Over the last week we had planned a trek to Lohagad and Visapur. Then for the next week came the next trek. It was fort Peth, also known as ‘Kothaligad’, is situated in Shahapur Taluka, Latitude: 18.9923° N (or 18° 59′ 32.3″ N Longitude: 73.5127° E (or 73° 30′ 45.6″ E approximately 21Km North East of Karjat. This fort stands tall in the company of various other forts like Rajmachi, Dhak, Siddhagad and Bhimashankar, a witness to our illustrious history. Kothaligad is more commonly known as the fort of Peth because the village of Peth is situated at its base. This fort though small in stature has a vast historical background. Mughal chronicles provide us a lot of information on this fort. This fort was more of a ‘defense station’ than a strong fort. Peth was mainly used for ammunition storage. Peth gained importance during Sambhaji’s era.
The Travel
The trek unlimited team had booked a mini bus and we were around 35 participants for this trek. While travelling towards the fort early morning we were all enjoying the singing and dancing which is part and parcel of trekking. What I noticed was in every trek we had a intro round so as to be comfortable with each other.
The back bencher gang Trek lead giving some instructions on breakfast On the expressway Playing some game Scenery on the way Stopped at Karjat for Breakfast Making our way to Kothaligad
Start of the trek
We reached the base village of Ambivali and from there we had to walk up to Kothaligad. We alighted from the bus and carried only what was necessary and began our trek.
 |
| Me, Varsha and Harshada |
Post walking for first 30 mins you reach a hill climb with marked out route, some part of the route goes through dense jungle.
Reaching the plateau of Kothaligad
Once you make your way through the marked route and the jungle route you end up at the plateau of Kothaligad from which it is visible from about 2-3 kms
 |
| Kothaligad visible from the plateau |
 |
| Reaching the base village of Kothaligad |
 |
| Kids shy of the camera |
The climb from base
For about 20mins one has to circumvent through the base village to enter the route that leads to Kothaligad. The best marker here is a large boulder that one will find on the way which is a sign that the route beside it leads to Kothaligad
The boulder marker
 |
| Waterfall seen from a distance |
Since the fort falls in the Karjat area, it was very humid as well as raining at the same time, while the entire area was wet but the humidity was much higher. We reminded each of the participants to have plenty of water.
Patch and last climb
As we started the last patch climb which get vertical, we have to be careful of the minor rocks that can fall from above.
Helping each other on the patch
 |
| We started walking from the base of that mountain |
Kothaligad was one of the watch towers in the early era and the best thing to see here are the stairs which are spiral and each step you need to climb with all your fours. It was designed and built in such a way that the enemy climbing will be tiring by the time it reaches the top of the stairs.
 |
| Minor exposed patch on the way to the top |
 |
| Water tanks atop the fort |
 |
| Thats me |
 |
| The entire team that were part of trek |
 |
| The dog that accompanied us to the top |
 |
| Some ancient carvings on the fort wall |
 |
| Descending from the fort |
The descend from the fort was very tricky and slippery and we had to be very careful all the time.
Vertical Descent Rice paddy fields
At the end
We were back at base where we had alighted from the bus and were having fun post accomplishment of the trek
 |
| Dancing on Apadi Poda Poda Song |
With that we come to an end of another trek. Hope you enjoy the thrill reading it. Until next time. See you
Abhijit More
Pune
