From a 1993 internship in Pune to a lifetime love of the Sahyadris – the Western Ghats that ring the city. Treks in all seasons, all weathers, with an inner circle of friends who had rules, standards, and strong opinions about what counted as a real trek.
We went up Sinhagad countless times. Being the closest non-trivial trek to Pune city, it was the go-to trek, not only for us, but for the whole Puneri trekking community. Pune, being an industrial city, had Thursdays off – so Thursday morning was a popular time for the hardcore trekkers to be there. The more…
9th Oct 2005 Trek to Rajgad in Oct, wild flowers at their best in this part of the world. With John, Abe, Rohit, Ashok, and master Ak who rode on my back on the way up and on Ashok’s back on the way down. I don’t remember much about this trek except for the photos…
26th Dec 2009 An alternate trek route up Sudhagad, from Thakurwadi, with Dc, Sw, Sb. About 125 kms drive from home – Expressway to Khopoli, turn off to Pali, from Pali to Bhairampada, which we missed and hence the inadvertant alternate trek from Thakurwadi. Gentle climb up to a ridge, then a couple of flights…
5th Dec 2009 Ashok and I went to Vichitragad aka Rohida fort near Bhor, about 70 kms from Pune. My third visit here, and lots of small but significant changes including solar powered lamps posted along the path upto the fort. Some signs of tree plantation on top – saw mango, silver oak and some…
13th Jun 2009 Have been wanting to do Visapur for a long time now, finally managed it last weekend. Ashok, Sansy, Anusha and I. We take the Pune-Lonavla local train leaving Khadki at 5:55 am. S&A just make it as the train is pulling into the station. I am extremely sleepy and grumpy. The train…
1st Aug 2009 Korigad in the monsoons – near INS Shivaji in Lonavla. A beautiful drive through mist with visibility down to about 5 feet in parts. Ashok picks me up at 6:40 am, we drive down to Ramakrishna’s in Lonavla for rava onion dosais and chai. Past Bushi dam, on to the misty plateau…
5th Jul 2008 Trek to Chanderi with Ashok, Kripa and her colleagues. Brilliant monsoon trek. From Pune, Ashok and I got there by train, 5:45 am – Vangni station finds Ashok trying to nap while we start our long wait for the Bombay-ites to join us. The others are delayed. We agreed to start on…
7th Feb 2005 The stopover hike When Aravind & his family, amma, appa visited us in Pune, we went on a short holiday to Bhimashankar. As we were driving back to Pune, Rohit spotted the sign – Shivneri, just off the route. Birthplace of Shivaji. We looked at each other, and that was that: we…
