Districts:Pune and Raigad

Minimum Days Required: 4

Best Season:November and December

If a trekker wants to really test his / her timemanagement skill, stamina, patience, and presence of mind, then this is onetrek a trekker must look forward to do. Starting from fort Sinhagad near Puneand concluding at Durga-Durgeshwar Raigad, this trek takes you to long anddemanding route in Sahyadri along with superb scenery.

This demanding trek can be completed in 4 days:

Day 1:Sinhagad to Rajgad

Day 2:Rajgad to Mohari village

Day 3:Mohari Village to Raigad

Day 4: Explore Raigad

Day 1:Sinhagad to Rajgad

First day of the range trek starts from Sinhagad toRajgad. It is approximately a 30 km walk. This trek can be divided in fourparts,

1.Pune City to Sinhagad.

2. Sinhagad to Winzer village.

3. Winzer village to Gunjavane village.

4. Gunjavane village to Rajgad.

PMT bus transport is available from Swargate to reachAtkarwadi. Atkarwadi is the base village of fort Sinhagad. Ascending Sinhagad,takes around one and half hours from Atkarwadi. At Sinhagad, one can pay homageto Tanaji Malusare Samadhi, refill water at Dev Taka and move towards KalyanDarwaja for descend. Rajgad is approximately 30 kilometres towards south ofSinhagad. The route from Sinhagad to Rajgad is via Winzer village. There is aridge that goes towards Winzer village. The ridge has 3-4 small hills. Aftercrossing 2-3 hills one has to take route towards right. Further, one comesacross a hill, keeping the hill towards, left move ahead and take a right turn.It takes almost hour and half to reach this point. Initially, the path isnarrow and goes through trees. Hence, caution is to be eexercised whilecrossing this path. Later, one has to turn left to take a steep descend towardsvillage Malavali. From malavali,Winzer is almost 10 minutes’ walk through farms. It takes almost 4-5 hours toreach Winzer from sinhagad. Enough stock of water is to be carried fromSinhagad as there is no water till Winzer.

From Winzer there are two options;

1. Nasarapur - Velhe road is nearby Winzer village andone can take a sumo either from Winzer or from Margasani to Gunjavane, basevillage of Rajgad.

2. There is straight road behind Winzer bus stop toSakhar village. This route is through fields.This route saves almost 5-6kilometers of walk. However, in rainy season this route may not beaccessible. 

There are two options from here.

1. Reach Sakhar and follow gunjavane road.

2. Instead of going to Sakhar, cross a small hillahead and join the same gunjavane road. This route saves some time. But it isadvisable to check with villagers / local about this route. Desirable, that avillage or local accompanies you till Gunjavane. From Sakhar it takes almost anhour to reach Gunjavane. Rajgad can be ascended in approximately2 hours.

Day 2:Rajgad to Mohari village via Torna

Second day of the range is from fort Rrajgad to Moharivillage near Rayling platue. The rangecan be divided in 3 parts

1. Rajgad to Torna.

2. Torna to Bhatti Village

3. Bhatti to Mohari Village.

Second day, take a traverse through a ridge betweenRajgad and Torna to reach Torna. Itis desirable to leave Rajgad as early as possible. Lunch and snacks can becarried from Rajgad. Raw material to prepare food for night and next day alsoneeds to be carried.  Route towards Tornais from Alu Darwaza of Sanjivani Machi. Alu darwaza is situated on the leftside while heading towards Sanjivani machi. Little descend has to be done fromAlu darwaza to come out of fortification of Sanjivani machi. Then one has totake a traverse from Sanjivanimachi from left side. Then, one has to moveahead, come towards the end of Sanjivani machi and take right. Here, descendfrom Rajgad begins. The ridge joining Rajgad to Torna is almost 13kms. The roadis straight and passes through a small hill. On the way, there is only onehouse which belongs to Debhe. With minimal stops one can reach Torna within 4-5hours.There is steep ascend near Torna. A small rock patch followed by araddle. Rock patch can be ascended without a rope. After ascending Torna, onehas to reach Mengai Devi temple. Here there is a water cistern, where water canbe refilled, lunch and rest can be taken. From Torna we have to descend towards Bhatti village this route is extremelysteep and slippery. There are strong karbi stems on the both sides of the routefor support. On the way there are some thorny trees and hence, one has toexercise caution while descending. It takes almost 2 hours to descend fromTorna from this route. Further, crossing the dense karbi trees, there are twomore paths. We have to take a left path and reach mohri which is almost 15 kmsfrom this joint.

There are two options to reach mohri from bhatti;

1. There is a road which goes through small hills.Villagers / Local guidance is required to go through this route.

2. One can board a Vehicle coming from Velhe and gotowards Pasarliphata. These vehicles do not go to Mohri Village, but if werequest and are ready to pay money then they can drop us nearby Mohri village. Duringthe journey from bhatti to mohari, one can easily locate Rajgad, Torna and theridge joining them. Bhatti to Mohari takes almost an hour by vehicle. Mohari isa small village of 5-6 houses. One can stay in one of the houses.

Day 3:Mohari to Raigad

This is the last day of the range trek. The summit ison Raigad. This journey can be divided in 4 parts.

1.Mohari village to Rayling platue.

2.Rayling platue to Linganavadi

3.Linganavadi to Panhe.

4.Panhe to Raigad

On this route, it is desirable to be accompanied by avillager. Also ensure to carry enough stock of water as there is no water tillkonkan. One reaches rayling platue in almost 25 minutes from Mohari village. Itgives superb view of fort Lingana and fort Raigad towards right. Lingana fortis next to Rayling plateau, considered to be one of the toughest forts in Sahyadridue to its steep and risky exposure. The way to boratyachinaal descend is atthe entry of Rayling plateau.

Bortyaachi naal descend is very steep and there areshaky and unstable rocks on the way. One has to be very careful whiledescending. After almost 45 minutes of descend, one has to take a traversetowards right for Lingana base. The traverse is very narrow and there isextreme exposure. It is advisable to cross this traverse with a support of arope. After the narrow patch, there is a small route that goes straight alongthe wall of Rayling plateau on its right and, valley on the left.  This path is covered with dry yellow grass andit is slippery, so one has to exercise extreme caution. After turning right wecome exactly between Lingana fort and Rayling platue. We have to descendslippery path to reach Lingana base. From here there is straight climbing routeto Lingana. The other route through trees, goes towards Linganawadi, basevillage. It takes approximately one hour from rayling to reach Lingana base.

On this routethere are steady rocks thus making descend easy. On the way there are couple ofrock patches which can be descended without a rope. After a descending for anhour from lingana base there is a big rock patch. After descending the rockpatch one reaches narrow route on left. This can be tricky to identify, andhence one needs to be accompanied by a villager / local who is familiar withthese routes. From this joint, it takes about an hour to reach Linganawadi. InLinganwadi, one can refill water and gather some rest.

The main descend of boratyachi naal is over. There aremany other routes joining desh and kokan in this area like singapurnaal,madheghaat, bocheghol etc. But, descend through Boratychinaal is considered tobe most challenging. From linganawadi one has to descend to reach Panhevillage.The route is simple and it takes approximately one hour to reach PanheVillage. On the way to Panhe village one has to cross a river. The water levelsare not high during winter season thus making crossing the river easy.One canrefill water bottles and move towards Raigad which is approximately 8 kms fromthe river. From the river, one can get a clear view of Raigad on the west.Theview of Fort Raigad is inspiring to all of us in many ways. In this trek it iseven more inspiring as it is an indication that the goal is near to beachieved. This gives an extra impetus to the tired body and the mind to achievethis goal. Panhe village is 10 minutes from the river. Crossing Panhe villageone has to reach Chhatri Nizaampur, base village of Raigad. This straight routegoes through field. It takes almost 1.5 hours to reach Chhatri Nizaampur fromPanhe. The route offers view of 3 forts, lingana in the back, kokan- diwa andDurga-Durgeshwar raigad. There is also another longer route via vagheri village

Chhatri nizaampur is exactly below takmak tok of FortRaigad. Since, there is a road going to Raigadwadi-chittadarvaaza, one can takea vehicle. By walking, it takes almost 1.5 hours to reachRaigadwadi-chittadarvaaza from chhatrinizaampur .From chittadarvaaza, by stepsRaigad can be ascended in 2 hours.

Conclusion

This fantastic trek comes to an end when we reach GomukhiMahadarwaza of Raigad. Summit at Shivaji Maharaj Samadhi is Satisfying. Mostthrilling moment after we reach raigad is the view of lingana from Shivaji MaharajSamadhi. If the sky is clear, one can view Torna and Rajgad from the same spot.I am sure every trekker will feel sense accomplishment at the end of thischallenging trek.

To carry list:

1. At least 4 litres of water 2. Raw material for food 3. Torch, 4. Sleepingbag 5. Spoon and plates 6. Cap and goggle 7. Sweater (Temperature will be coldat night)

Places of potable water during trek

Day 1:

1. Sinhagad 2. Winzer village 3. Sakhar village 4. Gunjavane village 5.Rajgad

Day 2:

1. At Dhebe's place between Rajgad - Torna ridge. 2. Water cistern atMengai devi temple, Torna 3. Bhatti village 4. Mohari village

Day 3:

1. Linganawadi after bortyachi naal descend.2. Panhe village 3. Chhatrinijampur village 4. Raigadwadi 5. Raigad fort.

Suggestion:

This is a very demanding trek.  Physical fitness is key to complete thistrek. There are chances of muscle pain or body pain hence, please keep propermedication. Though the recommended months to do this trek are November andDecember it is advisable to carry Hydration packs / Fluids, Fruits to reducethe impact of sun.