Forts visible from Duke's Nose

Duke's Nose is a wonderful pinnacle that can be seen from Amrutanjan bridge in Khandala and on the stretch between Rajmachi point to Amrutanjan bridge. Every trekker in Pune and Mumbai region wishes to climb this pinnacle once in lifetime. Though it looks difficult to climb if seen from Pune-Mumbai Highway, however, the climb is easy from Kurwande village. 
Duke's Nose is like a central place from where one can see on one side the vast  stretch of konkan region (like Khopoli, Amba river etc) and on other side the Sahyadri mountains. Many trekkers like me always wondered what forts can be seen from Duke's Nose. Therefore, I decided to provide the list of forts that can be seen from Duke's nose. Some forts are easily visible if the sunlight is properly angled. However, other forts need binoculars to see them clearly.

If you stand on Duke's Nose (Nagphani) with your back towards the highway/expressway we can see the following forts

BEHIND - Rajmachi 
              (with Binoculars we can see Peth Padargad and Bhimashankar. 
               We can also see Dhak fort and Bahiri caves) 

RIGHTHAND side - Malanggad, Ershalgad, Prabalgad, Matheran, Karnala, Manikgad, Sankashi fort)

FRONT side - Tailbail, Ghangad, Korigad, Sarasgad, Sudhagad, Thanale caves, Sagargad, Mruggad.

LEFTHAND side - Tung, Tikona, Lohagad, and Visapur. 

So almost 20 forts can be viewed from Duke's Nose.
I hope you'll like the information.

Patan Trek

Trek to Patan

Patan is a small village near Malavali. This village can be seen from Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Malavali is one stop where u can alight for various places around it. Lohagad and Visapur forts are in this region. Karla and Bhaje caves are here. Apart from this there are many places to trek and waterfalls during monsoon, around Malavali village. So when I decided to take an eligibility trek for my friends this was the region that first came to my mind. Though I hadn’t visited this place earlier, I knew it would be fun. The trek was decided on 18 on October. I went a week earlier to mark the route. I wanted a terrain where the participants will get an overall experience. This place has lot of waterfalls (they were almost dry in October), the path is narrow and sometimes the climb is steep. I decided the return point to be along one of the waterfalls (the water was less, hence easier to descend), after checking all the risks I carefully marked route for the trek, with three waterfalls (almost dried-up) to cross, and descend from the last waterfall.
There were 10 people who wished to come however only 4 turned up. Parag, Nilesh, Amol, Vinayak and I, was the last count for trek, because early in the morning Ajit decided not to come due to ill health. Amol, Vinayak and Nilesh were little bit late. The first words Amol heard from me was lot of adjectives (I usually don’t abuse people), he came to the trek wearing floaters, also he didn’t bring his lunch. He was more enthusiastic in clicking photographs of trek with his new camera (because he was not able to use it due to heavy rains during his team outing to Raigad).
We reached Malavali by 8:00 a.m., after crossing the expressway over bridge, take a left turn to go to Patan village. There are metal steps just before the turning on the bridge, that leads to Patan village. Half a kilometer walk will take you to a waterfall behind Patan village. (Be careful of some of the villagers, if you ask them for directions they may ask you for money in return.) The waterfall is big, but dry enough to cross, in winter. From the waterfall a path goes towards a group of huts on the mountain. Therefore there are people going up and down the path everyday, you might find someone who is going the same way. This path is small, enough to walk for one person. In October it was covered with dense plants and grass. I instructed everyone to follow the arrow marks and do whatever they want but just don’t get lost and don’t divert from the ‘arrow marks’. We were quite swift in climbing the mountain except Amol. It was difficult for him to carry his weight and also keep clicking the photographs; rather he was more interested in clicking the photographs. We had to wait for twenty minutes for him to join us, after every fifteen minutes. The second time when we were waiting for him, he came panting and puffing. The first question he asked me was, “is this called trekking?” Last time when he came with me it was monsoon, and they wanted to have a bath in waterfall. I’d taken them to hiking in Khandala ghats. So for him trekking was just walking on the road, he didn’t expect to climb mountain through such hardships. I explained him the difference between hiking, trekking and rappelling.
In between there was a grass-patch where there weren’t any markings hence we had to wait for him, so that he should not get lost in the jungle. Nilesh was very enthusiastic and was always ahead of the group. After crossing three, almost dried up waterfalls, we reached the last waterfall (last one of the trek and not of the region). Here I’d marked circles to inform others that the descend starts from here. We unpacked there to rest. There was a knoll from where water was flowing down. It wasn’t big enough to have a bath but we could wash our faces and the stream created by that water had a smooth, cold current. Along the stream there were big boulders on which we could sit and dip our feet in water. Nilesh and Vinayak climbed up the knoll though I asked them not to do so, because there the mud was sinking, and could be risky. Nilesh could climb up the knoll but it was difficult for him to get down the same path. He followed the other path through the plants to get down the knoll.
We had our lunch sitting on the boulders along the stream; we dipped our feet in water while doing so. There was a fish that wriggled at Nilesh’s leg and he pulled it back with a small scream. We all laughed on him. Parag did a video shoot of the fish with his camera mobile. Vinayak, I don’t know from where, got a fit of hitting the fish with stones. Parag and I tried to stop him but he continued to throw stones in water. At last I had to use few adjectives on him to make him stop doing it. While descending down the water fall, we saw some crabs. Parag and Nilesh took video of that crab. Unfortunately, after the crab went inside his resting hole, Parag realized that he did not start the video shoot, so the entire time he was just fruitlessly following the crab. He didn’t have to regret a lot, because we found another crab just twenty feet away, he shot this crab.
While descending the waterfall, there is a place where it drops down some twenty feet, so we need to change the track and follow the path. This path is through grass, hence we need to be careful not to lose the track of it. Vinayak decided to defy the rules and not to follow us, he also encouraged Nilesh to defy the rules. He and Nilesh went further down the waterfall, and we continued to follow the path. They joined us later because they realized there is no way down. After this we came across a bigger road (which was under construction) the mud had drained out due to rains and it was an amazing formation. We walked that road for some time and came across another waterfall. This was our last descend. Amol was able to climb the mountain, however, getting down along the waterfalls proved difficult for him. Sometimes he slipped, sometimes the stones shifted, sometimes he had to jump, with his weight, and he was totally exhausted.
At last we reached the waterfall from where we started, the trek was over. In between Amol received a call from TL, there was a party at her place, and he was late. Amol, who was talking of going to Lonavala, or at least Lohagad, suddenly changed his plans and was in hurry to go home. The person who was lagging behind the entire trek, right from Malavali station (and when we were fresh), was ahead of everyone (after a tiresome trek). We reached Malavali station and luckily got a train immediately. I asked others to come ahead to catch a bogie, but Amol and Vinayak decided to enter the bogie that stopped in front of them (fortunately it wasn’t a ladies bogie), so Nilesh and I were in different bogie, where as others were in a different bogie. The result of the trek was Amol failed as he did not follow the instructions and also he proved himself to be too slow to trek. Vinayak also failed as he not only defied the rules but also encouraged to defy the rules.

for photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/amit.trek/Patan#

Lohagad Trek

Lohagad ---the Iron Fort
My colleagues wanted to go for a trek, the nearest and easiest place to trek was Lohagad -the Iron Fort. I'd been to that place earlier, (believe me that was the most thrilling experience, we had gone there, in the evening, wearing slippers/ floaters, without any bags or torch, and had almost lost our way in darkness), hence I suggested that place. Last time I'd planned Khandala Ghat hiking in rain..and a bath in waterfall, which some of them had missed, so every one was excited and there were few new members too.
Lohagad and Visapur Forts are situated on a hill near Malavali, 52 km away from Pune. A kilometre long ridge separates the two forts. These forts are regarded to be ideal for trekking and can be toured in a day. Lohagad is 3400 feet high and is not much spread and can be easily seen in few hours. There are 4 doors to Lohagad from the nearby village -Lohgadwadi, they are 'Ganesh Darwaja' , 'Narayan Darwaja' , 'Hanuman Darwaja' and 'Maha Darwaja'. Some sculptures can also be seen on Maha Darwaja. The famous spot on Lohagad is 'Vinchu Kata' - a range of hills that looks like Scorpion's tail. An amazing view of Pawana Dam is also visible from Lohagad. The wealth from Surat was brought here under the leadership of Netaji Palkar and kept here for some period. Visapur fort, which is 3,500 feet in height, is situated between Lohagad and Bedse Caves. A huge cannon of 10 feet in length is the main attraction of Visapur, as it has an impression of royal crown.
Saturday is work off for us, and hence Saturday (6-Sept-2008) was decided as the trek day. I packed food for the trek and left home by 7:00 a.m to catch 8:00 a.m local train. Santosh, Nilesh, Vicky, Ashish and I were supposed to board the train from Pune Station, and Ajit was to board the train from Dapodi. Santosh and I were waiting for others to come to Pune station, however they were late. From the foot over bridge we could see them entering the station and the train exiting the station. The next train to Malavali was at 10:00 a.m, hence the plan was changed a bit. We boarded the 9:00 a.m, Talegaon local train, Ajit boarded it from Dapodi. It was one hour for the next train from Talegaon to Malavali so we decided to have breakfast in Talegaon. We found a small restaurant near Talegaon station (I forgot the name) which offered only four items on menu, Vada pav, Bhaji pav, misal and tea. Some of us had misal and others had vada pav. As compared to the size and interiors of the restaurant the taste was so good that Nilesh and Vicky had one more vadapav.
We boarded the train and reached Malavali by 11:15 a.m. The group wanted to see the bhaje caves, as they were uncertain when they'll return there again in their life. Bhaje and Lohagad in a day, at 11:30 a.m, is quite tiring, but we decided to go to the caves. Ashish got to ride a bicycle of one of the local boys who were returning from school. We reached Bhaje caves after paying the entry fee.
The 18 Bhaje caves are supposed to have been built for Buddhist nuns. Excavated in the 2nd century BC. The pillars are sloping but the stilted vault is a fine piece of work. The last cave to the south has some fine sculpture, including a prince seated on an elephant (Supposed to be Indra on his Iravat), a prince in a chariot (supposed to be Sun) and three armed figures (I doubt them to be Indra and Sun, because why would a Buddhist cave have Hindu sculpture). The dancing couple is a justly famous piece of sculpture. Cave no 12 is a chaitya hall, the finest of the cave complex. Cave no 1 is the dwelling house for the master architect, 10 are viharas and remaining 7 caves contain inscriptions about the donors. There are also 2 water tanks that have sweet and cold water through out the year.
There after we descended the hill from the waterfall near Bhaje caves. On the way we changed to comfortable clothes for trekking, and started the trek towards Lohagad fort. There is a crushed stone road leading to the base village Lohagadwadi or Lohadi. However there are many pathways that run in between the twisting and turning road. We preferred to climb through the pathways, mainly created by small streams. This gives a good trekking experience rather than just walking on the road. There were some waterfalls on the way and others wanted to have a bath. I refused the idea and took them through the plant studded pathway. There was a place where we had to continue the trek by crawling through a patch of thorny trees.
Vicky got exhausted on the way and wanted to rest. He asked us to continue ahead, but we stopped with him. After some biscuits and tang he regained his strength. He wondered how we'll reach the fort (which looked very far from the road) in half an hour. We took the stone road in order to save Vicky from the tiresome trek. We reached the foothill of the fort, where we were welcomed by a stone horse and a beautiful tree. When Vicky saw the fort he was very excited. As Nilesh, Vicky and Ashish had not got their lunch we ordered the food (Pithla Bhakri) from one of the village restaurants (they are just a shaded place on extension of the house, with chairs and table). We rested there till the food was packed, and later started to climb the fort. We had to pass through four big gateways to reach the top of the fort. There are a lot of monkeys on the fort, beware of them. They snatch food bags from people, hence its advisable to keep your food material in sack bags and carry a stick with you.
We had our lunch, in the cave, on the fort. There is an old man who stays in the cave, he drove away the monkeys who were trying to enter the cave, while we had our lunch. There is a small canon outside this cave. From there we started our journey towards Vinchu kata, the name is given because it looks like a scorpion's tail. There is a tank on the way, and a ramshackle house. The roof had tumbled down, only the log structure could be seen, the walls seem to have borne lot of wear and tear. We reached the point from where Vinchu kata can be clearly seen. As Nilesh was wearing sandals and the path was slippery I refused to take them to Vinchu kata. We sat there for some time enjoying the scenic beauty of Pawna lake. We saw a dark cloud coming towards us and vinchu kata. Within few min it enveloped the entire area. It was most amazing thing we saw that day, we sitting in the rain cloud. We returned from that point after some time. We took the other route from lake, which leads to a temple and dargah on the fort. There is a canon in front of the dargah. From there we returned through the four magnificent gates. There are some worn out steps in between that are covered with moss in rainy season. If we are not careful and slip, we might end up at the foot of fort. We came down very carefully from those steps, specially Nilesh had to be very careful, as he was wearing sandals, I kept on bombarding him to be careful in that patch.
We reached down the fort little bit tired but very happy on completion of the trek. Though the trek was not completely over the major part of it was over. We descended the hill through pathways rather than the road. In this process Ajit lagged behind and lost his way. I took all of them to a waterfall, where we realized Ajit is not with us. He called me on my cell phone and I gave him directions. By the time he joined us we were already under the waterfall enjoying the cold force of it.
Everyone was refreshed after the bath. This was the reason that I did not take them to the waterfall in afternoon. (They realized it after the bath.) We started our return journey to Malavali station. I told them it'll take hardly 15 min to reach the station and we should walk fast so we can reach before it gets dark. Ajit wondered how we can reach in 15 min if we need to climb back to Bhaje caves and then to malavali station. I explained him we don't need to go to the caves we just need to follow the road. He was so happy after knowing this, that he kissed my hands. We boarded the train after an enjoyable trek, with a promise from me, to go for a another such wonderful trek.

for Photographs see

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipN4fzpmh7JLG1k-Am8OoVRyMe13PU_v5P3TYrGK