This entry is about buying trekking shoes in Mumbai. After I had to dump my hiking shoes at SFO airport due to weight problems, I was looking out for good hiking shoes. After searching on google, I found three stores that may sell hiking shoes. I wasnt keen on buying Woodland shoes because (a) They are bulky and weighty (b) and a couple of guys on my last hike complained about the grip in monsoon. It was confirmed by few reviews on some websites. Whatever little I can find on net, most of them recommended Action trekking shoes. At Rs. 650/- [View Full Entry]

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We got up at 6.30 am with no hint at all of the eventful day that lay ahead of us. After a dose of hot tea, we started off in the fog which had not relented since yesterday. It had rained pretty badly the last night and my apprehensions of climbing the Budhala Machi returned. However I comforted myself in the presence of Bhagoji Dere and started walking. A number of trails spurted out from the original trail creating confusion in a foggy day like this. The rule of thumb was to keep right at the forks, take the middle path [View Full Entry]

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We started around 8 am to hike to aloo darwaja. It was cold and foggy with a visibility of 100 ft. Vivek took a quick dip in Padmavati lake. This guy loves torturing his body and does some wierd things to himself. He slept in a wet T-shirt, shivered all the night, took a dip in the cold lake, did some kind of yoga (dhauti or sth) and was ready to hike with us. After walking for about 30 min, on what we thought would be a machi, we took parting snaps and went different ways. We continued on the trail [View Full Entry]

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Itinerary: Mumbai(Dadar)-Swargate - 3 hours- ST Bus : (Rs.116) Swargate-Chilladi - 1 hour - ST Bus : (Rs. 18) Chilladi-Gunjavane - 1 hour - Private Jeep: (Rs. 250 for a group of 5) Gunjavane-Rajgad - 2-3 hours - Trek Rajgad- Torana - 4-5 hours (Ideally) Rajgad - Torana - 2 days (Due to fog, rains and confusion. Details in the blog). Torana-Velhe - 2 hours (Ideally) Torana-Velhe - 7 hours (Due to rescue mission !! Details in the blog) Velhe-Pune - 2 hours (Last bus at 6.30 pm) Photos: Here [ [View Full Entry]

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I expected a lot of trekking activity on an extended weekend like this (Gandhi Jayanti, 2nd Oct, on friday). The best place to find people for trekking is a couple of orkut communities and mumbaihikers.org (a nice site keeping a track of trekking activities around mumbai). My first choice, Vasota trek (a long timer on my wish list) didnt work as the group could not obtain the necessary permits (Yes you need permits for this trek !). So I got on to the second choice Torana Rajgad and called Yatin, the organizer. He had called off the plan but gave me [View Full Entry]

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We (me and Shashank started from San Francisco) left San Francisco at around 2 am. Initially we had planned on a 2 day hikes: Tenaya lake to clouds rest (Around 10 mile roundtrip) and Mount Dana (Around 6.5 roundtrip). Mount Dana peaks at 13000 ft being the second highest mountain in Yosemite with spectacular views of Mono Lake from top. Its a 216 mile drive from Stanford through a number of state and inter-state highways. Among the numerous exits, the exit to I-238 was closed and we circled around for an hour before we got on track. Winton Avenue became our [View Full Entry]

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I started early from Journal square, Jersey to WTC taking the PATH train. I had left out Chinatown and Little Italy from the downtown area yesterday. So I started walking northwest from WTC towards the Brooklyn bridge onwards to Chinatown. It wasnt difficult to find out as almost all the boards, faces, shops started turning Chinese along the canal street. It wasnt exactly breathtaking but amusing. I stopped across a foot rub and back massage center and thought of going in (never had one in my life!). But ditched it (all men masseurs ! would be better in Varanasi I guess). [View Full Entry]

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With prospects of coming back to USA bleak, I desperately wanted to see New York city before I leave. The 'to do list' had reading a book in Central Park, long exposure shots of Times Square and sky diving in Poconos mountains. I was also looking forward to hiking and camping in Catskill Mountains. I ditched my initial plan of going by Chinatown/Greyhound bus from Chicago, the cheapest mode of travel, as it took almost 24 hours and friends who had done it didnt have anything good to say about it. So I took the flight and landed on the La [View Full Entry]

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