It is a long time ago, I went from Himachal Pradesh to Maharashtra by train, this distance is 1804 km which takes me two and a half days to cover. The reason for India moving from North to West was a trail event. I had to recon the route of this trail event and send the GPX file of the race route to the International Trail Running Association so that the race could get points and then the runners could register themselves and come to run the race.
The recce of the route has to be done after two days, so I keep one day for myself and in this buffer day I trek Kalsubai, the highest peak of Maharashtra. This peak is located in the Western Ghats and its height is 1646 meters (5400 feet). So I take a bus from Beed in Himachal Pradesh to Delhi which takes me 12 hours to drop me in Delhi from where I take a night train and get down in Ahmednagar district. From the railway station I go to Akole taluka and then reach Bhandardara from where Shendi village is 5 km away which I cover on foot.
Created in Adobe Photoshop
After having dinner last night, I go to sleep early and wake up at 8 in the morning and have breakfast. I am staying in a camp site located on the banks of a dam in Shendi village, named Krishnavanti. This dam is also built on Krishnavanti river. This dam is quite small and its main purpose is to collect water so that it helps agriculture. This place is very dry, hence there are many dams here which store water.
Only 3 km had passed since the start of the trek when I saw a leopard's paw print on the way. I am not alone, there is a boy running the campsite here with me, whose name is Raghu. Raghu tells me that there are many leopards here and after confirming the mark, he moves ahead. We will have to walk from the campsite to Bari village as it is very difficult to get public transport here. We will have to walk 9 km on the road.
Soon after crossing Bari village we start climbing the mountain. The trail is unpaved and the hot sun is making it very difficult. Because I have come from a cold place, I am sweating a lot and my body is behaving a bit strange. I drink the one liter water bottle I brought with me in the first 9 kms but it is good that we take a 5 minute break at Bari village from where I refill my water bottle.
After climbing the first 3 km, we start seeing a 360 degree view from the shoulder of the mountain. The mountains of 1200 to 1500 meters located far away are trying to kiss the sky. I have come here for the first time and I am finally liking this place. The path ahead from here is of iron stairs, after crossing which the top of Kalsubai Peak will remain only 1.5 km away. We take a sip of water and start walking.
In the next 30 minutes we were standing on the top of Klusubai Peak where there was a very strong wind and beautiful landscapes were visible all around. Raghu is feeling cold here while I am bathed in sweat. The only thing I can say is “I feel like I will die from the heat”.
There is a temple on the top of Kalsubai Peak which is dedicated to Kalsubai Devi. Raghu told that a fair is held here during Navratri and many small shops are set up here. This place is very famous among the locals, hence every day the locals come here to worship. It is believed that the wishes made here are definitely fulfilled.
After spending about 40 minutes at the top, we start descending. I get down first because I am sunburnt and now I have an idea about the environment here. And also that tomorrow is going to be very difficult because I have to do 65 km long route recce and that too in one day. So now I have got time to prepare and think.
We reach back to the campsite in about 3 hours and take lunch and rest. This is my first time in the mountains of the Western Ghats and I enjoyed it. I want to take the heat out of this fun. If only the weather here was as cold as the Himalayas, it would have been so much fun. Well, that's enough for today, perhaps in the next post I would like to write about my experience of the 65 km long route here.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to tranlate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from GoPro 4 and edited in Lightroom/photoshop.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 19.60151 lat 73.70822 long Summited the highest peak of Maharashtra (Kalsubai Peak 1646m) d3scr)
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When I read your post it makes me think about the movie seven years I Tibet
You are right, these places looks just like tibet. Have a nice day
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2189.
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