My First Trek!

Last Sunday I went on an ‘adventure trip’. Some of my friends had been planning to go on a trek with some members from a club called Nature Knights. At the last moment all my Sunday classes got cancelled and I planned to join my friends.

I got up at 5 am. I think that is the earliest I have woken since coming to Mumbai. Four of us left from the hostel in the early hours. At the bus stop we met the other four people from our institute. Three of them were French nationals who have come to our institute as part of a student exchange program. We also met the other people who were to come with us on the trip. There were a total of 23 members in the group. We left on a minibus from Andheri bus stand.

We went to a place called Tung near Lonavala. We reached the trek site at around 10.40 am. The mountain we were supposed to climb was ‘kathingad’. At first site the mountain/hill looked like a short but steep climb. The experienced members in the group seemed to think that this is gonna be an easy climb. I was not very sure though, since this was my first such excursion. We started the climb at around 11 am. The climb to the top took us 2 hours but with plenty of breaks. An experienced climber could probably have done it in an hour. But all the breaks were worth it. We stopped often to take in the breathtaking scenery. We also took some photographs. As we reached the top, it was time for lunch. We ate the food we had. Another group actually did some cooking there and had a nice time.

As everyone was simply lazing around, we took the opportunity to interact with the French students whom most of us were meeting for the first time. Thanks to the trek I got the opportunity to meet these wonderful people. Nicolas, Audrey and Joanna were nice company and I am glad I got to know them. It was interesting talking to them and learn about their country and their people.

We also did some rappelling while on top of the mountain. That was fun to do. I also very much enjoyed the serenity I found at the top. If you don’t know what rappelling means, well it is a way of climbing down the mountain using a rope. The quietness and the sound of the wind and the scenery below were very pleasant.

The climb down was much more difficult. It needed more balancing. We needed around 40 mins to climb down. We spent some time chatting at the bottom. Some people played cricket with the village boys. Even Nicolas tried his hand at batting and managed to make contact with the ball many times!

We started our trip back at around 6. we stopped at lonavala to have dinner. We reached the hostel at around 9. After looking at beautiful scenes through the day, the city looked ugly. But then this is where people make money, make a living. I guess that’s how life is. There are always two sides to a coin.

Anyway, the trek was an awesome experience. More so because this was my first trek. And I am eager to go on such treks more often.