Sunday was around the corner yet I had no intentions for going
to the trek and I thought I would be resting at home.It was a chance chat on Facebook with Jignesh Lakhani that my trek to Nakind Tok via Kothaligad materialized.I smiled to myself “Beta aashish ek baar fir tu fisal gaya trek ke naam
per” and with this a small poem played in my mind. “Ab yeah kisne likhi hai, I don’t know but mere dil ka hal bayan karti hai, jab bhi mai mountains ko dekhta hoon… kuch aise
Koi Deewana Kehte Hai , Koi Pagal samajhte hai,
Magar Dharti Ki Bechani Bas Badal Samajhte hai,
Mein Tujhse door kaise Hoon, Tu Mujshe door kaise hai,
Ye Tera Dil Samajhta Hai , Ya Mera Dil Samajhta Hai.
and I was off to new trek.
Car Drive To Base Village
It was 10 pm when I met Jignesh on the Highway at Jogeshwari, Rest of the team members were to join us at Kalyan It was pretty long drive but shortened because of the long chat that we had, whereby we were sharing notes on treks that we did.It was pitch dark when we reached Kalyan Phata where we were to pick the rest of our team Milind,Puja and Praful.
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| we missed the guys and drove away |
Due to darkness on the road and our deep concentration in chatting about treks, we missed these guys !!! and drove away. But luckily for us they had seen our car so they called us on our mobile and we made a detour and picked them up. “Bach gaye jaldi pakad liye warna aur ek ghante ki band baj jati “ Once when all of us were in the car then it was full dhamaal.
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| Besure Raag |
I can never forget that series of Aashique 2 songs being played on the deck and all of us singing in chorus in the middle of nowhere,
“Andheri Raat me Besure sath me “,
but to be honest Is besure Raag me bhi aapna maja hai.Itna maja ki safar kab kat gaya pata hi nahi chala.
It was 1.00 am when we reached the
base village Ambiwili. There is this small hotel at the start of the village where we parked our car nearby and took out our mats and slept on the floor outside the hotel.Luckily for us the night was not so cold.so we were able to catch some sleep.
It was about 6.00 am when I felt something wet on my hands and startled I woke up only to see that it was the stray dog who was licking my hand. Horrified and amused for a second I muttered something which can be explained only by a Censor beep.
Anyways these are the occasional trek hazard that a trekker should be ready for. “Yeah toh mera good luck ki yeah Kutta nikala samp nahi. “
We got ready in the morning, Had steaming hot Poha and Upma at the hotel where we slept last night. Jignesh had made all the arrangement so perfect with the hotel guy that nothing was left to chance.He had also arranged for the guide for us. So from here we started our trek at 7 am.
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| On the way from Ambewadi to Peth Village on kucha road. |
Ambiwali to Peth Village:
The trek from Ambiwali to Peth Village is quite simple.You hardly walk 200 metres from the road that you see a little diversion on your left side. One has to take this route and ignore the road going ahead. this road is kind of kacha road. stone laden one can say.The ascent from here is quite gradual that a first time trekker can also do it very easily. Walking for about an hour one reaches the plateau.The view from the plateau is amazing and one can see lovely Kothaligad perched high up.
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| Kothaligad Perched High atop. |
I am giving below pictures of the view from the Plateau
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| View From 1st Plateau |
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| View From 1st Plateau |
This plateau is a good resting point because one can feel the lovely breeze and beautiful valley view below , numerous waterfalls all around especially if you go in monsoon. From here, one must be careful because generally people go straight along the plateau because they see Kothaligad fort in front of them. Let me caution you because that route may take you to the jungle. The error is quite possible in summer especially when trail is not easily visible due to dry grass growth. One must take left turn along the road from which you were coming. A little further walk of 10 minutes and you can see the Peth Village and the Kothaligad fort behind it.
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| The path opens up to the Peth village and Kothaligad Fort behind it |
Peth Village to Nakind Tok:
Those of you who wish to go to Kothaligad should take the route to the village and passing through the village can go upto kothaligad. You can refer to my Kothaligad or peth Fort Trek. As our destination was Nakind Tok so we bypassed the village and took a left turn from the just ahead of the house shown in the picture above.
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| Bypassing the village we moved further, Keep an eye on the Wind mills on the top right of the picture. That’s our Destination |
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| Some landmarks for reference , In summer the hay is stacked on this log stand. As we were walking the Kothaligad fort towered on our right side, in a way we traverse the base of the hill and move behind it to go towards the Nakind Tok.
 Kothaligad fort towered on our right side
Crossing this village one has to cross few paddy fields. This could be tricky without a guide. Therefore my suggestion would be its better to hire a guide.Due to lack of any marked trail one can only keep an eye on the Windmills ahead and move on.
 Walking towards the fields we passed this tree
 Keep an eye on the Windmills ahead and move on.
Once crossing few paddy fields ( let me be clear ki yahan agar guide sath nahi hota toh I would have never understood ke kiske khet me khusna hai aur kiske khet me guskar bahar nikalna hai ) we enter into a forest.From the Peth Village till the time we entered forest there is no climb just plain walk among the fields as shown above. Its a 15 minutes walk till the start of forest and walking for another 10 minutes into the forest we reached a water stream.  |
Crossing the stream
on reaching the stream we cooled ourselves because the climate was quite humid and the sun was hitting us. The only saving grace was the forest cover which saved us the sunburns.Splashing the water on our head we felt rejuvenated to start the trek further. Just from behind this waterfall we move further till the place where we come across a small rocky slippery portion which we cross over to other side
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| Small rocky slippery portion which we cross over to other side |
From this point onward the actual climb starts.and a good climb of 1-1.5 hrs till the time you reach second plateau.We kept taking little breaks because humid conditions were not allowing us to zip through.while climbing at 2 -3 places we felt we will be hitting the top but nothing such happened and we were always confronted by further uphill climb. But atlast the 2nd plateau arrived and this was the the first sight which we saw.
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| First sight on reaching the Plateau |
This Plateau is quite big and vast. As one enters this Plateau on your left side the Kothilgad fort can be seen and on the right side on top the giant wind mills are quite prominent.
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| Kothaligad Fort as seen from the Plateau |
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| Valley View from the Plateau |
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| Glimpse of the Plateau Top |
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| Glimpse of the Plateau Top |
Being rainy season we were lucky to come across a small water stream flowing on the top we filled our bottles and had some photography session clicking lovely sahyadri flowers
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| Yellow flowers on Plateau |
Spending some quality time at the plateau we started moving further little ahead because our destination was to reach the Top. Our guide said that this is the top but as we could see the windmills above us
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| Windmills above us.
We kept pushing him to take us there. Hardly a further climb of 15 minutes and we came across a small water tank,
 walking around it and moving towards the right we climbed and we were near the Needhe or our Nakind Tok.
 At Nakhind Tok/ Nedhe
Once we reached the Nakhind Tok we all rested in the shade, had our lunch, some bantering was going on between Milind, Praful and Puja.Jignesh sir all the time was wondering why cant we go further up from here.He kept asking the guide “ Warti Jayla rasta asel na kaka” ( There must be a way to go up ) and believe me Kaka had this expression ” Mere ko maff karo na baba “
 I must however say that it was on the insistence of Jignesh that we had reached this Point. Warna Kaka ka top toh plateau per hi khatam ho gaya tha.
 Time was 2.30 pm and It was now time to get back to the base village. But by the time we reached the 2nd Plateau the climate was getting overcast.the clouds seems to gather more thickly.The Kothaligad Fort which we were earlier able to see was getting hidden among the clouds.
 Gathering Clouds
We were getting little worried that it could start to rain. So we quickly started to descend.But the rains caught up with us.What was more worrying factor for us was that it was getting quite darker in the day time and there is a portion that we have to cover from forest.Upar se hum logo ne Top per Guide ki chutti kar di thi ,Aur ab Hamari chutti hone ki puri possiblity lag rahi thi….It s quite easy to lose your way in dark.
 Sky was getting Darker
We kept our trekking speed constant without wasting time and it was almost dark when we made it to the Peth Village.I let out a sigh of relief that atleast from here onwards things will not be tricky.As the route from peth village to ambiwali is more of a stone laden way. Lekin Mai Galat Tha !!!
Its beyond description for me to explain the mood of the climate, suddendly the wind was blowing at breakneck speed, Heavens have opened up like anything and it started to rain very very heavily that to keep our eyes open itself was a task and if this was not enough the skyline exploded with threatening Lightning with thunders….
Bolo aur kuch chaiye kisi ko trek me.
Somehow our team completed rest of the trek gradually with water flowing constantly under our feet throughout the distance till ambewadi.
Wet to almost the deepest clothing we finished the trek in pitch darkness when actually the time was just 6 pm !!!.
I want to Thank Jignesh Bhai, Milind, Praful and the brave girl Puja for been such a wonderful company in such a wonderful trek.
 Thank you
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