Katraj to Sinhagad, night trek! Had been hearing about this trek for a long time. Used to think.. what's the big deal here.. why would anyone want to do that.. is it safe? Out of habit I never read about a location unless I am planning to do it, so the above said was the only information I had about this.
Anyways, 2 weeks before the trek, a friend of mine added me to a WhatsApp group K2S. I am not a big fan of short forms, so K2S was completely alien to me. Back to the grind next day in office he called me and asked, "Are you in for K2S?" Busy with some work, I replied in positive, not even knowing what on
Earth was K2S!!! And then it was business as usual for the next few days wherein we met, but hardly discussed about K2S.
2 days before the trek when the final preparations were being made, I realised I had said Yes to something. That's when it dawned on me.. K2S is the Katraj to Sinhagad night trek!
Night of the trek we had an early dinner so that our tummies could rest prior to the daunting task. Warje was our starting point. We took a rickshaw to Katraj. We were a group of 7 and the rickshaw was dragging itself along the road and making a honest attempt to reach Katraj. At Katraj chowk we stopped a passing good carrier and told him about our destination. Most of the small goods carriers know where people head to from Katraj on a full moon night so we hitched the ride in the refrigerator filled cargo area right upto putt starting point.
The starting point of the trek is just beyond the old Katraj tunnel. Thanking and paying the driver we took the mandatory selfies at the staring point and started off on the journey. The start is pretty easy.. guess why because we are fresh. The road leads upto Waghjai temple. We took the blesings of the goddess and then started our journey.
Usually you will find a lot of trekking groups who advise people that once you start the trek, there's no going back! Got this beautiful photo of Pune City from the temple.
The trek is not marked, but you can easily figure out the road, so don't worry about getting lost. Still.. we missed a turn and got lost. We ended up going on the side of the mountain instead of going up. The best thing about the trek is that since there are a lot of groups going, the moment they figure out that someone is going off track they guide using torches. That got us back on the track! Torches are important in this trek. Even though the full moon lights up the track pretty neat it's better to have the torches to navigate slippery descends or hard ascends.
The full trek route is below.
The trek passes over the new Katraj tumnel.
We have to traverse through a huge mountain range almost 15-16 mountains up and down. Again the chances of getting lost are slim due to the presence of other trekkers.
The trek is a test of patience, physical strength and very important.. mental patience too. You need to be in the best frame of mind to take this trek up. The trek qualifies into a moderate to tough category. There are quite a few slippery places, so ensure that you have good shoes with good grip. Initially we were counting the number of times a person fell, considering my fitness level, I had soon stopped counting for myself :P.
We had a call sign amongst our group where we had assigned numbers to each person 1-7 and after 15-20 mins we would just shout out our numbers to ensure that no one is left behind and/or we are traveling with our group.
There are quite a few small plateaus on most of the hill tops where we can catch our breath. Regular trek groups knew which were the best places. You can lie down and enjoy the beauty of the full moon.
The trek as I mentioned earlier is a test of physical and mental fitness. You get tired towards the end of it. The final part or frontier are 3 hillocks. I mention hillocks because we are already on the top of a mountain.. he he. These "hillocks" you would easily figure out that that's the final section. You will find youself suddenly entering a valley and then suddenly climbing up a zig Zag path. This is a tiring part, more tiring as you can see and feel the presence of the fort. So near yet so far :)
Here is your best chance for you to the rest of the trek if you want to catch 6AM PMT bus to the city. On top of the 2nd hillock you'll see a village to your left. You can skip the final hillock and go to the village. That's what we did. Again there are quite a few trekkers (like us) who decided to take the route. There's an arrow marked in the soil which points in direction of the "bypass" (that's what it is called). This bypass will lead you to a shack where you can get warm pohe and hot tea. A few vehicles top here to ferry people to the village where the PMT bus starts from. They charge a hefty amount of ₹60 per head, but after doing this trek, you are like.. just get me there.
There quite a few like-minded trekkers there. Each group was trying to figure out who was the guy who draaged them into the trek ;) Honestly that how we felt while eating the pohe. After thought while writing this, I am now feeling accomplished and pretty good about the trek. Something that we can boast about.
Here are a few Do's and Don't's as I see them
1) Make sure your shoes are comfortable and have a good grip. By the end of the trek, my finger nails were screaming at each other
2) Carry lots of water (2-3 litres per head)
3) ORS, Glucon-D ; whichever you prefer; STAY HYDRATED
3) Snacks: Chikki, Khajur, Parle-G. These are quick energy bursts. Yes it makes the sack heavy, but eventually it's going to get lighter as you consume everything
4) Don't be ashamed of you have to slide down certain slopes. Safety first!!!
5) Torches are not mandatory but a good to have.
6) Do not litter. There were a few bottles lying around which we picked up and brought down to the base village
7) Preferable season for trek is Winter. Mid Jan toid Feb might be best as the cold nights are on the waning end and breeze is pleasant.
8) Start the trek around 10-10:30 PM
9) Thumb rule of the trek: 90% of the times you are going up-down a mountain, so if you are going along the sides, you may want to "torch-out" to other trekkers to check.
Enjoy the trek!
It is one of a kind experience and definitely something which you can boast about.
A video link from a friend's channel with tons of information about Sinhagad
https://youtu.be/TiPNFsaMnHE
Feel free to let me know if any other information needs to be added so that it might benefit others :)
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