Sudhagad - An Unforgettable Overnight Hike in Summer

Me: Shashikant, any hike planned this weekend?
Shashikant: Yes, we have planned for Sudhagad. We will leave on Saturday around 2 p.m. and come back on Sunday.
Me: Can I join you guys?
Shashikant: Sure. In fact we are four and as we are going by car, we can easily accommodate you..
Me: Great
Shashikant: As you are recovering from hand injury, I didn't invite you for this and earlier treks.
Me: No problem. As I did Torna 2 weeks back, I suppose I am perfectly fit to hike on Sudhagad. :)
Shashikant: Great, see you then. I will pick you up from your home. Send me your address.

It is really amazing how a common hobby can connect people. I have many friends in my social network whom I haven’t met and still a bond of friendship is developed just by chatting, talking about the hiking experiences. Shashikant Patil, a regular hiker for more than 4 years was such a friend in my social network whom I hadn't met and we were planning to do a hike together since a long time. A canceled trek to Rajmachi with other group provided me opportunity to connect to a new set of trek mates.We started around 3 pm from Pune in Honda City, halted in Pali for refreshments and tea before reaching to Daryagaon village around 5.30pm. I never felt outsider even though I was meeting these guys for the first time. We immediately hit off and quickly I was gelled with the group.

We started our hike just at the right time when the hot weather had turned into a pleasant one. You need to cross few small houses from a little hamlet during the start of your hike. You can’t stop wondering the peacefulness of the village against the chaos of the urban life, simplicity of the village life against the complexity of the city life. But as saying goes, grass is always greener on the other side.

Sudhagad was basking in the golden, slanting evening rays as if reminiscing and savoring memories of its golden days.

With the golden landscapes all around with fresh mountain air, hiking seemed no more strenuous or laboring. We soon reached to the ladder installed on the difficult rock patch. Because of the presence of this ladder, this route is called as the “Ladder Route”. Intention of putting up the ladder is to make the life easy for the villages who visit Sudhagad during annual yatra.

Initially we had planned to witness sunset from top of the fort. But I was moving at a snail’s pace as I was capturing many beautiful landscapes along the way. I was getting to photograph in the golden light and I was making full use of it. My other trek mates except Shripad were far ahead of me and they reached on top just before the sunset. I and Shripad were still trudging slowly; I because of the photography and Shripad because he was hiking after a long time and was carrying the extra backpack containing common utility items required in the trek. I also carried the extra burden for some time but because I was just recovering from the wrist bone fracture, I was finding it difficult and sensing it Shripad took it on him to carry it till the end. As we could not reach to the top before sunset, we enjoyed the sunset just before reaching the top. It was definitely one of the most sublime, the most beautiful sunset I had ever witnessed.

It had become darker and we lit our torches and headlamps for our final march towards the fort. We slightly lost our way as we took the left turn instead of the right one at one intersection and we were almost in the woods without any visible trail.  My earlier knowledge of the route came handy to find the correct route.In the first place, I agreed to try the left path as it was looking so distinct but as soon as we sensed that the path was leading us in the woods, good senses prevailed and we retraced our steps back to the place from where we had taken the left turn and took the right turn and soon reached to the plateau of the fort.

We already had exhausted more than half of water we were carrying and it was important to replenish our water stock. So we proceeded towards the water tanks which are difficult to find if you are new to the fort. We filled our bottles and proceeded towards Bhoraidevi Temple, our halting place for the night.

As soon as we reached to the temple, we threw away our backpacks at once and rested for a while. Soon, we gathered small dried sticks and lit a small fire and Shashikant started preparing the vegetable soup. I was amazed to see the stamina and enthusiasm of Shashikant. The guy already had hiked Sinhagad in the morning, drove the car all the way and even after reaching on top of Sudhagad, he was full of energy. Soup was delicious and after a while, we had our packed dinner of Thepla, Gulpoli and Curd.

After dinner, we went into the open area. Millions of stars were twinkling in the sky and it was a perfect setting for star gazing. Shripad Deshpande had Skymap Astronomy Software installed on his android phone to identify different stars and planets and we all joined him. Star gazing was the great end for the day and we proceeded inside the temple as we started getting chilled by the cold breeze outside. We chatted for a long period, Shripad and Vikas being ardent fans of the great Marathi writer, Late P. L. Deshpande entertained us with his humorous quotes.Gradually fatigue set in and everybody went into a trance only to disturb right in the middle of the night by a group of hikers who were halting at Pant-Sachiv palace and came inside the temple in search of water.

Apart from the disturbance at midnight, we had a comfortable sleep of few hours and got up early before the dawn broke. We spotted a vantage point near the temple and eagerly waited for the sun to rise from behind the fort, Ghangad and adjoining mountain range. Just before the sunrise, the whole horizon got adorned with beautiful colors and it was the most exhilarating sight. This was really one of the most spectacular sunrises I had ever witnessed which left me speechless, stunned and ecstatic. 

After the sunrise, we returned back to the temple. Shashikant, Vikas and Vinod left to fetch some water from the water cisterns. Shripad was still sleeping peacefully inside the temple oblivious to any worries in the world.

As I had nothing better to do, I decided to explore few parts of the fort on my own.

Twin-walls of Telbaila fort:

Some ruins on the fort:

Mahadev Temple:

There was not a soul around when I visited Mahadev temple which still had the lush greenery around even during the summer. I just enjoyed few moments of solitude before visiting Pant Sachiv Palace.

Soon, I returned back to the temple. Shripad gradually came out of his slumber and realized that he already had missed the sun rise but he seemed content after having a long and peaceful sleep.

Soon, I saw happy faces of my other trek mates returning from the mission of bringing the much needed water. Soon, it was time to prepare the tea.

After tea, we started exploring the fort. As it was soon going to be very hot, we decided to visit areas first devoid of any trees and proceeded towards the Takmak Tok. During my last visit in monsoon, I rarely was able to see anything except the clouds but this time, everything was clearly visible. Gigantic, grey mountains spread across the horizon were looking mystic and I got a feeling of getting dwarfed in the presence of these mighty mountains. These kind of places have a profound impact on your psyche and you come back as a better human being - more humble, more grounded and more equipped to face challenges of the world. These are the places which teach you more philosophy of life than any human or any book can do.

Soon, we proceeded towards the Gomukh Take. It is rarely visited by the trekkers since it is not easily accessible. You need to descend on the Southern side to reach to it. As nobody of us had visited it earlier, Vinod and Shashikant went ahead to check it out and we followed in suit. After some searching, finally we heard their happy shouts and finally we all reached to Gomukh Take only to find it dry because of the summer.

As we had descended for quite a distance, we were reluctant to climb the same distance again to go to fort’s plateau. So, we decided to continue further through the thicket assuming it would join somewhere to the well-defined trail on the fort. We had to make our way through the thicket and after about 15 minutes, we found ourselves on the path going towards Maha Darwaja on the Dhondase route.

Maha Darwaja/Dindi Darwaja: The construction and arrangement of this door is of the type called “Gomukhi” (in shape of cow’s mouth). This door is well protected since it is hidden in between two huge bastions.

After visiting Maha Darwaja, we proceeded towards Chor Darwaja (the secret door). There is a very small opening to pass through this secret door and you have to pass through it almost squatting. There were many big spiders on the floor and we had to rush through the opening quickly to avoid spiders clinging onto bodies. We had to repeat the same ordeal while coming back from the same passage. 

Few trekker from other group found a novel way to avoid the passage and they used roots and branches of a tree to climb.

After exploring almost each and every nook of the fort, we had a breakfast of Dry Bhel. We rested for a while in front of the temple. As we were resting, Vinod Dhamanna, an avid bird enthusiastic, spotted a falcon or vulture nearby and rushed with his camera. He was photographing the bird for a long time and we patiently waited for him to finish. Once he was satisfied and contented with his clicks, we decided to descend. Before descending, we again replenished our water stalk from the cistern. This water cistern is really a boon for the trekkers and without it, it wouldn't have been possible to stay on a fort for a long time. Though the color of the water was greenish, it was clean and cool and tasted like a fresh mineral water. The fact that nobody suffered from any infection afterwards prove that the water is really potable.

We took few breaks to finally reach to our parking spot after trudging for an hour. We stopped at a restaurant near Adlabs Imagica to gorge on the well-deserved lunch before proceeding towards Pune.

In hindsight, this was a hike where everything fell in place superbly. Ascending in the golden hour of the day, witnessing a stunning sunset, few anxious moments after losing our way in the falling light, star gazing at night, witnessing a spectacular sunrise and exploring the fort at our own leisurely pace provided immense satisfaction to the mind and made this hike one of the most treasured ones. 

Not to mention, I got new trek mates and friends after the hike. Who doesn't want to have friends who are inspirational and exhibit plenty of talents? If I ever decide to participate in Marathon, I have a coach in the form of Vivek Deshpande who is a regular marathon runner. If I ever decide to try the bird photography, I could anytime accompany Vinod Dhamanna. If I ever have the urge to climb on Sinhagad, Shashikant who climbs Sinhagad twice a week is just a call away. And if I get bored and want to get entertained with funny quotes of P.L.Deshpande, Shripad would be more than happy to oblige.

Sudhagad, which lost to Raigad in the race of capital of King Shivaji's Maratha empire, is an astonishing place to savor the history, to get lost in the moments of absolute solitude and to witness the stunning panoramic views.

Tips for the hikers

• More about the fort can be found here.
• To get the feeling how fort looks in monsoon, visit my earlier blog on Sudhagad.
• No food facility available on the fort without prior notice.
• Water is available in the water cisterns on the Western side of the fort.
• For long hikers, you can combine Sarasgad with Sudhagad.

Thank you for reading the blog!

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Happy hiking!

Appeal: No litter; no plastic; no wrappers; keep the mother nature clean!