Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Gorakhgad a different fort with majestic views

Gorakhgad near Murbad A different than other fort small but difficult

Total height from mean sea level 617 meters
Total height from Base village to top : 500 meters(Almost like Torna fort)

In the Bhimashankar-Ahupe ghat region in Shahpur,Murbad taluka of Thane and Karjat taluka of Raigad and Junnar Taluka of Pune Districts, there are rugged terrians of Sahyadris ranging from Kulang-Ratangad-Katrabai-Harishchandragad-Dhakoba-Durg-Siddhagad-Ahupe -Bhimashankar
This region is in tribal area and  having rough terrians and difficult mountains with rock patches
Gorakhgad is one of the fort overlooking the Ahupe ghat region on Thane and Pune district borders

There is no fort as such on top.There is a samadhi of Gorakshnath on top

We were total 5 people for the trek. I with Kiran,Sudarshan,Anirban and Sridhar 

Though very small, this trek is divided into 3 stages
First stage: Base village to halfway mark
This is an easy stage .From Dehri village, behind the temple, the route starts through dense forests, it climbs up and again limbs down and then after climbing a small hill, you are able to see two pinnacles of Gorakhgad and Macchindragad
This stage is having many up and downhill climb and after a big climb, you are on halfway

From here, towards left are pinnacles of Gorakhgad and Machhindragad, towards right is temple and further from that temple is Ahupe ghat which leads to forests in Bhimashankar

Here are the photos of first stage


View of Massive Gigantic Siddhagad to your front while climbing Gorakhgad





Till here, first stage is completed and second stage starts


Second stage: Climbing in the rock to the caves

This second stage is climbing through rock carved steps.Difficulty rating is medium and those who are experienced can climb it without any problems.
After climbing through steep rock step, you reach entrance of fort.Further, again, there are steep carved steps in rocks which leads to caves

                                  

                                 

  
  
                                


                                 

                                 
From Caves, the further route is difficult

Third stage : The final rock climb
This is a slightly difficult stage which is advised only for experienced people and those who are not afraid of seeing deep valley just below their feet
You have to climb a difficult rock patch and the route through rock cut steps are  nearly 90 degrees hence if you look behind while climbing, you will always see deep valley below your feet
Secondly, you will have to be very careful while descending hence this stage is only advisable to experienced people.If necesscary, you will need atleast 15 meters of good strong rope


You have to climb this rock patch above the cave



The final climb is like this and a deep valley below you

A view of final climb in the rock



Ahupe ghat mountain seen from top of Gorakhgad




Machhindragad seen from Gorakhgad



Base village: Dehri Taluka Murbad dist Thane

How to reach
Reach Karjat from Pune/Mumbai by train
From Karjat, you can get a bus to Murbad.Get down at Mhasa.From here, you can get any bus to Dehri
You can also get buses to Dehri from Kalyan
Also for people who wants to reach here via Malshej,
After Malshej ghat, reach Tokawde and from there, is a connecting road till Mhasa

Thus you can see that Dehri has many routes from all places between Karjat and Kalyan

Gorakhgad is a fantastic trek and though small trek but is is very different than other forts

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