Irshalgad-Prabalmachi traverse
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 12.23 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,464 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 2,425 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,736 ft
- TrailRank
-
41
4.3
- Min elevation
- 1,736 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 10 hours 2 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1780
- Uploaded
- October 23, 2018
- Recorded
- September 2017
near Chauk, Mahārāshtra (India)
Viewed 1143 times, downloaded 32 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
A young lad from Irshalwadi, Sunil Pardi (Contact no- 8412824190), guided us through the section between Irshalwadi and southern Prabalmachi. Hiring a guide is essential if one plans to attempt this trek in monsoon as the trail gets obscured by dense overgrowth.
When: September ‘17
Where: Irshalgad, Panvel
Range: Matheran
Nearest railway station: Karjat (Central Railway) & Panvel (Harbour & Trans Harbour Railway)
Base Villages: Nanivali, Irshalwadi
Duration: 10 hours
Total Distance: Approximately 20 km
Best Time: Mid November to January
Difficulty: Monsoon- Tough; Winter- Moderate for experienced trekkers
Endurance: 4
Risk Factor: High in monsoon, Medium in winters.
To read more about these ratings, check out:
https://nomadosauras.com/guide-for-the-blog/
Food and Water: Multiple water cisterns can be found on both forts but carrying adequate water (> 3 litres) is advisable.
Route: Karjat- Chowk bus stop- Chowk railway station- Nanivali- Irshalwadi- Irshalgad Nedhe- Irshalwadi- (Irshal-Prabal) ridge- Prabalgad Maal (plateau) - Prabalmachi hamlets- Thakurwadi/Vardoli.
How to reach:
Board a train to Karjat (Central railway) or Panvel (Harbour/Trans-Harbour railway) and then proceed to Chowk by State Transport (ST) bus or TumTum.
Details:
This is a gruelling 20 km trek where one starts from Chowk railway station, climbs up to the base of Irshalgad pinnacle. This is followed by a descent to Irshalwadi by the same path before proceeding north to Prabalgad by a 2 km long connecting ridge. A tricky traverse over the Prabal Maal (plateau) leads one to the Poinje Naal, from where one can ascend Prabalgad via the route known as Poinje South trail (aka Chincholi Vaat) or continue west to reach the southern Prabalmachi hamlet and then continue to Vardoli or to Thakurwadi (by northern Prabalmachi hamlet).
NOTE: Utmost caution is advised in monsoon as strong winds lash the peak. Do NOT attempt to climb the peak without proper training and most importantly, without proper equipment.
Possible variations-
A. Ascend Prabalgad (fort) via Poinje (chincholi) trail that enters the fort midway between Ganesh Mandir and Kala buruj. Explore the fort and descend via the north gully (Bailshingechi vaat) to Northern prabalmachi. Note: In this case, a night halt at Prabalmachi will be necessary.
Note: The Poinje south trail had been wiped off by a mini landslide during our trek and another group who tried to climb Prabalgad via this route the very next day had to turn back due to the same reason. Video of their trek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwxuAZJXg6A
B. Instead of traversing north from the Southern Prabalmachi, you can directly descend to Vardoli/Thakurwadi by a slightly steeper, shorter trail.
C. One can also add the climb to Kalavantin durg from northern Prabalmachi if attempting the trek over two days.
Further reading:
1. Blog post describing my previous trek to Irshalgad Nedhe in August 2016- https://nomadosauras.com/2016/08/16/irshalgad-trek-route-monsoon/
2. A bit about my crazy friends:
https://nomadosauras.com/meet-the-gang/
3. Complete list of treks I have done till date:
https://nomadosauras.com/escapades-list/
4. Flickr Photo (captioned) album link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/160783593@N04/albums/with/72157700693318644
5. Blog homepage:
https://nomadosauras.com
When: September ‘17
Where: Irshalgad, Panvel
Range: Matheran
Nearest railway station: Karjat (Central Railway) & Panvel (Harbour & Trans Harbour Railway)
Base Villages: Nanivali, Irshalwadi
Duration: 10 hours
Total Distance: Approximately 20 km
Best Time: Mid November to January
Difficulty: Monsoon- Tough; Winter- Moderate for experienced trekkers
Endurance: 4
Risk Factor: High in monsoon, Medium in winters.
To read more about these ratings, check out:
https://nomadosauras.com/guide-for-the-blog/
Food and Water: Multiple water cisterns can be found on both forts but carrying adequate water (> 3 litres) is advisable.
Route: Karjat- Chowk bus stop- Chowk railway station- Nanivali- Irshalwadi- Irshalgad Nedhe- Irshalwadi- (Irshal-Prabal) ridge- Prabalgad Maal (plateau) - Prabalmachi hamlets- Thakurwadi/Vardoli.
How to reach:
Board a train to Karjat (Central railway) or Panvel (Harbour/Trans-Harbour railway) and then proceed to Chowk by State Transport (ST) bus or TumTum.
Details:
This is a gruelling 20 km trek where one starts from Chowk railway station, climbs up to the base of Irshalgad pinnacle. This is followed by a descent to Irshalwadi by the same path before proceeding north to Prabalgad by a 2 km long connecting ridge. A tricky traverse over the Prabal Maal (plateau) leads one to the Poinje Naal, from where one can ascend Prabalgad via the route known as Poinje South trail (aka Chincholi Vaat) or continue west to reach the southern Prabalmachi hamlet and then continue to Vardoli or to Thakurwadi (by northern Prabalmachi hamlet).
NOTE: Utmost caution is advised in monsoon as strong winds lash the peak. Do NOT attempt to climb the peak without proper training and most importantly, without proper equipment.
Possible variations-
A. Ascend Prabalgad (fort) via Poinje (chincholi) trail that enters the fort midway between Ganesh Mandir and Kala buruj. Explore the fort and descend via the north gully (Bailshingechi vaat) to Northern prabalmachi. Note: In this case, a night halt at Prabalmachi will be necessary.
Note: The Poinje south trail had been wiped off by a mini landslide during our trek and another group who tried to climb Prabalgad via this route the very next day had to turn back due to the same reason. Video of their trek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwxuAZJXg6A
B. Instead of traversing north from the Southern Prabalmachi, you can directly descend to Vardoli/Thakurwadi by a slightly steeper, shorter trail.
C. One can also add the climb to Kalavantin durg from northern Prabalmachi if attempting the trek over two days.
Further reading:
1. Blog post describing my previous trek to Irshalgad Nedhe in August 2016- https://nomadosauras.com/2016/08/16/irshalgad-trek-route-monsoon/
2. A bit about my crazy friends:
https://nomadosauras.com/meet-the-gang/
3. Complete list of treks I have done till date:
https://nomadosauras.com/escapades-list/
4. Flickr Photo (captioned) album link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/160783593@N04/albums/with/72157700693318644
5. Blog homepage:
https://nomadosauras.com
Comments (8)
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Is it doable in a day? I mean is it possible with public transport..
Hi Harshal,
Yes, it's doable in a day with public transport. Since it was only two of us, we preferred travelling by ST bus (boarded a ST bus from Karjat at 8 am and reached Thakurwadi at 6 pm, on schedule to board the 6.30 pm bus to Panvel).
However, we both are fairly seasoned trekkers and we also had Sunil to guide us through the sections where finding the trail would have been a time consuming task.
Here's a blog I had referred to before the trek:
http://adventuresofshri.blogspot.com/2015/12/irshalgad-to-prabhal-machi-via-ridge.html
Hey thank you so much for your quick response.. :) Will give it a try this weekend..!
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Thank you for this trail.. Couldn't complete coz of slow pace of group members..But It helped me a lot.. Because of dense Vegetation it becomes difficult to locate the trail.. But still it helped me throughout the trek.. If possible please upload pics at difficult to locate points on the trail.. May not be accurate.. But it helps.. :)
Glad it helped you! The trail was almost non existent when we went there so the pics wouldn't help much but I'll still add them as and when time permits.
Cheers & keep exploring!
I know it's a bit late, but I guess the poinje south trail is accessible now? One of the groups I enquired were planning to descend via that route.
Hi,
That's correct. The Poinje trail has been cleaned up and in use now :)
Happy trekking!
Haha yes. unfortunately, I was not able to access kala buruj due to very high vegetation there after mandir and I was trekking solo.
P.S: big fan of your blogs :)