तोरणा ते राजगड

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

the key exchange.. तोरणा ते राजगड

When we trek either of तोरणा / राजगड forts, more often than not, we meet people who are either about to start / end the range trek to / from the other fort.. so was the case during individual treks to तोरणा in October 2018 and to राजगड on Republic Day 2019.. and adding to the fuel was that end-to-end view of this connecting trail from both of its sides, that had then unknowingly made it as next-in-line..

Unaware of any local transport facilities (also did not enquire much) and to save on waiting time, we decided to execute this trek in 2 groups, that would independently start from each of the forts, exchange the car keys halfway and meet on the way back - to exchange cars..

वर्षाच्या पहिल्याच trek ला ओळख झालेल्या वैभवला विचारलं and he instantly agreed.. we individually checked with our usual companions, date was decided, groups were divided and it was time..

09 March 2019

We were to start from वेल्हे after breaking the night long fast (breakfast) 🍳 on the way.. there is now a road constructed for some of initial part, so we had headstart in terms of time as well as altitude.. the other group were to start from पाली and had skipped breakfast after being slightly off-schedule..

Ascending तोरणा in pleasant weather with beautiful view of गुंजवणे dam was an easy stuff.. but we knew, it was only the beginning and good part for today.. after resting a while, while enjoying views of झुंजार माची, we were on the way to other side, towards बुधला माची.. it was hardly 09:30 when we were finding our way to descend the माची and already bathing hot 😥.. after some hide-and-seek, time was to experience the thrill of rockpatch and ladder, had many times heard of before..

Half of this trail (the तोरणा side) hardly features any shadowy trees and the next break we had was under a full grown निवडुंग 🌵, cactus tree / plant (yes, believe it or not).. getting up and walking for another half-n-hour ⏳, Google Maps was now indicating to expect, soon meeting others, but only pathway we saw was of a descending nature.. doubtful if we were on the correct one, we started calling out 🗣️ names and after some attempts, they answered..

तोरणा, credits: Vaibhav

राजगड

Not been able to make enough contacts 📵 in these mountain ranges, we were very much thankful 🙏 to not have missed the crossover.. during the intermission, some group photos 🤳 were clicked, (most importantly) keys 🔑🗝️ were exchanged and after sharing good / bad news about shadow expectations, we resumed the later part..

We were now marching faster than before, before resting one last time on the tar road.. after this there was no exit till राजगड top and happily knowing, everybody was still up for it 🔋, it was time for steep and tiring ascend till the engineering perfection संजीवनी माची.. hardly any water with anybody, only hopes kept us moving were, राजगडला नक्कीच खायला आणि प्यायला भेटेल..

We shared the last bottle of mango juice at अळू दरवाजा.. those hopes (खायला आणि प्यायला भेटायचे) were now fading as we could barely spot any localites.. dead tired by climax, we crawled our way to पद्मावती माची only to learn that cooking is no more allowed on the fort.. and we were left with no choice but to stay thirsty and hungry a little longer.. the lake is said to have potable water, so we filtered it however we could manage..

A much needed rest to recover more from the long, sunny activity at पाली दरवाजा, from where we had no more to ascend, we relaxed 😌 for more than 30 minutes.. spotting some refreshment options while descend, we gulped down as if there was no tomorrow..

That marks the end of what was probably the most tiring trekking experiences.. an important learning towards having sufficient preparations, not expecting any eatables or drinkables on the fort.. oh yeah, cars 🚘 were exchanged at खेड-शिवापूर toll plaza 🚧..