Tag Archives: Lohagad

Lohagad – An escapade truly to remember

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Trekking (definition) : To make a slow or arduous journey on foot, especially to hike through mountainous areas…  But… “A trek is never a trek if there ain’t a little fun, little adventure, some moments to cherish and of course a little mishap here and there..’ That’s where the ‘arduous’ part comes in…

9:00 PM and we are still at work?? Come on guys let’s pack up and get the hell outta here… That was what was going on in my mind… but I guess, we had to make sure that everything was in order before we left for the trek.

On a chilly December night, trekking at 2:00 AM in the morning was no mean feat. Yep, that’s exactly when we reached the village called Baje, it served as a base camp for us. Parked the car over there and started hiking up towards the footsteps near Lohagadvadi… While there is another route to reach the footsteps where even cars go, it wouldn’t have been fun for us to take our car there and then climb up… as the trek time would have been just 15-20 minutes.

Anyways, at the end of it all, the hike up to the place was really worth it… trekking the mountain in the morning, chatting up and singing along for a journey and an experience that we were yet to have… Something told us, this is going to be one of those memories… You know what I’m talking about, now don’t you?

It took us about 2 hours to reach the top… Breezy in the morning, the caves were only warm place for us to feel some comfort.. but that would again defy the definition now, woudn’t it?? So we decided to chill out near the entrance, camp ourselves and make ourselves a couple o drinks to feel better… haha, that’s what you get for the arduousness as a reward. Besides that watching some of them, singing and dancing to ‘Sheila ki Jawaani’ as well 😛

Soon, it was time for the Sun to rise and us to have some really nice Photo session and of course meet our ancestors who made their way up on to the top to find out if we had some food for them. I was wondering why on earth did I even buy a bunch of bananas before we left, now I know exactly why…

The vision of breaking dawn was one I had been waiting for before I could get my hands on my DSLR, and begin my clicking spree… After a lots of fun and frolic, some nice photo sessions, we decided to head towards Vinchu Kaata… Alas, that was not to be…

While everyone was enjoying singing and dancing… we suddenly heard a cry out loud from one of our friends…The slippery tracks from where we had decided to take a detour towards VinchuKaata had made sure that today wasn’t the day, when we were going to be out there…

She suddenly lost her footing, slipped and fell instantaneously… We made her sit down, making sure that we find out what happened to her. Hoping it was not a fracture…we took a look, it looked more like  a sprain and a ligament tear we thought. But we were not sure, didn’t want to take a risk… So finally this is the exact reason why that arduous word came into the dictionary while defining the word ‘trekking’ It was quite a challenge as she was not able to walk…

One of the challenges now, was to find out ways and means to get our friend down.. So, a couple of guys went down to get the car from the other route to ensure that one car is at least downstairs, at the base camp from Baje village… While we were trying to figure out how to get her down.. We tried to make a stretcher with a couple of bamboos and blanket we had… Nope, didn’t work… We had a chair, tried to make a palkhi with the bamboos and a rope we had… nope, didn’t work… What could we do??

We were thinking and trying to figure out a way and that’s when it struck us… This was the only option for now…

The most effective and the most simple way was devised out of a story I remember my grandfather used to read in Chandamama comics, ‘Vikram Vetaal…’ yes, that is and was the only option for us…. So there, the only option left for us was to backpack her (literally) and that could have been done by only one person in our group and I don’t intend to tell you here who it was. For people who don’t know us, it won’t matter but for people at work… you guys should have fun guessing this one! As it turned out later… i.e almost at the bottom of the mountain, we met a guy who took a look at her leg and with the help of acupressure and she was able to slowly walk… Irony I say… Always on all my trips 🙂

That’s exactly the reason why I’ve not included anyone’s names… and precisely why this story ends like this… What happened later was something we all call an escapade truly to remember… 🙂 well, at least until the next one happens.

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Off to Lohagad – The Iron Fort…

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People Travel to know the boundaries of the world… The boundaries within their universe, the journey which they want to experience and imagine if ever they thought of living a life they couldn’t. People travel to know more about different people. People travel to experience what their soul will take with them to a different dimension. Sometimes when I think of these quotes of mine, I realize we all have  a desire in ourselves to understand fully what the beauty of this universe lies in. Be it the short trips over the weekend, adventure camps in school, trips and picnics during the monsoon or a great vacation abroad… When we travel, we unleash our inner spirit. One that adds to our charm and the experience of a life we live in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To me, trekking is one such experience where I can relive the adventure, which I always wanted. Think of nothing but the freedom that I get when I get up there. Be it 4000 feet above or just a mere 1400 feet. Doesn’t matter, one needs to understand that the beauty of all this is in the fact that you have a goal in mind and you go up there to achieve it.

So here we are, bunch of us office guys @SocWav have decided to head to Lohagad, a very easy trek tomorrow night. This would be my second experience trekking at night after one way back in Naneghat. Since, there are a lot of newbies and girls mostly, we decided to trek to Lohagad as its the easiest of the lots. I haven’t yet been here so it should be a great experience. The last time around, my friends ditched me on my working saturday and did a quick drive to Lohagad and got back with great photos and absolutely amazing videos. That was during monsoon though. Don’t know how it will be this time around. Hope the cold and pleasant weather will make up for a little bit lack of greenery I hope.

So we plan to trek at around 10-11 in the night, reach on top about 12:00 – 1:00 AM and camp up there. Hoping to set up a barbecue if we get hold of  a village local. Otherwise we’ll manage with our own Cup Maggi and other snacks.. I mean Maggi should really be the brand for all trekkers. The best part would probably come early in the morning, when we’ll take a look at the awesome views especially the ‘Vinchu Kaata’ and the Ganesh Darwaza… So courtesy Wikipedia here is a bit of trivia for all you folks about the destination.

Lohagad (literally “Iron fort” in Marathi) is one of the many hill forts of Chatrapati Shivaji. It is situated 52 km from Pune in western India. Lohagad is at an elevation of 3,450 feet (1,052 m).

On the west side, there is a long and narrow wall-like fortified spur called Vinchukata (Marathi for Scorpion’s tail; see picture) because of its shape. Lohagad has a long history with several dynasties occupying it at different periods of time:

Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas,Yadavas, Bahamanis, Nizamshahis, Mughals and Marathas. Shivaji captured it in 1648 CE, but he was forced to surrender it to the Mughals in 1665 CE by the Treaty of Purandar. Shivaji recaptured the fort in 1670 CE and used it for keeping his treasury.

How to reach the fort

From Mumbai, you can take a train to Lonavla. Malawli is the next station from Lonavla in the direction toward Pune. There are a number of local trains operating between Lonavla and Pune; you can take any of them. From Pune, you can take any of these locals.

From Malawli railway station, the fort is just 9 km away. Vehicles can go up to the foot of the hill. From here, which is near a village calledLohagaon, there are steps to the fort, numbering approximately 500.

When it rains, the top of the fort is covered with mist and clouds and becomes particularly wet. It is advisable to carry protective gear during the rainy season (mid-June to mid-September). Further, food is not easily available on the route. Most of the food stalls sell water, poha, tea/coffee, snacks, and soft drinks.

A panoramic view of the Pawna dam can be seen from the fort. Although it isn’t raining now, hoping to get a breath of fresh air… cold winter air during the amazing trek we take. 🙂

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