The Independence day weekend trek is been a tradition and as
time passes, I wonder if I will be able to continue it in the coming year. A
sign of growing older is becoming more and more aware of time and its passing. Time was not much on our side at the beginning of this trek
itself. After lot of planning I was to come from Bombay and others from Pune.
We were to meet at Karjat station and then head towards Murbad for our trek to
Siddhagad and Ahupe Ghat. However at Karjat station due to phone connectivity
issues we lost about half an hour and thus started late.
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| Climbing Siddhagad |
Years earlier, I had trekked to both Siddhagad and Ahupe
Ghat separately. The former was an arduous hike and I remember we were pressed
for time (those being the days of catching the only ST bus in the vicinity) and
we did not manage to reach the top. This
time I thought, I might be luckier. From Karjat, the road passes Kashele (from
where one takes a diversion for the Bhimashankar trek) and then Mhasa. From
this small town, we took a road that almost runs parallel to the main mountain
range of Sayhadris. Now from memory I remembered the base village being Narivli
but as we got on the way there was a signpost announcing the road to Siddhagad.
Happily we took and drove down a bad road (for which you do pay a toll as there
is a forest fee for the protected forests of Bhimashankar). This led us to the
hamlet of Bhorwadi from where the road continues to Siddhagad – not the fort
but a waterfall that attracts crowds nowadays. We parked the car in the hamlet
and walked on the kuccha road for some time only to realise the direction was
wrong. We returned back and enquired in the village and finally got on the
right road thanks to a helpful village woman. We were again running – or should
I say climbing – against time!
The way from Bhorwadi is not well frequented; compared to
the cars going to the waterfall (at least a couple every half an hour) there
was not a soul on this route. The route climbed through the forest and a dry
waterfall bed eventually to land on steep slopes. We had to negotiate some
tricky small rock patches which were wet and slightly exposed. Eventually we
made our way to an precarious stairway where most of the steps were almost worn
out.
Siddhagad is square massif with a plateau above which there
is a further climb to the summit. It took us about couple of hours roughly to
get to the plateau. The base village of Siddhagadwadi was a few more minutes
walk across serene rice fields. We met some villagers on the way who had come
from the other route from Narivali village. They informed us that the route to
the top of the fort was not well frequented and also that the village had very
few people. Most of the villagers had migrated and only eight houses were
inhabited.
The weather was volatile on the trek; cloudy skies gave way
to sunshine only for the clouds to eventually gather back and rain. When we
were at the village waiting for a guide, the rains started. We had initially
planned to trek from Siddhagadwadi all the way to Ahupe, climb down the ghat
and then return. However as we started from the wrong village we had not choice
but to return back to it and our car parked there. The way back would be tricky
in heavy rain so we were wondering whether to make the final climb or not.
There are some ancient ruins on the plateau which we could see but we decided
to try tackling the summit.
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| Siddhagad fort from Bhorwadi village (base) |
The final climb was steep through thick forest. There was
mist around so we could hardly see anything around. We had apprehensions about
making it back in time and in daylight so we decided to go only up to a cave
half way up. The village guide we took told us there had been some landslides
and some rocks falling down in the earlier month. Just the news to dissuade
enthusiastic trekkers!
When I had come several years before to Siddhagad, a sanyasi
baba used to stay in the cave and villagers would visit him. Unfortunately the
holy man had died a few years earlier and so the visitors had stopped. The
guide showed us a small Samadhi for the holy man. A little ahead was the rock
cut cave – it smelled a bit dank like all caves do but otherwise it was clean
and a good place to sleep should one want to camp.
The top fort of Siddhagad once again eluded us as we decided
to head back. When we started descending from the plateau the rain was a thing
of past and it was shining clearly. The views around were great; we could see
Gorakhagad and Macchindragad pinnacles in a distance. Descending was quicker
than expected and we made it back to the village in good time. With time on hand
we decided to see what the fuss was about regarding the famous waterfall.
Unfortunately the beautiful waterfall is best avoided.
Litter and garbage were all around. The area around the waterfall literally
reeked of alcohol; you could smell cheap beer in the air. Once again I wondered
how blessed we are with such natural beauty and how undeserving most Indian are
about it.