Irshalgad Trek - One Day Trek

" Irshalgad - One Day Trek "
Simple yet most enduring 

Image from base village Irshalwadi

 Irshalgad located in the Karjat region, lies between Karjat as well as Panvel and is accessible from both places. Transport facility is available on regular frequency from both the location, it is also accessible from NH48.

Difficulty level        :      Easy to Moderate

Endurance level     :      Moderate 

Height of the  fort   :      3300 ft (around 1127 mtr)

Base Village            :      Irshalwadi. ( Karjat - Maharashtra, India)

Best time to visit    :      Monsoon (good time -  best environment some times risky)

                                        Winter     (best time - most preferred time to visit)

                                        Summer  (average - more dehydration will  take place)

Entry Fees              :       NO fees are applicable.

Irshalgad has always been associated as a Fort but in actual its a pinnacle & not a Fort but you would be fascinated as the word Irshal itself means "pinnacle" & gad means "fort" as this would be one of the reasons you would find very less presence in our history.

Irshalgad has been considered to be under the Great Maratha Ruler - Shivaji Maharaj during the his regime as he had captured the complete region of Kalyan to Bhiwandi up to Rairi(Raigad) in May 1666. Irshalgad fort is also called the sister fort to Prabalgad.

The area of Irshalgad is not large but there are several natural water tanks you will come across on your visit. The water in these are like fresh water reservoir.

One of thee water reservoirs on the route to Irshalgad

How to reach Irshalgad :-

Railway Station : Nearest station are both Karjat as well as Panvel.

En-route Mumbai : If you are coming from Mumbai(western) then Panvel would be more convenient & if from Mumbai(central) & Pune then Karjat would be more convenient.

En-route Pune : If you are coming from Pune then Karjat would be more easily accessible to you.

Once reaching Panvel/Karjat railway station you need to head towards ST Deport, where there are regular bus service, you need to get down at the "Chouk Phata" stop on the Highway.

From Chouk, you have to go walking to base village Irshalwadi.(its around 60-90 min walk down)

Note : There is also Chouk Railway station but the frequency of the train are very limited.(only passenger trains running between Mumbai Pune halt there)

Road ways : Nearest known location Chouk Phata.

You need to catch the NH48 highway its easily accessible from Pune as well as Mumbai, you have to take right turn from the Chouk Phata to reach the Irshalwadi. Being an well known Mumbai Pune highway road conditions are too good & if you love driving then this journey is for you.

Trek Experience :

This trek was done in the month of March 2019, it was breezy out there with hot rays of sun falling on us. We a group of three friends started this journey in early morning with one of our friends catching the local train at around 5:19 am from Borivali Station. We took the route via Panvel as we all were staying in the western region. We reached Panvel railway station at around 7:30 am, from there we walked to the ST Depot located in the Panvel East (walking distance of around 5-10 min).

We had our breakfast over there & took the bus to Karjat at around 8.15 am( bus to Karjat are scheduled every 30 min)

Time Table at Panvel ST Depot

We reached to Chouk Phata at around 8:55 am( it took around 40 min) from there we headed towards the Irshalwadi Village, over there we had to cross the Chouk Railway station with the help of the FOB as shown in below image.

Chouk railway station

From there we walked past the local village to reach the Irshalgad, while passing you will encounter the well known "Morbe Dam". The beauty of the dam is, its always filled with water all month a year.

                                  

You will encounter this at the entrance of Irshalgad, the roads till here are well maintained & also the people over here are very helpful in guiding the way to Irshalgad. On crossing this passage you will come across a zigzag road passing through a mountain in vertical direction.

While passing through you will see this beautiful Morbe dam on the right side of the way

                                            

Once you cross the zigzag path you will get the below view of the Irshalgad. In the below photos you can see the extreme left side mountain is Irshalgad. While passing through this passage we were having Irshalgad on left side & on right side was the Morbe Dam.

                                              

After crossing this part we had to walk more 40 min to reach the base village i.e Irshalwadi.
Here you would see a small village of around 30-40 houses & a school with lots of greenery across this place even in summer.
                                             

After crossing this part we had to walk more 30 min, here you will come across the first water reservoir having fresh & cold water. The view from here is just memorizing.

          

We had reached over here by 12:30 pm in afternoon, after this we had to go through the wooden stairs as shown in the image above. It was a bit difficult but worth going, also the path ahead was of complete vertical climbing with the help of pockets in the rocks safely we reached the top at around 12:45 pm, the breeze blowing was just making us feel fantastic, the view from there was just the real treasure for all of us. 

View of Morbe Dam from top

above. It a bit difficult but worth going, also the path ahead was of complete vertical climbing with the There is also a water reservoir on top & a cave has been made for staying up also.

Irony is you would get to see both the sunset & sunrise from Irshalgad.

                                                                      

As shown in the above image, on left side there is a big water reservoir from where you could see the sunset & on the right side there is cave from where you could see the sunrise.

                                                            

                                                                            Cave on the top

             

We started our descending journey at around 1:30 pm from the top & slowly and gradually we reached to the place where we had started our day. In between we also had lunch with few of the people who had come to trek & had sharing of our food as well as experience.

We reached Chouk Phata at around 3:45 pm & from there we took sharing cab to panvel railway station. Then we reached to panvel at around 4:30 pm, we had our evening breakfast & catched the train to Andheri at around 5:00 pm.

Again one more trek was completed & had left us with lots of memory which will be remembered for life time.

We reached Andheri at around 6:30 pm & from there everyone departed to the respective resident.

Note : Total Expense incurred for this trek was around Rs 200 per person( food you have to carry as there are very few stall over there serving food.

*For local food you can contact : Mr RAVINDRA PARDHI - 7798031319/7517051745*

References :-

If you are planning for trek at this beautiful place then following links may help you :

1) https://www.thrillophilia.com/tours/irshalgad-trek-panvel

2) https://adventures365.in/one-day-trek-to-irshalgad.html

3) http://www.traveltrikon.com/trip/irshalgad-night-trek