Night trek to Irshalgad

Yet another trek blog, because I don’t get tired of documenting them.

This time though, it’s not a usual day trek with a lot of humidity and heat, but a “night” trek. I have been to two other night treks but wasn’t anywhere near to documenting them back then, although this time, I am.

Sweet. So the name of the trek as you might have already read is Irshalgad. It’s a place in the outskirts of Bombay, around half-hour to Karjat. Although, you can reach the base of the hill via Panvel as well.

I was alone for this one. As in, not alone throughout the trek, but not with anybody known except the guides of the trek.

A solo “night” trek is still down, deep in my list. Need a little more experience and of course, courage for that, ngl.

We had to board a train at 10:30 PM and reach Karjat at around 11:30 PM. Initially, there were a lot of people on the train, usual for a city like Mumbai, but as we headed towards our destination, people kept getting smaller in number and for the last 15 minutes of the journey, it was just me and an uncle left in the compartment. Apart from that, I was reading a Murakami book throughout the journey and man-o-man, the whole scene which I was reading was set up on a train, pretty similar to what situation I was in real. And if you are an avid Murakami reader, you know how the scenes get weird, pretty much abruptly. I shut my book as soon as I lost my flow, looked out of the window, gazed in the dark, rapidly moving buildings, hurt my eyeballs. Few balconies contained women putting the clothes out to dry while their baby cried holding her nightgown.

The train slowed down, and I knew we reached the station. Alighted from the train, and very-few to almost no people on the station. Pretty strange though, it was not too late, and for a city like Mumbai, not late at all. Guess, coronavirus has done its deeds here.

Met the group almost in no time as there were very few people in the first place. Probably, just one more group apart from ours. Greeted, refilled the bottles, and found our way to the vehicles which were gonna drop us at the base village. Found a seat in an empty vehicle and thanks to my fate, I got a loud m-f’ing group of four dudes as co-passengers.

The journey began and so did their amplified talks. Nothing interesting though, pretty much filled with sex, slang and other Mirzapur references. Couldn’t help but ignore it and look back into the window, back in the darkness. Not their fault as well, probably must be waiting for an opportunity to hang out and chill with friends (Could’ve found a better place though), never mind.

After simply around 25 minutes or so, we reached the base (although seemed like an eternity with all the ear-piercing sounds). A quick stretch, followed by a quick introduction round of everybody joining for the trek, and we were set for the trail!

Started at 12:30 AM and apparently, it was a 2-hour trek, therefore a target to reach the summit at around 2:30 AM. It was a fairly easy trail. The initial half-hour was a good, steep ascend but anything after that was pretty easy for anyone with a little bit of experience. But then, of course, not everyone is experienced and one has to ‘start’ somewhere.

I’d wanted it to be much chillier, at least with the altitude and time given. But was disappointed, as it was warm and humid here as well. Apart from the occasional sweat droplets on the temples of my forehead, no exhaustion or anything of that sort. Few occasional breaks were taken so that everyone else can catch up and the group does not have huge gaps.

Reached the summit(not exactly) at around 2:30 AM. Just before the peak, we had to set up our tents at the plateau as it was a flat surface, perfect for the tents. Quickly, the leaders started preparing for the Maggi and others helped them to set up tents. Now the weather was better, slightly chillier and just enough to enjoy a bowl of hot Maggi.

 After having our meals, we slipped into our tents and gazed at the dark night sky. I for sure had much better expectations with the night sky. Imagined it to be completely filled with stars and I’d not get bored staring at them. But again, there are perks as well as downsides of living in a densely populated city. The city lights, along with the dense air pollution makes it harder than ever for the stars to be visible.

Soon I got bored with it and dozed off at around 4 AM. Thanks to my fate here as well, I had to listen to “Who was your first crush!?” stories from my neighbouring 4 boy gang tent.

Opened my eyes with very thin rays of sunlight on my face. Got up real quick, as I did not want to miss the sunrise at any cost. The group leader asked everyone who wanted to complete the last portion of the trek to get ready and others to rest if they wished to. Not very far, the last patch was easy as well, with a few huge rocks to cross. In around 15 minutes we reached the summit and witnessed the insane sunrise. Indeed very mesmerizing.

Since the sun facilitated, we couldn’t help but take pictures. After a few quick photo sessions, we got back to the plateau where everyone else was ready to descend.

Without further a due, we started the descent at around 8 AM and very easily reached the base back in a very short period. There were people who were ascending in the morning as well. Few inexperienced hikers asked us for directions and the typical “How much more remaining for the peak?!” questions while hardly catching their breath.

Reached the base before 9:30 AM and the vehicles were waiting for us to take us back to the trains. Caught the train, played a few rounds of UNO and soon enough my station approached.

Goodbyes to everyone and then I alighted from the train.

Sure enough, day treks are fine, but nights have their own magic, with a little extra silence and a little more humbling. The sunrise from the top, like the cherry on the cake.

Hope I was able to document in a way y’all could picturise the whole thing. Drop in the comments what picturized the most.

Thanks for reading the whole thing in the world of reels. Appreciate it.