Pune Getaways: Jivdhan Fort Trek, Pune, Maharashtra

Place : Junnar
Difficulty : Moderate - Difficult
Base Village : Ghatghar.
Trek Done : 1st Aug 2013.

Travel :
Jivdhan is nearly 120Kms from Pune, Maharashtra.
From Pune take Nashik highway, at Narayangaon(75Kms) turn left towards Junnar and
then proceed towards Ghatghar, base village for Jivdhan Fort.

Roads till Narayangaon are perfect, roads go little bad after that.
Even deteriorates as you proceed to ghatghar, be prepared..!!

Fort : [From Wikipedia]
Jivdhan (or Jeevdhan) is a hill fortress situated 45 km near the modern day town of Narayangaon in Junnar Taluka of Pune district in Maharashtra, India.
The fort, which rises 1145 meters (3754 ft) above sea level, is located in the Sahyadri mountain range.
The fort was looted and destroyed by the British upon siege between 1815 -1818[when?] Jivdhan is a part of the 'Famous 5' trekking destinations among trekking enthusiasts. Chavaand, Hadsar, Shivneri, and Naneghat are the other destinations in the Famous 5 trek. This is a high difficulty grade trek due to the misleading jungle tracks and the necessity and knowledge of using climbing equipment.

Trek :
We (6 people) started early at 5AM from pune, it was raining we couldn't proceed fast.
Reached narayangaon by 6:30, by that time skies got clear, had breakfast and proceeded towards Junnar.Roads are very worse after Junnar, make journey painful.
At times, We wished we had a steel butts..!!

We reached ghatghar somewhere around 8:30AM, Ghatghar is very small village in Junnar Taluka.
The trails are not clear and confusing, we took local help.
A local guy accompanied us all the time of the trek.
Without local help, its almost impossible because of thick jungles and misleading trails.

Jivdhan is considered as high difficult trek because of misleading jungle trails and mountain climbs.
In monsoons, it becomes even more difficult as the trails become slippery.

After almost reaching fort, it started raining heavily.
Rain water flowing like anything through the staircase, which takes to fort top.

Just after crossing the staircase, there is steep climb to reach fort.
We waited sometime for rain to stop, but there is no sign of stopping.
Left with no other option, we proceeded to climb in heavy rains.
We are climbing blindly, as heavy downpour and water passage taking visibility to almost zero.
There are hooks planted on the climb, rope would have made the climb easy.

Overall the trek was pleasurable, no sight of humans other than us.
Thanks to roads and trek difficulty, because of which there are no crowds.
Be careful on the trek, these jungles hosts snakes and wild animals.

See more in pics below.