Irshalgad - The One That Got Away

There are very few places left around Mumbai where I have not trekked as yet. One of those is Irshalgad, a sharply peaked hill that cannot be missed on the old Mumbai-Pune road. Somehow I missed this trek, having been to almost all the mountains around it. So I tagged along with a commercial group that was heading that way on what was ‘friendship day’.

Irshalgad pinnacles

Now I am not one for commercial groups as they are too big and noisy for me personally. I enjoy the intimacy of a trek with friends. Plus there is the benefit of setting the pace and itinerary as one wishes. Nevertheless here I was on a Sunday which was also the aforementioned ‘friendship day’ – luckily for me, many people had more celebratory ideas in the city and ditched the hiking group. As a result we were a group of about ten, on our way to Chowk via Karjat.

The hike starts at the Morbe Dam colony near Chowk phata on the Mumbai-Pune old road. From the colony, a sharp ridge rises towards Irshalgad. Once you are high up on this ridge, Irshalgad is visible with its sharp pinnacles and its ‘needle-hole’ point. The ridge takes you to Irshalwadi, a small hamlet on a plateau dotted with grassy expanses and tiny rice fields.

We had a heavy downpour when the hike started but later there were only clouds. The clouds played hide and seek with the sun, affording us great views all around. On one side you could see Matheran and on the other the imposing Prabalgad. From the village, we walked  towards the other end of the massif and then gradually climbed up a sharp ridge to the top. Its difficult to scale the rocky tops of this mountain; the route from the ridge eventually starts zigzagging through rocks and gets narrower. I suppose as one goes ahead it just gets more exposed as well.

We did not go too much on the rocks and instead enjoyed the peace and quiet. We were only warming up to each other as we had started the morning as strangers. We had lunch at the top and lazed around for a while enjoying the scenery. This is a small trek and a couple of hours is the most it will take you to reach the top!

Travelling: You can take the Karjat local and then a private vehicle or a local ST bus to Chowk and then to Morbe Dam colony or Poinje village. Shorter way would be to take the Panvel local and reach Chowk and then the base villages. Those with stamina can try combining Prabalgad and Irshalgad together for a robust workout!