Trek to Naneghat

First trek after coming back to Bombay (August 15, 2009)

Place: Naneghat (western ghat near Kalyan)
Difficulty level: Easy
Time required to climb: Two and a half hours.

How to reach: Reach Kalyan station and then take any state transport bus that goes via Malshes ghat. The bus driver or the conductor should know about the spot from where the Naneghat trek begins. The bus ticket is 47 rs as of today. The bus takes about an hour and a half to reach the base.

Description: In the current season the mountains are really green and stones are slippery in some parts. The climbs are easy due to the step-like structure of the route. You might get to see some big yellow crabs, natural turmeric. The petals of the turmeric flower look like lotus petals and just below these pink petals there are yellow buds. The root is the part we use. Apparently, this turmeric has many good medicinal properties. It is also a bird watcher's paradise, or so we found out. (We had a company of two avid bird watchers who educated us about Malabar whistling thrush and they promise to provide snaps of many birds they spotted.) At the top there is a cave in which there are inscriptions from 100BC. Next to the cave is a pass which served as a trade route for the transport between markets of Kalyan, Nalasopara (Konkan) and Junnar (Plateau) at the times of Satvahanas. After the pass there is about a 100m climb which then takes you to the top. On a clear day one can see a really nice view of the valley on one side and Jivdhan peak on the other side.

Our experience: We were a group of 5. Each had done at least a couple of treks before. One of us (Funda) was an expert and also knew this trek. The climb was fun but uneventful. We stopped at one spot before reaching the cave. This was to eat our breakfast. We had our breakfast on a beautiful plateau. From there the real climb started. We were on the top after about two hours after the breakfast. At the top we sat in the cave for a while and tried to get ourselves educated about the inscriptions on the wall. When we reached the top there were many clouds. We got a glimpse of Jivdhan and a couple of times a clear view of the valley. The rest of the times, the place looked like the end of the universe! But alas, it wasn't all that lonely on the top :(.

We climbed down to the cave and had our lunch. Here we spotted Malabar whistling thrush. Just after our lunch it started raining and we were caught by something called flush floods (I am not sure about this term. But basically, the rain wasn't much but the path of the trek got flooded with the water because water from all over the place decided to flow down along this path)! I only then discovered that the step-like structure of the route was due to the stream of water that runs through it when it rains on the top! In spite of the rain and flush floods, we started climbing down. It felt like climbing down huge steps when a gallon of water is being poured down the stairs and you are not allowed to look at the steps and also some parts of the stairs are slippery and some are not. This is what made the trek eventful and interesting.

Tips/ lessons I learned:
1. Theplas filled with sprouts and cheese, a definite yes! Sprouts are very healthy light and contain a lot of water, an excellent snack.
2. When water covers your path, walk along the centre of the flow. That's where the stones won't be slippery and hence that would be the safest place to "put your foot". Counter-intuitive but works!