Height : 2700 ft.
Wow factor : Low (or did I miss something?)
Difficulty : Not risky (- no exposed climb), but strenuous (especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle)
Endurance : 3+ hours of steep climb and 3- hours of steep descent. (Total time : 1 day ex-Mumbai - early morning to late evening)
Travel mode : Local train + auto (or bus)
Cost : ~ Rs.400 including travel and grub (Can be done in half of that)
Region : Karjat / Lonavla
Trek route : Kondhane village -> Kondhane caves -> Rajmachi -> back via same route
My trek date : 15-Sep-2013
Ramblings :
This trek turned out to be a myth buster. Here's what blogs said and what we found:
- 'This is a scenic trek' - Whoever thinks so should climb up Matheran via Garbett plateau in the rains and then hazard a second opinion. The way from Kondhane to Rajmachi is through a jungle and for the most part you can't see anything but the trail ahead and the trees around you. The occasional glimpse of a train chugging along the Mumbai-Pune rail line is fine, but not that great. (Or maybe we were too drained to appreciate it.)
- 'There are white markings to guide you throughout the path' - There's not one single marking on the entire trail! (Washed out by rains, maybe?) Nevertheless, the trail's pretty straightforward.
- 'There's a huge tamarind tree waiting to greet you on the way' - This one's just like the mango trees that show you the way to Garbett plateau. There's no tree that stands out well enough to qualify as a landmark. (Maybe it's on some other trail to Rajmachi?)