The Rushing Falls of Thoseghar

I have always loved going outdoors and being in midst of nature and her wonders. The feel of the playful wind tussling the strands of your hair, the sweet aroma of wild flowers and wet earth — simple things really–that just charm your soul a hundred fold. When the same is taken up a notch with the spirit of adventure and exploration, you not only experience beauty, you start experiencing life and all it has to offer — the trials, the hardship, the passion and the victory. I believe an exploration to the wild teaches you many things that takes 5 years in our normal adult life. Perhaps that’s why I found myself venturing on to a new journey to explore Thoseghar Waterfalls.

Thoseghar waterfalls is a series of waterfalls surging down the rifted valley in the village of Thoseghar. The silent quaint village is located 20 km from Satara, Maharashtra. We started off from Pune at 2 PM on the bike to head towards our destination. The journey was 3 hours long and we rode across the Pune-Bangalore highway marveling the scenery that the monsoon had to offer us.

Upon reaching the small village of Thoseghar we were greeted by a large expanse of mountains, which were donned by greenery: a “grazing animal’s paradise” (I swear it sounds funnier in Hindi) as my traveling companion would have referred it as. The hills at the top, had windmills stationed across– each one of them spinning faithfully against the flow of the wind. The whole sky was covered with the grey clouds of monsoon, and the sun was slowly setting on us. We decided to camp out and set-up our tent right in front of the gate towards the waterfalls. For those, who prefer indoors over outdoors, the village has a resort operational as well.

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The villagers and the attendee there were extremely helpful and friendly. His hot tea and delicious omelette recharged us from the exhaustion of the long trip. Thoseghar is, surprisingly, very cold in the night and the mist quickly surrounded our camp site. The sky, however, soon cleared out to give way to the beautiful starlight that twinkled across the velvet indigo screen.

We woke up in the morning around 7 am to the mist of the morning dew and the sound of the local village birds. A hot cup of tea and a bowl of poha got us awake and kicking for the adventure ahead of us. We first decided to get a bird’s eye-view of the entire path that we were going to cover. After paying for the tickets to the forest department stationed there, we walked into the well maintained tourist path towards the waterfall. Once we reached the view-point, we were greeted with the sound of the roaring water crashing against the hard rocks and a sight that took our breath away.

The waterfalls gushed down with gravity, spraying droplets everywhere near the base. The sunlight and water-droplets married together to give us a spectacular view of a rainbow at the foot of the waterfalls. The whole place was calm, peaceful and so tantalizing that it reminded me of a poem by Thomas Hardy: Under The Waterfalls.

‘Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,
In a basin of water, I never miss
The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day
Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.
Hence the only prime
And real love-rhyme
That I know by heart,
And that leaves no smart,
Is the purl of a little valley fall
About three spans wide and two spans tall
Over a table of solid rock,
And into a scoop of the self-same block;
The purl of a runlet that never ceases
In stir of kingdoms, in wars, in peaces;
With a hollow boiling voice it speaks
And has spoken since hills were turfless peaks.’

After spending a good deal of time taking millions of photos with our phones and camera, we packed up and headed down the road of Thoseghar village: to the base of the riverine; enjoying mother nature, the soft sound of the cattle bell ringing somewhere at the distance, and the occasional grunt of the diesel engine cars bustling over the well laid tar-road.

We finally found a trail through the village fields, slowly descending the hill. The path way was very narrow and only one person could walk at a time. On one side you had the steep grassy hill blocking you way, and the other side was a steep vertical drop to the bottom of the hills. Sounds scary? Don’t let that frighten you, the walk was anything but that. We were too busy enjoying the view to bother ourselves with trifle matters like the steep incline. The walk literally felt like I was in the world of Heidi, the Japanese anime about a girl in the Alps.

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As the forest got deeper, our earthy brown pathway was covered by that of the bright lavender wild flowers, making us feel like the forest was welcoming us into its home. There were wild purple, lilac, orchid — all possible shades of purple you can think of — flowers blooming across the trees of the hills. It was nothing short of magical and we stood there for a while, taking clicks and just admiring the scenery in front of us.

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As the journey continued, the hill got steeper and the the path way got even narrower, the expanse of grassy field were soon replaced by lush green trees of Thoseghar. The picture of Russel Crow in Gladiator walking down the grassy field in our head was soon replaced by the images of Indiana Jones exploring the forests to hunt for the forbidden treasures, and we loved it every bit (who wouldn’t want to be Indiana Jones?). The soft earthy terrain was soon being replaced by the rocky pathway, where the brook gently flowed down with a certain graceful charm. The sun was soon trapped away by the trees, making our way darker, but every now and then we saw the sunlight seeping through the gaps between the trees and sparkling up the brook like that of gold.

Gladiator

Indiana Jones

 

We soon reached the base of the valley, where we were greeted by the small river flowing rapidly against the rocky terrain, we decided to take a break and munch on our lunch consisting of brown bread and sandwich spread. After taking the much needed break we set out to reach the base of the main waterfalls. Over our path, we had many rocks and boulder to climb, some with no way to go except to walk against the strong currents of the river. It was dangerous, but because I had my companion, who was extremely experienced in this trek, I let my fear of possibly falling or drowning seep out of my mind, and pushed on. I believe this is one of the big things you realize when you come for such treks, all great things in life requires you to overcome your fears, and push on even though you know the path is crazy difficult. Nothing worth having (whether its an object or a goal or a lifestyle or a relationship) comes without an uphill battle and loads of patience.

One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

So we trudged down the seemingly dangerous pathway, ready to experience the adventure waiting ahead of us, and it didn’t disappoint. I could try and describe it through words, but I don’t think I could capture everything. Nevertheless, I will do my best.

The initial walk was very simple really. We were walking through a relatively flat terrain filled with trees and thorny shrubs creeping out here and there. I would strongly urge people, who wish to do this trek, to wear proper cloths that is thick enough and covers you up well, because thorny shrubs can be quite the hassle, and if that doesn’t get you, there are leeches crawling all over the place. We were lucky enough not to cross roads with those nasty little blood sucking vampires (LOL), but it’s better to be cautious. Carrying salt and dettol will help, in case, you do have the misfortune of them giving you their much undesirable love bites. A small dash of dettol will make them loosen up their grip and fall off.

As we went upstream, the forest soon began to fade away. The soft earthy ground was replaced by the hard rocks, and the lush green trees by the skeletons of the thorny shrubs. The sunlight was back and shining right above our head. We hopped from one rock to  the other, every now and then, treading very careful over the mossy rocks wet due to the streams flowing down from the sides.

Soon our path got complicated, with the rocks getting bigger and steeper. The path got narrower, while the river got wider, making the view breath-taking. Crazy how the most beautiful things in life are there beyond our circle of comfort and safety, isn’t it? The walk down the hill had taken us two hours. The distance we had covered was comparably much more than the distance we needed to cover to get to the waterfall base, but the terrain made that quite hard. Our target was to reach the base by 1 PM, so that we can make it to the top before sunset.

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There were patches where we had to stick to the wall — tip-toeing — and holding on to the crevices of the wall to cross through, there were  a few patches were we had to rock climb our way up, and a few patches where we had to rock climb our way down with our heavy bags. All the climbs we did were free climbing, as we ditched the rope due of its weight. There were some patches were none of these options would work, so we had to roll-up our trousers and remove our shoes, slinging it across our shoulders, and walk through the water. This was really hard cause we couldn’t see through the muddy water for a proper foot rest, and sometimes the foot rest we found were slippery or the river bed was deceivingly deep. There were times where we had to cross to the other side of the bank, because there was no path on our side and the water was just too strong for us to walk through it at it’s sides.

The river current was insanely strong, and we could feel our legs being pulled along with it. One step too short and you would slip and fall, one step too long and the river current would pull you along. Luckily, there were rocks which we could hold onto, and foot-rest had the necessary inclination for us to push against the current and move on. Of course, this required calm and patience while searching for an appropriate footing. There was this stretch were we had to just remove our shoes and walk barefoot. To me that was quite painful and many-a-times I ended up cutting myself against the sharp rocks because I tread the path a bit carelessly due to exhaustion. It wasn’t that my body was feeling exhausted. I could tell my body could go on the whole day, but the concentration that you required to carry-on with this trek was beginning to wear me out.

Nevertheless, we finally managed to make it to the base. There were water-droplets that was being sprayed across a good 20 meters around the main waterfalls due to the strong wind generated by it. The sound was insane, like the water was cutting through metal and the wind was literally blowing you away. Both of us, had got drenched head-to-toe as we sat for a minute near the base. We couldn’t get too close to it because of the blurry path, the wind and the slippery rocks. But, boy, we had got the best front row seats to a mind-blowing display of mother nature.

We made it on time, it was 1 PM in our watches and we decided to walk back a little and give ourselves the much needed rest and food to take in the necessary energy to walk back the same scary path. The break was, however, for only 20 minutes. We didn’t want to climb the hills during the dusk. Walking back, especially for an inexperienced hiker, can be really very exhausting and tedious. There were times were my misstep nearly had me slip off the rocks. Luckily, my companion was smart and observant enough to notice when I was making a mistake and caught me, when I was unable to balance on my own. This was  one of many lesson I took away from this trip.

The road or journey is always going to be tough, and there will always be times when you misstep because you are unfamiliar with your footing. That’s why, you should always try and get a mentor, who will act as your guardian angel; a person who will be there to catch you when you going to take a footing that could literally kill you. He/she may not be able to tell the best way out for you, but they can tell when you are going use the wrong method to find your way through it, simply because they have already done what you are doing many times over.

After four hours, we finally made our way back to the place we had camped. It was an amazing experience. Such hikes, I believe, teach you a lot of things. It shows you, who you are, and your inner most weaknesses. It also shows you, how you can overcome them. It’s no wonder, why after a single hike, people get addicted to it. I feel, hiking is also another great way of knowing someone. If you really want to know a person deeply, just take them with you to a really difficult hike with a group. During a trek, you are least bothered about your appearance and what others think of you, so you’re the truest you can be. You’re the best you can be and the worst you can be.

Thoseghar was definitely one of the most challenging treks I have been to yet. I admit, that I cannot really compare the beauty of Harishchandragard and Thoseghar, because they both have a different beauty and aura to themselves. Nevertheless, the captivating beauty of the green hills, the sweet fragrance of the wet earth and the sound of the gentle brook flowing over the hard rocks still lingers in my mind. I can still feel the amazing wind and gushing waterfalls whispering into my ears, urging me to push on and carry on with the many adventures that are there somewhere beyond the span of my vision. The call of the wild.

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild