Trek to Tandulwadi

A long break after our semester exams and all us were excited to do a trek as it was a moment of free time to disconnect ourselves from our monotonous schedule.

The trek plan were always discussed for weeks before they got executed, but this time it was different the plan was quickly discussed with participant hopping in and the execution started.

Destination selected was Tandulwadi and the date was December 29, 2016. We didn't lost the enthusiasm this time as in a single discussion the plan was finalized and we were ready to roll out the  discussed plan.

A total of seven members were ready and five members were so enthusiastic that they halted at a friend's house which comes on the way to trek spot. I and Neha boarded the Andheri-Virar train at 7:38 am  to join our other over excited members at Virar. From there we switched to boarded another train which dropped us at Saphale at 8:50am.

There are two modes to reach the base village first is the BUS and another AUTO-RICKSHAW. There are buses from that drop you to base village from the Saphale bus depot till 11:00 am at a interval of one hour each. We took the AUTO-RICKSHAW mode as we couldn't board the bus of 9:00 am as per our plan and waiting for another bus which at 10:00 am would cause unusual delay even before beginning our trek.

The TUM-TUM rickshaw had the perfect size to fit our group of odd numbered members of seven. The distance from Saphale station and our dropping point was approximately 7.5 Kms

Droppping point/Start Location Co-ordinates:  19.605621, 72.854852.

Route between Zilla Parishad school and gram panchayat office

The dropping point specified above is near Zilla parishad school. There is ample of parking space nearby base village and the base village is populated with many houses giving you a pleasant feeling as you pass by through their homes to your destination.

From co-ordinates 19.605621, 72.854852 start walking straight towards the lane that passes between  Zilla parishad school and Gram-Panchayat office. Few metres of the route passes through village followed by a big muddy water patch.

Muddy water patch

After crossing the water patch the trek trail route starts and there are no houses after this point so load yourself with sufficient amount of water storage as caves cistern water is not potable.

We started our trek at 9:30 am and reached peak point at 12:30 pm with 3 breaks in between each of around 10 minutes.

Trek route at beginning

Trek route at beginning

View after trekking a km distance

The first hour and a half of trek is very easy route making us feel like a walk in garden but later part was quite steep with rocky patches as found on river bed path. Once this rocky patches starts you would encounter a cave on your left side while ascending, The rocks to reach the cave have very little grip and thus ensure safety via ropes before you try reaching it.

Trek route with Rocky patches

Photo aside the cave

Its quite risky for beginners, we spent an hour to reach those caves and which had some photos over there, then descended back to our trek route to continue towards the peak point.

At peak point with Vaitarna river in background.

On reaching top you can see a view of Vaitarna river and some other interesting points.

View from peak point

After reaching near the entrance of fort there is a huge tree which provided us the cool shadow for a break, and so we planned our lunch venue over here between 2:15pm to 3:00pm by preparing fresh sandwiches and some kurkure eatable stuff we had. All of us were hungry after our breakfast session of 12:30pm.

We started descending at 1:20 pm from and reached the base village at 3:45pm and our train towards Virar from Saphale was at 4:09pm was not possible to board so we decided to spend a long time near the Zilla parishad school while waiting for our TUM-TUM auto which dropped us here in the morning.

We reached Saphale station at 5:15pm and had Tea,Lemon and Soda juices at nearby hotels and then boarded 6:09 pm Virar train from Saphale. At 6:40pm, after reaching Virar we all started our journey towards home thus finishing our first trek of this winter vacations.

Trek to Mahuli fort

Finding a good location for a day trek with an grade of easy level so that beginners can give a knack to their trekking skills, we decided to trek the Mahuli fort near Asangaon. With eight members ready for joining in as it was a preffered point for beginners, we started planning the trek journey and ended with only six members present at Asangaon station in morning.

          Mehatab,Ketan,Sushant,Me,Aakash,Abhilash(Left to right)

Trail that leads to Mahuli entrance gate with temple on Left side

Entrance gate of Mahuli

Informative board 1

A before-hand idea that exploring the complete fort is not possible in a day made us uncertain due to time factor as we ought to complete it within a day. So to avoid getting late we decided to board 6:24 am Asangaon fast local from Dadar and explore atleast forty to fifty percent of the fort. But we couldn’t make it as some members were out of schedule and failed to reach on time which resulted in missing the 6:24am Asangaon Fast from Dadar, but to our luck Kalyan fast 6:21 am local train was reaching Dadar at 6:35am so we quickly improvised our plan by boarding it with an hope to catch our missed local(Asangaon 6:21 am slow) from Dombivili.

With two members of our group who were expected to board the same train from Dombivili were late thus improvised plan was on the verge of failure, but again to our luck the red signal halted the train at Kalyan for five minutes which in turn helped our members to execute the improvised plan. With five members on time and the sixth member residing in Asangaon, we met him at Asangaon station. Quite lucky to have this trek destination near to his residence.

Several breakfast facilities outside the station are available serving dishes like Missal-pav , Vada-pav, Samosas, Bhajia along with tea and coffee. After having our breakfast at Chetan hotel which was more of dhaba type stall and Misal-pav here was made by local recipe which lacked the actual taste you would expect from it, but worth a try not that bad.

Filled stomach energized us to move ahead to our next step of journey which was to reach Shahpur Bus depot via rickshaw with all members packed into one so we were total seven people including driver inside the auto. There is only one bus that plies to and fro from shahpur depot to mahuli with an interval of 1 hour, so after reaching there at 9:10 am the next bus available to us was expected to commence its journey towards Mahuli at 10 am.

Informative board 2

Informative board 3

Informative board 4

Informative board 5

Relying on auto service seemed to be a good option instead of waiting for a single bus that plies to and fro. But as usual Auto-Drivers started stating different charges as they view trekkers as their potential customers but amongst them were few ready for negotiations. We clinch the deal with maximum amount set to Rs.300 which contributed to Rs. 50 per head. The auto dropped us exactly on the trail where the trek to Mahuli fort starts at 9:45 am and a five minutes walk from there landed us at entrance gate of Mahuli fort.

Start of trek route

The surrounding premise is barricaded and basic directions are marked throughout the region that lies around Mahuli fort helping trekkers to easily navigate throughout the fort and its area. A bore well tap near the entrance gate is available so fill as much potable water as you can the boring part is push and pull mechanism of these taps, but a great way to encourage people to avoid wastage of water.

Small tent on left side of route that leads to Mahuli

There are no human settlements around the trekking route as the area falls under the jurisdiction of Tansa Wildlife Reserve. Different trails were emerging after passing through the entrance gate, with marked boards at beginning of each trail indicating where they would lead, we followed one that directed us to Small Mahuli with a hope  to complete the Big Mahuli at some later point of time as we didn’t planned for an overnight trek.

Route towards Small Mahuli and Big Mahuli gets diverted just at the beginning of the trail so completing both in a day means descending one before ascending the next.

Pond and a bridge passing over it

Rivers, pond and a wooden bridge to cross the river showcased us the natural flora and fauna of the Tansa wildlife sanctuary. A visible pond from our route, followed by trail leading to waterfall made us more enthusiastic about marking the end of the trek by having a plunge in this pond and a fun time near waterfall even before starting the trek.

Route view

                                                 

Route view

Mahuli surrounded by clouds

Weather was pleasant with minor indication of moderate to heavy rains thus we felt good as the thrill to enjoy a trek in heavy rains is an adventure time for every trekker. The good weather and cold breezes didn’t tempt us to take long-breaks so total break time during ascending just spanned around 20 minutes.

Hillock

At 11:20 am a hillock was spotted by us with no trails and only muddy patches throughout it with gradient slope of sixty to seventy degree.

Ketan and I decided to ascend the peak but later Ketan followed the actual trail instead of getting diverted to reach this small peak point maybe he was bit tired by his regular schedule of going out of way.

View while ascending the hillock

Soon Sushant and Mehatab joined in to ascend this small peak which has no clear route, so climb the way you like it. We started to climb it from a point where we predicted the chance of free-fall to base village was minimum, there was no safe route to ascend it, especially when the wet mud starts acting as a grease making you slip every-time you try to ascend. It was like one step forward and two steps back so don’t risk climbing it without proper shoes and gears during rainy season.

View while descending the hillock

My shoes were lacking the required grip to ascend this hillock, Grip was almost lost while trying to ascend further after reaching till half way of this hillock, Mehatab and Sushant ascended in lizard posture by pushing their body weight towards ground thus maximizing the grip and resistance to the downwards pull experienced on legs by muddy route. After climbing this hillock, Mehatab informed that no other alternative route for descending was possible other than one used by us for ascending, so I planned descending from mid-way itself as going ahead was risky.

Mehatab in bushes trying to search stuffs that got clinged into bushes

Descending was much of a challenge rather than ascending as body weight enforces the  downward pulling force exerted by the muddy route during descend. To make descending a bit easy both of them threwed all possible stuffs they could with a hope that I will catch it from mid-way of that hillock, but odd winds flewed the stuff far away from me, with bush plantation nearby the stuff got clinged into it thus preventing a search operation. It was equivalent to descend on playground slide by walking on it while trying your best not to fall. Half hour spent doing thrills on this hillock with rest members waiting ahead on the actual path for us.

Route view

View from hillock

A clear view of fort borders is visible just 500 metres ahead on the path after this hillock. Later at 12:20 pm we reached near the ladder point and felt relieved that we were on the right path, a meager distance of 1 km from this point is the peak point of Mahuli.

Ladder for avoiding tough patches

After reaching peak point at 1 pm, we were astonished to see the huge area to be explored on the peak point it was nearly around 300 acres. With no direction boards available nearby we started wandering around and moved in the direction towards Tansa lake. On our way was a five foot deep water cistern with muddish color water maybe it gets potable after being refreshed during heavy rains/mid rainy seasons.

Route on peak plateau

Route on peak plateau

Route on peak plateau

Route on peak plateau

Fences protecting the solar panels installed

Solar panels installed on peak plateau

View from peak point

Wild turmeric flower spotted on route

Pinnacles on peak plateau passed by us for reaching Palasgad(Pic clicked from Palasgad)

You will have a good view of beautiful mountain ranges nearby while exploring this plateau, we passed a few in one hour walk.

During our ascend there were few mild showers of rain and our lunch session at Palasgad was even interrupted by few droplets of rain. Views from Palasgad provides a good scenery with Tansa River and a lake in background.

Direction indicating route to Palasgad

Way to Palasgad

Palasgad

An overnight trek is preferable to explore the whole plateau, rushing through all points was not our idea so we started descending at 3 pm after having our lunch at palasgad, thunderstorms and heavy rains followed us till late evening.Only one short break of five minutes was sufficient while descending as the rain encouraged us to reach early near the gushing waterfall.

All of us slipped either a bit while few getting injured as the wet mud didn’t provide the required grip. Some wooden sticks which were used as hiking poles prevented some falls.

Waterfall and a pond nearby

Crabs near the riverside area

Water near this waterfall is clean and not muddish color as you would usually find near the wooden bridge. Beware with broken pieces of glasses nearby this pond as there were many which severely injured some of us.

Giant Red velvet mite

Red wiggler worm

Underground world of ants

Fungi spores growing on trees

After spending one and a half hour wonderful time near the pond and waterfall we ended our trek at 6:30pm. We missed last bus to Shahpur depot from Mahuli, so walking towards Manas mandir was the only option as there are other modes of transport available from there. After walking for 20 minutes we spotted a goods tempo passing by the route, on requesting the driver he agreed to drop all of us at Asangaon station in Rs.100/- so we grabbed the deal as it was equivalent to cost of a bus ticket, even bus drops at Shahpur depot and not near Asangaon station.

As one of our member named Aakash resided in Asangaon we visited his house had some refreshments and then boarded the 9:57 pm fast local from Asangaon.

Thus ending our trek with a great exploration time at the peak plateau and gorgeous view from peak point as a reward to ascend Mahuli while keeping some views aside for our next trek.

Location	Mahuli
Base Village	Mahuli in Thane district
Reaching there	From Asangaon station take auto to reach Shahpur bus depot, then board a bus towards Mahuli.
Required time	3 hours to ascend Small Mahuli, 5 hours exploration time on peak plateau, 2 hours to descend.
Facilities	Local tea/cofee facilities available near entrance of Mahuli
Last bus from Mahuli to Shahpur	6:45 pm

Trek to Gorakhgad

After completing the Peb/Vikatgad fort trek in late summer season we kept our plans on hold till the weather gets gelid by showers of rain.  With Monsoon gathering pace, Mumbai started its journey of rain in the first week of June, so did we with our trekking season.On 23rd June 2016 we decided to start the first trek of monsoon season with destination as Gorakhgad fort.

The fort lies in Dehri village of Thane district which is 50kms from Kalyan thus well connected via road by Mumbai as well as Pune thus making it possible to wind it up in a day. Destination is not renowed among trekking groups and thus  the frequency of trek events conducted here by treks groups are low.

Ketan,Me,Mehatab,Vishal &Abhilash(Left to Right)

The day commenced at 4:10 in morning with packing trekking stuff followed by a mini-breakfast, left home at 5:10 am to board 5:36 am local train towards Churchgate. We been group of 5 dwelled across different locations within Mumbai and thus decided to meet at Kalyan Station by hopping into a common train departing from CST at 6:27 am for Badlapur and reaching Kalyan at 7:40 am.

Reaching Kalyan St Depot and boarding the immediate available bus towards Murbad was the next plan of action. Kalyan St depot is located within radius of 100 metre from Kalyan Station. After enquiring we found a bus halted at stop No.2 with Kurla as originating point and destination as Ghodegaon passing with a halt at Murbad St Depot.

This bus originated from Kurla St depot at 7:45 am.

We hopped into it and found only last seat empty thus geared up ourselves for a bumpy ride ahead but luckily 90 percent of the bus route passed through NH 666/21 with good road condition thus allowing us to be in one piece after getting down. Bus reached Murbad at 9:00 am with a ticket cost of Rs. 30 per person. Next Bus to Dehri from Murbad was at 10:00 am. 

Halting so much time was not a good idea so we opted for alternative mode of transport and reached Dehri via Jeep with Rs. 35 per person on a sharing bases. Fill as much as you can rule was applied by driver so 14 people hopped in and we were ready to go with some members of our group losing their window seat.

View from local road while reaching Dehri

The jeep travelled along the NH 222/NH 61 and took a left turn that leads to Shivale College. Marvelously mountain stood clear and bright on both sides of this local road with clouds enclosing them and the fresh weather along with mild morning breezes provided a fantastic view of nature.

The vegetation here is thick, dry trees with fallen leaves represented the scorching heat that this region would have received during summer season. The villagers were busy chopping the branches of these dried trees for collecting woods that gets used mostly in cook stoves.

View from Drop-off point in Dehri Village

Ducks near Dehri Bus stop

The jeep dropped us at Dehri Bus stop just near the gigantic and parallelly aligned  mountains named Gorakhgad  and Machhindragad.

View from drop-off point

They were exactly in our eye frontal view at a distance of around 500 metre from drop-off point so we were sure that it would be a route with high gradient and tough climbing patches because we were standing just beneath them.

Millipede

There were many millipedes spotted on our entire trek route.

Nearby Dehri bus stop there were few fruits shop selling apples, bananas, coconut etc. followed by some local shops selling snacks items.

A person named Amit Patel sits aside a forecourt of a house near bus stop/drop-off point and maintains a record of people visiting the fort. He also arranges facilities for breakfast/ lunch/ dinner and asked us to inform about our needs a hour earlier on his phone. Amit Patel Contact No.: 9822234225

Well on the left side of path that leads to gorakshnath temple

Turn to first left after spotting the well above.The trek trail starts from the Gorakshnath temple situated on first left at the road-head going from Dehri to Murbad. Gorakshnath temple is within 250 metre from Dehri bus stop.

Route that leads to temple

Gorakshnath temple

Google Co-ordinates for locations:

Jeep Drop-off point/Bus stop: 19.204186, 73.532722

Gorakshnath temple: 19.202231, 73.531585

Gorakhad peak point: 19.1920325,73.5402086

Courtyard at backside of temple

Trail at the right side of temple to reach Gorakhgad

On reaching near temple turn towards your right and follow the trail that passes from backyard of temple, it will lead you to gorakhgad fort. Route comprises of multiple divertions with many of them converging back into main route, So very little chances of getting out of way beside that there are stones painted with marked directions pointing to gorakhgad helping you to be on the way.

Direction markings on a stone

Route

There is no warm-up period for beginners as path is very steep at the beginning and would be difficult to endure for beginners. It’s like starting your trek with a gradient of 140 degree steep climbs.

Route with muddy terrain

View from route [Macchindragad & Gorakhgad(left to right)]

It’s advisable to walk slowly on routes passing through muddy terrains as the muddy patches get loosed during rainy seasons. Going at slow pace also prevents tiring up while walking on those steep climbs just at the beginning of trek. We took around 5 minutes break for 3 times in the first hour itself which was followed by a half hour photo session at a riveting spot.

                       Left side view from route

You will spot the above view on the left side of your route while ascending to Gorakhgad.

Flowers blooming after early showers of monsoon

There is a shiv temple at the mid-path of trek with informative boards  put up by authorities here. The route ahead now comprises of rocky patches and steep climbs and no more muddy terrains ahead.

Shiv-temple

On the route alongside the temple there are informative boards displayed.

Informative Board 1

Informative Board 2

Follow the trail passing through these informative boards.

First cave

This was the first cave spotted by us, the route to reach near it is slippery with small cuts in rocks.  I predicted the carved surface area of rock around 500sq ft. My eagerness to look into it landed me there, but was disappointed to see only a small surface area carved in it.

Cave ends with just a small surface carved in it

We spotted few more caves with Cave 3 been the biggest of all in Gorakhgad.

Cave 2

Cave 3

Campfire in cave 3

There was also a campfire burnt by some trekker group inside the caves with wood ash scattered nearby.

Inner view of caves

Views from cave

A few rocky steps and patches are required to be climbed to reach Shiv-temple that lies in mid-way. They provide you good warm-up time needed before ascending the steps of final pinnacle.

Gorakhgad Pinnacle spotted after Shiv temple

Ascending this pinnacle will give you a chance to test your rock climbing skills.

    

Views of steps on the pinnacle

The steps and rocky patches on this pinnacle are difficult to ascend and descend. You get a clear view of steps while ascending with backpack on your backside whereas in descending your view gets restricted as steps have small holds and it gets difficult to pull away yourself from rocky walls to get a more clear view, moreover backpacks weight hanging away from your body makes balancing yourself intricated. It is just tricky not at all tough but doing it wrong way will trouble you a lot.

View while climbing the steps

Rings drilled inside rocks

We spotted around 3 to 5 such rock climbing rings at a distance of around 400 metre apart which can be used for tying trekking ropes. Just be sure to check their weight bearing strength before using them, it’s a good idea to tie multiple ropes on separate rings to add more safety.

View from route

There is little space to adjust your foots on the carved steps, it’s like adjusting two foots in landspace of one foot. At such time balancing your body-weight is challenging thus avoiding baggage in such times helps a lot. Trench are carved in some steps to provide grip but these trench get filled with wet sand during rainy seasons thus reducing the grip you would get during summer seasons.

Shiv temple at peak point

With multiple breaks amounting to duration of 45 minutes to 1 hour we reached peak point at 12:30pm. Localites need only 1 hour to cover this distance we spotted a few villagers with pace equivalent to a marathon runner making 20 minutes more than sufficient for them to descend.

Some snaps clicked from peak point.

Machhindragad from peak point of Gorakhgad

Mountains lying in Ahupe region

Mountains lying in Ahupe region

We then had our mini-lunch over the peak followed by some photo sessions. The scenic beauty from here is mesmerizing with a lot of greenery as the fort is situated in Bhimashankar wildlife reserve some of the early rain showers made the natural flora and fauna alive. It would be fun to visit at the end of September with nature blooming and presenting its most vivid shades of green.

A detailed geographical map can be gauged from peak point with  Gorakhgad holding the center position and been surrounded by other mountains lying in Bhimashankar and Kalsubai-Harishandragad wildlife sanctuary.  These clear view reminded me that why this fort was chosen as a watchtower for route passing from Ahupe to Junnar.

Mountains in Ahupe region were completely covered by clouds indicating about upcoming stormy rains but neither rainstorm nor the clouds approached Gorakhad due to changing wind currents.

Water cistern at mid-way of route

Muddy trails to the left side of temple entrance on peak point leads to water cistern. Water in this cistern is clean as compared to all other cisterns maybe due to its distant and out-of-the-way location.

Resting spot under the shades of tree

Our next lunch break and a rest session started at 3:00 pm which continued for a hour. At 5:00 pm we reached Gorakshnath temple.

There is a bus from Dehri to Murbad at 5:00 pm which was out of schedule and thus left at 5:30 pm dropping us at Murbad St depot at 6:30 pm. Bus route was lengthy filled with many potholes  and different from the Jeep route which dropped us at base village in morning.
  

On reaching Murbad ST depot the next bus to Kalyan was at 7:30 pm so we opted for sharing jeep with Rs.35 per person which reached Kalyan at 7:45 pm thus making it possible for us to board 8:03 pm local to  Dadar and thus ending our first monsoon trek with valuable memories and experiences of rock climbing .

Location	Gorakhgad
Base Village	Dehri in Thane district(50 Kms from Kalyan station)
Reaching there	1)ST buses from Kalyan-Murbad@Rs.33 then change Murbad-Dehri@Rs. 26 2)Sharing jeeps from Kalyan-Murbad@Rs.35 then Murbad-Dehri@Rs.30
Jeep driver(Dropped us to Dehri from Murbad) Contact on:	9130198222
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner facilities by Amit Patel Contact On:	98222234225
Required time	2 hours from dehri as base village
Resting spots	Cave No. 3 and a temple in midway(see pics above)
Facilities	1)Fruits and local shops available at base village. 2)Courtyard for rest at Gorakshnath temple.