Matheran Trek via Pokharwadi Alexander Point
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 3.97 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,057 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 151 ft
- Max elevation
- 2,187 ft
- TrailRank
-
50
4.7
- Min elevation
- 2,187 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 1381
- Uploaded
- March 28, 2017
- Recorded
- March 2017
near Mātherān, Mahārāshtra (India)
Viewed 3506 times, downloaded 45 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Ten Routes to Matheran
Going cyclical around Matheran (as seen from the sky) the ten routes starting from Dasturi are:
1. Neral - Dasturi by road intermittently with hill trails arriving Dasturi (some also call this pipeline route as there is a water pipeline)
2. Bhivpuri - Bhutavali village - Garbet Plateau. There are three variants - the now popular variant is right on the ridge line down from tip of Garbet Point to Garbet Plateau. The other route earlier used more often goes up from Garbetwadi, a small hamlet to the West of the Garbet Point. This village is on an inward extension of Garbet Plateau and can be seen from Matheran market when you look down into valley. There is a broad trail that the villagers use to go up to join a western circuit trail to Garbet Point. Lastly there is now a proper unpaved road under construction to connect this remote village. The road goes all circling from West side to East side around the Garbet ridge and finally traverses the East flank of Matheran connecting with Neral Matheran road.
3. Karjat - Burujwadi – huge secret hidden waterfall – Alexander Point. This is a tricky trail year round but especially during monsoon. Route finding is difficult as you get lost in the jungle below. However, if you maintain level, even if you miss the waterfall you would eventually end up at village Khatwan. This means you overshot the main trail. But you can still climb from Khatwan and join the main trail up.
4. Karjat - Burujwadi - Rambaug Point: By far the easiest trail. Villagers use this to supply milk and other stuff to Matheran.
5. Karjat - Ambewadi - One Tree Hill Point. Once upon a time it was easier to reach the base village from Chowk directly. But now due to the Morbe Dam waters, one has to take a long detour. So it makes more sense to reach here from Karjat
6. Karjat - Arkaswadi - Warosa - Shivaji Ladder / Pisarnath Mandir (Here too I think there is a variant - I have tried tracing a traverse that goes south towards the mid plateau below One Tree Hill. So one can arrive at the base of the ladder from base of final One Tree Hill climb - in the jungle below). For paucity of time, I gave up exploring this traverse.
7. Hashyachi Patti / Malang Point - this will eventually lead to Dhodani or Arkaswadi depending on whether you are going to Panvel or Karjat. The latter is much farther
8. Dhodani - Sunset Point (the route starts at / before Dhodani coming from Panvel)
9. Dhodani / Monkey Point (the route goes past Dhodani village upstream along river and then climbs in sight of the Dhodani waterfall visible only during monsoon
10. Wangani - Peb - Matheran - There is a regular route that now goes from Peb top climbing down the East and to col between Peb and Matheran below Panorama Point. But I have traversed from the West side - a long traverse. For this you don't need to climb Peb but from the cave below Peb on the Western side, keep level and traversing along exposed trail until the Col between Peb and Matheran
Going cyclical around Matheran (as seen from the sky) the ten routes starting from Dasturi are:
1. Neral - Dasturi by road intermittently with hill trails arriving Dasturi (some also call this pipeline route as there is a water pipeline)
2. Bhivpuri - Bhutavali village - Garbet Plateau. There are three variants - the now popular variant is right on the ridge line down from tip of Garbet Point to Garbet Plateau. The other route earlier used more often goes up from Garbetwadi, a small hamlet to the West of the Garbet Point. This village is on an inward extension of Garbet Plateau and can be seen from Matheran market when you look down into valley. There is a broad trail that the villagers use to go up to join a western circuit trail to Garbet Point. Lastly there is now a proper unpaved road under construction to connect this remote village. The road goes all circling from West side to East side around the Garbet ridge and finally traverses the East flank of Matheran connecting with Neral Matheran road.
3. Karjat - Burujwadi – huge secret hidden waterfall – Alexander Point. This is a tricky trail year round but especially during monsoon. Route finding is difficult as you get lost in the jungle below. However, if you maintain level, even if you miss the waterfall you would eventually end up at village Khatwan. This means you overshot the main trail. But you can still climb from Khatwan and join the main trail up.
4. Karjat - Burujwadi - Rambaug Point: By far the easiest trail. Villagers use this to supply milk and other stuff to Matheran.
5. Karjat - Ambewadi - One Tree Hill Point. Once upon a time it was easier to reach the base village from Chowk directly. But now due to the Morbe Dam waters, one has to take a long detour. So it makes more sense to reach here from Karjat
6. Karjat - Arkaswadi - Warosa - Shivaji Ladder / Pisarnath Mandir (Here too I think there is a variant - I have tried tracing a traverse that goes south towards the mid plateau below One Tree Hill. So one can arrive at the base of the ladder from base of final One Tree Hill climb - in the jungle below). For paucity of time, I gave up exploring this traverse.
7. Hashyachi Patti / Malang Point - this will eventually lead to Dhodani or Arkaswadi depending on whether you are going to Panvel or Karjat. The latter is much farther
8. Dhodani - Sunset Point (the route starts at / before Dhodani coming from Panvel)
9. Dhodani / Monkey Point (the route goes past Dhodani village upstream along river and then climbs in sight of the Dhodani waterfall visible only during monsoon
10. Wangani - Peb - Matheran - There is a regular route that now goes from Peb top climbing down the East and to col between Peb and Matheran below Panorama Point. But I have traversed from the West side - a long traverse. For this you don't need to climb Peb but from the cave below Peb on the Western side, keep level and traversing along exposed trail until the Col between Peb and Matheran
Comments (9)
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Thank you for uploading this trail! I have climbed Matheran from 7 routes and this was the only one remaining! Can you please add pictures and other information about the route like difficult parts, landmarks if any?
This is one of the rarer trails for several reasons - Rambaug point is easily accessible so one tends to go up this way rather than continue deeper in the valley. Secondly, one tends to get lost in the jungles on this trail - never mind if you get lost though - if you maintain level and keep traversing, you will end up in a village. From this village you can again climb up. But in reaching this village you have clearly overshot the route. The best landmark for this route is a huge waterfall, well hidden from view nearly in every direction. Once you have reached this waterfall, you are most likely to find the base of the climb more easily. This trail is at its most difficult during monsoon (route finding as well as stream crossing and slippery steep climb). I can share with you my Google Photos link. Mark this location of waterfall: 18.965, 73.279
Also, there are 10 routes to Matheran. Some day I want to write about them all.
This is the village I am referring to:
Khatwan
https://goo.gl/maps/1bu8ZVPENT62
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=18.971315&lon=73.282049&z=17&m=b&show=/20825345/Khaatvan-(खाटवण)&search=18%20N%2C%2073%20E
Another alternative is to go to Alexander Point and go down. Then route finding is much easier. On climbing down to the lower plateau, keep right and traverse until Burujwadi the base for Both Rambaug Point and Alexander Point trails.
Hope all of this helps.
Thank you so much! This is of great help. I knew about 8 access points until now: Hashyachi Patti, One tree hill, Garbett point, Dasturi Naka, via Vikatgad (NM 156), Pisarnath Ladder (near Lord's point), Sunset Point Via Dodhani, Chowk point & Alexander Point. Looking forward to reading about the other two or possibly more! Also, I pen down trekking experiences along with relevant information on my blog:
https://nomadosauras.wordpress.com
Do visit it if possible.
Also, if it's not too much trouble, please email me the google photos link @ nomadosauras@gmail.com
Thanks a lot!
Taking Cyclical the ten routes starting from Dasturi are:
1. Neral - Dasturi by road intermittently with hill trails arriving Dasturi (some also call this pipeline route)
2. Bhivpuri - Bhutavali village - Garbet Plateau (there are three variants - the now popular variant is on the ridge line down Garbet Plateau, the other earlier used more often is inwards that is West of the Garbet Point up from a village on the mid plateau - you can call this Garbetwadi or whatever. This route arrives ahead of Garbet Point, recently there is a road being developed to connect this remote village. The road goes all around the Garbet ridge and then along the East of Garbet point finally connecting with Neral Matheran road)
3. Karjat - Burujwadi - Khatwan Alexander Point
4. Karjat - Burujwadi - Rambaug Point
5. Karjat - Ambewadi - One Tree Hill Point
6. Karjat - Arkashwadi - Warosa - Shivaji Ladder / Pisarnath Mandir (Here too I think there is a variant - I have tried tracing a traverse that goes south towards the mid plateau below One Tree Hill. So one can arrive at the base of the ladder from base of final One Tree Hill climb - in the jungle below)
7. Hashyachi Patti / Malang Point - this will eventually lead to Dhodani or Arkaswadi depending on whether you are going to Panvel or Karjat, which is much farther
8. Dhodani - Sunset Point (the route starts at / before Dhodani coming from Panvel)
9. Dhodani / Monkey Point (the route goes past Dhodani village upstream along river and then climbs in sight of the Dhodani waterfall visible only during monsoon
10. Wangani - Peb - Matheran - There is a regular route that now goes from Peb top climbing down the East and to col between Peb and Matheran below Panorama Point. But I have traversed from the West side - a long traverse. For this you don't need to climb Peb but from the cave below Peb on the Western side, keep level and traversing along exposed trail until the Col between Peb and Matheran
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Precise trail! Followed it during our trek in January'18.
The only point where we veered off it was the bifurcation just before the waterfall. The trail splits into two very clear trails at the 3.5 km mark and we intentionally took the right trail to walk halfway up to Khatwan before scrambling up the lower part of the Alexander point spur and joining trail again at the 4.8 km mark. One of the more beautiful and obscure trails climbing to Matheran.
Recommended if you prefer to avoid the crowds :)
Thanks. There's a higher level trail that splits somewhere from the route I followed and reaches the waterfall base directly. This always eludes because of fenced fields that have come up in recent years. You can however retrace it back once you reach the waterfall base.
And yes, there's a separate straightforward route from Khatwan up. That climbs on the other side flank but joins the main ridge trail to Alexander point