RAIGAD JEVHA BOLU LAGATO....

Rain blows with the wind,
wind makes rain to feel,
to feel the both
one need to be the place,
where both of them are at their best.
the feeling of drenching becomes the best
when fort becomes the drenching nest
& freinds meet each other with full of Zest.

Thats how the journey begins for the Raigad trek.( 28th-30th june 2013)

The journey started on friday late night from Parel Depot
State Transport (ST) bus to MAHAD @11.15pm Reached MAHAD @ 5.30am.
From their one need to reach at PACHAD the base village for Raigad fort.
First bus to PACHAD at 6.00am after that at 8.00am.
Its a 20-30min journey from mahad to pachad.

There are frequent buses for Mahad from mumbai/ thane/kurla/ mumbai central/ borivali
chk on MSRTc website.One can decide as per their plan.

Once reached to Pachad bust stop. Take a right turn, from the bus stop.
From their a 1km staright walk & turn left, that takes to raigad fort.
If you dont take left & walk straight will reach  to the ROPEWAY station, a half km distance from the turning.

At the entarnce of the fort their is a small hotel "Hotel Deshmukh"
where one can get breakfast like misal pav/Usal pav, vada pav.tea/coffee etc.
& other Small stalls where u can get Omlet or boiled eggs.

The trek to raigad is a very good combination of steps & flat road in between.
It is mentioned that one need to cross 15000 steps to reach raigad top.

The route is very easy anyone can do it easily  & its very safe not tough patches as such.If you are doing trek in summer season u must carry enough drinking water as there is no provision for drinking water as such in a way , in rainy season you will see lot of small waterfalls,& their call to enjoy the fall of water can't be resisted.
Please avoid to drink that water as it may be contaminated. Drink unless you are very very thirsty.

The trekking route will make you reach at the entrance of the fort.
You might fill that you lost in the fort,we experienced the same;because the fog is so dense you will not able to see what is there in front of you.
There many spots where you can fall straight into the valley if you dont mind your step.
MTDC canteen is there to kill your hunger, stay at  mtdc rooms, need to do bookings in advance.
On the way you will find the ZP( Zilla parishad) guest house too & small canteen besides that.

Once you reach the mtdc resort/ canteen. You can see the steps leading to ropeway stop.
Villagers come & ask for the lunch.
If you are staying for the night then you need to place the order in mtdc for dinner in advance.
 If you have reached early in the morning do rest, have some food & then explore the fort as its so huge you need atleast two-three hours to see it.

Be careful at TAKMAK tok, as wind is flowing at very high speed.

Most of the visitors come back from the jagdamba temple, assuming that fort ends here. Moving ahead to that their is Bhavani Tok.

If your are visiting fort in the rainy season & planning to comeback by evening by ropeway be careful, you must return  as early as possible, because if the wheather condition goes bad the ropeway stops working & you have stay on the fort or you have to trek down before it gets dark.

Other places nearby the raigad:( Gandharpali & Sav  are two nearest place from Mahad Bus depot)

1)Shivthargad (Holy Place): Place where Samarth Ramdas Swami stayed. Huge Caves & a waterfall to visit a 30km from MAHAD (further ahead of Mahad  )

2)Gandharpali: Again one more cave destination where Gautam Budh stayed,6-7Km from MAHAD bus depot, one can see while going to mumbai from mahad, its on the way. So if you are returnning from gandharpali to mumbai, you may get bus going towards mumbai. There is no bus stop, but if lucky & if there is place in the bus. Bus driver may stop for you. Ask conductor no of seats empty.

3)Sav: A hot water springs place. This place is also on the way towards returning to mumbai, almost 7-8Km from gandharpali, the place is on the other side of the Savitri river, One need to go via boat to reach the destination. Boating facility available. Restaurant available on the bank of river.


Chandrakant ZP( Zilla parishadGuest house ): 09403042064.
Mangesh MTDC resort raigad: 07276123053.