Ratangad is a fort overlooking the Bhandardara dam at Bhandardara. The fort lies close to Kalsubai and Harischandragad.  Ratangad at the top, has a natural rock peak with a cavity in it which is called ‘Nedhe’ or ‘Eye of the Needle’; formed by natural erosion. Ina ddition to this other attractions in the nearby vicinity include the Amruteshwar templ, Randhe falls, umbrella falls and pictresque green environs of Bhandardara.

You can see photographs of the place here and here.

Tentative Date: 22nd / 23rd September.

Duration: 2 days with return on 23rd/24th September.

Mode of Transport: Public transport wherever possible. We may hire a vehicle at Bhandardara for local sightseeing and for getting to the base fort.

Accommodation: MTDC Resort at Bhandardara. At present the plan is to stay for a night here. We could either stay in the 12 bedded group accomodation (cost: Rs.1800 per night) or stay in individual rooms (2-4 people per room @ Rs 700-Rs 1200 per night) depending on the number of people.

Minimum Number of People: Ideally at least 4-6 people.

Costs: Costs would be strictly on sharing basis. Exact costs will be intimated once we have confirmed regsitrations.

How to Register: You can register by posting a comment on this blog post. Please register at least by the 10th of September as the rooms need to be booked in advance depending on the number of people. Also once you register, you would be honor bound to pay for the accomodation in case of a cancellation.

Itinerary (tentative)

Day 1

1. Departure from Mumbai by train to Igatpuri
2. Arrival at MTDC, Bhandardara by around late morning
3. Lunch at MTDC
4. Local sightseeing with visits to Randha Falls, Bhandardara Dam and Umbrella falls
5. Dinner

Day 2 

1. Early departure to Ratangad fort for the trek@6:30 - 7:00 AM
2. Trekking up to Ratangad fort
3. Climb down by around 11:00 -12:00
4. Visit Amruteshwar Temple
5. Return to MTDC for Lunch
6. Departure towards Mumbai via Igatpuri / Kasara.

Alternatives: If the group is up for it, we may even consider staying in the caves at Ratangad, camping there for the night, instead of staying at MTDC.

True to its name Prachandagad (meaning “huge fort”), the fort stretches over couple of kilometres. Its one of the larger forts in Maharashtra. This site is a popular trekking site with the path being moderate to difficult. The fort is about 65Km from Pune. The base village is Velve, and from here the climb to the top is about 3 or 4 hours.

You can see photographs of Torna here.

Tentative Date: As of now we plan to go on Sunday, 31st August 2008. We will leave as early as possible in the morning.

Duration: This trip is intended as a day trip, so we expect to complete the trip in a day.

Travel mode: Since there is a considerable distance to be travelled, we will mostly hire a vehicle for the trip.

Minimum No of people: In order to make the trip economical, we would need at least 6-7 confirmations.

Costs: Costs would be strictly on sharing basis. Exact costs will be intimated once we have confirmed regsitrations.

How to Register: You can register by posting a comment on this blog post.

About a month ago, I had got together with some friends and organized a small trekking trip to one of the forts in the Karjat region. While the trip was a great success, organizing the trip over email, co-ordinating with those wanting to come etc. proved to be a great hassle. So then I had a brainwave of setting up a small site that would simplify all this. Thus Trekster was born!

Trekster is an “enhanced” blog solely dedicated towards organizing trekking trips in and around Mumbai. The blog will contain notifications of treks to come, with a description of the location, duration of the trek etc. For each trek, an interested person will be able to sign up for a trek, receive notifications of the schedule etc. through a registration web site. (As of now  this feature is under development). Hopefully, this will make things simpler and open the world of trekking to a whole new audience.

The first trek starts in a week or two, so keep your eyes glued to this page.