Finally we planned the Jivdhan Gad trek on 2nd Feb. As usual some cats crossed the road & trek postponed to the 2nd March. We were quite excited as it was our first night trek. Many married(that's why i don't wanna marry. :D) & physically ill people were not interested which is as usual, so plan was almost cancelled. We guys showed a great enthusiasm to the management & plan got fixed to Jivdhan - Nane Ghat. It was working Saturday, yeah we don't work on 2nd & 4th Sat only :(. We had to leave from office at around 2pm so we came to the office at 8am(sharp), later we came to know it was our mistake. I left home without lunch box so had lunch at Swikaar hotel with colleagues. We were around 27 people left office around 3pm. We never leave on time, every time somebody comes late. This time it was Shantanu sir, everyone was shouting & when he entered we welcomed him with a big round of applause. We were on the way near Rajguru Nagar & he opened home made 'Puri' then we realised why he got late. I don't thing everyone got it as many of us finished it like a beggar. ha ha ha Somebody passed some sweats packed in plastic box, once everyone saw it they jumped on box. Thanks to god, plastic box survived.
Once the bus took the left from Narayan Gaon towards Junnar, road is quite bumpy. मार्च महिना असूनही आजू-बाजूचा हिरवागार परिसर अतिशय सुंदर वाटत होता आणि डाव्या बाजूला जाता जाता सुर्य रंगांची उधळण करीत मावळत होता. We reached Ghatghar village which is the base village of Jivdhan gad around 8:30pm & had packed snacks. So one can consider 4-5 hrs ride from Pune to Jivdhan gad. Many of us were mingled with Vijay who bought special home made 'dhapate'. सगळेजण तुटून पडलो धपाट्यावर & of course Potato sabji made by Vaishali. After having snacks we packed our bags & filled water bottles near hand pumb.
It was night trek so we hired a villager from the Ghatghar who guided us to reach the top of fort. If you are planning for Jivdhan night trek then hire villager or get a guy who had already done Jivdhan night trek. Its completely safe trek. Road towards the top is almost straight forward. Climb is very easy. It takes 1 hr max to reach at the top of the fort. We climbed so slowly as there were many girls who just hate to trek(i guess!!) so it took around 2 hrs to reach top. I wanted some responsibility & thanks to Himagi mam who was absent so decided to stay at last. Thanks Girls were as usual having chat loudly so me Sachin, Abhishek kept some space to enjoy the silence of nature. Walk towards the top of fort is quite easy besides two rock patch. While climbing the fort me & Ashwin sir learnt many Kokani sentences like maka kaam asa(i'm busy), miya damluy mare(i'm tired) blah blah from Sachin & Abhishek who are from Kokan. Later Manali mam joined us n talk went to other languages. Thank god we didn't had talk on Computer languages :D.
Ashwin & Parth sir had photo session with Moon. Soon we came to the final rock patch of the trek. This rock patch is quite tricky so Abhishek who is professional trekker fixed rope & KK helped him too. We already knew gals would take minimum half an hour so we sat down on the steps below the rock patch. In between we saw an animal, i don't know what it was. I was playing with head torch & suddenly it focused on the side of fort & eyes of that animal reflected. It was really one of the unforgettable moment. Thanks to Rucha, we clicked some pics at night.
Later we came back near to the granary where Sahil already made soup for us. After having soup, we concentrated on sabji made by Sahil. I swear it was one of the best dish i ever had. When you hungry, you like everything but guys it was really awesome. 10 out of 10 to Sahil. O n how can i forgot Chatni bought by Vijay. Oops i must say sorry to Rucha for not giving her Chatani. You know what was the time we had dinner?? It was 12:00am.
गडावरच्या वाऱ्याने इतकी भुरळ घातली की बस्स म्हटलं आत धान्य कोठारात झोपायचं नाही. बाहेरच शिवारात झोपायचं ठरलं. हळू हळू गडावरचा वारा झोम्बू लागला.
The cold breeze at top of the fort sent shivers down my spine so i forced Ashwin sir to sleep besides me as there was space n wanted to get rid of air :D. Later i came to know inviting Ashwin sir was huge mistake as soon as he started snoring. I woke up at 2am to attend nature's call & there was Durgesh too. I told him lets go into the granary & we went in granary. There was a dust but that was okay as compared to the outside breeze. Here again some gals were chatting so i started snooring loudly then they stopped talking.
We got up around 7:00am as sun was quite up. Went to nature call & had cup of tea with biscuits & went sight seeing with few guys. From the left side of the fort you can easily see AMK, Kalsubai. After having Pohe & playing Charades.
Me KK & Parth sir collected garbage from granary & left the fort from Kokan darwaja towards the Nane Ghat.
Most of the forts have Kokan Doors & Jivdhan is not an exception. The Kokan Darwaja of Jivdhan gad is as same as the Ratangad's Kokan Darwaja. Passing Kokan darwaja with luggage is quite tricky at some point, but overall its easy. Nanacha Angtha looks awesome from Kokan Darwaja.
There is one of the interesting point called VanarLingi - a rock aside of Jeedhan Gad. It's just amazing no words to explain. After spending time near Vanarlingi we started getting town towards Nanacha Angtha. You can easily see Nanacha Angtha from Jeedhan Gad. Walked through the forest as there was Manali mam who visited Jeedhan 7-8 times so there was no chance to lose the road. Walk from forest is quite confusing so guys who were coming behind us lost the path. We waited for them for half an hour & then reached Nane Ghat where we have Dahi-Kichadi & Jamun too.
Manali mam told we are not going on the top of the Nanacha Angtha. Then me KK & Sachin decided to go at the top of Angtha. Initially i thought it would be easy climb but after having full lunch climbing was really hard & खालून मॅम ओरडत होत्या चला लवकर फार उशीर झालाय आपल्याला. The surrounding from Nanacha Antha looks awesome. You can see plain plateau in front & on the left side AMK, Kalsubai, Harishchandra gad easily.
The scene from Nanacha Angtha was really awesome some trekkers just finished around 400 feet rappelling. Just imagined how it looks after rainy season. Started getting down from Angtha by promising to come for rappelling. As Jivdhan is very easy trek so we didn't tired but after Nanacha Angtha we were quite tired, it added some tadka to the trek. Journey of returning back to home is always boring so that's the story of our first night trek. Now looking forward for Harishchandra Gad Night trek with our Yo group. :D
