Trek to Prabalgad: Part II

At the start of the second leg of our climb, Sallu some arrow like marks and took the leaders hat from me.

KKs job here was to pray so that it doesnt rain when we ascend and descend. We started a near vertical climb and competely ran out of water. We then filled up on a narrow waterfall. Initially we just freshened ourselves and there was no good place to rest on the way up. There are huge boulders everywhere and we got a little cautious. Feroze first drank from the virgin stream. "Sahi hai", he said. Hurriedly, we all except KK quenched our thirst and filled bottles. Carefully, taking one step at a time and praying that we dont get lost, Salu took off. It was getting tougher for me and took brief pauses so that I catch my breath back. Boy, it was damn humid and since, we were ascending from behind a hillock there was no breeze. Yet we went ahead. After 40 minutes or so, we saw remnants of the Prabalgad fort. There are around 4ft high or less walls at the periphery of Prabalgad. Seeing this we got a ittle relaxed. As we reached at the top what we saw was....................... NO FORT! :(. Lush green trees everywhere with some open green patches and some dangerous ooking ant hills. Thats it! No fort, no wals, no pillars, no cannons and no shit. So, I decided to give something back :D ha ha..

We were disappointed... totally. No signs anywhere. There has to be something. Suddenly, Sallu spotted an arrow on a rock. We got it. We decided to head in that direction. Here we go... After another 10 minutes we spotted a water resorvoir and again got disappointed as we reached closer. It was hardly anything. But wait a minute, as we looked around, we realised that we have reached at the edge of the Prabalgad. And the view of the surrounding hills was simply breathtaking.


Towards, north-west we could see Arnala, Matheran towards south, Kalavantin peak towards east.

Ah.. Nature at its best. At 2300 ft above mean sea level, KK and feroze sat right at the edge. Wow.. Me and sallu stayed back. Slowly, the clouds were ascending Prabalgad and we could see and feel this natural phenomenon. A walk in the clouds.
The breeze was strong. What a wonderful experience we had man. This brought smiles back on our faces. But we were yet to see any fort like structure. It was time for Salah and lunch. And trust me it was one lavish affair. Rajmah Masala, Aalo Parathas, Cheese Spread, Curd, Sauce, Pauha.. One heck of a meal :D

After a while we started our descent. We thought we could reach at the base by Asr. But thanks to Sallu and a beer can, we lost our way our descent was no less tough then our climb. Trekkers, bastards, have littered this entire place with plastic bottles and beer cans. And Sallu thought he'd seen only one. And it started raining cats and dogs. All the trails were washed and turned into muddy water ways. After a long time, we reached at a spot which I felt we came across before. I led the way and slowly but steadily we reached at the balcony near Thakurwadi. Phew.. we made it down and safely. An hour from here, we made to a point from where the pathe flattens. We took a bath in a small stream. It was here a white devil appeared in the form of feroze. Ha ha... good there were no villagers around else they would have surely worshipped him as a white god. Dude, be careful when you visit such isolated places next time. lol.... Quickly changed our clothes and offered our Asr here.

Salman gets Polka dotted(King of the mountains) jersy and KK gets Green(Sprinters).. ha ha.. Tour de Prabalgad!

As we looked back at the peak, we thought in our minds that at one point we were on top of the world and now we heading back to a miserable world carrying our bruised and broken bods. And slowly we saw a hot chick appearing from nowhere heading straight towards us.. I wondered, where did she came from. And indeed it was a female but she wasnt hot. She was part of a group who had come for some team building activity and all. Feroze asked one fat female if they would be leaving anytime soon so that we get a lift. Desparatley, ghar jaana tha. Could walk no more... We were so damn tired. And the rickshaw wala who dropped us at this same point, never took our calls since. A drunk local appeared from nowhere and advised us to hold fort coz it was time for a last ST bus.. Hurrah.. But we were fast losing patience. So, we decided to take a rick to Shedung Fata and ST from here. Eventually, we took the same ST bus and lucky feroze this was supposed to be the last trip of the bus and hereafter, it was to park at Thane Depot.

So, where are we headed next time guys.. some place but at half the altitude of Prabalgad. ha ha.. Bastards all those who said it is a 2hr climb and an easy trek. But hey I forgive them all for a good trip that we had... :D