RAMSHEJ FORT- Shortest Trek Diaries

The Battle of Ramshej blew my mind, and Ramshej Fort in the Nashik region made its way onto my Trek Wishlist. In this travelogue, I’d want to share my Ramshej trek experiences, which motivated me to explore new locations and visit historically significant forts.

Want to know more about how the Marathas resisted Mughals for 6 years, here is the complete story of this historical battle of Ramshej.

Journey Begin in Confusion

Mr. Prathmesh Main, my new companion and trip-planning expert, has already completed a solo trek to Ramshej in the summer of 2019. We plan to do the same in October 2019.

Before planning our journey to Ramshej, we decided to do the Ratangad fort trek in the Bhandardara region because we had a large group of people joining us. And the Ratangad trek requires a group of people due to overnight transportation issues. There were around 8 persons prepared for the Ratangad plan before two days, but only 5 people were available before the journey began, making it costly for the remaining us to complete the Ratangad trek.
Unfortunately, we abandoned the Ratangad plan, and Prathamesh advised that we plan the Ramshej trek instead because it is close to Nashik and has no transportation issues.

We had planned to start the trek overnight and meet at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) Railway Station to take the express train to Nashik.

When I arrived at CST and met Prathmesh, I noticed that the other three people had also canceled due to personal reasons. Prathamesh and I had only done one trek together to Ganpati Gadad Cave before, so we barely knew each other at the time, and our common buddy Abhimanyu had also unexpectedly canceled his plans to join us.

I looked at Prathmesh with a ‘what to do then??’ expression on my face, but he said, ‘I don’t have any problem going ahead,’  We both decided to go ahead with our trek plan together.

But which one? Do we stick to Ramshej or plan something else? While contemplating our destinations, we even missed one express train to Nashik.

Our discussion was regarding the next day’s utilization.

‘As we are now only two, even the Ramshej trek would be affordable to us, but why waste an entire day on a short trek? And since we are two people with trekking experience, why should we go to other forts with so much to explore so that we can make the most of our time?’

Nashik Train Journey

In this confusion, we decided to board the Mahanagari Express Train and then continue our discussions about the destination. We chose to go by general coach since we wanted to spend as little money as possible on our expedition.
However, we discovered that to board the general compartment of the train from CST, you must first stand in cue, and we noticed a big queue for the Mahanagari Express. We had no choice but to stand among the masses in the queue.

Asking the person in front of us about this train rush revealed an interesting fact:

whenever someone, particularly from the Uttar Pradesh region, travels from Mumbai to their hometown, at least four or five people—possibly his relative or a colleague—arrive to wish them farewell. But it leads us to mistake them for passengers.

We feel relieved that we won’t have to travel the whole train journey standing. Fortunately, our seats were unexpectedly on the side with lower windows since police were on the platform helping to manage the crowd and direct people to the general coach.

The Mahanagari Express left CST at precisely midnight and will reach Nashik at 3:50 a.m. Now that the train was moving, we talked again.
Compared to other Maharashtra regions, Nashik is endowed with a huge number of historical and old forts, most of which we are both familiar with. Depending on what we were expecting, we visited several forts before arriving at Dhodop Fort. Sadly, our internet research indicates that there is no way to go to Dhodop by public transit, so we were compelled to continue with the Ramshej Fort Trek.

Finally, we planned that

“We will see the sunrise from the Ramshej fort if we get public transportation IN Nashik on time. We can also return early to our home to surprise our family and spend the remaining half of Sunday with them.”

Final Struggle

At the beginning of the train journey, one of the women asks us where we’re going so that she and her kids can claim our seats when we get to our station. Then we both fall asleep for the rest of the journey. 

Around 4 a.m., That lady woke up and reminded us that “Nashik station ala dada”.  After glancing at the Nashik railway signboard through the window, we hurried to the door where we discovered a couple and their 4-year-old sleeping in the middle of the area between us and the entrance. They didn’t get a seat for the entire ride but now they have made it more difficult for us to exit the train. We’ve been attempting to wake them all from their slumber since the train will be stopping at the station for a short while.

Just before train start and we though we might miss our station, they finally manage to get away from door and we finally excape from train and get down at our destination – Nashik Railway Station.

Welcome to Nashik

We had breakfast and freshened up in Nashik station first. Prathmesh is familiar with Nashik’s transportation and how to get from Nashik to Ramshej Fort because he has already visited the place.

How to Reach Ramshej Fort from Nashik

MUMBAI – NASHIK via Train – NASHIK CBS OLD via Local Bus- PETH NAKA via ST or Auto –ASHEWADI PHATA via ST or Hitchhike – ASHEWADI VILLAGE via Walk- RAMSHEJ FORT

We took the local bus that was waiting outside the station as scheduled to get to Nashik CBS OLD. Even in the early morning, the bus was packed. We paid 20rs for the bus ticket and arrived at the CBS old stand at around five in the morning.

After making inquiries at the CBS old ST stand, we learn that some ST were sent to Peth village due to election duties.

One thing I want to note here is that you’ll get satisfying answers from the inquiry counter of ST stands especially Nashik CBS only if you are lucky enough. Because most people sitting at the inquiry counter are very rude and moody as per my multiple experiences.       

Next, since there is no ST bus available. we decided to walk the 3km to Peth Naka in quest of any hitchhikers. It was a very serene part of the journey to be walking through the deserted city streets in dark.

‘I forgot how beautiful the silence and empty street are.’    

We walked in deserted streets for twenty minutes before catching an autorickshaw. We will never forget the terrifying experience we had throughout this ride. The rickshaw driver was rashly riding at such a high speed that, at one point, the rickshaw ended up being hit by a strange object on the road in the dark. Both of us and the rickshaw flew half into the air, giving us a mini heart attack for a second. Fortunately, we made it to Peth Naka safely in the end.

Unforgettable Hitchhike

Thankfully, after a short wait at Peth Naka, we hitched straight to the Ramshej Entrance.

For the two of us, this ride was the highlight of the trip and a memorable experience. We were sitting in the back of an open Bolero pickup facing the other way. It was still dark outside, and the quiet atmosphere and cold breeze were energizing our bodies. Then I recalled one of my all-time favorite tunes for late-night driving:

‘So gaya yeh jahan…, So gaya aasman…!!!’

Finally, after the half-hour of the peaceful ride at around 6 pm, we reached the entrance of Ramshej Fort.  

Ramshej in the Dark

From the entrance, we observed the outline of Ramshej’s border in the dark, while over in the other direction, the sun was rising above the city of Nashik in its reddish-yellow hue.

Suddenly we realized that we were supposed to leave the fort at daybreak, so we decided not to spend any more time and set off from the entrance along the muddy path toward Ramshej.

As we began our ascent in the dark, the atmosphere surrounding us grew hazy, and certain areas turned slick from the earlier downpour.

Prathmesh’s previous solo experiences with Ramshej allowed us to navigate the trail to the top of the fort in the dark and arrive at Ram Mandir in the middle of the fort in just forty minutes.

Ramshej Fort Exploration

We first take a halt at Bhagwati Devi Mandir where we had little snacks.

When we resumed our fort exploration again, we went to the highest point of the fort and saw the Rajwada ruins there. Below which, there were several connected water tanks that were carved out of rock.

The hazy conditions prevent us from seeing the neighboring vistas of Bhorgad fort and Nashik city.

Large water tanks and a small pond could be seen as we descended towards Mandir, but the nicest portion of the fort is the Mahadarwaja area, which is still intact.

There is no way to get beyond Maharadarja, yet its architecture, with its rock-cut steps and guarded entry wall, impressed me.

In under two hours, we explored the entire fortification, spending more time in the quiet areas of Flagpoint and Gupt Darwaza.

We spoke with Pujari at Ram Mandir, and in that chilly environment, he offered us hot tea.

There was literally the marvel of Ramshej before the Mandir.

Shivling is situated deep within the water due to a rock hole on the upper part of the cave, which allows water from the Mahadarwaja region to continuously fall into Shivling.

At the halfway point, the atmosphere deteriorates much further. The 2019 unseasonal monsoon, coupled with a chilly breeze had already spoiled our plans for sunrise.

It continued to rain till the end of the climb and made it impossible for us to get a good picture of Ramshej Fort even from the base.

However, as we descend, a small portion of the sky clears, allowing us to see only a single scene in the hazy atmosphere.

This scene features a hill on the right side of the image, which was used by Mughal commander Shahabuddin Firoz-e-Jung to construct a wooden bastion on top of in order to launch cannon attacks on Ramshej Fort during the Maratha army battle.

Return Journey

We began our descent of the Ramshej at around nine in the morning, and an hour later, we arrived at the fort’s entrance unhauled. At around ten in the morning, we started our return trip from the Ramshej entrance toward the railway station.

Since there was no ST pause at the Ramshej entrance, we left the ST buses. After ten minutes of walking, we reach Ashewadi Phata by taking the main highways. When we went to a Kathiawadi Hotel by the side of the road, we were given a share of bubo. It cost us roughly 30rs per and dropped us off near Peth Naka.

After that, we took an autorickshaw that would drop us off in Panchwati and paid 10 rupees per ride. Lastly, we took a local bus from Panchawati to the Nashik Railway station, where we paid 15 rupees per ride. Even though we used a variety of transportation options, we arrived at the Nashik railway station early—roughly 11.30 am.
Even though we were both exhausted, we began exploring the Nashik station in search of any non-vegetarian hotels. We had completed a full trek on 2-3 snacks and only chicken dishes could satisfy our hunger.

Unfortunately, we have to have vegetarian dosa near Nashik station since there was no non-vegetarian hotel open at that time.

Height of Intolerance

At Nashik railway station, we chose to take the Gorakhpur express train, which was running 45 minutes late. When it arrived at the station, I jumped into the train’s general coach because I usually catch the Virar local train in Mumbai whil running. I was followed by Prathmesh and other individuals, who boarded the same coach. However, I was unaware that the train was coming from the Uttar Pradesh (UP) region and I boarded it without thinking, and we had already dared to ride in its general coach with people of UP.

The coach was completely crowded, and because of the lengthy travel from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai, the people onboard were filthy from not taking a shower for a few days. Some thin folks built their seats by tying their bedsheets between two upper seats and laying on them because there were no seats available. Six people packed onto four inhumane seats. We could not stand the unpleasant hygiene of that coach because of them.

Even though the coach was completely crowded and we couldn’t even spread our legs apart to stand upright; the vendors and beggers managed to enter the coach and navigate their way through the crowd. I was extremely unhappy with the coach’s overall vibe after such a lovely start to the day during trek.

I considered getting off the train, but there was no way I could have moved at all. After the short stop at Nashik Station, the train began, and it dawned on me that this six-hour train journey would undoubtedly put my capacity of intolerance to the test.

After a mere five minutes of travel, I lost my cool and got into a fight with the Bihari guy seated next to me, who had been shouting to stop the vendor as I was standing in a corner of the seats.

Prathmensh, as sat at his regular practice, was sitting by the door. The other door was unoccupied, but I was afraid of falling from the train,  to sit at the coach’s doors, which initially frightened me but also provided me with some relief from the people inside.

Every time the train stops, some of the people get off from train to go to the lavatory on rail tracks or eat gutkha. While I was seated by the door, their dirty feet were stepping all over my hand and the back. As a result, I was finding it incredibly tough to sit at the door for six hours straight.

Besides this terrible train experience, I was able to see some lovely views of farms or flower fields in unidentified villages and the surrounding mountains while I was seated at the door. Surprisingly, I was also able to take a picture of the hardest trio of forts in the Sahyadri mountain range, “Alang Madan Kulang,” with the highest peak in Maharashtra, Kalsubai, on the left. 
That was the only lovely part of the return train ride.

The train was delayed by thirty minutes to arrive at Kalyan station. During the journey, I endured unintentional torture by other passengers. It forced me to constantly glance at my watch and eagerly await the arrival of Kalyan station to finally escape the unbearable atmosphere.

However, I don’t hold those people blaming for their actions. I recognize how different their way of life is from ours. As an ideal Indian citizen, however, I believe that everyone should be aware of their responsibilities in public spaces and, above all, that everyone should always keep the environment clean. This is a lesson that we Indians need to learn.

Nevertheless, I saw the bright side of these scenarios since they taught me to be patient in challenging circumstances and helped me understand how people from other states live.

Finally, after an exhausting journey of 6.30 hours, we arrived at Kalyan station. Normally, we waste more time getting to the fort’s base before beginning our ascent at 10 AM on long-distance treks, but this time, we finished the trek considerably earlier and went back home to enjoy the remaining day with our families as planned.

Final Thought about Ramshej Trek

“Despite Spiritual and historically importance, even Ramshej fort trek was one of the shortest long-distance trek but that gives me some unique and never-imagine experience for a lifetime.

Take time from your busy life and visit such historic places that still standing tall over the years..!!”

Keep in mind that if you go on a solo trek, please try to give location details to one of your close friends who shares your interests, and keep and share contact information for nearby hospitals, local police, or a trekking rescue team with that person in the event of a serious accident or emergency.

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RAMSHEJ – The Undefeatable One

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