'Come to my place at 6:00 A.M. sharp.’ I pleaded. 'Yes we will be there for sure. We want to 'conquer' the two forts', was the reply. This was the historical conspiracy on Friday, 14-Jul-07. Krishna, Krishnakant and Indra were getting impatient to trek. And so did me.
Needless to say we started late, but were much better than previous time. You see, we are improving....! First destination was Kamshet, which is around 40 K.m. from Pune. We reached there within 1.5 hours; thank god there was no traffic on the road. From Kamshet, we went to Kale Colony. We were impressed that someone built colony in such a remote place. We started towards Kale Colony, and ultimately reached a villagesome place, which is known as Kale Colony. Nice shock, but we did not faint. Thanks to the God that it was not our final destination, but was just a land mark for us. We dreamt of having breakfast in some restaurant here, but as we were in shock, hardly bothered for breakfast, and continued on our bikes, Mr. Honda and Mr. Pulsar were happy to run on roads, even after lot of pain from the road.
After passing Kale Colony, we suddenly started seeing an inviting fort, and we started following it up. River Pavana was continuously walking with us throughout. We were enjoying the drive and small climb ups. We reached a place, and suddenly stopped. The road ended there. What’s this now.....? Fort was in front of us, and road has ended. We inquired and came to know that, it is NOT Tikona (where we wanted to go first). ‘So where is it’, I vomited my frustration. The man pointed somewhere in the sky at 90 degree to left and said ‘there it is’. We were not able to see anything, but still managed to say ‘oh, is that Tikona? Let’s go back there’. We waited for couple of minuets, and then Tikona came out of cloud cover. It is really beautiful. A natural pyramid in ‘Maval’.
Now here you all must agree to one secret, if you are not ‘lost’ in a trek, you are not good trekker. I have trekked around 20 places, and lost in at least 10 treks. So I am an average trekker.
Needless to say we started late, but were much better than previous time. You see, we are improving....! First destination was Kamshet, which is around 40 K.m. from Pune. We reached there within 1.5 hours; thank god there was no traffic on the road. From Kamshet, we went to Kale Colony. We were impressed that someone built colony in such a remote place. We started towards Kale Colony, and ultimately reached a villagesome place, which is known as Kale Colony. Nice shock, but we did not faint. Thanks to the God that it was not our final destination, but was just a land mark for us. We dreamt of having breakfast in some restaurant here, but as we were in shock, hardly bothered for breakfast, and continued on our bikes, Mr. Honda and Mr. Pulsar were happy to run on roads, even after lot of pain from the road.
After passing Kale Colony, we suddenly started seeing an inviting fort, and we started following it up. River Pavana was continuously walking with us throughout. We were enjoying the drive and small climb ups. We reached a place, and suddenly stopped. The road ended there. What’s this now.....? Fort was in front of us, and road has ended. We inquired and came to know that, it is NOT Tikona (where we wanted to go first). ‘So where is it’, I vomited my frustration. The man pointed somewhere in the sky at 90 degree to left and said ‘there it is’. We were not able to see anything, but still managed to say ‘oh, is that Tikona? Let’s go back there’. We waited for couple of minuets, and then Tikona came out of cloud cover. It is really beautiful. A natural pyramid in ‘Maval’.
Now here you all must agree to one secret, if you are not ‘lost’ in a trek, you are not good trekker. I have trekked around 20 places, and lost in at least 10 treks. So I am an average trekker.
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We started back, and headed towards Tikona. Reached Tikona Wadi in about 30 min time. This is a very small village around 20 houses, a school and a temple, and yes, a muddy road, just walkable. No tapir even. We kept our helmets in a small house, also ordered for food, and immediately started to walk. After 5 min. everyone started feeling some strange call from stomach, thanks once again to the God, it was hunger, nothing else. We decided to attend hunger, and sat on the enormous green carpet. I took out chutney and bread. Did know how and when it finished. And everyone started feeling thirsty. After a very short discussion, we cane to a conclusion that, none of us have water, nor any container. Pathetic trekkers, except me. Others did not think of carrying bottle, but at least I thought of it. So I was holding upper hand. But I kept this thought to myself. Again you see, I am average trekker. Indra took the initiative to go and bring water from nearby house, and surprisingly he was welcomed there…….. By the barking dogs. No matter, he received respect…!
We headed once again on the muddy road and walked for 10-15 min. the fort was running parallel to us, and at one stage, it left us, and we again felt that we are ‘lost’. One thing guys, if something comes from inside you, it is always true. Yes we were lost once again. We waited for someone localite angel to come, and there he was. He showed us the correct way, which we could not have found of our own ever. And here the real trek started.
After a mixture of walk, climb we reached to the main gate of Tikona in one hour. Not too tired, but full of enjoyment, real enjoyment. The normal enjoyment can be shown by laughter, dance, and gestures. But trekking enjoyment is stored inside your sole and can be enjoyed anytime later.
I found two differences in this trek; the steps from the main gate to the top are well built and not destroyed. They are too steep, but not too exhaustive. The other difference is the size of the fort. It is too small. In real Tikona (and Tung also) is not fort, they were just watch towers to keep watch on Maval and Pavna bed. The fog was so thick that we could not see anything for couple of minuets. Wind was really playing game, and showing us different tricks and everyone was enjoying this nature’s game. There is nothing much to see on Tung, just one almost demolished Ganesh mandir and a beautiful Hanuman Murti make you halt for 5 min. we finished Tikona in 45 min. I heard Krishna saying ‘Conquered Man… I have conquered it’
We started climbing down. But this time we took different route, which is not recommended to climb down. But we came to know about it only after coming down. Krishna and Indra had couple of stunts, and more importantly without any dummy. Both are the real heroes. We climbed down completely and headed towards the house. Had lunch there. Chapati, Bhaji, Rice, curry and papad was the menu of the feast. We enjoyed it a lot, yes I think so. Again one more funda, in trekking enjoying food is being able to gulp it.
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Tung
We headed towards Tung which is exactly opposite side of river Pavna. You can drive to Morva from Tikona wadi, and from Morva to Tung wadi. Don’t ask me about the road quality, or I will vomit out my emotions. Never been on moon, but can very well guess, how it would be after driving on this road. We reached Tung Wadi in around two hours. There is a Maruti Mandir where you need to start your trek. Take right from the Mandir and you will see the road to go to top.
It seemed to be untouched road to me. No footsteps (human and animals) throughout. This is one piece rock standing around 3000 ft. tall. The climb is too steep and hence exhaustive. The remoteness and rocky appearance makes it even frightening. Frightening, yet interesting…! We climbed to the top in one hour. Had a lot of beautiful spots for photography, and I think we respected every such spot. (At the end of the trek we gathered around 250 snaps). There is hardly anything to see on the top. The area is not more than 3000 sq. ft. still we enjoyed the ‘well with hole’ a lot. This was a good opportunity for trick photography. We spend 30-45 min enjoying natural beauty. During these 45 min I we could speak only four words, ‘awesome’, ‘too good’, ‘rocking’ and ‘conquered’. Nature does not allow you to speak too much, but tells you lot of things.
We started climbing down in a hurry as it was 5:00 PM already. Climbing down was a bit scary. The great Sayhadri was telling us ‘take care I am merciless. You miss and I hit’. And we were obeying the instructions strictly. We climbed down in about 45 min.
Everyone’s body was strained, but minds fully charged and overflowing with joy. Krishna had ‘conquered’ two forts in one day. Krishnakant was speechless, and Indra was thinking about next trek, I am sure. I really do not remember what I was doing? Perhaps was thinking of third fort nearby…..!
We headed towards Lonavla at 6:00 PM and nature showed another magic. We were closing to Bhushi Dam and the road was fully covered by p-soup fog, that too for around 15 KM. heavenly road in literal terms. We had corn at Bhushi and left for Pune. As I was coming closer to Pune, a thought touched my mind ‘back to man-land’ from ‘nature-land’.
Some useful information:
Tikona:
How to reach:
Tikona: Pune à Kamshet à Kale Colony -à Tikona Wadi (after Kale Colony, ask the localites if confused)
Height: 3500 ft.
Type: Medium
Tung:
How to reach: from Tikona take route to from Morva to Tung Wadi. From Lonavla, take the road to Bhushi Dam; continue further on the road till Tung wadi.
Height: 3000 ft.
Type: Medium (steep climb and exhaustive). This is a remote place fort, and hence preferably should be covered in the early part of the day.
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