Lots of good blogs are available about this
Rajgad Torna ridge trek*. So as usual, I will focus on my experience - a rather
unique one this time. Treks seldom go as per plan. This trek was no exception.
Normally Pune to Pune route is made up of 7 steps / 2 days in this sequence - Pune à Gunjavne à Rajgad à Torna à Velha à Gunjavne à Pune.
Based on estimates, Gunjavne to Velha, the
trek part, takes approximately 9 to 10 hours. Remaining part in a vehicle takes
4 hours. Add another hour or so rest/breaks. So Pune to Pune done without a
night halt should take approximately 15 hours. A majority of trekkers prefer to
halt at Rajgad for the night. Very few trekkers do the reverse, Torna - Rajgad.
For those who don't know, Rajgad is pretty much a tourist spot attracting hikers and revelers in equal measure. But Rajgad to Torna ridge is isolated. At best one or 2 groups pass the route during weekends.
For those who don't know, Rajgad is pretty much a tourist spot attracting hikers and revelers in equal measure. But Rajgad to Torna ridge is isolated. At best one or 2 groups pass the route during weekends.
* It is actually a hike but we are so used to using the word Trek, can't do without it.
The plan
We planned to follow the well-established itinerary. Camp atop Rajgad and start early
morning next day for Torna over the ridge that connects the 2 forts. We started from Pune for
Gunjavne village at Rajgad base after Diwali lunch on Bhaubij. We were
a group of 8. We were carrying home-made ready to cook khichadi and curd for
dinner. Also, there was cooking apparatus with us which we were not sure of
carrying all the way to Torna via Rajgad. So immediately after reaching
Gunjavne, we were looking for cooking help atop Rajgad. We met an enthusiastic Santosh (97627 49143) at the restaurant at Gunjavne who promised
to cook our khichadi using his utensils on the fort. He also carried our tent
just in case there was no room to sleep at the Padmavati temple. He proved to be very helpful as you will read ahead.
Gunjavne to Rajgad (Padmavati machi)
Gunjavne to Rajgad Padmawati machi is an easy
climb. The weather during Sun down was just perfect. Padmavati temple was occupied by a few other groups. We managed to
get space to lay our sleeping bags bang in front of the main deity of the temple.
We started with some yummy kanda-bhaji (not bhaaji) and plastered it with dahi-khichadi. Attempted to sleep but it was crowded, suffocating & warm inside. Among the other people in the temple, 3 of them were consistently coordinating their snores. Pretty loud. Couldn’t even take the proverbial 40 winks whatever they are. Had to be content with 5 or 10 :-) that too after midnight when it became cooler.
We started with some yummy kanda-bhaji (not bhaaji) and plastered it with dahi-khichadi. Attempted to sleep but it was crowded, suffocating & warm inside. Among the other people in the temple, 3 of them were consistently coordinating their snores. Pretty loud. Couldn’t even take the proverbial 40 winks whatever they are. Had to be content with 5 or 10 :-) that too after midnight when it became cooler.
Back to Gunjavne
We started for Torna next day at 530 am. The core of the trek. 10-15 minutes
into the trek one of our group members was unwell and decided to abort the trek before
it was too late. 6 of the total 8 continued with the trek as planned. 2 of
us, the unwell member and I, turned back after ruling out all other possibilities.
On the slopes while walking back to Gunjavne, bumped into a chatty tourist guide by the name Rasal (forgot his first name). Without any context, out of the blue, he told
me that it takes about 5 to 5-1/2 hours to reach Torna from Padmavati temple. I don't clearly remember how it started but I surely didn't ask him this question. Why could he have told this to me? I didn't pick any signal then and left it at that. Reached Gunjawane at 830 am after an easy descend. Either gave away or finished most of the food - boiled eggs, bread, fruits etc - which we were carrying with us as it was no longer required.
Leap of faith
Started driving back to Pune. While in the car, I
started thinking when would it be next that I will get an opportunity to do
this trek. It was on my mind for very long. Next month, may be next weekend??
With whom? The trail is isolated. This is not a trek which you can do on the fly.
Glanced at the car clock when realised we have reached Pune in an hour. It is only 945 am and the whole of Saturday is ahead of me. Why
leave the agenda unfinished then? Why not do the trek today itself?
Did quick calculations based on Rasal’s estimate of 5 hours to find out that if I walk really fast, I should be able to finish the trek by 6 pm when it just starts getting dark. Worst case add a buffer of 2 hours. 8 pm. Also, since Torna is visible all along the trail and I am walking in broad day light can be done all alone. Within 5 minutes of this thought entering my mind, I decided to turn around on a lark. Sounds a little crazy but certainly doable!
Did quick calculations based on Rasal’s estimate of 5 hours to find out that if I walk really fast, I should be able to finish the trek by 6 pm when it just starts getting dark. Worst case add a buffer of 2 hours. 8 pm. Also, since Torna is visible all along the trail and I am walking in broad day light can be done all alone. Within 5 minutes of this thought entering my mind, I decided to turn around on a lark. Sounds a little crazy but certainly doable!
Dropped the unwell colleague safely home and
without even switching the car ignition off started driving back
to Gunjavne. 10 am. This node was of highest resistance. Had I stopped to think as to what to do, I would never have completed the trek.
From LET'S SEE! to LET'S GO!
While driving back alone in
the car, my rational brain engaged my mind in a duel. My mind was hell bent
on doing the trek today itself and the brain had a lot of valid reasons to call
it off - Walking all alone on an isolated trail, wild animals, physical fatigue
of going back & forth, scorching heat, running out of time and getting stuck for
the whole night in the middle of nowhere etc. Those who knew I am planning to start
the trek NOW were vehemently supporting the brain. The minds’ drive was only
getting stronger. It had only one answer to all these doubts. LET’S SEE!
By now, I had crossed the second
point of no-return - the toll gate at Khed-Shivapur. I bought a return ticket
resolving that I am not going to let it go waste come what may. It means finishing
the trek and secondly returning on the same day. Return toll tickets are valid
till midnight on the same day.
The reasons to call it quits
were still streaming in. Finally my mind lost it and told my brain to SHUT UP
but relenting on the idea of going solo. It would be utterly stupid to walk
all alone for 5 plus hours on an isolated trail. So I am going to try to get a
guide but if I don’t get one, plans don’t change. I still start walking towards
Torna. As I was still in the car, in between the dissuading phone calls from
well-wishers, managed to call Santosh to check if he can organise for someone
to walk with me till Torna. NEGATIVE. He told me Saturday being rush hour, no
one would be interested. While I was holding the line, he even checked with a
couple of his friends around. “Sorry. Bad luck. Can’t help.” He suggested I go
to Velha and climb Torna. Thank you! But not something that I wanted to do. I was well past my
final point of no-return. I told him not to bother and that I was coming
anyways.
There is only one likely worst
case scenario - running out of time. So for an emergency situation of having to
spend the night on the way, I retained the jacket in the bag. I was hoping the
walking pole should be good enough to deal with the other unlikely emergency - wild animals
if any.
Gunjavne to Rajgad again
I was doing Gunjawane – Rajgad route for the 3rd
time in the past 16 hours - climbing for the 2nd time. Some familiar faces - People whom I had met on the fort the previous day and the limbu paani vendor started asking me “What’s wrong? Why are you going back?”
Little after I had started climbing, Santosh called back and told me that he can join me up until Torna. He had managed to rope in someone to look after his business in lieu of a cut in the money I had agreed to pay him. GREAT! All set. The trek was mentally over. Now, only the grueling physical part. Reached Padmavati temple in an hour of starting at 1220 pm. Had pithala bhakri and a large bowl of curd with lots of sugar to tank up for the long haul.
Little after I had started climbing, Santosh called back and told me that he can join me up until Torna. He had managed to rope in someone to look after his business in lieu of a cut in the money I had agreed to pay him. GREAT! All set. The trek was mentally over. Now, only the grueling physical part. Reached Padmavati temple in an hour of starting at 1220 pm. Had pithala bhakri and a large bowl of curd with lots of sugar to tank up for the long haul.
Rajgad to Torna
1255 left Padmavati machi. It was a rather easy
trek. Plain and downhill at the beginning. We walked very fast. Crossed
Sanjivani machi rather quickly. Torna
looked not very far. Sanjvani machi (Rajgad) to Budhla machi (Torna) is
apparently only 8 to 10 kms from Rajgad over the ridge. Most of it is a cake walk. Around half or even more than half is tree cover, so the sun didn't bother much. When it did, it was burning though. We didn’t take even a single break despite Santosh suggesting more than twice to do so. In the process we disappointed the owner of
the only house that’s near to the second pass where you have to cross a tar
road which we did at 245-3 pm.
As we were nearing Budhla machi, I
suddenly started feeling hungry. VERY VERY HUNGRY. The non-stop fast walk under
bright sun had taken its toll. I had preserved an apple to be had before beginning the
final climb for Budhla machi. I was so terribly hungry that I started
mis-stepping. It was then we decided to halt and finish the apple, the only
food item in my bag. To my surprise there was no apple. Probably, the bag had eaten
it. Luckily, I had packed limbu-paani at Rajgad in one of the water bottles. The two of us finished ½ liter between us in one or 2 swigs each. Still
hungry, I slowly dragged myself up the budhla machi. Yippie. 430 pm, we were on
Torna – 3.5 hours after starting from Rajgad. The rock patch was much easier than what I
had heard about it. It was then I realised that Rasal had estimated 5 hours to
reach Torna, Budhla Machi and not 5 hours to finish the trek at Velha. Alright! No gripe to bear. After all, it was because of him, I was doing this trek.
Got slowly to the other end of the fort. We knew there was a shack there and I was longing to have a double kanda-pohe and 2 cups of tea. But to our dismay, the shack was in shambles - broken. No kanda-pohe, No tea. Gulped a lot of water instead and started descending the mighty Torna at 515 pm. Though hungry and dog tired there was a spring in my step. After the rock patch, we were almost running downhill towards Velha - as if approaching the finish line of a marathon.
The finish-line
I now started thinking about the most difficult part - the logistics to get to Gunjavne from Velha in a vehicle. It is a 45 minutes drive. And where would our 6 "Sahayadri scalers" who had started in the morning be? They must be on their way to Pune. I knew, I was trailing them but didn’t know from so close until I got a call from them telling me that they were waiting for me at our regular restaurant at Velha. And waiting for not an atrociously long time. In fact the last member reached just about 10 – 15 minutes before I did. So nice of them. I felt relieved to have company all the way to Pune. The spring in the step got spunkier after hearing from them and I literally jogged down the last 500 meters or so. Finished the trek at 630 pm.
Sanjivani Machi, Rajgad
Torna as seen from Rajgad & the ridge connecting the 2. Spot the Budhla machi.
Rajgad as seen from Torna
Got slowly to the other end of the fort. We knew there was a shack there and I was longing to have a double kanda-pohe and 2 cups of tea. But to our dismay, the shack was in shambles - broken. No kanda-pohe, No tea. Gulped a lot of water instead and started descending the mighty Torna at 515 pm. Though hungry and dog tired there was a spring in my step. After the rock patch, we were almost running downhill towards Velha - as if approaching the finish line of a marathon.
The finish-line
I now started thinking about the most difficult part - the logistics to get to Gunjavne from Velha in a vehicle. It is a 45 minutes drive. And where would our 6 "Sahayadri scalers" who had started in the morning be? They must be on their way to Pune. I knew, I was trailing them but didn’t know from so close until I got a call from them telling me that they were waiting for me at our regular restaurant at Velha. And waiting for not an atrociously long time. In fact the last member reached just about 10 – 15 minutes before I did. So nice of them. I felt relieved to have company all the way to Pune. The spring in the step got spunkier after hearing from them and I literally jogged down the last 500 meters or so. Finished the trek at 630 pm.
My step counter read about 51,000 steps till then. For a perspective, approximately 65,000 steps make a full marathon.
Ordered the customary Missal signifying the end of a trek but couldn’t eat it as the Adrenaline pump was still whirring even by the time the jeep arrived to drop us back to Gunjawane. Drove back to
Pune. All this effort to utilize a humble toll -ticket. At the end of the day, was glad that I didn’t waste it.
PS - Read the "About me" page. Each and every learning applies to this experience.
PS - Read the "About me" page. Each and every learning applies to this experience.
