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Published: October 6th 2009
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Itinerary:
Mumbai(Dadar)-Swargate - 3 hours- ST Bus : (Rs.116)
Swargate-Chilladi - 1 hour - ST Bus : (Rs. 18)
Chilladi-Gunjavane - 1 hour - Private Jeep: (Rs. 250 for a group of 5)
Gunjavane-Rajgad - 2-3 hours - Trek
Rajgad- Torana - 4-5 hours (Ideally)
Rajgad - Torana - 2 days (Due to fog, rains and confusion. Details in the blog).
Torana-Velhe - 2 hours (Ideally)
Torana-Velhe - 7 hours (Due to rescue mission !! Details in the blog)
Velhe-Pune - 2 hours (Last bus at 6.30 pm)
Photos:
Here Logistics Food:
Rajgad -
- A couple of hotels at Gunjavane.
- A hotel on the way to Rajgad owned by a guy named Rasal (Number😊
- He charges Rs.30 for bhakri, zunka, thecha, aachar and batata bhaji.
- Another Rs. 200 if you want him to bring the lunch to the top at a specified time.
(Please dont bargain. Its a huge work for him to bring the food to top. esp. because he is handicapped by one hand)
Torana-
* On the way from Rajad to Torana, there are two houses. One of them is Bhagoji Dhere (a smart and nice guy. More about him in blog). Amazing tasty food (He charged us Rs 700 for a night stay, dinner for 3 and guide services to Torana.)
* No food on Torana.
Water:
- Drinking water available on Rajgad as well as Torana.
- You can request water at the two houses from Rajgad to Torana.
Stay:
1. Two temples and a closed concrete shed at Rajagd. (The shed leaks badly in rains. Huge crowds on weekend. Go early and get a good place in temple.)
2. One temple at Torana.
Tips on the trek:
Rajgad
* Trail to Rajgad is easy and straight (Huge crowds on weekend).
* No tree cover. So start early and carry water.
* The last 200 ft is a relatively tougher climb (grade 3 according to Vivek). The safety is ensured by rails all to the top.
Torana
* The trail from Rajad to Torana starts from Sanjivani Machi through Alloo darwaja.
* As you walk towards the Machi, there is a place where you climb down a few steps and you will find the alloo darwaja to your left. It is very easy to miss
esp. in fog as we did ! Remember, although Torana is to your right, the path starts from left.
* The path descends and turns right until you come to an open space. From here the path descends steeply to reach a small khind (a pass). Cross the khind and go straight to reach a tar road. To your left is Bhutondi village while to your right is Pali village.
You cross the road to find a trail slightly to your right which will take you to Torana.
* After a couple of kms., you will find Bhagoji Dhere's house. He can take you to Torana.
* From here starts a maze of trails. A number of trails go to villages which are 10 kms away. So you may keep walking on a trail for hours
before realizing its wrong. On a clear day you can see Torana all throughout the trek and keep walking towards it. On a foggy day, dont go out
on the trek if there isnt a guy in your group who has done the trek twice. But since you will go anyways (as we did when we were told not to. Here some
rules of thumb)
* Rules of thumb:
- Dont descend. The trail to Torana follows a ridge. Almost all the trails to villages descend to the valley. So if you keep on descending get back.
- At most of the forks, keep right.
- At junctions, take the middle path.
- A sure sign of correct trail is dhardev mandir and second house. (Although I guess there may be trails to torana that dont go over them)
- After the second house, the trail goes over several hills and depending on the path you take you will find the valley to your right or left.
* The climb to Budhala machi has a small 50 ft. rock patch which is difficult (Grade 4 according to Vivek). Take a rope in monsoon.
* After you climb the machi, turn right for torana fort. At one point towards torana fort, the trail disappears. At this point, climb straight up and
traverse to right along the edge to reach the Mengai temple on torana
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Abhijeet Kote
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Like it Photo
in your photo see all greenery i like it!