We joined the group
known as the Skyonars on 15th June, 2012 from Mira road. It was new group to us
run by college students in Mira road. They published their event on the 'Mumbai Hikers'
blog. Mumbai hikers, obviously is the central blog portal where most of Mumbai
trekking groups post their upcoming events. A trek to Lohagadh Fort was a
one-day event, with the return journey planned for the evening. Some of the
group members had been to the Lohagadh Fort before. They had suggested it was
an easy trek. 'Easy' that's what attracted me to this trek. This was going to
be bhavikartik's first "real" trek. Lohagadh, here we come..!!! :)
The
Lohagadh Fort is situated at 52 km from Pune. Lohagadh is at an elevation of
3,450 feet (1,052 m) and is situated on a side range of the Sahyadris.
Pickups were planned at Mira road and Thane. After picking up
enthusiasts along the way, our numbers rose to 50. All towards our destination
- Lohagadh. We had a nice sumptuous breakfast of Poha served with extra sev and
Dhokla on our way in the bus. The way to Lohagadh was through a place Malawni -
Base Village. After parking our vehicle there, we were all set to start our
trek.
The trek to Lohagadh is quite an easy one. You just need to
follow the straight road ahead. It’s not a motorable road by any means. The
route goes spirally upwards. Almost like a zigzag. Some people were climbing up
by the small ravines. As you climb up, you would find two peaks - the one
straight ahead and the other to the right. The one straight ahead is Visapur
Fort and the one to the right is Lohagadh. The journey so far was good one.
Since, most of the route was a rather straight one; it was quite easy even for
first timers like us. And soon, after almost 2 hrs we were at Lohgadhwadi, base
village of our destination. You can reach here by a proper motorable route as
well, I guess from Malawni. There were lot of people there. It was almost like
a trek mela. People turning up from everywhere. There were lot of trekking
groups like ours everywhere. After this point, we were at the footsteps of the
Fort. We just needed to climb those.
As we climb up, we found the majestic Pawna lake behind i.e to
the right, the village Lohagadwadi in the center and the Visapur Fort to the
left. The steps were quite high in terms of height. Making it even tougher to
climb. But soon in 20 minutes or so, we were at the Ganesh Darwaja - the main
entrance to the Fort. I found one of my office colleague with her friends
climbing down. They went to Bhaje caves, 2nd century BC Buddhist caves. They
are a set of 18 caves, cut straight out of rocks. Amazing bit of ancient
architecture. Unfortunately, the tight schedule wasn't allowing us to explore
the "Bhaje caves". So, after a few pictures with our zooming camera,
we turned our heads to Lohagadh.
Lohagad Fort has 4 doors called "darwajas" - Ganesh
Darwaja, Nayaran Darwaja, Hanuman Darwaja and Maha Darwaja. Having full of
sharp structures protruding out, these are tall doors atleast 10 feet in
height. Each darwaja comes up as we climbed up the stairs introducing to a new
section of the Fort. This section or open space gives a panoramic view. we saw
there were small openings in the walls of the Fort, imagine these openings to
be used for cannons on other warring provinces and Mughals. We found small
cannon, it was way too heavy for any of us to lift. The final Maha Darwaja
opens up to a vast open courtyard. It’s more like a peak of the mountain rather
than a Fort. Its wide and huge and houses a temple, a few ponds including Giant
Hatti Talab, Dargah and the famous Vinchukatta.
Most of the time spent up was exploring the different parts, taking pictures.
The Best part was the famous "Vinchukata" - Scorpion’s
Sting, a long and narrow Fortified structure. This is a finger styled
projection of fissure of Lava and the name scorpion’s sting due to its natural
shape. The attractive beauty of the pinnacle of this hilly terrain is worth
visiting. Since, we were running late due to morning traffic, we started our
trip downwards.
While returning we had nice masala tea, it cost us Rs. 7 only.
Many group members enjoyed bathing in waterfall as well; we were tired to go to
waterfall at the base. The journey back was a quick one. We clocked a mere an
hour on the way down. i.e to Malawni village. And then we started our journey
back to Mumbai with filling our hungry stomach with Jam and Cheese Sandwiches.
Overall it was well organized trip by the Skyonars- there was
bit of history, hard work, good food, some adventure, serene breath taking
scenes and lots and lots of pictures-The best memory of your good time, which
makes you smile anytime.
The brief History of Lohagadh: the place dates around 2000 to
2500 years back. At that time, Lohagadh was one of the major Forts of the
Satwaahan dynasty. The Fort owes its name to the sage Lomesh who was meditating
on Lohagadh. It was mainly built to keep Nana Maval, Andhra Maval and Korbaarse
Maval in check. But after the collapse of the Bahamani kingdom, the Fort
Lohagadh in Pune was captured by Nizamshahi in 1489. Thereafter, the Fort
passed into different hands. The seventh brother of the Nizam who ruled
from1590 to 1594 was imprisoned here. In 1630, the Fort was captured by
Adilshah, and Shivaji Maharaj took it under his control in 1648. In the year
1665, the Fort was successively attacked by Mirza Raja Jaysingh who invaded
Purandhar and by Kutubuddin, who looted the villages surrounding the Fort
Lohagadh in Pune. Shivaji Maharaj captured it again in 1670, Aurangzeb, in 1700
and Balaji Vishwanath in 1720. Bajirao II ruled the Fort in 1802 until it went
finally to the British hands under Colonel Prother in 1818.
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