Sarasgad - First Hike of Year 2014

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." -- John Muir

2013! What an incredible year! Hiking almost each weekend; exploring more than 20 new forts ; discovering a writer inside me; learning basics of photography.

2014! A start of new year! Still many forts to conquer; many peaks to summit; many regions of wilderness to explore. Onus to carry the same momentum, set new goals and continue living a non-trivial life!

I intended to embark on my first hike in the year 2014 on an auspicious note and zeroed in on the land of Ballaleshwar Ganesh – Pali which hosts a beautiful fort, Sarasgad.

As I was going to lead this hike, I researched information of the fort on the Internet, called up few friends who had recently visited this fort and finalized the plan for the hike on 11th Jan. With few facebook and whatsapp messages, I was able to gather four more trek-mates – Sandeepak Phadke, Ajay Deshpande, Chinmay Kirtane and Vishwanath Amonkar. As Sandeepak and Ajay had scheduled Chadar (Frozen River) trek in Leh-Ladakh region in the first week of February, this trek was kind of little rehearsal for them to prepare themselves for the grueling challenges ahead. 

Everyone assembled at my place around 6.30 a.m.. As I needed a break from my regular duty as a chauffeur, Sandeepak took over the responsibility and brought his car. We started our drive towards Pali on a beautiful winter morning. We reached to Khopoil after driving for more than an hour on Pune-Mumbai expressway along the way enjoying the sights of Tung-Tikona, Lohagad-Visapur, Manaranjan and Srivarshan citadels of Rajmachi. We indulged in a nice breakfast before resuming our journey to Pali.

After reaching to Pali, we parked our vehicles in the parking area of temple premises. As we entered the temple premises, we were thronged by vendors selling garlands, flowers, coconuts and puja thali to please Lord Ganesha.We ignored their pleadings and entered the temple. It seemed to be off-season for pilgrims as temple was almost empty and without any waiting in the long queue, we were quickly ushered inside the temple and after offering our prayers, we came outside within 10 minutes. 

We were guided by the locals to reach to the starting point of trail. It was quintessential late morning in Konkan – warm and humid when we started our hike. Trail starts from the wheat flour mill and passes through few small houses and after a while, it turns right and takes you further in the direction of a small plateau.

Plateau wore a carpet of burnt grass – probably recently burnt. It added to the dry and rugged look of all the terrain devoid of any greenery. Sarasgad was looking very intriguing, inviting yet intimidating from this plateau. There is a small shack on this plateau which seemed to be deserted at the time of our visit. Dirt trail was looking very clear amid the burnt grass. We stopped for a while, exhausted with humidity more than a climb, sipped some water and proceeded on the dirt trail. 

Shortly, we reached to a small, slanting rock patch with tiny steps engraved in the rock. These steps become very slippery in the monsoon and pose challenge to hikers. We didn't face much of a difficulty while negotiating this patch. Only reaching to the first step requires some stretching; rest of the patch is easy.

Shortly, you reach to a small cave like structure. This cave is said to be spacious from inside but you need to crawl inside it. As it was very dark inside and we were not carrying any torch, we just peaked inside and returned back to join the flight of steps carved in the col between the two bastions. 

Ascending these stairs was exhausting because of all humidity and we were soon drenched in the sweat.

Dindi Darwaja (Main Entrance) welcomes you once you negotiate these steps. 

There are some devdi as you enter through the gate.

After crossing the gate, you come across a small plateau.

On the left after entering the gate, there is a water cistern.

After climbing few more steps, you come across many caves carved at the bottom of the gigantic rock of the citadel . One of the caves hosts a small Shiva-ling. Other cave hosts a small shrine.

Caves carved at the bottom of the rock:

A small water cistern:

Shiv-linga inside one of the caves:

There is a small tomb named "Shahapeer Tomb" inside one of the caves. On Vaishakh Poornima (full moon day), the villagers celebrate the festival of Shahapeer. (Info source: Trekshitiz)

After visiting the caves, we started our climb towards citadel (balekilla). You need to traverse the length of the citadel to start the climb. We witnessed hornet’s nest with many flies around it and it was a bit scary considering many past instances on different forts where flies stung trekkers injuring them seriously. Fortunately, we passed them without any untoward incident. Shortly, a group of college girls and boys passed us making a lot of noise. Few of them seemed to be pranksters and I warned them not to stir hornet’s nest, waited till they went out of sight.

Along the way, we got great views of the adjacent mountains. On a clear day, you can spot many forts - Tailbaila, Ghangad, Korigad, Sudhagard. Unfortunately all the forts were barely visible because of all the haze around. After a lot of concentration though, we could spot faint looking Tailbaila at a distance. Its faint glimpse was enough to make us elated.

Another water cistern at the start of climb to citadel:

You need to negotiate few rock patches (Grade: Easy) in order to reach on top of citadel. 

View after reaching on top of citadel:

You need to follow a dirt path on the right side which will take you to Kedareshwar temple situated on the banks of a lake swarmed with beautiful lotus flowers. There was not a soul around except five of us and we experienced some moments of solitude inside the temple.


Trail leading to Kedareshwar Temple:

Kedareshwar temple and a lake:

Resting outside the temple:

Inside the temple:

It was post 12 in the afternoon and had become very hot. As we did not have the packed lunch with us, we wanted to get down by our lunch time so as to have lunch in some restaurant in Pali. We had the option of following the same route for our descent but we wanted to explore the alternate route from the North side; so we started our descent from the North side entrance of the fort. Because of the ill-maintenance of the fort, Northern entrance is almost hidden amid the tall grass and different plants.

The route to descend was steep; going through a lot of boulders.  At some stretches, there were few grooves carved in the rocks to help you descend.

You come across a large cistern as you descend.

Soon, we were half way down. It was becoming hotter and hotter and there came a sudden realization that descending route was taking us farther and farther from the Pali village.

We were incredibly famished by the time we reached to the half of our descent and we spotted a short-cut which was entering the woods which seemed to have taken us close to Pali village. We took our chance with the shortcut and ventured into the woods. This short-cut seemed to be the route for the cattle and not frequented by humans. Still, we continued to trudge along the same route. As the route was going through the thicket, we were not able to see anything but the trees. Only consolation was that the route was not coming to an end and it was leading us closer to Pali village. Finally, we were relieved when the route though the thicket was over. Still, we were not sure where this route would take us further.

There was a cricket match being played in the ground below and we were able to hear a lot of cheer.

Finally, the route joined to the plateau from where we had ascended and we heaved a sigh of relief. We had taken the unusual route and had traversed the whole length of the fort for more than an hour. We came across few villagers and told them the route that we had taken and they just laughed about our ignorance of the terrain and confirmed that we really had taken the unusual route. Well, we were not complaining and a thought of coming out of the unusual route successfully provided a sense of achievement.  In hindsight, we had taken a calculated risk that came off. 

As we descended and passed though little houses, some of the villagers were resting in the cart.

We were incredibly hungry as it was past 2 p.m. We asked few shop owners regarding the best restaurant in Pali and proceeded towards it. Restaurant owner took great care of us after hearing that we were back from Sarasgad hike and served us great food. Finally, after feeding ourselves squarely, we returned back to Pune carrying a lot of sweet memories of the hike.

Overall, Sarasgad was a great addition to the forts I had visited. First hike of 2014, warm and humid weather during the hike, great sights of the rugged mountains from the top and unusual traverse taken while descending made the hike worthwhile. I would love to repeat this hike in monsoon to experience the greenery and wet rock patches.

Perched on the holy land of Lord Ballaleshwar Ganesh, though offbeat in nature, Sarasgad offers a great escape from the mundane life.

Tips for the hikers

• Grade of hike: Medium in monsoon; easy in winter/summer
• No food facility available on the fort
• Stay can be made inside the caves at the base of citadel.
• Carrying your own water is advisable.Water in the cistern near the Shahapeer tomb can be used for drinking purpose in case you are not carrying your own water.
• For long hikers, this hike can be combined with nearby Sudhagad.

Thank you for reading the blog!

Do visit my home page to easily navigate to my other blogs.

Happy hiking!

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

Kalavantin - A Night Hike to remember

'To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties that they will not disclose to those who make no effort. That is the reward the mountains give to effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who will wrestle with them that men love the mountains and go back to them again and again. The mountains reserve their choice gifts for those who stand upon their summits" - Sir Francis Younghusband

As year 2013 was coming to an end, I was yearning to end it on a high. I was mulling over an idea to climb Lingana with my friends of Wild Trek Adventure (WTA) Group. Lingana is supposed to be one of the most strenuous climbs in Sahydari mountain range and you need to have technical expertise to climb the same as approach to its summit was destroyed in the past. Unfortunately, my wish was nipped in the bud as my wife vehemently opposed the idea of scaling Lingana calling it as insane and urged me to look for simpler option.I tried to convince her citing WTA's technical expertise and safety precautions to make this climb successful but to no avail.  Humorously, I even tried alluring her with the amount of insurance that I had for my life in case I wouldn't return alive but still it bore no fruits.I was disheartened but understood the concern of my wife and decided to look for other options and zeroed on hike to Kalavantin pinnacle near Panvel which also involves rock climbing but is many times undemanding, safer as compared to that of Lingana.

I joined TrekDi group for this hike and we started off around 10.15 p.m. from Pune. We had a group of 8-9 trekkers with 2 trek leaders - Vikas and Shubham. TrekDi had arranged a comfortable 17 seaters for such a small group. Apparently, this trek did not get much of a response but fortunately organizers did not cancel the trek and went ahead with the small available group.

Hiking with strangers has its own advantages; you get to meet a lot of new people from the varied backgrounds, you forge a lot of new friendships, you meet lot of inspiring people who fill your life with so much of positivity.

Our target was to reach Thakurwadi village, starting point of our hike, around 1.30 a.m.. Journey to reach this village was eventful. As we were on the way to Thakurwadi, it was post-midnight and we came across a village bustling with a lot of activity and where many cars were parked. Food stalls were open serving tea and food. I was surprised to see so much of a rush at such an unearthly hour and surveyed in the other direction to notice that there was night cricket tournament being played. It felt wonderful and brought back some nostalgic moments of my childhood where we used to play such night cricket tournaments in our village. After asking the direction to Thakurwadi to one of the stall owners, we carried on further.

After driving for 10 minutes on a straight road, we came across a diversion but our driver drove straight ahead instead of taking a turn at diversion. Soon, we reached to the dead end of the village only to realize that we had lost our way. As there was nobody awake in the village, only practical option was to return back to the diversion and hope that the other road would lead us to our destination. Fortunately, it turned out to be the correct route and we saw the board indicating the direction to Thakurvadi village. We soon reached to the village only to realize that we again had come in the wrong direction. We were supposed to reach to a big banyan tree which was the starting point for the trek but there was not any banyan tree in the near sight and the route was going farther from the Kalavantin peak.

It was already close to 1.30 a.m. and villagers were sleeping like a log. We experimented with GPS but it deserted us at the wrong time because of some network issues. We desperately needed to get hold of somebody who could guide us. Fortunately serendipity came our way in the form of a man sleeping in the temple. We tried to arouse the man from the sleep indirectly by making some noise and chiming the bell in the temple but the man didn't move an inch. As we were in dilemma whether to wake up this man forcefully, he finally seemed to have opened his eyes. Ceasing this golden opportunity, we politely asked him way to the banyan tree - starting point for hike to Kalavantin. He gave details regarding the correct route and even offered to accompany us till the banyan tree. He said that he would sleep in other village and it would not be a problem if he accompanied us. What an amazing fellow! 

We happily took this man along and soon reached to the banyan tree. After expressing gratitude to this god sent man, we began our hike in the direction of Prabalmachi, the base village of the fort. There is no road connectivity to this base village and you have to hike for 2 hours to reach to it. You can imagine the plight of the villagers who still haven't been provided with the basic amenities in the 21st century where India is believed to be shining. Fortunately, our government seems to have woken up from the slumber and seems to have started some kind of work to make this village connected by road. Hopefully, in few years’ time, the road to this village will be a reality making the life of these villagers much easier.    

As we commenced our hike, Kalavantin Pinnacle and massive Prabalgad were glowing in the resplendent moonlight and it was sight to behold. It was moment to take the first photograph and I took out the camera and pressed "click" button only to realize to my dismay that I had forgotten the memory card at home. Though I made sure to fully charge both the camera batteries, I forgot to check whether memory card was inside the camera. I felt wretched to come to term with the fact that I had to do this trek without clicking any photo. As luck would have it, my trek-mate Rishi Kasne, who also takes keen interest in photography was carrying extra memory card and he offered it to me. With the borrowed memory card, my mood sharply turned  from somber to ecstatic. By the way, I still have to meet Rishi and copy the photos that I took in his memory card. 

It was a wonderful night with the full moon. Moonlight hikes are absolutely fun. Hiking amidst the serene surrounding with soothing moonlight guiding your way, at a time when your part of the world is dreaming, is absolutely a divine experience.  I was expecting a chilly night and was wearing a full sweater but as soon as we started our hike, we were drenched in the sweat and most of us, removed our sweaters. We took occasional breaks and reached to the plateau of Prabalmachi around 3.30 a.m.. There was already a group of campers camping just outside the village; some sleeping, some chatting. I struck up a conversation with them; the group had come from Mumbai and one Puneite from that group felt happy to see group belonging to his city and immediately waved and shouted to inform us him being Puneite.

On entering the village, we were greeted by the cacophonous barking of lots and lots of dogs. Their noise was frightening to the core and we were feeling like thieves surreptitiously sneaking into the village but we just moved on ignoring these dogs. We were searching for the shelter to spend remaining few hours of the night. We didn’t want to sleep in the area open to sky to avoid our mats and sleeping bags getting drenched on account of the due. Soon, we spotted a small house with the shade in front and we decided to lie down under the shade. 

Few of my trek mates were already hungry because of climb and chose to munch from the packed lunch; I just tucked myself inside the cozy sleeping bag and tried to get as much rest as possible. It was almost 3.45 a.m. and we hardly had time for 2-3 hours of nap. All the dogs in the village were active throughout the night barking unnecessarily and it was irritating to the hilt. As if it was not enough, roosters started crowing vociferously around 4.15 a.m., almost two hours before the dawn. It is amazing how internal clocks of these roosters make them crow few hours before the dawn.

Few of the trek mates had not prepared well for the chilly night and hadn’t brought anything to pull over. It was becoming very freezing and they just could not lie down and got up to see whether they could light some fire to get some warmth. I sympathized with them; actually I was also shivering inside the sleeping bag as I was not wearing sweater and socks and somehow cold already had penetrated inside the sleeping bag. Cursing the sleeping bag manufacturer, I got up again, wore the sweater, monkey cap, socks and again tucked back into the sleeping bag. At last tiring body felt warm with this extra cushion of clothing and stopped paying heed to external noises and went into the trance. I had a sound sleep of 1-2 hours before I was awakened by a sound of “tea is ready”. Apparently, our trek leaders had already woken up and finished with preparing the tea and started cooking the Maggi. I was not willing to get up but the thought of hot tea and the prospect of amazing early morning hike washed away all the lethargy, tiredness and I gradually came out of the sleeping bag to join my other trek-mates who already were warming themselves near the fire.

After breakfast, we set off for the climb after confirming the direction from the villagers. Once you start your trail correctly from the village, it will automatically take you to the col between Kalavantin and Prabalgad. Ascent till the col is steep and it will take around 20-25 minutes to get there. The route passes through the small rocks and boulders and you need to be careful to avoid any slip. It is dreadful to twist your ankle on this way with careless hiking as real magic awaits you further which you just don’t want to miss because of the twisted ankle.

Once you reach to the col, you get nice views of Matheran plateau  which is hidden from you as you are climbing. You can easily distinguish Matheran plateau from other mountains because of towers erected on it. The whole view of the giant mountains on all the sides is just breathtaking and you feel rewarded for all the toil and efforts that you have taken to witness such a grand vista.

I had listened to and read a lot of interesting stories about the steps of Kalavantin fort and as we were about to start the actual climbing, I was thrilled at the prospect of climbing these much talked about steps. At the very start of the climb, you need to climb a small, slanting rock patch with proper grooves. This can unsettle few especially in the rainy season when the rocks get slippery. In the winter, it is not such a big deal and you can easily do it. You have a zigzag route to follow and you soon reach to the steps carved in the rock. Sometimes, whenever steps change the direction, they become too narrow to your comfort as there is a steep fall on the other side. You need to keep your weight on the right side; proper shoes and careful steps can make this ascent easy. You can have testing time if you do the same hike in monsoon when there is a moss and steps are slippery. I even noticed some bolts on these steps which I assume are used to tie ropes in the monsoon so as to ensure safety. As you climb the steps to reach the summit, massiveness of Prabalgad on the other side just make you spellbound. Overall, all of us did quite well and negotiated these steps without any hiccups. I would say that with proper precautions, this climb is straightforward in winter.

You need to negotiate a small rock patch (Grade: Easy) to reach to the summit. Some people climb it without any ropes but it is advisable to take safety precautions if you have non-climbers in the group. As most of the trek-mates were novices in the field of rock climbing, our trek leader, Vikas ascended ahead; tied the rope to a big rock and suspended it down where other trek-leader Shubham tied the ropes along the waist of the trekkers and soon, one by one everyone reached to the summit. Only 2-3 steps in the rock patch were tricky; otherwise it was an easy climb.

Once on the top, we just reveled in the beauty around. The whole forts of Matheran range – Haji Malang, Chanderi, Navra-navri, Peb were looking breathtaking. The whole Matheran plateau was also clearly visible with the towers on it clearly making it distinguished from other mountains. Also, on the other side, Karanala was looking very inviting with its thumb like peak and Manikgad was standing prettily with its hat like plateau. We just luxuriated in the sights of these majestic mountains.

As we were spending few sublime moments on summit, coterie of hikers joined us comprising of three kids aged 7, 8 and 10. These innocent looking kids were trained rock climbers and two of them already had climbed Lingana summit once under the supervision of adults. I was dumbstruck to hear this incredible piece of information.

There was nothing much to explore on the summit. Though Kalavantin was built as a fort, it was mainly used as a watch tower in the past. Therefore, after getting rejuvenated by the cool and fresh breeze striking our faces, immersing ourselves in the picturesque views, capturing adjoining stunning mountain ranges in the lenses of camera, it was time to descend - to transport ourselves back to the practical world.

Everybody climbed down using the rope one after another. Descending was easier because of all the safety precautions. Vikas, our trek leader descended only after ensuring everyone came down safely from the rock patch. We soon started coming down towards the col. One of our trek mates had very slippery shoes and he had to climb down slowly, sitting with the support of both of his hands. As we were coming down, other group had arrived at the col and they waited for us to descend. Shortly, we reached back to the col and other group started their climb.

Once everyone from our group reached to col, we started our way back to the base. Shortly, we arrived at the house where we had left all our rucksacks. We put our feet up for a while and ate a packed lunch. After thanking the villagers for their help, we set off for our further descent to Thakurwadi village around 12 in the afternoon. Sun had started to beat and along the way, we took one to two breaks in the shadow of the trees to get some respite from the heat. 

Reaching to the base was relatively uneventful barring one incident where one of our trek-mates, an orthopedic doctor twisted his ankle while descending. I offered him the muscle-sprain spray that is always part of my rucksack to relieve him from the pain. Orthopedic doctor being offered help from an IT professional for an ankle sprain, what an irony!

We finally reached to our parking spot around 1 p.m.. When we reached down, we were approached by couple of mini-bus drivers who were hungry and did not get any food in the near vicinity. We offered them whatever was remaining with us and they happily accepted and expressed gratitude towards us. We refreshed ourselves, changed the clothes and started our journey back to Pune. We halted at Malavali to have tea and cold drinks and reached back safely to Pune around 5 p.m.

On the whole, my initiation to the world of technical rock climbing, stunning panoramic views of mountain ranges from the top and chilly night spent in the outdoors made this hike one of the treasured ones.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have strong legs to climb and are willing to come out of your comfort zone, hike to Kalavantin in the Panvel region will fill you with absolute joy.

Tips for the hikers:

• Hike to Kalavantin can be combined with that of Prabalgad. It requires 2 days though.

• Reaching Kalavantin summit requires basic rock climbing. If you are a non-climber, it is advisable to go with experts who provide safety equipment for climbing.

• Prabalgad has many misleading paths. So take help of guide or join a group who have done this trek earlier.

Thank you for reading the blog!

Do visit my home page to easily navigate to my other blogs.

Happy hiking!

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

Chavand - A Picturesque Wonder

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit and is as vital to our lives as water and good bread."  - Edward Abbey

As I am becoming a habitual hiker, I can resonate with this quote. In fact, more than a hobby, slowly hiking is turning out to be an irresistible compulsion. Venturing into the woods, scaling the mountains, walking miles and miles aimlessly soaking in splendor of nature and breathing the fresh air invigorating mind and soul give me the feeling of being really alive.

After my splendid hike to Chandan-Vandan twin forts in Satara region, I finalized the hike to Chavand fort in Junnar region on 30th Nov. It was a while (almost 5 months) since I visited Shivneri in Junnar region and it was time to revisit this part of the country again. Great thing about staying in Pune that you can do a lot of day hikes in many nearby different regions.

This time I invited seasoned hikers to hike with me as I wanted to cover two forts “Chavand-Narayangad” in a day. "Chinmay Kirtane" who earlier had accompanied me during hikes to forts Sankshi and Chandan-Vandan  readily agreed for this hike without a second thought. "Kailas Kawade" whom I had met at Vasota trek with "Wild Trek Adventure Group" joined by taking leave on Saturday. This shows how passionate he is about hiking. "Paresh Amrutkar" who is my nephew and son of seasoned hiker (Sanjay Amrutkar – a great photographer, hiker and author of the book “101 Trekking destinations – Nasik Expanse”) agreed to join. He happened to be the youngest of all. Rajesh Khare, my friend and society-mate re-prioritized his other tasks to join this hike on Saturday. Finally, we formed a nice group of five, I being the only common thread as rest of four were meeting for the first time.

We started around 6 in the morning in my car from Sus Road, Pashan and picked up other trek-mates from Pune University and Shivajinagar. You get really hungry around 7 in the morning if you get up too early and there is a discussion of the breakfast even if you hardly have covered any distance. So as we had hardly covered half the distance, we halted at a nice restaurant named “Sanskruti” on the way and after having sumptuous breakfast followed by Tea, proceeded towards Junnar. After checking the directions from GPS on Rajesh's smartphone, we proceeded towards the direction of Apatale.

“Can anybody get me hummer”? I was talking, driving and praying at the same time as I was driving my fragile and delicate WagonR on the one of the worst roads I have ever driven. Though I am not into the mindset of owning the luxury car and consider car just an utility to reach from one destination to other, I desperately wanted the robust SUV to ply on the terrible road to Chavand fort from Junnar. Finally, the dreadful drive of 20 kms was coming to an end as we saw first glimpse of the fort which was looking absolutely stunning.

Chavand fort, at an height of 1066 metres (3400 ft), is situated near Junnar region. Under the rule of Shivaji Maharaj, this fort was known as Prasannagad. This fort is part of Famous 5 forts in Junnar region - Chavand, Hadsar, Shivneri, Jivdhan and Naneghat. 

We soon reached to a hamlet named “Kele” from where Chavand was looking imposing. Though villagers told us that we had the option to drive further and park the car directly to Chavandwadi - base village of the Chavand fort, we had enough of the bumpy road and decided to park the vehicle in the same village and proceeded our walk towards the base village of the fort.

As we started our stroll from Keli village to Chavandwadi village, we were greeted with fantastic landscapes with the backdrop of Sahyadri mountain range. Weather was great; close to be called as pleasant though little on the hotter side and we were really enjoying the walk buoyed by fresh air and splendor around.

Soon, we reached to the point from where a trail seemed to go towards the fort. Though as per the information, there is a route from the village school, we decided to try this shorter route. Luckily, we saw couple of women from the nearby hamlet washing the clothes near the hand-pump and they confirmed that we could take the said trail.

Soon, our trail joined the well-laid concrete steps. Concrete steps at the start of your hike to an ancient fort look odd though this was done as part of restoration.

These well laid steps are only for a short distance and then you are on your own to negotiate the climb. It is a short and steep climb.

Soon, after a short climb, you come across steep steps with hardly anything left of these steps to put your foot onto. These steps were almost destroyed by the attack by British on this fort in 18^th century. For the safety of the climbers, somebody has put the railings.

  Prior to these railings, there was a rope tied to the cannon which was buried in the ground vertically so that people could climb using the rope.

Soon after negotiating these narrow steps, you come across another steps.

After crossing these steps, you are welcomed by the lone gate to enter the fort.

Lord Ganesh carving on the gate

After crossing the gate, you come on top of the fort. There is a small hill on the fort where there is a temple of goddess Chamunda. 

If you follow the left trail, you will soon come across remains of an old structure with small pond beside it. This is called as "Pushkarni".

Remains of the structure which must have been beautiful in its prime.

There was a tall grass everywhere and we were not able to spot Saptamatrika - seven water cisterns which has given uniqueness to this fort. As per our available information, we needed to go straight from the Pushkarni. We went straight for about 10 minutes on the south-east side and walked almost to the other end of the fort but could not locate these seven cisterns. We were confused where these cisterns would be. We again returned back to Pushkarni and saw remnants of the structure on the north side. We decided to go in that direction and climbed few steps to go on top of this structure and to our elation, saw the seven cisterns located just behind this structure. Tall grass and the structure had properly camouflaged these cisterns.

Saptamatrika (Seven Cisterns) naming  Brahmi, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrayani & Chamunda

There is a small door with the Lord Ganesha carving on it to enter one of the cisterns:

Now, it was time to visit the temple of goddess Chamunda situated on the only hill on the fort. After a climb of 10 minutes, we reached to the temple.Origin of this goddess is said to be from Bengal, Bihar and Mysore and the temple was built by the traders from these regions trading from the Naneghat route.

We rested for a while and enjoyed in the cool breeze. It was really a serene place. There is something truly remarkable about the temples on the fort; however exhausted you are, once you spend few moments in the vicinity of the temple, you experience so much of calmness, solitude and bliss that your weariness, exhaustion and fatigue just go away.

Goddess Chamunda

You get magnificent panoramic views of the surrounding mountains in the Sahydari range. You just can't take your eyes off from these picturesque settings.


View of Varhadi Peaks (peaks on the leftmost corner) Hadsar Fort(on the rightmost corner), Manikdoh dam and Chavand village:

View of Jivdhan fort (center fort in the below picture):

View of fort "Durg" (mountain at the back)

It was soon time to return back as it was approaching one in the afternoon and we had to return to Junnar for lunch.

Some macro photography along the way:

We took the route of stairs to come down to the base to complete our exploration.

Soon, we reached to the base and walked back to the Keli village where we had parked our car. Small kids were playing and had put some of their toys on the backside of my car. I called them out, chatted and joked with them for couple of minutes and gave back them their toys.

Though we had the option of proceeding further to Kukadi village to witness the beautiful Kukadeshwar Temple, considering the disastrous condition of the road, we decided against it and we took the bumpy ride to return back to Junnar. 

We had a light lunch at Junnar and instead of going to Narayangad as per the earlier plan, proceeded to Shivneri as three of my trek-mates hadn't been to Shivneri before. After spending few hours at Shivneri and witnessing spectacular sunset, we returned back to Pune.

There are few places in the world which chime the deep, deep internal temple bell inside us and this was certainly such a place. I have absolutely fallen in love with this part of the country and would like to make umpteen visits to witness the glory of forts in this region.

For all the adventure lovers, perched amidst the picturesque settings, Chavand is ready to welcome you with the open arms. 

Tips for the hikers:

• This is a simple hike for seasoned hikers and medium for beginners as proper railings are put on the difficult patch.
• There is no need for a guide if you take out some time to understand different routes beforehand.
• You can stay at the Chavandvadi village school or Kukadeshwar temple which is few kms away from the fort.
• Carry your own water. Water in the cisterns on the fort is not potable.
• You can combine this hike with Shivneri, Jivdhan, Hadsar, Narayangad depending on the time at your disposal. If you don’t want to cover another fort, you can visit Kukadeshwar temple.
• Don’t miss visit to Chamunda temple and seven cisterns. In fact, these are the main highlights of the fort.
• Don’t miss the views of Jivdhan, Hadsar, Shivneri, Durg from top.

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Happy hiking!

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