Vikatgad
Situated between Prabalgad and Matheran, Vikatgad aka Peb Fort is a pleasant trekking experience. The fort was used by King Shivaji primarily, as a granary. It is known that the British abandoned this fort and moved forces to Matheran due to its lack of water resources.
Related Links
More information about the fort
My pictures of the trek
Salvins pictures of the trek
Treklog
Unrelenting rains had jammed the train networks in Mumbai. Me and my bro, shyam met up with Nikhil, Abhi and Mita at dombivilli, from where we were supposed to catch a train to Neral. Several members of the team were stuck at various places in trains, while we hopelessly waited for a train to arrive. After waiting for an hour, we began to realize the gravity of the situation.
Finally, when the train arrived, it was packed with people but we had no choice. Somehow, we managed to barge in. En route to Neral, Nikhil called up the rest of the gang and asked them to meet us directly at Neral. Couple of hours later, we were at Nerul railway station, and we waited here till evening for the rest of the gang to arrive…
Finally, after everyone arrived, we hired a car to take us to the spot where Matheran mini-train intersects the highway. The Matheran mini-train service does not operate in the nights, Hence we started walking on the tracks towards Vikatgad.
The weather was surprisingly warm (Maybe because the rains had not set in yet). It was a full moon night and there was enough light on the trail.
The trail is one of medium difficulty, winding around ledges on the mountain. We reached the cave on Vikatgad somewhere around midnight. Everyone was famished and we drifted off to sleep right after having the dinner we had brought with us.
Early next day, we woke up to a beautiful morning. After clicking a lot of pictures, we began on the descent.
Right next to the cave are hollow tunnels built right into the mountain. These tunnels lead to small rooms which were once, used by Shivaji Raje as granaries. These rooms are now occupied by bats and the stench of ammonia from their droppings is enough to knock out anyone who dares to stay down there long enough.
We took a different trail for the descent down. Except for one tough point, the descent was quite simple and uneventful.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=105378674065347718]
After reaching the base village, we walked to Neral railway station from where we caught a local train home.
Truly a trip worth it. Why don`t u plan such a trip with the Adventity dudes as well….