Koraigad - Lohagad Trek contd...

In the previous post, I narrated about the first part of trek namely the Koraigad fort. Here we continue on the 2nd part.

From Mumbai, there are several ways to Lohagad. If you want a more complete trek, take exit at Khalapur toll-naka and head towards Malawali station. From here you can also visit Bhaje caves. The route from here is long and it will take about an hour to just reach the base.

Since we were already in Lonavala, the shorter route was an internal road that we could drive directly till the base.

The internal road from Lonavala to Lohagad isn't that great as of now with big potholes (see map at the end of this page). Other than that the final 3 kms are a challenge for small cars with gravel littered roads giving little traction over the steep slope.
At one point, after several to and fro runs to climb uphill, the one way to give the 1L WagonR support was the age-old method of S.T. drivers; use stones on the back tyres for support. Worked like a charm and the car climbed uphill easily.

So take care at this part, don't stop for snacks here just go ahead. This is the point where the road bifurcates towards Pawna dam




Just before reaching the base village:



There are several food options here serving a variety.
Some views from the base:





Note that eat everything before hand at the base itself. There are many monkeys just at the initial part of the trek and eating in front of them would be a most untoward things.

Here too there are steps to climb to the fort, of course the steps are old and not recently renovated, so kind of more difficult than Koraigad. Other than that the steps are huge and slippery because of rains and moss.




Views on the top:
As you reach the top, there aren't many intact structures although the structure is intact/renovated while climbing the forts. The first thing that comes in is a dargah.






A thick layer of clouds soon engulfed the whole area blocking all the views:





There were several college groups, school groups, hiking groups and random groups of people all along the way and at the top. Not really a relaxing trek with all the clammering around.




Views from the top:



with the Pawna dam waters in the background:






View of Tikona fort in the distance (pyramid shaped) and the actual wall of the dam on the lower left:



It took us nearly 1 hour to climb thanks to the crowd and slippery steps. However, we came down within 1/2 an hour.

No breaks for lunch, just had it while driving.



View complete route map: The area highlighted in the map is a shortcut over kutcha road directly to express-way, this is not shown in maps route hence have zoomed it in here. The complete map route can be seen after zooming out.