Ratangad

The most scenic Sahyadri trek I have done so far. Fantastic view from the top. It is surrounded by tall mountains. And amazing kokan kada with 3000 ft vertical drops.

Getting to the base village ratanwadi is not easy though. Awful roads. There no mobile signal in much of the bhandardara region (except airtel/bsnl). Study the route well beforehand, doubly make sure that your offline trail and maps will work. They didn't in our case.

Coming from Pune, you take Nashik road up to Sangamner and then go westward via Akole-Rajur to Bhandardara/Shendi. This is 5-6 hour drive. Google map shows Narayangav-Otur-Kotul-Rajur-Shendi as the route. otur-kotul-rajur section is no fun.

From Shendi village take the road to Ghatghar traversing the dam on the north. Enjoy the views of the dam, and AMK, Kalsubai. Turn just before Ghatghar towards Ratanwadi. Ghatghar-Ratanwadi road is in really bad shape. About 50% distance is all gravel. There is another route from Shendi village that traverses bhandardara from the south side. It is shorter, but much much worse condition, 100% rough gravel.

Park at the temple.

The trail passes through some farms in the beginning. Goes some distance without much elevation gain. As you can make out from the recorded trail, we got lost in this section. So use the route we used in the return direction. it is much simpler. There is a jeep path that will lead to the mini-dam wall made up of rocks.

The trail continues on the left side of the lake. You will see many dead trees partly submerged in the water. Later, walk along left of the stream (Pravara). Cross the stream and then the climb starts. Gradient quickly picks up. The trail hereon is quite obvious and well marked. It is almost completely under tree cover. Last part is a series of iron ladders that take you over the rock face to the ganesh darwaja.

About 3 hours to climb.