Witnessed 3 seasons in single day at Rajgad Fort

It was first Saturday of December, when Nitin (Instagram friend) called me randomly and we were discussing about camping in winter. And guess what? We ended our conversation with Monday plan to Rajgad Fort.

Pune to Rajgad is about 60km by road. First 35-40km one needs to drive through Pune Bangalore highway, then need to take right turn and drive for another 20km. The last 20 km road is small but scenic one. Also public transport like ST buses are available from base village or from main junction point which is about 5-6km from base. Problem is these buses are at very low frequency of 3-4 times a day.

First 40km Nitin drove his bike while I enjoyed views while sitting on back seat. After taking turn from main highway we stopped to buy dinner material. We bought bread, kissan jam, biscuit packets, guava 1/2kg for next day as breakfast, chocolates and electrolyte powder. Doesn't matter the how much you are fit and good at hiking, when you are in mountains you must be prepared for worst. You must keep whistle (not to make noise it should be used when you get's lost in forest or need some emergency help), candle, map (offline or printed), knife (when in wild areas). Soon we were on road which was very similar to south goan road (which I visited in last monsoon). It was like day dream to ride bike on such a awesome hill road. We parked our bike at bottom of fort where forest dept check post is made. Forest dept charge 20 Rs something as entry fees who and enters names of people who stays for night. It's really safe to park bikes and go on trek.

We started our trek around 3.20 pm, since it was monday there was no one on trek path. We hardly found any people on the way to fort, but one old granny offered us lemon juice at just Rs 10 per glass. It's must important to keep yourself hydrated while trekking, so keep yourself hydrated enough.

Finally before sunset we reached chor darwaja of fort, this chor darwaja is one of entrance point of rajgad fort. We kept our bags at Padmavati mandir so we could able to witness sunset. The views were so awesome from top. As sun was setting it's golden rays were adding charm to entire view. The hues and shades of yellow and orange soon faded and sky was covered with stars. It was really awesome to find myself under blanket of million billion stars. We enjoyed our self made dinner - bread and Jam. Since it was my first experience of Rajgad trek so I did't carried anything to cook. One group who was sitting next to us they had small cooking pot and maggie. Somehow without any complaints we finished our dinner. Took so many light painting photographs and few astro pictures. I never imagined this place would be such a perfect for light painting and astro. With a lots of experiments in photography we ended a perfect day (almost whole night too).

The best thing about Rajgad fort is you don't need any tent for night stay. Padmavati mandir is everyone's favorite place for night stay at Rajgad. First it offers very safe place to sleep and second reason is it's big enough where at least 50 people can easily stay. Unfortunately I don't had sleeping mat and so the tiles felt too cold like snow to my body. My shawl was not enough to save me from that chilly weather. Somehow spend night in temple and we woke up in early morning.

Temperature was too low may be around 16 degree cel something. We managed to find some woods and dry grass to light up the bonfire. It gave us some relief from cold but we had to move on.

Around 20 min of walking distance we reached Suvela machi (take left from base of bale killa). The grand view of mountains amid of clouds was beyond imagination. The clouds were floating in sky like a song. Within a fraction of second those floating clouds disappeared and sun started to rise above horizon. The golden yellow shades started to fall first in peaks of mountains.

Everything felt like paradise next to me waiting for some adventure. I sat on fort wall for hours taking pictures of clouds, mountains and forests.

One more attraction of Rajgad fort is a big natural hole in mountain wall. In marathi we call it as Nedha. Small patch needs to be climbed first to reach that hole. I would recommend to climb patch only if you are good enough in trekking and having proper trekking shoes with comfortable cloths. That hole in mountain is getting bigger with time. Once you reach to hole you will be surprised with panoramic view at both sides. When I reached to hole the winds were at such speed I thought I would be blown away but trust me the view was splendid and worth.

Weather is always unpredictable when you are in mountains. When we started to descending the fort it was raining but again weather was almost normal when we reached base. This is how in just one day we witness all seasons of weather at Rajgad fort. While we were hiking up fort we were totally exhausted due to heat later while night as usual it was chilly and temperature was as down as 16 degree cel while next morning post sunrise we witnessed rain and fog. With cherish memories of trekking, camping and beautiful sunrise we left for home.