KamalGad Fort Trek – An Adventure!........(1)

(My first post on my blog TnT  with an adventurous trek.....Thought of doing this ‘upside down’...:....enjoy)

26^th January 2014...Republic Day and a Sunday......Trek time......:)  We had heard a lot about Kamalgad trek, the grade was medium  some said, other thought it was difficult....and having ‘conquered’ trekking  Fort Torna( another graded difficult) directly,  after a very long gap of trekking we were ‘raring to go’ and take  up the  challenge of trekking KamalGad........me and my best friend – husband Sandeep!

Kamalgad Fort is almost 32 kms from Wai, ie if you mean to do the trek from Village Vasole. There is also another route up to KamalGad  through Nandgaon, but, since Wai itself  is a 88 odd kms from Pune, we decided to make this a nature-viewing  roadtrip via KenjalGad and Raireshwar forts. We planned to start early but one thing led to another and we finally left our home in Pune at 6.30 am.

With one tea stop on the way, we reached Wai  between 8.30-8.45 am. We went around asking our way to KamalGad. My first doubt about many people trekking this Gad came  out here as everyone asked was neither sure of the distance nor how to get there. Each version was different. Finally, with much difficulty, we managed to reach Vasole and it is here that we got some more, though,  yet ambiguous details of Kamalgad. What was more surprising was the fact, that the villagers could not define the exact route. They pointed at a way (which did look like the start of this trek) and told us to follow it religiously. Don’t leave this path else you could get lost they told us and believe them we did, when we saw it was through a forest!

We started climbing up at around 9.45 am. The temperature was in our favour  and it was unusually cool out there so there was no question of feeling hot and  sweaty! The climb was not very easy, but then, so what? Had someone not said that it was a difficult trek? We were pleasantly surprised to see the environment, devoid of debris and plastics, but we only did see a couple of Parle-G biscuit wrappers, assuring us we were going the right way. But wait, it was an hour and we had still not met anyone , either going up or coming down!  A little later, we noticed that the climb was now at a steep incline, and I began to sweat profusely..no......not with the heat but by a sudden rush of adrenalin which had gripped my body as I saw a very slippery and steep path ahead....slippery because of the very soft soil!!

 Another thing which struck me was that we had not met a single soul up there. Unlike so many forts where we meet quite a few groups for trekking, this one was completely deserted. The path was so steep and so narrow, with nothing to cling on but dry grass and a few dry shrubs! Also there wasn’t enough space for one to barely stand up straight. No, there was no question of letting anyone pass by you, not until you had flung yourself on the dry grass, which you were able to grope somehow.....Phew.....the trek had suddenly turned into adventure for us. We had reached so high up that there was no coming down now and if yes, only again by the dreadful road which we had just treaded up! Surprisingly my best friend was cool and composed, though I could sense that even he was not feeling good on this one! The only thing he said to me then was we should have taken a village guide wid us...:)

After what seemed like forever, we managed to scramble our way up..(me, crawling on  all fours, like a cow). Somehow, we managed to  reach right upto the strong ridges that we thought were of the fort KamalGad itself. They were too steep and vertical and we had no clue how we were going to manage getting around them. Both of us were contemplating going down but the thought of treading that horrendous route again left us grimacing!! Down and again by this way? No way! We were still thinking and making plans aloud, when we heard them.......

We heard a noisy crowd coming up with shouts of little children amongst them.....It was the most pleasant sound to my ears at that time although simultaneously my heart skipped a few beats...children and on this path...OMG! I though!. We could barely see anybody as there was no possibility of bending down to see. Bending would have meant a direct fall @1000 plus mtrs.....:) We heard lots of voices now and decided to wait and see....maybe there was a way since all those many people were coming up......And then we saw them...believe it or not , on a path so risky were three couples with six children, four of them big and two children actually being carried by two daddies.....And that was not all....all the three women had done this way with sarees and slippers and the men in shirts,trousers and sandals!!!! I just opened and shut my mouth in shocked disbelief.....We were still gaping even  as they came towards us......I wanted to just stand up and salute each of them, individually.....Phew!!!

Their reaction too was no different....We got talking and learnt that they too  had only come up as they had watched us climb up from below and thought this was the right path!! Somehow, it felt better to be with these bravehearts....:) Then, the men got exploring a bit and over a waterfall we managed to cross with each other’s help.....Then the rest was easy...We were in a forest and a steady walk up in the forest brought us to a clearing and farms. In it  stood a solitary house, the farmer’s.

In the farmhouse we saw two young boys who had come up the same way too, but were completely battered as they had dragged themselves through the throny shrubs, to avoid falling off the soft soil.....that explains the biscuit wrappers, I thought! Soon we were talking to a very old lady who was probably in her late seventies. She told us the way up to Kamalgad from there. The big team(our new friends) as also the two young men, refused to go any  further as they were all very tired and hungry. They rested in the farmhouse while my best friend and me continued... Having encountered some more hurdles getting atop KamalGad, we were finally there...We had done it!! Thus concluded the ‘adventure’.

But once atop KamalGad, the view was oh! so breathtakingly beautiful, that all else was forgotten in a jiffy! Imagine a fort, shaped with curves like petals, hence the name Kamal (or Lotus in english) surrounded by dense green forests...and beyond them clear blue waters from the Dams of Dhom.....We were dumbfounded by God's spectacular creation!It had been worth the while, adventure or not!! They say there is 'no gain without pain' and this gain had healed all pain!! Beautiful and a must-do, this fort!! Only collect the correct information and go in a  group, well equipped and appropriately dressed!!

Coming down was so very easy as the old lady guided us to the right path....this path was through a temple site of Gorakshanath . The villagers there heard our story in disbelief! “what”, they said, “you all came up from there? Neither we nor our Cattle tread those paths “they said looking at us all in wonder!! Supposedly, the correct path is the one that people find difficult or so they say.......As I was on my way down I silently wondered, if this was the difficult path, what would people think of the one which we had gone up by??? Was that one a nightmare  or was it for real???

Whatever it was, it was one hell of a thrilling and exciting experience of a lifetime as also one to cherish, not to mention the 'learning' we got from it!!!