Hello Fellow trekkers and Adventure Lovers…..
Another day… another trek… to the remote section of
Mumbai
Palasdhari, a small station for Pune and khopoli bound
trains… but feels like heaven in monsoon.
So Pre-monsoon schedule was initiated with “Trek to
SONGIRI Fort” or also known as Palasdhari fort.
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| Songiri Fort / Palasdhari Fort |
To start with… this plan was DERAILED many times
considering the immense increasing HEAT in the month of March and April. GOD
knows how did it go well in MAY.
I boarded the Indore Pune express from kalyan which was
haluled by BLOOD RED WAP4e from BRC (Vadodara). Travelling in Mail/ express
trains always keeps u energetic & motivated.
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| Indore Pune express with WAP4e |
Got down at Karjat and waited
for my friends from western line to pick me up.
Till then... to kill time, I had a little “Vadapav and
cutting chai” – har ek Mumbaikar ke rag
rag me basa.
They arrived in a OMNI… quite comfortable and spacious for 7
of us. Took the car to the Level crossing ahead of Palasdhari station. Got
ready and started to move on.
For some time we walked parallel to the Railway tracks till
we reached the 1st Tunnel.
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| 1st tunnel on the Mumbai Pune route |
Since this was our first attempt we took the known route of
going above the tunnel. Later on, realized that another simple route existed.
Whatsoever… kept going on.
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| Dense vegetation |
Within next 15 mins reached the rock-Patch… must be around
35-40 ft, but its simple.
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| 1st Rock Patch |
When we reached
above… the view was breath-taking - cool breeze, the entire stretch of Karjat
khopoli sections with parallel road running to tracks and tiny looking vehicles
racing to move ahead.
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| View from halfway |
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| The Race goes on.... |
Just then Deccan express emerged out of tunnel with WCAM2p
class locomotive and was banked by WAG7 locos
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| Deccan Express with WCAM2p |
From here... the route starts to steep up making us to take
careful steps, a small bushy area and we reached the Plateau.
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| At the Palteau |
Took a Break for 10 mins and then started again.
Nearly after another 20-25 mins we reached amidst a heavy
jungle area running parallel to the mountain side.
I took the task of climbing it first… but lateron realized
that others couldn’t do it. So standing on a rock. I guided them towards the
proper route visible from above, and they managed to climb up.
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| The Rock Patch - DO NOT CLIMB |
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| The route was much steeper than expected |
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| Arriving at the Top |
Finally the Bastion of the fort was in front of us…. And
“Yess. We did it…” we were at the summit. We had reached here in 3 hrs at
leisure pace.
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| The Top of the fort |
Just then, some boys had overtaken us towards the Top… these
were from Asmant Trekkers who had taken the initiative to clean the Water Tanks
that had weeds grown in it. The tank was totally dry. So we decided to help
them with whatever we can do.
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| The Water tank - totally dried up |
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| Assisting Fellow trekker friends in the Clean-up initiative |
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| Mumbai bound Hyderabad express |
A Selfie and a group Photo… we decided to leave.
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| Mohili Meadows - at Mohili T Wasare |
We thought of having
our packed lunch somewhere in between, but then decided to have it after
finishing the trek.
The Decend started and within half an hour, we were halfway
down at the plateau.
And then…. LOST the route… started to move ahead without any
clue.. but it was fun
Coz later realized that we were just few steps away from the
normal route. But the heat was so horrible, we were all exhausted, looking for
a drop of water.. we were just dragging ourselves towards the car.
Finally the Level Crossing Guard provided us with a glass of
water each and we felt, for some time – ALIVE.
Having freshened up at the nearby dam, drank plenty of water
and felt rejuvenated.
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| Varne Dam / reservoir |
They dropped me at karjat station and we both parted our
ways.
Details:
Name: Songiri fort / Palasdhari Fort
Nearest Station: Palasdhari (1st station on
Karjat – khopoli route)
Grade: Easy
Time required: 2-3 hrs max
Route: There are 2 different routes, 1. Via Palasdhari
and other via Avalas
Note: Avalas route is generally NOT preferred as it is
from the Eastern side and the heat is immense with less trees enroute for
shadows
Looking forward for a beautiful monsoon trek to Songiri.
Thanks for reading.... Comments and suggestions awaited.
- Sumeet Rao
