Harishchandra Gadh Trek...A memorable experience! (part-3)

The third phase of the Trek was the most thrilling and a bit scary too! Scary because the night had already begun here at 07:00 PM only and it was so dark that one could not even see the person beside him or her without the torch! And that too in a Jungle on a mountain where any creature could come and meet us on the way!



All of us didn't have torches so we were walking in groups with those having torches leading the respective groups.The path of this third phase was not very difficult (this we could make out on the next day in sunlight while returning back through the same route!) but darkness had decided to harass us! Unlike the previous portion of our trek, now there were more than three groups and distance between groups also was uneven.

At some spots there was building up a queue as it was very dark and those spots were very slippery or a bit difficult to cross while at certain other spots there was nobody around except those group members. These group members were scared wondering why others were not visible or audible(!) in the vicinity?The way was such that there were many hills, up and down, covered with thick bushes at some places and small streams were flowing at some other spots.



We had to walk through those streams. It felt so good when that cold water touched the feet! And you should listen to the musical noise the flowing water was making. Rain was going and coming as if to check our status whether we all are safe and sound in that forest in the darkness of that beautiful night! I was enjoying whenever I had to pass through bushes.

These bushes were covering the whole path so that while crossing through them you have to use both your hands to make the way! It felt so nice.

I felt truly adventurous doing this act feeling like a Hollywood movie hero! (Remember Jurassic Park??!!) He...He...He!!! I don't know why but I was not at all scared, neither in the evening nor at the night.

I had heard the comments of my friends walking with me and also had seen expressions on the faces of some others clearly indicating that they were scared! But I was not scared a bit! Infact I was enjoying that adventurous journey as a true Nature-Lover!



I made many good friends enroute. And interesting and strange thing here was that I couldn't even see the faces of those new Friends I was walking with! I could just hear them! Like I made friendship with a brave girl Ashvini (brave because she was having no fear at all and had lot of trekking experience. She was leading us at difficult points and gave us many tips as to how to put steps in right manner, how to move ahead etc.) who was beautiful too!(That I could make out only on the next day when I saw her in sun-light!)

I am very fond of singing and keep humming most of the times! (Most of my friends know that and get bugged when I start singing out of the blue!) But during this journey many friends joined me in singing! (Like Ashvini also did!) I also played some very good numbers on my mobile which many friends walking with me enjoyed very much!


Some songs were so apt at that instant in that kind of ambience that they were truly reflecting the mood of those songs and that of Nature around! The journey was thus made interesting by the music and the songs by us! Many people were falling, some were literally crawling and some others were having a difficult time even walking!



But the Overnight trekking was being enjoyed by all of us for sure! Many times the group ahead, had to stop for hours to catch up with the other groups lagging behind. Those were the moments when we got to chitchat with other group members and know each other better. Overall it was great fun throughout the journey. We had climbed up and down approx. 9 hills and crossed some 4-5 streams.


Finally there came a starlight maidan kind of patch of land and we could make out that now our final destination - the cave where we were all supposed to spend the rest of the night - was nearby. At around 2-2:30 in the night we reached the cave.The cave was small but spacious enough to accommodate all of us(around 40)! We all settled and some of our trek members/organizers got engaged in cooking dinner for us! They were so enthu and energetic!


Most of us were like, now we want to just lie down! And these guys started cooking Potato-Onion subzi and Soup for all of us! I really appreciate their efforts in making this wonderful trek memorable for all of us in every possible way! Kudos to Trek-Di group!!!

So in an hours time our dinner was ready! We had soup and the Subzi with the Rotis (already distributed in the afternoon). It was delicious! Candle light dinner in the true sense as there were a few candles lighting the cave (and a few torches too...So u may call it a Candle-cum-Torch Light Dinner)!


As soon as the dinner was over we slept! You should have seen how we all fitted ourselves into that cave! Everybody had got their sleeping bags, mattresses, bed-sheets etc. Night passed in a flash! And that was an amazing sleep I had, after so tiring a journey!

(Read the description of some beautiful moments at Konkan-kada we visited the next morning and the return journey with more pictures in my concluding Blog of this Trek series...Till then chao!!!)