Dhavle Ghat

Our third day saw us dragging our heavy sacks out on a cloudy morning to Mr. More’s house who gave us excellent gavti chaha. We set out by six thirty to climb Dhavle ghat, which involved first going all the way around Chandragad. As you reach the other side of Chandragad, the jungle become thick and the climb starts upward. It was a long hard climb through some fantastically dense forest, where Mr.More had his handy koyta ready to make the way At a certain point our informative guide (who was a hunter earlier) showed us leopard feces. Later on he even gave us porcupine twills that had fallen in the way. We rested for some time near a beautiful waterfall where some of us couldn't resist a dip in the water!

After about three hours or so, we had finished one part of the climb; then we begin traversing the side of the mountains opposite Chandragad. The path though not exposed is on the side and very small, feels a bit unstable. On the way Mr. More also accidentally killed a green tree snake. We climbed a point where a boulder has a Hanuman covered. Here we finally got great views of Chandragad.

As we kept climbing up, we were surrounded by the mist. As we traversed the cliffs, Mr.More informed us that in rains rocks do fall from the top which made us speed up immediately. Finally some old idols mark the point where Dhavle ghat finishes and the route bifurcates. We took the higher route to Arthur’s Seat. After initially going through the forest, it cleared to a muddy climb which was very bad. The wind was so strong we were getting literally blown away. And as if our bags were not helpful in balance, the path was very slippery with no rocks or plants to hold. After this bad stretch we reached a grassy area from where no path was to be seen. Our guide was also confused and decided to explore on his own first.

For the next hour, he searched in vain. Because of the thick mist, strong wind and on-off rain, it was not easy. As per his calculations we were close and if the fog cleared we could have seen Aruthur’s Seat. Blaming it on some bhootadki, he reluctantly accepted defeat.

We climbed down once again passing the ‘bad’ stretch and reached the bifurcation and set out to Jor. The route to Jor goes through some incredibly beautiful forest full of trees. It was one of the most beautiful paths I have gone through, passing so many streams that I lost count (probably its one stream only that we kept crossing again and again!). But in monsoons, the speciality of this place is the leeches which will leap on you. Our guide told us to not stop and we walked as fast as we could. Yet when we had finished we still had a few bloodsuckers on each of us!

Jor is below old Mahabaleshwar and connected to Wai by road though not by the bus. Ricks/jeeps are available. We finished around five which meant baring 45 minutes of waiting at top for the ‘lost’ path, we had walked for almost ten hours. It was the longest day of our hike but definitely one of the best. An unforgettable experience in an awesome area in the beauty of rains.

-the monsoon trekker