Summer trek to the Iron Fort- Lohagad, Malavli

Welcome back….

It was February and summer was ready to make some hot performances. 

One day my Partner, Jay called me asking for a trek as he and his friends were desperate for a break.

After a  good 40 minutes discussion, considering the Pros and cons, “Dil pe bhaari, aur Jeb pe halka”, level of fitness of participants etc. we settled on Lohagad.

famous view that represents Lohagad

The Iron fort of Chhatrapati shivaji Maharaj. Simple, decent but still not to be taken for granted, such is the grade of Lohagad.

Lohagad (iron fort) is one of the many hill forts of Maharashtra, it rises to an elevation of 1,033 m (3,389 ft) above sea level. The fort is connected to the neighboring  Visapur fort by a small range. The fort was under the Maratha empire for the majority of time, with a short period of 5 years under the Mughal empire.

Lohagad has a long history with several dynasties occupying it at different periods of time: Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas,  Yadavas,  Bahamanis,  Nizams, Mughals and Marathas. Shivaji Maharaj captured it in 1648 CE, but he was forced to surrender it to the Mughals in 1665 CE by the Treaty of Purandar. Shivaji Maharaj recaptured the fort in 1670 CE and used it for keeping his treasury. This fort was used to keep the loot from Surat. Later in Peshwa time Nana Phadnavis used this fort for living for sometime and built several structures in the fort such as a big tank and a step-well.

Early morning of 28th February, we started our journey by The “All time hit, Jam Packed” Indrayani express trying to get in and out during our entire journey. Finally we somehow managed to alight at Lonavala, and till we can come to our senses, the departure of connecting EMU Local to Pune was announced, but lucky to catch the train.

WCAM-3AC/6P and other WAG-7 await their duty as bankers at Karjat

Malavli is the next station from Lonavala Towards pune, on the right you can clearly see 2 mighty forts, Visapur and Lohagad.

We got down at Malavli and started to walk, with the village view around us, we were enjoying the vicinity.

deserted Malavli station

Group photo

pic wahi.. location nayi

seems like Kaante film k heroes

 After walking for some 20 minutes we had our breakfast and continued our journey.

anna Jevayla.. jevaylaa.....

To the left lies Karla caves, a complex of shrines built by Buddhist monks around 3rd to 2nd century B.C

Bhaje caves

The tar road goes to till the base of Lohagad fort. Slowly with the increasing heat, each soldier was surrendering and denying to go ahead.

let me try my hands on a DSLR

exhaustion starts

Since I had always stressed on finding new routes, we continued the search for another route apart from the regular HOT tar road. Here we took a right into the forest which had a small walkway moving towards the fort. From here you can get a clear glimpse of the Mighty Lohagad fort.

side view of Lohagad with Vinchukata

Taking breaks and sipping on with Electral water, the group managed to find a way which was so cool and into the dense shadows of over grown trees, that they decided to stop there itself.

After a big break of 30 mins, where 2-3 were almost asleep, we wokeup all and started again.

Climbing from the narrow area was so challenging and tricky, but all managed to make it easily.

new route

this must be a waterfall in monsoon

Alas… the heat and Tar road met us again. So walking along quickly from the area, we reached the base of Lohagad fort.

Visapur fort

Most people take their food here. U can get nice and hot breakfast, Lunch with option of Veg/ Non Veg and most important… WATER.

Easily accessible and proper maintenance of some areas kept us happy about the preservation and conservation of Forts under Maharashtra tourism.

aamche Raje... _/\_

Board detailing about the fort

Here we were greeted by our ancestors who were expecting some food from people, at times I hate such So called Educated” fools who hit these little monkeys if they try to snatch bags from you.

Ancestral family ....hahahaha

We were enjoying the cool breeze and kept walking and doing photography.

Visapur Fort - Parallel view

Clicked some nice photographs at every entrance admiring the structures and ideology behind making such structures.

Bastion

Since we were a bit in hurry to explore the Vinchukata (Scorpion’s Tail) we directly headed towards it crossing the hexagonal pond and nearby places.

Some of the people stayed back and others rushed towards the tip.

enroute- Vinchukata

side view - Vinchukata

The cool breeze refreshed and we did a solid “GHOSHNAAA”

Returned back and started our decend. However one of my friend started to exhaust, cant wait for him as we were already running behind schedule and wanted to move towards Lonavala. he took lift from a passerby bike and met us at station.

It is always a preferred option to have food/ Lunch at Lonavala than Malavli as you have more alternatives for food and Transport here.

Lonavala station

Since it was a Sunday we had a super Non-Veg lunch.

Luckily we had ample time to click some pics at station waiting for the train.

WCM-6 reting at trip shed

Finally our day ended with Cramped legs, Exhausted body but refreshed Mind and soul.

See you again….

Jai Maharashtra.

Aapla- Sumya

Bike ride and Trek to Kothaligad, Peth cha killa

Greetings..!!!

September is ending, Monsoons are about to vanish for this year, but it seemed to be july, coz of incessant rains.

Our plan for Prabalgad Night Camping was poured down by rain, so decided to go for a One day trek.

After going through various options, Peth, Kothaligad was finalized.

Last visited in 1994 when i was a kid, memories ran down giving a glimpse of all the scenic beauty around Kothaligad and our experience over it.

Since the transportation is very less going towards Ambivali (Base of Peth, Kothaligad) we decided to do a Bike ride.

Me, Nilesh and Jay chalked out a plan and Nilesh shared it with his office colleagues. So in total of 13 participants we met on Sunday morning, 25^th September at Lal chowki temple, Kalyan.

We were so pleased and thanked God for taking rest after raining for 4 consecutive days. But our happiness was shortlived.

As soon as we started by 8.30, again Rain, heavy rains  that drenched us even before reaching Ambarnath... but later the weather was so pleasant... it made our ride smooth.

We halted for breakfast at Neral. And moved on...

Going ahead to Kashele where the routes divert. This is the point where you need to cross check again for route from locals.

Straight road goes to Kothimbe – Ambivali –Jamrung (Our destined route)

The North west turn goes to Khandas for Bhimashankar

The Right goes towards Karjat

So we moved on our route with so many twists and turns. We spotted a small mountain on our right, which was covered under clouds and made sure it was KOTHALIGAD.

We parked our vehicles, booked for Lunch and started our trek by 12noon.

We were already running behind schedule, but the scenic beauty of the post monsoons greeted us.

Walking at own good speed, the Selfie queen kept on delaying our schedule.

The other group members were frustrated by this, but cant help, we have to be in group.

So i asked nilesh to move ahead and carry them along.

Within 1 hour of walking, we reached the plateau that gave us an enormous view of the entire kothaligad and Jambrung village with Kothaligad engulfed in clouds.

Mere Do anmol Ratan

A small photo session and break of 5 minutes we continued with the walk. The path becomes more stable and within 15 minutes we were at Peth village.

Kothaligad engulfed in clouds

Flame Lily

Here you get a nice view of the fort. Moving through the actual trek starts.  Amidst the jungle and steep climbs, it took us almost an hour to reach the top with both girls desperate to get some fresh air.

Exhausted Ladies

Finally we get to see the Bastion of the fort and the 1^st door.

Bastion

Bhairoba cha mandir

Visitng Bhairoba mandir, and cave started to move up through the stairs carved inside the mountain.

At some point you have to be careful as you may suffer Vertigo and can lose out on balance. The steps are quite a good 2 feet high.

steps carved

Rajdhani with Local train

to the left lies the Bhimashankar range and you get to see  a wall of Waterfall over the Vajantri Ghat

Vajantri ghat Waterfall wall

Totally exhausted, the girls were just managing to climbup and finally reached the top.

The view here was breath taking. Forgetting about the tiring journey, Selfie queen started with her photo session. This spread a good laughter wave among all of us. 

So we did a group photo session, some individual, solo pics among the flowers. Realizing that we spent more than 40 minutes in clicking photographs, Now was the time to hurry up with the decend.

That was a challenging part for me as i had to stay with the girls.

Looking at my frustration, Manisha said, “Rajdhani ko Local trains k peeche aana pad raha hai” 

It took us quite some time to get to peth village as It was manisha’s turn as her legs were shivering and she was continuously scared by a dog who was following us (Helping us)

After Peth village, our selfie queen was in her own world with paining toes,  that she totally forgot that we had come for a trek in a group and did it only with 4 people.

Other moved quickly and already Finished with their lunch at 5pm.

Bidding goodbye to the group we waited for the girls to get normal and started our journey back by 6. Within minutes it was dark and we missed a turn and went straight onto Karjat road, taking a U turn we reached Kashele and continuing onwards to Neral and Kalyan.

Luckily we did not get traffic and the day was spent with most amazing memories.

Thanks for accompanying with me here on BLOG, hope to see you soon on another TREK.

Adios, good bye till next trexperience.....

Regards,

Sumya – A wandering trekker