Page Type: | Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon: | 56.94324°N / 96.33187°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked: | Jul 18, 2015 |
Activities: | Hiking |
Season: | Summer |
It was Amit, Poorva, me, Manasi and Yuvaan, who had planned on hiking up Torna.
But this plan was clubbed along with camping in Pabe-khind, a pass which one has to cross, while going to Torna, from Pune’s side. One can also go directly to Velhe (the village at the base of Torna), but we preferred staying at Pabe khind, and going for the climb the next day.We had just bought a new car, and we were all excited about taking it out for the hike.
We would park the car at the pass, camp on the pass, and then go climb up Torna the next day. So, after a lot of preparation, we set off for Pabe khind at 6 pm. It was a working day, so Amit took long to come home, and we could not leave early, and it got dark. We knew the route – so we were comfortable. We passed the Donje phata, and passed the Khanapur senior citizen home, which has been set up by Rohini Atya. After we crossed Anandvan, which is a farmhouse society, it got really dark, and it started raining. But, we still headed on, and reached Pabe khind. It was dark, and there was not even a car in sight. Amit assured that he had camped here earlier, and it would be great. The atmosphere was very fresh, and we were all excited to camp there. But, there was only 1 problem – there was no appropriate place to park the car. Amit told me that the car needed to be parked in the pass itself!The car was a 5-day old car, and
I was not very sure of parking it on the road for two reasons – one – any
drunkard could come at night, and crash into it, and leave, without us knowing
about it.
In hindsight, it proved to be a
good decision. In the morning, we were all rested and fresh.
At first, the hike traverses around fields, where rice has been planted, and then it takes a steep climb up a ridge. The ridge is covered with greenery everywhere, and the trail is almost masked in the bushes which is a result of the recent rains.
Actually, rainy season is the main season when such treks are undertaken. We climbed up the trail, with Amya taking a nature-call break in between. On the trail, there are a couple of small setups where local villagers sell some food and drinks for the hikers to refresh themselves. As we had plenty of things with us, we didn’t care of any of those things. The fort Torna was not visible at all as it was completely shrouded in clouds. Way below, we could see rice field in full blossom, with the green color as refreshing as ever.After a while, Yuvaan started feeling hungry, so we unwrapped the parathas that we had taken along, and munched our way on the trail.
There is a section where the trail opens out with valleys on both sides of the trail. This is where there are very high winds, and to our surprise, we saw similar shrubs growing around the trail. The shrubs were moving / swaying in the wind in such a fantastic manner that we just stood and watched the miracle. After this patch comes the crucial patch on the hike – the rock patch. The rock patch is actually a 15-20 ft. patch, which can be tricky, as on one side – if one slips, then there is a direct fall a couple ofA ten minute hike up the trail led us to the newly constructed Mengaai temple. Mengaai is the name of the goddess, which is worshipped here. The temple was in a ruined state, when I had visited Torna in 1998, but now, it was a very nicely constructed temple. We went inside after removing our footwear, and I lit the stove. We all had a nice cup of tea, along with the snacks that we had got along. There was a group of students who had come, and while climbing up, had gotten all wet in the rains. I offered them some tea, but had to take water from them to make the tea. With our tummies full, we thought of roaming around on the fort.
Almost one and a half hour away is a part of the fortification called Budla-Maachi.
This is a place, which you encounter, when you come on to Torna, from Rajgad. The Rajgad – Torna trek ends here, and then after this walk, you come to the Mengaai temple. We thought of going to the maachi, but I knew from previous experience that the trail was a tricky one, with many places where there were sheer drops on both sides of the trail. So, I avoided going in that direction. A small piece of history here – Torna is the first fort which has the distinction of having being captured by Shivaji when he started building his empire. Shivaji, the great Maratha king’s father was serving the Mughals, but he was raised to think independently, and his mother motivated him to build his own empire. He started his empire of around 372 forts all across Maharashtra, by winning Torna as the first fort.We saw the possibility of looking around, but everything was so white-washed that it was impossible to go around. So, we decided to take a call to return back to the base. On the way down, I was worried about the rock patch, but there was a group of people coming up, who supported wholeheartedly. They took care of Yuvaan descending, and I helped out Manasi and Amit and Poorva.
Within half an hour, we were able to see the base, but it had gotten dark. On the way down, we met the same group of people to whom we had offered tea. Most of the students were from out of Pune, and had never climbed a hill before, leave alone in the rainy season! So, they were terrified to walk down the trail. Some of the girls were actually sitting down, to come down. When they saw Yuvaan going down in full speed, they were shocked to the core.
We reached the car, and our brand new car was completely spoilt with mud, as our shoes were filled with mud. Gladly, we changed clothes in the car, which prevented the mud from getting stuck to the seats, but overall – the car was screwed! With contentment of having climbed a tough and high one, we all left for home.