One of the most amazing trek of my life.. Worth a read :)

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So it all starts from a friends reunion.. Friday night..after office.. beers and beers and more beers till 3 in the morning.. Slept and when I opened my eyes my phone flashed 7 missed calls and some texts on watsapp.. I had to catch a train and I was too late for it so my friends left me and told they meet me at lonavala station. Went took an express and reached somehow in time.. Phew.... Had breakfast ( 2 idlis) and relied on that was around a 13 kms walk to valvande village (its not on google maps as well huh ) Then a local villager made us tea and gave four packs of glucose biscuits. Ate that and then started the real adventure. Now we are off to a road which has no trail no road just walk... That villager though told us to take a left from Aamba (Mango Tree) which we never found. After 20 mins of walk in the woods we found a waterfall ahead of us and the only way we could see was a tunnel. We entered the tunnel where we were first welcomed by tadpoles and frogs jumping here and there. After we crossed midway of the tunnel we were further welcomed by bats. We had no choice but to cross it coz going back was not a good option any way. So we crossed it somehow. Now there was no way ahead of us so we thought of climbing a mountain which was covered with full of trees. After an hour and half of cuts, bruises, insects and what not.. we came down and saw a farmer family. When we asked them how to go to the next village. We heard the biggest set back.. That the valvande village is just 5 minutes away from there. We again went back to the same place where we had tea and this time without crossing the tunnel we climbed up hill over the tunnel. ( we were supposed to actually go over the waterfall and then may be follow it but we kept going uphill, crossed a mountain, then we were back in woods, scary as hell they were, noises, chirping of birds and what not could be heard, Dense it was so again gave us more bruises, bleeding we all were, but we had to find a way. So we crossed the mountain and the woods and then again another mountain. We now were thinking we found it when we saw another mountain in front of us. frown emoticon This was steep, straight climb with nothing to hold ( tree or grass or any bushes) We still took a start and halfway through we realized there is nothing to hold on to. We couldn't go down anyway coz one step back and straight down without breaks. Now the climb has to be made so our Irish friend Emmett Mullaney somehow dared to climb it. He slipped but managed to get up. Now it was my turn so I waited for the other two to come up so that I have some support, Now Anadkat Jaykumar came like a hero I put one leg in a gap and other on Jay's palm and managed up. All of us now were happy that this is probably the last mountain of this range but this wasn't it. We walked a while upside and saw a small waterfall so we filled some water (tasty as hell it was ) further up and a view of the village again but from way too up. We went up to the last hill and saw a plateau with crab holes at every inch distance and knee long grass. Now we were sure that this is an untouched land coz there is no mark of human out there. We were scared now, coz we didn't have a place to camp. and it was already 4.30 evening. So we started to head all sides of the mountain just to see if there is a village down there. But no luck and we were stuck. So we dared to camp as it was already getting dark and we didnt wana run up to the woods. So we cleaned the campsite and put our tents. Now we were hungry so we asked if anyone is carrying food? Here is the next set back. All of us answered "We thought we would find village so we didnt carry any extras unsure emoticon " One of us was carrying 100 grams of peanuts and 100 grams dryfruits. Now this has to be saved coz all we have is this at least till the next day until we find a village. So we ate the pack of peanuts and some dryfruits and it was 6 already. Watched an awesome sunset and then tired we were so we all went in one tent to chit chat. Emmett then told has that he has to catch a flight from Mumbai on monday morning so we have to reach early next day to pune or he misses his flight and a lot more problems will arise. frown emoticon Around 8 when the noises became louder and scarier we decided to just see how night looks out here and get back into the tents. So we came out and it was pitch dark with a lot of noises, nothing we were able to see. So we just came in and slept. The whole night every different voice woke us up. We had nightmares and sometime felt something moving under our tents. We were sure of crabs though coz the plateau was full of them. One of the scariest night ever. We woke up at around 7 and the sun was smiling at us. We know had to pack our tents and find a way home. So we packed, completed nature calls and then had some breakfast (the remaining dryfruits) The adventure started again as we went to one side of hill that we didnt check the last night, and found a dense jungle, somehow managed to cross the jungle (this time the noises were louder) and no sunlight in the woods. We saw a hill going straight down after we crossed the woods and then walla there was nothing down except dense jungle. So we came back to the camp and tried the last side that we could. We thought we would walk the same way we came from but the problem was that we came from woods after a waterfall and at every 200 mtrs distance a similar scene was found. Woods waterfall , woods waterfall. and straight down we could see the village ( but thats two mountains down ) frown emoticon We kept walking along the edge of the mountains, crossed several dense woods, got cuts all over and itching everywhere, hopes were going all down when Emmett saw a big waterfall, we have to climb down from the mountain to reach the waterfall now, so we went through long bushes, which we realized later was full of cactus plants. Slipped, managed to catch a bush, and got down somehow, as we go along with the waterfall, we see big crabs, fishes and what not. After an hours walk, we reached at the top of a waterfall, now from here we could see the tunnel so we were pretty sure that we came the right way and all we have to do is to climb down the waterfall. A there was no F-ing way we could do it. So we went up to the cliff along with the waterfall and then thought of finding a way down. Finally we found a trial down and we came in 15 mins or so:) Happy we were, went to the same village and had tea ( no biscuits they had this time ) Now there was a 13 kms walk back to lonavala. So we started walking, on the way we saw a lot of big spiders had webs all over the trees, and finally we found a truck who helped us on the way back to lonavala. And the rain then welcomed us. We were all silent and smiling.. coz everyone of us knew it wasn't easy way up or down.. It was one heck of a trek and a never to forget experience, And thats what a trek is all about. To Explore the Unexplored. - Vishwas Nayak Adding pics from the experience. Somehow managed to click some :P