17th Oct 2004

Korigadh Trek

After Returning back from Germany it was my first visit to Sahyadri. Purposefully we decided to keep a easy Trek to avoid October Heat. This time too, there were many responses/inquiries, we attended for this trek initially around 30 but final outcome was 25 participants. Our New Deputy Gopal had organised a Mini Bus for transportation due to unavailability of local transport as per our schedule.

We gathered at Andheri and started our journey at 6:00am collected everybody on the way as we took Andheri-Sion-Chembur-Vashi-Express Highway-Lonavala-Ambavne. I thought of taking a nap while in transit but couldn't as I was explaining other trekking places on the way. One of our participant was supposed to catch us at Lonavala. Here we took breakfast at Lonavala. We finally reached the base village Ambavne at 9:15am. Nothing has changed except the road condition between Lonavala to Ambavane courtesy to Sahara City. It was complete change of face of Ambavane Area. From one angle it was nice to have such a change from the village people's economical condition. But from other aspect its killing the Village culture, it was the sad part. I don't want to mention any political stuff over here since our purpose of visiting this place was different.

We started our trek at 10:00am via Ambavane route. It was quite refreshing environment passing through little jungle available at the base and the rock cut path to the entrance of the Korigad. For new bees it was quite good experience of little rock climbing. On the fort the scene was quite good in terms of cleanliness. Sahara group had appointed security guards on the fort for some reasons. We took little break with sharing the history of this fort with all participant. Then we explored the entire Fort by circular exploration. We found 5 Canons on the fort. The one which is near to the Korai Temple is longest one. We did measured the length using the Long sling presented by me to Our Leader Kiran. Actually we were in search of, how to measure the length. But one of our smart member Deepti suggested to use the rope which I was aware of the length. So the length of the Canon is around 3 mt. Latter we moved towards the 2 beautiful lakes. Everybody tried to get the feel of water as well their photography skills. Then we moved to the highest point of the Fort where as per my watch it was showing 3120ft. Then we moved further along the fort wall where one can see the Peth Sahapur village and the Ganesh Darwaja. Then further towards the Sahara City end from where one can see the Indian Cricketers hut gifted by Sahara. Then once again we reached the Korai Temple. Took some rest and our Lunch.

Our return journey started at 1:45pm. We reached the Base within next 1 hr. Then we visited the old Temple and did see off to the Korigadh by 3:00pm. We had tea break at Lonavala and left the place to Mumbai After 10 min. near Khandal our Friend Martin clicked that he forgot his Wallet at the Pan shop. So he decided to return back to find the same by Auto and luckily he found the wallet with all hard earn Euro in it as well IMP accessories. We all celebrated the Lost and found with singing group songs on the way. This happened due to the less tiring trek. Everybody was not too tired and we refreshed due to the pleasant environment on the top of the fort. As well we found a new entertainment guy Praful who has got good singing skills.

We returned back to Mumbai by 7:30pm. As per the feedback taken by Gopal for this trek it was quite comfortable trek. For new comers it was as usual good experience but for the regular member who had done tough trek previously had a less burned calorie experience. I was happy to know that they are craving for Hard one(I mean strenuous trek). So as the flag carrier I assured them for the next time but not like our politician who always say such things at every election time.

Written by: Rajan Rikame

My recent changes in the job schedule like frequently visit to our other offices in India make me little nervous since my scheduled monsoon treks; I was forced to cancelled. Now this time what happened is one my trek colleague had organized an outing at lonavala. I have decided to join him just for relaxation.

Lonavala is one of the best place to visit in the monsoon. Lots of trekking opportunities are there & not to forget about the famous "chikki".  Trekking places like Rajmachi, Korigadh are famous forts to visit & in the rain it's enjoyable treks too. On the other side lies famous  Karle caves & Ekveera temple. This time it was an relaxation outing, so I didn't bother to browse area map & other details. We planned to start in the evening by Asiad bus from Dadar on Saturday 26th. We were aware of the new express highway road construction between Mumbai Pune road. It took around three & half hour to reach Lonavala by road. The atmosphere was little cold with dizlling rain. We then went to a house of our colleague. The house was in a well maintained society, 2 km away from Lonavala at Valvan village. We were 5 in number. We spend the night with chit- chatting our life experiences with each other. In the morning we all left the place to Bhushy dam at around 11 am. IT's around 7-8 km from Lonavala. One can walk & reach within a hour. I will suggest that better to walk instead by vehicle. In the rain this place has got a record visitor of around three lacks. As soon we reach the place we had a hot cup of tea & three other colleagues left for the dam visit from the road head. It was too crowded most of the people were standing in the excess water which was coming out of the dam. Most of the visitors were exploring places to be in a group around the dam. Not a single waterfall was available because of the too much crowd, since everybody likes to enjoy waterfall  & flowing water. So after spending considerable time we were back to home. Rain started heavily by that time. So we took rest at home till evening & left the place to shop especially chikki. Then back to Mumbai  again by state transport bus.