Duke's Nose

After wrapping up the prelims it was time to take some breather from studies and let our feet do the talking for a change. So we Duke’s nose was decided.
We reached lonavala at 8 o clock in the morning. Soon the rest of the group gathered. When a head count was done it said 25! That was a good score. We were excited about this one. I had heard a lot about this trek. Duke’s nose can be seen easily while travelling on Mumbai-Pune expressway. They are actually two hills side by side. The taller one is called the Dukes Nose and the shorter one Duchess. From lonavala we hired a mini bus to take us to the base village. Songs were sung in the bus and among all this merry making we didn’t know when the time flew by and we reached our destination. We could see the nose from a far away distance. There was a huge plain land full of muck to cross before the beginning of the actual climb (if u could really call it a climb!).
We wrapped up with the introductions right here itself. Once it was done we had the green flag to get the machine running in its top gear. We were rushing towards the peak. The walk was calm hardly some climb and we were at the base of dukes nose. We were pretty much confused as to which one is the Duke’s nose! It appeared very small from here. Nevertheless we started our climb. It was fine one.
The sun was shinning brightly and it was nice for indulging in some photography. As the height didn’t seem much we were walking at a pace comfortable to everyone. While climbing up we met a group who were climbing down. They said that visit the duchess first then proceed to dukes. We agreed. The way going up to there was through dense tall grass rather bushes. They were as high as 5 feet in some places. Making our way through them we reached a small ridge protruding into the valley below us. When we first reached there we could see the Duke’s nose peeping out of clouds. It appeared divine. Everyone had their photos snapped out here. It was a nice scene. There were clouds all over behind and we could hardly make out the depth from here. The dukes standing tall now due to passing of clouds seemed beautiful. After spending a nice half an hour here we proceeded towards the Duke’s.
The climb was very easy. We reached the Duke’s top in next 15 minutes. We could see the duchess from here. There were a couple of our fellow trekkers still on duchess. We clicked their pictures while they clicked ours. In next half an hour we all were huddled together on the top of Duke’s nose for a group photo. We reached there by 10:30 am. Here is a small temple of Lord Shiva. We offered our prayers here and retreated. We had lot of time now. After having a sumptuous lunch in the shade we proceeded towards Khandala. But before that we had a nice entertainment show. We sang songs, danced and cracked jokes. It was just like a bonfire but without a bon fire.
When we got down we saw some small rock walls. As a “trekkerly” instinct we decided to give it a try and have some “adventurous” photos clicked. One by one most of us tried varied routes and various methods on these walls. It was nice fun out here. Fooling around this place for around 45 minutes we moved on. Now we had our sights trained towards Khandala. We were moving through grasslands and huge trees. It was nice and cool. There were small streams flowing. The fields were lush green. We had limited water resources with us. So we decided to give this water a try. The water from the stream was extremely tasty. It had a tinge of sweetness to it. After quenching our thirsts and filling our water bottles we moved on. The route was through nice fields and grasslands. We had ample opportunity to shoot pictures. I clicked pictures till the time I had no battery left in my camera. It paid off as my pictures won the best photograph and also the second runner up photograph in the competition later organized by our group.
On our way to Khandala we met torrential rains. It was raining heavily. Now the place appeared more serene and beautiful. We reached the dam by 5 pm. Out here we had some breakfast from what was left with us. Here we met a dog. He was a young dog and ate nothing but sweets! He ate SONPAPDI but didn’t touch IDLI CHUTNEY. We had a nice time with him. We reached highway in another 20 minutes and then took a ST Ride to Panvel. From here we took a train to Thane and then this was the end of trek!
The trek finished as soon as it had began. It was the shortest and the smallest trek I had ever done. Nevertheless it was a fine trek. Enjoyed to the fullest.