Avichitgad Trek

Date : 14th June 2009

Grade : Easy to Medium depending on the monsoon

Height : 985 feet

Team : 53 people, all from random background. The trek was arranged by "Kalpavihar" Trek group

General Info

Avchitgad (300 m. high) is situated in the mountain ranges around Roha on the banks of Kundalika River This region is beautiful, and the fort is one of the rich forts of Maharashtra surrounded by dense woods. The fort is not much wide, but stretches long enough. It takes about two hours to see the fort. The forest around the fort is dense and the fauna comprises wild hogs, leopards, foxes, monkeys, etc. it is a best monsoon trek.
From the top of Avchitgad we can have a glimpse of Telbaila, Sudhagad, Sarasgad, Dhangad, Raigad, Korigad and Savashna Ghat.

My experience

I along with three of my friends started our journey from Borivali, Mumbai at a scheduled time of 6:30 am by a private vehicle. I soon got into early-morning sleephobia and fell asleep as soon as i boarded the bus. I was awakened nearly after 2 hrs for breakfast at an hotel, where we halted for 30 mins and left immediately.

The trek is supposed to be a first monsoon trek. So i expected the climate to be filled with rain and chilled breeze etc.. , but exactly opposite prevailed over there. We were stuck in very hot humid weather, hardly left with some water, and our luggage combined together made it a helluva task to climb. If it would've been a monsoon season, the trek grade must be easy, but the hot weather over there made it to a moderate level trek.

I took 2.5 hrs to reach the fort and the siting of the fort entrance felt like reaching an heaven. We all rested and had our energy drink - glucose.The fort is almost destroyed and one can see few walls and water storage areas, also an aerial view of various mountain ranges and villages from the top. There was also an temple which has become a sleeping ground for many people, with most of the people sleeping in and around it.

I spent some time exploring the fort, and the areas around it. The weather is still hot, but the breeze was cool which was invigorating and provided us with energy for the return journey. For lunch i had paratha with jelly wrapping, biscuits and chappathi with subji.

After resting for an hour, i started my return journey and reached the basement in around 1.5 hrs time. Gulped around 2 to 3 litres of water, from an villager, who was carrying water pumped from an hand-pump. Actually i was really fortunate to spot the villager. A few more people followed my lead and finished the whole pot of water, the villager carried. Also i started grabbing any liquid stuff - water and cool drinks at every site of shops. To say in short i would have had around 5 - 6 litres of water and still felt thirsty.

The return journey is followed by an halt at the same hotel spot as in the morning, where i had tea and snacks. My friends added ice-creams along with it and made it a complete. One advantage of travelling by a private vehicle is that one can get down at any place for their comfort, depending upon the closeness to their place. I got down at borivali, which is the final stopping point and reached home at around midnight, whereas my friends got down at andheri itself.

Had a quick shower and tasted the delicious dinner made by the maid/ Spent some time with my laptop and went to sleep, to prepare myself for the next one week of work before the next trek.

Final word

As every trek carries some learning, by this trek i learnt that it is difficult to do even an easy task/trek at an improper time, so be prepared for anything. If one plans to do summer trek, please be prepared with necessary arrangements like sunscreen lotion, water arrangements etc... I wish i would've gone during monsoon season.

I would recommend anyone to visit this Avichitgad during monsoon season. I'm still awaiting for the monsoon to arrive soon and hoping that monsoon will heed to my request. Unfortunately, i haven't have much pics to publish in this post, but will soon update once i get.

Till then Keep trekking and enjoy :)