RATANGAD, A STAY IN THE CLOUDS WITH A GROUP THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Ratan(diamond) gad(fort)[4255 feet], the name as it suggests means the Diamond Fort. I first happened to visit the fort 3 years back that time with Youth Hostels’ Mumbai Unit. Our leader, Umesh Lotlikar, is a veteran in leading treks around Sahyadris. After 3 years when the job of leading the trek to Ratangad fell upon me and Milind.
As the figure of participants was being finalized, we started the preparations for the trek, the dinner and breakfast at the fort and other necessary things to carry. The group was small and just enough for both of us to manage. On the day of the trek we were a group 19 trekkers, few of us we trekking the Sahaydris for quite a long time and the rest were new comers. We had the advantage of 2 NIM certified trekkers amongst us, Milind and his sister Archana. We started on our journey on 28th August, 2010 early morning at 600 hrs. The group dozed of immediately after boarding the bus. At Bhandardara everyone got refreshed by the scenic view of the dam and the fog surrounding the mountains.

Bhandardara from the top

The journey from Bhandardara to Ratanwadi (base village for Ratangad) was around 45 minutes.

Another Jewel awaited the group at Ratanwadi. The 1000 years old Amruteshwar Mandir built by Hemadpant, a minister in the court of Yadav Kings. The carvings and the construction of the Temple are spellbound. Hats off to the people at Ratanwadi who have maintained the temple over all these years.

Our Group At Amruteshwar Mandir Ratanwadi and Amruteshwar Mandir

After having a quick bite at Ratanwadi, we moved on towards Ratangad. We were to follow a stream till we reach the base of the hill, thereafter the upward climb to the fort begins.

On route to Ratangad

After a climb of around 1 ½ to 2 hours you reach the ladders. The ladders are shaky and the trekkers need to be careful while climbing to or getting down from the fort. Near the second ladder we saw a few broken steps, from those broken steps we understood that during the time when the fort was fully operational the rock cut steps were fully operational and in good condition and used by the residents of the fort to climb up to the fort. The steps were destroyed by the Britishers. The present ladders are built by the enthusiastic trekkers who visited the fort. After climbing the 2 exciting ladders one has to be careful with rock climb which leads into the Ganesh Darwaja. As we started the climb up the ladders and rock patch, the rains started pouring in and it made it difficult for us along the rock patch. But we negotiated the rock patch very well. After the thrilling climb to the fort, then the trekers have to get geared up for another walk up the rocky stairs. The stairs were also exciting as the water flowed over the stairs making it slippery to climb in Monsoons.

After a walk of 3 ½ hours we reached the caves in the fort. On reaching the fort we took stock of surroundings. First we thought that there is a need to clean up the caves as the caves are always in a bad condition. It’s a sad thing that the trekkers or villagers who visit the fort take pain to clean up the fort when they leave. We saw many paper dishes thrown around the caves. Milind had thought about it and had brought a ‘kersuni’/mop. The cave was small and would occupy around 12-13 of us.

Dinner Time: Milind, Mangya and Archana

After cleaning up the cave, we prepared the soup and dinner. For dinner we had got a stove with the cubes which on burning produced a flame. However the flame took a lot of time in heating up things. Another good thing that we had bought ready to eat food which saved the day for us.

After a delicious tomato soup and dinner, some of us played UNO, the card game and were awake till around 11.30.

At the first break of dawn, I, Milind, Mangya and Sanjay woke up. The rain had stopped but the visibility around the fort was very less. We could manage to see around 10 feet only. All the other participants slowly woke up after us. After everyone woke up, we all sat for the breakfast in a circle. The Breakfast session lasted for an hour most of time was consumed in preparing tea. Around 8-8.15 a.m. we all decided to pack up and see the fort as much as we can.

In the Gol Buruj

Some carvings around the fort

After inspecting the gol buruj and a few fortifications above the caves, we decided to climb down the fort. This time around again I missed out on needhe and I shared my thoughts to visit the fort in winter to which Milind and Mangya immediately agreed as they want to see the needhe.

Now to the climbing down part, the new participants were nervous while climbing down and it was the time Milind, myself and Sanjay Modi had to prepare all the new participants for climbing down the rock patch. Milind started to work with the rope and the equipment stuff for the safety of the participants.

He tied the rope to the rock which operated as the Hinge for the Door in the ancient days(as seen above). The other end of the rope was tied to the participants. After the safe landing of the regular participants, the newcomers too gathered the courage climb down. During this time also it started raining again and we had to climb down when the water was falling on our head. The monkeys also added to our woes when the came near the ladder and we had to move fast across the ladder. After climbing down the ladder, the major and risky part of the trek was over, now was left was just to walk down to Ratanwadi village. I alongwith Archana, Mangesh, Milind, Madhavi did another job of being the clean up marshal and picking up all the plastic on route to Ratanwadi. Archana and Madhavi did the job of carrying the garbage.

On the way to Ratanwadi we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest in the stream. The water was cold and free flowing. We had to be careful not to lose balance or else we would have been drifting along with the water. The group had a gala time in the waterfalls. I think the waterfall was the highlight of the Ratangad trek. It was a PAISA VASUL time of all of us.

On reaching Ratanwadi we got some scenic moments to capture. The best part of this trek was the group though new we all gelled together and everyone enjoyed the trek to the fullest. It was a trek which none of us could forget.