PEB Fort/ Vikatgad Trek

PEB Fort

We are back again with a new trekking experience. This time it was PEB Fort, also known as Vikatgad. We have been planning to go on this trek ever since we completed Prabalgad, as you can see it from Prabalgad. Some of our friends, who had done this trek before, advised us to go with a group, as one can get a little lost on the trek for first time. Hence, once again we booked our trek via Trek Mates India (TMI). It cost us 550 INR per person. This trek started on 7th night and finished on 8th morning.

At Neral Station

Our meeting point was Neral Station, around 1:30 am in the morning. We boarded the last fast local (CST to Karjat) from the Ghatkopar station. The train was a bit late and we met few other members of the trekking group. The train was supposed to arrive at 11:42 but we boarded the train after 12 in the midnight. Unfortunately, there was another unscheduled halt before Thane for around 20-25 minutes which further delayed us. We reached Neral Station a little before 2:00 am. Our group leader Mahen provided us with instructions and then we starter the journey.

Start of the trek

The trek actually started from the station itself. There is a motorable tar road which we had to cover for around 2 km. It's a pretty straight road and in between there was a crossing which we had to cross straight without any taking left and right. There are a lot of vipers in the area, so Mahen asked us not to walk on the side of the roads and rather walk in middle of it. Around 1 km into the travel we had to take a left. After that some patches of road were tarred and some dirt and gravel road. We had to follow the road straight. A landmark to identify correct route would be Tulsi Kailash Complex. We saw a stick insect on the way and fortunately avoided crushing it under our shoes. Since normally these insects are not native to Indian climate, we were a little surprised.

Trail start from base village

After walking for around 45 minutes we reached the base village from where the trail started. The initial trail was narrow. It was difficult to make it out in the dark but we could see a steep drop on our left side. The trail was rocky with rocks littered on the entire trail. We kept following the trail for around 15-20 minutes and then we took a break to allow the remaining members to catch up. We could see a high tension wire above us. That wire carried over a lakh volts of electricity and it is not advised to click photos, which I came to know only after Mahen pointed to me that I should not use camera flash under the high tension wire. Also we are not supposed to open umbrella in the rainy season, under the high tension wire.

The breezy rocky clearing

After taking 5 minutes break we moved ahead and reached a clearing. So far we were blocked by hills on one of the side because of which were not able to feel the cool breeze but as soon as we reached the rocky clearing, we could feel the cool and fresh breeze. We were also able to see a lot of stars in the sky and me and my crazy partner spotted a shooting star each.

Waiting on rocks

Once the entire group caught up, we moved ahead. We really wanted to just sleep there only, as the weather was so nice. This was around 10 minutes break and then we moved ahead on the trail. From that point the trail started become steeper as we went ahead. We took small mini breaks to let the group catch up at various points. Once again we were blocked by vertical rock wall on one side and hence there was no breeze and everyone was sweating like crazy. Also please be cautious of the thorny plants on sides of the trail. There were a lot of them

Waiting at hill top

The rock pieces that were climbing over are essentially waterfall path during rainy season. Finally we reached at the top of the hill on which were covering our trail. The moment we reached top we were again greeted by nice cool breeze. We waited there, as instructed by Mahen and once he also reached there we moved ahead. We had nice Konkan special Laddoos from Mandar Thakur, one of our group mates.

The narrow trail

The trail from that point onwards was very narrow and dangerous also, as on right and left both sides there was a very steep drop.

Moss covered rock

By now it was over 4:45 am. We reached a small rocky wall covered with dry moss and algae. We climbed over the rocky wall. First couple of us climbed and then we pulled all the bags before other people started coming.

Rock wall and flag pole

We went ahead and reached a huge rocky wall. There was a flag pole there and we waited for Mahen there. But we were not supposed to climb till that flag pole and were asked to come down a small distance to correct our trail again.

The right trail

From that point onwards we had to be very cautious on the trail, as at various points one had to take support of the hill to move ahead. Finally by 5:10 am we reached some stone steps carved on the hill.

Caves

That was the way ahead to Temple at the top of Peb fort hill. After climbing some stairs we came across the famous peb fort caves. By now it was starting to get a little bright and were able to see some light.

Ladder

The caves have a temple inside it but we did not stop there for even 5 minutes, as we did not want to miss the sunrise at Peb fort. So we moved ahead and came across a metal ladder.

C-shaped trail

Once, we climbed the ladder we could see a C shaped trail to reach that path that would take us to the temple on top of the hill. There were steps at various points on C shaped trail. Once we covered that section we moved to a trail on the right of us to reach the temple, but it proved to be a long and complicated trail and  hence, we traced out way back and took another way upwards.

Rocky patch near temple

This one was steep trail made of tree roots, dirt and gravel. We had to be careful on this trail. Near the top the trail becomes rocky again. Finally by 6:15 reached top. By now it was morning and there was sufficient light.

Sun playing hide and seek

At the top there is temple of Swami Samarth Maharaj.  We clicked various pics. We were afraid that we had missed the sunrise but we were in luck as after 10 minutes we could see sun coming out from clouds. It was very beautiful experience to watch sun rise out from clouds and play hide and seek with the clouds. I have seen many sunrises in my life but this one was very beautiful.

Mandatory TMI pose

It was extremely windy at the top and we felt that we would be blown away in case we jump in air. Mahen mentioned that there have been times when it was even more windy  than today, so we could only imagine the wind strength during that time. Once everyone had enjoyed sunrise and had their rest, we had some group photos and moved ahead.

Return trail

We were not taking the same route to go back and we moved ahead on the hill top as we could see a trail ahead of us.

Ladder number 2

After climbing down for 5 minutes one could see a house. From there we had to take the trail on the left. Its simple climb down till the point where we reach a metal ladders.

Viewing hole in rock

We climbed down from those and came across a small rocky wall which had a hole in between. We could imagine, how beautiful the sunrise would look from that peephole.

View of the return trail

We moved ahead from there once we had around 50% of group there, we moved on the trail. From our waiting point we could see the hill which we had to cover. The trail on the hill was very narrow with almost vertical steep drop on the right side.

Photo break

The trail was hardly 1-1.5 feet wide. When we started on the trail we came across a viper snake slithering into the dry grass on the side of the trail. The narrow trail was very straight forward and we just kept following the route. There were some halts in between, some climbs, a ladder and we finally reached the rail tracks.

Snacks break

These rail tracks are used by the toy train that was used, till last year, for Matheran tourism. We took around 15-20 minutes break there, where everyone shared dry snacks and eatables with each other. Once we satisfied our hunger, we started walking right on the tracks which led us to the parking area.

Standing Ganesh Ji

It was a nice walk. We could see nice green hills on our right side. It was very peaceful and really enjoyed the walk on the tracks.  half way down the track there was a temple bell handing. Mahen told us to look on our right and we saw a huge statue of standing Ganeshji. Normally one does not see a statue of Ganeshji standing so, it was nice to know there was such a statue there.

Photo-session on track

There were some photo sessions in between and we reached the parking area by 9:30 am. While waiting there for rest of the team members, we saw two giant squirrels or Shekhru (in hindi).

The giant squirrel or Shekru

We were told that were lucky to have seen one, let alone two giant squirrels. The squirrels were very fast and only by luck we were able to click one of them. We crossed parking area and reached taxi stand in another 10 minutes where we saw another giant squirrel. We boarded a taxi and went towards the Neral station where we had breakfast and coffee. Once done we boarded train back to Ghatkopar.

Few important pointers for this trek:

• Please wear proper trekking shoes, else you will fall a lot on the rocks
• Carry a trekking pole, if you have one. Not necessary but it makes the descent and climb easier.
• Carry at least 2 litres of water. There are few stretches of trek where you would sweat a lot as hills block the breeze
• Carry eatables with you. 

Overall, it was a really nice experience, considering this was our second night trek. In terms of challenge this trek was tougher night trek than Dhak Bahiri trek. This route was more dangerous and twisted. The breeze was nicer on this trek and overall it was fun. Big thanks to TMI team and especially to Mahen and Harsh for taking us on this trek.

Our trekking group

Toodles till next treklog which will be very soon...

Hill-Skippers

hill.skippers@gmail.com

P.S. Do not litter. Keep Nature Clean