Monsoon trek to Peth-Kothligad fort (1550 feet)

On 29th June 2008, we all planned to make it to Kothligad (Peth cha Killa, Peth is the village below the fort Kotligad). This was the beginning of our Monsoon season for 2008. We took the 05:41am local from Dadar to Karjat and many, including me and janhavi joined the group at Dadar. We reached Neral station at around 07:49am and as one of four group members missed the train we had to wait for him at Neral. The wait was worth it as we had a quick round of canteen hot tea and slurrping batata wada. I guess cutting chai and batata wada seems to be the staple diet when you make a trekker. So finally the whole group assembled at Neral Station and we had a brief round of introduction.

We hired around 3-4 tamtams (the six seaters you ideally find outside Mumbai) and proceeded towards Ambivali. The tamtam ride was just great as you ideally dont get to experience this in Mumbai. The scene which followed us till we reached Ambivali was breath taking with all wet ground, small water ways here and there. Ambivali is the base village for the trek to Kothligad. This is termed as a simple trek and ideal for those who want to start trekking. At the base, after some discussion about the group formation we all started shouting loudly our maha mantra "har har mahadev". We followed the tar road for around 2-3 minutes and then after taking a left turn we have a typical muddy road with stonesthat will lead us to the Peth village.

The journey from here to Peth village takes you approximately one hour. The village is on a plateau enroute to the fort. This road has numerous turns and curves which makes walking this road a pleasure. This road is basicaaly used to commute from Peth to Ambivali. We also came across a bullock cart coming down.

The ideal climate for a monsoon trek should be one in which rain plays hide n seek with you. The rain played our companion right from start till the time we reached the cave.As we were reaching the plateau of Peth village we could find ourselves surrounded by fog. Wowwwwwwww, what a lovely scene it was ! Suddenly we could here the shutterbugs clicking and we decided to take a break here.

After the break we proceeded to reach the Peth village. This is the place where very heavy rain surrounded us. We all ran for shelter and some enthusiast preferred drenching themselves. It was just amazing and it made us all forget our tiredness. We even supplemented us with garma garam batata wada again. The hot crisp wada made us loose count of how many we gulped down.

Now the real climb began towards our ultimate destination. The climb here becomes gradually steep and the monsoons make it more slippery but not a risky one. We need to be careful while negotiating this patch and should not be in a hurry to reach there. Now we had the fort in our sight on our way up. This all made us more excited to make it to the top.

Now we could all see the fortifications. With rain playing our companion we all reached the cave completely drenched. This cave is safe and clean for a group to reside. After settling in the cave, we all gathered to have lunch together. As always there are some curious trekkers who found that we had bats in a small dark enclosure resting after a long nite. A wonderful lunch cum gossip session had us completedly relaxed and refreshed. We all shared what we had got and everybody appreciated each others food stuffs. Some photo session happened and finally we all decided to make it to the ultimate top.

From the cave you have a set of steps that lead you to the top. The steps do give you the impression-"Staircase to Heaven". The stairs are about a foot high and that keeps us wondering throughout were the Maratha's that tall ? Climbing the stairs is a herculean task.

We finally reach the top and the view is really awesome. That time it started raining again and we just enjoyed our stay at the top. There is a huge tank at the top and pipes are seen to supply water to the Peth village from this tank. It’s a small fort and was normally used for storage of ammunition. We can see a canon gun at the top.

After capturing the breathtaking views in our cams we all started to come down to the cave. After changing our clothes and all set to leave, we decided to descend. When we were leaving, I bet no one would have left the place but kyaa kare paapi pet ka sawaal tha that we all had to resume office the next day. If it wouldnt have been the case we all would have stayed a day more.

We reached Ambivali and could see the tamtams waiting for us to get us back to Neral. On our way back we just couldn't stop seeing the pics clicked and what all we experienced at Kothligad. The trek was worth and we wish to make many more trips especially during the monsoon.