Trek To Ratangad

Wooow... Almost after 5-6 months, We went for Trekking on bike.

Abhi, Nilesh and me are bike crazy people. This time we got a new jointy Niranjan for the biking adventure.

We have Pulser 200, Honda Unicorn, Apache 160, and Yamaha Fazer respectively.

So on 1st Jan 2010, at 1400 hrs we started our journey to Ratangad.

First we went to Bhandardara through Mumbai Nasik Highway. The highway is really smooth and awesome. The kasara ghat is really beautiful.

At 2300 hrs we reached the base village Ratanwadi.

It was too cold, because Bhandardara Dam was nearby. We inquired in the village about the safety of night trekking to the fort.

People were saying the it is not safe to march to the fort at night because of multiple routes.

But we decided to go. We were short of equipments as always. We had only a torch.

But somehow we managed to reach the top at 0230.

There were three steel ladders in the route. But the route was exciting.

At the top, it was really too cold to bear. It was child, windy..

The caves were full of trekkers, so we had to sleep outside the caves.

In the morning, the cold atmosphere was manageable.

Main points on the fort were

1.'Nedhe' or 'Eye of the Needle'.-natural rock peak with a cavity in it at the top

2.Tryambak Darwaza - The main entrance to Ratangad fort

After exploring the fort for 2-3 hrs , we went down to the base village for the lunch.

Not only it was an exciting trek, but the bike ride was also superb.