PEB FORT (VIKATGAD)

Sunrise Scenes from the Top

After Sandhan Valley, I had planned around 3 treks in the first two weeks of January 2019! Hoping that I'll start this new year with my favorite thing! But you know, luck is something that plays a major role in your life; I was so happy about all the plans I've made, and on the 2nd day of new year, I had an accident. Luckily (see how ironic it is), I didn't break any bone but yeah, skin on my left palm was completely torn out, and all my plans were eventually cancelled.

Entrance to the trek, after 156 NM

So after a long gap in my 2 consecutive treks, Peb was the first trek of 2019! And trust me, it was best, and memorable. Peb was supposed to be done back in 2016 only, but we cancelled it because one college student lost his life in a landslide during the trek. So, we decided to go to Rajmachi instead.

Peb was the shortest, and the fastest trek I've ever been to. Since I was a first timer for this trek, I was completely unaware about the route and peak points and everything, but my friends have been there for like 3 times, so we didn't need any guide to go ahead. Actually, we never use a guide to complete the trek; and that is the reason we are eventually lost in jungle many times!

Peb is located in Raigad district. One can take a local train to Karjat, and get down at Neral. From Neral railway station, you can start walking on the rail track of Toy train to Matheran; but that is waste of time and trek gets lengthy and boring. As my friends have been there already, they did a wonderful job of collecting the contacts for traveling. So I had arranged a car for our traveling till the base of Peb fort; which helped us in speeding up the journey.

Sky full of stars! 

We took 12.25 am slow train to Karjat (from Thane), and reached Neral at around 1.30 am. We were a group of only 4 people this time, and everyone of us was so tired because of our daily college routine. So it was already decided that we are going to take rest and sleep in the train. Everyone was shivering in the cold, so they wore their hoodies and sweaters, and here, I was in a deep regret that I forgot to bring mine.

We took a cab till 134 NM, a spot on the road to Matheran; and started walking from there. 134 NM is around 30 minutes (by car) from Neral station. Here, I'm not so sure about what the "NM" abbreviation stands for, but I think it will be for Nautical Mile.
As we got down from the cab, we were pleased by the sky; which was full of stars! Such a beautiful sight! But sadly, we had zero knowledge about the sky and hence, everyone of us had already installed the "Sky maps" app (available on playstore) which shows all the information about the stars in the sky. It requires your location, and a built in compass; that's all. Then all you have to do is point your rear camera to the sky, and all the stars and their information flashes on the screen! Beautiful, right?

Temple

We started hiking. We had to reach 156 NM by walking and after that, the actual trek begins. So from 134 to 156, we were walking, silently. As there were only 4 of us and we all are experienced, we were covering the distance rapidly. We took a hault to take some photos of the night sky, but we failed miserably. So we packed all other belongings, and decided to reach the summit as soon as possible.

It was a planned night trek, so we were walking on the rail track at around 2 am in the morning, silently. The approximate distance between two successive "NM" sign board is 125 footsteps. (Yes I did count them.) So basically, while walking, I was entertaining myself with this useless mathematics of how many more footsteps

Fastest 4 LOOOL

we have to walk to start the trek. Within 20 minutes, we reached 156 NM and took a small break. After crossing 156 NM, there is a small exit to the jungle on RHS of the route, and it has a saffron flag tied to it, for identification.

We started hiking again, everyone had their torch in hand, and we were walking at a god speed. After 156 NM, we completed the trek in literally 1 hour, which normally takes 1.30 to 2 hours. I still cannot believe that we covered it in just 1 hour. On the way to summit, there are narrow routes and steep rock patches. One has to climb 2 ladders as the route is very steep and fatal; so government has provided steel ladders (which are worn out and completely out of maintainance) to complete the hike. The weather was so cold, that we could feel the dew which was settled on the ladder steps.

We reached the summit, which is nothing but a temple of "Datta" at 3.45 am! As we reached, we sat down, and pleased our eyes once again with the stars in the sky. We were leaving after the sunrise; so we had more than 2 hours in our hand to rest; because sunrise was predicted at 6.30 am! I ate my tiffin because I was really hungry after a rushed hike. And then we slept.


This was a priceless experience you know!! Sleeping under a sky full of stars. Just like a dream come true. But nature had different plans for us. It was so cold that we were shivering, plus I didn't have anything to cover my skin so I was not able to sleep; was just changing sides. After a while, around 4.45 am,  I decided to give up; I took my camera and started clicking pictures of sky and the moon. And after an effort of like 20 minutes, I finally clicked "good" pictures of moon and stars. (Reminds me of Khal Drogo XD).

As I gave up on sleep, everyone did. We all woke up and opened our sky maps app. And started looking for constellations. I've done stargazing quite a few times before. So I somehow came to a conclusion that yes, I've spotted jupiter. Then I confirmed it within a minute, with help of sky maps. Also, we saw Venus and Saturn; and all of this was possible just because of the app! What a fantastic work! Our plan was to set off right after viewing the sunrise.

Sightings of planets

We saw the sunrise, it was beautiful as it was expected to be! We clicked photos, had some breakfast, and then we started our descend at around 7.45 am! Looking at our speed of ascend, we were sure that we could complete the descend on or before 9 am. (Odd flex but okay).

We were clicking photos on the way back, because light conditions are good in the morning, especially around 8 am. While coming down, near the caves, we had an encounter with a monkey family! If y'all have read my blog on Harihar, then you might know what this situation is!

Crescent Moon, 5 am!

There was this huge monkey sitting on the right, like a king. And in order to continue our trek, we had to distract him somehow and then literally run for our lives. So us, who are usually brave enough to face any situation, were shit scared because, one mistake and a family of 8 monkeys was ready for an ambush. One of my friends took out his biscuits, so that he can lure the monkey to a side and we can get our path cleared. But the monkey wasn't in a mood of eating anything. He was legitimately making faces; (for example, if  "Huh, I've seen many people like you" had a face.) So we were completely scared. I took 7-8 stones in my hand, just in case of ambush, I should be ready with my weapons.

Jungly routes

I don't know what happened, but that monkey king started approaching us and
trust me; each and everyone of us started running like it's the last day of our life. To be really honest, the road was rocky and one wrong step can twist your leg completely, but no one of us was injured even though we were running. Experience matters! We were laughing so hard while running, I mean who is scared of a monkey? You will know when you're in a similar situation. Then we ate the biscuits which we took out to lure the monkey (haha).

Because of this incident, we covered the distance in 10 minutes, which usually takes half hour! See? you can do anything when it comes to save your life.

We completed our descend at 8.45 am, and then took an auto to Neral station. Took 9.22 train to CSMT, and reached home at around 11.30 am.

It was one of the best experience because of the sightings throughout the trek!


Height above sea level : 1920 ft above sea level
Difficulty : Easy
Recommended season : Winter

Flex is important :P