Wednesday 30 December 2015

Trek to One Tree Hill



I was pretty excited for my first trek of winter vacations on 27th December 2015 to "One tree hill point" at Matheran.

The plan was made instantaneously over a conversation with one of my friend named Neet. We decided to join a trek group and while searching found a trek group "Wandering Soul Riders(WSR)" on Mumbaihikers website and then we immediately enrolled our names for the trek event.

The day started at 4:30 am in the morning with packing the trek stuffs and so on. I boarded the Churchgate fast local from Goregaon at 5:52 am IST and Neet hopped into the same train at Malad. We reached dadar at 6:20 am and then as per the event schedule the plan was to board second last coach of 6:24 am Karjat fast local.

We were out of the scheduled plan timings and a near miss was about to happen for the trek event if we couldn't board the 6:24 am Karjat local, so we ran as fast as possible towards Dadar central platform number 3 after getting down from Churchgate fast local at Dadar where the Karjat fast local was expected to halt.



Neet and me(Left to Right)
Photo Courtesy: Sahib Saluja a member of trek team.

The platform was heavily crowded as fast locals towards Karjat have very less frequency, finally we reached on time and boarded the second last compartment of the train and felt very relieved as there was a strict guideline by the trek leaders that "Missing the train was missing the trek event".

As there was too much of rush inside the train we were not able to make out where the trek group was inside the compartment so we decided to call the trek leaders after getting down at Karjat station.

Luckily we got a seat after boarding into the train compartment so we were just having some conversation and suddenly over the time till we reach Karjat station the atmospheric temperature inside compartment of moving train dropped suddenly and we were shivering with cold and I guess the temperature was around 18 degree Celsius, I wasn’t expecting such extreme coldness but as the time passed the temperature started rising back again with sunrise and till 8:30 am it was same as in Mumbai that is somewhere around 28 degree Celsius and the portent for the weather seemed to be good.

Base Village-Ambewadi

After getting down at Karjat station we then met the trek organizers were they quickly took a note about the attendees for the trek event by calling names of the registered participants. We then started walking towards the Karjat auto stand were a tum-tum (a 10 seater 3-wheeler) was arranged to drop us at Shitai hotel. 

We had our breakfast over here which consisted of Upma, Poha, Tea/Cofee  and had some sandwiches packed for lunch time. We left this place at 9:00 am and reached base village(Ambewadi) till 9:30 am and started our trek followed by a quick introduction of each participant.


Trek Route


Trek Route

The scenic view of Morbe dam backwaters on the left side with various points of Matheran visible on both side of the trek route are enough to provide a kickstart to the trek journey ahead. The cool breezy winds act as a catalyst for the trekking  thus the entire trek proved to be much of fun given the climatic condition. The trek organizers Deepak sir, Lavanya maam, Sahib Saluja(Manu) sir were very helpful. As per the plan the lavanya maam was heading as our front leader marking the path of our trek route,Deepak sir was back-lead and Manu sir used to be in center of the participants.

Well water

The village fresh water well acts as a source of water if one does wish to refill their bottles. We saw a couple of locals pulling out water from a well by the roadside. There were around three such well spotted on our trek route. Water was very less in these wells due to low rainfall this year even the Morbe dams water level were alarming the lack of water resources.

A view from trek route

Participants who were trekking for the first times were not asked to climb fast and were supported to take on their natural speed even Deepak sir ensured that the participants will never be left back no matter how slowly they climb.
The first few kilometers of trek route were through the mud patch route followed by boulders and rocks. It was a steep climb over boulders till the very top. One had to slowly climb these rocks, as some of these rocks were wet and slippery.
 
Trek route

A view from trek route

We started the trek at 9:40 am and reached one tree hill point at 01:30 pm after taking three time-breaks on our way. After reaching we had some rest for 10 minutes before climbing the hillock of one tree hill point, it took around 40 minutes for all of us to climb this hillock.  

The hillock was separated from where we were standing by a very thin path of around 4 feet that leads to the bottom of the hillock. The narrow path was not only exposed to the valley on both sides, but the climb up the hillock was vertical, making it extremely risky. Only a single tree atop the hillock makes it quite unique. Hence the name, One tree hill.

Hillock at One tree hill

Only few of the participants decided to climb this hillock due to its risky and dangerous steep climbs. Some choosed to enjoy the scenic view from the bottom of the one tree hillock itself while first time trekkers were happy to reach the top point of their first trek successfully.

A view from the hillock at One tree hill

A view from the hillock at One tree hill

A view from the hillock at One tree hill

It was around 2:00 pm and everyone was hungry, so without wasting any time we decided to have a lunch under the shade of trees near one tree hill point. There is a small shop where you can get packed chips and water bottles. The packaged foods such as chips and cold drinks prices are 50% more than the MRPThere are group of monkeys over here trying to snatch eatables from you so keep eatery items safely tucked away considering the population of monkeys that reside all over this region. Be calm when they are around you and don’t try to hit them else they may strike back, just be sure to handle eatable carefully. During our lunch time they snatched a packet of bread which we brought to prepare some sandwiches.


Photo Courtesy: Sahib Saluja a member of trek team.

It was almost 3 pm and the heavy lunch made us more lethargic at the same time it was a state of bliss about reaching the top successfully. The route for descending was pre-planned and was the normal road route of Matheran which passes through the Matheran market and is also adjacent to the Neral-Matheran toy train route that leads to Dasturi Naka. There are no vehicles allowed on the roads up there, but surely you could hire horses for a leisure ride within the small town. We saw a lot of people there unlike our trek route where there was none other than us. The best part is that it’s pollution-free as no vehicles are allowed in the hill station.

In matheran market you will see many small shops which sell eatable items such as star fruits, java plum, roasted sweet corn, raw mangoes and berries sprinkled with chillies and salt. The price is Rs.10-15 on average for chopped pieces of these fruits.

Route while descending

While descending the region was glowing in a shade of white due to the sun’s heat. After reaching dasturi naka there are Share cabs from the main gate to Neral available in plenty. It’s a 20-25 minutes downhill cab ride covering 14kms to the Neral station. The scenic views from the cab while moving to neral station are  just awesome.

 After reaching Neral Station we boarded a train to Karjat which then turns back to CST so as to avail a seat. It’s difficult to get a seat if you are planning to board the train at Karjat Station due to heavy rush specially during evening times.

The trek experience was an unforgettable memory and provided an opportunity to meet some trekkers and spend a good time with them marking the journey of our friendship ahead.



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