Khute Daar ghat and Trigundhara ghat

                                                                       Jai Shri Ram

Trigundhara..The trinity of the Western ghats,

Strewn with boulders and steep hidden paths,

Colours & forest aromas all around, 

Dense green and the dark brown,

The mountain tops beckon like a shining crown,

This is where the three streams meet,

And after an arduous climb a wary climber they greet..

Khute Daar and Trigundhara ghat are amongst the most challenging, steep and endurance testing ghat route treks in the Sahyadris. They are unique in their own way. 

While Khute Daar is a 3300 feet sheer wall with relentless rock patches and hair raising traverses, Trigundhara is one of the deepest gorges in the Sahyadri's and descends steeply into the konkan plains with its sheer walls rising near 3600 feet from msl .

They are the absolute epitome of ghat route treks unique in their own way and represent the diversity and utility of the ghat routes perfectly. These routes have been used since ancient times for trade, war, family ties, escaping from the enemy or catching them by surprise and various such purposes.

So let's begin from the beginning:-)

Me and Vijay had been dreaming and day dreaming about ascending the sheer wall of Khute Daar and descending via the gorgeous and towering Trigundhara ghat or Doni Daar for some time now. We had planned and studied both the routes several times. Thus when i called him to plan this trek on a random Wednesday morning in Feb 2022 he jumped on the plan. Two teams, one from Pune and other from Nashik was quickly assembled and we decided to proceed towards the base village on 11th Feb 2022, i.e.Friday night.

We reached Rampur in the wee hours at around 1 am. Rampur is a small and clean idyllic village in Konkan situated near Murbad right at the foothills of the Sahyadri main range. The village retains its old world charm and is one of the nicest in the Sahyadri's.

The Nashik team led by Nana had already settled down in the Maruti Temple in the village. Though we were in  Konkan, it was quite cold and prompted me and Sandeep to sleep inside the Temple in order to protect ourselves adequately. We quickly dozed off as the next day was going to be one of the most exciting days and gravity defying of our trekking journey so far.

We woke up at 6 am sharp and walked through the village towards the house of our guide for this trek , Tanaji Shelkande, urf Tanaji Mama. Tanaji Mama is a veteran on this route and has done the Khute Daar route several hundred times in his life time. Thus we were keen that he accompany us on this route.

Tanaji Mama and his wife served us with some freshly made Kande Pohe and tea for break fast. At around 8 am we started for Khute Daar ascend. 

Ghat route Name: Khute Daar

Base village in Konkan: Rampur

Village on top: Hatwij chi Durg Wadi

Elevation: 1100 meters

Water en route: Not available. One needs to carry minimum 3 litres.

Grade: Medium to Difficult.

Endurance: High.

Time taken to ascend : 5 hours.

 

The ghat route starts just outside the village. After crossing some fields and a small stone dam like structure constructed by the villagers we started getting nearer to the main mountain wall. We could see Doni Daar or Trigundhara Ghat and the accompanying mountains to our right and Jivdhan Fort, Naneghat, Ganpati Gadad and Dhakoba mountain to our left.

The climb starts 15 minutes after Rampur village from the left along a steep ridge which connects one to the main mountain. After about an hour and half Tanaji mama asked us all to wait as we had reached the base of the first rock patch. Here a small wooden log or "Khutta" as it is called in Marathi was fixed to the rock to help the climber to better negotiate the rock patch. The Ghat route derived its name from this wooden log.We were super excited to see the first patch as this was a pre cursor of things to come. I had told myself that i will not time this hike and just enjoy every moment of it.We all carefully negotiated this patch and after about half an hour reached the second rock patch. Tushar took the lead and we all followed him. The entire route has been basically made in the ancient times by chiselling the rock and making small holds and steps for a climber to negotiate the rock patches. 

The route is interspersed with exposed traverses where one has to keep ones weight on the left towards the mountain wall and keep moving carefully.

The team all stuck together and climbed in tandem supporting each other on challenging patches. 

A lone flower was a welcome sight amongst the relentless rock patches.

The patches at Khute Daar are near vertical at quite a few places with steep and absolute exposure and those with acrophobia can find this route difficult to climb. Also they come one after the other. The key thing is to keep focussing on the next step, keep your eyes on the rock and your back to the valley and exposure behind :-)

Our group was really enjoying the climb and led by the experienced and ever positive Nana we all kept soaking in the atmosphere. The sheer cliffs, the experience of climbing one of the most exciting and skilfully hand crafted routes in the Sahyadri's was exhilarating.

A few lines on Sanjay Amrutkar, aka Nana who is our inspiration:

Well Nana is an example for all trekkers to follow. He is a natural leader, one who is extremely well prepared for any trek, has all required equipments with him, always maintains a sedate pace and has boundless energy and stamina. He is always cheerful and especially during challenging times  the team feeds of his courageous and positive attitude. He has mentored and guided 100's of young trekker who have been fortunate enough to get trained under his tutelage. In addition to the above he is an superbly adept photographer. He has been trekking every Sunday for past more than a decade now and in terms of sheer consistency and variety of routes treaded he is second to none in the Sahyadri's. During this trek as we spent about 5 hours climbing this route carefully together i noticed several of the above qualities in him.

After about 3.5 hours and negotiating an exposed traverse and yet another rock patch we finally could sight the forested ridge which was connecting us to the final 200 meter climb of Khute Daar.

Here a long and thrilling 150 meter rock patch awaited us. One has to keep complete concentration on this patch as one mistake can cost you with your life here. Tanaji Mama was very careful and a bit uncharacteristically tentative while negotiating this patch. We found this a bit surprising. It was only on reaching the top that he revealed that a fellow villager had lost his footing on this patch and dragged him down along with him a 100 feet on this patch a few months back. Both the villager and Mama had suffered major injuries after the fall. The villager had fractured both his hands and legs. Mama was fortunate to escape with a chin injury and some bruises.

After this patch the route takes you to the right of the mountain and after negotiating a scree patch, one finally emerges on the final traverse of Khute Daar. I had seen this final traverse on You-tube and eversince had always dreamt of climbing and reaching it from the plains below.This traverse is about 200 meters long and on absolutely the edge with the mountain to your right and an 3000 feet fall on your left. We enjoyed this thrilling walk on the edge and finally reached the top of Khute Daar at around 1 pm.

We had done quite well and our plan of climbing early before the rock heats up due to the rising sun had worked. We all were elated and greeted each other joyfully on completing the first part of our target.

After resting for about 10 minutes, we started towards the Durga Devi Temple from Khute Daar top.

We could see the fascinating Dhakoba peak to our north. 

In about 15 minutes we reached the sacred groove of Durga Devi temple. Tanaji Mama thanked the goddess for our safe passage on Khute Daar. 

We all settled down in the temple surroundings and had sumptuous lunch amidst the green canopy of trees in the groove. Myself and Tushar being Punekars did not need an invitation to doze off and enjoy our mandatory afternoon siesta. 

Tanaji Mama has relatives at Durgawadi village which is about 30 minutes from the Durg Mauli Temple and he had arranged for our stay and dinner at their house.  We reached the village at around 3.30 pm. We all enjoyed a game of cricket in the evening with the village kids. After consuming a simple home cooked dinner we all retired for the night.

We woke up early morning to the awe inspiring sight of Dhakoba mountain and thanks to Nana's guidance could get some unique frames of the sunrise.

We started for Trigundhara Ghat at 8.15 am from Durga wadi. One has to keep the Durga Mauli Temple and the sacred groove to ones right and head south towards the gorge. En route we passed an old Well with clear drinking water.

We were walking towards the South keeping the crest line to the right. We soon crossed a forested patch and started walking on a katcha road. After about one and half hour at 10 am Tanaji Mama suddenly pointed to the right. And lo and behold we could see the gigantic Poshishi Naal or gorge to our right. Poshishi had not be climbed or descended by anyone for the past 50 years at least and we could see why. The gorge had several vertical rock patches and was very narrow at the top. ( Tushar Kothawade, Vijay Gurjar under the leadership of Prasad and Ashish Mhatre are the first one's to successfully climb the Poshishi gorge on 26th March 2022)

We soon approached the fascinating and mighty Trigundhara Naal or Gorge. One look from the crest line and a surge of excitement ran through us. The entrance and top portion of the gorge was completely covered by trees and seemed quite steep.

We were anticipating the route to descend through boulders and it was surely going to take a toll on our knees. The entrance to the Naal was through thick forest and Karvi thickets all along the route. But once we entered the naal, Tanaji Mama expertly took a prominent trail to the right of the main gorge. This trail route ensured that we avoided the boulders for most part of our descent.

The trail while it helped us avoid the boulders was quite steep and descended rapidly. It was lined on both sides by thick Karvi stems and this helped us descend without faltering as the Karvi provided vital holds while negotiating the scree and loose soil.

After about the 2 hours we reached a small water hole. We quenched our thirst there and also ate some oranges and feasted on the customary Bhel bhatta which the Nashik team always brings on treks.

After about 3 hours we reached the lower plateau. The sight of the 3 "Dharas's" or "Gorges" descending down from the crest line had us transfixed. The enormity of the descent struck us from here. We were glad that we had descended and not ascended Doni Daar as it will be quite a task to ascend it.

We reached Waghachi wadi, a small hamlet at the base of Trigundhara ghat and rested under a huge tree with some much needed shade from the afternoon Sun. We also once again replenished the fluids in our body by drinking 1 litre of water each here.

We finally reached Rampur at 2.45 pm. It had taken us exactly 4 hours to reach Rampur from Trigundhara top.

Enroute we once again marvelled at the impregnable Khute Daar. It was fun trying to figure out how we actually ascended this sheer wall and what route we followed to get to the top.

It was a long exhausting hike and Tanaji Mama's wife promptly offered us some water to freshen up. We also had lunch at their place. Both of them are very kind hearted and it was time for a photograph with the couple and to say good bye to them and Rampur for now.

We were quite elated at the two ghat routes we had experienced in the past 2 days and Sandy and Vijay played O Ante from Pushpa to celebrate our hike as soon as we started our return journey in Tushar's Innova.

The impregnability of Khute Daar and the breath taking final traverse, the beautiful Durg wadi hamlet, the bottom less Poshishi and the awe inspiring Trigundhara, one of the deepest gorge we had encountered had a magical effect on me which lasts to this day. 

Trek Team: Sanjay Amrutkar, Tushar Kothawade, Vijay Gurjar, Sandeep Waduskar, Prajakta, Aditya, Paramjit Sayan and Amit Marathe

Pic credit: Amit Marathe and Sayali Khare.

Some important points to be noted:

1). Please ensure that you exercise regularly before you take up this or any other arduous trek.
2). Please do not litter and and carry all your waste back with you after the trek.
3). Stay close with the group and do not wander alone in the forest.
4). At all times carry at least 3 litres of water per day. Very important to stay hydrated.
5). Respect the guides you hire and make them a part of your trekking team, share your food with them and do not give your sacks to them to carry.
6). Try and gather information about the geography and historical importance of the places you visit.
7). Please respect the time given to your fellow trek mates and always be on time 

P. S : Also contribute to the villagers in whichever form, cash or kind so that you become a part of their ecosystem. A simple act of giving basic medicine/first aid kits to the village police patil or Sarpanch can go a long way in establishing a bond with these simple and kind hearted folks of our mother land.

Take care and God bless.