It was new year month which is Jan of 2014 and a lot had changed at the org front. With the trekking experience under my belt, I was asked to be part of the organizing committee of trek in the org. With that came responsibility as well as organization of the trek.
So we dropped the email on this trek to the subscribers of the treks within the org and we received the response that we were expecting. This was going to be a 2 day trek which needed endurance as we had to climb 3 forts in 1 day and the travel from Pune to Nashik range to add to it. This year was relatively very cold and we had planned the trek in the middle of winters.
Day 1 - Friday Night Travel
We began the trek after work from office and this was a 320kms journey which was going to take more than 7hrs to reach the base village of Baglan, Mulher. We ensured that the team with us had their dinners and no one was hungry. I climbed the tempo traveler at Nashik phata. As we started our journey we had planned in stages the stops. The 1st stop from some refreshment was Narayangaon where we alighted for some tea and famous hot milk. We checked with the driver that he was all good to drive through the night and in case we needed some breaks from him to take rest we would do that.
We also knew that in some parts of the highway the mobile range is weak and we also needed to conserve the batteries for this 2 day treks. We carried power banks and also kept our phones is airplane mode with Location Tracking on and offline map downloaded. We all organizers decided to take turns to sleep and also guide the driver accordingly. Our next stop was to take a halt at Sangamner. I mentioned to couple of trek leads to take rest as I liked riding and driving at night and was used to the night travel. They were off to sleep and me and driver continued to talk through the night.
Day 2 - Saturday Early Morning - Baglan
I had woken up couple of trek leads as we reached Nashik, we had to bypass Nashik city via the Nashik Road route then heading towards Dhule road. We had to reach Satana and then the dialect changed. We had 1 trek lead who knew the local dialect which is known as Ahirani which is mostly spoken in Khandesh. In Maharashtra Khandesh consists of modern districts of Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar. We reached Baglan at 5am IST, we quickly requested the driver to get some sleep and we gave him INR 200 for his morning breakfast. He was off to sleep quickly. We asked all other members to start waking up for morning duties and freshening up in the morning twilight. All trek leads then saw a villager at the base waking up and we started a small fire and started conversing in Ahirani with him.
As we were witnessing the sunrise, we could see at a distance the peaks of Mangi Tungi
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| Mangi Tungi from Mulher Base Village |
We could also see the Hargad Fort which was hugging the Mulher Fort in the background
We clicked few pics from the base village from the villagers hut
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| Our parking Lot |
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| Mangi Tungi More Distinctly Visible |
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| First Light hitting the Mulher Fort |
Day 2 - Saturday Early Morning - Climbing Mulher
Our plan was to climb through Mulher and then climb to Moragad through a connecting ridge and then descend down. We had to then have lunch and leave for Salherwadi which was about 30 kms from Mulhergad. Since Saturday morning we knew we were not going to get good cooked breakfast, we had to carry break, butter and jam for breakfast. Mulher is very far away from any society hence we carried the Day 1 breakfast food with us.
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| Having Breakfast |
I was the rear end of the trek group clicking pics for everyone and off everyone.
Reaching the top of Mulhergad
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| One of the view from Mulher top east side |
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| Entrance to Mulhergad |
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| Taking a brief break |
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| Saputara Range Visible from the top of Mulher |
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| All the trekkers |
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| Door of heaven |
We walked towards the connector route between Mulher and Mora
One of our trek leads had last time found and ancient coin atop the location and he was trying to find if there were any more :)
Walking through the narrow doorway left now
Team pic when we were on the other side
Taking pics of different shades of me :)
The views were really mesmerizing
This is the route we used to crossover to Moragad
Jet of wind clearly seen.
We got down Moragad pretty quickly as we had to have lunch in a house in the village and then head towards the base of Salher which was Salherwadi.
Moving to Salher base
We finished reaching the base by 1pm IST and then quickly moved to a nearby village for some home cooked food. We completed our lunch by 2pm and were quickly off to Salherwadi which was 30mins away. Pics of reaching the Salherwadi.
Climbing to Salher Top:
We packed all that is necessary and after chatting with villagers, started climbing the fort. We started climbing at 3.30pm IST. This time the climb was not simple as all our bags were loaded and we had to be at the top latest by 7pm IST as we had to collect wood while walking and needed to prepare food at the top in the caves. The going was slow and we had to encourage each other to keep climbing at pace.
As you can see in the pics the light was fading and it was getting darker. The mighty Salher was on the right and we were walking the ridge with Salota on the left.
There are no more pics after this as we had to get to the top of this fort you see in the previous image and the going was though and we reached the top in pitch dark post which we had to divide the team and make food and prepare for sleeping.
Day 2 - Exploring Salher
We woke everyone up at 4am IST and asked them to do their morning basics and report back at the cave. We had to fill water from tanks atop and the temperature was freezing.
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| Cave for the night |
One thing we were troubled during the night was a lot of mice. This fort has a lot of them and we had to hang our bags and eating stuff seperately as the mice would hunt for food at night.
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| View from 5141 Ft from sea level |
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| Salher temple |
We were also greeted by local villagers atop the fort who were performing their prayers
And post the water collection and morning duties we lit fire for morning breakfast. Menu was simple, Coffee and Noodles
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| Enjoying the morning Coffee |
It was time to explore Salher quickly as we had to move to Salota while descend, hence we had to be back at the vehicle by 5pm IST as we further had a journey of 7 hrs back to Pune.
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| View of Salota from Salher Top |
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Post clicking pics and finishing seeing the Salher fort we started our return journey to Salota and then eventually the base village.
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| This image is exactly opposite view from where I clicked the above one |
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| This is Salher from Salota - Few hrs prior we were on that fort |
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| Steps on which I was clicking pics |
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| Salher view from Salota with the team |
Climbing and Descending from this fort was not easy and one had to be very watchful all the time. With this we ended the trek.
We reached the base by 5pm IST and we quickly changed at the base village and then prepared the remaining Noodles we had with the villager and his family, thanked them and left for Pune. We reached Nashik Phata by 11.30pm IST and then the team reached by 12am.
It was a fulfilling exhausting trek and journey but we all enjoyed it. Until next one. Keep reading
Abhijit More
Pune
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