Page Type: | Trip Report |
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Date Climbed/Hiked: | Nov 30, 0000 |
Activities: | Hiking |
Season: | Winter |
After much
deliberations, the final people that got together for the trek to Rajgad were myself, Manasi, Yuvaan, Amya, Amlya and Pintya. And, a friend of Amya’s –
Sachin Gadgil accompanied us.
We had decided to trek up the fort not through the usual route of Gunjawne, but through Pali darwaja (door), which would prove to be a much easier route for Yuvaan!
On the way to the foothill, we got stuck really bad in the traffic jam, which was due to some accident that had taken place. Once we got out of it, amlya took a turn into Khed-Shivapur, telling us that he knew a shortcut to Pali.
It turned out to be untrue, and we ended up coming back to the highway! When we were stuck up, weOnce on the fort, there is a clear bifurcation – one trail goes up to the Baale-Killa (a mini-fortress at the maximum height on the fort), which acts as a final defense
when enemy attacks you, and one trail goes to the “nedha”, which is nothing but a huge hole in the wall, which either has taken place due to some enemy’s cannonball, or pretty much due to wind-erosion. It seems unlikely that wind can erode a rock to such an extent that about 15 people can comfortably stand in it. I guess, it probably is a result of a combination of both.
We decided to go and climb up the Baale-Killa first. The trail ends at a place, and all you see is a rock face, which would have been a very difficult one to climb up, had there not been the steel bars and chains hanging from them. About 2 – 3 rock patches later, we were at the main gate of Baale-Killa, from where we could
easily see the Suvela Maachi, on which the nedha exists. The second maachi – Sanjeevani Maachi is the one which you climb down, to go to the ridge that connects
to Torna, another fort which Shivaji Maharaj owned. In fact, that was the first fort that he won in a battle. The trek from Rajgad to Torna is quite a good one.
On the Baale-Killa, we could see remains of ancient temples, homes and water bodies, which most probably were used by the people a couple of centuries ago. It had gotten hotter, and we were desperately looking for some shade. It was a great relief to stand near a wall, which blocked us from the sun, where we took the usual
photos of the entire group. Once we were done roaming around on the Baale-Killa, we descended. Descending wasn’t exactly an easy job, with people coming up, and people like us going down, with only 1 support system on the rock faces! But, somehow we managed and took on to the trail going towards the nedha. After about half-an-hour’s hike on the trail, we reached the nedha, where it wasn’t easy to climb up to. We slowly climbed up the rock patch that took us to the nedha. This was a treacherous climb, as there is a deep valley at the other end of the nedha, and from where you are climbing; it’s about 30 ft. steep. If you fall on your back or your head, you are gone. Once at the nedha, we took a long break; had fruits and biscuits that we had bought. Yuvaan had a good amount of biscuits, followed by water to hydrate his body. The cool breeze in the nedha was something that could’ve easily put us off to sleep. But, this is exactly something that everybody should avoid. If one dozes off at the nedha, and loses his / her balance, then that’s the end of his / her life.
After a lot of snacking and chatting, we carefully descended from the nedha, to walk back to the main entrance of the fort. This is when Yuvaan had a terrible fall on the trail, as he was concentrating on how deep is the valley on the right! With a few scratches, he was OK, and he was up and running again. Once we reached the
main entrance, lots of trekker crossed us, who were going towards the nedha. Sachin was the man in the front, and Yuvaan was walking with him, at his pace. On
a trek, Yuvaan always wants to stay ahead of everybody else. I don’t know from where has he gotten this competitive spirit.
We hike down to where our cars were parked, and went to the same place to have lunch. We had a sumptuous lunch of Pithla-Bhaakri, along with the usual kharda at the local restaurant at the base of the fort. After the lunch, we all cleaned up a bit, changed into fresher clothes, and started our return journey back, determined
to come back for the Rajgad-Torna trek someday.