Ratangad trek Experience

On the Night of 18^th March 2016, Friday. I started from my house which is in the western suburbs of Mumbai to reach the village of Ratanwadi from where I along with my four friends would trek Ratangad Fort.

Ratangad Fort - It’s a Fort which lies 65Km from Igatpuri, It was conquered By Shivaji Maharaj from the Mughals. One can see Many Trekking spot in the distance like kalsubai, Alang, Madan and Kulang .The main attraction of the fort apart from the fort itself is a natural hole in the rock which is referred to as the “Needhi”.

I along with one of my friend boarded the Mahanagari express at 12.28 am from Dadar T.T which would take us to Igatpuri on 19th March 2016. Cost of the ticket was Rs 75 from Dadar to Igatpuri. Remaining three of my friends boarded the train from Thane, after some chit chat we were asleep .The next time we would be woken up was to the noise of people selling wadapav’s at Kasara railway station which was like an alarm that Igatpuri was the next station ,At around 3.30 we got off the train at Igatpuri Railway station . We got refreshed and started to walk towards the ST bus stand which was like 10 mins from the railway station, just ask anyone at the railway station where is the ST bus stand. As the first bus which would drop us off at Shendi was at 5.00 am we took some pics and just went for an early morning walk. With a delay of 15 mins the bus started, cost of the ticket was Rs 38. At around 6.30 we reached Shendi and were greeted by Mr. Shanjay who has a small tea shop in Shendi where the bus dropped us off, I had spoken to him the earlier day over the phone to ask him which would be a feasible option i.e. Coming to Shendi from Kasara or from Igatpuri and he was the one who suggested to come from Igatpuri. From here we were supposed to take a jeep to Ratanwadi which would be the starting point of our trek. After some bargaining and with the help of Mr. Shanjay we made a Deal for Rs 1500 roundtrip, you can get jeeps to Ratanwadi from the very place the bus will leave you. After that we had some tea at Mr. Shanjay’s Tea stall and started towards Ratanwadi at around 6.45, the journey is very scenic and I was just imagining how beautiful this place would be in the rainy season. Our jeep driver Mr. Raju   made the journey even more interesting, we spoke on a range of topics and it was fun. At around 7.30 we reached Ratanwadi, we asked Mr. Raju Were we would get some breakfast, and he pointed out to a house. He told us that the last bus from Shendi to Kasara is at 5.00 pm and he would come and pick us up at 4.00 pm from Ratanwadi, he wished us luck and he left. We all were in a mood of having some missal Pav but we were informed that only kandha bhaji would be possible. We agreed for the bhaji, after eating our breakfast and some of us answering natures call we started our trek at around 8.10 am, the person whose house we had our breakfast showed us the area from where we would start the trek. 15 mins into the trek you will see a small dam that is built, we took a right and went on the other side of the DAM and followed the path made by people continuously walking on it (Paulvat). The route is marked at some places which is just enough to be on the right path. Other 30 mins into the trek we reached a small plateau from where again moved to the right, from here on after 30 mins you will see a board, you will have to go from the path going from side of it, as you continue the trek you will encounter 4 ladders after 20 mins which are put to make the trek easy, once you climb these ladders you will see a cave to the right and the fort Door towards your right, The view from the top is wonderful. We explored the fort and moved towards the Needhi which one can reach traversing along the path at the edge of the mountain and once you reach the other side of the mountain just look up you will see a whole in the rocks which is your next destination. It took us around 20 mins to reach the Needhi once we reached the fort. The view from top here is heaven for trekkers. We reached here at around 11 am and stayed here and just chilled out for another 2 hours and started our descent at around 1 pm as we descended we phoned the place we just had breakfast and told to make some lunch for us as well as phoned the jeep driver to come and pick us up at around 4 pm .

The descent was quick and we were down at around 2.30pm. As soon as we reached the place where we would have our food we drank lots of water and sat to eat, the food was amazing though we were limited on options. We rested for some time and then got in the jeep at 4 pm which reached at Shendi at 4.50 pm, we then realized that the bus to Kasara is at 5.30 pm .The jeep driver must have intentionally informed us that the bus is at 5.00pm so we would not miss it. We had lots of tea at the same place we had in the morning as we waited for the bus. The bus was on time, we sat down and after paying Rs 68 per person till Kasara we dozed off. We reached Kasara at 7.40 pm and were in time for the 8.15pm local to CST, as the train started we were left with beautiful memories of the place and in the search for our next trekking destination. I will be adding contact details of the jeep driver Mr. Sanjay and Hotel Rijuta.

Note: -

1)    The locals informed us that there was water available on the top, so we didn’t carry enough water to  our dismay the water that was available on the fort was not drinkable. We survived on Oranges  which were like our savior. Please carry adequate water before you start the trek.

2)      This trek would be more enjoyable and beautiful during the rainy season.

3)      There is camping available at Bhandardara Dam and also an MTDC resort.

4)      An alternative route would be to reach Kasara on the central railway line and then catch the first bus which will drop you off at Shendi at 7.00 am, In case you miss the bus to Shendi another option would be to go to Goti phata and there are jeeps available at Rs 60 per seat to Shendi or ST buses.

Contacts:-

Mr. Raju (Jeep Driver) – 7875956988

Mr. Shanjay (Tea stall at Shendi) -9423749953

Hotel Rijuta (Breakfast and lunch) – 9325062353, 7798912748, 9370358385