Mahuli Trek

Date: 22/08/2009

Type: Hill Fort

Height: 2815 ft

Grade: Medium

Base Village: Mahuli

History: The creator of this fort is unknown. In 1485 this place came under rule Nijamshahi dynasty. When Shahaji Raje became the secretary of Nijamshahi, Mughals of Delhi tried to end Nijamshahi. In 1635-36, Shahaji Raje transferred himself with Jijabai and Shivaji to Mahuli. When Khan Jaman attacked the fort, Shahaji asked Portuguese for help, who refused and Shahaji surrendered.

Shivaji took this fort from Mughals on 8 Jan 1658. In 1661 it was given back and was won again by Shivaji. In treaty of Purandar, in 1665, Marathas lost these forts again. In Feb 1670, Shivaji Maharaj tried to conquer Mahuli, but failed, thanks to an alert Manohardas Gaud, who was the in charge of the fort. Thousand of Marathas were killed. Manohardas Gaud, soon gave up his position and Alveerdi Beg took over. On 16 June 1670, after two months, Moropant Pingle conquered the forts and Mahuli, Bhandargad and Palasgad became part of Swarajya. Till 1817, Shivaji's dynasty owned the fort and later by the Britishers.

Journey to Asangon

My journey started with "Shalom Adventure" group, at Dadar morning 6 am. My friend Vinay agarwal dropped out at the last minute in spite of calling since 4:30 am.

Exactly 4 people met at Dadar, Miron the organizer, Sanjay the experienced trekker, Prithi the fashion designer and myself. We caught the 6:30 Asangon direct train. At thane Arun joined us , the Stragic planner. After reaching the Asangon station, we took a auto rickshaw to Mahuli village which is around 20-30 mins travel. Had a quick homemade breakfast prepared at one of the villagers.

Base village

The Villagers informed us that it might rain as government used some chemicals for artificial rain at that region. I too hope rain would throw a welcome party during climbing.

Mahuli Forest

The rain seems like a distant possible probability, instead we were being accompanied by mosquitos, first ever situation i have experienced. Thankfully Arun carried odamos repellent cream with him, to helps us stay away from mosquito bite, though it didn't help effectively. The climate was humid and cloudy with hardly any breeze. Trees acted as a hampering wall to prevent any breeze from entering.

First 30 mins, i and everyone climbed without much difficulty, but soon i realized that the path is steeper than expected. Unfortunately, one of our trek mates dropped at this point, as she can't proceed any further. Leaving behind her, saying bye bye, we proceeded further. Meanwhile Sanjay climbed like an 220cc pulsar running almost. I challenged him by following him throughout, with great difficulty. Soon we were split into two groups, i & Sanjay as a one group and rest other one.

Virgin & Nearby peaks

I, along with always sanjay started to climb rapidly and wait for the second group to catch us. After sometime, we got tired of waiting and proceeded to the peak. In short "Race to Mahuli Fort".

Though i tried to be at par with sanjay, he always surpassed me and at one point of time he was 20 mins ahead. My chasing game ended here and reached the peak after 20 mins since sanjay reached. Soon Arun joined us after 30 more mins and there are no sign of others.

The Peak

A narrow Ladder paved the way to the entrance. Weather rapidly changed his face, varied from absolute silence to misty fog. The rainly cloud passed us, and one could say it is a rainly cloud because of the chillness it had. No sign of rain still :( . It felt like the paradise showing us the path to the nature's destiny.

Mahuli Peak

The waiting game started and to our relief Prithi and Miron, are in sight now and only a small narrow patch separated them from us. We decided to roam around for sometime, since we know they will take some time to reach.

Mahuli Fort

We were welcomed by a family along the path, and to our surprise, they were playing cards over there near a water storage area. They advised us to path to the fort and the route. After thanking them, i proceed further to a fort, the path is little muddy though. A small Shiv Mandhir existed over there and also a cave nearby.

Mandir & Entrance

Cave...

I explored the cave to realize that it is fort entrance. I also came to know that there existed an alternate route to the fort. I rushed back to the peak, thinking the other two would've arrived by then. Later on reaching, realized that they couldn't cross the narrow patch. I along with others started to descend as the time is short.

Lunch

We caught them in 20 mins time, trying to climb the narrow patch and accompanied them to a nearby plain field and settled down for lunch. Just to aggravate their frustration, I explained in detail the climate, Mandhir and the fort accompanied by the cave to the other two, we loved their expression and enjoyed it. Downward journey seemed very easy and we reached in 1:30 hrs. We also realized that we had enough time to roam around a nearby waterfall.

Waterfall

One has to take a right turn near the stream at the base to reach the waterfall. Surprisingly, a well laid path existed to reach the waterfall. One can go to two falls, a smaller one which is nearby and a bigger one which might take 30 more mins than smaller one. We unanimously settled for a smaller one.

Mahuli waterfall (Small)

I couldn't get into the waterfall as there is deep patch existed underneath. I guess it would have been formed because of the pressure from the waterfall. I was somehow disappointed, and tried to find the depth, realized it might be more that 6 feet, so didn't take any risk it. I settled for the small stream of water passing nearby, and rested for a while.

Perfect timing

After rejuvenating effect from the waterfall, i rushed back to the village, exactly that time bus arrived, as if someone sent to pick us up. Reached to Asangoan station, had some refreshment and the train was already waiting for us to start our journey.

This trek reminded me of my college days, where the number who registered is significantly more than the actual people who go for trek. In this case, 11 people registered, 6 came and 5 started climbing and only 3 reached at the end. I also had a discussion on the type of trek shoe to buy, as my Reebok just broke in between. Finally i decided to buy Action trekking shoes, for which i need to shed around Rs. 650 /-

Long distance view of Mahuli