About Tringalwadi Fort :
Tringalwadi fort is located in the Igatpuri taluka of Nashik district. It is located on the ancient trade route passing through Thal ghat. The Tringalwadi irrigation dam which is close to the village was built in 1978

Our Journey :
Planning :
Tringalwadi had been on our bucket list since ages. So, we finally decided to pay a visit to this beautiful fort. Eventually, it was just me & Kartik who turned up for this pilot event (ek baar jo maine committment kar di uske baad to me khudki bhi nahi sunta). Although it was a sudden plan we had gathered requisite knowledge for the trek. Unfortunately, we couldn’t manage to get a confirmed ticket for Igatpuri in such a short span of time & were forced to travel with a general ticket. We took our chance by embarking the reserved coach and sat on the passage nearby the door. As soon as we saw a TC approaching towards us I asked kartik: ye Tc humko kya question puchega mumbai ka capital dharavi?
Merko toh ais dhak dhak horela hai.
I murmured : kyun na hum ek khel khele?
to which we both responded: itni raat ko kaunsa khel khelega aaju baju wala bombabomb karega, we decided to fall asleep. However, that plan didn’t work and the TC must have said: iska toh game bajana padega. After some negotiation he just charged us Rs.100/- as fine ( our faces were like :Faqiro se maang rahe ho arey kuch toh sharam karo) Someone paid 1000 bucks to reserve his seat (Me to kartik: bhai paisa ho toh kya kuch nahi ho sakta hai). We shortly reached our destination i.e. Igatpuri station at around 3am.

Walk to the base village :
We went outside to enquire for an auto to ride to our base village. Auto driver demanded 1000 bucks for that 10 kms journey which wasn't worthy to shell out (somewhere in our mind : aye yede tere baap ki shaadi hai kya & kum se kum 30 saal ka time de re baba). So, we decided to hover till morning at the platform itself. Igatpuri station was infested by rats & we didn't dare to sleep there (Rats in mind : ye re ye aat ye re. Saala bhada humlog bharta hai aake ye log soota hai re). I had a craving for vada pav in the morning but looking at the hygiene i had to do-
control majnu control. Early morning yet again we tried our luck for auto to which he quoted Rs.600/- (In his mind: tu paisa laaya?) which was still not desirable for just two passengers on board (Mann me bola: dedhso rupaya dega). Another autowala also asked for the same price (somewhere first auto wala : ye scheme tere liye hai he nahi) & we started walking (somewhere in mind dekh me jaa raha hu, me sach me chala jaunga, meanwhile autowala :arey tu jaa re). kartik then said: mere pass ek aur scheme hai, since we were cognizant of the route lets go walking to the base village. Auto wala thought that they won't go walking so long (in our mind :Bhai ek zamana tha jab hum bhi itna chala karte the) So we decided to have a morning walk till the base village (kartik asked: ho jayega? I said: ho jayega nahi ho jaana chaiye). Without wasting any more time we started walking from Igatpuri station & believe me it was a good warm up session before the trek. We also encountered a lake during this journey & few people were up for their routine morning walk. The road was decent but bit deserted.we had guess a wrong mountain as our destination during this journey (lagta he kisi dusre ki kholi me aa gaya). It took 1 and half hour to reach the Hanuman Temple near the base village (kash hamare chawl ki ramleela mandali mil jaati). We took a short break for 10 mins and filled our bags with ek ka double water bottles & snacks along with santre ka batli.

The Ascend :
We kicked off by 8am from the base village. We arrived at the dam area to witness the picturesque view & captured some amazing pictures (this reminded me of: bangle ke saamne ek bada sa talav hona chaiye aur usme waterproof machli honi chaiye). Finally we got the first glimpse of the fort after burning lots of calories (Abhi maza aayega na bhidu). Water was pretty clear in the lake ekdum tilier. Further it took taalis (40) minutes to reach the caves tackling through the dense fields (In mind: aye shyam me thak gaya re chalke kidhar milega ye fort). The caves are at the foothills of the fort called Pandav leni with beautifully carved entrance and a stone idol of Rishabhanatha in the Garbha gruha.This cave has a large Sabha mandapa. The fort is right up in front of us from this point (In my mind: aye iska muh kidhar he?? Upar first floor pe dekh mere bhai). Then we went up from the usual entrance & did some photography enroute (Isko pipe ki tarah pakad na bidi ki tarah nahi ,ye baburao ka estyle hai). We can now sense the summer heat piercing us (Wo topi main zara ghai ghai me laana bhul gaya re). It just took 20 mins to reach the top of the fort with our pace (kaam karo tarike se).

Exploration :
On the fort there are ruins of old buildings and a small Bhavani mata temple (Devi ka prasad mandir me milta he garage me nahi :Jai maharashtra). We took lunch break (During lunch time while passing foodstuff: Tu de, pehle tu de,tu de na) besides this temple & witnessed the views of Harihar fort & the Tringalwadi dam. Then we
started to explore the fort & descended from the western entrance to the fort where the steps and the entrance gate are carved from a single rock. There is an idol of Hanuman at the entrance gate.( aye deva humara trek time pe khatm hona na)

The Descend :
We decided to get down the opposite side to a different base village which hardly took 20 mins to reach from the middle plateau with to our pace as we were running on the slope (pichese me aake : bhaag ballu). But once we reached there we were informed that there is no conveyance facility available from here & one need to walk down another 4-5 kms to reach a nearby school to get an auto (aye phirse chuna laga diya). So we walked down that distance in scorching heat & finally boarded the auto who charged us meagre Rs.20/- per seat (in my mind :me toh tujhko harami samajhta tha tu toh dev manus nikla re). We paid him 10Rs extra looking at his honesty(ye teri tip hai, tip). We successfully made it to Igatpuri stn before 11.30 (Thanked the autowala: tum bohot mast kaam karta he) & took the decided return train to Mumbai (current feeling in mind: bilin chi nagin nigali munnaba dolayla lagla).

Overall we enjoyed this small yet beautiful trek with lots of memories to cherish (denewala jab bhi deta deta chappar phad ke). This trek is ideal for amateur trekkers as the fort offers a lot to visitors with comparatively shorter climb. One must definitely visit this fort in monsoons as one can also enjoy a small waterfall near the caves.