After a break of month and half last weekend been to Mrug-Gad, a fort on Khopoli-Pali Road.
The fort with height of 1750ft is easy to climb. We left Mumbai early morning and reached the base village 'Bheliv' at 9am. One has to take left turn at Jambhulpada village to reach the 'Bheliv'. The fort looks really small from the base but with the temperature around 40 degree and the heat of burning jungle made this climb very exhaustive. It is called as Jungle trek but in summer there was hardly any shadow. After climbing small narrow ascend - sort of chimney climb - we reached the plateau from where the steep steps starts and reaches the fort. We took an hour to reach the top. Only at front side is bastion gives the feeling of Fort else rest all sides are open. When you enter the fort the local Godess is at right side of the fort.
At the first plateau of the fort there is one small cistern. From here you can still ascend to next part of the fort where you will find one water cistern at right side of the fort.
Going further you goes through the two open water tanks. This entire part looks like remnants of any palace. When you reach the other end of the fort you can see one ridge, 'Machi' going towards village side.
After having some snacks we decided to descend down, as heat was unbearable. While going down we took another route just next route of chimney route, from where we came. Again there was a small rock patch and we fixed the rope, as there were amateurs in the group. If you are regular trekker then there is no need to put rope as its safe to descend and there is no direct fall. When you descend from this patch one route at left goes to small tunnel in the rocks, which goes deep inside, and the end is unknown even to villagers. Ascending scree is always easy than descending that’s why we took two hours and half [which also includes descending rock patch & the tunnel exploration] from top to base village. All were totally down even with Glucon-d, Salads, Oranges and enough of water.
We had lunch at base village and skipped the idea of getting into the water, as even the water was too hot. While coming back we took the Old Khopoli-Mumbai route. If one wants to do one day trek then Mrug Gad is definitely good option but would suggest to do in rainy season or winter.
Check out the snaps...
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/571107255dPRuQs
The fort with height of 1750ft is easy to climb. We left Mumbai early morning and reached the base village 'Bheliv' at 9am. One has to take left turn at Jambhulpada village to reach the 'Bheliv'. The fort looks really small from the base but with the temperature around 40 degree and the heat of burning jungle made this climb very exhaustive. It is called as Jungle trek but in summer there was hardly any shadow. After climbing small narrow ascend - sort of chimney climb - we reached the plateau from where the steep steps starts and reaches the fort. We took an hour to reach the top. Only at front side is bastion gives the feeling of Fort else rest all sides are open. When you enter the fort the local Godess is at right side of the fort.
At the first plateau of the fort there is one small cistern. From here you can still ascend to next part of the fort where you will find one water cistern at right side of the fort.
Going further you goes through the two open water tanks. This entire part looks like remnants of any palace. When you reach the other end of the fort you can see one ridge, 'Machi' going towards village side.
After having some snacks we decided to descend down, as heat was unbearable. While going down we took another route just next route of chimney route, from where we came. Again there was a small rock patch and we fixed the rope, as there were amateurs in the group. If you are regular trekker then there is no need to put rope as its safe to descend and there is no direct fall. When you descend from this patch one route at left goes to small tunnel in the rocks, which goes deep inside, and the end is unknown even to villagers. Ascending scree is always easy than descending that’s why we took two hours and half [which also includes descending rock patch & the tunnel exploration] from top to base village. All were totally down even with Glucon-d, Salads, Oranges and enough of water.
We had lunch at base village and skipped the idea of getting into the water, as even the water was too hot. While coming back we took the Old Khopoli-Mumbai route. If one wants to do one day trek then Mrug Gad is definitely good option but would suggest to do in rainy season or winter.
Check out the snaps...
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/571107255dPRuQs
