#HikeWithParth (1) - Trek to the highest peak in Maharashtra, Mt. Kalsubai (5400 feet)

Greetings everyone! I have been trekking in the Sahyadri mountain ranges in Maharashtra, India since the past 7 years now. So I decided to start a series of blogs that would take you through some of the most prominent and beautiful treks in this part of the world.

In this blog, I will take you through Mt. Kalsubai trek which is very close to my heart because it was the first ever trek I did which got me addicted to the world of trekking and mountaineering. Mt. Kalsubai is the highest peak in Maharashtra standing at 1646 meters (5400 feet) in Igatpuri region. There are two main routes that lead up to the summit, the most common and easier one being from the village Bari and the other one from Ambewadi, the more difficult route

How to get there-

• If you are travelling solo or on a very shoe string budget, you can take a local train to Kasara which is the last stop on the central line and from Kasara station you would find an ST bus going towards Shendi or Rajur. The villages Bari and Ambewadi fall on the way. Another option is to take a shared taxi on seat basis to the same destinations.
• The other option is to hire a local taxi for yourself or your group from Kasara station. The return trip should cost anywhere between 2600-3000 INR. It is always better to pre-book a taxi with a known person.
• If you want to join an organized trek, there are plenty of organizers in Maharashtra who arrange for a weekend trek to Kalsubai peak. The cost is not very expensive around 1200 INR for the entire trip including travel and food. Obviously the cost depends on company to company on what kind of service they are providing.

The trek-

From Bari village the trail up to the summit is fairly straight forward. You can’t miss out on the trail in the day time at least. Though guides are easily available in the village. The route winds up with constant gradient towards the mountain. If you are on the right trail, within 10 minutes you should come across a temple. Follow the trail through the forests and a few very small villages on the way and you will reach a very big plateau. From here the trail goes up very steeply to fixed steel ladders and staircases. There are three ladders fixed on the way to make the trek easier. It would take around 30 minutes- 45 minutes to cross this entire section. Because the elevation of the trail is steep, you gain vertical distance very soon. On one side there’s the mountain and on the other side you can see amazing views of the entire valley and also the village from where we started climbing. After the ladder and stairs, we get to another plateau which seemed like the summit all along the way, but once you reach there, you realize summit is still at a very fair distance. From here you trek up a very steep, rocky and slippery trail for another 20 minutes. You arrive to the final slope which leads to the summit. This final slope seems to take forever as it’s a very gradual uphill walk to the summit.

Just below the summit is a very tall ladder to cross to reach the summit. Once you climb that, you are on the highest point in Maharashtra at 5400 feet. There is a small temple of Kalsubai Goddess on the top. The views are incredible from here. One can see prominent mountains like AMk, Ratangad, Vishramgad (will describe these in details in coming blogs). You can also spot Bhandardara backwaters from here.

This is a medium grade trek and one needs to be in average fitness condition to enjoy this beautiful trek.

PS – I’ve had a little set back on my Steemit account and I am not able to post pictures because I lost my reputation because someone falsely flagged my posts. With all of your support, hopefully I regain my reputation and I can get back to delivering good content!