There goes the Bahiri Hillibillies ‘n’ Pop came the Ligament……Crashing.!!

The last time, I had the luxury of heading for a 2-3 day Sahyadri trek was way back in 2006; when we covered the stretch from Amboli to Ahupe in Malshej region. Ever since, all such plans have not seen light of day.

Rajmachi – Bhimashankar was one such trek route that was eluding us for a while; for want of team & time. Finally both the elements fell in place.

The team comprised Rahil, Piran & Pradeep. The blokes who missed out were Fulton, Vijay, Zenosh & Mallick.

Over the past 2-3 years, have managed to develop a good bond with both Rahil & Piran; primarily because, all of us were yearning for attempting new routes rather than the tried & tested. It was with this same motley group that we had managed to undertake Rajmachi – Dhaak trek; which in many ways bestowed in us the confidence to attempt un-chartered trails.

The first monsoon trek of the season to Rajmachi was made memorable thanks to the pit vipers lazing around the route. This was followed by treks to Nakhind and Ratangad.

The 2 day trek to Ratangad – Katrabai – Kumshet was meant to be a precursor to the 3 day trek. By end of the 2 day trek, we had re-christened it RATAN…..CHAKKAR :) for the obvious reason of having lost the way completely and going around in circles. Low visibility accompanied by lack of awareness of the route from Ratangad to Katrabai Col and my unwillingness to accept the GPS findings meant, we had no clue where we were headed. By the end of it & after having reviewed the GPS findings on Google earth, we had managed to get a good grasp of the Ratangad – Katrabai terrain. The very thought of going in circles around Ratangad, left us in splits. The fallout of this trek; in spite of being thoroughly lost, it was the sense of excitement that was driving us. The Ratan ..Chakkar ..route..!!

The long weekend of August 15^th was ideal for undertaking the 3 day trek. With the all consuming work screwing my happiness, it was midnight by when I had started packing up for the trek. As discussed with Rahil, the plan was to head for Karjat and start the trek from Sandshi. The route was to take us from Sandshi via Bahiri pinnacle to Kusur and from there on to Bhimahsankar.

After a brief sleep for 3 hrs, it was time to pack the sack & head for Dadar to catch the 7 am local for Karjat. All of us made it on time & we were well and truly on our way. It was gr8 to have Pradeep; who was joining us on a trek after ages.

From Karjat, we headed for Sandshi; an hours drive by tumtum – abt 5 kms from Kondivade.

After getting generic directions of the route from the village folks, we headed towards Bahiri. This was the first time any of us were attempting this route. Rahil – our Gadget Guru had mapped the possible route on his GPS. After the Ratanc Chakkar experience, I was not too inclined to question the GPS. After the initial bit of trail finding, we were finally on the ascent to Bahiri.

It was a good ascent, with gorgeous views of the region. On completion of this section, we would have completed all possible routes originating from the Rajmachi base. After an hours climb, we decided to take a break for refreshments.

It was here that I had decided to readjust by backpack. No sooner had we again hit the trail, I felt the sack to be in an awkward position. Expecting it to self adjust as the trek progressed, I carried on. No sooner had we covered the first corner, that I encountered a 2 feet depression along the path. It was an innocuous piece of depression; which I was to have covered without much fanfare.

Unfortunately, my left leg slipped at this point and landed in the messiest of positions. The excessive load that I as carrying probably aggravated the issue. A pop was all I heard as I lay on the ground; sending shivers through me. For it was about 4 years back, while running down from Bhimashankar, my right knee ligaments had Popped once 2 many. The thought of having ligs on both knees giving up on me was disastrous. The mood amongst the gang was palpable. I did make any effort to test my knee, but the instability of the knee meant, it was an internal injury and end of the road as far this trek was concerned. Felt sorry for rest of the blokes, since we were all expecting to have a gr8 3 days in the Hills. With some strapping done on the knee and exchanging sacks with Rahil, the plan was to descend to lower ground. Descending down was a terrible experience, but was happy to get over with thanks to the support of the junta.

During the descent, Rahil managed to slip and hurt his little finger which eventually turned black n blue.

Having reached flat ground, wanted these blokes to head back & complete the trek rather wind up for good. It was encouraging to see them look at the prospect of heading back up the trail to complete the trek. So, after a brief break for lunch, we decided to part ways. While I headed back for Sandshi; these blokes headed back for Bahiri. Due to this mess up, the team had lost valuable 3 hrs.

Finding my way back to Sandshi was not easy as I had imagined. The first 2 routes that I followed took may in a completely different direction forcing me to back track. Finally, decided to follow a narrow rivulet heading in general direction of Sandshi. It was an interesting stretch of trek; which eventually landed me in a paddy field.

From here, managed to drag my knee back to the village. After some refreshments, headed back for base. An extremely disappointing end to a weekend filled with high expectations.

However was eager to know if the junta had managed to crack the route to Kusur/ Kondeshwar / and beyond.

It was around 7.00 pm when the junta called. They had pitched camp just at the base of Bahiri caves. Looking forward to further details of the trek and route from the gang.

While for me, it is back to ice packs & MRI; before planning the next attempt at Rajmachi – Bhimashankar :)