Korigadh Fort – A monsoon trek for Beginners, Lonavala

After Msc was over and nothing to do I was bored and wanted to do something so after searching for what to do it was finally decided to go on a trek, after searching for various places it was decided that we visit the Korigadh fort which is situated in Lonavala,the Korigadh fort is nearly 18 km from the station and various modes of transport take you there, you can either go by your vehicle or by public transport.
As we were only two of us we decided to take the public transport,.We took the morning 715 train from Dadar station the Deccan express (as we missed the morning 645 Indrayani exp).Packing sum wafers and stuff from the platform we got into the train being a Sunday we got a place to sit as one of the bogies opens at Dadar.After 2hrs 30 mins we reached Lonavala at 1015.We then headed to the bus depot we found that we had missed the bus to amby valley(which leaves at 10) and the next bus was at 12 so we decided to ask the taxis and rickshaws but they quoted 1000 nad 800 rs so we asked one of the shop fellows and he suggested we go to the highway and we mite get a bus or a tourist vehicle so we again went back and while heading to the highway saw a man filling a vehicle for amby valley we sat in it for 30 rs per head after waiting for 15 20 minutes for the vehicle to fill we left for the fort the place to get down is pethshahpur.We traveled through the ghats and after 30 minor so we reached the spot that is Pethshapur.Once you get down at the stop the big mountain you see is your destination the Korigadh Fort.

Korigad Fort

We collected some water and food from the stop because there is nothing to eat on the top and started with our ascend the One that is right ahead via Ambavane village and is presumed to be steep and difficult to climb, we took the difficult one! i.e. the one to the right. The road gets quite muddy during the rains. Luckily, there weren’t enough rains on that day. The trail from there onwards is pretty clear which leads up to the base of the Korigadh fort as rocks are marked with arrows showing the way to the fort After a good 30 mins walk we were at the base of the fort.

The ascent to the top was rather a steady one. There are stairs made of cement along the way to the top. Its good to have the stairs, The stairs neither too steep nor difficult in any way, go spirally upwards. Watch out for some portions of the climb. There are sections missing on sides of the stairs, as they seem to have lost due to landslides. Mid-way to the top, there is an idol of Lord Ganesha. It seems to be well maintained by the locals and trekkers alike, as puja items like oil and kandil (lamp) are present next to the idol. There are certain water reservoirs on the way to the top, not sure what their purpose might have been. But, the water does not look anywhere close to potable. As we climbed higher, the view was just awesome. It gave a great view of Amby Valley. Soon, a few turns and climbs later we were up at the large entrance. The entrance was around 10 feet high. This is called Ganesh Darwaja.

The top of the fort is a large open green area however, the center of the area is split up into two ponds. The fort itself is actually in quite a good shape, especially the perimeters of the fort. We could actually walk along the perimeter.as we walked over the perimeter we could see the most beautiful sights the whole of lonavala could be seen from there, as we walked more we could see the helipad and a small runway(amby valley airport). There is a hutment in the vicinity and a few cows on the top. The fort does have a care taker. There is a temple on top of the fort. It is said to be of Korlaidevi. We prayed at the temple, cannot say much about the temple. After, spending a few hrs at the top, and walking most of the perimeter we decided to sit by the lake and enjoy the silence. After, spending a few hrs at the top, we decided to head back.

The return journey was rather a quick one, as decent usually is. While getting down there was a butta wala we ate some butta(corn) had some tea and continued with the decent. We got down and reached the bus stop in an hour or so, but just like morning we had missed our last bus that was at 4 o clock, so we waited for another pickup when it finally came the driver said that it being Sunday there is traffic jam and he won’t be able to drop us till the station so we sat aster 10 -12 kms or so we reached the traffic and had to get down and walk the rest of the 8 kms so we walked and walked wen we reached a particular point there we saw a rickshaw and asked him if he could drop us and he agreed at 50 per head, finally after 2 hrs we reached the station, We ate at one of the restaurants at Lonavala. For our return journey, we headed back to the Lonavala railway station and saw the Indrayani standing at the platform and ran for our lives and caught the train. Once the train started we remembered that Ghai Ghai mein we had forgotten to buy tickets, but we continued the journey hoping the TC wouldn’t catch us.We finally reached Dadar and returned home. Although overall the trip was a short, relaxed one, it went as expected(other than walking 4 km in the traffic and traveling ticketless). It was pretty much a budget trip around Rs. 500. Would recommend first timers or people who wish to have a relaxed one-day outing, Korigad would definitely be the place to be.

But prefer not going on Sundays too much traffic or leave a little early i.e reach the base back by 3 there are return buses after every hour and the last bus is at 4.

Hope this information proves useful and you have an awesome trip/trek to korigadh trek.

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