Points To Remember :
Base Village : Malang Gad
Grade : Medium / Difficult in Monsoon
Duration : 1.5 hrs one side
Exploration : 1 hr
Best Time to visit : Winter & Summer
Height : 975 m
For the Base :
You can reach Malang Gad village with the help of ST bus from Kalyan which is having frequency of 30 mins. It cost Rs. 20 for this bus from Kalyan till Malang Gad and we need to get down at last stop of the bus. Distance is around 15km and it takes around 30 mins to reach the village.
From the Base:
Once you reach at the Malang Gad village, you can start with the steps which are there till the Haji Malang Durgah. Till this durgah you can get food and water on the way as there are many stalls present due to pilgrim activity on it.
Before reaching durgah we get to see temples in between which are of different god and goddess. It will take around 30 to 45 mins to reach till durgah if you don't take break in between the route.
Once we reach to the durgah you can take right turn before the entrance of it and take a trail towards upside. It will lead you to the rock cut steps, but before starting climb for those steps you can visit to the water tank towards right. This water is drinkable.
Then you can start climbing steps and reach on the plateau. As these steps are in broken state one need to take care while climbing it. 10 mins are sufficient for reaching here and more 10 mins to cross the steps.
As soon as we climb the steps we get to see magnificient view of the mountain which has another rock cut steps and those steps allow us to reach on the top of the fort. Also from same point we able to see Devni pinnacle.
You can visit left side of the machi and see Tahuli peak and complete route to ascend it. Towards right we can see Karnala fort. Also if weather is clear then Gorakhgad, Rajmachi, Matheran, Peb fort, Irshalgad and Prabalgad are visible from top. This plateau consist of 5 water tanks and one secret route. From here route to the top is quite difficult. We need to climb steps which are not in good state. Once you climb these steps, you need to cross one patch with the help of Pipe by stepping onto it.
For safety purpose you should have technical setup for crossing this pipe. As we were not having any such material with us we skipped the top which as 7 more water tanks and some fortification remnant on it. It will take around 15 to 20 mins to reach on the top from this point.
You can reach at the base from same route and have food on the way.