Kalsubai Summit - The Pride of Maharashtra

Kalsubai - The highest peak of Sahyadri ranges of Maharashtra. The name itself gave a sense of pride when I use to read about it in the Geography books during my school days. At that point of time I never thought about scaling this highest range. But Later on who imagined that Kalsubai will be the first trek & this particular experience will give me a new Hobby to explore more of such places.

It was around the month of July, that I first heard about this trek from an office colleague Nitin that a trekking group named Bhatkanti Maharashtrachi has been organizing such trek from a long time and that they are organizing one such trek to KALSUBAI. Now Kalsubai is located in the western Ghats, Border of Igatpuri Taluka, Nashik district and Akola Taluka in the Ahmednagar district. The mountain itself lies on the Deccan Plateau with its base at an elevation of 587 meters (1926 feet) above mean sea level. Its summit situated at an elevation of 1646 meters (5400 feet) is the highest point in Maharashtra which earns it the much glorified title of the 'Everest of Maharashtra'. We decided that we will carry this expedition as it happens to be in the monsoon season & who doesn’t love that. The whole trek fees were around Rs.1200/-, which included travelling, breakfast, guidance & lunch. We had a group of 4 people including nitin and two other girls Bhagyashree & Chaitali. No one had a trekking experience before and naturally all were excited as well as nervous about it.

On the date, We arrived at Andheri station, from where we were supposed to go from bus to Bari Village, the base camp from where will be starting our trek. Its then we realized that there were around 50-60 people that were on this trek. Nonetheless, We left andheri at 11pm. The group happened to be fun, with fun activities going around till 1-1.30 at night. Naturally I was tired and after a bit of talk with my friend, we fell asleep.

 

At around 4.30 we reached Bari Village, the base camp. It was still dark outside, but we could still view the great Kalsubai Shikhar. Being a monsoon season, it was drizzling at that point of time. At 5.30, we started moving from the bus to the actual centre point of the village, where the locals lived. The walk towards the village was just so soothing to the eyes. The Lush paddy greens spread across the plains, the homes built overlooking the mountain ranges just gave a sense of what was going to come next. The smell of rains falling on the grass, and mud was too pleasant.

So at 6am we reached the village and set a camp in the temple. We were served with a nice, steamy hot plate of Kanda Poha & Hot Tea. A perfect combination when it’s drizzling and you are already cold. After the refreshments were done, an introductory session was carried out. All introduced themselves and some set of instructions were laid out, which had to be followed. And with all this done WE FINALLY SET FOR THE TREK OF KALSUBAI at 7.30.

As soon as we began the trek, Rains got heavier and our pace started to slow down even as we began. Normally, Kalsubai’s summit is situated at an elevation of 1646 meters (5400 feet) which takes around 3 hrs. to scale it without the rains. And these rains were going to make it even much harder.

Going through the village, we crossed a small water stream , the water gushing from one side to another. We reached the base of the jungle. One can easily identify the trek trails through the jungle.

We started the ascending part towards the summit, and here the actual difficulty started. Due to the rains, the soil started loosening up. The water started seeping in shoes and due to mud it started sticking it in the earth. It was getting increasingly difficult to walk further. So after the first 15mins we took a break and took a group selfie. After the break, Me along with my 3 friends separated from our group and started moving ahead as we were getting left behind due to constant halts of picture clicking obsession. Must say that Trekking in summers could be an actual test of stamina as during rains it’s very cool, breezy and it’s not that energy sapping. As we started climbing through the slippery & muddy trails, the view just started getting better. The endless streams, waterfalls, trees, and evergreen lands combined with the rains, cloudy weather and the blanket of Fog just made it mesmerizing, that I never got tired a bit. It may have been the excitement of maiden trek and to view such a beautiful place.

After an hour of following proper trails, we reached an iron ladder, these looked even more dangerous then climbing through the muddy slippery path. As one mistake could have seen you going straight down and you will see the heaven. Also this climbing this ladder was difficult because due to monsoon, they became slippery. The distance between two steps had widened up, which looked a little bit threatening. To make matters worse, the whole place was crawled with monkeys.

Few more meters went by, Chaitali started tiring up and was unable to continue further. But we didn’t want to. So we took a halt, where we seeped in some water & ate chocolates. We pushed chaitali to go on for further & so she had no option but to continue.

Another ladder came by, and this was very difficult. Each of the ladder sections is followed by an ascending trail which flattens out in small sections. It’s mostly grassy here. The path tends to get slushy. Also there are trekkers descending and as there is no support one had to be very careful.

While Climbing the mountain, you will not once get to see the point. SO DON’T FOOL YOURSELF THAT YOU HAVE ALMOST REACHED. Also don’t trust the leader when they say we have reached, they just say to keep you engrossed and to motivate you from keep going the distance.

One funny incident occurred during climbing the ladders. I had a backpack and I had kept some biscuits in it. It so happened that the monkeys who were crawling happened to jump on my bag. I got scared and started hustling. I later came to know that they look anything for eatables. That really scared the hell out of me.

So finally after a series of ladder & 4hrs of climbing, we reached a ridge like area. But don’t mistake it for thn summit as because there’s still a small climb left. Until this point, I had not looked back and was not scared at all. But then I did the mistake of turning back, Which was not good. I started to fear, shiver, went cold all of a sudden, legs were shaking & I dropped silent seeing at what height I am at. I was going to give up, when I thought, “Hey ! I have not come here just to give up now”. And so I gathered up some courage and went to do the final climb. The final ascent is again facilitated by steel stairs. People with vertigo/mild vertigo need a lot of courage to complete this one! The climb was scarier than I thought. I took one step at a time, On either side of ladder there was nothing but just fog and it was very difficult to spot even the ladder at one point. But then….I MADE IT AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE SUMMIT. THE KALSUBAI PEAK HEREBY WAS CONQUERED !!!!

What I saw from the highest point of Kalsubai were some ever reminiscing scenes. The whole of plains, covered in greenery, the small villages and the fields spread all across. The hustling of waterfalls, Rains, the chilly breeze, clouds giving it such an awe effect and a white blanket of fog covering it after sometime. The whole view point just made me think that all the pain was more than worth for getting such an eye soothing view and giving such a satisfying & relaxing experience & memory. Kalsubai has to be one of the coolest places of Maharashtra.

There is a small temple of Kalsubai devi. There are numerous stories about this. There are two priests doing traditional prayers. During the festival of Navratri a fair is organized each year with many stalls being set up near the summit to provide pooja materials to the devotees.

So we clicked a lot of pictures from the point and set off for a return journey. The first descend was ever so threatening then the ascend. Fog covered everything , strong winds started blowing up and rains got heavier which were literally forcing to close my eyes. It was like getting blindfolded. Slowly, we descended the ladder and then continued the descension. We were in to thinking that getting down is going to be more difficult than climbing up if rain persists. After half an hour so, we stopped for Kanda bhaji and chai, A deadly combination during such a weather. After 15 mins or so, we started again and thankfully rains stopped and fogs made their way which we were not complaining. Clicking pictures, making fun of each other, taking small halts and reached at 3pm the temple from where we started the journey.

We had the traditional lunch, which tasted good but looked unhygienic. But you don’t have any options when you are so hungry. After having lunch, we left for the Bus which took an awfully long time to leave. We left Bari village at 6pm. Tired, we left Kalsubai with a lot of pleasant memories and I had a new goal. Kalsubai trek happened to be the turning point for me as I went in for more expeditions.