I do a lot of outdoor activities and I do most of them with zeal, however trekking on mountains has never been something that has attracted me. I consider myself, more of a outdoor sports loving person who would be excited to go out and play cricket, tennis, swimming, running, cycling etc. ; therefore when my friend, Devraj, insisted on visiting a waterfall 90 kms away from my current residence, in Pune, I accepted reluctantly.
Even though I am a rookie when it comes to trekking, there were a few steps that I knew we had to take to make the journey smooth. We purchased full body rain clothes, we got the tank full of Devraj’s bike, we packed essentials such as a pair of cloths for change, water, power bank and mobile charger. We very rightly decided to leave as early as possible, though it was not as early as we would have liked. We planned to start by 5 AM but we actually started by 7, owing to unforeseen difficulties such as power cut and a few more. Towards the end of the day I felt that perhaps we should have been more diligent in stating early and foreseen the difficulties, though I am sure these learnings would help me on my next journey.
Our first two stops were very unexcepted. After leaving our place in Baner (Pune) and having travelled just 12 kms, we made a stop since it started raining, although later in the day we would welcome the rain with open arms, we were not willing to get drenched very early in our journey. Our second stop was due to a police check, though it felt like a routine check for Driving License or Substance. I can never forget the tone in which the policeman asked me if I was carrying booze, I felt that he wanted me to say yes. With rain and administration checked, we continued on our marry way. We started very close to the foot of the mountains so all the way the drive route was very scenic, although at that point I had no Idea that just in a few hours I was going to gaze upon the much acclaimed and rightly so, western-ghat of India and its beauty.

Our next stop was for breakfast, since we had planned to start early in the morning, breakfast was not in our plan till we were on our way, thus when we started feeling the sweet urge, we made a stop in front of a roadside cafe. It was really nice to know that there were many such cafes on the way to Devkund, especially on the low altitude side, these cafes were a good stop for everyone to fresh-up, eat and enjoy a warm cup of coffee and tea. I was satisfied with idly-sambhar and tea while Devraj was quite content with poha and vada-paw. Our fourth stop was for nature, there was a very scenic view from the road, of the valley below and mountains ahead and it was well appreciated by the passers-by since there were 20-30 people already standing and taking pics, we just followed the herd. I wonder if it was the weather that enhanced the beauty of the valley we were looking out to, regardless it was sight for sore eyes and we had just begun.

I live near the bank of river Mula in Pune, which is hard to differentiate from a normal drainage due to the infestation and pollution, therefore I was mighty surprised and awed when I saw this river at its origin at Mulshi dam. The water there was pristine and the view around was picturesque, consequently it was our next stop to soak in the beauty of western-ghat. I had a realization that stopping and enjoining the view is contagious since once we had stopped by the calling of water body, a lot of riders followed suit and joined us in soul satisfying sight.

Our next stop was a river mouth, enroute to Thamini Ghat, where crowd had gathered to take pictures and take a dip in water. At this very place I was explaining Devraj how dangerous it was to be in these waters in this weather. The water flows from the mountains where it may rain very hard which the people in the valley would be unaware of and might get caught in the heavy flow and get swept away. Though that day nothing happened and even we, went inside the water. Though at this point we made a silly mistake. We had got into our rain-suit at the very start of our journey and after we had our rain suit on, there was no rain for the whole way so we decided to take off our rain suit, in fact it was Devraj’s idea, he thought that rainsuit was degrading his beauty as a result the selfies were not good. Very soon after taking off the rain suit, the rain began and it was heavy thus we got drenched, before we had the chance to put the rain-suit back on. We drove continuously for 40-50 Kms, we had just one small stop to appreciate the beauty of rainwater flowing down the mountain, at some places the waterfall was so near the road that people were taking shower in them, though we refrained, since we didn’t want to get further wet yet, as there was trekking to look forward to. When we were very high up in the mountains, looking below was both fascinating and terrifying, we could see clouds up close and everything seems so insignificant compared to the beauty and ferocity of nature.

The road to Devkund was filled with beautiful, breathtaking sites and it felt that we would not even get there if we keep stopping every 10 min, so we developed iron-heart and appreciated the beauty while riding and arrived in Devkund by 12 o’clock. It took us 5 hours to get there, a moderate distance of 90 km, and no! there was no traffic or road blocker, it was just the beauty of the journey that kept us away from the bike and delayed our arrival. That is why I felt regret that we hadn’t started earlier, if we had, we would have more time to appreciate the beautiful Western-ghat.

In the parking area, we found a place where we could keep our heavy belongings like helmet, shoulder bag etc. for a nominal fee and began trekking through the jungle. We left behind our rain coat, I did object to this development but Devraj reminded me that we were there to soak in the water, so it didn’t matter if we were drenched in the rain. When we finally started the trekking, we were upbeat, an emotion hard to sustain on a tiring path of about 8 kms which had quite significant uphill climbing. A word of caution, if you plan to trek, make sure you are wearing trekking shoes, shorts or comfortable lower and dry fit t-shirt. The journey won’t be kind to you if you are not in proper attire. While my attire was good, I felt that a lot of the trekking is left to the chances, though I never had any formal training, I could think that we should have taken more essentials such as Band-Aids, antiseptic liquid, painkillers and spirit. There was noting out of ordinary in our journey, however if a mishap would have occurred, we would have been caught off guard. There were guides who were helping us stay on the path, for which there was a mandatory Rs. 200 charges for everyone.

After trekking for an hour, the mood had changed, everyone was longing for the destination but it was nowhere in sight and incidentally that was when the major uphill journey started. Every soul going towards the fall was asking, “How Far?”, though no one was prepared to accept the answer. People who were even poorly prepared than us were loosing there slippers and sandals to the unforgiving terrain. The high altitude was inducing cramp due to lack of oxygen, so I advised Devraj to breathe heavy with his mouth. Being an endurance athlete who had finished half marathon, I was not uncomfortable with the situation, however even I wanted to see the waterfall soon, for which I had given up the comfort of my bed. After about 2 hours of trekking we had finally arrived at the destination. Had we walked continuously, we would have been there in mare 1 hour, but we kept stopping to take snap or catch breath on our journey. The journey was equally important to the destination however, evening was keeping us worried; we reckon, it was prudent to leave the mountains while there was still day light. There were many places to stay nearby, so I think a better way to plan these trekking would be to come here in the evening, spent the night and start trekking, early morning. When we got there it, was 2:15 in the afternoon and we estimated that we had about 30-45 minutes of time there.
The first order of business for me was to get a dip into the water. I was so excited to get in, that I didn’t bother taking off my shoes, I just jumped as soon as I had handed over my phone to my companion. The water was unusually cold and it was difficult for me to stay in for longer, I stayed till I could. I am a risk averse person, and I was not certain about the depth of the landing area, so even though I know how to swim, I stayed clear of uncharted water, rather I stayed near the bank, where there were two ropes tied for safely enjoying the water. The next order of business was to take a shower in the water fall. The main waterfall was too fierce to take a shower unless someone wants to take his last; there were other less fierce falls adjacent to the main one, where I went to enjoy the natural shower.
The return trekking was even more daunting. We both were tired, my head was aching, perhaps due to cold shower, but there was a silver lining. Now that we were a bit on track, we could afford to stop and have tea and noodles in the middle of the jungle. We arrived at the parking place by 5 pm and soon after changing into dry clothes we began our return ride and arrived in our cozy apartment, after three hours of ride. During our return journey, we had just two stops, one to admire the valley below from the top of the mountain and second was to enjoy some tea in order to mitigate our tiredness.

The pain that I was feeling while trekking had long vanished, but the memories and experiences would stay forever. Just like I am writing a blog about my journey, all the frustrated faces, who were trekking alongside us, would have shared their selfies and groupies to showcase pride in being close to something so mesmerizingly beautiful. This was technically my first big trekking, but I felt comfortable there, my light and agile body was flying through the rocks without fear of slipping or falling. I should definitely do it more often and find comfort in the pristine and beautiful nature, while making sure that I do not corrupt its purity. If I were to rate the most beautiful view, I would rate the view I enjoyed while being on the very top of the mountain. Upon this site, I understood why people imagine that gods live in high mountains, because such mesmerizing views are worthy only of gods.