I have done lot of adventure with my friends and this one is also amongst the most memorable one, some of my friends like doing adventures and so I am. It was Saturday Evening and I was packing my bags to get ready for the night trek at Malavali Hills (Lohagad Fort). This trek was finalized on whatsapp and finally there were 5 people including me who planned to experience this adventure.
I along with Umesh, Sanjay, Anuj & Vikram started our journey towards Lohagad fort, we have planned to go by local train and finally at 9:00PM we all boarded with our backpacks. It took around 1hr 15mins to reach Malavali from Pune. We all stepped out of the train and experienced the first breeze of Malavali hills. It was a full Moon Day and there was sufficient light to start our journey towards Lohagad fort. We all were about to experience a 9km uphill trek along with our backpacks loaded with food, water and other required stuffs.
Our Journey started with abusing some of our friends who had promised to come for this great experience; however ditched us at the final moment. It was hardly 1.5km we have trekked and Sanjay suggested having some food before proceeding further. We all got agreed and decided to trek till Bhaja Caves which is on the way towards Lohagad fort. We had our brunch cum dinner, thanks to Sanjay’s Mom for providing such a spicy food, it supplied more energy in us and finally we all were charged enough to take this challenge ahead.
After having this amazing food, we all climbed down from Bhaja Caves. Unfortunately the gates were closed and we were unable to experience the caves; however it was nice to trek till the gates and the caves were easily visible from there. Finally we started our journey towards Lohagad fort, we all were excited and energized to climb this milestone; however it was not that easy. We all had the determination however our body started giving up. It started with Anuj who recently went through some natural therapy to reduce his weight, however due to lack of stamina he started giving up. Vikram and I were also tired and it was hardly the half way we have covered.
It was a tough challenge for all of us because most of us are not a regular hiker, due to our busy office schedules, we hardly get time for exercise and other physical activities (I know it’s just an excuse ;-)), Anuj thought of taking lift from coming vehicles and at times he suggest us to steal someone’s bike (haa haa lolzzzz). Tough Situation makes you think weirdly, however no one got agreed to his ideas and finally we decided to continue our trek.
At around 2:00AM we somehow managed to reach near the village just below the Lohagad fort. We all were excited as we were very close to the fort. We decided to take some rest and fill our water bottles before climbing up till fort. We saw a temple there and decided to approach for water, there were few villagers performing the night pray, they provided us water and tea (free). They also informed us that the fort is open for visitors only after 6:00 AM. They suggested us to take some rest and again start trekking in the morning. But we had our own plans ;-) and it was very difficult to execute those plans in front of a temple.
We thanked them for providing the help and moved away. Now we didn’t had much options; we decided to move away from that village and find some clean place to start our night camp. At around 2:30AM we finalized a place and got settled, it was full moon night, breeze was cold enough to force us to wear our jackets and cover Ourselves with blankets.
We celebrated their for an hour and then we all started feeling cold, it was really difficult for us to spend the entire night there, it was an open space with no protection from wind, rain and poisonous mosquitoes . Umesh & Vikram took the initiative to find some better place and with in no time they flash their mobile and indicated us that they have found a nice place to spend rest of the night.
We followed their path and finally reached an old shop whose doors was open, it’s was nice place to spend the rest of night; however it was not adequate for 5 people to adjust in it, it was hardly 6”x6”; somehow we all managed their and within no seconds we all were in deep sleep. At 6:15AM Sanjay wake up first and asked me to experience the view of the beautiful morning. Dew was all over the plants leaf, sun was about to rise and there were lots and lots of clouds all around the fort. It was an amazing view; we all clicked multiple pics and after some time decided to go back to Malavali Station.
Within couple of hour’s we climb down and took some rest, on the way coming back to Malavali station we took lots of shortcuts and finally we reach near a tea shop. We all decided to have some tea and snacks. At around 8:15AM we reached Malavali station, till then the entire atmosphere has changed, it became too hot and humid; we got the train at 8:30AM and started our journey to back to Pune.
