Rohida (Vichitragadh) Aug 2012

This one was long pending, with it getting rescheduled more than once, and as luck would have it, all things came together to accomplish one of the best treks that I ever had. Best, because the things that you experience at Rohida-aka-Vichitragad is one of a kind, cant have at any other fort around.

Day started with one of the toughest step that you take, the first one getting out of bed, on a rainy sunday morning, getting out of your cozy bed, it does'nt get any tougher that this. once you go beyond this, rest assured that your day is going to be the best one you ever had :)

Drive towards Bhor was a known one, and the Bangalore highway makes it much more easy. post Bhor, the 10 min drive takes you to Bazarwadi and gives you a clear view of the intimidating Rohida in the background.

Post parking the vehicle near the school in the village, the climb starts right from there. if required people are around to tell you the directions, but no place to have tea or vada-paav at the base. Have it at Bhor itself while coming in and pack it up for the lunch as well.

The start of the climb provides you a very awesome view of the fort and the near vertical climb :) you can very well negotiate the steepness by going a little bit around the hill which takes a little bit more of your time, but who is in a hurry with such beautiful nature around.

look for yourselves :)

We kept wondering about the "Vichitragadh" name and within 30 minutes of our initial climb, we came to know just why. Ferocious winds hit us like hurricane, one can easily get toppled over if he is not cautious, such was the speed. It was just raw nature at its worst. Posing for photographs was really useless, could keep ourselves and the camera still at that point. 

The climb from here onward gets nearly vertical, and scary to the core, with all the wind ready to throw you off the cliff. The ridge that you see in the above snap, is the actual path to climb the fort. We had to literally climb with hands and foots firmly on the ground :) with the kid in tow, that was some fun. The path just goes up and up.

But once you see the stones on the first door of the fort, you know you'ave arrived. the fort provides you number of photo opportunities, and the view doesn't let you down with its awesomeness. There is nice little shelter in the form of recently renovated Rohideshwar temple, it was locked, but still the verandah provides enough shelter for you take some respite from the rains and fog and the ferocious winds.

Weather god provided us some window and gave us enough light to move around the fort post lunch, and see the awesome points around, the watchtowers are in pretty good shape and from there the view is just so awesome. According to the documentation you are able to see couple of forts like rajgadh, torna, etc. from here, but we dumb people cudnt make out anything. but were content enough with what was in front of us. its a small fort and within an hour or so, with sight seeing and snaps session, we started our journey back.

The journey back was no different in terms of difficulty with steep downhill and the ferocity of wind continuing to lash us. slowly but cautiously we were down in no time and thus ended an exhilarating journey of Rohida. That was it, trek to Rohida aka Vichitragadh was successfully completed.

A farewell snap of the place depicts the grandeur of the fort.

Kaas - Bamnoli Oct 2011

after a long long prodding (by u know who...) finally planned to visit kaas. didnt had many expectations, cause of the crowd ofcourse. did the smart thing by planning to visit the place on weekday. friday it was. planned to stay one nite and visit the nearby places at my own pace rather than hurrying up unnecessarily and end up home at unearthly hours.

so woke up to a bright sunny friday morning at about 7 am, and was on road by 8ish. was kinda sore with day's outing at lonavla with office group. but was feeling okay with dont know what to expect. had breakfast on bangalore highway post crossing the tunnel. some dumb place, dont remember the name or exact location. the crowd on highway was as usual idiotic pune crowd, with people on foot running across the highway careless about the blazing horns and cussing drivers.

ghat on the way was the worst that i had came across(not that ive seen a lot), with one way traffic and speed of vehicles in reversely proportional to its size, with huge trucks not moving at all, cars in first gear only and two-wheelers raring to get the top spot. it was fun nevertheless. u have to feel the heat once to become a seasoned driver :)

satara comes in a whizz, maybe 2 hours from pune, dont need to ask anybody any directions. entered the city and searched for a hotel to stay for the nite, got one , and came out freshened up. turn from the eiffel tower wala chock is kinda tricky, made famous last week by our very own mr.amir khan. took a wrong turn there, went ahead, asked directions, turned and was on way correctly this time to kaas pathar.

post satara the route is as beautiful as it can get, all the way to kaas and beyond. had heard that we had to park the vehicles much before the actual place and from there some bus will get us there, but thanks to my own good thinking (on a friday remember :), we were able to take our car till wherever we wanted, park it wherever we wanted, and take snaps the way we wanted :) very few people around, could just imagine what the situation will be on a sat/sun. as i had thought, the place was a let down. yeah the place had flowers all around, wild ones, white, purples, blues, and dont know what. not sure if we were a bit late in visiting the place or was it just really boring and hyped.

anyways, clicked few more snaps like these and went straight to bamnoli, the so called mini-kasmir of this side. the ride to this place is the one to go for. screw kaas, and just head to bamnoli in rainy season. its really worth the pain and the distance. the lake is surrounded by green colored hills all around. had a boat ride till the sangam of 3 rivers(forgot the names), now, a word of caution for all boat ride lovers, get into it only if u can survive the ears shattering and mind numbing dhad dhad of the boat engine. i cudnt bear it any longer and wanted to jump out of the boat in middle of the sangam :)

headed back towards kaas, and had another round of snaps at the plateau. a bit longer session than what we had in the afternoon. by the time we started back to satara, the darkness was falling in the valley. midway, it started drizzling and in few minutes, torrential downpour started. and i started driving ram-bharose. pitch dark, ghat road, the downpour, and just pure instinct about being on the correct route back :) thats what i call ram-bharose driving.

by the time we entered satara city, the rain was left behind in the valley sumwhere and the city was dry as hell. came back to the hotel, freshened up, went out for dinner. came back and slept. so much fun for a day.

parting thought, i mean shot.

Shivneri - Lenyadri Sep 2011

after last week's fiasco at raigadh, took matter in own hands and planned for shivneri. shivaji maharaj's birth place. the place is about 110 odd kms from pune. way via pune-chakan-khed-narayangaon-junnar. road from pune to narayangaon is good, you need to cross two tolls and two ghats to reach narayangaon, and take a left at bus stand at narayangaon. passing thru the place is a bit difficult cause of the narrow road passing thru the crowd. from here to junnar is a breeze, not much traffic. about 20 odd kms.

till here the shun shined so bright , as soon as we started towards junnar, it started raining and it rained. torrential rains. for the rest of the day. had a wet weekend last week, so was not worried much about it. 

take a left at shivaji putla at junnar to reach shivneri, clearly marked signs make the task easier. car park is short distance up and away from the base. from the parking steps start and take you through numerous darwazas to reach the top plateau. the scenery while climbing the steps as usual astonishes you, even if you are drenched to the core. take your time to climb the stairs and click snaps.

once you reach the top, you take a way which takes you round the fort and you reach the shiv janmsthan, take you time, roam around and head back. 

after coming down, go back the same route till shivaji putla in junnar, and go straight ahead, left will take you to malshej ghat, and right back to narayangaon. cross a bridge after a km or so, and take a right towards lenyadri, you can see the mountain in the background. after taking right, take a left after about another 2 kms or so. you can see the lenyadri mountain ahead of you, pay 10 rs for car park, go ahead park your vehicle, start climbing some 300 odd steep steps. the girijatmak is in about 7th den. take shower below the waterfall there (if its falling :) and decide if youve got any more strength left to finish off all caves, else take few more snaps and start climbing down. beware of the monkeys though, they are notorious.

take thali lunch once you reach the base, and nothing much to do, head back home. you can as well visit ozar from here, if time permits.

ended this week's adventure with no hidden surprises and felt good about it :)

Tikona Jul 2010

Woke up to a sunny day, not gud for trekking, just sweat and no fun.

Got ready with family and again was on road by 7.30 sumthng. Gud enough for a start.

Sun followed us till kamshet, we turned left towards pavananagar and it went straight ahead along the nh4 :)

The weather turned cloudy if not rainy, much to our liking.

Lots of twists and turns on the road, till saw pavana dam in front of us, and turned left from there. Couldnt recognize tikona, as there were too many fort like hills around, must be some forts only, just not too sure, which ones.

As climbed up the hill next to pavana dam, saw the famous tikon of the tikona. It was getting all misty on top :)

Turned left and went into the tikona peth, parked bike at the temple, funny, there is a temple at each and every "peth" at the fort foothill.

Well, parked and started on foot, went 100 mtrs, and wifey asks me to get bike and go a little bit ahead, as road looks good enough to carry a little ahead.

Came back took bike, and went ahead, it was slippery, a word of caution, if its raining, has rained or about to rain, don’t go any further in your vehicle :) 
Start on your foot.

There are multiple choices for you to climb, steep, not-so-steep, and no-idea-about-the-third-one.

We missed the steep one, the working men from the village, were building the not-so-steep pathway, called us from sumwhere above and guided us to the "peepal" tree wala path.

I missed the "peepal" tree, as I had forgot how one looks like, (ab wakad / pimplesaudagar mein ped hi nahin hai to peepal ka ped kaha se dekhu), went a lot ahead and had to turn back.

Anyways, got the appropriate pathway, climbing was easy, even with kid in hand. The pathway was literally being laid out afresh, the soil was loose but didn’t slipped at all.

Went thru the initial phase in few minutes, no issues.
The view of the fort from here was just soooo awesome. The green, the fort walls, the breeze, u get the idea :)

Took a break here, kid ate some biscuits, the snaps as usual were cute and awesome.

few cave like structures, on-the-edge pathway, green grass, and a maruti structure made pretty good pics.

a stopover in between, u can ask for lunch as well, we didnt and went forward, a pond with fishes and a temple with babaji welcomes you for a steep ride ahead.

from here the steepness just gets more steep with nearly vertical steps, was not much of a trouble, apart from carrying the kid, and kinda exhausted a bit, but the view that you get from here is worth all the trouble that you took in life, including marriage :)

the distant tung , the pavana dam, backwater, tikona's side wall, and a deep fall on other side, just made our day.


u climb till here and therz not much to do, as its not really a fort, its a watchtower, and literally, other than few high(really high) points, therz not much for you to see and awe at the structure itself. but the small climbs from here till the last top stop, each turn of your head gives a different scene, the mist gives a bit avatarish feel to it as well.

go ahead and climb more and therz a shiv temple, the guard tells its "jagrut", wifey asks to god, what every wifey asks with one kid, another one :) hey bhagwaan.

the pond at the backside was not clean, dirty people had made the pond dirty like themselves,shame. could hear few peacock cries from the jungle down.

sat there, had food, was thrilled to have conquered another one. took n number of snaps here, the weather kept its promise and was at its best behaviour. clouds, mist, greenery, breeze, hmmmm.

started to climb down(u ask how do i do that?climb and that too down), sat at few more places, just admiring the works of the ultimate painter. the steep stairs were kinda tricky, my legs started to hurt with cautious downward-climb. but as i said its worth. worth everything.

came down, started bike, looked up, tikona was covered in mist, and it started to drizzle. it was a sunny day allright :)