Ahupe to Kondval

Immediately next to Ahupe is the small hamlet of Waghmalwadi. From there the trail hugs the crest line before dropping onto Ahupe Ghat — a broad path with a long series of rock-cut steps, and one of the well-known descents in this part of the range.

It takes you from around 900 m all the way down to a riverbed at 200 m. There is one clear main trail throughout, so navigation is not the difficulty here; the sustained descent is. The terrain runs open forest at first, then opens into scrub.

Where the trail crosses the dry riverbed at the 200 m contour, the EST turns immediately south and starts climbing towards Gorakhgad.

The climb is gradual until you reach the main gully at around 350 m. The next 100 m of gain is considerably steeper.

On the saddle there is a temple, and this is a water point. You will usually find people here — priests stay at the temple throughout the year.

From the saddle, continue northwest to the base of Gorakhgad. The trail is prominent.

The climb is only about 50 m of gain, but expect a great many rock-cut steps. You pass through the main entrance into the fort complex, and further along the east-facing slope you come to a set of large Buddhist caves.

There are Indian macaques here. Unlike the ones on the Brahmagiri gully, these do not bother hikers — no monkey tax on this stage.

Contouring north from the caves, another series of rock-cut steps brings you to the top of what is really a watchtower, where there is a temple to Lord Shiva. This is the high point of the fort.

Return the same way to the temple on the saddle.

Most hikers leave this saddle by the northern route down to Deheri. The Epic Sahyadri Trail does not. It goes west, through relatively thick forest, on a route that is rarely used — the people at the temple may not encourage you to take it.

There is a faint trail. It drops into the valley west of the saddle; stay in the centre of the gully and it will bring you out at Dhaapadpada, a hamlet of two houses in a very quiet landscape. The people living there are usually surprised to see hikers arrive from this direction.

This is a raw and pristine piece of trail, and that is precisely why it is on the EST rather than the popular line north.

From Dhaapadpada the route runs slightly southwest, then north to Siddhagadpada, the base village for Siddhagad. The fort is directly in front of you from here and its prominence is unmistakable.

Refill at Siddhagadpada. The trail then turns south through open scrub and climbs gradually. Just before the gully the ground changes: open scrub gives way to a rocky gully full of boulders, which delivers you to the main entrance of Siddhagad Fort, an old and massive doorway.

From the saddle, leave west. At the base there is a small hamlet, Siddhagadmachi, at around 600 m. From there a southern approach on rock-cut steps takes you to the top of Siddhagad, another watchtower fort, at 860 m.

That is 260 m of gain in a short distance — steep, direct and a genuinely tough push.

From the top, return to the junction where there is a temple, then back to the saddle.

From the saddle, descend south to Zakh Maata Mandir, a small shrine hidden in the forest at the khind.

The character of the stage changes completely here. Everything so far has followed the gully system; from here the route moves onto the plateau on the eastern side, heading from the Siddhagad massif towards Damdamiya Dongar.

Expect a very thin trail contouring the crest line across a broad plateau, with few signs of human movement. Locals come through occasionally for firewood; otherwise this feels genuinely remote.

The forest thickens and opens by turns. You cross one major gully — since you are contouring there is little net height change, but expect some bushwhacking on the crossing. Hold the mapped line and keep your directional sense sharp and you will come out into open scrub.

Here another marked trail comes up from the Konkan side to the west, and the two merge near the 600 m contour.

This is the section from the planning note at the top, and the most interesting part of the stage. The route joins Umber Dara.

This is one of the densest forest sections we have seen anywhere in the Sahyadri. It is dark, it is wild, and the trail is genuinely difficult to pick out on the ground. Small cairns mark the way and they will guide you, but you have to stay alert the entire time.

This is where the ability to read terrain clues and navigate properly stops being useful and becomes necessary. It is not a beginner-friendly route. For an experienced hiker who enjoys tricky navigation and truly wild forest, it is exceptional.

Working out where a trail goes when the ground gives you almost nothing — cairns, worn edges, the shape of the slope, and the discipline to stop and confirm rather than push on — is one of the 16 skills taught in the HikeX Hiking Field Course. Umber Dara is where you find out whether you have it, several hours from anywhere, in a forest where you cannot see far.

The trees here are enormous and old — some of them thick enough that five people together would struggle to link arms around the trunk. It is the kind of landscape where large wildlife, carnivores included, can live undisturbed.

Coming out of the forest, traverse a rock slab, which is not difficult. Then a 100 m slab climb brings you to a large overhang — not quite a cave, more a concave feature in the rock face.

From the overhang, follow the red dots painted on the rock. They mark the line. A steep climb over rock faces finally returns you to the crest, at around the 900 m contour — the same elevation as Ahupe, where you started the day.

On network: you will usually have coverage through much of the Umber Dara climb. Across the stage as a whole it comes in patches, and mostly on higher ground.

Damdamiya Dongar sits just beside Zakh Maata Khind — and if you looked east from the top of Siddhagad earlier in the day, you will have already seen it.

The trail starts in open scrub and gradually enters the forest. Most of it is flat and it is not a steep out-and-back.

At the split there is a water source.

From the split, the trail reaches an unpaved forest road that runs the rest of the way, passing through Gawandewadi. It is around 6 km and almost entirely flat, with next to no traffic — it reads more like a very wide trail than a road.

Kondval marks the end of this stage.