So, the monsoons are here and all the nature enthusiasts and the adventure lovers, have embarked scouting for the places of trekking around their city. For all the Mumbaikers and Punekars out there I bet that Garbett point will be one of the most memorable places you’ll find if you have trekking in mind this monsoon. We went here last year in august when it was pouring and I was dazzled with this picturesque of the beautiful alpines covered with murky clouds around me. Located in Sondewadi, nested in the lush green Western Ghats (the Sahyadris) in Maharashtra, this place is haven for the trekkers with its muddy green foliage.
TIME AND DIFFICULTY:
Not so difficult, moderate this trek takes about 9 hours including 4-5 hours of alluring hike to the plateau with 2 hrs. nerve racking rock climb till Matheran and then about an hour to get down through the ruggedness of Sahyadris.
HOWTO REACH:
MUMBAI:
For our convenience, we took a 6:50 Karjat fast local from CST but you can also take 6:10 local to reach earlier and without the regular crowd.
PUNE:
You can take a local from Pune till Karjat and then change the train from Karjat to reach Bhivpuri road.
Enthusiastically after reaching Bhivpuri station we started walking towards Diksal village. With light drizzle on our way we enjoyed garma garam chai and Vada Pav with tamarind and coriander chutney enjoying the rains.
THE BASE:
We continued our walk towards the destination and within 10 minutes we saw the ruggedness of the mountains, what Sahyadri is famous for. The site of Dohm lake showed us the tenderness of Sahyadris. Out of the fairy tales, this lake is simply surrounded by the crystal-clear waterfalls and we felt as if we were at the most peaceful loving utopia as the souvenir of the lake mesmerized our spirits and affiliated our mind to this place. Having fun capturing the view of beautiful sight in our phones and the tranquility of the water with us we started our trek.
Going around this beautiful lake and watching the sight of boat passing felt as if the charm of the lake was captivating us. But holding on to our excitement we moved to the other side of the lake crossing a small sapphire stream.
Climbing up the trail for ten minutes from the stream we came to a nice picnic spot where a big tree was inviting us to it’s cool shade to save us from the hot sun. We decided to take some rest here and started digging into the tasty snacks that we carried.
Enjoying our snacks with full stomach we embarked on our journey.
SAAGACHI WADI:
The journey ahead Saagachi wadi was awes trucking with the beauty of Sahyadris and the Fogg covering the alpines. Sipping water given by the kind aged woman of the village we moved ahead. The people of the village were also friendly and helped us with the routes and also a small boy even accompanied us for the trek for some distance.
Continuing the trail from Saagachi wadi we reached near a big tree and turned back to look at the view. We felt gleeful by our engulfed distance after seeing the prolific lake which was now quite far from us. After a spine chilling and perilous walk at the end, we reached this beautiful place The Garbett point with amazing views of waterfalls and valleys all around and when we saw what we had crossed it was simply awesome.
The weather up there was just amazing. We felt as if we would get blown away by the wind. Enjoying a nice time up there by clicking pictures, eating our lunch and running around the plateau to enjoy the wind we then had to start with the nerve-racking rock climb up there to reach Matheran. It took about an hour to make it till Matheran and the rocks were quite steep and slippery due to rains. But finally, we reached the top and felt a great sense of achievement. The view of the waterfalls oozing from the Sahyadris all around felt as if we had reached the heaven. We came down enjoying the trail, visiting different shops sipping a nice tea and coffee.
We then took a shared taxi from Matheran till Neral station which cost us about Rs.80 per person till Neral and then took a local train to get back to CST.