Following The Shadows Of The Ravine- Trek to Sandhan Valley

"Nature never misses any chance to leave us spellbound by it’s magnificence. All we need to do is, sit back and live the moment with it. Take pleasure as it unravels each layer of it’s virtue and enigma".
- Dipanwita Chakraborty


Ever thought of paying visit to the valleys where shadows reside? That too in the pitch dark winter nights. Come winters and the camping season starts along with long treks, a boon for all nomads bit by adventure bugs. Yes, you got it right. We did it all during our recent trek to Sandhan Valley.

Crossing pools of freezing water with water levels nearly chest deep at places. Admiring nature’s spellwork after crossing each surprise rock patch, some easy, some difficult, some scary, some cumbersome. Rock-hopping throughout the valley. Sleeping under the naked sky freckled with stars. Making childish wishes each time one spotted a shooting star. And last but not the least, that bunch of crazy friends who tag along each time I head for any madness rush. Every experience is way beyond expressions and words, which can only be felt and lived.

Sandhan Valley, also called “Valley of Shadows” is located in the west of Bandhardhara region, Samrad being the base village. Entire valley is surrounded by the majestic and beautiful Sahyadri ranges. These include the mighty Alang-Madan-Kulang(AMK), Ratangad, Ajoba range and Kalsubai. This mesmerizing valley can make anyone fall in love with rocks and boulders. Sandhan is also named as the “Grand Canyon of Maharashtra”, a 300 feet deep and 2 kms long valley carved by water.

Source- Google

The rock bedded ravine has widths less than 3 feet at several places, which blocks the sun-rays from entering inside and hence is called “Valley of Shadows”. 

Sandhan Valley trek is one of the most popular treks of Sahyadris. The reason why this valley lures hundreds of trekkers every year is due to the transfiguration it undergoes each year post monsoons. Being water carved valley, the patches keep changing every year, not all of them though. The trek is a full descend trek unlike the usual ones where one has to complete the cycle of ascending to the top and descending back.

The Trek:

This was my second visit to Sandhan and I was super excited. With a bunch of 47 trekkers, some first timers and some regulars, we started off for the most awaited trek of the season. The trek was organized by Trek Mates India. Nilesh Patil was our lead with Nishank, Ranjita, Kushal and Shilpa as co-leads.

The Start- The entire compartment was crowded by Trekmates

We reached the base village by 4:15 AM. The plan was to start right away to avoid trekking after sunset. Introduction done way before dawnbreak, in the dark, with the only sources of light being our head torches. 

At Kasara

Headed Towards Samrad

The Introduction

The Leader

All set

Sandhan is always thrilling from beginning till end. There is surprise at every turn as the patches keep unfurling. After walking for around 10-15 minutes, we come across a water pool with water levels chest deep. One has to carry their bags over the shoulders and cross the pool. Thanks to people gifted with good height for carrying all the bags to the other side of the pool.

Getting Started

Helping Hands

Ammu in Awe

The Freezing Pool

Height Ka Faayda

Together we can- Together we did

We reached the first rappelling patch after trekking for quite a while. The first rappelling patch is a 70 feet patch. Rappelling down was fun. We were among the first few to rappel down and waited for others to complete. The valley had absolutely changed it’s semblance compared to what I had experienced last year. The patches where we had a little support to climb down had no support at all. We had to climb down with bowline knots tied around our waists. Absolute thrill I must say. The second rappelling patch is much smaller one, of around 15 feet but more adventurous as it is an overhang.

The pictures below would tell the thrilling Sandhan tale in a much better way.

Rock-Hopping Across The Valley

Amrita's first ever rappelling attempt- She had mixed feelings

Rappelling Down the 1st Patch

Climbing down with bowline knots tied around waists

Bowline Plus Stop Knot Support

Show Me The Way

The 2nd Rappelling Patch

Done For The Day- Our Campsite

Dinner Being Cooked- Yum

We almost complete our trek after the second rappelling patch. In all, this year, Sandhan offered 5 thrilling patches to cover.

The Camp And The Spook:

We camped by an open space just above the pond. Dinner was delicious vegetarian food cooked by the villagers from Samrad. So, the rule of camping, as it goes by, no one is allowed to sleep. Dinner followed by antakshari and ghost stories. I was the first one to fall asleep.

What's Brewing?

It was around 3:00 AM when all of us suddenly woke up with Amrita’s shriek. Nishank felt something fall on his face from top. All torches lit up and we started searching around and inside the sleeping bags however, could not find anything out of the way. Some of us thought of the possibility of monkey attack too. We waited for sometime and went back to sleep.

After a while, Nishank experienced the same spooky feeling once again. This time, he got hold of whatever had fallen on his face only to discover it to be Vaibhav’s hand. He got up and revealed the source of fear which had, a few minutes earlier freaked everyone out. Everyone was in splits. Now that we were completely awake at 3:30 AM, we started discussing the stars and constellations. We spotted quite a few shooting stars too. We went back to sleep only after being reprimanded by Nilesh. 

The Morning Tea And Chidiya Udd:

Morning started early with the usual Nilesh special ginger and lemongrass tea. We had poha for breakfast.

Nilesh Serving His Signature Ginger-Lemongrass Tea

The Breakfast

Started our journey towards Dehane after prolonged session of photos. Stopped by another water pool for some more fun. 

Kahin Pe Nigaahei- Kahin Pe Nishaana

The Fight For Being Clicked

Ladaai Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost

Further, on the way, we spotted Giant Wood Spiders. Nilesh apprised us about a typical behavior of the females of this species. The females kill their male partners after mating. Typical cannibalism. When researched about the same, I came to know that this is a very common behaviour among many species of spiders wherein the female eats up/kills their male partners after mating.

Giant Wood Spider

We decided to take another break at an open space after crossing the jungle area. Another round of fun and games with “Sheep and the Sheppard” played among 4 groups. The losing teams danced on old bollywood songs (songs included the likes of "pyaar kiya toh darna kya" from the movie "Mughal-e-Azam" and many others) with their eyes blindfolded.

The moment we reached the base village, we jumped upon the stock of pepsi-cola squeezies, grabbing as many sqeezies as possible.  After having squeezies to our heart’s content, we headed towards the seating area. Lunch comprised of authentic Maharshtrian food. The lunch was absolutely delectable.

A round of hilarious “Chidiya Udd” game between Nilesh, Kailesh, Vaibhav and Ansh kept everyone glued till the end. The only difference in this game was that the rules were bent as per our craziness quotient. So, the person who fails to raise or not raise his / her finger would not go out of the game but have to face bashes from other members in the group and re-join the game. And, the most important rule- You cannot quit the game. (wink wink)

Chidiya Udd

Looser Gets Bashes

We started off for Mumbai by 4:30 PM after a round of evening tea. Bid goodbyes with heavy heart but with plans for the next trek together.

The Sandhan Family- Batch 3- 2015

Trekmates- keep trekking, keep smiling.

**Click on the pictures to get better resolution

Picture Credits- Vaibhav, Mahesh and Shreekumar

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Covering The Range- Ratangad 2 Harishchandragad: Day 1- Sandhan-Ratangad

The Lead-Up:

A late afternoon chat over coffee followed by hush hush calls and numerous pings exchanged on whatsapp in the midst of work. The inference- Dipanwita is finally going for R2H (Ratangad-Harishchandragad) and not Lo-Bhi (Lonavala-Bhimashankar). Both being absolutely besetting range treks, I was utterly confused however, the decision was made. R2H it is.

These mountains have swished the magical wands of their prodigious beauty and majesty, I just can’t resist their pull anymore. Well, to tell you the truth, I have forgone the desire to resist. The idea of going on a range trek was conceived long ago. As usual, I chanced upon the plan of R2H on Trek Mates India’s website while surfing through their itinerary for Lo-Bhi and rest is history. Lo-Bhi remained unchecked and R2H checked from the list of must-do range treks.

Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go

Range treks are treks which cover a part of a mountain range within a span of 2- 10 days depending on the range and distance that needs to be covered and the difficulty level. There are numerous range treks that can be done in the Sahyadris, The Western Ghats in Maharashtra.

Going for a range trek is every trekker’s dream. Range treks demand to push your limits to umpteen levels, lays one’s minds on thick, experience beauty of the nature as each layer unfolds it’s ambiguity and appreciate the statuesque of each mountain with history and glory of it’s own. It is an experience which stays with you for life.  

R2H (Ratangad to Harishchandragad) is done over a span of 3 days. Covering Sandhan Valley’s Kokankada- Ratangad via Trimbak Darwaza- Katrabai Mountain Pass-Harishchandragad. 

Sourced from TMI Website with Requisite Permission

The Trek:

Day 1: Mumbai - Kasara - Breakfast - Samrad (Base village for Sandhan) - Explore Sandhan Valley and Sandhan’s kokankada - Lunch - Ratangad via Trimbak Darwaza - Stay Over

Super- excited for my first range trek, I just couldn’t sleep the previous night, anxious at the thought of not being able to wake up on time. I hardly got to sleep for 2 odd hours and woke up at the first sound of my alarm, which is very unlikely of me.

As planned, we were to board the early morning Kasara local that starts from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway station at 5:00 AM.

18 fervent people started Friday early morning with all smiles and glee in the eyes despite of having being sleep deprived. And, the range trek fervor made people go out of their way to catch the Kasara local.

Sanket Chalke and Varad Shengde were our trek leaders.

Radha, Anand and Sachin managed to miss the train. Radha and Anand missed it in the twinkling of an eye. But, the very next minute Anand called to inform they were successful in boarding the train. Both Radha and Anand had jumped into the train when it came to a halt just before the end of the platform due to some signal issues.

Sachin, on the other hand boarded Bhusawal Express from Thane and planned to join us in Kalyan. A big thank you to the guard of Kasara local, who made the local halt for an extended time till Sachin alighted from Bhusawal Express and boarded Kasara local at Kalyan.

Trekmates started their adventure long before the actual trek had begun.

On reaching Kasara, we got into the pre-booked vehicles to reach Samrad. Breakfast en-route Samrad at the famous Baba-da-Dhaba.

After a 1 ½ hours’ long drive, we reached Samrad, located in Bhandardhara region. The sun shone high and bright without showing any mercy on us. Very well prepared for the tan and sun-burn, we started off to explore Sandhan Valley - The Valley of Shadows along with kokankada after TMI’s signature straight circle introduction round.  All participants were experienced trekkers except one, Himanshu, the youngest of the bunch, from IIM Indore.

The  Introduction

Sandhan- The Valley of Shadows

Headed towards Sandhan's Kokankada

Sandhan’s Kokankada offers splendid view of the mammoth  Sahyadris from Ratangad to Alang-Madan, the twin forts. It was green as far as our sights could reach. Between the greens, there were patches of yellows and purples too. The Sonki (Senecio grahamii) made splash with its mass blooming. Infact, the entire Western Ghats, famous for its rich bio-diversity is covered with various species of flowers at the advent of monsoon including the likes of Sonki (Senecio grahamii) and Karvi-Topli (Pleocaulus ritchiei). 

Karvi-Topli flowers bloom only once in every 7 years. We were lucky to witness them this season while descending from Harishchandragad.

The Magnificence

Sonki

While we were still at Sandhan’s kokankada, soaking in the beauty of the valley, the blues of the sky started altering colors. Far away, the peaks of Ratangad, Ajoba range and Alang-Madan were completely covered with thick blanket of clouds. And, we heard the ultimate call of the clouds. Thunders. We could sense it nearing us. With drizzles bringing the temperatures to slump, we felt blessed and prayed that rains accompany us for rest of the days too.

We returned to Samrad, had lunch and started for Ratangad at 2:00 PM. Sanket indicated that it was imperative that we reach Ratangad by 4:30 or else we wouldn’t be able to explore the fort due to rains. When asked our local guide, Yuvraj whether we could reach Ratangad by 4:30, he replied in Marathi with a broad grin, “Lavkar chalel tar pahuchnaar” (If they walk fast, we would reach). Everyone concurred.

The Lunch

Towards Ratangad

Ratangad, also called the “Jewel Fort”, is located in Ratan Wadi, Maharashtra in the Bandardara region. The fort is believed to be 2000 years old. The fort is the origin of river Pravara, also called Amrutvahini. The famous Bandadara dam is built on this river.

The fort has a natural rock peak with a cavity at it’s top, termed as “Nedhe”, meaning “Eye of the Needle”. The cavity formation is due to natural erosion. There are 4 gates to the fort namely, Ganesh, Hanuman, Konkan and Trimbak. We were to reach Ratangad through Trimbak Darwaza route.

The ascent towards Ratangad was steep and the route covered with dense forest. We were coaxed to fasten our steps with the temptation of being served special lemongrass tea at Ratangad. After numerous photosession breaks along with much needed water and Glucon-D breaks, we finally reached “The Trimbak Darwaza” and entered Ratangad precisely at 4:30 PM.

Ratangad

The Longest Selfie

The Last Step

First Step On Trimbak Darwaza

The Trimbak Darwaza

Selfie With Bestie

The next break was at the “Nedhe”. Descend from Nedhe leads to the cisterns, the only source of drinking and cooking water on Ratangad fort. The path ahead leads to “Rani Mahal”, which gives a mesmerizing view of the entire valley below.

Trekmates at Nedhe

By The Cisterns on Ratangad

The Rani Mahal

The night spent in caves with dinner followed by Dumb Charades madness. Wake up call was decided to be at 5:00 AM. 

The Stay Over

The account on Day 2 covered in next post.

**Click on the pictures for better resolution

Picture Credits- Kiran, Shirish, Rajesh, Sambit and Dipanwita

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