Trek to Prabalgad & Kalavantin

Date: 7th Feb. 2015

Per head cost 214 Rs.

Completed this trek in one day, starting from Panvel at 8.00 AM.

Kalavantin as seen while climbing Prabalgad

The Start:

The state transport bus was running late by 30 minutes, a bad start I must say. We started the trek at 9.00 AM sharp from the lord Hanuman (हनुमान) temple. The previous visit to Kalavantin durg  (कलावंतीण दुर्ग)  from Thakurwadi (ठाकुरवाडी) village had simplified a few things for us. This time we took several shorter routes to the otherwise long and  zigzag route till Prabal Machi (प्रबळ माची) and reached the plateau at 10.00 AM. Many trekkers and picnickers prefer to stay at Prabal Machi to visit the duo. But our plan was to complete the two treks in a single day.

Trek to Prabalgad:
We entered the village and exited from the extreme right, crossing the first few electric poles, parallel to Prabalgad (प्रबळगड). Our plan was to enter the fort from the V-shaped gully, also known as Bail Shingi chi vaat (बैल शिंगाची वाट). Most of the route to Prabalgad is covered by the forest and hence offers quite a 'cozy' climb. The gully is made up of several boulders- both loose rocks and scree at few places. The steep, rock-solid stone on both the sides tapers towards the main entrance of the fort. Although the main entrance (महा दरवाझा) lies in a dilapidated condition, we still can visualize how it could be back then. This whole route reminded me of the climb to Hargad (हरगड) fort (the one from Baglan region).

Once we reached the top an old, rusted iron board welcomes us. It has the detailed description of all the worth-visiting places on Prabalgad. The route bifurcates from here to North and South directions. the left one goes to the edge from where we can see the Kalavantin pinnacle, and the right one goes up to the Kala Buruj (काळा बुरूज).

Exploring Prabalgad:
We started off to the Kala Buruj point. Well, the top is mostly a forest patch. A dense one, I would say. Akin to Matheran. I read it somewhere that Prabalgad was first on the list of government to develop as a tourist destination. But several factors, like lack of perennial water source on the top, accounted for the failure of the plan. But that is what kept Pabal, untouched from the evil forces of Tourism Industry.

On the way to Kala Buruj

Almost there....

That's the Kala Buruj !!

Irshalgad

Plateau of Prabalgad is no doubt huge. But Matheran is even bigger. Water at Prabalgad is available at both the ends (N/S). There are two water cisterns dug out into the solid-rock foundation at the southern end. Other water sources are hidden inside the thicket of trees and it is possible to access them with the help of a local guy. We could see Matheran, Manikgad, Irshalgad, Morbe dam, Mountain of Sondai, Peb fort from the southern tip. It was 12.00 Noon. We had light snacks under tree shade and proceeded to the Kalavantin view point (north tip).

Morbe Dam Backwater

We reached there in one hour (at 1.00 PM). Even here there are two water cisterns (hidden inside trees). From this tip we can sight the Chanderi fort, Mahismaal, ShriMalangad, Ganesh-Kartik pinnacles and Kalavantin (right in front).

Kalavantin as seen from Prabalgad.

Me !!

Prabalgad to Kalavantin:

On the way..

We descended through the V-gully and took the traverse till the Kalavantin-Prabalgad col or khind (खिंड). The less trotted route was hardly a foot wide. We could see several honey combs aigned on the overhang cliff of Prabalgad. The trail was broken at several places and was sometimes covered by the boulders. We reached the col at 2.30 PM, rested for ten minutes, an again started the climb for Kalavantin. The final rock patch seemed easy this time.

Rest time...
We earned it...

At Kalavantin top

We met a trio near the rock patch. They couldn't find the way to reach the top and were waiting for us (They happened to spot us from the top, traversing the Prabalgad). We showed them the route and they followed us to the top. Woohoo !!! We reached the top at 3.00 PM. We had successfully carried out our plan.

Climbing down

Trek almost done now...

End journey:
It was a time to relax now. Well, we had covered up a long distance while walking continuously, without taking short breaks in between (except for the snack time). So we decided to spend a few moments here, experiencing the tranquility of the mountains. We were all alone on the top with nobody to disturb us. It was fun, just staring at the vast Sahyadri tops, watching the golden eagle glide across the valley and tweeting swallows making sharp turns while in flight.

The trek as now almost finished with all the goals achieved for the day. We reached the Prabal Machi  at 4.15 PM. Everyone was hungry. We didn't had a proper lunch for the day, and it was our lunchtime now (yes at 4.15 PM). With a heavy lunch, lemonade and tea it was time to move on. It was almost sunset now (at 6.00 PM).

We reached the Thakurwdi (ठाकुरवाड़ी) village at 7.15 PM and decided to rest at the lord Hanuman temple, and it seemed legit since it was saturday (शनिवार). Our ride to Panvel arrived at 8.08 PM, just in time for us to catch the 9.14 PM CST local train from Panvel station.

Group: Aaditya Gurav, Manoj Patil, Ninad Vilankar, Tarun Kaushik, Yamuna (my sis) and me.

Trek to Kalavantin (कलावंतीण दुर्ग)

Difficulty Rating: Easy to Medium grade

A kind of difficult, but frequently visited by trekkers.

Height: ~2000 ft.
Cost: 98 Rs (INR) Including healthy Lunch, and transport from Dadar-Dadar

The plan was to meet at 7:30 AM at Panvel (पनवेल) station and catch a ST bus to Thakurwadi village from Panvel ST stand. But we reached a few minutes late and had to catch a bus going to Dadar via Shedung phata (शेडुंग फाटा). From Shedung phata we got into an auto (6 passengers in a 3 seater auto) and headed to the base village. We were a group of 6 (Abhash, Aaditya, Manoj, Tarun Gangwani and Deven). It was Deven's first trek and had no clue what all things to bring. So a day earlier, Tarun had asked Deven to bring heavy lunch, 2 steel plates, knife, bread, onion, tomato and all secondary stuff. Not to mention additional 2 Ltr water bottle !! 

The start:

A long and twisting route till the Prabal plateau aka machi in marathi (प्रबळ माची), gradually climbing with each step formed the beginning of the trek. On the way, we came across an open temple of lord Ganesh (गणेश) and Hanuman (हनुमान). The forts of Chanderi, Mahismaal could be spotted far far away. Started at 9:45 AM roughly from the base, we reached the Prabal machi at 11 AM. 

Prabal machi (प्रबळ माची):

There is a small dhaba (ढाबा) run by a local villagers. The village located at Prabal machi goes by the name Chikhale (चिखले). We spent about 20 minutes at the dhaba. Deven and TSEC Tarun were busy with their own photoshoot near an empty hut while Manoj was busy with his 'pet love' (Checkout the snaps with Manoj holding a cat). In the village, there were roughly 10-15 houses there, and a few villagers were busy with some construction work. The locals were eager to help us out with finding the proper route of the trek (which is behind the left-most house).

Climb to the col: 

The forest was a bit thicker here and the route had scree at a few places. This trail involved climbing the 35-45 degree slope covered with loose rocks. Within 20 minutes we reached the col and had the first hand feel of the pinnacle of Kalavantin.

The final climb:

Well, it reminded us of our previous trek to Harihar fort. But the only difference was that Kalavantin had proper steps and comparatively broader route. But one cant neglect the fact that the first look is always threatening.

Slowly and steadily we marched towards the top. The route seemed pretty safe now with our cautious walking. Manoj, as usual, was the first one to get scared, and also the first one to climb the pinnacle. Within 15 minutes we reached the top, also the base for the final 15-20 ft. rock climb. The final rock patch had sufficient hand and foot holds to climb so we didn't require rope. I climbed first, Abhash followed, then Tarun, Manoj, Deven, Aaditya... One by one we all climbed the pinnacle and yeah, we were on top of Kalavantin!!

At the top:

The top is fascinating, with steep slopes from all the sides. there are 2 saffron flags and a few huge boulders. Prabalgad, the one along the adjacent ridge, looked very close by, but yet so far.. We could easily spot the starting point of the trek, Thakurwadi village a few Dam and farmhouses. We spent nearly 30 minutes at the top, taking pics with all possible pose. Here is the group photo:

The descend and a long halt at dhaba:

Everyone was now very much desperate for lunch. We didn't have a morsel of food since the morning and now our second target was to reach the dhaba and relish on the goodies we were carrying.

It was 1:30 PM when we started the descend and the Sun had started heating up the rocks. When we were half way through the rock-cut steps, we looked down and saw a long queue, a group of about 40 people, slowly marching towards the top (towards us). Well as mentioned earlier, route was narrower than Harihar fort route, but not as narrow as to allow simultaneous two-way traffic. That group was really a big one, most of them looked first-timers, with their organizers carrying rope for them. Well, our time was perfect and we got past them and reached the col to celebrate the moment. Oh yes, and I stumbled across a classmate from IITians PACE, Saud, who was also in that group.

Very close to the col is a small cave, approx. 4ft. x 4ft. and neatly carved inwards. People say that this was the secret route to Prabalgad fort, and a similar one can be seen at the top of Prabalgad too. TSEC Tarun decided to glance through the cave route, but the dust inside cave made it impossible for him to proceed any further than 1m inside. Then Aaditya joined him too-

The Lunch:
And walking past Chikhale village, we reached the dhaba, located on the outskirts of the village. Then started the lunch... 'The Lunch'. Parathe, Idli-chutny, Chapati Bhaji, Pulao, Rice, The unlimited  Rice plate (Aloo ki sabji, Matar sabzi, papad, daal-bhaat), banana's and all other supporting food items like tomato, onion, lemon etc. This whole process lasted for 20 minutes. Added another 10 minutes for resting and then started off again to the base in order to catch the 4.00 PM ST bus back to Panvel.

Some idher-udhar ki baatein:
We met a group of 10-15 near Prabal machi. They asked about what we do, our college etc. When we told them our college name, we both literally jumped!! Most of them were SAKEC alumni (2008 passout) and their friends. (We too are from SAKEC, Mumbai University!!! except TSEC Tarun & Deven). Throughout the trek we were close by. Most of the time we were helping each other during the climb and descend.

The End:
So, all in all, trek was completed at 4:05 PM at Thakurwadi village and we reached our home by 6:30 PM (Dadar-Parel) to 7:30 PM (Andheri-Versova) in the evening.

Just 98 Rs. for such an awesome Adventure !! My Communication Systems book by Wayne Tomasi costs 600 Rs. !!!