6 Nov 2025 My hike captured on Garmin Despite being tired, did not sleep well. And heard from a couple of the others that they didn’t either. We all heard a symphony of barking in the middle of the night, and speculated that maybe a bear had come too close. Once a dog walked past…
5 Nov 2025 I’d slept fitfully the night before. The thunderstorm and pelting rain kept me awake, haunted by the worry that the tent might take off in the night. But at some point I must have actually slept, because I remember waking. 6-ish. The weather had calmed, it wasn’t raining. Pawan had warned us…
4 Nov 2025 An easy day with a small ascent and only 5 kms to walk. It was the most enjoyable day of the whole trek. I had enough bandwidth to notice and photograph tiny wild flowers. It wasn’t the flowering season, so only a few inconspicuous blooms were around – but there were plenty…
7 Nov 2025 A long, long day of travel for most of us – uneventful, right up to Dehradun. Then things decided to get interesting. A bright blue sky greeted me in the morning. The nearly full moon was slipping behind a hill, still perfectly visible and begging for photos. A small variation in the…
3 Nov 2025 Despite the thick duvets, I only managed a so-so night of sleep. In fact, throughout the trek days this was to be the story of my life. And Vinay’s too – we exchanged notes on poor sleep patterns. The call for morning lemon tea came at 6:40, despite being told it would…
2 Nov 2025 Somewhere early 2025, Ak showed interest in a Himalayan trek – and we started discussing the idea with Ashok. A “potentials” whatsapp group was created, out of which the final trek group was 6 of us: Ashok & Ashwini (the Ashes!), Vinay, Ram (primary school friend of Vinay, new to the rest…
Some 2-3 months before our 2025 May India trip, I looked at trek possibilities in and around Darjeeling, and found that the only serious multi-day trek option was Sandak Phu – Phalut. After some back and forth with a tour operator, and some ridiculous quotes, we decided not to commit to that, but wing it…
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 of iron steps…
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 unidentified saplings. Now…
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 ride is very…
