Trek to Nakhind - 6th July 2014

What started as a curiosity filled beginning, took shape of an most alluring trek. The only thing missing were rain showers from up above. Upon receiving message from my friend about going to Nakhind for a trek, I started putting my research skills together to find about Nakhind [Vangani] as I hadn’t heard about Nakhind nor remember anyone talking about it. Once equipped with the required information, I contacted a few of my trek friends and downloaded the information. ^6th July 2014 we met at Dadar, boarded the 7:03 am Karjat local and were off to our destination Vangani, joined by the other group of friends’ en-route.

That got them as excited as I was. 6

Upon reaching Vangani, we regrouped and near a small wada pav stall, collected contribution of INR 100 from each trekker, had chai and hot wada pav while awaiting 3 participants who had missed the train. Whilst waiting, three of us got to a simple task of setting up for rickshaws to take us to Bedis - the base village, from where we would commence our trek.

Travelling in 4 different rickshaws [5 passengers to each rickshaw], with glimpses of awesome greenery and interesting rural set-up, we reached Bedis village which is about 4 kms from Vangani station.

A quick round of routine introductions and chant of Har Har Mahadev, we began our walk with our eye on distant top, a nose shaped peak that is about 703 meters above MSL.

As expected, the gentle mud path ascent became increasingly steeper; the Sun was seemed more hotter without my breeze and no sign of rains. We encountered a common trinket - slim snake on a tree branch and everyone went click click with their cameras.

We crossed a dry stream and from there on, for half an hour, until another village, Vaghini chi wadi, and a relatively flat area under the mango tree, the mud path climb slowly juiced out the sweat from our bodies. We halted under the mango tree and chatted with the rural urchins about their lifestyles who  were whiling their time away under the tree. The mud path from here parted and took us to a further climb and we realized we were lost. I came down the path only to find that the same village urchins were following us to warn us of the wrong route that we took. The village urchins decided to come with us to the peak as we offered them some money to lead us in the right direction. Once in the right path, no rains, no breeze, an increasingly steeper mud path climb through the thicket of greens, pausing a couple of minutes every few minutes of     ascent, and nearly 80 minutes later, we reached the top and were presented with a breath taking view of various other popular trek points.

Bang opposite was the most inviting Chanderi.
Other visible peaks were Navra-Navri, Malang Gad, irshalgad, Matheran, Prabalgad, Kothligad in the far distance and of course the Peb fort. Here the rain gods showered some rain on us a while. Post a brief photo session and regrouping we continued our journey.

From here on until the top upto the mountain peak, needle hole or nose ring or locally called Nedhe of the Nakhid was more or less a leisure walk and we reached here in few minutes. A quick photo session and regrouping, we had our lunch, chit chat, masti and relaxations. 3 pm we started our descend through steep mud path.

Without any untoward incident we descended the steep paths and reached the village. By this time everyone was parched. So we request a villager for water who promptly provided it to us. Some of us filled our bottles and descended. The descend was quick and by 5 we were at the base village with our pre-arranged rickshaws waiting for us. Back at Vangani Station we had our water, chai and wada pav and boarded the 7:05 CST local to take us back home.

All in all it was a really enthralling, alluring and challenging trek which I suggest one should do …. But await the rains to enjoy the view [as described by the village urchins] of about 5 most beautiful waterfalls, lush green sorroundings and absolutely pleasant and beautiful weather.

Spec of Nakhind trek:

Hieght :- 2311 ft or around 703 mt

Base Village: - Bedis (4 kms from Vangani station)

Region: - Matheran Range

Type: - Mountain Peak, Nedhe (a stone with a hole like needle)

Difficulty Level :- Easy (but steep continuous climb)

Endurance:- Medium

Best time to Visit: - During rains and winter (July - January)

Uphill Time :- Continuous hike - 2 Hrs, Leisure hike - 2 - 3.5 hrs

Places that can be seen from top :- Entire Matheran Range comprising of Tahuli and Malanggad to north, Navra Navri, Chanderi, Mahasmal at centre, Peb,  Matheran in south, Irshalgad, Prabalgad at end (south west)

No place to stay at night, but in Nedhe you can if you bear the winds at the top and no cover on sides

Guide :- Path is well carved till Vagini chi wadi (village between Bedis and Nakhind ), from Vaghinichi wadi ask a villager to show you initial path.