Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Peb Fort (Vikatgad) - Manorama Point ( Matheran )

Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Peb Fort (Vikatgad)-Manorama Point (Matheran ) 

Peb Fort :

Located in the same mountain range as Matheran, Peb fort is a enjoyable trek for a day’s outing.

The fort derives it name from the Goddess 'Pebi'; Peb is also called 'Vikatgad' for its supposed shape of the Elephant Headed God, 'Ganesh'. The trek to the top involves surmounting a some very small rock patch and a ladder. The fort is famous for its caves which are maintained by disciples of Swami Samartha and the meditation chambers carved out from the rock inside the mountain. 

To get inside the meditation chamber, one has to crawl through a narrow passage in the rock and then climb down into the meditation chamber. The chamber is very well maintained with tiles on the floor for people to sit and meditate.

The fort also has a temple dedicated to Swami Samartha on the top and has the footwear or 'Padukas' worn by the great saint kept on the top. The view of the entire Neral and Karjat region from the top is worth the climb. Another attraction of the trek is the only standing Bastion or Buruj facing the Panorama point of Matheran, the view from here is just too beautiful to describe.

One would fined Peb Smilar to Gorakhgad in terms of the time required to climb the fort, ways towards the fort, the cave and the sorrounding nature, but there is a dense forest on the way to the fort Peb. Nowadays deforestation has reduced it alot. The fort is also named as "Vikatgad ".

The tentative itinerary for the Trek is as given below:

Neral railway station – Aanandwadi Village – Peb Fort – Panorama point ( Matheran) – Dasturi naka ( optional)

please note.. even this seems vast route.. it takes hardly 2 ½ hours only for Peb fort to Paronamra point.


Sachin Chavan will remove all Train ticket so all you just need to be on time in railway station before 5 mints of train arrival.

Please note this travel is almost 2 hours travel from dadar – neral so. Please be on time on platform.


Train Timing

Karjat Slow-S7 platform no.1 Dadar

CST : 5:19 am
Byculla : 5:27 am
Dadar : 5:37 am
SION : 5:42 am
Kurla : 5:48 am
Ghatkopar : 5:53 am
Thane : 6:14 am
Dombivali : 6:36 am
Kalyan : 6:45 am
Neral : 07.22 am

The cost for the trek is Rs 220/- per head which includes

Travelling from Neral to Aanadwadi
Breakfast nd AFTERNOON refreshments.


Things To Be carried:
Good raincoat
A bottle of water (atleast 2 Ltrs must),
A napkin
Biscuit or Cake pocket.

All Sahaydri Sangh members request you co-ordinate with everyone sautrday night only.. when and where you can meet on Sunday morning.

Dhanyawaad ani velevar yaa karan bike jaat nahi tithe :P

Jay Shivray

Sahaydri Sangh Off road Driving Rajmachi Trek

Sahaydri Sangh Off road Driving Rajmachi Trek

Befoe starting would like to say.. this was a completely new experience, yes and an exciting one- though by the standards of many people would be just a bumping walk over a rough road.

Schedule

•    26^th Feb 2012   Everyone will assemble  at Ghatkopar – Mankhurd link road except Vikrant and ajit sherakar at 4.20 p.m.
•      Light tea/snacks at Panvel at 6.00 To 6.20 p.m.
•     HEAD TOWARDS LONAVALA BY Old pune highway at 6.20 p.m.
•     Will readh lonavla city by 7.40 p.m.
•     Dinner at lonavala 7.45 to 8.30 p.m.
•     Way towards Rajmachi via left turn from lonavla Maharastra state transport - hdfc traning centre - gurukul highschool - tungarli lake - captian resort -     
•     Reach Udewadi base village of rajmachi in 40 mints ride.

As per Below plan we supposed to meet each other except Vikrant more and Ajit Sherkar, but Schedule plan not worked, cuz due to Vishal Mhaske not cut off at the final moment from the trek, we faced one bike short, so we was late by 2 hours from the schedule.. At the Time of 8.15 p.m. from  Panvel we l all 12 members ( Sachin Chavan, Vikrant More, Nilesh Shinde, Ajit Sherkar, Vikrant More, Santosh Sarak, Prakash Prajapati, Kumar Khot, Mangesh Keny, Bhushan Indulkar, Saurabh Shivalkar and umesh Mahind ) moved towards Lonavala via Chowk-Khopoli-Khandala.

We had our food before KHANDALA @ 10.00 p.m. then lateron we got so much traffic in 6km. ( Mumbai – Pune Expressway ) because of that we reached lonavala city around 11.45 p.m. It was truly too late for us, as we was already 3 hours late from our Schdedule plan, everyone was worried, cuz of dark night, but @lonavala we find some people saying not to use Targarli dam route, cuz its very dangerous and foresty, but we decided to go from that road only cuz we don’t want to go back 4-5 k.m. and start going by kunega ( Khandala). So we decided to go by Udewadi road via tungarli dam, road condition was too horrible, as it was dark night.. it just dent forest beside and u need to go upstairs/downstairs from ur bike… even in entire road u’ll find big stone, mud n all.. was not good for bike tires, so we decided to go back after 5 mints ride from that route, we took U-Turn and stayed in Lonavala MTDC hotel.

Second Day early morning we leave our room early around 6.30 and after having breakfast started going by khandala (kunegaon) road… after some time 15-20 mints.. we find even that road also same condition, but we all noticed yesterday night we took right decision, as after 4 hours ride, if u don’t the route, better to stay in city or somewhere and start going early morning..

After 1 ½ hours we readh base village Rajmachi, everyone was pleased to reach safely, then after 10-15 mints, we parked our all bikes and  started trek. With whole round of Manoranjan and Shrivandhan we got down around 1.00 p.m.. While going up we already given our Lunch order @village.. so at 1.30 we had good village food and after some rest we left for return journery via Rajmachi-Kunegaon-Lonavala-Mumbai.

History of Rajmachi

Rajmachi, a picturesque region consisting of two big  peaks namely Manaranjan and Shrivardhan, is a magnificent tourist destination in the state of Maharashtra, India. Rajmachi is famed for the fort and is near to the twin hill stations Khandala and Lonavala in Maharashtra. Shrivardhan is the biggest peak with a height of about 3000 feet and Manaranjan has an altitude of 2700 feet. There is a some scenery  plateau between the peaks. Rajmachi has a verdant history as the part of many rulers and invaders of the country. The fort symbolizes the political turmoil Rajmachi witnessed.

The fort in Rajmachi can be considered as two forts, one each in both the peaks. The fort is constructed to have an overview of the konkan region down. Rajmachi is renowned for trekking; one can trek from the Tungarli Lake region to Rajmachi through the breathtaking rocky natural trek routes. The ancient caves known as Kondhavi enclosed by the Rajmachi fort offer a nice view of the ancient creative architecture on rocks.

Places to visit in Rajmachi

Manranjan Fort - West part of the Rajmachi fort is Manranjan Fort. Its construction was strong so that no enemy could destroy it easily. The fort was built to have a watch on the plateau down the Manranjan hills. The fort has three entrances and also has a water tank at the top of the peak.

Shreevardhan Fort - Shreevardhan Fort, an ancient fort spotted with the history of Maratha rulers, is situated to the east region of Rajmachi town. The construction of the fort is in Martha style architecture and the imposing entrance of the Shreevardhan fort is in a semicircular shape.

.

Great Experience all together on bike...there is no other experience of biking than biking on terrian like this ...Muddy Road, stoney roads, deep forest, small road,...Lush Greenery around.. . Thanks for all Sahaydri Sangh for such a adventurous – off road drive Trek to Rajmachi.. no one will forget this in entire life.

These are one of those trips that you always wish you had taken a while ago, and at the same time, not taken at all… Many a times we’ve been trekking to various destinations and most of the times earlier it was a sources S.T n all but now bikes thanks to everyone for giving support to have a Successful off ride Trek.

Jay Shivray

Sahaydri Sangh

Sahaydi Sangh Trek to Dhaak Bahiri ......thrill

ढाक बहिरीच्या नावानं....चांग भल 

एका साहशी ट्रेकची अनुभुती आणि प्रचंड निसर्गातल्या एका रौद्र देवतेचे दर्शन घेऊन "सुखरुप" परतल्याचे समाधान !
oo कपाळात येणे म्हणजे काय ? हे अनुभवायचं असेल तर एकदा तरी ढाक बहिरीला जाऊन याच !

ढाक म्हणजे महराष्ट्रातील ट्रेकर्सची पंढरी... ढाकला आपण गेला नसाल तर आपण अजून नवखे/बच्चे आहात अश्या अर्थानी लोक बघतात... ! ढाकचा ट्रेक म्हणजे महाराष्ट्रातील काही अवघड किल्ल्यांपैकी एक. कर्जत पासून पूर्वेकडे २० kms अंतरावर सांडशी गावात जावे.. कर्जत पासून गावापर्यंत गाडी मार्ग जातो. सांडशी गावातून एका दिवसात ढाकचा किल्ला व ढाक बहिरीची (भैरी/ढाकच्या भैरवाची) गुहा बघुन परत येता येते... गावातून पायवाट धरून समोर दिसणाऱ्या सुळक्याकडे चालत रहाव...जरास पुढे जाऊन पायवाट दिसेनाशी होते...व घनदाट जंगल असल्यामुळे फसव्या वाटा दिसतील...वर जाताना लेणी समोरच्या दिशेला दिसत राहिली पाहिजे...पुढे जाऊन जंगल संपते आणि समोर उभा राहतो प्रचंड मोठा काळा कातळ..तो वर चढून गेल्यावर उजव्या बाजूस कलाक्राय सुळका दिसतो... कळकराय सुळका अंगावर पडेल असे वाटते व डावीकडे दगडाच्या छातीमध्ये ढाकची जगप्रसिद्ध गुहा दिसते. गुहेत चढुन जायला थोडेसे सोप्या श्रेणीचे (पुस्तकातील सोपी. आपल्यासरख्या माणसांना तेही भितीदायक वाटते :) ) प्रस्तरारोहण करावे लागते. शेवटचे दहा फुट चढताना मात्र नक्की काळजी घेणे आवश्यक आहे.

ढाकच्या गुहेत गेलो की लक्षात येते की वर दोन गुहा आहेत. प्रथम गुहेत बहिरी देवाचा म्हणजेच भैरोबा/भैरवाचा रंग फासलेली दगद दिसतो. याच गुहेमध्ये दोन पाण्याची डटाकी आहेत. यातील पाणी पिण्यासाठी वापरता येते पण हल्ली फारच खराब झाले आहे. याच पाण्यात काही मोठी काही छोटी भांडी बुडवलेली आहेत. ही भांडी खालच्या गावातील लोक जत्रेच्या वेळेला वापरतात. आपणही भांडी वापरुन परत धुवोन ठेवली तर चालते. दुसरी गुहा ही बळीचे प्राणी पक्षी मारायला वापरतात असे वाटते. कारण दुसर्‍या गुहेत जी पाण्याची कुंडं आहेत ती पाण्याऐवजी प्राण्या-पक्ष्यांच्या केसा पिसांनी भरलेली दिसतात. येथे वासही फार घाण येतो. हे असे नेहमी असते क ते माहित नाही पण आम्ही गेलो तेव्हा तरी असे दिसले.

ढाकच्या गुहेतुन उतरायला तिन मार्ग आहेत, एक म्हणजे आलो तसे परत जाणे. दुसरे म्हणजे दोर बांधुन १००-१२० फुट रॅपलींग करुन उतरणे अथवा तिसरे म्हणजे थेट उडी मारणे :)

ढाकला जेव्हा केव्हा जाल तेव्हा काही खबरदारी घ्यायला विसरु नका.
१. येथील गुहांमध्ये चप्पल बुट चालत नाहीत.
२. ढाकच्या बहिरीच्या गुहेत स्त्रियांना परवानगी नाही.
वरील दोन्ही गोष्टी गावातले बरेच लोक असतील तेव्हाच पाळायच्या. शक्यतो अश्या ठिकाणी गावकर्‍यांच्या भावना दुखावुन चालत नाही.
३. प्रथमोपचार पेटी बाळगा.
ढाक बहिरीच्या नावानं....चांग भल ! असा आवाज द्यायला विसरू नका !

Dhak Bahiri Cave

Trek Start point

Sachin chavan

Dhak Bahiri Devi

myself Bhushan Indulkar

view from base

Fort Rajmachi view from dhaak

Sahaydri Sangh

Trek To Bhimashankar fort via Shidi Ghat

Trek to Bhimashankar fort via Shidi ghat

October heat was started now a days… All sahaydri sangh members excited about the next trek.. as decided Bhimashankar trek was already posponded for some months due to unavaibility of members due to heavy work schedule. As mangesh keny suggested we areEagerly waiting for Bhimashankar trek via shidi ghaat and desend via Ganesh ghat.

So our some members i.e. Sachin chavan, Mangesh Keny, Nilesh Shinde, Vishal Mhaske, Kumar khot, Vinayak Galve, Prakash prajapati and Bhushan Indulkar decided to go for a bhimashankar trek for 1 ½ day on bike… i.e. on Saturday afternoon. As decided we were met each other in New Mumbai, and as ausual prakash prajapati is late due to some important work.. so we decided to wait for him for 2 hours.. as he were very much busy in office work, we were aware it can be dangerous driving in night on highway panvel-chowk-karjat-kashele-khandas specially on bike at night. Cuz road were too small and one n only road for the karjat, it was so dangerous, route was also not good.

We were in panvel from 5 to 8.00 p.m.waited for our two trek members, pakya and vinya, at 8.10 p.m. in dark night we started going towards chowk. After 20 k.m. we reached chow then we took left turn theron started going towards karjat via chowk… it was a very poor road,we were 8, and having 4 bikes with us and everyone knows to ride, so that was a good thing. After half n hour drive we reached in proper karjat city.



We have good Dinner in good restaurtant.. in that time their was heavily raining.. so weard jackets n all for next journey… due to rain the climate was totally cold side by side we were enjoying the riding in night with very light rain J after some time we were in Kashele. It was 11.30 time their… no one was their to show which route is correct for khandas.. cuz their were 3 roads their.. after 5-10 mints from the help of one man we recongised / got the correct route. As SAHAYDRI SANGH decided to reached the village khandas for the night. Due to late night we decided to take a stay in primary school just before 3 km. khandas it was a very good primary school.  We don’t waste time much, and slept their till 6 am. In mrng. Second day after reaching base village khandas ( Bhimashankar via karjat) we took one guide. With the direction as he shown we started our memorable, long holding journey. ( yes long holding cuz we cancelled bhimashankar trek almost 2-3 times due to problems).

And importantly we all were excited even though it’s a tough trek ( 3-4 hours ) as it’s the sahaydris forest ranges part, and almost 3300 feet up. As its was a truly superb atmosphere in all over the trek as its the beauty of the Western Ghats in entire Shidi Ghat,

 After a small round of photo sessions with huge mountain range in background, we started our trek.. yes it was complete pilot trek. Initially we had to cross a small hillock and then the main jungle route for Shidi Ghat starts after crossing a river. River had potable chilled water which quenched our thirst and we were able to refill our bottles. we reached the first ladder out of three in just half n hour. Recently the first ladder has been changed; it has now become very easy and less risky. After crossing the ladder, a rocky edge starts. On the left side, one can see the beautiful valley and to the right side stands a wall of almost 200 feet. One has to deliberate where to place one’s foot and progress by placing the next foot by taking grip on hand within cracks made in the right side of the wall. This patch is really a thrill and we completed in very nicely without any accidents.

Just after crossing this patch, we saw the second ladder; After some more rocky patches we were finally at the base of third ladder. Here one can see a cave at right side. We rested here for 5 mins and enjoyed the views in front of us. Then we started for third ladder. This one is the longest ladder and at top again you have to be careful because it’s quite difficult there to put your foot on the ground and pull your body out of the ladder. After few mins of climbing, we reached a settlement. After 20-25 mins of hiking, we reached a junction where some rest huts are made. Here both routes of Ganesh Ghat and Shidi ghat meet together. Now on from here the final steep climbing starts. this patch is an exhausting and arduous climb. After crossing this patch we entered into forest. And the main entrance of  main temple of Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga. There were plenty of devotees and tourists at the temple. After the visit to the temple, we refreshed ourselves with a glass of Lime juice. Cant express in words it was superb visit in one of the famous Jyotirlinga of lord Shiva “ Bhimashankar “

After having the lunch we started coming down but though Ganesh ghat… but how long route it was… it took almost 3 hours to reach dhangarwadi ( Khandas ) from the ganesh ghat.. very long.. you have to be walk entire bhimashankar you can also view padargad. On 16^th oct around 5.30 we were in khandas to return mumbai, as we started our journey again on our bikes.. again heavy rain come, its was completely dangerous, hillerious moments in front of us, cuz their was sound of lighteining in all the path till karjat not only lightening but also due to heavy winds some trees were destroyed and landed on main road. But that time all the riders shows their courage/braveness as it was not easy to drive all the way for 3 hours in such heavy rains specially when we not able to seen properly on driving route.. I like to thnnks to compete this difficult task in heavy rain to all our members who participated.

Jay Shivray

SAHAYDRI SANGH