via Sindola › Udhlya › Gunya › Bhojgiri › Chaurya › Nimgiri–Hanumantgad
A chain of summits strung above Malshej Ghat and closed by the twin forts of Nimgiri and Hanumantgad — the EST's biggest peakbagging stage, where the walking between hamlets is easy, and everything upward is not.
We don't assign difficulty ratings to routes. A single word like “moderate” hides what actually matters: which hazards, which skills, which season. One hiker's easy is another's accident. Instead, terrain, hazards and skills are spelled out for every leg of a route.
No closures, access changes, or incidents currently reported on this stage.
Most of this stage sees only firewood collectors, shepherds and cattle, and Gunya sees almost nobody. The exception is the Nimgiri–Hanumantgad pair at the end, where rock-cut steps and installed railings bring regular fort traffic.
Trail Pressure is a HikeX signal that helps distribute hikers across the trail network, reducing pressure on overcrowded routes and helping prevent places from being loved to death.
The full route walkthrough video for this stage is being produced and will appear here once published.
This stage is a hard no in monsoon, and the reasons are concentrated on the climbs rather than the connecting trails.
The rain stops, the grass browns off, and the ground and rock give reliable grip.
Too hot to hike.
NH61 (MTDC Resort)›Unnamed Khind›Sindola›Udhlya›Vangaiwasti›Gunya›Paanchkiwasti›Bhojgiri›Talmachiwadi›Dev Daundya›Chaurya›Taleran Route›Nimgiri Fort›Hanumantgad›Khandichiwadi
From the MTDC resort on National Highway 61, the route takes a southern approach through open forest, crosses a flat plateau, and enters a gully. Another open forest section brings you out at the saddle between two peaks — Sindola to the east, Udhlya to the west. You are now hiking south of Malshej Ghat.
Sindola is a watchtower rather than a fort. The trail contours along its southwest-facing slopes, and this is where you are most likely to meet locals — women collecting firewood, often barefoot, usually early morning when they do their rounds.
From the contour, the trail climbs to Sindola's main ridgeline and approaches the summit as a gradual balcony trail on soft, palpable ground. Higher up, it becomes rock-cut steps, and a final gully puts you on top. There is an old shrine, a flat summit plateau, and a single orange flag on the edge. Good vantage point. You return the same way to the saddle.
The contouring trail here is not well used. The canopy drops to about four feet, and you will be walking bent over. Locals told me fewer of them use this line now, but the clues on the ground are still there the whole way.
From the saddle, the trail contours at 850 m and joins the main Udhlya line, which climbs a south-facing ridgeline. The way up is straight and steep. There are a couple of installed iron ladders and one short section where you have to crawl. The ridgeline is windy.
On top is a small white temple structure.
From Udhlya the trail drops to the 800 m contour. At the base is a single house — the first water on the stage.
The building is dilapidated. Its shadow is the only shade on this summit and the obvious place to take a break, but the walls are not sound. Leaning on them could be fatal. Sit clear of the structure.
A straightforward kilometre of contouring brings you to the isolated dwelling of Vangai Vasti, at the base of Gunya.
The climb goes through open forest, then rocky steps as the trail turns west — be careful through this section. Above that, expect tall grass and effectively no trail. Very few people go all the way up Gunya, and nothing has been worn in.
You return the same way to Vangai Vasti.
With no line to follow and grass covering the ground, poles give you the support and the probe you need on the way up and the way down.
A long contour to a hamlet whose name tells you its size — paanch means five, and there are five houses.
The most prominent trail of the day, kept open by firewood collection and cattle grazing. Open forest most of the way, then it opens out at the top.
Bhojgiri is not a summit so much as a tabletop — a kilometre long. There are remnants of old shepherd huts, no longer in use. This is one of the great vantage points on this part of the EST: peaks, forts, ghatvaats and ranges in every direction, and you can pick out the stages you have already walked from up here.
You return to Paanch Ki Wasti the same way. There is no other line off Bhojgiri.
A contouring trail across a series of farmlands.
One sustained steep climb up the northeast-facing rock face of Chaurya. Forest at the base, then a thin trail working up through the rock. It is steep, but it goes.
The climb tops out at another disused shepherd hut. This is the water point, and it sits on the common saddle between Dev Daundya and Chaurya.
The trail runs north along the ridgeline. Before the mandir, there is a 20-foot rock climbing patch requiring basic rock climbing skills. Above the patch the ground is open scrub. There is a solar panel installed. The mandir is small and cannot serve as a rain shelter.
Return to the water point.
From the water point, the trail goes up to Chaurya itself. Unlike every other summit on this stage, Chaurya has trees on top — which means the trails up there are thin and the ground is greener. You come back down the same way.
The way off Chaurya is around its south face, so you circumnavigate the mountain rather than descending the way you came. The trail drops through a gully and settles onto roughly the 1200 m contour. This is the Taleran route.
The trail runs through karvi standing at least seven feet on both sides — a green tunnel for much of it — before you reach the ridgeline and the saddle between Chaurya and the twin forts of Nimgiri and Hanumantgad. Rock-cut steps here, on a mostly open ridgeline, then a section of open forest on the way down with a single trail to follow.
Just before Khandichiwadi, the trail takes a sharp left and climbs north towards the forts.
Finding where the Taleran route leaves requires attention. The line itself is clear once you are on it but the split is not obvious.
A very prominent approach — a series of rock-cut steps with railings installed.
Nimgiri comes first: a short, quick, steep climb to a flat top with water cisterns. Come back down to the saddle, then climb Hanumantgad, also on rock-cut steps, and return the same way.
At the base is the Maruti Mandir, dedicated to Lord Hanuman, and beside it a remarkable cluster of Veerghal.
From the mandir the trail runs east-southeast to the settlement of Khandichiwadi, where the stage ends.
Approaching Sindola, there is a mapped trail from Karanjale on the east face. If you keep contouring, you would eventually hit it and can climb to the main ridgeline from there.
If you find any locals, always stop and ask.
No side trails or alternative routes on this stage.
| Exit to | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Haudachi Waat | Mapped | From the saddle below Udhlya, before the contour to Vangai Vasti, down to NH 61. 1 km · 200 m descent. |
| Devichiwadi | Unmapped | From Dev Daundya to Devichiwadi. Unmapped — beehives reported on this line. |
| Getting to the start | NH61 | — |
No car. No expensive taxi. No complicated planning.
It works across most of the EST because almost every village has a daily ST bus. Where the timing fails, hitchhiking is common along the route.
| Dayhike | Route | Distance | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sindola and Udhlya | NH 61 → saddle → both peaks → return | — | Two summits off the highway. Balcony trail, iron ladders and a crawl section. Fully dry — carry everything. |
| Bhojgiri | Paanch Ki Wasti → Bhojgiri → return | 5 km · +300 m | The easiest trail and the best view on the stage. A kilometre-long tabletop summit. |
| Nimgiri and Hanumantgad | Khandichiwadi → twin forts → return | — | Rock-cut steps and railings, water cisterns on Nimgiri, and the Veerghal cluster at the base. |
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A mapped trail is part of a digital trail network on an open platform. An unmapped trail exists on the ground but hasn't been digitised yet — someone needs to hike it, record it, verify it and put it up so it becomes available for everyone.
| Route | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Main stage line: NH 61 → Khandichiwadi | EST main route | Mapped |
| Sindola out-and-back | EST main route | Mapped |
| Udhlya summit line | EST main route | Mapped |
| Gunya out-and-back | EST main route | Mapped |
| Bhojgiri out-and-back | EST main route | Mapped |
| Chaurya climb and summit | EST main route | Mapped |
| Dev Daundya out-and-back | EST main route | Mapped |
| Taleran route | EST main route | Mapped |
| Nimgiri · Hanumantgad out-and-back | EST main route | Mapped |
| Haudachi Waat (Udhlya saddle → NH 61) | Exit | Mapped |
| Dev Daundya → Devichiwadi | Exit | Unmapped |
Some routes here are still unmapped or under-documented. If you're an experienced hiker who wants to record them — or you already hold a GPX or trail intel for any route here — help us document them.
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India's first continuous, fully mapped long-distance hiking trail — 1,724 km and 40 stages across the Sahyadri.
Learn more about EST →Disclaimer. Hiking involves inherent risk, including serious injury and death. This page documents conditions as recorded on specific dates; trails, water sources, access, and hazards change without notice. You are responsible for your own decisions, skills, and safety. HikeX provides this documentation as-is and accepts no liability for its use. Verify conditions locally before you walk, and turn back when conditions exceed your skills.