms.
The bus reached Lonavala in three hours as we
picked up more people on our way. The night air was chilly and it was
drizzling. Our bus reached a point where the driver couldn’t take it any
further. This meant another 3 kms of walking before we began our 16kms trek to
the base point of Rajmachi. But everyone was cheerful and ready to take up the
challenge. We put on our windcheaters and took out our torches.
The weather was perfect for the path filled
with fog. The light from our torches was diverging and created a halo of light
on our path. We started walking towards our destination, the base camp at the
village Udhewadi. Our path crossed through forests and rivulets running through
the mountains. Trekking at night is a different experience all together. Though
you can’t see much, you can feel the forest and hear the night crawlies
screeching while the water gushed from places that we couldn’t see!
The walk was never-ending, many got tired and
we decided to take a halt. We had reached a clearing next to a stream. We had
been walking without a break for the last three hours and our stomachs were
grumbling with hunger. We munched on some cookies and were delighted to see the
early sunrays break through the night sky. This was accompanied by the
melodious call of the wood thrush, tantalizing us with its musical whistle.
The drizzle of rain continued and we could
now see our beautiful surroundings. We continued on our walk towards Udhewadi.
The walk was a comfortable walk with some steep parts where we huffed and
puffed our way forward. The pleasant weather made sure that we didn’t get
tired. We reached Udhewadi, the base village at 7.30 AM. It had taken us just
over four hours to complete the route from Lonavala to Udhewadi.
Udhewadi is a small village with not more
than twenty households. The village has multiple small snack outlets and also
has accommodation available for the ones who preferred to do the trek over two
days. We had our breakfast and lunch arrangements made at Mr. Shailesh Umbre’s restaurant.
I would definitely recommend eating here for their amazing food and warm
hospitality. You can reach Mr. Umbre on 09881423529.
After breaking for forty five minutes and
enjoying the world’s best Pohe and warm tea, we started again. We had to reach
the pinnacle which was another 4kms trek to the top. We were estimated to take
an hour to an hour and half to make it to the top. The first fifteen minutes
were the easiest as newly constructed steps to a temple on the way made it very
comfortable. Post that, the real challenge began. The path is narrow with the
cliff on one side and the valley on the other. Each step had to be taken carefully.
Streams of water were flowing down the side of the cliff which made the rocks slippery
at a few places. But we paved our way forward!
The wind was tremendous and a few of our caps
were blown away! We reached the fort and climbed the huge steps. The steps are
inhumane, purposely made that way to dissuade the enemy from entering the fort
quickly. There is a wonderful chai-wala/nimbupaani-wala at the top. You can
take your pick! You can also buy some chips if you are really hungry. There are
two flags at the top of the fort, on opposite sides of it. This means there are
two beautiful and different views of either side of the mountain. We reached
the first one and touched the flag in triumph. You can have a look at the view
we were blessed with..
We managed to click some good pictures of the
view and stared at the mountain ranges spread out in front of us. We had a
clear view of the Ulhas River and waterfall from this point. As it was just the
start of the monsoon, the waterfall wasn’t filled to its capacity. But it was still beautiful! Within seconds of us clicking the pictures, we were engulfed
with clouds. The clouds were so dense that we couldn’t see anything over the
cliff. Look at this picture below, its at the same spot where the above picture
was clicked…
The wind picked up even more and it was more
difficult to stand upright against the wind. We then climbed towards the tavern
of water. The tavern looked deep but the water didn’t seem suitable for
drinking. But it did make a beautiful spot for more pictures! The grass was a
bright green and it looked even more wondrous with a background of black rock
and grey clouds. After walking along the wall of the fort, we made our way to
the very top. We touched the flag and marked the end of the climb. The view
over the other side was breathtaking as well. The clouds covered the view and
we were literally walking in them.
It was the perfect spot to sit for a while
and just enjoy the view, the feeling of conquering the fort and the amazing
wind. We took out the Frooti from our backpacks and sipped the drink and silently
gazed at the beautiful view. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I felt a calmness
seeping through me. It was nature taking over and all I could do was let go. I
rested in the grace of the wilderness and felt the oneness with the surroundings.
It was a moment to let go off your inhibitions and the worries that get you
down in your everyday life. I felt victorious, yet humbled by the mere presence
of the mountains.
We sat there for half an hour, enjoying
ourselves and before we knew it, it was time to descend. We climbed down the
same steps and made our way back to Udhewadi. We reached the village by lunch
time. We were absolutely starving. To our delight, lunch was ready for us and
we were served ‘just off the stove Pithla-Bhakri’ with sprouts, dal, papad and
rice. There was pickle too for anyone who wanted it. We ended the wonderful
lunch with buttermilk. Satiated from the lunch and the wonderful Rajmachi fort,
we were given half an hour to relax before we began our descent.
We were taking a different route to go back.
While we had climbed from Lonavala, our return route would take us to Karjat.
The Karjat route is much more difficult and hence a tough task to climb. I was
sure climbing down was going to be tough too! Even more so due to the rains. We
were mentally prepared to slip and fall our way to the bottom :) It was another 8 kms till the base and a
couple of kilometers more to where the bus was waiting for us.
We started descending on war footing. We
continued to motivate each other with the thoughts of warm clothes, change of
footwear and the comfort of the bus! The path was treacherous and it’s
definitely not meant for first timers or anyone who isn’t comfortable with
literally sitting down in the mud and sliding down the entire route. Our targeted
duration was 2.5 hours and we wanted to make it in that time. Since we were a
huge group, everyone set their own pace. We were aware that there will be
people who would take more than four hours to finish the descent. I was looking
forward to the warm clothes and comfortable floaters that were waiting for me in the
backpack in the bus. The bus which had dropped us to Lonavala had come to
Karjat to pick us up.
There are three main lookouts on the way
down which would help trekkers estimate their progress: three plateaus and
Kondana caves. The plateaus were almost equidistant from each other and gave a
rough estimate to how much we had travelled. Each of the plateaus served as a
rest spot for us where we waited for a couple of minutes and drank water to
march ahead. Luckily for us, the rain was just a drizzle and it wasn’t pouring
like it had been a couple of days before our visit. But the drizzle had made
sure that the path down was slippery and filled with water rivulets and loose
stones. But it’s not something that you can’t achieve. We helped each other to
climb down. The Kondana falls entrance is the last stop before we reached the
bottom. It takes another 20-30 minutes from here to reach plain ground. You can
get some ‘garam chai’ here and there is a beautiful waterfall flowing right
outside the cave entrance. The path after this point gets easier. We heaved a
sigh of relief as our tired legs and feet cheered.
We reached the base village at Karjat,
Kondivade at 5.15PM. We looked at the flat
stretch of land in front of us and rejoiced. We skipped and danced our way to the benches in front of us where there was a snack shop. Unfortunately,
the shop doesn’t serve any chai, but you can get some cold drinks and juice and
if you are lucky, maybe a bag of chips. We had to walk another two kilometers
to reach the spot where our bus was parked. we had made it to the bottom in a
record 2.5 hours. We were just a group of ten people
and the rest were on their way. We walked down to Kondivade village and gorged
on some garam-garam vada pav and steaming chai. The homestay also provided clean washrooms and water.
We finally took off our shoes and rested our
tired feet. Our toes ached the most because of wearing the shoes for so long.
But we were definitely happy-tired. The rain started coming down stronger after
that and we were relieved that we made it before the torrential rain began. It
was 8PM when the entire group reached the base village and we made it to the
bus and started our return journey to Mumbai. The bus was silent on the way
back as everyone quickly fell asleep. Luckily, we reached Parle in 3 hours and
got home by 11PM.
Rajmachi is a trek which is a little more
than moderate in nature, not in difficulty but on endurance levels.
Definitely something I will cherish for a long time.
Important tips – Make sure you wear good
trekking shoes which have a good grip. Try out ‘Action’ trekking shoes.
Definitely avoid floaters, slippers, sandals, sports and canvas shoes.
I would definitely suggest that the trek be
completed over two days for first timers or those who have low endurance levels. You can enjoy the beautiful Udhewadi village!
Our Trek was arranged by the Travers Team and you can check them out here:
https://www.facebook.com/TraversIndia/?fref=ts
A wonderfully dedicated team of trekkers who make sure that you have a perfect experience!
Happy Trekking!
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