Jan 13, 2007 01:58 AM
15611 Views
There are two ways to conquer the hard rajmachi twin forts("hard" is used for urban people who don't jog or go to the gym regularly). Thanks to MouthShut n the members for providing me a complete insight when we decided about 3 years ago to go for a trek here.
The first way that is taken by most people is via lonavla. Celebrities Mukul Dev n Alesia Raut took this same route on the show "top drive getaways". My organisation's adventure club also organised the trek from this route only. The climb is not so tough if take this road. Because u have already reached 1500+ feets using petrol/diesel power(Lonavala is accessible via the expressway among the high karjat ghats). Since I haven't personally hiked using this route, all I can say is that this path to rajmachi village is LONG(about 15 km of walk, with a slight slope) but easy in terms of the gradient n difficulty. The trek will take 3 hours if u are a regular, n 4 n a half to 5 hours for a normal metro-ite.
The second route is the one we took. This one is the challenging one, because here the ascent begins from the foot of the mountain n we climb all the way up! I will describe our experience here, because I still remember it as a.as a.flashback :D
We took the early morning local train to karjat(I think its at 6 am from kurla). Standing at the doorway to experience the chilly out-of-mumbai winds, n then getting ourselves cold to the point of chattering jaws, we finally reached karjat station. After a light snack n after getting our camera n trekking gear ready we started off by posing for photos by climbing a railway locomotive that was idling around. We were obviously shooed away by the arriving driver coz he was the one responsible to see that no vital info is leaked to strangers like us. That was the whole spirit of the trip. We were so enthusiastic n so energetic that we went deviating from the route many a times.
We packed in our lunch, which was 2 pavs n omlets for each of us.
We took a minidor to kondhna village(only a few meters away from kondevade village, which is the spot to catch rickshaws n minidors back) @ 10 rs per member.
We took pohe for snacks(a little pricey because of the monopoly of being the only restaurant in that remore area) n swung the swing at the house cum resort cum restaurant at the beginning of the trek. After chatting with the restaurant owner, we landed a bet with him. He challenged one of us to touch any of the twin forts n return on the same day. We accepted, the deal was that he will pay us 10 rs. It was only 5 hours later that we realised how expensive it is to earn 10 rs that way :D
The trek began with a mild ascent. We came across abandoned shanty huts, wooden structures carrying hay n wood, n a lot of cattle n local villagers. We enjoyed a splash in the running water, n although it was winter, the sun was coming up. We were helped by the villagers who told us which path to follow. All through this time, we were observing the hill to our right, that had a railway track somewhere in its middle(heightwise).
The hike slowly progresed to a medium grade trek. The villagers, the village n the cattle began dissapearing. But one thing that was always there was the white arrows marked on various stones. U are supposed to follow the stones that point in the opposite direction(the arrows are marked for coming down, duh). Also, the small wall-like structure that was visible from below was becoming larger n larger, n we concluded that we have to reach that fort.
We realised that the way isn't easy, with a lot of loose gravel n tree branches n high steps(natural stones) on the way. We encountered villagers who were climbing up/down for their daily chores, n everyone of them responded to our query "how much more time will it take" with a "half an hour".
Then came the most adventurous part of the climb. We realised that we haven't come across any arrow for a while. N what we were climbing on was a stony path that is a waterfall during the monsoons!
So we got scared, one of our friends narrated an incidence that few people he knew had to spend time in a forest in the evening because they didn't have any torch or anything with them, n had a horrible time. We all got scared, but we decided to take a break n have lunch n search for the lost path later.
After lunch came our search for the lost arrows. We had to climb an almost vertical rock about 15 feets high. We also found a carcass of a dead crab there(perhaps some eagle left it after enjoying it for a meal). But thanks to the spirit of two of my friends, we finally found the lost trail.
The climb was strenuous. Two of my friends started giving up. The rest of the 3(including me) were constantly cheering them up, telling, we are almost there, we are almost there. All this time I was checking for signal on my cell phone, n there was no signal to be found all through the trek.
My friends started doubting the credibility of information that I had taken from mouthshut, because they couldn't believe that someone lives this high. After fooling each other that we have almost reached n after listening to the ringtone of mission impossible to charge our spirits(yes, we found it funny n uplifting then) we finally reached the signs of civilisation. The dense forests began getting replaced with fields, grasses n cattle. After another short n intense half an hour we finally reached Rajmachi village.
We were so relieved to reach there, we all rested our feets, had cool earthen pot water, n sumptuous pohe. But we refused the offer that the villagers made that they can prepare full lunch in an hour. We were surprised to see a complete community full with a cement school building thriving there. We asked the localites if there is any electricity or telephone there. We all got a shock to hear a "no" for both. We asked them how did they manage to run the elctronic devices we found there, like the radio/tape recorder. They said that they have solar cells. WOW
Anyways, we set our sights on the "wall" we had been looking at(by this time, the railway track on the neighbouring hill had come to our level n gone down so that we were at twice its height). The wall now looked like a good 300 feet wide fort, another 15 storeys high. One of our friends gave up there n decided to stay back at the village.
We gathered the last of our strengths. N it was worth it!
The last part was easiest because the stones were cut to form stones of similar heights. There was variety because we first came across an ancient temple. Then we came across a cave like building carrying the cool water that forms the source of drinking water for the villagers(we had also got info on that, they said that there is a reservoir on top of the fort that carries rain water all through the year).
Continued in comments
