Trek to Songiri/ Palasdhari Fort

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.

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. 

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 1^st Tunnel.

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.

Dense vegetation

Within next 15 mins reached the rock-Patch… must be around 35-40 ft, but its simple.

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.

View from halfway

The Race goes on....

Just then Deccan express emerged out of tunnel with WCAM2p class locomotive and was banked by WAG7 locos

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.

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.

The Rock Patch - DO NOT CLIMB

The route was much steeper than expected

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.

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.

The Water tank - totally dried up

Assisting Fellow trekker friends in the Clean-up initiative

Mumbai bound Hyderabad express

A Selfie and a group Photo… we decided to leave.

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.

Varne Dam / reservoir

They dropped me at karjat station and we both parted our ways.

Details:

Name: Songiri fort / Palasdhari Fort

Nearest Station: Palasdhari (1^st 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