Hike to Shirota Lake, Maharastra
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:01 pm
Jan 3rd 2000 was the first time that I hiked up to Shirota lake at the age of 13 with my school. Today, after 14 years and more than 15 treks to Shirota lake, I still have the excitement to see the first view of the lake from what we call the WOW point (pictures ahead). Shirota lake is located in the lonavala region. TATA has a dam built at one end and a duct at the other end to release water.
I planned this hike with a close friend from Bombay and had informed about 5 people from Lonavala about the hike as back up. the closest civilization from shirota camp site is about 2 hours away. Shirota has no electricity of source of food. We need to be self sufficient. Water from the lake is clean and can be drunk.
We took the 6:20am ST from dadar ST bus stop. The ride was one to remember. I suffered more hits and aches on the bus ride than on the entire trek. Reached Lonavala at 8:30am, had breakfast at Ram Krishna. We bought some bread and cake for our meals from the local bakery (nothing like having mawa cake and coffee for breakfast, while you sit by the lake at 8am). The trek starts at Jhorewadi village. It can be reached via rickshaw from lonavala. One needs to head towards pune on the old highway(NH4). The third village after lonavala is called Vaksai. At Vaksai, take a left and keep driving staright. You will hit Jhorewadi. That is the last village on the road and cant me missed. There is a temple at the end of the road, which is where you need to get off.
The hike started from here. We loaded our packs, checked our walkies and whistles and were ready to roll. To the left of the temple is a trail that leads up towards some electric poles. There are three main markers that need to be remembered. The first is a pink house just behind the temple. The trail is exactly behind the house and should not be missed. This trail will lead you to a Y fork that can be seen straight ahead. A bunch of electric poles are erected along the Y fork(which is the second marker). The hike up should take about 30mins are reasonable walking speed.
Once you reach the Y fork, walk up to the top where there is a plateau (false peak). There is a little pond where you will get spring water at this point. From the plateau, one needs to walk till the third electric pole, then take a left(this is the second marker). Do not miss this marker.
Once you take a left at the pole you should be able to see Andhra lake to your left within 5 mins of walking. you need to continue to walk straight till you hit a couple of date palms (marker 3) . This walk is flat and there is hardly any shade along the way. At the date palms, there is a trail that takes you straight down. The descend down to the duct should take about 25-30mins. There are a couple of good spots where you can camp near the duct. If it starts to raining, you can move into the duct to sleep.
Unfortunately, we missed the last part of the trail and landed about 2km to the right of the duct. We found a good spot and decided to setup camp there instead of walking the additional 2km back to the duct. I was carrying the bowie that i got from Jonah. It proved to be really handy to cut wood for campfire as well as for cooking. Setting up camp and the tent took about 30mins. The rest of the evening was spent in and around the lake. Dinner was served at 8pm ( sweet corn soup and pav bhaji) by the campfire . 9pm to 12 midnight we were out by the lake gazing that the stars (it was 1 night after no moon). There were some clouds but still had a pretty clear sky.
The next day, breakfast was mawa cake and coffee. 10:30am we cleaned up and were ready to bid adieu to shirota for another year.
Here are some pics.
http://picasaweb.google.com/paraggad/Sh ... IXKpubgmwE#
Hope you all like the place. If anyone is interested in going to shirota, i can give you the numbers of some locals who can guide you with the trail and help you setup camp.
Parag
I planned this hike with a close friend from Bombay and had informed about 5 people from Lonavala about the hike as back up. the closest civilization from shirota camp site is about 2 hours away. Shirota has no electricity of source of food. We need to be self sufficient. Water from the lake is clean and can be drunk.
We took the 6:20am ST from dadar ST bus stop. The ride was one to remember. I suffered more hits and aches on the bus ride than on the entire trek. Reached Lonavala at 8:30am, had breakfast at Ram Krishna. We bought some bread and cake for our meals from the local bakery (nothing like having mawa cake and coffee for breakfast, while you sit by the lake at 8am). The trek starts at Jhorewadi village. It can be reached via rickshaw from lonavala. One needs to head towards pune on the old highway(NH4). The third village after lonavala is called Vaksai. At Vaksai, take a left and keep driving staright. You will hit Jhorewadi. That is the last village on the road and cant me missed. There is a temple at the end of the road, which is where you need to get off.
The hike started from here. We loaded our packs, checked our walkies and whistles and were ready to roll. To the left of the temple is a trail that leads up towards some electric poles. There are three main markers that need to be remembered. The first is a pink house just behind the temple. The trail is exactly behind the house and should not be missed. This trail will lead you to a Y fork that can be seen straight ahead. A bunch of electric poles are erected along the Y fork(which is the second marker). The hike up should take about 30mins are reasonable walking speed.
Once you reach the Y fork, walk up to the top where there is a plateau (false peak). There is a little pond where you will get spring water at this point. From the plateau, one needs to walk till the third electric pole, then take a left(this is the second marker). Do not miss this marker.
Once you take a left at the pole you should be able to see Andhra lake to your left within 5 mins of walking. you need to continue to walk straight till you hit a couple of date palms (marker 3) . This walk is flat and there is hardly any shade along the way. At the date palms, there is a trail that takes you straight down. The descend down to the duct should take about 25-30mins. There are a couple of good spots where you can camp near the duct. If it starts to raining, you can move into the duct to sleep.
Unfortunately, we missed the last part of the trail and landed about 2km to the right of the duct. We found a good spot and decided to setup camp there instead of walking the additional 2km back to the duct. I was carrying the bowie that i got from Jonah. It proved to be really handy to cut wood for campfire as well as for cooking. Setting up camp and the tent took about 30mins. The rest of the evening was spent in and around the lake. Dinner was served at 8pm ( sweet corn soup and pav bhaji) by the campfire . 9pm to 12 midnight we were out by the lake gazing that the stars (it was 1 night after no moon). There were some clouds but still had a pretty clear sky.
The next day, breakfast was mawa cake and coffee. 10:30am we cleaned up and were ready to bid adieu to shirota for another year.
Here are some pics.
http://picasaweb.google.com/paraggad/Sh ... IXKpubgmwE#
Hope you all like the place. If anyone is interested in going to shirota, i can give you the numbers of some locals who can guide you with the trail and help you setup camp.
Parag
