Tikona - The Pyramid

This post has been on my mind for almost 2 years now. Laziness has managed to keep me away from the comp long enough but now, I have decided to start writing again.
Aug 14 2006, Me and my friend Abhishek, were quite frustrated with our work and were desperate for a break. Trekking was an obvious solution in my mind. We called upon our friend Siddesh - the Pune local lad to suggest something. Soon enough we were ready for a trek on the Independence day holiday next day. Our plan was to reach Kamshet by local train from Pune. Then take jeep to kale colony were find next transport which involved ferry ride across pawna dam. The snap here shows where we originally planned to go. Tungi fort - the lump seen in with clouds all around its peak.
When we actually got to Kale Colony we learnt that due to flooding the path to Tungi was blocked. This was extremely disappointing news. However we were quite desperate for a trek and Siddesh said that Tikona fort was also close by.
So we decided to go the Mogambo ka bhatija Gogo style (go watch movie Andaz Apna Apna to understand what I mean here ). That is "aaye hain... kuch kuch na kuch trek ke jayenge". So we decided to go Tikona instead. Then of course we managed to take the snap of Tungi from the ST bus on the way to the Tikona peth village (base village for climb to Tikona). I didn't know what exactly I had captured in my camera but the villagers at Tikona peth pointed out that the lump was indeed Tungi fort. This is the first time I thought that it was good that we didn't get transport to that place. A look at that lump was enough to scare all of us. Of course that rock has still remained in my mind as one of the places I want to trek in the rainy season (even if it is risky). This fort is literally a Triangle and from a distance it looks like one of the early pyramids. That's probably why it got its name. Afterall "Tikona" in marathi means Tri-angle. It does have quite a few options for site seeing as described by this wiki. However our on the fly plans meant that we did not know much about those. Nevertheless we were getting a trek so we didn't care much.
	Meet Mr. guide,the dog who strangely indeed joined us from the base village of Tikona Peth. Thanks him never wavered off the actual path. Soon enough we were looking at the beautiful scenery around. Beautiful hills amidst clouds and the occasional drizzle. There was greenery all around. It was easy to forget that we were also treading on some very narrow paths nearby deep ridges and a slightest mistake could be fateful.
I think in the process I did slip at one place but thankfully nothing more than a few scratches. A hour or so and we had pretty much curved around a couple of hills and still no signs of the fort walls. The fort did not look all that high, when we started off from the base village. However, all the while as we climbed up, it suddenly seemed to disappear amongst the mountains and the jungle around us. Just as we were starting to loose hope and feeling a little weary, we came across a small cave and a water cistern. There was a Hanuman temple there. The Hanuman seemed to point upwards to the path leading to the top. This site was inspirational enough to not turn back and of course an indication that the fort was nearby.
Soon enough we reached the riskiest path of our climb. A narrow 1.5 - 2 feet wide flight of stairs carved out of rock. That's not risky one would think.. But hang on . these are not the perfect finish cement steps that we urbane people are used to. these were very old steps and a lot of them had broken rock. They were quite high as well (min 1.5 ft) and had mosses growing on them. The scariest part however was one that on one side of the steps was the vertical fort wall and on other side was a deep valley. In essence a slip here would not just be fateful but fatal too. We stayed close together and moved forward slowly.
About 15 - 20 minutes more and there we were at top of Tikona ... about 3600 feet on top of sea level. There was a dilapidated temple atop. The scenery around the fort was breath taking. Among the other forts visible were Tung, Lohagad and Visapur. We didn't really venture too much around the fort as it started raining and by now we were a little scared about getting back one piece (especially because of the stairs that we had left behind us). Not to mention that we were out of potable water. We rested for some time appreciated the scenery and the food that we had brought along and then gathered the courage to head back via the same path.
The return journey was quite scary cause this time those slippery stairs would be at the beginning of the descent. Besides instead of looking up at the fort wall we were always looking downwards into the valley. The descent was quite slow. It was sort of like being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea (or should I say deep green valley). The picture here shows me smiling. It does hide the fact that we all got back without a more than a scratch and thanks to the dog in the background who stuck with us all the while. After that the rest of the terrain seemed a cake walk and soon enough we were back at Tikona peth with our muddy shoes, dirty jeans, tired legs but refreshed minds waiting for the next transport to Kamshet.
All in all a memorable one day trek. I came back a wiser man (realized why everyone warns you against trekking in the rainy season) who wanted to become a fool again by trekking the Tung in the rains. The opportunity to exhibit my foolishness has not come yet but I hope it does so ...