This was an important trek for me as I had not done a long trek since Nane Ghat. Also my last two treks didn't go without any incidents. Of course it was well planned, researched and googled. There wasn't much information about the trek on the Internet. No GPS track file was available. But I got a rough sketch of a map explaining the route from a blog. So with this information and my gurus instructions I finalized this trek. which was going to Matheran Via Garbett Plateau.
One thing that I noticed from all the blogs I read was that everyone had got “lost ” on their ways. That everyone “should have” taken a different route, which “would” have been easy. Important thing for me from all these blogs was that all these people had finally reached to the top. So after Researching a lot, gazing at the map for hours I finalized on a rough route and decided to go for it.
Akash was going to be there for sure. Sushant was going to confirm me at,”the last moment” whatever that is!. Sudhindra was busy. Bagade was wavy.
Sonam expressed that she would like to come. My blog research said that this trek could be done as a first time trek. So I agreed. I knew somehow that she would be able to do it. So on the last day it was Akash, Sonam and Me,l
I decided that we would go by train as the trek starts from a place and ends at another, so public transport would be ideal. We all voted on the first CST-KHOPOLI train which reaches Dombivli at 5.42AM.
So Akash came by bike to Kanjur station and took a train to Dombivli from there. Sonam took the same train from Mulund station and came to Dombivli. Now the catch was that Akash wasn't knowing that Sonam was the third teammate. It was supposed to be a surprise for him. I had just told him that a girl is going to join us this time. So this guy अगदी केस-बीस मस्त वींचरून came to Dombivli station on perfect time hoping to meet a new girl. But then he saw Sonam and he was “WTF!!!”. So it was three of us very comfortable with each other. I just knew that it was going to be a wonderful trek.
Sonam got some batteries from a local shop near dombivli station for her torch, which is “useless” for a day time trek according to Akash. The train was on time. We hopped in it, and our journey together started. I took a short nap in the train while Akash and Sonam were चपड चपडing their mornings out.
I woke up and saw a beautiful mountain peak from the train near Vangani station. I supposed that it was Chanderi. We went to the train door when we almost reached Neral. Matheran lied right ahead of us and I started picturing my route from Garbett Plateau. I made a mental line of the supposed trail on huge canvas of the mountain.
We got off at Bhivpuri Road station. We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise. We had breakfast in a local hotel on Karjat highway.
The trail started right at the end of the Diksal village. There is a beautiful lake to right of the village which we traversed from its left hand side. Sonam lead us through here using her navigation skills. The lake water was clear and steady with tri colored reflection of the yellowish mountains, green trees and blue sky.
After hiking around the lake we came across a water stream. Its magical sound filled us with some enthusiasm. We cooled ourselves off with the cold water and started again.
A small ascend had started now. We came by a huge tree along the trail. It provided ample cool shade. We sat here for a while admiring the views, when we realized that we had missed a turn after the stream and were now heading towards Sagachiwadi village which was to the southwest from our base village Bhutivaliwadi. Again my research said that Bhutiwali wadi can be reached through Sagachiwadi too. So we decided to stick to the taken trail.
We reached to the border of village Sagachiwadi in a short time and I decided to pass the village from its east and not entering it. When a kaka carrying stuff on his head asked us if we were heading towards Matheran. He told us to go through the village. We listened to him and started walking through the fields. Different fields here were at different heights. We had to climb up and down to avoid getting our shoes wet in a water stream. Following a trail we reached at Sagachiwadi Public well. It was a huge well. A मावशी was filling water there. Akash and Sonam helped her fill the utensils using the rope to pull water from the well using their s"trong" hands. I refilled one of my bottles with the well water. Somehow water from wells/cisterns streams is more thirst quenching than water we bring from the cities. I asked kaku the way to reach Bhutivali wadi village when she said that there is a trail to Garbett plateau right from this village. She said that it's easier and marked. We agreed to take the trail.
So again we started. So did the ascent. Ascent was steep but was tiring for us. We took occasional rest whenever we spotted some shade. We were maintaining our pace slow but steady. At a point we had a quick bite of Apples and Bananas. View now was awesome. We could see the lake, hill from where we started, the lake which we crossed., the way to the village, and the well from where we came right in front of us, in a single sight.
After our quick break we were able to maintain a steady pace up. Garbett plateau was just five minutes ahead when we saw down the valley. Wow what a splendid view lay ahead of us!. We could see our whole way and also Bhutiwali, wadi village which we were considering our base village. Canvas was golden and red with streaks of green.
Then we reached the plateau. It's plain was vast and golden with grass. It was magnificent. To the north there was the Garbett point and to the west there was Matheran hill station. View towards east was of course magnificent but view to Matheran valley in the west was also mesmerizing. There were few houses in Matheran valley too.
We walked on the Garbett plateau towards the Garbett point. We had our lunch below shade of a tree near the start of Garbett point ascent. After a while we saw monkeys hurrying down the Garbett point towards the plateau. We were almost through our lunch, so we packed our bags and started towards the point.
Here the ascend is a bit steep, with rock patches to climb in the middle. Akash had reached up before us and was sitting on a rock. So we sat on an adjacent rock and there it was ahead of us, The Garbett plateau. Golden with grass and cool patches of individual green trees.
We were talking when I realized that Sonam was meditating, we stopped talking and Akash asked me if I have a pencil. I said no, but then Sonam the stationary की दूकान took out a pencil and a notebook from her bag and gave it to Akash. Then Akash converted the pointed pencil lead into mountains, valleys , plateau, and trees. Everything was quiet till he finished. A kite floated above us in the air, its wings spread, its eyes on the ground looking for what he wanted. He will be up there until he gets it.
We started off again, reached the Garbett Point in seconds. The point is guarded by a grill. It was ironic to climb the edge which was guarded by the grill so that people won't fall off the edge. On viewing the valley and the plateau from that guarding grill we started to walk towards Dasturi naka, Matheran. Here the forest started, shading us off from the hot sun. Walk was pleasant. I saw a crowd of noisy 10 people walking towards us, wearing jeans and formals. They asked us how far to get there? I asked genuinely where there? For me there was a huge infinity. For them it was an iron railing.
Ahead we reached our last landmark, A Huge Stone, which was mentioned by my guru. I was advised to take the rightmost trail. We took it and a long walk took us right above the Neral Matheran valley serpentine road. Where weekend tourists were hooting, whistling, their lungs out in their vehicles. After a short while we reached Dasturi Naka. We realized that we were inside Matheran Hill Station. While I had read that the trail would lead us to toy train track from where we would reach outside the Hill Station Checkpoint. Anyways we walked towards the checkpoint, took a shared cab to Neral and descended down the serpentine road.
I have read in books that Hiking is more fun and enjoyable when done with people you know well and are comfortable with. On this hike everybody was comfortable with each other. Every time I hike with these few people I understand it better.
