Baglan Range Trek

Baglan is a region lying to the North east direction of Nashik at Maharashtra-Gujrat border approximately 100 kms from Nashik . Tarahabad and Satana are Nearest towns till where you can easily board a bus from Pune and Mumbai. There are two main hill ranges in Baglan area the Selbari range is south of the Dolbari hill range. These two ranges run parallel to each other in east-west direction. Nhavigad, Tambolya hill and Mangi-Tungi are located on Dolbari hill range. The Salher, Salota, Hargad, Mulher and Mora forts are located on Selbari range.

It was our first range trek experience. It is a high endurance trek which can be completed within 2 days. It is recommended to have a prior trekking experience before going for this trek.

Forts Covered : Salher-Salota-Mora-Mulher

We reached Tarahabad at 5.30 am via a travels bus which we boarded last night from Pune, the journey was around 8 hours. From here we pooled a vehicle from a local villager at Mulherwadi for two days which dropped us at Salherwadi one of the two base vilages to the Salher Fort at 6.30 am. The day's goal was to explore Salher and Salota forts untill the Sunset.

Salher Fort is crowned to be the highest fort in Maharashtra standing 1350 m high from sea level. We began the trek from Salherwadi at 7.00 am. The road is well marked and of easy grade. Within few of trek you will see a temple of bhavani mata on left side of trail. The trail takes you to the rock cut steps and within an hour you reach 1st entrance door. In total, there are 6 doors through which you will pass to reach on top of fort. Temple of lord Parshuram is marked as the topmost point of fort. We made it till here by 11.30 am. Usually it shouldn't take more than 3 hrs if you aren't photoholic. There are many caves, water tanks, Ganga Sagar lake, Renuka Devi Mandir etc. to see on fort. One can Stay in these caves but has to make his own arrangements for food and water. After having our lunch at Caves we started marching towards Salota at around 1.30 pm. The trail to right of Gangasagar lake takes you to the col between Salher and Salota Fort within 1 hr. You cross 4 doors while descending through this route and a series of rock cut water tanks and of course stunning views of Salota fort.

Salota is fort adjoining to Salher possibly built to offer protection to Salher from enemy attacks. A narrow trail from the Col. takes you to the rock cut steps of Salota fort which can be seen while descending Salher. The trail is not well marked but always keep an eye on the Rock cut steps to avoid going in wrong direction. The trail is Steep and has 2-3 rock patches but ropes aren't needed as such. It takes 1 to 1.5 hrs to reach atop. We reached Salota at 3.30 pm tired and drenched in sweat and after taking small break we explored the fort. There are 3 entrances and few water tanks to see here nothing else, and then we started the descend to the col at 5.00 pm.

A Straight trail from the col takes you to Waghamba village which is a base village to the other side of Salher-Salota fort. After a few minutes walk you will have a sight of the village. It takes around 1.5 to 2 hrs to reach the village. There are multiple trails created so make sure not to loose the sight of village and if possible descend in sunlight. Unfortunately we lost our way and took almost an hour extra to reach waghamba. From here we moved to Mulherwadi where we had our dinner and camped overnight.

Its base village to three forts Mora, Mulher and Hargad. A straight route till the Ganesh Mandir within an hour from here the Right trail takes you to Hargad and the left to Mora. There is a common col connecting between Hargad and Mulher and also Mora and Mulher, hence all three can be done in one go. We started our trek bit late at 8.00 am as we were back off time we skipped Hargad fort and took the trail on left to Mora fort. Entroute there is Someshwar Temple which is so sound in achitecture that the sunrays fall on the Shivlinga. From here you can see the door of Mora fort. After a 45 min climb you reach the common wall connecting Mora and Mulher. from here to the left the Rock cut steps take you to Mora fort and to right after climbing a small rock patch you enter Mulher fort. A road to left takes you to Bhadangnath Temple. Due to our pre planned return journey we decided to descend Mulher and reached the base by 12.30 pm.

After having lunch we reached Tarahabad bus Strand from here we took a bus to Nashik and then to Pune and that was the end of a beautiful journey and a whole new experience.

That's all for the day, " Hasta la Vista " !!