Aad Fort -Rarely Done Trek- 27th August 2017

The promise of a rarely explored Aad Fort and that too grade “easy” was reason enough to opt for this trek

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As is the routine we took the scheduled Kasara local (with the standard warning- IF YOU MISS THE TRAIN, YOU MISS THE TREK) and reach Kasara at 1.20 am. 

Time for the  long vehicle ride with the customary break at Baba Da Dhaba for Tea/coffee /Pulao/Biryani and the surprise Cake Cutting. (The crowd at Baba da Dhaba at 2 am never ceases to amaze me ). 

 The fun quotient of the jeep ride was provided by Arjun , one of our intrepid trekkers, who decided that travelling on the roof top of one of the two Jeeps was  a nice way to get some breeze. A hilarious turn of events , since no one in that Jeep  knew he was doing that and it actually led to speculation about ghosts and what not !!!!




We eventually reach the Base Village and take a much needed break at the local Krishna Temple.

 After the introduction round of the 25 odd trekkers where new friendships were made and existing bonds renewed, the group had a quick warm up round with simple physical exercises

and enthusiastically started the trek.

 The local (absolutely down to earth ) guide Gokul conversationally mentioned somewhere along the way that the (vast) tracts of land from point X to point Y belonged to his family , where they grew vegetables like  French beans and peas.  

Our ever jovial Trek lead Jaal actually suggested we had all the ingredients for pulao available!

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The easy grade trek started off easily enough almost like a stroll through the fields. Special mention of the fertile if gooey soil through which we trekked!!!!

The slight adventure to the day began with the ascent into the Hills beyond the fields. The continuous rains had made the paths slippery and at a few stretches the narrow path was all of 18-24 inches wide with a fairly steep fall on one side.

Special mention has to be made of the absolute majestic view of the enormous windmills which we could see as we gained height and took breaks in between at the plains/plateaus. 

The breaks were well utilized to either click pics 

or explore the surroundings as per inclination J

The food break in between at the temple cave was one of  the highlights of the trek with about twenty plus breakfast packets making their appearance and being exchanged freely among all. Instant sandwiches, cakes,  idli, thepla, kachori, fruits, to mention only a few. 

The dance party that began later has to be seen to be believed. Some absolutely groovy moves and some trick videography has ensured sufficient entertainment for a lifetime each time the videos are revisited.

The feeling of being in the midst of clouds, when enveloped by the fog and then suddenly being treated to the breathtaking landscape below when the fog cleared was fascinating to say the least.

We eventually reach the top, explore around a bit and

 after a good 

session of games 

or 

snoozing 

or blank gazing into the valley or clouds

(as per choice),

and of course the mandatory group pic,

the descent begins. 

We reach base in good time. Enroute get the chance to examine a windmill up close and personal (and click plenty of pics of course)

and then start the journey back. Lunch break with some authentic local cuisine

 and back to Kasara Railway Station. A long wait at the station followed by an even longer trip (duly peppered with a hilarious game of Dumb Charades),

we return home tired but happy after another fantastic trekking experience.

Thank you Tattva Adventures for an awesome experience and a Special mention of the fantastic camaraderie shared amongst the trekkers. I always am thankful for the like minded yet eclectic mix of  trekkers who more often represent many Professions and fields. Our group this time consisted of Finance professionals, graphic designers, Entreprenuers, Pilots and students of course to name only a few.

Visapur - August 2017

Visapur Fort – One Day Monsoon Trek promised the following !!!!
| 50 Shades of Monsoon | Twin Fort of Lohagad | Secret Escape Passage | A Walk Through Waterfall |
With a 6 am planned start , I typically looked forward to a couple of hours of snoozing in the bus (high hopes given the enthusiastic wannabe singers :P ). Another motivation for this trek other than the salient features as mentioned above  was ... traveling to and fro by bus. You have to do a local train travel to Kasara and back for a trek to know what I mean 😀

One of the highlights of the bus trip was the totally creative and hilarious dumb charades game with our juniormost trekker Bhaval (all of 11 years young) keeping us wondering as also in splits with his version of all movies.

 Reached base village  as planned and after a typically Maharashtrian village breakfast of Poha and chaha the trek started. We were promised a rainy trek and we got one. Start to finish, except for the few who preferred to get wet (without rain gear), every one was in their respective rain jackets, caps and what not. Not that it made any difference. By the end of the trek everyone was soaking wet. Either nature had its way or we chose to get drenched under the myriad falls along the way.

Walk through waterfall is something which has to be experienced by all trekkers. For a easy grade trek the thrill quotient was more than made up by trekking uphill in the gushing waterfalls.

The occasional plains  gave us the much needed rest as well as the opportunity to admire the beauty of nature. On a conservative estimate we had about a million hues of green !!!

I do recollect seeing few caves with nice camping space, Assume that must have contained the “secret passage”, if any. Or maybe we missed seeing it because of the continuous downpour.

There were a few big rocks laid in formation and this was all the sign of any fort ever having been there. I have written elsewhere and repeat again, there has to be a certain regular maintenance done of all the historical places in the Sahyadris. There seems to be a lot of lip service happening about the rich culture and history of the Marathas , but precious little done to preserve the same.

Descent from the top happened soon enough and after  change over to dry clothes and a delicious lunch at the extremely hospitable village household , we started our return journey in good time with pleasant memories.

 

Thank you Mischief Managed (Digvijay Rathore and Shalaka Parasher) for a fantastic  time with nature. Looking forward to many more