It is Sunday and we are ready to
jump on the wagon of another adventure. This time it is the caves of Dhak
Bahiri in Karjat region of Maharashtra. Dhak bahiri are the caves situated in
middle of the cliff of Dhak fort in Sahyadri Mountains. The caves are situated at
around 2600 ft. from base village. There is also a temple of Lord Bahiri.
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| Dhak Fort |
Start of Journey and Introduction.
Our day started with Journey from
Dadar to Lonavala to Kamshet base village. As usual everyone was geared up and
excited for the trek. Bus Journeys are fun. They are the window to get know the
fellow trekkers. It works as an ice breaker. Here is the unusual bond that you
form which lies between friend and companions in the trekking expedition. As
usual routine follows with the game of Antakshri; singing songs loudly together
is such a fun; followed by breakfast of ‘kande
pohe.’ This breakfast I think can now be patented by Small Steps.
Reaching the base village near
Kamshet, we had a small introductory session to formally know each other
followed by trekking instructions. Trek leaders were Sagar, Rashmi and Prashant
and even I was given the role this time of bridging the gap between groups.
Branching out am I?
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| While trekking in the forest |
Ascend and Walk-through Jungle.
The trek falls into medium
category. With hills up and down one has to walk lot. The Jungle provides shade
from long and high trees and coolness in sunny day.
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| The dense trees protecting from Sun. |
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| A little rest |
Climbing the hill one
reaches a narrow gap which divides two hills; it is kind of gully. The narrow opening descends into other side of
hill. The thrilling and adventurous part of trek starts from here. It is a
narrow opening in its literal sense even bags can’t pass; one has to throw them
down. One could see scenic view of mountains situated far away in the ranges
through gap. Well lots of pictures were clicked here as, one by one people were
descending.
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| The Narrow Gully between two hills |
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| Descending through Narrow gap |
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| Narrow Descend |
Narrowing into thrilling cliff
Descending through this we had to
walk traverse on the edge of the mountain; a rocky patch of around 60 to 70
degree gradient.
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| Traverse on Rocky Patch. |
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| Edgy Traverse |
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| Selfie on Edgy |
Leaning right we walked further and reached a small cave, here
we put our bags and removed our shoes. As there is temple on the top we were
advised to remove footwear. But as soon as we removed it, our feet started
burning due to heat; the rocks had become hot in sunny day. But we moved further and reached a point from
where one has to climb vertically.
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| First Steep Rocky Patch, Vertical |
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| No Hope Without Rope |
Here rope is hanged for the support, and we
had to climb by taking grip in the crevices of the rocks. The climb was quite
steep and we climbed one by one. Another steep rock patch starts from here and
we climbed narrow steps on the hill carved on the edges by taking support of
rocks; ahead two logs of trees were kept closely held to each other.
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| Traversing towards the Wooden Log |
The wooden
log sways preciously with rhythm of the person. One has to take support of it
and climb them by putting foot on small branches, like a ladder, here also rope
was hanging for the support, we clutched it and climbed up with the help of
branch ladder. The two steep rock
patches were done.
Arrival at the top into caves.
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| Panoramic through Caves |
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| Selfies in the Caves |
Finally we arrived at the top
into the caves. The caves are big and spacious and divided into compartments. A
small temple of Lord Bahiri is built in the cave. There are two water
tanks in the caves. Many people who had trekked and reached there were cooking
food. Utensils can be found in the caves, people who come here offer utensils and keep in the caves. One can use it, clean it and keep them in the caves only. There is also a superstition that women are not allowed; but girls in our group came till the caves, villagers did not oppose. It is also said that Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj once visited these caves of God Bahiri Maharaj.
We rested for a while and then
cameras were out, selfies, DP’s followed with pictures of natural scenery that
could be viewed from the cave. The mountains of ranges can be viewed in
semicircular shape from here, which makes a spectacular panoramic scene. After
a while we started descending.
Descend through cliff
The descend was more thrilling,
as being on the edge we could directly look down into valley; the real
importance of rope is while descending as one could say ‘no hope without rope.’
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| Climbing down the log |
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| Climbing down the rope |
Climbing down the steep patches we walked to
reach the caves where we had removed our shoes and kept our bags. Retrieving
them we moved ahead to reach narrow opening between two hills. We had trekked
quite fast, nearly in 2 hours we had reached the top. Ascending on the narrow
gap, we walked further into the jungle, finding a spacious place in the shadow
of trees, we had our lunch. The lunch from the start was carried by trek
leaders, and rotated in the group. Chapati
and aloo sabji re-energized us from the climbing and descend.
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| Delicious Lunch |
The
climbing and descending of hills was exhausting and we were getting dehydrated
quite often. But encouraging each other we continued and finally reached a
beautiful pond at the base of the village.Here we freshened ourselves
filled our water bottles, and walked further to reach where our bus was
standing.
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| The Pond at Base |
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| Refreshing, and Refilling. |
Back Journey.
Reaching the assembly point, we bought some refreshments, climbed into
the bus put our bags and settled ourselves. It did not feel too exhausting to
sleep; everyone engaged in conversations, songs, music and memories from the
trek. As we reached Mumbai one by one we got down at our stops and bid adieu.
Finally another Sunday spent on trek was worthwhile.
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| Back Journey |
Trekking journeys form many bonds
and relationships with fellow trekkers. Some bonds turn into friendship, some
are just to make fun of each other, some are flirtatious, some form deep bond
of trust with each other, some become codependent for treks. But we all are
fellow trekkers; enthusiastic about such expeditions and there is a mutual
feeling of accomplishment that only we understand after every journey.
Small Steps Adventures
It is a group founded by Sagar,
Yogi, Sushant, Ravi, Prashant and Rashmi. The small steps adventures is a
group, that take people on adventurous expeditions. The purpose of such
expeditions is to refresh people from their mundane routine and bring out the
excitement and enthusiasm hidden in them.
Technical Details
Fort: Dhak Baihiri, caves are
situated middle of cliff.
Height: around 2600 feet.
Level: Easy and from cliff
difficult.
Base Village: Jambhivali,
district – Raigad, Region – Karjat
How to Reach: Private transport
is preferable, otherwise Mumbai-
Lonavala-Kamshet; ST bus and further some local transport till base village Jambhivali.
Distance: From Mumbai 140km, From
Pune 60Km.
