# 34: Complete blog guide to Mahuli-Bhandargad trek

Know Before You Go For The Mahuli-Bhandargad fort trek

When: November ‘16
Where: Mahuli-Bhandargad fort
Range: Sahyadri
Route: Asangaon- Mahuli village- Mahuli fort- Bhandargad- Mahuli fort- Mahuli village- Asangaon

Description: Get down at Asangaon and take an Auto/Bus to Mahuli Village. The fort trail is half km from the village. Follow the broad trail from the right of Bhaktniwas and cross temple, ticket collection centre and a bridge to start the uphill walk. An hour-long climb brings you to a ridge. Climb a ladder to enter Mahuli fort and head south to go to lake/temple remains or Maha Darwaza/caves. A ladder in the col at the southern end of Mahuli takes you into Bhandargad. View the historic Kalyan Darwaza here and go to the southernmost point to get a majestic view of the surrounding pinnacles. Check out my wikiloc page for GPS trails of similar treks.

Nearest railway station: Asangaon (78 kms from Central Railway)
Base Village: Mahuli
Height: 2815 ft
Total Distance: 11 km (via lake)
Time: 6-10 hours depending on group size
Approx. expenses: Travelling: less than 300
Best Time: August-September, November-January

Difficulty: Medium
Endurance: 3
Risk Factor: Medium (What do these grading indicate? Find out here!)
Maps:

Other Routes:

1. A steep route originates from Mahuli village besides the one we used, and joins Bhandargad instead of Mahuli.
2. Another  originating from Vasind climbs onto Bhandargad via Kalyan Darwaza.

Live GPS tracking using an Android OS based GPS app:

NOTE:

1. The information provided in this post is for informational purposes only. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore, strictly at your own risk. Read complete disclaimer- Terms Of Use.
2. All the pictures used in this post have been clicked by me or my friends, unless stated otherwise. Content (including images) not for reproduction in any form, partial or otherwise. For commercial use of Content from the post, please send a message using the Contact form.

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Account of the trek:

Mahuli, at 2815 ft, is the highest point in Thane district and thus, a very frequented place for treks. I wanted to do this trek in monsoon but the fear of missing the enchanting views due to fog forced me to postpone the plan. Finally winter arrived and we promptly set off at the first opportunity!
The Gang: Abhishek, Anupama, Darshana, Durgesh, Gauri, Harshada, Krunal, Madiha, Manish, Mansi, Pratish, Rohan, Sachin, Shardul, Shweta, Tejas & Me

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Trek Day

Keeping with the tradition, I woke up before the alarm could go off. This has been the routine for all but one of my treks till date. With nothing else to do, I waited for the clock to strike 5 to start prepping. 15 of us boarded the 6 am slow train from CST which reaches Asangaon in 2 hours while Rohan & Pratish were going to join us at the fort base on their bike.

We had planned a belated b’day surprise for Tejas and Shardul got the cake from his place. Surprisingly, he did a good job of keeping the surprise under wraps!  😉 We went back and forth looking for a suitable place where we could surprise him with the cake, and finally decided to do it in the middle of the platform! And nope, no one smeared cake on anyone’s face. We are too famished to waste cake like that  😀

There is a bridge (which we did not take  😛 ) to cross over on to the west side of the station, where you ‘ll find the Autorickshaw stand for Mahuli.

There is a rate card, rather board, at the auto stand stating the price for various destinations and an Auto to Mahuli sets you back by 250 Rs. This is where travelling in a group can help your pocket! We, the cash strapped trekker lot, went one further than the 3 people/Auto they usually take! A guy popped in beside the driver so that each Auto took 4 to the base at the same rate of 250  😀 15 people got divided in 4 groups with Durgesh, Shardul & Me forming the 3 people group in the 4^th auto.
A 6 km drive from the station got us to the base of the village in 20 mins where Rohan and Pratish were clicking pics in the hopes of finding the next Display Picture  😉 I would like to believe that the trek pictures sufficed for that purpose though  🙂

TRANSPORT OPTIONS: Buses ply from Shahapur to Mahuli with tickets priced at 15 Rs. You can reach Shahapur by sharing an auto for 10 rs/seat from Asangaon or alternatively, catch the bus as it turns towards Mahuli from the highway opposite Asangaon station. There is a bus @ 7.30am from Shahapur and the last buses for Shahapur leave Mahuli at 5 and 6.45pm. Do confirm the timings before embarking on the trek. If you have any doubts about reaching the base by 6pm, then it ‘ll be wise to take contact numbers of the autowala so that you ‘ll have some alternative for the return trip. Confirm the fare for return trip beforehand coz we were charged 500 Rs for an Auto while coming back from Mahuli as the ‘normal’ business hours are till 6 pm.

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Breakfast is available at Tejas khanawal (not related to our b’day boy) near Bhaktniwas (Place where people can stay I guess. Not much info was available when we went). They also prepare lunch on pre-order. We knew we wouldn’t be back before 7, so ordering lunch was out of question. We had breakfast and went ahead.

Mahuli has a long history culminating with the Maratha empire in 18th century. It is a cluster of 3 forts very close by- Mahuli, Bhandargad & Palasgad. Three ways reach the plateau from the east and we took the simplest and most treaded one which goes through the Mahuli ladder.

The trail starts from the right of Bhaktniwas and you come across Ganesh Mandir in 5 mins. A river flows through the area and a bridge has been constructed recently to help ford it during monsoon when it tends to swell dangerously after a heavy downpour. The trail is well-marked till the bridge along with diversions to the waterfall and a dam. The river runs almost dry in winter, so there was no point in heading to these places.

CAUTION: The waterfall at Mahuli is notorious for 87 deaths till date, a 15 feet deep pit at the bottom of the fall being the main culprit for the numerous drownings. Avoid venturing deep inside the waterfall in monsoon.

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Mahuli is a protected monument and the government has started developing it as a tourist spot. Consequently, there are boards indicating the way and warning miscreants alike. Nominal entry fees of 20 Rs is supposedly being collected from trekkers but we didn’t come across any person collecting the said fees even though there is a collection centre and a gate just after the mandir. Such an initiative, though welcome, has its ill effects. We saw railings lying near the trail at various places waiting to be installed. The trail does not have any great exposure to speak of, and the rocks too, have sufficient holds where necessary. So, these railings are only going to mar the trek experience  😦

The way from the bridge is marked intermittently by white arrows painted on stones.

Initially, it’s a gentle walk uphill and we came across a flat patch of land within half hour from the bridge (marked as clearing in the map).

Continue in the west direction after the clearing and you enter a sparse forest.

NOTE: Be wary of wandering too close to the trees lining the path as snakes have been frequently seen by trekkers on the way to the fort. Walking in the middle of the trail & stamping your feet when walking in bushes will warn snakes of your approach and prevent accidental bites as well.

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The landscape turns arid as you approach the ridge. The path here skirts the southern edge but the valley is gently sloping and therefore, fairly safe. We could see the orange flag fluttering on the dilapidated fort tower from the base of the ridge.

Climb onto the ridge through a steep crevice. Take left from the crevice to head towards the fort and take right to reach a vantage point on the ridge to soak in the views.

A 15 min walk along the ridge takes you to the base of the plateau of Mahuli fort. The route zigzags upwards with a couple of simple rock patches along the way.

We could see the (in)famous ladder on the wall as we reached the fort. It is placed at an angle of 70° but that isn’t the main problem. The issue is that the ladder doesn’t have a firm base at the bottom and is held in place with a chain tied to a screw bolted in the dilapidated fort wall at the top. Also, the rungs aren’t horizontal but slant towards the valley. This makes you lean backwards while climbing the ladder, which isn’t too convenient. One person held the ladder at its bottom while others climbed it one at a time. A narrow path to the left of the ladder goes into the fort whereas right takes you to a flat rock which is the most clicked area of Mahuli.

There are few remains of the fort besides the crumbling old stone wall on the periphery. A 5 min walk from the ladder brings you to a small tank which sadly, doesn’t have potable water. Follow the trail heading south, marked as Gufa (caves).
NOTE: A faint path in the north-west takes you to Palasgad. Palasgad is covered with dense forests and has little to no fortification left and hence attracts no visitors.

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Some distance ahead on the south trail, you ‘ll come across a tree (I call it ‘The Tree’ for it is massive) standing next to a bifurcation. The route marked as Bhandargad descends in the southeast and the other route heading south takes one to Maha Darwaza, the erstwhile main entrance to the fort in its glory days. You ‘ll come across some caves as also a tank with potable water on this route. Both paths meet at the southern end of Mahuli near the Bhandargad col. We took the south-east trail with the aim of having lunch by the lake.
You ‘ll also come across some remains of the palace and the Mahuleshwar temple.

Be on the lookout for a water body to your left as the lake is easy to miss amongst the dense trees and Mansi brought it to my notice. We went to the lake from an opening and to our dismay, found sludge all around the shore. But the lake itself is a beautiful sight! All the shades of green contrasting the brown landscape around it akin to an oasis!

I went around the lake with Shardul in the hope of finding a clearing for lunch but couldn’t find any in the vicinity. It was 1 in the afternoon and majority of the group opted to have lunch on the few stones by the shore.  Out came the tiffins and the air filled with aroma of spices! Biryani, sandwiches, idli, roti, sabzi! You name it and we had it there! People started hogging and the awkward positions as well as the pesky flies were soon forgotten.
P.S. – Anupama didn’t get fried rice this time due to her hectic schedule and it was sorely missed 😦 it has been a constant part of trek lunches ever since we did the One tree hill trek last year!

If you haven’t led a trek before, you have no idea how tough it is getting people to move after a hearty lunch! Throw in a water body along with a DSLR and you can imagine the herculean task in front of me  😦
I resigned myself to the ‘bas 5 min aur’ pleas and decided to take a panorama of the lake instead.
We continued to Bhandargad after the hour-long lunch cum photoshoot ended. A simple walk of 15 mins from the lake brings you to a col in the south of the fort. We came across another group heading back from Bhandargad and they asked us to be careful at the rock patch ahead.

Grooves have been carved in the rock where steps have been blown off on the way to enter Bhandargad. You can see remains of the fort wall around the col. Shardul and I surveyed the 18 feet high rock patch from the edge of Mahuli and it looked tricky.
Most of us had some experience with climbing rocks and would have managed even a 90-degree patch as long as there were proper holds, but with a motley group like this, you have to think about the newbies first. Climbing rocks is easy but descending is difficult. Soon others reached the edge and thinking about possible injuries if someone slipped, I said it’s a dead-end. Manish, though, had other ideas.
I continued to look at the patch trying to make a mental map of the holds if we tried attempting it when Manish called me out from the col and something in his voice told me that it looked possible from there.
I went down from the right of the view-point and voila! Wasn’t he right! The rock patch wasn’t as steep as it looked from the edge and more importantly, had nice and firm jug holds well as grooves carved in the flat upper section of the rock slab! I went up and took up a position on level 2 by the gully route to see how easy was it to descend.
Rohan meanwhile came up by the groove route and sat on level 3. I came down to level 1 to gauge the difficulty while descending and found it easy for most and manageable for the newbies with a little help.

You can easily attempt it with your bags but we thought it better to haul them up to level 3 by rope. And the BAHUBALI of our group, Rohan, pulled the bags in batches of 2 & 3.

A little help with the feet placement and everybody did it comfortably (Darshana, in particular, literally glided up the rock patch, courtesy her tall frame).
An undulating plateau awaits you beyond the rock patch, but the path is tough to miss.

As the path slowly turns towards the right edge of the fort, look out for a board hung on a tree near the edge. Yes, the elusive Kalyan Darwaza lies on Bhandargad and not on Mahuli fort, as is the common misconception.

A steep path moves over the edge and turns right to take you to the steep steps carved in stone. This was the gate for the route from Kalyan but the steps were blown away by the Britishers in the 19^th century. If you plan to take this route, Vashind is the nearest station but be warned that it isn’t in use anymore and requires serious rock climbing skills.

A annotated version of the beautiful drawing to help identify the forts:

It was close to 4 now and we decided to skip Kalyan Darwaza keeping in mind the time it ‘ll take to descend back to the base. The route ahead is a mix of rocks and scree.

About 10 mins from Kalyan Darwaza, lies a small cave like structure to the left of the path. A small board hanging on the tree above it is the only thing which tells us how wrong we are. It is not a cave but in fact, another gate into the fort called Hanuman Darwaza. No grand arches adorn this gate and its location indicates that this must have been one of the ‘Chor Darwaza’ of the fort.

INFO: Chor (thief) Darwaza were built to facilitate supply of goods to troops away from the prying eyes of the enemy who were likely to suffocate the main supply routes in the event of a siege.

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The southernmost point of the fort, about 5 mins from the Hanuman Darwaza, gives you a breath-taking view of the surrounding pinnacles. It doesn’t have a fixed name as such and hence we christened it ‘Pinnacle point’.

CAUTION: The pinnacle point is surrounded by valley on three sides and does not have a clear edge due to its slope. A slip over the scree on the edge, though, would be hard to check.

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We turned back for Mahuli by 4 pm and reached the col within 20 mins.

We made an assembly line at the rock patch to get down the bags in minimum time. Since there is no proper anchor to tie the rope, Rohan wrapped it around himself and lowered it over the rock patch to help first timers.

Me and Durgesh stood below the rock patch to help with the feet placement and everyone descended to the col safely.

NOTE: Once you are back on Mahuli, you ‘ll soon come across the aforementioned bifurcation. Western path takes you to the ladder via Maha Darwaza whereas the eastern path goes around the lake before meeting the other route at ’The Tree’.

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We thought it better to retrace the afternoon route around the lake instead of exploring the Maha Darwaza route and It took us an hour to reach the Mahuli ladder.

I could vaguely make out our starting point near Bhaktniwas in the distant forest and Abhishek’s digicam, doubling up as a binocular, confirmed the same.

Me and Tejas had planned on getting the entire journey on video but the hectic schedule made it tough. I hadn’t recorded much of our trek besides a few clips at the beginning and Krunal saved the day for us. He recorded most of the places like the ladder, rock patch etc. and it was only when I got home did I realise this. Krunal, I owe you one buddy! 🙂

But no trek is complete without injuries and we had our first one then itself- Madiha twisted her ankle just before the end of ridge. Madiha’s low rise shoes did her in on the uneven surface. Thankfully Gauri has the same feet size as Madiha and they exchanged shoes so that she ‘ll get some ankle support from Gauri’s sports shoes. I have had several ankle sprains and to descend with one is no joke. Not once did she wince or ask for a break and that was commendable  🙂
We got torches out as soon as we entered the forested stretch. Shardul had been leading the way from the ladder and when I joined him at the front, we had to stop each other from going too fast (Control Uday, Control! )  😛
By now, it was past 7 and we were mid-way between the base and the ridge when Anupama began having issues with her knee. I told her to came to the front so that the group’s pace would match hers instead of vice versa.

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(Anupama, by the way, is a true trekomaniac. Any other sane person would have rested for an entire week after her kinda injury. But the danseuse that she is, she went ahead and performed at some competition three days later and qualified for the next round too! { UPDATE: She won the final round held in February 😀 } Crazy, right? All Trekomaniacs are!)

Sachin and Shweta even spotted a baby scorpion on the path and everybody took care not to trample it.
NOTE: If you are trekking here in the night, it ‘ll be better to scan the area with a torch before sitting to avoid a painful sting in the butt  😉

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We had already missed the last bus and so, called up one of the autodrivers from the morning and asked him to reach the base by 8. Apparently, they charge double the normal fare after 6 pm and as you can expect, they had conveniently left out this little piece of information while discussing fares in the morning. Since we were left with no other option, we gave in to their demands but told them to ferry 5 in an auto and they agreed.

Mahuli was Harshada’s first medium grade trek and after 9 hours of energy sapping climb, it was only natural for her to start feeling fatigued. Some words of encouragement and the customary lie of ‘bas thodi der aur’  😉 was all that was needed to overcome it. She did extremely well for someone not used to trekking regularly and kudos to her for not giving up! 🙂

NOTE: When you are descending in the dark, it is important not to panic and be alert to your surroundings. People often lose their way when they panic. If you feel you are lost in the forest during the night or even day, you should try to approximate your location from the last known point on the correct trail. GPS coordinates would be of great help to professional rescue parties (an app like Androsensor would provide you GPS co-ordinates). Once you have told someone of your precise location, you should not move from there until help arrives. Ration your food and water so that you can survive till then.

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I haven’t heard of too many night treks happening at Mahuli fort but the Mahuli village is famous for night gazing. Even though there hadn’t been any recent sighting of leopard, I kept calling out Rohan to confirm if all was okay as he was bringing up the back-end along with Pratish and Durgesh.

INFO: Leopard sightings have been reported at Mahuli in recent years. Ajoba, a radio-tagged leopard, went through the Kasara railway station area and the nearby Tansa wildlife sanctuary during his 78 day, 120 km long journey between Malshej ghat and SGNP, Borivli back in 2009.

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15 mins after passing through the clearing, we saw the lights from the shack beside the river bridge. Anupama was in great pain by then as her knee had stiffened up in the last hour and Rohan, Pratish were helping her walk slowly. Meanwhile Manish and Abhi went ahead to ask Madiha to leave first along with 4 others so that she ‘ll be able to reach home on time by catching the 8.52 CST fast.
The road from the gate to Bhaktniwas is a paved one and Shardul came back riding Pratish’s bike so that Anupama wouldn’t have to walk till the Bhaktniwas where the Autos were waiting. He took a U-turn and turned off the engine while Anupama tried to sit with minimum discomfort to her knee. And then, the bike refused to start! The petrol tank was locked and Gauri, who had left for the station in the first auto with Madiha, had the key!

Nevertheless, we huffed and puffed our way running and pushing the bike to get some momentum up the slight ascend near Ganpati mandir while Shardul did his best to steer the bike into the bushes lining the road and Anupama held on for dear life! 😀
Panting, we finally reached Bhaktniwas and I went towards the rest of the gang while Rohan and Pratish spoke to the auto guys to see if there was a way to open the petrol lock without the key and they said they can with a knife!
Out came Tejas’ swiss multi tool and some twists of the knife later, the lock opened!  😮
Pratish and Rohan heaved a sigh of relief and left for station while the rest of us crammed ourselves in the two autos.

If you are thinking that this was the end of drama, you are wrong, just as I was! The headlight of the trailing Auto decided to play truant and turned off half way to the station. Manish, sitting beside the autowala, was lighting the way ahead of the auto with a torch in his hand! Beat that for makeshift arrangements!  😉  We reached the station at 9 and had our dinner while waiting for the 9.52 pm CST fast.

The commotion that ensues when a long-awaited train makes its way into the station of a sleepy town late at night, is something unique. The place buzzes with activity for a fleeting moment before falling back into a lull.
As we boarded the train, I looked back into the void where the fort stood in the morning. Nothing there even hinted at the majestic mountain that lurked behind the curtain of darkness. I genuinely believe people form bonds with mountains. As Ruskin Bond has succinctly put it-

“It is always the same with mountains. Once you have lived with them for any length of time, you belong to them. There is no escape.”

The good part?
I don’t intend to escape!

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I hope you enjoyed reading about our trek to Mahuli-Bhandargad forts. Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section!

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