Awsome Monsoon Drive To Pavana Dam !

 

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This year, after a very hot summer, monsoons got delayed by more than a month..a totally dry spell in  June and most of July meant there was no chance of a road trip to the near by hills and dams. No rains meant no Monsoon Magic of the lovely velvety carpets of fresh green grass, no waterfalls, no mist and …...just about no of everything which happens only in the monsoon months between July and September. The dry dusty roads, barren hills and the sun burnt dry grass and vegetation did not present an inviting sight to go about and explore.

August was here and  it had finally started to rain after mid july…slowly at first in light showers and sometimes in torrents, the much needed water for the parched land did fall from the heavens above. As the of holy month of Shravan came around Bholenath did bless us with more rains and the near empty reservoirs finally started to fill up, and the country side started to turn green and misty.and finally it was time for the first roadtrip this year to experience the Monsoon Magic.

After much delebration the destination chosen was Pavna Dam…the main source of water supply to most of PCMC area.  Our visit did have a dual purpose…we wanted to enjoy the lovely drive on the country roads and also wanted to see if the huge 90kms long dam was finally full or not..as this same water body, when full, will be supplying water for daily use to us for one full year…till the Monsoon rains come to us for their next annual visit.

It was a Sunday…the day of Rakshabandhan…when just after noon we started the day trip in our Maruti Suzki Wagon – R… loveingly called Golden Beauty due to its Champagne Gold color . After getting tankful pf petrol we started towards Somatne Phata where the left turn going towards the Pune Mumbai Expressway will take us straight to Pavna Dam which was roughly 30 kms from Somatna Phata. 

As this was our first roadtrip to Pavna Dam and we were totally in the unknown territory, I had already checked the route on the Google maps and located some landmarks which will be helpful for us to be on the right track. I also wanted to use the mobile gps  so  From Somatane we turned on the gps, fed in the destination and on we went forward with the female voice from the gps guiding us.

We reached the overbridge over the E Way and instead of taking the right turn towards the Eway we went on staright. We were soon enjoying the lovely green country side with intermittent showers and sun playing hide and seek with the thick cloud cover. The scenery around was so refreshing that it felt like another world, and the vistas only got better as we moved forward and away from the small villages and towns on the way. The photographer in me wanted to stop and capture the beauty around in my camera but since I was behind the wheel I could not do much but my family members did capture the lovely scenry in their mobile cams and on our small Canon P & S. After driving for 15 kms I could not resist it anymore and stopped the car on the narrow road at a very scenic spot and soon I was clicking with my trusted Fuji Cam with its much useful 18x zoom. The cool fresh air..the misty showers…the green carpets of velvet grass…and the rolling hills around did not leave a stone unturned to enchant us and soon we did loose our senses….and were totally entranced by the Monsoon Magic. 

Photos clicked, weather enjoyed to the hilt and we were ready to move ahead towards the final destination. Once back in the car we moved on. After riding for few kms I realized that I had not heard the female voice from the gps for quite some time…I checked the gps and it showed that we were on the right track …but I did not understand why it was not prompting us anymore…so gps was started again …destion fed…and it still showed we are on the right track..I heaved a sigh of relief and moved on . After few kms we reached a point where 3 roads were going in 3 different directions and the gps prompted us to take the right turn….we took the turn and moved on the road …it was narrow and did not look much travelled on…..i came across a local and asked him about the road and if the road went to Pavna Dam…he soon confirmed my doubts and said we were on the wrong track and will have to go back 6-7 kms and take the left towards Pavna dam  from Sihvane Phata. I managed to turn  back the car on the narrow slippery muddy road with deep ditches on both sides and we were back again. I saw another car and decided to confirm the directions given by the local, the friendly car driver confirmed the same and we were soon driving fast to find the road to Pavna Dam again. This time I decided to drive fast and not let the Monsoon Magic enamor me so much that I loose the track again. Soon we reached Shivane Phata and turned left on the road to Pavna Nagar, this time I kept my eyes open and when I saw the temple gate of Mahsoba Devasthan I was happy that yes we were on the tight track indeed as this was one main landmark I saw on the google map. Gps was showing us the right track ..but instead of relying on it I was just confirming its correctness and it was all the way correct till we reached Pavna Dam.

 In many place the road moved along the river and in some places  it crossed the Pavna which was full of chocolate brown water. Soon we could see the walls of the Pavana dam looming high in front of us and we were overjoyed. The time was around 3.30 pm when we found a lovely spot along the side of the reservoir which goes towards Paud phata. We took the car forward on the slippery path to get away from the main road and near the reservoir. We did not find any way to take the car down to the water’s edge, and there was no point in taking any risk and getting stuck in the wet mud without any help around. We decided to have our home made lunch of puri bhaji and fried chillies here ….the wagon r with its trunk door open looked like  an open air food cart…and the door giving us ample protection from the light showers while  we enjoyed our delicious meal. The only thing we missed badly was a cup of hot ginger tea after that delicious food, but sadly there was no chaiwala around at that remote location.

After spending some time enjoying the scenery and clicking some more pics we decided to move on and explore the other road which went towards Lonavala. I revved the Wagon and off we went down the steep road. Soon we came to the T junction and took the left which went to Lohagad, Lonavala and Mumbai. The steep narrow road climbed up and soon we were looking at Pavana Dam from the other side, but there was no place where we could go down to the lake shore so we decided to move ahead.

A bit ahead we found a small waterfall and a small crowd of tourists enjoying themselves, we left them behind and moved forward after a km or so we decided to turn back as it was getting dark and there was nothing much to see. 

While coming back  we took the road to Kamshet which was better than the Somatne Phata road which we had taken while coming, the road condition was good and traffic was minimum so we made good speed and soon touched the old Pune Mumbai Highway and touched home in less than an hour.

This was a trip was a  good start to  our Monsoon road trips, we had plans for many more such day trips this season.