Members: Pranjal Wagh, Rajesh Raut, Nitesh Jagwani, Ketan Kinkale, Siddhesh Patil and Sambhaji Chopdekar.
Surgad (Soorgad) is accessible through the base village - Vaijnath, 2 km away from Khamb on the Mumbai Goa National Highway, which is reachable from Nagothane.
In monsoon, its top is covered with thick grass and hence, it may not be advisable to explore it then. However, it's altogether an amazing experience to visit forts in the Sahyadris in this season due to beautiful greenery around and immense water availability en route.
So, visiting Surgad during monsoon was a well-thought decision by all of us. The route to the fort starts from a small gully beside the Maruti temple @ Vaijnath and leads to two well-built wells - the second, being installed in the stream itself.
The path after crossing
this very stream through the thick woods is easy to follow due to the
path-markings (rekhi) and some great work done by the Durgveer
Pratisthan 
.
Soon we came at a plateau from where the South col is clearly visible.
We negotiated the thick jungle and came across the junction where there is a small sign-board indicating the route through the South col. Just before the ascent from the South col, there is a small water cistern.
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| GoPro loaded with Pranjal Wagh (Waghya!) :D |
We entered the fort from the South col which might be dangerous at some points in monsoon - a rope would be of great help. There are small steps carved in the path at the upper part but the path may become slippery due to the waters! We committed the mistake of not carrying rope - a great learning lesson for sure!
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| South col route! |
Nevertheless, we could negotiate it - thanks to the useful guidance of Pranjal Wagh (Waghya).
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| The dilapidated gate of Surgad |
We then explored the fort till its Northern end. It is enriched with some wonderful monuments such as mustache bearing Maruti, ruins of a big house, stony throne, Shiv-Pindi, a big water cistern beside it, a complex of five water cisterns in the middle part, plinths of some dilapidated houses and a mighty bastion followed by a stone carved with Farsi script.
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| Five water cistern complex |
The path further was not easily identifiable. Pranjal took immense pains to search it for but in vain.
Finally, we were forced to come back to the South col to descend the fort. It was a little bit scary as it started drizzling in between with some strong winds but due to able support from our Waghya, we were through to the base SAFELY.
The fort is quite beautiful as it offers the amazing necklace view of Kundalika river from the Southern end.
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| Kundalika river |
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| Mustache bearing Maruti |
