I successfully did K2S trek ……. why successfully? well trust me after reading my blog you will definitely feel why I’m so exaggerating dramatically
Well currently I’m in Pune for a while and I constantly try to keep myself busy by engaging into any activities what so ever possible ,so one fine evening I was sitting in my room kind of depressed on thoughts that I was totally wasting this free time and then I came across this event in my Facebook feed which said that there is an upcoming trek which will be on this coming Saturday ,I got restless a bit called my friend who stays a bit far from my location who ultimately backed out and so it was just me going alone on this adventure and of course the trekking people . Let me brief you about this trek I mean you’ll know much more about it as you read through so this trek starts from Katraj and ends at Sinhagad fort, it’s a 15kms trek and is done at night time usually starting at 10/11 pm, now this is what I read in the post. I thought how tough will it be even? 15 km is too less for me and to add to that I’ll be just walking hmm pretty easy ,I don’t know what was going through my mind back then I completely ignored the most essential details which I later realized I should have had kept in my mind .So the day arrived ,I was totally excited all ready to achieve the feat .The reason I was sure about this trek is that I have a bit of an experience in minor treks I have done in Goa so I thought this would be a piece of a cake ,surely it was not.
The most essential thing I forgot to carry was a bright torch light gee a big mistake ill come to that later ,second mistake I did was I carried very limited water with me I took 1 and a half liter of water bottle and a half liter of Gatorade ,took a biscuit pack made up of oats because why not care my health on journey which has no food and water in between to offer stupid eh , I took a couple of oats bar too and a few chewing gums that’s it these are the eatables I was carrying with me such an idiot I felt later on the journey. Now being into photography I had to carry whatever camera equipment I could fit in my bag not realizing it is ultimately making my bag heavier now let me tell you the trick on a trek is to keep your luggage, your clothes, your wearable s as light as possible that’s why there are specialized shoes, specialized backpacks and special clothing available for trekking enthusiasts. I was a total noob ,my excitement totally put a toll on me in this journey and besides this I was wearing my Casio watch which has pretty shiny dial I don’t know how people must have reacted on seeing me and might have heavily judge my sanity at the same.
(some light paintings i did while was resting and waiting for my members to arrive)
So I reached the boarding location wearing sport shoes (Nike running shoes = bad idea) a heavy joggers (again a bad idea) and a long cotton sleeve t-shirt (I don’t know what I was thinking even) and a hoodie in my backpack *face palm* still I had no clue what the terrain and gradient would be. then I called my dad told him I am going on a night trek under a trekking team ,he was cool with it as he himself had done more challenging treks in his bachelors time ,then he started asking me about the essentials if I was carrying ,do u have proper shoes I am like yes of course getting sense of fear somewhere at the back of my mind ,asked about food ,water all check and then he asked about the torch ummmm shit I made another fault ,I said of course who will miss that duh . cool he said enjoy and be safe and do not take selfies from the cliff… yes sure of course I’m sane enough to not to do that the call ended I was in a total panic mode no torch how the F m I going to climb this at night all I had was my Samsung note 8 and the featured jio phone I went to the trek leader asked him if the torch was needed ? the look on his face spoke everything still he manged to lie and said don’t worry someone in the group must be having a torch just stick with them and you are good to go .it was almost the departure time and I could do nothing about the torch and in this moment I even forgot to add on and addition water bottle. things weren’t going as I had planned. heavy backpack heavy clothing and less hydration source, pretty much everything a trekker would avoid, now the cards were impossible to turn it was my self-pride on stake now it was no backing out I said lets c will figure it out.
Reached the starting point at around 11 pm everyone had a torch and some had head lamps brighter than most of our bike head lamps and what I had was a jio phone with its torch light on OK I said , no worries will finish this once and for all ,I made up my mind to finish it in whatever circumstances I come across ,the trek leader took the counts and the trek started …pitch dark all around we started the limb at this very moment I wasn’t knowing that, we will be going through around 12-15 mountains ascending and descending them with a very steep gradient and loose soil and un treatable rocks , I knew I was totally screwed we reached at our checkpoint in two minutes settled ourselves setup our cameras got some clicks and settled for a while and started the journey, now during my bus journey to katraj I had made three ,four friends who were a group of MBBS students from Mumbai roughly of my age so I stuck with them so my loneliness issue was sorted for a while ,surprisingly my sports shoes were kind enough to help me but knew it’s soul would be totally worn when I finish this journey , funny thing about the night trek is you don’t feel the fear of falling as you don’t happen to see the depth at which you will fall and the only visible path is the one where you point your torch at ,so we climbed we descended took breaks ,we were around 28 in the group some were very experienced and had done the trek before for 3-4 times we even had an aged man fit enough , must have been in his 65’s even he was easily climbing that terrain and was witty and funny at the same time ,we even had a few children with us ,seemed like from 5-6th std so the group was pretty inspiring and motivational overall.
The first peak we climbed my god the breeze reminded me of our very own Goan beach wind, it was just 11;30 and the moon had started rising giving a dim light throughout, the city lights were worth a watch from that Height, stunning and always awake giving us a view to long for.
There was a constant skidding happening on the rubble while we were proceeding and we were feeling the drain, water wasn’t going to last long so had to plan my sips and amount I will be consuming that was pretty tricky but throughout the journey what kept me engaged was the
Slow shutter photography which I was doing in between, as I wasn’t carrying my tripod the task was to arrange the rocks and keep my phone stable enough to get the perfect compositing still the wind was so high that even that couldn’t stabilize my phone, the photos were getting shaky but still some more efforts payed it totally and got some really satisfying pictures.
So then came a major halt where I realized another mistake which was to carry biscuit and that to of oats the worst food you can carry on a trek because such dry food items increase your thirst to a whole new level then where I realized I should have carried some fruits some juicy apple or oranges would have been a best choice to keep me hydrated. but then you know me I am a tough guy, through all the troubles I covered each distance with a lot of precaution and agility of course.
There were some areas where one had to dead drop the slope and hold branches of twigs in the way it was totally risky to be honest but we all did come over it.
the valleys usually do not have any flow of air so those areas are dry and dusty and these are the very areas, where you sweat a lot. about the surrounding, the whole trek is covered with dried twigs and weeds as this a summer period so wearing a meshed t-shirt like sport jersey is highly advisable with a very light trek pant and of course a hard-soled shoe unlike mine with soft bottom which are made to cushion our soul while running.
having a head lamp is highly advisable that intern help in keeping your both hands free for gripping something in case you fall.
And always keep a distance while trekking that will help in keeping you safe in case someone behind or in front of you skids a bit and falls off
so, we were climbing and walking and taking halts in between this was on a repeat mode. The feeling when you continuously climb two mountains and then get on the flat surface then you are hit by that breeze is so heavenly addictive, that you feel like dropping your bag there and then and just do star gaze and doze off.
(scene just before the most waited moment of the trek – SUNRISE )
As the time passed and the distance shortened the ultimate goal was to witness the sunrise from the top peak and boy o boy we did anticipate it perfectly it was such a great view to get after the efforts oh my god can’t even explain how we pushed ourselves up that mountains to get that view legs had already given up and we just wanted a break to rest our nerves but no! we had to take that risk just for the scene and the journey ultimately ended with the best Puneri meal and of course group pics indeed
and a time lapse i took from my #YI4K
here are some tips for you if you are interested in trek as I am* ……
- Always read about the trek you are going for and get the best knowledge about the temperature, its terrain, its soil type and other geological features
- Advisable to carry a 30-40 liters trekking bag along with proper trekking shoes with hard soul
- Minimum 3 litters of water must be carried at any cost if u have that 4th liter you won’t disappoint too
- Carry fruits which are juicy and will help in keeping you hydrated
- Avoid carrying unnecessary weight and travel light but do not compromise on water bottles
- Carry electrolytes or energy drinks and have some protein or energy bars
- Wear suitable clothing which are made up of breathable materials and are suitable for heavy duty
- Powerful torch is must and having a head lamp can be of real aid
you can get in touch with the SG trekkers they organise one of the best treks in PUNE
https://www.facebook.com/sgtrekkers.in/
here’s a link to their Facebook page feel free to contact
feel free to drop any query and questions i am ready to clear your doubts from my personal experience
here are some additional pictures for you
THANKS A LOT FOR READING
photographic life 