Monsoon Trekking to the Purandar Fort

We picked the Purandar fort for our trekking expedition, because we were told that it’s among the easiest ones. It made sense, as none of us are experts really.

When we reached the base, we found that we were the only ones. It was drizzling slightly, but we decided to go ahead with it. A little bit of rain won’t hurt any of us. It was our first time at Purandar. We had absolutely zero idea of how much time it would take (though we were told that it should be about an hour). We also had no idea whether we would find the trek difficult or easy.

There are quite a few paths to the top. It should be OK as long as you are going up though. You will eventually reach the plateau. We started off slowly. To make matters worse, we would stop every few minutes to take pictures. The rains certainly made everything look greener. We loved it. But it was kind of tricky not to get too wet as we waited to take the snaps.

Somewhere mid-way we got lost. Apparently, we had drifted too much to the left and were walking on narrow tracks. Luckily, we met a villager who was coming down. He told us to stay close to the rocky areas and follow the trail. Of course, it was easier said than done. The rains had made everything very slippery. Our clothes soon become quite slushy. There was one section where we had to cross some thick shrubs. This section wasn’t that easy really.

The villager had told us that we should keep walking till we reached a wall. We had to take the left from there to reach the plateau. There was a heavy mist, but we managed to find this wall. The climb was steady from then on, but we faced many rocks in this path. And it was difficult because the rains had made everything very slippery. We even saw a small waterfall. The mist made matters worse.

We reached the plateau eventually. We found a church on top and some other structures. The path took us to the end where we saw an army outpost. There is also a small Purandeshwar temple. The fort gets its name from the deity. Cross this temple and walk for about half an hour to reach the fort.

The best thing about this trek was the greenery all around us. And the worst part was the slippery rocks. But without the rains, I think, the Purandar fort would be an easy trek.