Trek to Matheran

26th January was nearing. People came up with different suggestions. The initial plan was to go to EsselWorld. I was not too keen and my opinion was to get outta Mumbai. Matheran was always on the cards and everybody agreed.

On 25th Jan, Thursday, just a day before our trip, around 10 people were willing to come. Amitesh wasn't feeling well but he said he'll give it a try.

Our plan on 26th January 2007
Board the early morning train(5:36 am) to Karjat from Thane. Get down at Neral.
Trek/drive to Matheran and return back by night.

My plan
Wake up at 4 am. Leave by 4:30 am to Thane from Andheri

So off I go to sleep after setting the alarm hoping that it would ring to wake me up.
After a sound sleep, i got up and saw the time.....Hell.....it was 4:40 am. The alarm didn't ring! And that was the last thing I wanted.
The first thing that came to my mind was " Wow...What a start....i m going to miss the train."

Got up, went straight to bathroom, brushed my teeth, quick shower,out by 4:45 am. Meanwhile, my mom brewed tea for me. 4:50 am, I m out on the dark roads wondering how am i going to catch the 5:36 train from Thane.
Hopped into an auto rickshaw and asked him to take me to Mulund( Rickshaws in Mumbai are not allowed beyond Mulund)

Amitesh had asked me to wake him up. But my dreadful start gave me little chance to call him.
Reached Mulund at 5:20 am( andheri to thane-1/2 hour flat) thanks to some excellent work by the auto wala. I then walked to the other side i.e. Thane district and hopped into another rickshaw to reach Thane railway station. 5:30 am- I am at thane station. There i met Bhushan,Ashish,Vaibhav and Hitesh(Bond).
They all laughed at my plight. We Mumbaites are always in a hurry :)

I asked them about our other friends. They said many of them backed out. I also enquired about Amitesh and they said he aint coming. So we were 5 of us from Thane. We then boarded the train to Karjat. Tushar joined us at Dombivli thus taking the headcount to 6.

6:30 am-Neral station

Matheran is around 8-10 kms from Neral. We weren't able to decide whether to trek the distance or hire a car and reach the top quickly. Everybody believed that the journey was the destination and so the hike began. We had a nice cup of tea after which we pushed ourselves towards Matheran.

After covering a kilometer, the uphill journey began.

We walked on the winding roads for an hour. It was getting a bit monotonous.
We therefore decided to go off track leaving the road behind. We entered the forest, made our way through the rocks and loose soil.

We then came across the railway track.The narrow gauge track connecting Matheran and Neral was in bad shape. The rail service was in dormant mode and not functioning as it was severely damaged because of the 26th july deluge. The track route is longer(20kms) as it meanders up the mountain over large swathes of forest territory. We decided to follow the track for sometime.

We then again vanished inside the dense forest and started a steep ascent. This cut short a lotta time and we again reached the road. The final leg was completed by walking on the road. We reached Dasturi car park(Matheran’s entry point) at 10 am.
Most of our hike was through the forest which added adventure to our journey.

Some pics clicked enroute to Matheran.

We all were quite hungry and we needed something to get ourselves re-energized. Had misal pav and a hot cuppa tea.

At Dasturi car park area. Gimme red.

We then entered Matheran. Matheran is at an altitude of 800 metres/2625 feet above sea level. A place where there is no vehicular traffic. All vehicles are allowed only upto the car par area. But one will find many horses and extra precaution has to be taken when those horses start running.

We walked towards the market area & railway station( 2kms from Car park)

On our way to the market.

After reaching, a click at the railway station.

We then bought the map of Matheran. Then, a long discussion about the points to cover in Matheran. We finally decided to visit Alexander point, Charlotte lake, One tree hill and if time permits Porcupine point.

So off we start and ramble towards Alexander point(around 2 kms). We reached the point and our jaws dropped in awe when we saw those huge cliffs which had great depths. Photo session followed.

We then munched our way towards Charlotte lake(2 kms). Calm greenish waters of Charlotte lake and some thick woody trees around was a pleasant sight.

We started having lunch on the banks of the lake. Minutes later, we saw a monkey gradually approaching us. Soon his/her relatives also followed :) A dog sitting close to us also witnessed these gradual developments. All of a sudden, the dog, our savior budged from its position to shoo away the monkeys. Thank God, we could eat peacefully thereafter. We collected all the waste in a plastic bag.

We must always make it a point to keep our surroundings clean.

It was almost 3 pm and the heavy lunch made us more lethargic. We still wanted to visit One tree hill point(3 kms).

On our way to One tree hill point, a monkey snatched the plastic bag which contained all the waste. The monkey tore apart the plastic bag and couldn’t find anything. We all bursted into laughter. Unfortunately the bag couldn't make its way to the dustbin.

We reached One Tree Hill at 3:30 pm. This hill is separated from the main land and a narrow path leads to the bottom of the hill from where one can ascend the hill. Only a single tree atop the hill makes it quite unique. Hence the name, One tree hill.

We walked to the base of the hill and we were quite hesitant to climb the hill as it was very steep and therefore risky.
It was around 4 pm. Having trekked the whole day, fatigue had set in and we still had to cover a good 4-5 kms to the car park area via the market and the railway station. So we dropped the idea to visit Porcupine point better known as sunset point. We reached the market at around 5 pm. We decided to have something before making the final push. We sat in the garden and refilled ourselves.

Some more pics.

5:30pm- we headed towards the car park area from where we took a taxi back to Neral station. Here, these taxi drivers make good profit by plying between Neral and Matheran. Charge per person-Rs.50

We reached Neral Station at 6:30 pm. The train back to Thane was at 7:20 pm. So we again had some refreshment. Boarded the train and had a good nap. Tushar got down at Dombivli. Rest of us disembarked at Thane. Bhushan, Ashish and Hitesh reached home early. Myself and Vaibhav boarded another train to reach Andheri and Airoli respectively. I reached home at 9:30 pm.

Our shoes had turned red because of the nature of the soil in Matheran. Thorough washing required to make the shoe look as it did 12 hours ago:)
An exciting day’s trek to Matheran is over.

Some important Stats:
Mumbai to Matheran-100 kms (approx)
Total distance trekked-23 kms(approx)
Total time taken-16 hours.
Pics- Bhushan
Video shooting- Vaibhav