Ahupe Ghat (15th July,2007)

AHUPE GHAT - INFO
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From the village Dehri, we can easily spot the famous trekking spot, Gorakhgad and its twin pinnacle, Macchindra. The Huge plateau behind the 2 pinnacles is Ahupe Ghat.

Height: 3100 feet

Range: Kalyan

Grade: Medium

Ways to reach: Reach Kalyan by Local train.

Kalyan ---> Murbad by ST bus (Rs. 15/person)

Murbad ---> Khopivli village by jeep (Rs. 25-30/person)

From Khopivli village, there are 2 routes.. The one on the left goes to Ahupe, while the right one goes to Gorakhgad-Macchindra. Hence it is advisable, especially in the monsoon, to ask the villager to guide you to the beginning of the route to Ahupe. The route from Khopivli crosses across fields and a pretty wide stream and then climbs the small ridge on the left. From here, the rocky route climbs up gradually to the top of the Plateau. You will come across numerous streams along the way. Its a pretty decent climb amidst thick forests.

From the top of the plateau, a further walk of about 15 mins will lead you to the Village and a lake on the top.

Climbing time: 3 hrs

Hill forts seen: from the top, we can get a view of the Gorakh-Macchindra pinnacles, which look
pretty minuscule.
Siddhagad, Damdamia, Durg killa, dhakoba and forts as far as the Jeevdhan
-Naneghat can be seen on a clear day.

Accomodation: No accomodation on the top. Its a typical one-day trek. Though one can try and
arrange for the same in the Ahupe village on the top or Khopivli village at the
base.

Food & Water: Water plentiful in the monsoon. Carry your own foodstuff. One can arrange for
tea and biscuits at the village at the top.

AHUPE GHAT
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Participants: Parag, Wayne, Girish, Apoorva, Tejas, Madhav, Prajakta, Jai,

This was a tough decision to make. Id 4 options for trekking... Gorakhgad, Ahupe, Peb and Sarasgad. Gorakh id done numerous times, and Sarasgad was too easy. Peb was the only incomplete trek in my life, and so it was very tempting to climb Peb. But going by my previous trekking experience of being in a group of unknown people, I decided to join Wayne and his gang for the Ahupe trek. Anyways, Id climbed Gorakhgad , Siddhagad and half of Macchindra :)... so It would complete my chain...

Getting up on a sunday morning at 4 am is always a pain-in-the-u-know-where!! But i managed it, without even an alarm clock.. and that was pretty surprising.. We caught the 6.15 am Titwala local from dadar and got off at Kalyan, where we met the rest of the group members at the St stand. After a quick breakfast of sizzling hot vada pavs and masala chai, we caught the ST to Murbad, and from Murbad, we hired a Jeep to Khopivli. It was going to be a pretty sunny day as there wasnt an inkling of rain, or any clouds visible in the early-morning azure sky!

The range was looking pretty impressive.. the gorakh-macchindra pinnacles and the Ahupe.. Damdamia and Siddhagad.. and all the way upto Naneghat and Jeevdhan... At the village, we came to know about a group of about 120 ppl already on their way to the top! Shit!! 120 a number was too much... Catching a path, we walked across fields and gushing streams, and enjoying the scenic beauty, just to realize in about 1 hour that we were lost.. and we had taken the route to Gorakhgad instead. Duh!!! After much deliberation and pondering, we decided to head back to where we started. We reached the big stream at the beginning where we met a couple of villagers who agreed to guide us to the right way. By the time the call came for the trek to begin, i had already stripped to the waist and was enjoying the cool waters of the stream in my very own private pool. So , reluctantly, I came out, got dressed and finally we started our trek by about 12.30 pm!!! Our target was to reach the top by 4 pm come what may...

It was quite Humid and sunny, and the previous fruitless wandering on the wrong route had sapped away half our energy... After a brief pause for Glucon-D and Tango... 5 of us- Girish, Apoorva,Tejas, Wayne and Myself started managing well, while the girls were too tired to carry on, the rest of the 5 dropped out of the trek. The route then climbed up steadily and was quite rocky.. We started meeting the trekkers coming down by the time we were half way to the top.. some said we still had 2 more hrs to the top, while some said an hr... we kept our hopes and spirits high.. and constantly watching the top of the plateau coming nearer cheered us up even more. Girish's 3 min stop- 10 min walk strategy worked really well, though i waddled my way behind the 4 (as i call it- bringing up the rear!!) just to avoid any cramps...

Finally, we made it to the top, just before our target of 4 pm.. and it was a huge sigh of relief. As none of us had brought any foodstuff with us, we decided to head for the village to have some food. The view from the top was amazing.. at one place, there was a U-shaped straight drop of about 200-300 feet with strong wind.. just like the Konkan-kada of Harishchandragad...
At the village, we bought 10 packets (!!!) of Parle-G and one of the villagers agreed to make some tea for us. 2 cups of hot tea made of jaggery and Parle-G was like a treat to our by now highly acidified tummies!! Having snacks in a dimly lit hut, sitting on floor made of dried cow-dung, besides 3-4 bulls grazing on dried fodder.. and dogs and chickens hopping around.. and not to mention, curious villagers observing our every move, like we were aliens... It is an experience I get only while trekking...

After our snacks and thanking the villager, we started our descent at about 430 pm.. and Voila!! Surprise.. surprise!! the rest of our group had made it about half an hr from the top!! We met the rest of our group, and since it was too late for them to get to the top, we all started descending down the rocky path... Myself and Apoorva raced through the descent in our typical splash-dash style while the rest ambled down the way. With our knees trembling cuz of the rocky route and feet aching, the two of us reached the main stream in about 1 hr flat.. and without a second thought, off went my clothes and splash!!!! :)

Apoorva joined me in.. and after about 45 mins, the rest joined us in the melee! It was damn refreshing to just lay back and enjoy the chilled mountain water.. though the flow was too heavy to start giving us a headache. After a quick change of clothes, we headed back to the village by about 6.30 pm. At Khopivli, there was no jep to take us back.. so as the sun was setting in the distance, and the pinnacles of Gorakh-macchindra glowing in the red setting sun, we started walking towards Dehri, some 3 kms away. A qucki stop for some drinks and we were on our way back to Murbad. Zonked as we already were, Wayne hypnotized us even more cuz of his cam flashes!! The Bhurji-Pav at Murbad st stand never tastes more delicious! But the worst was yet to come.

The St to Kalyan came at 9.15 pm and it was packed to the brim. We somehow squeezed our way in. The bloody driver came about 15 mins later and by that time, our change of clothes proved quite futile as we were totally drenched in sweat once again. The Bus didnt seem to start.. and the last thing we were doing was push-staring an ST bus packed to the brim... WTF yaar??!! we push-started the ST and we had to stand all the way upto Kalyan too.. But our agonies didnt end over here. Due to the sunday mega block, the trains were running late, and we had to stand in packed locals all the way upto Thane... and at dadar, i caught the borivali slow local in which i slept off.. just to know that Id reached Borivali when i woke up. I decided to take that same local back, just to hear the announcement that the local would be entering the yard!!

Bloody m$%#^%$ b%$^%!!!!

Again a change of local, and an auto-rickshaw ride got the half-dead me back to the comforts of my home.. and after a change of clothes and chilled nimbu-paani.. I hit the sack like a Log of wood!!
Phew!! quite an exhaustive and an eventful trek... but like Tejas rightfully said, Next Sunday it will be the same story!! :)


Wayne's ALBUM : http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559990763mfzaZH

My ALBUM : http://picasaweb.google.com/Pyromaniaaac/AHUPE22JULY07