Rajmachi in July-2013

July- 2013

Day-1

After a lot of discussions, phone calls, etc etc, finally we booked Rajmachi. We paid the fees and train tickets (Thane to Lonavala & return) well in advance to get confirmed seats.

Since this was long awaited trek with overnight stay, our preparations started a week in advance. We were very strict about the sack size as we were expected to carry our luggage on our own. Things like Bedding, spare set of clothes, food plate, a glass-spoon, a torch were compulsory. The most worrying part was to carry the things in dry condition without fail as it would have been a mess if clothes/bedding get wet. Though the lunch, dinner & breakfast was to be arranged by, we decided to carry some snacks, a plum cake, fruits, biscuits with us. 

Our train, Indrayani Express was on time (6 am at Thane) and we occupied our reserved seats comfortably. There were many small, big groups on the train in trekking attire going to Lonavala. We alighted at Lonavla at 8 am and joined the group just outside the station. After initial hi-hellos, we started moving towards Annapurna restaurant located just beside Lonavala bus stand to have our breakfast. We had simple and meager Udupi breakfast (in a view that we had to walk 20 kms). Members were giving final touches to their packing/wrapping of their bags, fixing sleeping mats rolls to their bags etc etc. Tour leaders were waiting for lunch packets. Finally lunch packs arrived and same were distributed (4 Methi parathas and 2 Gulpolis per head). Parathas were meant for lunch and Gulpoli was glucose booster.

We started our march at 9.30 am. It was little raining. We were slow and chatting a lot as we were getting introduced to each other in an informal way. We set off for Tungarli dam road after completing a steep slope. Had our intro session near dam wall. We realized that few were first timers and few were seasoned trekkers. Avg age of group was 30. There were 3 seniors (aged more than 50 for sure).

We started walking slowly towards Mumbai direction. Came across a small village then couple of resorts and finally a motorable stone built road going down with two sharp curves. We had our first halt at one of the curves for photo shoot from where we could see a path going towards Rajmachi.

We resumed walking on a wide road. Climate was fantastic, group was incredible and that is why we weren’t feeling too tired even after completing almost 7-8 kms up-down path. We started approaching a plateau where we could see few tents, many bikes and few cars parked (cars cant go beyond this point though few enthusiast try and trouble themselves and their cars). There were couple of food stalls who were serving tea, snacks, maggi etc. It was around 12.30 pm by now and we halted for our lunch. This plateau was a happening place as there was a big waterfall and ‘Rappelling’ activity was going on by other groups. We spent some time in watching rappelling, sat on a big rock beside a waterway and enjoyed overall mahaul. Since it was continuously on-off drizzling, we were already drenched and it didn’t matter where we sit or lie down. Then we had our methi parathas and 1 gulpoli. It tasted like heaven as we were too hungy. After about 40 minutes we commenced our trail. 

It was a real trek then on as the path was narrow, rocky and most importantly muddy. Suddenly rain started pouring and slowed down our pace. After some time rain was so strong that we had to halt for some time under a big tree (which actually was useless as we were drenched and were worried about the things packed in sacks). The path was going through dense trees lined up on both sides. Sunlight was not visible and it was darker than evening at 2 pm.

At around 3 pm we reached a spot form where we could see a massive waterfall across valley right in front where we stood. Initially we didn’t realize the waterfall due to dense fog but its roaring sound was audible. Suddenly the curtain of fog disappeared and nature revealed the secret of sound. There were two gigantic streams of water falling from hilltop. We somehow managed to click couple of snaps (as every time we had to remove cameras from plastic wraps). We had the pleasure of watching falls for hardly 5 minutes and valley was covered by fog again.

From here on, we were too much exhausted and forcing our feet cover the remaining distance. We had walked approx. 15 kms by now, entirely drenched, shoes heavy due to mud, too tired…..

At last, after walking for 19 kms, we reached Rajmachi entry gate where our leader paid entry fees and we followed our leader who took us to a village home which was our night halt place. Rajmachi is a small village and villagers here rent their houses to trekking groups and provide meals as well. Our group was given a big verandah where we put our luggage and meantime tea was served. Leader asked us to not to change clothes as final event of 1^st day was still pending. After half an hour, we walked for 1.5 km to reach a big lake known as Udayasagar lake and many of us had jolly good time in water. Then we visited adjacent Mahadev temple. It was around 6.30 pm by now. We could see few more groups visiting the lake & the temple since it was weekend. We came back to our home stay and finally changed over to warm and dry clothes (our packing successfully protected the clothes from rain).

Everyone was tired and was occupying available place to sit in verandah. Verandah floor was not tiled. Floors coated with cow dung provide warmth and hence once seated, folks were not ready to leave their sits. We relished on whatever leftovers we had from our lunch. Dinner was getting ready inside the house and meantime our leaders started Antakshari. The next hour was full with fun and then hot dinner was served. It was delicious, vegetarian full course self serve meal (rice, usal, chapati & bhaji). Few members consumed pain killers (in fact pain killers were out of stock by next day) so that they can sleep well. Immediately after dinner, people started reserving space to sleep. Since we had around 10+ ladies members, they were given the best available spots. Those who were not having sleeping mat got them from our leader. I was one of them. Few guys had brought sleeping bag with them but most of them were wet and hence useless. The rain had stopped and finally we tried to sleep in a company of bugs and dripping water from ceiling......

Day-2

Got up at 6 am and freshened up by 7 am. Here, one shouldn't expect hygiene, cleanliness, toilet luxuries etc. One needs to manage with whatever facilities he/she has in given situation. Ladies used the couple of so so toilets available outside the house however gents had to go behind bushes.................

After breakfast (Kandepohe & Tea), we got ready for second day’s 1^st expedition- Visit to Manoranjan & Shrivardhn forts (4 kms). Since we were to have our lunch at same home stay, we didn’t carry our luggage while mounting the forts. It was relatively less raining however ascending fort was a tough task as usual due to slippery path. We reached the Shrivardhan top in 30-40 minutes and the surrounding view was purely mesmerizing.

After descending Shrivardhan fort, we few members decided to not to climb the other fort-Manaranjan as we wanted to start return journey asap since we had our train tickets booked. We talked to leaders and parted away from main group and decided to walk back to Lonavala on our own. Returned to homestay, collected luggage, made all preparations for long walk and started by 11 am after a cup of tea from nearby stall.

We slowly progressed our return excursion and reached the same place where we had spotted beautiful waterfalls. We waited for some time but were not lucky to see the fall due to fog. Since it was Sunday, there was a quite a rush. Also there was no rain. We noticed a number of 2 wheelers were adventuring through this uneven, rocky and muddy path making it absolutely horrible for walkers. The overall crowd size was atleast 3 times more than earlier day and most of them were bike riders (bullets especially) making a lot of noise. It is highly not recommended to walk on this path on Sundays. Since the road condition had worsened due to bikers, we were very slow and had to take frequent halts as our legs were paining terribly.

We reached the plateau place by 2 pm. Had some rest and decided to have a pain killer as 10 kms patch was still pending before we reach Lonavala station. We were very slow then on and were enjoying surrounding valleys, hills, small water falls on the way. One more interesting experience we had on return journey was to see an avalanche. We heard a big noise (like crackers or thunders) from hill side which was far away. When we looked, we saw a large piece of black stone was falling from not less than 100 feet height from hilltop. It fell on other hill and broke into smaller pieces. This happened in 5 seconds and the site was few kms away from us in hills hence there was no risk to people walking on path. We had garam-garam bhutta near Tungarli dam and finally we entered Lonavala city by 5 pm. Suddenly there was heavy rains. Our plan of remaining dry for return train journey went for a toss and we soaked to the skin while walking in downpour for around 1.5 kms.

We were very hungry and wanted to have a decent place to have food before catching Thane bound train. We entered one fairly decent restaurant where only pav-bhaji was available as their lunch section was closed. Since we wanted to spend maximum possible time at restaurant, we slowly kept on ordering one by one item and relished them at leisure. 

Lonavala station was hardly 500 meters away but the rain had made up its mind to not to keep us dry. We again got drenched before entering the station (on a positive note, rain didn’t disappoint us). We could meet few friends from our group at station and finally boarded the train at 7 pm. Reached home at 10 pm after a memorable, satisfying, strenuous, confidence boosting trek of RAJMACHI………..

(Few of above photos are clicked by other group participants. Let me thank them for sharing those) 

rahul