Duke's Nose

I know this Post comes almost a year late but I forgot to post it and din't want to waste it. Hope to be less forgetful next time.

Trek to Duke’s Nose on 27th July, 2008

Finally, the rains staged a come back. And with the arrival of the rains, the trekking season for the monsoon has also begun. My first trek of the season was to Duke’s Nose. I know that most of the regular trekkers would say that this is a relatively easier trek. And I would agree with that.

It has been three years since I began trekking but somehow I had never gotten the opportunity to trek to Duke’s nose. So, when I found out that Yuvashakti was organizing its annual trek to this place, I readily agreed.

We were asked to meet at 5 am at Shivajinagar station. We caught Sinhagad express at 6:15 am and got down at Khandala around 7:30 am. From there we walked along the tracks, passed a pipeline and trekked up a little till we reached a plateau. We were served a soggy breakfast since the rains had been pouring down on us.

I had expected that there would be a lot of people but when I saw 400 people, it truly exceeded my expectations. For me, treks are usually a quiet affair where I keep to myself and simply take in the beauty of nature. Silence was something that I definitely did not get on the trek. I made it a point to stay ahead in the massive crowd. It was not easy to do so but after a lot of jostling, I finally managed to squeeze myself ahead to be among the first 20 people. And I am so glad that I had the stamina to keep up with them because I was among the first few people to reach the top. We reached the top at around 10: 30 am. Although I merely got around a quarter of an hour of silence before the noisy crowd swarmed the top, those few minutes were beautiful.

A sad thing that I noticed on the trek was the utter disregard for nature that my fellow trekkers had. I had expected an organization like Yuvashakti to be very strict about littering on treks. Unfortunately, I was proved wrong. I saw people throwing off plastic wrappers without giving it a second thought. The top has a few sources of drinking water which were quickly soiled by the trekkers by washing their hands and feet in the water.

At around 11:15 am we began our trek back. We did not go by the same route. Instead we got down from the Lonavla side. This was a much easier route. And I was down in less that half an hour.

juhi