Madhumakarandgad Trek

We recently visited the Madhumakarandgad.  It is in amidst of the Koyana valley.  The terrain is one of its kinds.  One needs to take a left turn, which leads to Par village that is just 2 km before the Pratapgad turn, on the Mahabaleshwar Poladpur road.  Then again, you need to take a left turn just before the Par village and start heading towards Chaturbet.  Just after the left turn you will find a very old stone bridge on the Koyna River.  It is said that this bridge was built by Chatrpati Shivaji Maharaj.  The bridge is really in a very good condition and doesn’t look like that old, but its architecture is certainly of different style, which is not found even in older bridges. 
After crossing this bridge, we reached near to Chaturbet, a village near Madhumakarandgad.  We rested for a while there.  We have some fun, and some of us even took a bath in the Koyna River.  We then proceed towards Ghonaspoor the base village of Madhumakarandgad.  After Chaturbet, the road was not very good and we have to park our bikes on the way.  Uttam didn’t give up and drove all the way till Ghonaspur on his rampyari.  He also meets a local guy Ankush who arranged for our night stay and dinner.  The next day morning we got up early and headed towards the fort after having coffee.   The way to the fort was easy and we reached to the top in 45 min. it took about 45 min to take a round around the fort.  We could not access some parts of the fort as the roads were blocked.  There is a shiv temple on the top.  We spend some time on top, clicked some snaps and start descending.  We reached the place where we stayed had breakfast and then bid farewell to Ankush.
We then reached to the place where we have parked our bikes.  Prasad, Aniket and Vaibhav start there return journey to Pune.  We four Uttam, Onkar, Amol and I start our journey to Mahimandangad.  The terrain was awesome and we can’t stop ourselves from clicking enormous snaps.  Unfortunately, my bike got a flat tyre and we could not complete the trek as it was planned.  The villagers helped us in getting the bike repaired and drop us on the opposite bank of the Koyna reservoir, Bamnoli.  We travlled through the backwater in the dark night and it was a real thrilling experience.  We reached Bamnoli around 8pm and then to Satara around 9pm.  We took dinner in Satara and reached Pune around 11pm.  We will be completing the rest of the trek very soon
The guy who arranged for our stay and dinner at Ghonaspur was a well mannered person and one can contact him at 9420466038/9323208742.  He is very helpful and can arrange almost everything for you.
The next attraction is costal forts of Gujarat and Thane on February 19, 20 and 21, 2011.