Harihar Fort

Harihar Fort

Vertical Mountain face of more than 200 ft. In the middle of it, Somewhere, an orifice and To reach  till that point, vertical climb (of more than 80 degree gradient) through flight of stairs carved on open face of the rock face. Interesting? That’s just a part of the story. Once you pass through an Orifice (Darwaja), then another set of short alleys, stairs spiraling left, right, straight or taking U turn before taking you to the “Top”. Sounds exciting? All this you can experience in Harihar fort Trek. Harihar trek is like Hollywood movie. Full of Action, thrill, adventure and all this in 120 min. flat.

Harihar fort is situated at 3500 ft. in Tryambakeshwar range of Sahyadri mountain in Maharashtra. It is located in Nashik district. It’s base village is Nirgudpada. From Mumbai, you can each via Kasara – Khodala – Nirgudpada route Or Igatpuri/Ghoti – Pahine- Nirgudpada route. If you are going via public transport take Kasara route as public transport (read jeeps and sumos) are more frequently available than other route. ST buses are infrequent on both routes and may available at the gap of 3-4 hrs.

This trek can be easily done as 1 day trek from Mumbai. However, We decided to do it as overnight trek.  We started early morning on Christmas day of 2015 and reached at Nirgudpada at 2 pm. thanks to low frequency of public transport as mentioned above. However nice winter breeze was making afternoon sun pleasant.  Even though I mentioned Nirgudpada as base village, it is just a cluster of few huts and small houses.

Trail to fort goes through fields and then climbs hill till it reaches on the col between Fani dongar (Mountain) and Harihar fort. From there, trail turns right to Harihar fort. After that you can climb rock cut steps to reach first darwaja.

While following trail from Nirgudpada, focus on col between Fani dongar on left and Harihar fort towards right. However there are two (or more than that) prominent trails, one moves slightly left towards Fani dongar. Take that route. Another route, which initially looks like going towards harihar fort, climbs till considerable height and vanishes when height to reach at col remain just less that 100 ft. or so. Many (around 50 %) groups reach till this point and then to avoid going down again, many of them climb through thrones, risky patches to reach to col. Wise option is to get down bit and move towards correct path and reach to correct trail to avoid unnecessary risk.

From fields till col, it is nice climb where your heart can demonstrate how fast it can beat and make its presence felt. It takes approx. an hour to reach till here. Then we turned right towards Harihar. In golden light of evening Sun and cool breeze, Harihar was standing tall showing it’s true might. Our mind was already racing on the rock cut steps. But it was still some distance away.

From base, Harihar fort appears, rectangular in shape. However from this point, we realize that it is actually triangular in shape.

Before steps starts, there is nice slope with scree, loose soil and nothing to hold :-). If you start skidding from here, you can enjoy non-stop slide till base of valley. (At least, that thought cross your mind). So needs to negotiate this patch carefully. One of our group member was so careful at this patch, that he transformed from two leg animal to four leg, then tortoise and then crawling creature. He would have given run for money to gecko or crocodile with his style.

 

Then we reached to most interesting part of the trek. It was those vertical rock cut steps. These are nicely cut steps with proper holds. It feels awesome when you climb till darwaja to look back straight down in the valley.

But that’s not all. Once you cross the darwaja, internal rock cut route moves through narrow and short alleys and internal spiraling steps moving like snakes with lots of twists and turns. 

After crossing two more darwaja like this we reached at the top (but not the top most point of the fort). From here, we walked towards lake and further ahead to shelter (this was probably old temple). It had enough space for 10 – 12 people to stay. 

When we reached there, it was getting dark and strong wind was blowing. That was increasing chilling effect of winter. Good part of the room was that it’s a rock structure, close from all side and has only small window like space to enter inside. So even though it was chilling outside, it was nice and warm inside.

There was already another group there. But we all adjusted fine. Even though we had our food with us, they offered evening and morning tea and even breakfast. 

 

It was full moon night, so it was wonderful experience, sitting on mountain top in the dark, looking at moon rise and chatting. After chatting for long time, before cold and wind could freeze us, we returned to our warm room.  

   

Next morning, we got up early. But there was no point in going outside in cold and dark. So we extended our sleep till 6.30 am. Then we got up to witness Sunrise, clicked few photographs. Our co- trekkers offered us tea (It is actually heaven to get ready made hot tea in such cold morning where you have expected nothing). 

Our next target was to reach on top most point of the fort. To reach till that point, route is steeper and full of loose soil and scree. If you are confident enough then only attempt to reach till top. (There is another route to reach here which comes from lake, which is safer). After that, small rock climb and you are on the top.

Experience from here is awesome. With wind flowing at such high speed unobstructed that It was difficult to hold flag even for some time and you get the feeling that it can actual lift you off your feet. (So it is better to keep flag down, at least you will be on the ground ;-) )

Then we came back and started descend. Negotiating with all those steps (internal and external) was taking time. We had to be careful as our sacks where hitting rock face and in turn pushing us towards valley. Also while descending, eyes follow straight into the valley. That adds excitement ;-). 

We negotiated all steps, scree patches safely and soon came back to Nirgudpada. Then reached Kasara via Khodala. From there back to Mumbai.

It was another wonderful experience which will remain in the memory for long long time.

   

Ajoba - Trek with Epic Connection

Ajobagad           आजोबागड

Trek with Epic connection

Height – 4511 ft.                      Type – Medium            Duration – 1 Day          Date – 8^th Aug 2015

Author & Photos : Amol

 

जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी

("Mother and motherland are superior to Heaven.")

Lord Ram and his ethos like one mentioned above are integral part of our nation. And so is Rushi Valmiki who has presented it to the world through Ramayan. So when trek has such epic connection, it becomes all the more interesting.

In India we have many places associated with Lord Ram and Ramayan. However, it’s rare to see things associated with Rushi Valmiki or Luv-Kush (Lord Ram’s 2 sons).

Ajoba (meaning Grandfather in Marathi) mountain is the place which is known as where Rushi Valmiki has stayed and Luv and Kush grown up here. Rushi Valmiki was like their grandfather, hence the mountain is known as Ajoba or Ajaparvat.

Dehane is the base village for Ajoba. It can be reached via Asangaon- Shahpur- Dolkhamb – Sakurli- Dehane route or Kalyan – Murbad – Tokawade – Dehane route. Our earlier plan was to go by public transport. However with some last minute efforts from Bharat, we could get motorbikes. So from Kalyan, we started on bike .I was riding Honda unicorn and Bharat on Bajaj discover. I opted for Shahpur route to save on time.

Riding on bikes in rain with so much of greenery around was absolute bliss. Especially on highway, cruising constantly at 80 Kmph was fun. We had breakfast break at Kamat’s before shahpur. Then moved on to interior road till Dehane. Even though road was not smoothest one, it was enjoyable with all rain and greenery around. Soon we reached to Dehane.

Actual Ajoba mountain is the one which can seen towards left side from Dehane. However since there is nothing on the top of it, Most of the trekkers trek the right side pinnacle which is called Sitecha Palna or Sitamai’s cradle.

There are three parts of the trek. First is from base (Dehane) to Valmiki Ashram. It is simple gradual walk.

Then second part is from Ashram to Khind (pass – A narrow passage between two mountains). Gradient of this Climb is bit more than first part (around 55 degree). 

 At Khind you are supposed to climb on mountain which is at your right side. But to proceed further, you have to climb around 20 -25 feet rock patch. After crossing rock patch, inside cave there is cradle which is called Sitamai’s cradle and Luv-Kush’s paduka (wooden footware) are carved inside this cave. This cave is visible from Khind too. After crossing rock patch you can reach at the top pf the pinnacle and come back. This is a third part.

It was cool morning with continuous rain showers. As we had bikes, we could ride till there was kachha road (road in progress). Then we parked our bikes and started the trek. It was lush greenery all around and fog surrounding us and valley around. Constant rain was also accompanying it. This nice cool rainy weather was perfect for trek. Enjoying the greenery and absorbing unique fragrance of wet soil and greenery (no perfume in the world can beat that) in less than hour we reached in Ashram.

Ashram is situated on small plateau amidst forest. It is very picturesque landscape. Evenly spread greenery of tree lines in the red soil bathing in the rain engulfed in the thin layer of fog. It was giving very serene feeling.  Inside Valmiki ashram, there is samadhi of Valmiki rushi. There is Shiva temple on the right side of ashram. On the left side there is small hut which is used to cook food for Sadhus or serve the Prasad. In front of Samadhi, there is Dhyan Kendra (Meditation room) built in shape of pyramid. On it’s left side there is Dharmashala.

Now It has started raining heavily and surrounding was completely drenched with hardly any sunlight coming through thick trees. We sat for a while in ashram but rain continued. So we decided to have quick lunch of bread Jam and move for next part of trek. We ate that and…… there were people in neighboring hut, they started calling us for having Prasad. Now that was a (good) problem. We already had our stomach full and eating more means climbing with heavy stomach, which is no-no for hike. Only on some days they make the Prasad for everyone. And today was that day. (and we had to obliged them because of their kind insistence). We were served nice hot steaming rice with dal, mix. veg. of brinjal-potato and papad. Wow, when you are completely drenched, in cold weather, midst of jungle, and you get such treat………heaven…………What more you can ask for? :-) ……………………..

We started next part of the trek. This climb is steeper than first part and through thick jungle. And we had our stomach too full. So we started climbing slowly. Trail starts behind hut adjacent to Ashram. Then it crosses stream at one place. Due to very thick vegetation, one can hardly see anything sideways. It is just a narrow trail strewn with big rocks. Slowly and gradually we reached in Khind (Pass).

This is beautiful spot. Very narrow V shaped opening between two tall mountains. View from here was simply awesome. You can see deep valley in front of you as well as behind. Lush green valley below and fog and clouds spread around. All this is enclosed with black rock border of mountain from both sides and rain was providing toppings.

There is rock patch of 20-25 ft in the right side mountain and above that Sitecha Palna (Sitamai’s Craddle) and

cave in which Luv-Kush’s paduka are carved. Even though it is at 20-25 ft. high, it is visible from Khind. Earlier, iron ladder was placed there to climb this rock patch, however now it is kept at ashram. Without ladder, I tried to climb this patch because further trail was going from there onwards. But there was no grip on the rock patch. In other season, there would be at least some chance to cross by rock climbing. However due to heavy rain and moss, rocks were wet and slippery, I searched to cross the patch from elsewhere. There too, it was very slim chance. Another point was even though I would have climbed through it somehow, rest of the group couldn’t have managed that. Also risk was very high due to rain. So, after few attempts by me and Pratik, I decided to turn back. One should be careful on this patch and part above it. Few years back a girl from SIES College lost her life on this trek only.

Other trek members were engrossed with clicking photographs, so I have to force them to start walking again :-). We started descending slowly and gradually through path full of boulders and reached to ashram again. Clicked few photos and started descending further. Soon reached to spot where we parked our bikes.

Rain god was smiling through-out. We started riding back. At Dolkhamb, we halted for snack break. After refueling ourselves with delicious hot Vadapav, bread cutlet, Kanda bhaji and Tea., We started riding again in full speed in order to touch the highway before it became dark completely. We managed that. Then to avoid traffic at Bhiwandi by-pass we took one internal road to Kalyan. That added another adventure with no lights, road full of speed breakers and pot holes, our bike head lamps were providing light just little more than candle and heavy vehicles from both the sides. Still we reached to Kalyan safely ;-). I think more than riders -me and Bharat, pillion riders – Navin and Pratik must have heaved sigh of relief :-). 

It was nice trek added with 170 Km bike ride. It was wonderful experience.