Range: Matheran-Panvel-Chowk range
District: Raigad
Grade: Hard
Ways to reach: There are several routes from which one can get to Matheran
- From Neral, catch a Taxi to Dasturi naka (Rs.50 per seat)
- By Mini train to Matheran
- Walking on the tar road/track from Neral
- Bhivpuri to Matheran trek at the Garbett point
- Chowk to Matheran trek via Shivaji Ladder at One tree hill point
- Via Gadeshwar temple at the Louisa point
- There is also a route that climbs upto Monkey point
- From Peb fort, along the ridge that joins Matheran and Peb
Reach Panvel by ST bus/local train. From Panvel ST stand, you can get an ST bus to Chowk fata, or you can hire a tuk-tuk (10-seater share auto). From the Chowk fata, walk along the highway towards a small path on the right that climbs upto the railway tracks near the railway bridge over a nullah. Climb on the tracks, and walking along the tracks towards Chowk railway station, cross over to the other side towards the chowk village. You can see the saddle-shaped peak of Irshalgad towering over the Chowk village.
(Click on the map for a larger view)From here, the route turns right along the base of Irshalgad. Then there is a sort of diversion, the route to the left goes towards the ridge between Irshalgad and Prabalgad. We have to take the right one, which cuts across a field and then descends on the other side. Walking on the ground, with Prabalgad on the left, reach Varosawadi village. The main village of Varosawadi was previously situated at the base of Irshalgad, but later the Morbe dam was built, and the village shifted further upstream at its present location. Here you will cross the river, and then walking along the base of Matheran, reach the base village of Umbernewadi.
From Umbernewadi, we can see the spot where the ladders are situated, which is distinctly red in colour due to landslides, and is slightly bulging creating a gully. The route then climbs up steeply along the ridge. Here, we cut across a stream in between. A steady climb over a rocky route for about One and a half hours and we reach a spot where theres a wodden ladder like thing. Theres a tree trunk, about 5 feet in height, with 3 notches to keep our feet and climb up. The route then ascends steeply over a rock patch, and you reach the 1st ladder (~ 2 hours from Umbernewadi).
The 1st ladder is about 10-15 feet in height and is situated right at the base of the huge rock face. It is made of iron, and a few rungs are lose, kept in place by metallic wires. Once you climb this ladder, a very narrow route then goes to the right, traverses the rock face towards the gully. Here, you will reach a cave with a temple. (we believed its the real Pisarnath temple, as at the top of the gully, we saw an arrow pointing downwards... and as most tourists won't be able to get down here). Beyond the cave, take left and inside the gully, you will encounter the tallest ladder of the 3, towering over you, inside a waterfall (In the monsoon... I don't think the waterfall would be present in the summer months).
The 2nd ladder is made of Bamboo inside the gully and is almost vertical. It is about 25-30 feet high, and is situated right in the centre of a small waterfall. The rungs, made of bamboo, are quite slippery in the rains due to moss and utmost caution is needed in climbing this ladder. Only one person should climb this ladder at a time.
Immediately, after climbing the 2nd ladder, you will encounter the last ladder. It is also made of bamboo, but is somewhat twisted. It is about 8-10 feet high. Then there is a high rock patch that has to be encountered in the gully. The rocks here are quite sharp, lose and slippery due to moss and the rushing water. This region is quite dangerous, as many landslides have been occured.
Climbing for about half an hour, and you reach the Matheran plateau. A 10 mins walk from here to the left and you will reach Charlotte lake.
Fascinating spots: Matheran is a hill station with about 30 points.
Some really good points are -->
- Garbett point
- Louisa point
- Sunset point
- Echo point
- Monkey point
- One tree hill
- Panorama (Sunrise) point
- Charlotte Lake
Climbing time:
Chowk fata ---> Chowk village : 1 hour
Chowk village ---> Irshalwadi (along the ridge) : ~ 2 1/2 hours
Irshalwadi ---> Varosawadi : ~ 2 hours
Varosawadi ---> Umbernewadi : 30 mins
Umbernewadi ---> 1st ladder : 2 hours
1st ladder ---> 2nd ladder : 10 mins
2nd ladder ---> Matheran plateau : 45 mins
Total Climbing time : approx 8-9 hours
Food and Drinking water: Carry your lunch for the day along with snacks. Also carry plenty of drinking water if trekking in the summer months.
NOTE: Please attempt this trek along with experienced trekkers only. It is quite an exhaustive and lengthy trek, and the final rock patch is quite dicey. Carry plenty of water along if trekking in summer.
Matheran via Chowk-Varosawadi-Ladder route
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Participants: Parag, Nishant, Alok, Minesh, Rohit
The Beginning:
This was going to be a difficult trek, thats what was getting me fully pumped up for this trek. Alok and Minesh decided to sleep overnight at Panvel ST stand, while myself and Nishant joined them at the bus stand early in the morning. Rohit, a fireman, was a bit late as he was coming back from his night shift. It was a lazy Saturday morning at Panvel and then we decided to fill ourselves with some good breakfast before our trek. Hot Vada pavs made their way down our oesophaguses, as we caught a share auto towards Chowk. We got down a bit ahead at the main chowk fata, and then we had to start walking back a bit till the railway bridge over a small stream. We climbed up to the railway line and decided it was a nice place to do some photo session. The large and newly built Morbe Dam was to our right, and we started walking on the tracks towards Chowk railway station. Just before the station, we crossed over to the other side towards Chowk village. Irshalgad was looking quite fabulous, with its saddle-shaped pinnacle been covered with clouds. Nishant always teases me, that Irshalgad and Manikgad are the only two forts I know as I can identify them from anywhere cause of their peculiar shapes... :)
The Climb towards Irshalwadi:
After walking on a tar road for sometime, we came to a small temple in Chowk village. We then repacked our stuff, prepared ourselves for any chances of rain, changed clothes and were ready to hit the trail. Rohit had just been back after doing a basic mountaneering course with an A grade. He showed us his ultra compact and cheap sleeping bag, with which I was really impressed. The trail lead us to a spot where there were a cluster of small huts with typical thatched roofs.. from there, we had a splendid view of the Morbe dam and the reservoir. Irshalgad was on the left and Matheran was on the right, the atmosphere was cloudy and windy and was ideal for trekking, and my feet were simply itching to get started.
The Varosawadi village was previously located just near the base of Irshalgad and Matheran below the One tree hill, but was later relocated further upstream when the Morbe dam was built.
As we passed through the small village near the base of the ridge that led to Irshalwadi, we were greeted, first by small village kids, who I think got really facinated after seeing my cam.. They just started pulling my hand demanding chocolates... Then there were the village dogs, warning us about our tresspassing through their territories...
The initial climb was quite gradual, and a bit zig zag, and soon we reached halfway over the ridge in half an hour... The wind over there was simply awesome, and we were nearly caught off balance at a couple of places. The ridge really took a test of our cardiovascular fitness, as we huffed and puffed over the slippery moss ridden path. Nishant and Rohit made their way ahead and reached Irshalwadi, which was located on the plateau at the base of Irshalgad. Minesh, Alok and myself lolled behind, as I got ample of opportunities to get some good shots. It took us about 2 hours to reach Irshalwadi from the base. After a quick fill of our bottles from the village and asking directions, we made our way towards Varosawadi.
The tiring walk towards Varosawadi:
I felt so good after being so close to Irshalgad, "My fav fort" as Nishant said... but yeah, that was not what we had planned to climb. So we went ahead from the village, took a right and neared a field on the plateau. I was nearly depressed when I heard the villager tell us that we had to get down the plateau from the other side to reach the River. All the efforts and energy in climbing that ridge and gaining that height was wasted, as we crossed the field and started climbing down the plateau.. Within half an hour, we were back on the flat ground, and walking besides the river on our right and Irshalgad and the massive Prabalgad on our left. The entire experience of being in that valley simply cannot be described in words.. Being surrounded by mist covered mountains laden with innumerable waterfalls, the aroma of wet mud after the rains in the air, the sound of a million birds involved in a jamming session and of that of the flowing river, and the cool breeze blowing around... I made up my mind to come here sometime in the future for camping for a couple of days...
But the slushy ground made life difficult for us. Fresh rains had caused water logging and loosening up of the soil throughout, and our feet were simply sinking in that mud, if we had taken a wrong step. We did not meet any villager on our way to ask for directions. So we started planning our own way out. As it was first told that we were gonna climb up via the Shivaji-Ladder route (Which we later came to know that Shivaji Ladder route led to One tree hill and was a different route), we kept a ridge at the extreme right of Matheran as our reference point, and we thought the village would be there at the base of that ridge. So we decided to cross the river and cut across to the other side and walk towards that ridge instead of trying to go all around it. The river was thankfully not in its full flow, and the water was thigh deep and was completely chilled.. The banks of the river showed signs of subsided flood waters with dead trees and washed away river banks. We were now walking towards the base of Matheran, in a direction back towards Chowk, where we met a wood cutter, who told us that we were walking in the opposite direction, and told us that the Varosa village was further upstream instead.
So we again started walking upstream, and finding a shady place near a stream, we had a break for lunch. It was almost 3 pm and we had less time on our hands as the sun sets quite early in these areas, and also the darkness comes up earlier due to monsoon clouds. After a filling lunch consisting of Thepalas, baked beans, sandwiches and achaar, we began our trudge towards Varosa. Then another villager told us that we did not have to go all the way to Varosa, as a right from a junction would lead us to the base village of Umbernewadi. He showed us the spot where the ladders were located, which was a fairly distinguishable spot, which was completely red due to landslides in that area.
The Over-friendly Villagers of Umbernewadi and the climb towards the Ladders:
After walking a few minutes, we saw a cluster of huts that constituted a village. No sooner were we in sight, about 5- 10 villagers including kids came running towards us, like the coolies come running towards you to take your luggage at a train station. I felt like being a white skinned foreigner in India. We asked a villager for directions, but he insisted that it was too late for us, and that should spend the night in the village and that he would make good chicken for us. All the men in the village baring a couple were so obviously drunk. One particular person far away in the field was shouting his guts out and told us that he will show us the right way. These village people do such things to earn money. We politely declined their offer to stay in the village, and after much coaxing and cajoling, we agreed to take a middle aged person along with us as a guide to show us the correct route to the ladders.
That elderly person led us and we began our actual ascent of Matheran. It was quite a tiring part of the trek, as we had already walked so much through the day. But that gentleman who was guiding us, was so full of energy, partly cause he was a regular on that route, and partly cause he had alcohol running in his blood... We then reached a stream, where he showed us the right route.. We looked behind and were surprised to see that there were 2-3 other drunk villagers following us. We paid our guide 10 bucks, and got rid of them and started our ascent. I had to take a sip of Electral here as it was too humid, and the climb made it worse. After a steep climb of an hour, Rohit and me were far ahead of Nishant, Alok and Minesh, who were trekking after a long time. We came across a small rock patch, where there was a wodden ladder like thing, made up of a thick branch with 3-4 nothces made in it. Rohit jokingly said that we had reached the first ladder. The view from the rock patch was too good. Irshalgad, Morbe dam in the far distance and Prabal on the right were making a beautiful sight.
The Final Chapter of our Adventure:
A further half an hour climb, and I reached the first Iron ladder, the few rungs at the bottom were broken, but I made to the top quite easily as it was a pretty broad ladder. Rohit was waiting on the ridge at the top and he seemed fairly excited cause he had gone and seen the second and the third ladders.
I went with Rohit, traversed the curved rock face and reached a small cave with a Shiv temple. Rohit told me that it must be the real Pisarnath temple. I asked him, where are the other ladders, as the road seemed to end ahead. He smiled and said, "Follow me.. wait till u see this..." and I followed him ahead on that narrow path in which i could barely keep one foot at a time on the ground. The path led up into a Chimney like terrain, and my eyes simply lit up with what I saw... There right in front of me stood a tall ladder, about 30 feet tall, fixed on the ground by big stones, and yeah.. Right in the middle of a waterfall !!!! I simply said.. Are U sure Rohit? Oh yes... hundred percent, I climbed it and it was perfectly stable, and theres one more small ladder above it. Whoa!! I looked back and all I could see was the valley far down... and further away I could see the rain clouds approaching faster and faster, and the rain had begun as a slight drizzle. We came back and waited in the shelter of the cave for the others.
After about 15 mins, when Nishant did not arrive and with thick rain clouds covering the entire valley, with strong winds and visibility being almost nil, I got worried and asked Rohit to check them out near the first ladder. And voila!! Nishant was stuck at the first ladder.. he was simply standing on the ladder, unable to move, as strong winds, rain and thick clouds lashed the valley... I dont know what exactly happened to him, but after a bit of struggle, everyone was finally at the cave, and later, staring in awe at the ladders...
We decided the other in which we were supposed to climb the ladders. Rohit was to go first, followed by Nishant, Alok, Myself and then Minesh at the back. The ladder was slippery cuz of the moss and also, cause water was falling on our faces and bodies from above. While climbing such ladders, we have to take care to place our feet not at the centre of the rung, but at the sides, cause that is the strongest part. After tackling the 2nd ladder, the 3rd ladder was a smaller version of the 2nd one. After that, lay a section of rock patch and lose rocks with water streams flowing through it in front of us. The surface of the rocks was damn slippery and I was finding it quite difficult to find grip at some places. Half an hour later, we were finally on top of Matheran, looking down behind of just what we had come through, with satisfaction...
The stay and the journey back home:
We made our wat to Lake charlotte and Pisarnath temple where we had hot tea and some biscuits. It was misty in the evening and sun was setting.. I could not control my urges and took out my packet of cigarettes. Rohit saw it, and declared "The trek is now officially over, and now we can have cigs..." and we lit up our cigs in satisfaction... smoking in that atmosphere was such an amazing experience.
The walk back to Matheran market place was such a pain, in the darkness and in the wet mud filled with horse dung here and there. At the market place, we found a place to stay for 500 Rupees for a night and 10 rs per head for a bucket of hot water to take a bath. We took a bath one by one, and then we hogged on kababs and chicken biryani at Khursheed's dhaba.
Then i bought a pair of cheap chapples for myself, and while the rest went to sleep, Myself and Nishant spent an hour at the market place having a good chat. That night I could not sleep on the floor, as the guys who were our neighbours were having a booze party till late in the night.
Morning came and we began packing wearily, and soon we were on our way. Alok bought some purse for her fiance and we walked the way from Matheran to Dasturi naka, and then by a taxi (Rs. 50 per head) to Neral. We just missed the local, and had to spend about an hour at the station. We did some photography here and there, and finally caught a train back home.
It was quite a tiring, but adventurous trek.. with Alok, Rohit and Minesh giving a wonderful company... we are now planning to trek the same route in the summer or the winter months :)
This was going to be a difficult trek, thats what was getting me fully pumped up for this trek. Alok and Minesh decided to sleep overnight at Panvel ST stand, while myself and Nishant joined them at the bus stand early in the morning. Rohit, a fireman, was a bit late as he was coming back from his night shift. It was a lazy Saturday morning at Panvel and then we decided to fill ourselves with some good breakfast before our trek. Hot Vada pavs made their way down our oesophaguses, as we caught a share auto towards Chowk. We got down a bit ahead at the main chowk fata, and then we had to start walking back a bit till the railway bridge over a small stream. We climbed up to the railway line and decided it was a nice place to do some photo session. The large and newly built Morbe Dam was to our right, and we started walking on the tracks towards Chowk railway station. Just before the station, we crossed over to the other side towards Chowk village. Irshalgad was looking quite fabulous, with its saddle-shaped pinnacle been covered with clouds. Nishant always teases me, that Irshalgad and Manikgad are the only two forts I know as I can identify them from anywhere cause of their peculiar shapes... :)
The Climb towards Irshalwadi:
After walking on a tar road for sometime, we came to a small temple in Chowk village. We then repacked our stuff, prepared ourselves for any chances of rain, changed clothes and were ready to hit the trail. Rohit had just been back after doing a basic mountaneering course with an A grade. He showed us his ultra compact and cheap sleeping bag, with which I was really impressed. The trail lead us to a spot where there were a cluster of small huts with typical thatched roofs.. from there, we had a splendid view of the Morbe dam and the reservoir. Irshalgad was on the left and Matheran was on the right, the atmosphere was cloudy and windy and was ideal for trekking, and my feet were simply itching to get started.
The Varosawadi village was previously located just near the base of Irshalgad and Matheran below the One tree hill, but was later relocated further upstream when the Morbe dam was built.
As we passed through the small village near the base of the ridge that led to Irshalwadi, we were greeted, first by small village kids, who I think got really facinated after seeing my cam.. They just started pulling my hand demanding chocolates... Then there were the village dogs, warning us about our tresspassing through their territories...
The initial climb was quite gradual, and a bit zig zag, and soon we reached halfway over the ridge in half an hour... The wind over there was simply awesome, and we were nearly caught off balance at a couple of places. The ridge really took a test of our cardiovascular fitness, as we huffed and puffed over the slippery moss ridden path. Nishant and Rohit made their way ahead and reached Irshalwadi, which was located on the plateau at the base of Irshalgad. Minesh, Alok and myself lolled behind, as I got ample of opportunities to get some good shots. It took us about 2 hours to reach Irshalwadi from the base. After a quick fill of our bottles from the village and asking directions, we made our way towards Varosawadi.
The tiring walk towards Varosawadi:
I felt so good after being so close to Irshalgad, "My fav fort" as Nishant said... but yeah, that was not what we had planned to climb. So we went ahead from the village, took a right and neared a field on the plateau. I was nearly depressed when I heard the villager tell us that we had to get down the plateau from the other side to reach the River. All the efforts and energy in climbing that ridge and gaining that height was wasted, as we crossed the field and started climbing down the plateau.. Within half an hour, we were back on the flat ground, and walking besides the river on our right and Irshalgad and the massive Prabalgad on our left. The entire experience of being in that valley simply cannot be described in words.. Being surrounded by mist covered mountains laden with innumerable waterfalls, the aroma of wet mud after the rains in the air, the sound of a million birds involved in a jamming session and of that of the flowing river, and the cool breeze blowing around... I made up my mind to come here sometime in the future for camping for a couple of days...
But the slushy ground made life difficult for us. Fresh rains had caused water logging and loosening up of the soil throughout, and our feet were simply sinking in that mud, if we had taken a wrong step. We did not meet any villager on our way to ask for directions. So we started planning our own way out. As it was first told that we were gonna climb up via the Shivaji-Ladder route (Which we later came to know that Shivaji Ladder route led to One tree hill and was a different route), we kept a ridge at the extreme right of Matheran as our reference point, and we thought the village would be there at the base of that ridge. So we decided to cross the river and cut across to the other side and walk towards that ridge instead of trying to go all around it. The river was thankfully not in its full flow, and the water was thigh deep and was completely chilled.. The banks of the river showed signs of subsided flood waters with dead trees and washed away river banks. We were now walking towards the base of Matheran, in a direction back towards Chowk, where we met a wood cutter, who told us that we were walking in the opposite direction, and told us that the Varosa village was further upstream instead.
So we again started walking upstream, and finding a shady place near a stream, we had a break for lunch. It was almost 3 pm and we had less time on our hands as the sun sets quite early in these areas, and also the darkness comes up earlier due to monsoon clouds. After a filling lunch consisting of Thepalas, baked beans, sandwiches and achaar, we began our trudge towards Varosa. Then another villager told us that we did not have to go all the way to Varosa, as a right from a junction would lead us to the base village of Umbernewadi. He showed us the spot where the ladders were located, which was a fairly distinguishable spot, which was completely red due to landslides in that area.
The Over-friendly Villagers of Umbernewadi and the climb towards the Ladders:
After walking a few minutes, we saw a cluster of huts that constituted a village. No sooner were we in sight, about 5- 10 villagers including kids came running towards us, like the coolies come running towards you to take your luggage at a train station. I felt like being a white skinned foreigner in India. We asked a villager for directions, but he insisted that it was too late for us, and that should spend the night in the village and that he would make good chicken for us. All the men in the village baring a couple were so obviously drunk. One particular person far away in the field was shouting his guts out and told us that he will show us the right way. These village people do such things to earn money. We politely declined their offer to stay in the village, and after much coaxing and cajoling, we agreed to take a middle aged person along with us as a guide to show us the correct route to the ladders.
That elderly person led us and we began our actual ascent of Matheran. It was quite a tiring part of the trek, as we had already walked so much through the day. But that gentleman who was guiding us, was so full of energy, partly cause he was a regular on that route, and partly cause he had alcohol running in his blood... We then reached a stream, where he showed us the right route.. We looked behind and were surprised to see that there were 2-3 other drunk villagers following us. We paid our guide 10 bucks, and got rid of them and started our ascent. I had to take a sip of Electral here as it was too humid, and the climb made it worse. After a steep climb of an hour, Rohit and me were far ahead of Nishant, Alok and Minesh, who were trekking after a long time. We came across a small rock patch, where there was a wodden ladder like thing, made up of a thick branch with 3-4 nothces made in it. Rohit jokingly said that we had reached the first ladder. The view from the rock patch was too good. Irshalgad, Morbe dam in the far distance and Prabal on the right were making a beautiful sight.
The Final Chapter of our Adventure:
A further half an hour climb, and I reached the first Iron ladder, the few rungs at the bottom were broken, but I made to the top quite easily as it was a pretty broad ladder. Rohit was waiting on the ridge at the top and he seemed fairly excited cause he had gone and seen the second and the third ladders.
I went with Rohit, traversed the curved rock face and reached a small cave with a Shiv temple. Rohit told me that it must be the real Pisarnath temple. I asked him, where are the other ladders, as the road seemed to end ahead. He smiled and said, "Follow me.. wait till u see this..." and I followed him ahead on that narrow path in which i could barely keep one foot at a time on the ground. The path led up into a Chimney like terrain, and my eyes simply lit up with what I saw... There right in front of me stood a tall ladder, about 30 feet tall, fixed on the ground by big stones, and yeah.. Right in the middle of a waterfall !!!! I simply said.. Are U sure Rohit? Oh yes... hundred percent, I climbed it and it was perfectly stable, and theres one more small ladder above it. Whoa!! I looked back and all I could see was the valley far down... and further away I could see the rain clouds approaching faster and faster, and the rain had begun as a slight drizzle. We came back and waited in the shelter of the cave for the others.
After about 15 mins, when Nishant did not arrive and with thick rain clouds covering the entire valley, with strong winds and visibility being almost nil, I got worried and asked Rohit to check them out near the first ladder. And voila!! Nishant was stuck at the first ladder.. he was simply standing on the ladder, unable to move, as strong winds, rain and thick clouds lashed the valley... I dont know what exactly happened to him, but after a bit of struggle, everyone was finally at the cave, and later, staring in awe at the ladders...
We decided the other in which we were supposed to climb the ladders. Rohit was to go first, followed by Nishant, Alok, Myself and then Minesh at the back. The ladder was slippery cuz of the moss and also, cause water was falling on our faces and bodies from above. While climbing such ladders, we have to take care to place our feet not at the centre of the rung, but at the sides, cause that is the strongest part. After tackling the 2nd ladder, the 3rd ladder was a smaller version of the 2nd one. After that, lay a section of rock patch and lose rocks with water streams flowing through it in front of us. The surface of the rocks was damn slippery and I was finding it quite difficult to find grip at some places. Half an hour later, we were finally on top of Matheran, looking down behind of just what we had come through, with satisfaction...
The stay and the journey back home:
We made our wat to Lake charlotte and Pisarnath temple where we had hot tea and some biscuits. It was misty in the evening and sun was setting.. I could not control my urges and took out my packet of cigarettes. Rohit saw it, and declared "The trek is now officially over, and now we can have cigs..." and we lit up our cigs in satisfaction... smoking in that atmosphere was such an amazing experience.
The walk back to Matheran market place was such a pain, in the darkness and in the wet mud filled with horse dung here and there. At the market place, we found a place to stay for 500 Rupees for a night and 10 rs per head for a bucket of hot water to take a bath. We took a bath one by one, and then we hogged on kababs and chicken biryani at Khursheed's dhaba.
Then i bought a pair of cheap chapples for myself, and while the rest went to sleep, Myself and Nishant spent an hour at the market place having a good chat. That night I could not sleep on the floor, as the guys who were our neighbours were having a booze party till late in the night.
Morning came and we began packing wearily, and soon we were on our way. Alok bought some purse for her fiance and we walked the way from Matheran to Dasturi naka, and then by a taxi (Rs. 50 per head) to Neral. We just missed the local, and had to spend about an hour at the station. We did some photography here and there, and finally caught a train back home.
It was quite a tiring, but adventurous trek.. with Alok, Rohit and Minesh giving a wonderful company... we are now planning to trek the same route in the summer or the winter months :)
