Trek to Rajmachi

Trek To Rajmachi

Location: Pune

Time: 3 -4 hrs approx

Level: Easy to Moderate

Height : 2710 feet

Special Equipment : Not required

Shelter : Caves at the top

Potable water : Yes

What to see:  i) Shrivardhan and ii) Manoranjan, Ancient Lord Shiva temple (in Rajmachi village), Ancient temple in the gorge between Manoranjan and Shrivardhan, Caves, Lake ,  Kondana caves

Duration: 1 Day or 2 days(if you decide to halt at Rajmachi)

How to reach: 

Thane to Karjat to Kondivade Village via Kondana caves to Rajmachi

PS: If you are trekking during rainy season via Kondana Caves, increase your speed and try to descend as early as possible. Hire a guide if you want. 

Somewhere in the mid July we decided to trek Rajmachi. A one day trek which unfortunately became a 2 days trek.

So this time we were 11 trekkers...trekking Rajmachi for the 1st time. It was my college group and it was the 1st trekking experience for 7 people!! 

We started our journey from Thane Station we boarded a  Karjat train around 5 am from Thane. As soon as we reached Karjat we had our breakfast and started searching for rickshaws, since we had decided for an one day trek we didn't want to waste time so we walked till the rickshaw stand and took an Rickshaw till kondivade village. It was raining heavily.
Kondana Caves to Rajmachi trek is counted as one of the most exciting and endurance testing treks. This route in monsoon season is truly exciting. You get to see streams, waterfalls, lush green paddy field on the way. Hundreds of crabs cross your path on the way. We first visited the Kondana caves which are decently maintained.There was one group who were rappelling. This was the only group which we met in our journey, since we were trekking on a weekday.
We reached the Rajmachi village in 3-4 hours. We explored the fort till 5 pm and didn't realize that we were running out of time. The entire fort was covered with fog and the visibility was less. 

The decision to descend at 5 pm was a wrong one..but  we didn't had any other option!! As we had college on the next day! :D 
Our speed was slow, we were not carrying enough food, we were on this route for the first time, there was fog, the visibility was less and it was raining heavily. And within an hour there was complete darkness, we lost our way!! Searching for the right path for 2 hours we ended up taking a wrong path which led us to a dead end!
We decided to take a halt and decided to begin our journey early morning, we didn't had any shelter just our raincoats! We found a small rock patch somewhere in the jungle and all the 11 people sat on that rock patch till 5 am in the morning. We began searching the right path and again wasted 2 hours. Finally we after a long tiring search we found the right path..no energy to walk..somehow we managed to reach the base...hired a rickshaw and reached Karjat station.