So this time it was the magnificent Sudhgad fort .This fort is situated some 150kms from Mumbai and considering the train situations in Maharashtra (lockdown) we went to the base of this fort by a car. The way till reaching the base is quite simple and the road is actually very good as it takes you through Lonavala express way ,leaving aside the last few kilometers of the road that takes you to the base village 'Thakurwadi' .You can simply type Sudhagad fort in google maps and it leads you to the correct way. We were a group of 6 school friends and decided to complete this trek in the afternoon and then stay there for the night . You can call Mr. Santosh (9273369217) who can provide you with food and then you can stay there for the night inside the Rajwada. I'll explain all that in detail.
The image is from the base of the village where we parked our car , mostly no one asks you to pay for parking but if they do don't pay more than 50rs. The way forward is then from the village ,ask them or directions and the trek starts, after walking for around half an hour you will come across the ladders built by villagers which are in very good condition. There are two such ladders in the way and both of them are well maintained , still for safety reasons single person should cross it at a time. Here's some images and videos from top of the 2nd ladder.
After climbing these ladders you can sit and have some rest ,as the view from the top is very nice and also the place has some shade. Then after walking for another half hour you will come across the stairs of the fort and mind you this is not where the trek ends . It will test your endurance if you are doing this in afternoon as the steps are really steep and are only for a small section of the fort, after that you have to again start climbing from the rocks which is very exhausting.
It would take you around an hour or one and half hour to reach the top of the fort ,also since there is no shade on the path to reach the top I would recommend carry as much water as possible .Before reaching the top you will come across some Burujs and the view from them is awesome. Then after reaching the top you can 1st spot a small temple and then a small pond where you can go for a swim which we did and with some more walking you can find the Rajwada .I'll give the photos and videos below, after entering the Rajwada we met with Santosh had our lunch and went for a good nice sleep. We woke up around 4:30 pm and went for a nice swim in the pond also there is another pond near Rajwada where you can find drinking water.
Video of Rajwada..
After relaxing our bodies and watching the sunset we returned to the Rajwada and made preparations to sleep , we were accompanied by more than 40 students who were from Aurangabad they made food for us that night and we were sitting outside the Rajwada on the plateau gazing at the stars till 11:30 pm.
The next morning we woke up early ,packed our bags and started descending around 8:30 am. The mist that covered the mountain was so beautiful ,we made our way down with not taking much breaks as the afternoon sun was too cruel on us the day before. We reached the base village by 11 and then made our way back to Mumbai.
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