Rajmachi - via Karjat - Lonavla

WO WO WO .... The best trek till now yaar!! Best because my K790i came back into life which was in coma after being washed with water (or else it would have cost me a bulk). It started as usual - starting right from the office after night shift directly towards Srikanths house;traversing through unknown paths;damped full day in heavy rains;going on wrong way for more than half hour n then tracking back the right one;streaming through knee-deep rivers;visting numerous waterfalls .... hussshhh - GOD so many things in one trek!

July 25th

I called up srikanth in the evening to chk for the plan. He was following up with people as I was in night shift.I was shocked to see that he chose the difficult one to trek. As I was goin to do it after night shift and didnt knew abt the people joining I was a bit worried. But then .....

July 26th

I reached Sri's house sharp at 4.30 a.m as promised. Sunil had ariived at his place last night itself. Soon we came to know the count for the trek is just 5 which was supposed to be 9. The list goes like this - Akhilesh boarding at Shivaji Nagar while me, Ashutosh,Srikanth n Sunil at Khadki. I took a nap while Sunil n Sri got ready. We boarded Sinhagadh express at 6.20 from Khadki. The environment seemed to be promising right from start. Ashu n Akhilesh started their photography while we three preferred to sleep. We reached Karjat at 8.10; had wadapav's n started for Karjat bus stand. We just missed the 8.15 bus to Kondivde village. Rather than wasting time took a rickshaw to the "Daiwaale bridge".From there we went till Kondivde by tum-tum. We preferred to walk till Kondane village - the base for Rajmachi rather than taking a tum-tum till there.

We did take views from the localites regarding the route as we didnt knew a bit n the path we had chsen was very strenous.Each of them suggested us to take a guide as the path was very misleading - even the arrows made by past trekkers were misleading. But we made unanimous decision to explore the terrains ourselves. The main reasons were - less number of people;all guys;n pretty used to types. We didnt had any such deadlines when to be back.

But soon ahead we found a Y. Luckily a cornwaala had his stall on one of the way. He suggested to follow the left path a it is less misleading and there are waterfalls too on the way.The path ahead was full of dense forest with muddy water flowing all the way. We started the way with full of enthusiasm as the nature was inviting us with her arms open.After some walk we found a patch of stretched land with a distinct path. This ensured us we r on a right path. As instructed we soon found the most awaited waterfall. All of us dived in it ... the force in it literally massaged us. As it was raining right from start we were already fully drenched. We marched forward towards the destination :-o with heavy heart. But soon we found one more waterfall. I was just observing it when Sri, Ashu n Akhilesh started the stunt to go towards it from base. My shoes were very slippery so didnt wanted to do it. But the waterfall was too much attractive. I too started n soon slipped as expected. My cell got drenched in water n it was gone :-(. I got upset very much. But took off again n started n it didnt end till there. My trek ant also got torn while stretching on the big rocks beneath the waterfall. :-(

Neways still made up the mind removed everything; put them in bag n went wild to enjoy. Will add pics to show you the limits. We soon found out that there was a better way to reach the proper base - alas - I lost my pant;my cell was in danger. Oh GOD.There was a cave above which was built by the Buddhist's as per a guide which we met there.After enjoying a lot we started again for the supposed destination - I prayed GOD not to give nemore waterfalls or else we will never reach the fort. But this time we did managed to march properly avoiding all the distractions. Soon ahead we found Ram kaka who accompanied us till the up. Also we did met a Hydrabad grp who were more than overwhelmed to find us.They had lost their way once and then managed to reach uptill there. There were many naive ones in their grp who were totally out for the climb. But soon we reached the top (Rajmachi village) and had some snacks at Ram kaka's house.

The most awaited destination - Rajmachi fort -

Getting some tips from Ramkaka n sons we started for the final point. But while observing the scenery and doing masti; greeting people on the way we forgot to take a immediate left turn which was supposed to be as soon as we start which we remembered when we found a distinct left turn around 2.5 kms ahead where we shd have taken it. Again we trailed back whr we started and this time on a proper path. To our relaxation the path ahead wasnt that much difficult. It was a cool drizzling on the way with a small path on the edge with mountain on one side n valley on other.
It was a nice view on top of the Rajmachi ... really -- Shivaji is Great. the path was not ending even when we kept walking to the top - maybe we were too tired of surprises so might be the case.Finally we reached the top;clicked some snaps there ;emptied 2 packets of Bourbon by bought by Ashu and then started the descend.

By the time we reached the village Ramkaka had kept the lunch ready for us. We ate full to our level; promised to come back again;take their contact numbers and started on our way. The estimated time given by them was 3.5 hours.

We started the simple path enjoyingly. We tried to cover up the way asap as it was goin to be evening soon. It was around 5.15 p.m when we started. On the way we met lot of people who were coming for an overnight stay on Rajmachi. Everybody was giving their own opinion about the distance left to be covered. Soon we found a river with a water knee deep. It was a realy a nice surprise for us. Goin ahead it happened which I was fearing a long. My legs did answered and I started feeling the pressure. The unknown strenous trek that too after night shift had taken its effect. Now on it was very difficult for me to keep up the pace with all. I was very disappointed as it was such a nice climate - everybody was enjoying; with no hurry to go hme and it started. Soon I felt like I wanted to reach home asap.But my pace was affecting everyone but still I kept walking. Soon at the start of Lonavla boundary there were three bifurcation and this time we chose a wrong way. Lucky we that we got the watchmans on the round who guided us on right path.

We met several more people on the way and it was already dark. We managed to reach Lonavla city by around 9.05 p.m. On the way we got Waghole and Tungarli villages. Finally we took a rickshaw to catch the 9.45 bus as the station seemd to be 1 hr more. We got the train n I was in very much pain. We reached back at Sri's house at around 11.00. Akhilesh came to drop me at my home on my own bike ... such a pity on me.

But at the end Well ended is well done! I got well by next afternoon and my cell came to life after 2 days. Now I am feeling the trip worth enough .Really the nature,the water falls,the rain,the hills all were just awesome. Hadnt it been a bit strenous one I would have enjoyed even more.

Details:
Team : 05

Route: Route1 : Shivaji Nagar > Karjat > Khandpe > Kondividi > Kondane > Rajmachi village > Rajmachi fort [Relatively difficult] Route 2: Shivaji Nagar > Lonavala station > Tungarli > Pambola village >>Rajmachi

Distance: Route1: Karjat -> Kondividi:~15kms, Kondividi -> Kondana: ~2kms, Kondana->Rajmachi peak : ~14kms [Hill climb] Route 2: Lonavala -> Rajmachi : ~20kms [Simple]
Altitude: ~2100 FT above MSL

Endurance: Medium Difficulty : Low / Medium based on route
Time : Karjat-Kondividi : 20mins. [TumTum] , Kondividi - Rajmachi village : 3hrs [Excl. of time spent in Waterfalls n caves enroute], Rajmachi village - Rajmach fort: 0.5 hrs Rajmachi village - Lonavala station: 3.5hrs.

Transport: Shivaji nagar to Karjat : Train at 6:12 am. Buses at Karjat to kondividi: 8:15am , 9:45am. Or pick a TumTum to ‘Bridge’ from there another TumTum to Kondividi/ Kondane. Lonavala to Shivaji nagar: 9:45 pm, 11:00pm, Vehicles: Bikes / cars may be used to reach Rajmachi village during early monsoon - No tarred path.

Expenses: Rs 200 Approx.

Stay:One day / Overnight [ Accommodation available in base village - rajmachi ]

Suggested route: Simple: Lonavala- Rajmachi village - Rajmachi fort [ Flat path walk with shallow streams en-route to cross. To be careful at one particular spot about 2hrs from lonavala where river flow pace may increase at alarming rates all of a sudden]. Medium: Karjat - Kondividi - Kondane [ Scores of waterfalls and Kondona caves-Must see, Overnight camping possible here]
Best time to visit: Monsoon!

Accomodation / Food at Rajmachi village: Hotel Shirish [ Ram: 9881162648 Suresh: 9850104191 ]