Madangad Fort

Madangad
Madan gad from Alang gad
Highest point
Elevation	4900 ft
Coordinates	19°35′23″N 73°38′57″E / 19.5896°N 73.6492°E / 19.5896; 73.6492Coordinates: 19°35′23″N 73°38′57″E / 19.5896°N 73.6492°E / 19.5896; 73.6492
Naming
Translation	मदनगड (Marathi)
Geography
Madangad Location of Madangad, Maharashtra
Location	Ambewadi, Maharashtra, India
Parent range	Western Ghats
Geology
Mountain type	Hill Fort

Madangad is a fort in the Nashik region of Maharashtra, India in the Kalsubai range.

Unlike Alang fort, top of the fort is a relatively small and tilted plateau. On the fort, there is a caves and 2 water cisterns. There are no man made structure, building remnants over the fort. Alang, Kalasubai, Aundha Fort, Patta and Bitangad are to the east of the fort, Harihar, Trymbakgad and Anjaneri to its north and Harishchandragad, Aajobagad, Khutta (pinnacle), Ratangad and Katrabai to its south and Kulang on the west.

Igatpuri/Kasara-Ghoti-Pimpalnermor-Ambevadi route. First reach Kasara station which is on Nashik-Kalyan route. Take a cab for Rs. 1200/- which will drop you at Ambewadi or Samrad. From Samrad hire a local guide for Rs.1500/ per 10 persons. The guide will manage 2 breakfast, 3 meals and all necessary equipment( ropes, carabiners, harness etc.) for ascending and descending.

Alang, Madan and Kulang are situated in same region and are beside each other in the same range of mountains. To reach Alang or Madan, go to Kasara or Igatpuri and then Ambevadi by the Igatpuri/Kasara-Ghoti-Pimpalnermor route. There is a bus service from Ghoti to Ambevadi. Ambevadi is 32 km away from Ghoti. A bus is available at 6 a.m. from Ghoti to Ambevadi. We can easily see Alang, Madan and Kulang from there. From Ambevadi, a way goes to the ridge between Alang and Madan, which may take up to 3 hours. From the ridge, the fort visible on the left is Alang, while the one on the right is Madan.It takes 2 to 3 hours to reach at the top of Madan from the col. There are three parts of climbing the Madan.

This parts has valley exposed narrow patches of walk which makes the trek unique and adventurous. Steps are bit small and have exposed valley on one side at Madan. Walking on steps at Madan becomes challenging if you are carrying too much of volume i.e big ruck and sleeping mat, as if sleeping mat collides with rock wall on one side of steps, because of pressure push you on the side of valley. You reach to next step, steep rock patch in around 30 to 45 minutes.

You have to climb the rock path of around 40 ft with the help of ropes,harness, carabiners etc. It might take 30 minutes to 1 hour to setup the ropes and get whole group up. This is the thrilling part of the trek. Since Madan has only one route to climb and descend, same patch you will have to descend.

After the rock patch is climbed the path takes a western detour through a very narrow ridge.These are the most dreaded and continuous small steps engraved into the forts top part. Top part of fort looks like like a single giant rock in the arial view. These steps are not even and quite small which makes difficult to climb and very difficult to descend. This part takes around 30 to 45 minutes. Again it makes difficult to walk with lot of volume in this part of climb.