Torna - Rajgad

Forts :
1. Torna (Prachandagad) (4604 ft above MSL)
Region : Velha (Pune)
Grade: Tough

2. Rajgad (4514 ft above MSL)
Region: Gunjawane (Pune)
Grade : Medium

This was the greatest ever trek done during my whole trekking life till now. We did this during TY BCS October 30th 2002. It was diwali time and we decided to go for this trek with class friends.

We had 14-15 people for this trek. Saurabh,Deepak, Shankar,Ganesh,Amit,Prasad,Deepak M, Yashwant,Uday,Rahul, Nitin, Sachin,Chetan and Me.

We started at 6.00am from chinchwad towards Pune by local and got down at Shivajinagar station and all of us gathered together.

We boarded a bus to swargate ST stand from where we would board a bus to Velhe the base village for Torna (also known as Prachandagad). Torna was the first fort which was captured by Shivaji at the age of 16 years.

We got down at Velhe and the iternary was climb Torna and stay for the day, morning get up and start for Rajgad, climb Rajgad and stay for the day and then climb down and go home.

We freshened up ourselves changed to shorts , got vessels for cooking and other raw materials and then had some photo sessions and then started the climb. The climb to Torna is difficult and even in the winter the sun shines down hard. Some few minutes and every body was panting. Torna is difficult to ascend but thats what we are here for and nobody got bogged down...all were very enthusiastic.

Finally after 3 hours we reached the main darwaza of Torna. The sense of relief after having got there is like something which cannot be described. We had water and did some timepass waiting for people to come up.

Then we went inside the fort and went to the temple where we were planning to stay for the night. We had our lunch outside the temple. Then we went on a site seeing of the fort on all sides and had a nice time clicking photographs and all and doing things. We went to the machi and looked in awe at the structure there. The sights around were too good and we had good time exploring the fort.

We came back and did some timepass. We collected some firewood and started to make tea for the evening. It was turning dark and we had tea. The temperature had also dropped down as it was winter and we had chilly wind blowing all around. Uday started cooking dinner with every1 doing his part and after that we had a dinner of rice and boiled potatoes which was like a treat for us because we were that hungry :)

After dinner it was time to do timepass but there was a problem...the cooking utensils had to be given back to the villagers from whom we had taken them on rent. So Uday, Prasad and Amit volunteered to go down Torna to Velhe give the utensils and climb back in the dark!! :-O
It was like something I could have never done. They started with torches and went down. We sat there in the cold night talking, singing and doing all sort of antics and stuff.

Uday and company came back within 2-3 hrs after which we all started going inside the temple for a good sleep. There was another group of school girls who had come there too. While sleeping suddenly Amit saw the flag atop the mandir and thinking it was a snake he said "arre saap"...it was mayhem all over and everyone was running like mad. Finally we saw that it was not a snake but the flag and settled down again to sleep.

Morning we woke up and had a cup of tea and started for Rajgad at around 7 pm. We descended Torana from the other side (Budhla Machi side) and had a hell of a time climbing down as it was too steep and slippery. Finally we came to a rock patch which had to be descended :-O and it was a steep one. Saurabh and Deepak brought a rope with which they secured it both ends and one by one we started down on the rope.

Coming down was a weird experience and was frightening too with all stuff but it was thrill.Finally we descended the fort and heaved a sigh of relief but wait we had yet to walk all the way to Rajgad and climb up....

The walk from Torna to Rajgad took us around 6 hours of walking in the sun and we had 4-5 breaks in between as such it was just walking on the ridges but still it was tiresome. Myself,Uday , Shankar and Ganesh decided to go up fast and climb Rajgad faster than others so we started walking very very fast and wat happened is my floater (which should have not been worn) tore and I could not walk with it...i had to walk barefoot now....and the stones were killing me. I climbed Rajgad without any shoes or aid and finally at 3pm in the afternoon we four came up Rajgad.

Rajgad was the erstwhile capital of the Marathas until Raigad was born or made actually. It is a huge fort and is built on the hill Murumdev.Shivaji built this fort using the money from the treasure he found at Torna fort when he had conquered it.

Continuing then..all of the other guys came up and we started to go towards the temple there. It is a huge temple with capacity for 30-40 people. We settled in one corner. There were many groups there who had come. We made some tea and refreshed ourselves and then we had a tour of the fort. Sanjivani Machi and all. It was an awesome fort. We also climbed the balekilla (kings quaters) and saw the BazarPeth over there too.

We came back and it was dark now. Co-incidentially that day Babasaheb Purandhare had also come over to Rajgad so we went and attended his pravachan there. They asked us to eat food there but we politely declined and said that we had made our own food. We made food later and ate it. Every one was tired so we lay down and did some timepass with all singing some songs and laughing and doing childish things. Everyone was tired so by 10 everyone was sound asleep.

Morning we woke up and prepared tea and breakfast.Did some timepass and then started on our way down the other side to Gunjawane....
We started descending and me this time too without any aid descended down. Chetan was kind enough to give me his floaters for the last leg of the journey. We descended to Gunjawane in around 50 mins and waited for some transport to come. We came across a Trax owner who agreed to drop us at Vajeghar from where we could get an ST to swargate. We reached Vajeghar at 3pm and immediately got a swargate ST bus and reached swargate at 5.30pm. I had my floaters stiched from a cobbler and felt good wearing them. Myself and Rahul along with all went to Pune station and the local was just about the start. We entrained a moving local. Some guys were left behind because they could not entrain. So they were left out. Others were there. So we got down at Khadki and waited for the next train so that we all could go together.

Finally everyone got together and we went home. Treks 4 and 5 done. Total count: 5 :)