Night Trek and Camping at Mrugagad, Khopoli

Greetings fellow Readers,

Its been long time I took to write, but was waiting for some super exciting visit.

It happened last week, my buddy Nilesh Kambli was getting bored sitting at home and even I had to postpone some event due to some reason.

So… we were free to move out. We called up Shraddhesh Jadhav, our friend, partner and guide for this trek.

It was 21^st May, the entire day went hectic with loads of work. What kept us alive was Full moon night.

Since Shraddhesh was to come from Office and that too from Borivali, we had to postpone our timings. After coordination, we decided to meet at “Shree Duttguru snacks, Panvel”

But as I reached early, I took a glimpse of the food available at the stores, unfortunately, these stores close down by 10-10.30 so the only food available is the leftover.

Another reason being upcoming stalls of Chinese food at tea centres.

So we decided to move on and took the Khopoli road… it was almost 9.30pm

The Ride was just incomparable, No Traffic, super clean road, and cool breeze.

We stopped at Chouk Phata. The road here diverts to different location, Left goes to Matheran/ Karjat and straight goes to Pune.

After having “Bhurji Pav and Garma garam Cutting” we moved onto our destination

The road was so smooth we didn’t recognize we were riding @ flat 70kmph.

While on Khopoli Pali road, we had to take a Left for Jambhulpada.

Initial road was very patchy and gave us the feel of OFF-ROAD riding.

The full moon was our Guiding star.

Suddenly Shraddhesh had an Headon collision with a grasshopper. (Hahahahaha)

That gave us an opportunity to stop for a while and we gazed the beautiful moon and stars around for sometime.

One can never get this feeling….. even if you stay in Bungalow worth crores.

Finally reached the base of Mrugagad – Bhelivsave Gaav

It was almost midnight. Parked our bikes and started our search for the Route.

“Durgveer Pratishthan – Seveche Thaai Tatpar, Durgveer Nirantar”

The direction board set up by Durgveer Pratishthan

It is basically a Voluntary group of similar thinking people who strive hard for Preservation and conservation of FORTS of Maharashtra.

This group visits villages around the Forts and conduct Social, Cultural and Educational sessions providing indepth knowledge of the Fort and its importance so that they may extend their helping hand as much as possible.

Nice work Guys….

We found some Boards and arrow marking made by volunteers that took us into a dense forest,

Little moonlight reaching the ground, weird sounds of insects, and specially the horrifying sound of dry leaves being cracked under our feet….. such moments just take your breath away.

With some tricky twists and turns… we neared the top of the fort within an hour.

Now the challenge lies to climb the steep stairs carved in the rocks.

Somehow managed to reach the top and lay down for sometime relaxing with the cool breeze and gazing the lightened Bhelivsave village below.

the little lightened Bhelivsave Village 

Opened up the tent, bolted the ends and put our bags in….

Tent set up

Shraddhesh checking the Space available

Nilesh took out his Nikon, and I took out my Canon (Cameras) and started experimenting on clicking pictures here and there.

Full Moon on the night of Buddha Pournima

Finally, at 3am we decided to call off the day.

tiny little mountains hid under morning Fog

Next morning we woke up at around 6 am….. and waited for Durgveer volunteers to arrive. Small portion of cisterns are yet to be cleaned before monsoons.

We were out of Water and had to wait for them.

Timer pe selfie

Me and Shraddhesh engulfed in brief discussion

the other part of the Fort

till then we thought of visiting the remnants of the forts.

route on top of the fort

remnants of the sitting area on the fort

steps that were hid under pile of mud

These steps were hidden under heap of mud which were dug out by the Volunteers of Durgveer

2 cisterns

thiso ne had steps... wonder if this is connected with the other

shraddhesh checking the tree

Monsson brings life to everything

this cistern was filled with mud till the Top

Many bigger stones had fallen into it. Durgveer has removed most of the stones using Hand pulley

Scenic location

Idols that were unearthed

Stone Pot used to store water

visitor: African bee eater

Steadily we started our decend…

steps were hardly 3 feet in length

the only way to go up and down

a small cave type opening

Enroute we were halted by 2 giant Mango Trees… and then….. there was a shower of unripe Mangoes upon us.

My share of mangoes

Divided the mangoes and started our journey back

Mrugagad is a small Fort surrounded by the Uplifted Lonavala region. Best time to visit is in Monsoon.

While cleaning the cisterns, many olden artifacts have been unearthed.

Fort Mrugagad

Somehow MAY is over and Monsoon ready to peek in.

see you soon

Lets meet and enjoy the monsoons in the lap of Mighty Sahyadri

Good bye.. see you soon.

Regards,

Sumeet (Sumya)

Harishchandragad via Pachnai

Hello All,

Thanks for the immense feedback and feels great to know that my Blogs are being read by Enthusiasts on a large scale.

Let me share another wonderful experience that I had been recently.

Destination was the same “HARISHCHANDRAGAD”… but via Pachnai route

This poute is considered the shortest and easiest way to reach the Top, but….

Nothing comes without a price.

We have delayed this plan for almost 2 months and suddenly, one fine evening, we decided to move on.

It was Saturday, @ 7.30 am. Freshened myself, Packed my stuff, got ready, Took my bike and vroom…….off we go.!!!

First meeting point was Padgha toll naka on Mumbai Nasik Highway since Pritesh and Mahesh were to join me from Mumbai side.

Padgha Toll Naka

Moving along the scenic beauty of countryside views we marched towards Kasara crossing the Majestic Mahuli Gad at Asangaon it was already 11am

Took a break to fill our tummy and gave a bath to our darling companions (My Unicorn and Pritesh’s Jupiter) we had a healthy Brunch as we were already running behind schedule.

Selfie lele re..!!!!

We took  the Kasara – Igatpuri –Ghoti section… Awesome and smooth road, didn’t realize we were riding with heat above.

Looking ahead for directions, asked some local jeep-walas, they asked us to keep Right and take the Bhandardara road (Nagpur - Aurangabad – Mumbai Highway)

This road was under construction and for some odd Kilometers we had to drive at 15kmph speed. 

Aarrrghhh…. Now I was little Irritated… asked PP(Pritesh Pisal) and MB (Mahesh Bait) to stop ahead.

Fortunately the location was soooooo amazing….. we couldn’t contain the Photographer in us. 

Atrangi Bhaijaan..!!!

Main aur meri jaan

PP With his Jupiter

My Dearest Darling.....

People cossing us by must b thinking… “Ye 3 Yede kyaa kar rahe hai itni Dhoop me” (what are there 3 idiots doing in this scorching heat)

The Aftermath of Monsoon, Green surrounding, valleys, mountains just filled our soul with energy to ride ahead …… AGAIN.

serene countryside

Next Stop: Rajur Phata. From here Pachnai village is 30kms…and most part is an Offroad with ups and downs…

Took some rest at 2-3 places to enjoy the scenic beauty which we miss in the Urban lifestyle.

Small Dams constructed to preserve flowing water, Little boys demonstrating their diving skills CAREFREE. Took some snaps and moved to complete the rest part….

beautiful lake

Photographer ki nishaani

Red Dragonfly

M in the Air...

here i come..!!!!!

HELL….. where were we heading, the pathetic condition of road shook each and every part of our body.. in and out. I felt as if the Parts of my Bike would just fall off anytime

But My Unicorn NEVER-EVER disappoints me. Cruised me safely to Pachnai village by 3pm

Parked our bikes at a home for 20Rs each for 1 day – worthy isn’t it.

the Board describes the Massiveness of Harishchandragad

Since we were trekking from this side for the very First time, saw young kids... even toddlers running us past for the fort atop. But we were in our own world and taking sweet time, enjoying every bit of the step taken.

and we Start the Trek

capturing each moment

entire view

PC: Mahesh Bait

Selfie with the Valley

By 5pm we had already reached the Temple area, called up our Food organizer, took the tent and asked him to directly bring the food at Kokankada by 9

Harishchandreshwar Temple

6ft idol @ Ganesh Gufa

Enjoying the sunset at Kokankada is a Stress buster with nothing to match it. By the time we ordered our “T”… PP and MB had started to raise the tent.

Behold....the Tent Raisers..!!!

Rangeen Tamboo without bamboo

This is indeed a Magical place. 10 minutes within the sun set… temperature declines immensely forcing you to rush inside your tent or add on some more clothes. So to keep us busy, we lit a campfire that attracted other people as well.

Campfire

Exactly by 9 we were served food.

Menu: Bhaakri, Mirchi cha Thecha, Pithla, Amba Loncha, Bhaat ani Daal.

Who can ask for such unlimited food just for nominal cost.

PC: Mahesh Bait

PC: Mahesh Bait

Angaaar

MB is a professional photographer and he went on to explore his creativity and PP as his subject. I couldn’t stand the chilly wind outside and slept in.

By 3am the moon was high and breeze turned to wind. If I hadn’t been in the Tent, it would have flown away.

So now it was time to rest…

Got up at 7 in the morning and explored some other angles of Kokankada, and then moved towards Harishchandreshwar Mandir.

Kokankada - side view

Had Upma for Breakfast and T, settled off the payments and visited Kedareshwar befored decending. By 11am we were at Base.

Kedareshwar

Harishchandreshwar temple

PC: Mahesh Bait

ready to depart

Chameloen

The villagers suggested us to take Malshej Ghat route to reach Kalyan earlier, which was our mistake. Infact the roads were soo pathetic, it almost spoiled our timing. No worries, atleast we now have 2 ways to reach Pachnai.

Marigold plantation

Rohidas and Taramati peak

Good bye... and see you soon, with another such “Trexperience” J

Regards,

Sumeet Rao (Sumya)