Sunday we went for a long pending trek of Manikgad. Manikgad is located near Panvel. On old Mumbai Pune highway you get a village called "Chowk" take a turn here for Vadgaon (Vashivali) which is the base of the Manikgad.
After having the Wada-Pav at Ramakant, the old shop which was very famous before the expressway. We reached the base at around 9:00AM. When we inquired about the guide the first person whom we met asked for Rs. 1000/-. We decided to go ahead on our own. When we inquired we came to know that there is this person called Ganesh who helps groups as guide. Because of this he is famous in that area. After deciding an amount (Rs. 500) we started our trek. Earlier we met a person who asked us Rs 1000/- so this was a nice deal.
Initially it looked like we could have managed on our own. But later it was good that we had taken Ganesh (guide) along with us. It would be very difficult to find the path without a guide. After we came out of village it started inclining. Initially it felt good as we all were fresh. Manikgad was on our left. We reached plateau and it was a straight path going towards fort. As per the guide the best season to visit is the rainy season. From the path it felt that recently no one had visited. Path was fully covered with grass. As usual, we were at the last because we were busy in photography. The comment made by Jayant uncle was he goes for Trek and in between he takes some photos. On the other hand we come for Photography and trek in between. But whatever said we make sure we complete the trek.
We had a very nice view of near by forts Irshal gad etc. If you are going from Vadgaon (washivali) then you will have to go the other end and start climbing. I am sure if we had not taken Ganesh then we would have started from in between. It was already hot and we started climbing up. Many of us had almost finished our stock of water. We thought we have to climb for 15/20 min max and we will reach at top. But the route is completely takes a round and we took almost one hour to reach top. It was bright sunny when we reached top.
Ganesh was assuring us that there is plenty of water at top. When we asked him where is the water and he showed us a pond. On a normal day I am sure no one would have used it for washing even... Here we had to drink it. He showed us how to fill the water (first shake it very fast and then fill it, do it at-least twice before filling complete bottle). First he drank it. We were not sure if we should drink or not... but we were so much thrust y that we drank it.. He mentioned that he drinks same water whenever he comes to fort. Now we wanted to have lunch. But we did not find any tree there. We decided that we will go down and have lunch under some shadow. Deouskar uncle was completely exhausted by now. He was tired when we started climbing but some how we forced him and he managed to reach top. Few of us decided to explore the fort. We wanted to take a glimpse of the highway. There we found a nice tree. Immediately we decided to have lunch on fort only. Tree was big enough to give shadow to all of us.
Everyone exchanged their lunch with each other. We also had an introduction session here. After some rest where some of us decided to explore and take photos we started descending. As usual we were at last and busy in photography again. We reached the plateau (base of fort) and increased our speed. We wanted to reach base before it gets too dark. Finally we reached the base around 5:00PM. Initially we decided that we will pay Rs. 500/- to guide but looking at the weather and distance we traveled we paid him Rs. 600/-. This was the amount asked by him initially.
We boarded the bus and started our return journey. We had tea which was very much needed and decided to go via expressway till Lonavala to avoid traffic. Here we came to know some benefits for travelers. If you planned your trip by old highway and taken the return tolls and now if you enter the expressway, you can show them the old highway receipts and get the discounts on the expressway toll. It is worth sharing with everyone as we can change our plans from old highway to expressway.
