Bhoirwadi to Khireshwar

The trail leaves Bhoirwadi through open scrub and starts climbing towards the plateau settlement of Damsewadi. The ghatvaat here is Bazarchi Waat, also called Payarachi Waat — the market route, or the foot route.

The hardest part is finding where the climb actually begins. Grass covers the entry for most of the year, and the route alternates between soft trail and rock-cut steps. Telling the difference between a walkable line and a 30–40 degree rock slope in front of you is not obvious from below.

The first flat shelf is a grazing plateau. Villagers bring cattle up in the morning, leave them there through the day, and collect them in the evening — that daily movement is the reason these trails exist at all. Expect cows and buffalo, not hikers.

From this shelf the trail does not climb steeply. It contours east, then narrows to a thin line that is again easy to lose.

You then close in on the rock face with the plateau visible above you, less than 100 m higher. Locals have installed large iron platforms on the face with stones laid across them, turning the rock into a walkable staircase. These are working routes — people carry loads up them on their heads — so instead of cutting the contours at 90 degrees, the line switchbacks and hairpins its way up. A series of these platforms brings you onto the top of the plateau.

Once on top, the trail turns north and stays broadly northwest for the rest of the stage. Five minutes in, you reach Vasubai Mata Mandir — a three-foot rock covered in sindoor with eyes marked on it, under a roof. The roof makes it a usable rain shelter. Damsewadi, about 10 houses, sits 300 m further on.

Damsewadi is your first water refill point. There are no streams anywhere on Bazarchi Waat — from Bhoirwadi to Damsewadi you carry everything you drink.

Looking east from here, you can see Bardu Mahadev Mandir, the white structure on the hilltop from the previous stage.

The trail contours flat across a large plateau, hugging the crest line, alternating between open scrub and patches of forest.

Close to Ranjana Dongar, the trail definition drops off. Keep your direction sense honest, and you will reach the base without trouble.

Survey of India maps mark this hill as Rajni Dongar. It was a watchtower. The final climb to the top is steep, and just below the summit there is a water cistern holding potable water year-round — one of the more dependable refill points on this stage.

The top is a genuine vantage point. You can see the line of the upcoming EST stages ahead of you, look back over the stages already walked, and see the full spread of the Pimpalgaon Joga Reservoir below.

Drop the 50 m to reach back to the base of Ranjana Dongar and continue along the crest line. About 2 km north, the descent through the Gayadhara ghatvaat begins.

It opens with a gully section, then enters thick forest. The problem here is the ground: it is loaded with rolling stones and scree, and arresting a slip is genuinely difficult. Carry trekking poles for this descent — they earn their weight on this leg specifically.

The route loses roughly 500 m, from around 1,200 m down to about 700 m, in under 2 km. The trail is thin in places but never disappears.

It brings you to Lokharwadi — the last water on this stage. Fill up here.

500 m north across farmland to Sablewadi. Pick up the trail climbing out from its northeastern edge.

This is Takorichi Waat, a ghatvaat that almost nobody walks.

It starts through open forest, then traverses a mountain slope, then commits into a gully. You may see shepherds up to the mouth of the gully but no further — there is nothing in there for cattle to graze, so nobody goes in.

Expect at least an hour of boulder work.

Higher up you climb a rock face. It needs no rock climbing skill and no four-point technique — you can stay hands-free almost the whole way. Above it you are back on the plateau at roughly 1,200 m, with a further massif about 200 m higher in front of you.

This is the trickiest navigation on the stage.

The forest is dense, and almost nobody comes through here, which raises the odds of surprising an animal at close range. Make your presence felt as you move so wildlife has time to clear out.

There are very few landmarks to work from. The line is essentially a single-contour traverse through forest — hold your bearing, hold your contour. Under 500 m north, the head of the next ghatvaat, Umberyachi Waat, begins.

You reach a viewpoint first, looking onto the sheer west-facing drops of Kandaka Dongar — a clean cross-section of the volcanic rock that built this range.

The descent starts from the edge of the plateau, and finding the entry is the crux of the whole stage.

The trail is buried in bushes. Stay too high, and you will end up on a ledge with nowhere to go forward. Stay on the correct contour, push into the bushes, and you will feel the trail under your feet even where you cannot see it.

Signal is good through this section. If you are unsure of the junction, you can call for help working it out.

You lose about 50 m, leave the gully, climb briefly, and come onto a ridgeline. Karvi covers this ridge, and the trail runs through it as you continue losing height. The ridgeline then releases you and the trail turns south, putting you at the base of a large rock face — forest below you, a black wall above you.

Contour along that ledge until the rock angle eases, then drop into the forest section. Karvi covers the trail here too, and there are rolling stones underfoot. You aim to keep orienting south while working your way steadily down and out towards the Pimpalgaon Joga Reservoir.

The section from about 1,200 m down to 850 m — 350 m of loss inside 2 km — is the hardest navigation on the stage and needs real observational skill. Do not walk Takorichi Waat and Umberyachi Waat as your first remote ghatvaats. Have some hiking experience behind you, or go in a group.

The trail U-turns and starts heading north again towards Khireshwar, holding the 800 m contour and running parallel to the eastern bank of the reservoir. The elevation keeps calling network connectivity good along this stretch.

The trail hugs that single contour and cycles through open scrub, open forest and dense forest in sequence, then drops to a small unnamed saddle. From the saddle, a broad path runs down to the road.

The last 2 km are road walking: through the small settlement of Patilwadi, then on to Khireshwar, the end of this stage.