Harishchandragad

History: A hundred year old Shivlinga is there. an ancient temple, caves are the attractions.

Height: 4510 ft.

Best Season: Any

Base Village: Khubi Phata

Minimum Duration: 1. 5 days.

Reaching there: Train to Kalyan, Take any Malshej ghat route bus and get down at Khubi phata. walk along the water reservoir(about 4 km) and you reach the base.

Difficulty: Simple to slightly difficult in monsoons.

Shelter: number of caves on the top.

Our Experience:

We were five people - Me, Satyaki, Shazia, Sunketh and Dhananjay. We started at around six in the morning and thought we could come back the same day. We had breakfast at Kalyan. The travel from Kalyan to Khubi phata is a long long bus ride. thats what takes most of your time. We reached at around eleven and we started walking. soon we reached the small pass and had some food. then we started climbing the rockypatch. the walk along the edge of the mountain is very enjoyable. After we reached the top, we kept walking for hours and hours. The temple and the caves are quite a distance from the edge. We wanted to get there before sunset and so we kept walking. it was just dark when we got there. We somehow gathered some wood as it was getting cold and the night was expected to be colder. all the caves were occupied and soon we found ourselves with no option but to sleep in the small dhabas of the villagers. Somehow we found ourselves alive and cold in the morning. A villager showed us a shortcut through the base of the Taramati peak which saved us a good hour atleast. Soon we were climbing down and found ourselves sweating again after the cold cold night.

Kalsubai

Base Village: Bari

Height: 5400 ft.

Minimum Duration: 2-days.

Reaching there: Train to Igatpuri, bus to Bari or private jeeps.

Difficulty: Average but long.

Shelter: None except a small remple.

Best Season: Any season, an ideal night trek in summers.

Our Experience:

We were some twenty people in all ans started climbing at around 10 at night. The trek was a long and tiring one. Many a times you see a top and you climb that and you see another one. We climbed for some four hours. at about 3/4th of the way, there are iron ladders to climb the cliffs. on the top, there a small temple which could be used as shelter. The view from the top is amazing. We waited for the sunrise and then started climbing down. It was then we could see the way we had climbed as we couldn't figure out anything at night.

Gorakhgad

History:
Caves are believed to be buddhist caves.

Base Village: Dehari.

Height: 2140 ft.

Minimum Duration: 1 day.

Reaching there: Train to Kalyan, Kalyan to Murbad, Murbad to mhasa to Dehari.

Difficulty: Simple to Average.

Shelter: Caves at 3/4th of the peak.

Best Season: anytime.

Our Experience:

This was the place for the DBS-TIFR picnic we were around fifteen people ans all enjoyed the scenic trek. once you reach the small plateau facing siddhagad, the scences are beautiful. the steep final climb to the peak is adventurous. the final climb is slightly risky and one should be careful in the monsoons.

Naneghat

History:

Naneghat or 'Nanya' ghat was a mountain pass connecting the Nalasopara region with Junnar plateau near the Pune Region at the time of the Satvahanas who came into power shortly after the fall of the Mauryan empire. Naneghat also finds its name in the bibliography of ancient records of 'Zero' -
Indraji, Pandit Bhagavanlal. 1876. On ancient Nagari numeration: from an inscription at Naneghat. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay Branch 12: 404-06.

Reaching there:

Reach Kalyan, take any bus towards malshej ghat and get down at Vaishakhare. Few minutes walk will take you to the base of the mountains. Clear white arrows mark the way to the top.

Height: 2750 ft.

Difficulty Level : Simple to Average in Monsoons.

Minimum Duration: 1 day.

Water: Advisable to carry water as water on top is dirty.

Shelter: Good Caves.

Our Experience:

A fine scenic trek when you want to take new people around. We were six people-Myself, Aswin, Alfredo, Mithun and Pranav. We started at around 0530 hrs in the morning of a fine sunday. We were expecting a good rain after the premonsoon showers and was our first trek this monsoon. We reached Kalyan and took a direct bus to Vaishakhare. We started climbing and in about two hours we were there and it was humid, hot and never rained.

Lessons we learnt: Never expect rain until its going floods and never ask ashwin to buy food, who got a bag full of samosas which fused into each other to form a big potato ball.