Trek to Gorakhgad

Kalawardhini Pratishthan arranged the second trek of the year to Gorakhgad after Ankai – Tankai on Jan 1, 2011. Gorakhgad is a small fort near Deheri village which is 40min from Murbad near kalyan.   We started our trek from kalyan by 11.15PM bus to murbad. We reached murbad at 12.20AM and the connecting and last bus towards Deheri the base village was of 12.30AM and in around 40 min we reached the base village, all thanks to driving of the bus driver. The total count of the group was 23 out of which 2 were going to join us next day i.e. 23 Jan 2011 morning.  We had initially decided to do night trek but had to skip the idea as some members who directly came to kalyan were hungry as they had skipped dinner. There was a school where first we decided to spend the night but the area was too small to occupy 21 people. So we decided to spend night Gorakhshanath Temple also called Vithal Mandir. There is a shade in the temple which can occupy more than 40 people.

It wasn’t that cold at 2.30AM but later it was freezing cold and some of us who hadn’t carry bed sheets were shivering.  At 6AM we got up and by 6.30 most of us were fresh. Siddhesh was the in charge of morning tea as he is good in that and yes he made a fantastic tea. By the time we were waiting for the other 2 members to join we had an introduction round as few new faces had joined the group.  Unfortunately the two members Ruchir all the way from Pune and Rushme from Kalyan reached very late even after reaching murbad at 6.30AM.  They reached the base village at 8.50AM, 1 and half hours late of the scheduled time.

We started our trek at 9.11AM. Various species of birds can also be seen while trekking. Gorakhgad is ease but steep narrow steps and climbs make it very adventurous.  The last two rock patches are very adventurous.  They should not be done in hurry. It is advisable to carry rope so that heavy bags can be pulled up easily. Half of the members climbed the patch then we passed the bags up and then the remaining members climbed the patch.

We reached the top at 12.30PM. A large cave was waiting for us. Around 35-40 people can be accommodated in that cave at a time. We took rest as everyone was quite tired as we had climbed when the sun was on our head. There are few water storage tanks (taak) but as they are in open air, the water is not good for drinking. But there is one tank which is covered by a rocks and the water is also good for drinking.

The view from the top is awesome. Can see few more trek ranges from the caves. It was decided that after lunch we’ll cover the last patch that is the peak point of Gorakhgad in groups. But we have to cancel the idea of climbing the peak due to time constrains.  So we decided to take rest and then Chalke sir shared his knowledge about and surrounding the Gorakhgad area.

This time the trek was very special as one of our trek member announced her wedding date and invited the whole group , saurabh was gifted a lovely greeting design by vaibhav on his birthday and last but not the least Siddhesh readout his latest poem which was just brilliant.

At 4.30 we started descending. It took us 2 hrs to just descend the two rock patches.  We decided to take another route to reach the base as the route while climbing was not a good route to descend in dark. The other route was quite easy and hence we decided to cover maximum distance before it gets dark. We reached Mhasa village at 7.00 which is 2 Km from the base village deheri.

Siddesh then arranged 2 jeeps from Mhasa village to murbad bus stand. We reached murbad bus stand at 8 and when we enquired about the bus to kalyan they said the next bus is at 9PM and hence we thought to hire a jeep from murbad till Kalyan. But the problem was that there were hardly any jeeps which were travelling towards kalyan and few which were there were way too expensive to hire. But to our luck an empty was arranged looking at the crowd looking to travel towards kalyan.

At 10PM we reached kalyan, this is the worst time of any trek when we concluded our trek. We concluded the trek at kalyan with a promise that next time we’ll make it to the peak of Gorakhgad.

Few points to remember while on the trek Gorakhgad

1.       Carry ropes

2.       Beware of the monkeys while on the top.

3.       If you are not in a big group do lock your bag and tie to the pillars as monkey do jumb in the caves in search of food and also open the bags (Smart monkeys)

4.       Don’t carry plastic bag while climbing or descending. Monkeys may attack as they think you are carrying food in them.

5.       Try to start descending before dark.

6.       Carry torch even if you are doing a day trek. It can be used in caves and also useful if you are late while descending.

Travel

1.       Get down at kalyan station and take bus from kalyan bus depot towards Murbad.  Ticket cost is Rs. 22

2.       Take another bus from Murbad to Deheri (the base village). Ticket cost is Rs. 17

3.       Mhasa to Deheri

4.       Deheri to Murbad  (jeep around 11-12 people in 1 jeep) Rs. 450

5.       Murbad to Kalyan bus. Ticket cost Rs. 23

If you reach the base village early then you can get Bus from deheri to Murbad.

Take a bus from Kalyan to Murbad and then another bus from Murbad to Deheri.

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