Gumtara Fort Teak and its Heart Wrenching History

 

Commence Date : 6 Nov, 2022
Mode of Transport : Train and Bus

History of the Fort

    This fort must have existed since Shilahar's era. Later, during Maratha rule, Shivaji Maharaj refurbished this fort. On March 24, 1737, during the campaign of Vasai, after leaving Mahuli fort, the Peshwas rested in the jungle at the base, but due to the absence of water, they could not hold for long, and thus 3 to 4 soldiers died.

Gumtara Mountain

How to Reach by Public Transport

• Vasai and Virar are the nearest railway station - Mumbai local western line.
• Board Virar train and get down at Vasai.
• If you planned to trek from Usgaon dam the take Jawahr or Vajreshwari bus from Vasai west depot and get down at Usgao Dhar stop.
• If you planned to trek from Dugad - Mohili village the take Jawahar bus and get down at Dugad.
• You can directly hire auto rickshaw from Vasai and Virar to save time, but they will charge high.

Travel and Trek Experience

    Underrated fort with heart wrenching history. The last movement planned was done at the hangout point. Myself and two other members (Shailesh Sawant, the trekking expert, and Vilas uncle) started our journey at 7:12 a.m. by boarding a Virar local from Goregaon station. We got down at Vasai station at around 7:55 a.m., headed west, and reached the MSRTC Vasai bus depot. We inquired about bus timing; the bus for Jawahar would arrive at 8:30 a.m., but the bus was late and arrived at 8:55 a.m.

Vasai MRTC bus Depot

    

    We boarded a Jawahar MSRTC bus and got off at the Usgaon Dhar stop at around 10:30 a.m. We had a snack at the neighbouring stall, crossed the Vajreshwari road, and began walking to Usgaon Dam.

    Note: Usgaon Dhar is 33 km from Vasai MSRTC Bus Depot and will take 1 hour to reach. The Usgaon Dhar bus stop is the fourth stop prior to the Vajreshwari temple stop. There are no proper restaurants or dhaba for lunch or breakfast; hence, it is recommended to carry enough food and water with you. Do not try Usgaon dam trek route without expert, forest is dense and high chance to lost in it. 

Route towards Usgaon Dam

Gavdevi Temple

    We follow the Usgaon Dam Road. After 1 km of trail, we come across Gavdevi temple, which is a sign that we are on the correct path. Also, Gumtara Mountain is clearly visible. We move ahead for the next 1 km and reach Usgaon Dam. By taking the right turn, we reach the Usgaon dam wall. Follow the route and reach the Usgaon Dam backwater. The place is silent and beautiful. We took some rest under a tree, took some beautiful photos, and moved ahead towards Gumtara Mountain.

Usgaon Dam backwater

Usgaon Dam backwater

    We reached a base village (aadivasi pada) at around 11:30 a.m. and inquired about the route towards Gumtar. With the help of locals, we reached the mountain, but we are in doubt about the exact route that will take us to Gumtara Fort. We came across a house where family members were busy with their daily farming work. We asked them about the exact route, and they guided us with the information they had, but one line surprised us and increased our tension: "No one uses this route to reach Gumtara fort; We have not visited the fort from here". If you want to go, then follow the water stream in the opposite direction, which will take you to Bail Kada; from there, go towards Gumtara."

House at base village

     Note: The actual route is Ambadi--> Dugad--> Mohilil village, from where the Gumtara trek starts, but we are trying to discover new routes; try only with experts and with proper trekking equipment.

    We asked the villager for a guide, but they were busy with farming work, so we decided to go ourselves. By following the instructions, we entered the jungle and started following the water stream route. Within 15–20 minutes, we were stuck and unable to find a clear route. We were searching for a route for almost 30 minutes, and after a hard try by a trek expert, we found one that goes inside the jungle in an upward direction. We realise that the jungle is untouched; very rarely do people come here. We also saw a giant wooden spider, the first time I had seen such a big spider.

Giant Wooden Spider

Gumtara Jungle

    We are moving ahead with trek expert Shailesh; we have crossed a small mountain and started descending towards another water stream. We took a 20–30 minute rest and started our trek. It was almost 12:30 p.m. now. We crossed the water steam and moved forward, following the water steam in the opposite direction (upward). We are almost out of water, so we are searching for a clean water stream. Finally, we found one where we refilled our water bottles, but at the next move, we realised that we were lost and needed to find a clear route. We found one route and started following it, but after 20–30 minutes, we reached a dead end. We took a U-turn and came back to the place where we refill our bottles. We almost wasted 30 minutes.

 

    Trek expert Shailesh gave one more a try to find a route, and he had succeeded. It was almost 1:00 p.m., and we had crossed half of the trail and reached above Bail Kada. From there, the Usgaon Dam is clearly visible. We move ahead towards Gumtara, trying to match the Gumtara fort location with our location, but we are in the middle of the jungle, and due to a low network, we are unable to do so.

Jumtara Jungle

Note: I observed only Jio SIMs having a network, so at least keep one Jio SIM with you in an emergency.

    Almost after a walk of 30 minutes, we reached a plateau. We moved ahead by leaving the water stream and observed that we had reached a dead end. Once again, Shailesh tried hard to find the route, and he successfully found the route. The actual route was covered with bushes. He cleared the route, and we moved ahead towards Gumtara and realised the density of the jungle, hardly Sun light reaching the ground, and that Jio's SIM was out of network. If any incident happened, we were helpless and could not call anyone for help.

    With safety in mind, we still moved ahead and once again crossed a water stream. We were tired of going to the opposite side of the mountain to find a route to reach the top, and once again we reached a dead end. The Treak expert tried hard to find the route, as we are only a short distance (3–4 floors) away, but didn't find a clear and safe route, and we also ran out of time.

Water Stream

    It was 2:00 p.m., and the trek expert said he would try to find a route only for the next 10–15 minutes; after that, we have to start the return journey, as we are in dense forest and the sun's light hardly reaches below. Also, in the winter season, sunset happens early. He tried for 15 minutes but was unable to find a route to reach the top. Unfortunately, we had to stop our search and start our return journey.

     At first, we lost the route but were able to find and follow the same route for the return journey, keeping the instruction of the expert in mind that we needed to reach base village at 5 p.m. and follow the route that goes downward. At least we will reach the base village.

    While on our return journey, we found the clear route but ran out of time; hence, we kept this information for our next attempt and moved ahead for base village. When we reached the plateau, we missed our original path from where we came and mistakenly moved towards the right as we were in a hurry, but this path was also going downward, so we relaxed and kept moving.

Selfi Mysel, Vilas Uncle and Shailesh

    After 1 hour of descent (3:30 p.m.), we saw one hut where cows were kept, which is a sign of human presence. We kept moving and came across a water fall named "Bokad Kada Falls." We kept on moving, as we needed to reach the base village before sunset.

    At around 4:30 p.m., we reached the water stream, took a rest for 15–20 minutes, had some fruits, and moved on. After 10–15 minutes of walking, we saw that the villager was busy with farming work. We inquired about the route for Vajreshwri Road, and the man said to follow the same path till the "Shaitan Pull" bridge; from there, you will get an autorickshaw. We realise that we descend from different routes, but we are not aware of our exact location. When we search on Google, we come to know that we are 15–20 km away from our starting point, which is beyond Vajreshwari temple.

    We started from Usgaon Dhar, the 4th stop before Vajreshwari Temple, and descended to Ghotgaon, which is the next stop after Vajreshwari Temple.

Old tree in jungle

    After 30 minutes of walking, we reached a village, and luckyly, we got an autorickshaw. The auto driver is a kind person; we asked him to drop us off at Shaitan Pul, but he guided us to get down at Ganesh Puri bus depot so that we could get a bus for Vasai or Virar depot.

    We reached the Ganeshpuri bus depot at around 6:00 p.m. We inquired about the bus, which comes at 6:00 p.m. but as usual, the MSRTC punctuality bus arrived at 6:30 p.m. which is already full, there is no place to stand inside the bus. So we decided to go by rickshaw, spent 150 rupees, and reached Virar station at around 7:30 p.m. We boarded the Churchgate local and got off at Goregaon station at around 8:50 p.m.

Gumtara view from Ghotgaon

    Though the trek is incomplete, we didn't reach the top, but we learned new things and experienced nature's beauty. Next time, we will definitely find the route towards Gumtar Fort via Usgaon Dam.

    Thank's a lot to Mr. Shailesh Sawant, a trekking expert, and Vilas Uncle for the trek expenses.    

Spending Tracker (Excluding Food)

Time Tracker

    Note : Recommended to use private vehicle, to avoid wait time for buses. Also try to start trek in morning as early as possible.

Places to see nearby

Vajreshwari temple was renovated by Chimaji Appa, brother of Peshwa Bajirao.

Ganeshpuri hot spring water tanks

Mandakini mountain and caves

Random Clicks