TORNA was the first fort conquered by Shivaji Maharaj and he put the garland (Called Toran in Marathi) of his first victory on this fort and therefore the name –TORNA. TORNA is also called prachandgadh because of it vastness. I had heard a lot about Tornal, but I never imagined what I was to experience, unless I saw it.
We were a group of 13 people (3 kids and 10 adults). We left Pune at 7.15am on 10th July in 2 cars and it took us 1.5 hrs to reach the base of Torna. We reached Velhe village which is at around 50km from Pune at around 9am. As we reached near the village, the Sahyadri mountains covered with a blanket of green trees gave a beautiful view. One the major reasons you should go for treks in the monsoons is to have a glance of beautiful landscape.
The place was not new to the group since this was the 3rd year they were coming here, so Ranjit was always in front guiding the group and all we enthusiasts followed him.
Torna is about 4500 ft height, difficulty level is medium, but there are two rock patches on the way up, a little slippery, not bad during ascending, but the descend would really prove tougher on them, but if you are adventurous, you would enjoy it. I was lucky, I didn’t have to carry any sack, courtesy to Gaurav, who carried it. All these photographs are also his piece of creativity….. :)
When you are at the bottom of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain tip/peak, it’s covered with fog and all you feel like is just reach the top and have a closer look at it. The initial part of the trek was walking through the mountain; just see the wonderful waterfalls flowing from a couple of places. As we reached mid the journey, we reached 2 places, which was a flat area which was very windy and it could almost fly you off. I called this as wind therapy area, if you simply stand at one place, opposite the wind, you would get a good body massage by the wind…:-). There was another such place where we experienced windy rains; the rain drops hit your face as if someone targeted you with sharp spears. It was horrifying, but was fun. What we observed was that as you enter the foggy area, it is like you are entering the rainy region and its rains continuously there, something that we really enjoyed.
Then came two very scary steeps (rocky patch as they say), almost breathtaking, but it was safer due to the railing on 1 side. But once you cross this, there comes the most relieving and fun part, the Awesome “Waterfalls”. I don’t know from which height did the water flew, but the water was damn pure and very cold. The place was heaven and if you stand below the falls, you get a good water therapy (that is what I call it as). All your body pain would vanish off and you feel relaxed.
We just didn’t feel like leaving the place, it was awesome and as you stand by the mountain side, you cannot see the base or adjoining mountains, it was that foggy, you actually could not see what was a few fts away. We finally left the waterfalls and started ascending again. In another half an hr, we reached the top. It was 12.30pm; we had our lunch in a temple and tea at some ‘tapri’ just to get some warmth and energy to our bodies.
After having lunch, I was feeling very cold, I was literally shivering and was not feeling well……I got a little scared, didn’t knew if I would reach the base….:P From there we went to Zunjar Machi point, that point was entirely covered by fog, the view was as if there was a blanket of white sky behind us, amazing moment….
2.30pm: Now, was the time to start descending and it was raining heavily. It’s always risky climbing down and that too in the rains….and I made sure I don’t skid, but I ended up skidding twice in the muddy area….:). I should say, there is no fun without skidding, yes only if you don’t hurt yourself badly….:D
As we climbed down, the number of waterfalls had doubled and we could see lot many falls, thanks to the rains, it was a wonderful view. The whole experience was enthralling. When I see such places, I feel bad for those who crib about trekking and wanna tell them what really they are missing. Well, I know I am fortunate of them all.
We reached the base at 4.30pm, played for a while in the smaller falls and then got ready for our journey back to Pune…:( Yes, I was very tired and just felt sleepy and wanted to get back home, but I did feel bad leaving the place and the only thing I said myself was, “Torna is and will always be in my memories. I will not be able to express my experience here, but it shall be always with me until I die…. :-)”
