A memorable trek to Madhe Ghat and Upandya Ghat

Well, it was Friday evening. I was in a meeting room discussing something important but not urgent. The purpose had been served, it was the time to close the meeting. Suddenly the meeting room door opened, and a gentleman came in saying “Hi guys I have booked this room for the next one hour, your booking is over”.

"Yes, we are done!" could have been the diplomatically correct response. 

But I was almost in a Friday evening mode ... with a pregnant pause … I replied … “Hey that's just great! You know what, we were all tired of this long running meeting on this Friday evening. We’ll be more than happy to immediately vacate the room for you”.

For a split second there was complete silence. My colleagues didn’t know what to say, the gentleman at the door was kind of shocked .. but then everyone could see through it.. and we all laughed ..

The journey had started … from work to life!

Friday evenings … they bring a fresh feel .. the beginning of the long-awaited weekend … (unless you are workaholic) … a chance to do what you love..

The monsoon was in full swing, the mountains were calling, the camera was waiting to capture something interesting and of course the soul was begging for adventure.

Another Saturday morning, another trek into wilderness …

Madhe ghat is not necessarily the most sexy name for a place to trek (for the uninitiated, ‘Madhe’ literally means dead body in Marathi). While some of you may have known that place, how about Upandya Ghat .. sounds familiar .. NO ? … the plan was to do a circuit trek covering Madhe Ghat and Upandya Ghat.

They say, the lesser known the place, the better the trek.

Coming back .. Madhe Ghat circuit trek …

We started early morning. Satyam picked me up from City Pride multiplex complex. By 5:45 AM we were on the Satara Highway. A tea break in between, some chaotic traffic at the toll plaza, and some interesting conversations around love, music, work & life in general .. we were enjoying …

See the difference that light and clouds can bring in .. same place different view

Atheist, while they may have their own path, are hard to find on the Pune Satara Road. I mean anyone travelling on this road gets converted into a believer .. believe me .. pun intended!

With the traces of tar around the pot holes … drivers that drive like they own the road (most even don’t own the vehicle, but that’s a different matter) … drivers rushing to pay the toll at the toll plaza … once in a while an arrogant driver refusing to pay the toll due to his VIP status (I wonder whether anyone has ever refused to pay for the ugly status of the road..) .. this is the road for believers … a strong belief that this road, in spite of all hurdles will take us to the right destination.

While this was all new for Satyam, we took a right turn towards Velhe (Piousness was not our destination, afterall, for this day at least!) … and we were bang on the track … towards Madhe Ghat. It was almost 6:45 in my … mobile … anyone still using the watch? 

Madhe Ghat is located around 62 km south west of Pune bordering Raigad district. The road was scenic, the mountains were all covered in green, with hundreds of small streams carrying the monsoon rains. Velhe at 7:30, Bhatti at 7:45, Pasli at 8:00, and finally Kelad at around 8:15. It was an awesome drive.

We parked the car and started walking towards the Laxmi Waterfall. The waterfall is about 850 meters above sea level and situated in dense forests.

The Madhe Ghat adjoins the Laxmi waterfall, descends to a downstream village Karnawadi and on the way runs parallel to the water stream of the waterfall, giving a close view of the flowing water, fun to watch during peak monsoon.

Going by the folklore, when the great maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare died in the Sinhagad battle, his body (madhe) was to be taken for last rites in his native village Umrath near Poladpur. The funeral procession was taken to his native place from this route and hence the ghat was named as Madhe Ghat.

On the way towards the waterfall we crossed multiple water streams. With birds chirping, flowers blossoming, dense fog around, the fresh air and being far away from the maddening crowd … touched by the mother nature … it was almost a sacred place.

Mother nature and pure love have a unique ability to convert anything that they touch into sacredness ... 

Life has an uncanny way of sharing its secrets ... this one was a gem .. coming directly from life within ...

While the inner journey is hard to explain ... just meant to be experienced ... let's go back to the outer one .. I mean the trek ...

In no time we were near the waterfall. This waterfall is unique in a sense that one can experience it from three different views, one can be at the point from where the water gushes down the fall and experience the grandeur, or can be on opposite side of the waterfall and see the waterfall or be at the base of the fall and get drenched into it … we did all three.

To get drenched, one needs to do a tricky descend and that’s where the trek begins …

The route was quite steep and muddy.

Words fail to express what we experienced during next couple of hours. The sheer feel of getting drenched in the majestic waterfall, in an almost inaccessible place ..

I have started measuring the quality of life through the quality of experiences (probably its the age ... and not the size of the equity portfolio ...), and this day had offered an exhilarating one!

By the way, Satyam, the partner in crime, may express it differently … or may be not, going by his expressions ! I owe him an apology of sorts in any case. I mean with a couple of slippery traversal rock patches, almost uninhabited terrain, wild forest with snakes around … there was no reason for him to follow me … almost no reason, provided he knew the way out of the thick forest .. 

The partner in crime ... Satyam !

After a steep descend for a couple of hours, including detour at various places, we were on the plateau. Looking back, the hills were looking towering. There is something humbling about mountains. Maybe it’s their tall and grand appearance or the initial intimidation when you cast your eyes on it. But ultimately, the most humbling part is the sense of accomplishment that you get after climbing one.

Oh no ! That's the trickiest part of the trek. Most treks require you to climb up, feel tired, get a nice view, feel relaxed, eat food, and start a relaxed descend. This one is different. Get a great view, start descend, enjoy the waterfalls, feel tired. And suddenly you are on the plateau, with no food options around and towering mountain to climb before you can get some rest. And its almost uninhabited place. 

In short, the sense of accomplishment and the humbling experience, BOTH, were at least couple of hours away. 

Primarily for this reason, and the fact that it is a circuit trek, as in you don't take the same path while returning back, this trek is not recommended for first timers. If you want to do Madhe Ghat and the waterfall, that's easy .. but not this circuit trek.

But that's not all, we had to cross many water streams, including the downstream flow of the majestic Laxmi waterfall. That's fun if you know how to cross such streams, else it can be dangerous. 

The walk continued for some time and then we found ourselves in a village, Karnawadi. While the village was in the deep forest and some rice plantations, the equation was dramatically different than what we see in the cities. Thousands of trees, tens of houses and number of people that can be counted on fingers. .. Just imagine my dear reader ... that's what you have missed .. 

While being a thorough gentleman and looking like one are two different things, Satyam is a rare combination of both. And that helps. It goes without saying that we were received well by a lady who offered us water and some advice on the return path. And on the way few other ladies provided directions for the safe journey. 

On the way back, the uphill is not that steep, is fairly easy and may take half an hour. That's the pitch you need to continue to talk about with your trek partner, especially for a novice trekker. In the end it anyway turned out to be couple of slippery traversal rock patches, crossing a mild waterfall, and an hour full of treacherous patches.

While Satyam is a marathon runner and physically fit, as of now he is a novice trekker .. or should I say was a novice trekker .. being converted into an avid ... I know some experiences can be life changing (in a good way in this case) ...

While I rarely prefer to take rest during an uphill climb, this upandya ghat turned out to be testing my limits ... I took a short break, took some snaps, felt mesmerized, and continued the journey that would take me to the sense of accomplishment and the humbling experience. I mean the end of the ghat. 

And finally we were there .. the end of the uphill climb. We took a food break, had some fruits, snacks, water and continued the last leg of the trek through the deep forest followed by a walk through the rice fields. That was the end of the trek. The return journey was a nonevent. 

On a serious note, it was the D DAY .. a day to remember for ever .. a short trek like this can add so much to your life ..

Elevation	850 m
Difficulty Level	Medium
Endurance Level	High
Adventure Level	High, especially around the waterfalls
Fun Level	Great
Ideal for	Physically fit people with high endurance levels
Routes	Car : Pune - Satara Road - Velhe - Kelad  (one can use the Pabe ghat as well to reach Velhe from Pune). Trek : Kelad - Laxmi Waterfall - Madhe Ghat - Karnawadi - Upandya Ghat - Kelad

Note: Thanks for reading till the end .. and thanks in advance for posting your comments on this blog (easier done with a gmail account) .. these help me overcome the inertia .. the feeling that otherwise keeps me away from blogging ... and of course feel free to share this blog with people who may like !