Scaling new heights at Lohgad

Date: 5th-August-2006
Time: 7:30 a.m.
Place: Pune

Lohgad is one of the two forts in the vicinity of Lonavala. Its situated at a height of around 3500ft above sea level. Other landmarks in this region is the Visapur fort and Bhaje Caves. But our trek was primarily limited to Lohgad fort.

The trek to Lohgad practically starts at Khadki station where we have to board a local train to Malavli. Why Khadki? Well that was a central location to all of us. But any other station in Pune can do.

We had planned to start at 7:00 a.m. But when I reached there at 7:10, I was the only one. And we had just missed the 7:15 a.m train. The next train was at 8:10 a.m. By 7:30 a.m., all of us had reached at the station. Jokes of the bearable, bad and the pathetic category, were flying all over. After all, we had to kill time till 8:10. The following photograph is a proof of the empty minds which had been taken over by the devil as his workshop. We are shown attempting to "pinpoint" the Khadki Station board on the other side of the platform, but few steps here and there, and we are way off the target!!!

The train arrived on time. Moderately crowded, though we didn't get any seats to sit. The overall journey was around 1.5 Hrs. By 9:40 a.m. we had reached Malavli. Station is the typical small town/village station. Neat and clean and no chaos. A chart at the station informs the tourists about the distances of various sight seeing spots in and around Malavli.

A quick snack was consumed at a small shack outside the station. It had the typical food items, wada pav and chai. The food was cheap and good. And with this, we started off on our trek. We had to cross over the express way. The hills on the other side, green and mist covered, provided an awesome backdrop.

And so did the expressway.

The walk to the base of the fort is around 4-5 Kms. Due to the rains, numerous waterfalls had taken birth on the way. We decided to stop and have fun at one of the bigger ones. The rocks were very, very slippery. We had to be very careful, lest we break our bones!

Soon we reached the base of the fort. As we moved on, another waterfall, this time a bigger one, greeted us. So big and fast, the locals were washing their clothes in it.

The waterfall

Another waterfall

Now the trek started in earnest. Till now we had tar roads, now we had just the stones. Perhaps there is a plan to build a road there, who knows. Some where down there, a flight of stairs takes off in the left side leading to the Bhaje caves. These caves are visible from the path that takes us to Lohgad.

The trail became increasingly steep and we reached a point where we all were gasping foe breaths. We took intermittent breaks to take water and glucose (and ofcourse to click some snaps!). And somewhere above us we could hear another group of trekkers.

Soon we reached a Y-Junction and the ghosts of our previous trek started haunting us. Then, we had taken one wrong diversion, and we had ended up in a terrible situation. We decided, follow what the instructions say. "Take the right turn!!! Never mind any shortcuts".

Nikunj and Rajesh, the tired lot...

Now came the stretch that I rate as the most difficult part of the whole trek, almost a 60 degree incline. We scaled it soon and the path then eased off considerably. All this while, it was foggy and drizzling. I dared not to take my camera out. Then came a big clearing and a small shack (Kaka Chai Stall or something like that) at one corner. We took some tea break there.

In high spirits after the tea. Notice the foggy background.

After a quick "Chai Session", we started off on our quest again. We were on a plateau which was completely shrouded in a pale white mist of the clouds. Rain drops were literally in the air. Winds were blowing as fast as they can. The walk itself was very easy, but the rains and winds made it that much more "interesting". In 15-20 minutes, we reached the base of the fort. Few shops were there serving food. We started up the stairs. One amongst us quoted some source and said there are some 300 Stairs that we have to climb. We had not completed 50 when we decided to take a break and had water, glucose and other sundry snacks. Another 50-60 stairs and we were staring at the fort! I must admit one thing, what I saw was the best kept fort I have ever seen in recent times. Perhaps Red forts in Delhi and Agra may come close. The stone stairs were slippery and had worn out a bit because of gushing rain water.

Soon we were within the fort. A quick glance at the fort reveals a lot about the military thinking that went into the architecture of the fort. Every crevice, every point on the wall was designed to have a close watch on the surroundings. There are many gates in the fort. On top of one such gate, there is a small crevice in the wall above, from where the archers can shoot at will without any risk of getting shot at. If at all any one entered thorugh the gate, he wont survive the common area which is covered from all the four sides from top!!! (Rains prevented me from taking any snaps there.) Then there are the canon slots in the peripheral wall. We could not see down because of the cloud, but I am sure, it would have over looked a long distance into the valley below.

Any ways, few moments from within the fort...

Three psychos at the gate.

Stairway to hell for the enemy?

The final flight of stairs took us to the top of the fort. It was open, misty and very, very windy. Fine spray of rain was coming into my face like a pack of pins. As we moved around we could see large wells that stored the water supplies for the fort. There were two temples as well, but they were in dilapilated condition. We forged our way to a place called as Bichchu Kanta. Well almost. Four of us (incl. me) decided against going down the narrow flight of stairs that led us to the narrow protrusion from the hill (in the shape of a scorpion's tail). On both sides of the protrusion lie steeep vertical cliffs. Rest did go there and their accounts indicated strong winds there, so strong that they literally squatted and went ahead. At the top, we found time to click a snap of ours.

Notice how these folks are straining to balance themselves against the wind.

We were totally drenched in rain, and were feeling very cold. We decided that the best way to stay warm is to keep walking. And we started our trek down. It was uneventful. Except that the rain was very heavy now and the water was gushing down the stairs of the fort. A call was made to the those who were still at Bichchu Kata. The cell phone network was working, though only for Idea Cellular!!! (For once BSNL was beaten in n/w coverage). We were to wait at a particular spot near the mid way of the fort. Soon a monkey came from nowhere and started bothering us. And with that started a trek downward, which stopped at nothing, until we reached the foot of the fort. The monkey kept following us all the way down, but left us alone when we reached amongst the shops at the base.

Soon others joined us too. A small break was taken in which we dried our clothes, and then went into one of the shops to have our lunch. The lunch was good. Perhaps we were too hungry to feel anything bad about the food.

At 3:10 p.m., we started our trek down. We did not stop at all while coming down. For that matter, we did not feel anything in the decent. The waterfalls that we had seen while going up had become very big and strong now. Few places on the way were completely submerged in water now. We reached the station at around 4:30p.m., with the train back home scheduled at 5:30 p.m. By 6:00 p.m. were into Pune.

This had been one of the most memorable treks. Not too strenous, but exciting enough. Again, conditions were such that I could not click too many snaps. But will try and make it to the place sometime after the rains. Till then, the memory remains!!!