Peb - Fort near Matheran

Peb - Fort near Matheran

Information 

It is a hill fort with no fortification.It is the nearest fort for Matheran hill station.

Location 

This fort is located  the northern side of Matheran.A temple on the top of the fort can be easily recognized from the Paneroma Point of Matheran.Peb fort is spread in North - South direction.

How to reach

There are three routes to reach at Peb fort.One from Matheran (Descending route) ,second route is from Junction 134 point on Neral Matheran road where there is a level crossing.This point is considered as the nearest point from Neral end (both ascending and  descending) and third route is from Mamdapur village (Ascending route).

The way from Matheran is simple and it takes around 1.5 to 2 hours to reach Matheran to Peb fort which includes around one hour walk on the railway tracks and one hour trek to Peb fort.You can start your journey from Dasturi (Parking area of Matheran) in the opposite direction of Matheran on the Railway tracks.Neral -Matheran toy train is inoperative in rainy seasons and even in other seasons the frequency of trains is very less and also the speed of train is very less.There is ample of space parallel to Railway tracks to walk.The way takes several turns and take you to a small loosely built gate with a bell & saffron flag on that gate after almost an hour.This is the beginning of actual trek.The path leaving the railway tracks take you to the fort.The descending path take you to the ladder.After descending the ladder,the complete route hereonwards is narrow and pass between deep valley at one end and hill portion on the other end.After walking on this narrow path for almost half an hour,you reach a narrow connector between hill of Matheran and hill of Peb fort.The route from Matheran to this connector is of descending nature.After crossing the connector you start ascending the Peb hill on a narrow path. This path takes you near the pair of ladders (Two ladders out of which one is placed in North - South direction and other in East - West direction).After climbing both the ladders a turning ascend takes you to the plains.After walking for 5-10 minutes on plains,you reach near Swami Samarth Temple.This is the point where Mamdapur route meets Matheran route.A small ascend and walk on narrow path take you to the Dattatreya Mandir which is the top of the fort.The terrain on the top of the fort is rocky.

The second route begins from Junction 134 point on Neral - Matheran road where there a railway level crossing.This point is 7 KM from Neral towards Matheran.After getting down at this point you need to walk for half an hour on the railway tracks to reach at a beginning point of actual trek as mentioned earlier.It takes around 1.5 hrs. to reach Peb fort.

In both the routes i.e. from Matheran and from Junction 134 we walk on the railway tracks and we reach at the same point from where our actual trek starts.The only difference between those routes is that, while Matheran is at the highest altitude out of three the railway route is descending one from Matheran to actual trek start whereas in other case Junction 134 point is at the lowest altitude out of three the railway route is ascending one from Junction 134 to actual trek start.

The route from Mamdapur is medium difficult and takes around 3-3.5 hours to reach Peb fort after the steep ascend and few rock patches.

Total Ascend/Descend Time - 

Option 1 - Junction 134 - Peb - Junction 134

1 hour 40 minutes (one side)

Option 2 - Junction 134 - Peb - Matheran (Dasturi/Aman Lodge)

1 hour 40 minutes (Junction 134 to Peb) / 2 hours (Peb to Matheran)

Option 3 - Matheran (Dasturi/Aman Lodge) - Peb - Matheran (Dasturi/Aman Lodge)

2 hours (one side)

Option 4 - Matheran (Dasturi/Aman Lodge) - Peb - Junction 134

2 hours (Peb to Matheran) / 1 hour 40 minutes (Peb to Junction 134)

40 minutes - Junction 134 to Starting Point of Trek (Walk on Railway Track)

30 minutes - Starting Point of Trek to Connector between Peb & Matheran hills and vice versa

30 minutes - Connector between Peb & Matheran hills  to Dattatreya Mandir (Peb) and vice versa

60 minutes - Starting Point of Trek to Matheran (Dasturi /Aman Lodge) (Walk on Railway Track)

Note - This is an estimated time.Actual time can very with crowd and atmosphere at that point.

Places of Interest -

There are two temples.Dattatreya Mandir is on the top of the fort is a temple built in marble having small idols of lord Dattatreya along with feet of lord Dattatreya and Hanuman in the temple and a small shivalinga.This temple is located towards the end of the fort and you can watch a spectacular view of Chanderi fort,Gadeshwar lake and landscape near the Gadeshwar lake.

Swami Samarth temple is like a simple village house with thatched roof.It has an idols of Swami Samarth and lord Dattatreya.You can watch view of our path and Matheran hill from the plain area near the Swami Samarth temple.

Accommodation 

The fort is suitable for one day trek from Mumbai and Pune.No accommodation is  available on the fort.You can stay in Swami Samarth temple.You can also stay in Matheran and cover this fort in your Matheran picnic.

When to visit -

You can visit here in any season.Summer, especially April and May months are least preferred due to heat and water scarcity. Rainy Season is the most preferred due to lush greenery.If possible, request to visit on weekdays as the route towards fort is narrow and overcrowding on the route or on either sides (places just above and below the ladders) of ladder may lead to accidents or delays in schedule (like it may take 3 hours for 2 hour trek) due to overcrowding.Winter can also be preferred especially for photography due to absence of fog which is the case in Rainy Season.

My Experience 

I visited this fort on 21 July 2019 with a trekking group.I reached at Neral by train on around 8.30 a.m where I met the other members of our group.We hired a taxi for Matheran.There is a continuous taxi service from Neral to Matheran.The one way charge from Neral to Matheran at that time was Rs.70/-.We reached at Junction 134 point on 9.30 a.m.It was light to medium rain when we started from Neral and by the time when we reached at that point, rain stopped.There was sunshine when we started walking towards the Peb fort.The railway track route curves away from the road and heads ahead in a zig zag manner.Althogh there was no rain there was a nice view of passing clouds in the valley and small waterfalls appearing on track from the top of the hill.After some time, weather changed again as we kept on moving towards northern side of Matheran following the railway tracks.Suddenly weather became cold,sunshine vanished and fog in the valley started becoming thicker which also affected visibility.We were enjoying ourselves by taking shower in waterfalls, watching beautiful views en route and clicking pictures while moving ahead on the curvy route witnessing a lush green surroundings around the railway tracks.We reached at the trek starting point on 10.30 a.m.Generally this route takes half an hour if you control your temptation of clicking too many photos and videos on the way and taking shower in waterfalls.

The actual start of trek appears like an entrance of a temple with an arch having saffron flag and a temple bell.People need to keep such place clean as we saw some garbage thrown by some irresponsible people.There was no rain and it appeared that sunshine may come.The Dattatreya temple on the top of the Peb fort is clearly visible from here.

We entered the arch as the way separates from the main railway track.The ascending narrow way became slippery at some places due to rain.Our Trek head was doing good work of helping out some of the inexperienced trekkers in our group to cross such difficult patches.There is a simple ladder on that descending way as well.This desneding path is mainly soil based with some open rocks in between. We reached at a connector soil based strip that connects hill of Matheran with hill of Peb fort on around 11 a.m.Now there was bright sunshine and we could clearly watch the view around either sides of valley.

After crossing the connector we started ascending a narrow route which then took us near the main pair of ladders on around 11.15 a.m.There was a long queue on either sides of ladders and finally we reached on 11.45 a.m. at the top of the fort.We took darshan at the temple and took rest for half an hour.

We carried our Lunch with us.We had our lunch on around 1.30 p.m. at the open ground near the Swami Samarth temple.There is not much to watch on the fort.We started our return journey on 2.30 p.m.Now there was a bright sunshine with some passing clouds.The sunshine remained with us till we reached back near the arch.Again we had to wait in a long queue near the pair of ladders.We reached near the arch on around 3.30 p.m.We then started walking towards Matheran on the railway tracks.The weather again became foggy with dimming sunshine.We watched a giant Ganesha idol on the way to Matheran.We also watched a beautiful view of Gadhi river at the backdrop of an idol and Gadeshwar lake.We reached at Aman Lodge Station (Dasturi point) on 5 p.m. hired a taxi for Matheran and reached at Neral station on 5.30 p.m.We had some wonderful memories of trek.I reached my home after experiencing some beautiful views,lush green landscapes,foggy weather, sound of waterfalls, fragrance of moist soil given by nature and long queues created by humans.

Things to Carry

One Day Hikes - A pair of trekking shoes,Haversack,,A pair of changing clothes,Water (at least 2 litres),Torch with pair of batteries,Small scissor or knife,Easy snacks,Medical Kit (Electrol Powder + Tablets on Vomiting, dizziness fever,body pain etc +Bandage and instant relief spray or medicine on bruise + cotton piece),Other regular medicines (optional),Napkin,Towel,Handkerchief ,other things which you find necessary.

Multiple Day Hikes - Things mentioned in One Day Hikes +Sleeping Mat or Sleeping Bag,Toothpaste and brush,Ready to cook food packets and tea bags,other things which you find necessary.

Photos - 

Peb Trek Map (Zoom and Watch)

Near Junction 134 (Start of Trek)

      

Waterfalls on the Way

                

  En route Matheran

                   

Railway Tracks to Matheran

Landscape on the way to Peb fort

             

        

Arch Entrance ( Actual Start of Trek)

      

Connector between Matheran & Peb

     

Queue for Ascending near Ladder

      

        

Prabalgad & Kalavantin from Peb

      

Peb fort (towards Dattatreya Temple)

     

 Dattatreya Mandir on top of Peb fort

     

Chanderi (Right side) Gadeshwar lake

    

Queue for Descending near Ladder

       

                   Lord Ganesha idol

Note - 

1)You are requested not to litter on or near the fort,temples,sculptures,caves and historical monuments.Please keep the sanctity of our historical heritage.

2) You are requested to avoid listening high pitched volume audios while passing through the forest instead listen the chirping of different birds.

3) Please carry a garbage bag/s with you depending upon the size of group.Carry the garbage with you while descending and throw garbage in dustbins placed in base villages.

4) Walls of caves,temples and other monuments are not right surfaces to showcase your artwork.

One Tree Hill Point - Matheran

 One Tree Hill Point 

Information 

 Type

Matheran is a well known hill station in India and unique for many aspects such as proximity with Mumbai and Pune, pollution free weather,prohibition of entrance to vehicle and red soil.There are many points which are tourist attractions.One such popular point is One Tree hill point.

The conventional ways of reaching  Matheran are either by 9 KM Ghat road from Neral (85 KM from Mumbai and 115 KM from Pune) to Dasturi (Entrance of Matheran where you need to park your vehicle) or by toy train from Neral Railway station (not running in rainy season). These ways are crowded in weekends due to the popularity of Matheran.

There are four non conventional hiking or trekking ways to reach Matheran. First from Chowk end (One Tree hill point trek),second from Karjat end (Garbett point trek),third from Panvel end (Dhodani to Sunset Point trek) and fourth from Umbarne to Matheran near Charlotte lake (Shivaji Ladder).

Location 

One Tree hill point is located at the southern side of Matheran.It is far from where you enter Matheran by the conventional routes mentioned (Approx 3 KM).The base village Ambewadi is on the northern bank of Morbe lake.

How to reach

One Tree hill point trek starts at Ambewadi village.You can either ascend from Ambewadi to One Tree hill point or descend in other direction but ascending is easier compared to descending.

In case of ascending,you have to reach Ambewadi village.Ambewadi village (75 KM from Mumbai and 110 KM from Pune)

is a small remote village.You can reach here from Mumbai by road on Mumbai - Panvel -Chowk - Borgaon Vadvihir (left turn from Borgaon) - Ambewadi route.You can reach here from Pune by road on Pune - Lonavala - Khopoli - Chowk - Borgaon Vadvihir (left turn from Borgaon) - Ambewadi route.

If you are traveling by public transport then you have to reach Chowk first.There are 6 seaters (sharing basis) run between chowk to Karjat.You can get down at Borgaon Vadvihir.As there is no regular transport available from Borgaon to Ambewadi (7 KM) you have to wait for any vehicle for Ambewadi.You can also reach Karjat by train from Mumbai or Pune and reach Borgaon by 6 seater from Karjat.There are private auto rickshaws which can take you to Ambewadi from Chowk (12 KM) or from Karjat (13 KM)

The road ends at Ambewadi and the trek starts with the route running parallel to the Morbe lake. Initial half an hour of trek is simple walk on wide soil based path.A paneroma of Irshalgad can be observed in its full stretch from the close proximity in the route.After half an hour of walk, gradual ascend in soil begins and as you move up, the wider view of Morbe lake is visible.The ascending route passes through mostly barren terrain with some  bunches of dense tree pockets.As you move up the ascend starts becoming steeper.After half an hour of ascend the peculiar hill of one tree is visible.The steeper route enters in the gorge.After 2 hours from the start of the trek/hike rock patch begins.The narrow rock patch is the steepest of all.It is advisable to move in a single row cautiously on the rock patch.It is necessary on the rock patch that If someone comes from opposite direction then coordinate mutually so that one person can ascend/descend and other person can wait.One hour of rock patch in the gorge takes you to One Tree hill point of Matheran.

Total Ascend/Descend Time - 

3 hours 45 minutes (Ascending)/ 3 hours 15 minutes (Descending)

30 minutes -Ambewadi to Start of Ascend and vice-versa 

90 minutes (Ascending)/75 minutes (Descending) - Start of Ascend to Start of rock patch and vice versa

60 minutes (Ascending)/ 45 minutes (Descending) - Start of Rock Patch to One Tree hill point and vice versa

45 minutes - One Tree Hill Point to Matheran Railway Station 

Places of Interest -

One Tree Hill Point -This is a famous point in Matheran,located at the southern side of Matheran.This point got it's name as 'One Tree Hill Point' due to a tiny hillock separated from Matheran hill having only one clearly visible tree (some bushes).You can watch a spectacular view of Morbe lake and dam,Irshalgad fort,Karnala fort,Prabalgad fort and Chowk side landscape from this point.There is a small garden near this point.

Accommodation -

This trek ends/starts at/from Matheran which is a very popular hill station.There are enough hotels and homestays in Matheran.There are many hiking locations near Karjat.One can stay at Karjat and can visit as many hikes as you can do.There are hotels available in Karjat.

When to visit -

An ideal season of trekking in this region is rainy season where the weather supports trekking or any physical activity and you could see lush green landscape & foggy atmosphere.Trekking can also be done in Winter especially for photography as the spectacular views of valleys, lakes and forts can be clearly captured due to absence of moist & humid weather. Summer season is rarely preferred for this type of trekking.

Experience and Photos

My Experience 

I visited this trek with a trekking group on 1 July 2018.I took local train of 6.20 a.m. from Dadar for Karjat.Usually the trains heading towards Karjat early in the morning are crowded in weekends as large number of trekkers travel in the same train for various treks/hikes in Karjat region.Huge number of trekkers boarded at Dadar and I hardly had space to stand.The train kept on filling more and more in the next stations.I reached Karjat on 8.30 a.m.I met some of the trekkers from my group at Karjat.Our group arranged private vehicle for Ambewadi. We reached at Ambewadi on 9 a.m.After the introduction and breakfast & tea,we started our hike on 9.30 a.m.The weather was just like weather required for hiking. There was light rain when we were traveling from Karjat to Ambewadi.The rain stopped when we reached Ambewadi.The majority of road from Borgaon Vadvihir to Ambewadi (7 KM) pass on the bank of Morbe lake which offers picturesque sights of lake at one side and tiny villages & lush green landscape with small hills (including forts like Sondai) at the other end.We started our hike on 9.30 a.m. with simple walk in soil path witnessing beautiful view of Irshalgad and in weather where rain stopped & bright shining Sun playing hide and seek with clouds. We reached at place on 10 a.m.where gradual ascend started.The catchment area of Morbe lake started unfolding as we continued climbing.I was witnessing the beauty of nature while hiking.I saw a rare picture of Irshalgad in front left side and Karnala fort at the back right side in one camera frame which I captured.It looked like two students sitting in a grand classroom of unimaginable length with one student sitting on first bench in left row and other student sitting on last bench in right row. It feels delightful for any trekker when he/she could capture multiple forts in single frame.We reached at small plains on 11.30 a.m. after the climb which got steeper from when we started.We decided to take small break.Due to bright sunshine and clouds,the weather was highly humid and we were sweating.One tree hill is clearly visible from this point.After the water break we resumed on our remaining hike.The route ahead pass through small dense forest.We reached at the base of gorge like structure on 11.50 a.m.This gorge like structure is formed by the Matheran hill and One tree hill.We started climbing rock patch.Fortunately there was no rain and we reached at One tree hill point on 12.50 p.m.We officially reached at Matheran. When we reached at One Tree hill point, strong winds & rain splash welcomed us.We captured a picturesque view of Morbe lake and Irshalgad fort from One Tree hill point when it stopped raining. Due to rain the weather was enthusiastic for hiking and the cool breeze was making it even better.After clicking few selfies and watching beautiful views from point,we had a cup of tea & biscuits at the nearby tea stall.On 1.30 p.m.We started our walk in the Matheran red soil towards restaurant for lunch witnessing the sweet sound of various birds. Most of the good quality restaurants are lunch are available near Railway Station.The walk from One Tree Hill Point to Matheran Railway Station is of 3 KM.The road from One Tree Hill Point to Matheran Railway Station for first 20 minutes pass through a bunch of old style bungalows which are sold or not in use from many years on a lonely path.We saw some people approaching towards One Tree hill point on ponies.Everyone visiting Matheran have to face an unpleasant smell of pony's poop but that is only one thing which you can unnotice or become habitual after some time.As Matheran has a good covering of large number of trees,we never had any problem of shed even in the sunny afternoon.After reaching near Matheran market, we came to know about the amount of crowd on Weekends on Matheran.We reached our restaurant on 2.30 p.m.We had our lunch and headed towards Dasturi for Taxi to Neral.In Rainy Season the railway service is usually inoperative so we walked on tracks to reach Aman Lodge Station (station 2 minutes from Dasturi where all the motorable vehicles are parked and from where taxi service is available to and from Neral.We got our taxi and reached Neral on 4.30 p.m.We then took train from Neral for our homes.There is always rush on Neral Station on Rainy season weekends so you (travelling towards Mumbai) can take Karjat train & travel in opposite direction to Karjat & then towards Mumbai in same train for high probability of getting confirm seat.

Things to Carry

One Day Hikes - A pair of trekking shoes,Haversack,A pair of changing clothes,Water (at least 2 litres),Torch with pair of batteries,Small scissor or knife,Easy snacks,Medical Kit (Electrol Powder + Tablets on Vomiting, dizziness fever,body pain etc +Bandage and instant relief spray or medicine on bruise + cotton piece),Other regular medicines (optional), Napkin, Towel, Handkerchief ,other things which you find necessary.

Multiple Day Hikes - Things mentioned in One Day Hikes +Sleeping Mat or Sleeping Bag,Toothpaste and brush,Ready to cook food packets and tea bags,other things which you find necessary.

Photos -

Some backside / backdrop photos are faint , hence request you to zoom and see.

Map of One Tree Hill Point Trek (Click & Zoom)

 Irshalgad from Ambewadi Village

        

Way to One Tree Hill Point

                

Morbe Dam and Manikgad(backside)

     

Landscape on the way to Matheran 

      

Morbe Lake and Ambewadi village

       

One Tree Hill (Left side) captured on the trek route

                

Irshalgad (Front left), Karnala (Right Back thumb shaped )

     

Rock patch to One Tree hill point

        

Irshalgad and Morbe lake from One Tree hill point

        

                One Tree Hill from One Tree hill point 

     

No need of Caption

One Tree Hill Point (Way towards Matheran)

         

 

Note - 

1)You are requested not to litter on or near the fort,temples,sculptures,caves and historical monuments.Please keep the sanctity of our historical heritage.

2) You are requested to avoid listening high pitched volume audios while passing through the forest instead listen the chirping of different birds.

3) Please carry a garbage bag/s with you depending upon the size of group.Carry the garbage with you while descending and throw garbage in dustbins placed in base villages.

4) Walls of caves,temples and other monuments are not right surfaces to showcase your artwork.