How I Planned a 650 km Trek Across the Sahyadri

Intro

In December 2024, I hiked for 650 km across the Sahyadri Hills in the state of Maharashtra.

The distance was covered in 31 days with an average of 10 hours of hiking each day. There were no rest days and I carried a 30 liter backpack for this long-distance hike. There was no need to carry a tent as I slept in villages each day. The whole route was done in a Speed Hiking style.

Out of the 650 km route, 400 km of trails were unmapped. By the time you are reading this blog, I have mapped all the trails and all of them are available in public domain. I was never alone on any day as it was a Community Hike.


Hiking Stats

  • Distance: 650 km (pure trail, no roads)

  • Duration: 31 days (01 Dec 2024 - 31 Dec 2024)

  • Elevation Gain: 32,750 m

  • Hiking Duration: 303 hours (10 hours/day)

  • Style: Fastpacking (Carrying 8 kg backpack - 3k was the weight of drone)

I would like you to pause and imagine the amount of elevation gain. Elevation gain is what adds fun (if you are prepared) or suffering (if you are not prepared) to a hike. The height of Mount Everest from base camp (5,364m) to summit (8,849m) is 3,485 meters. I effectively climbed from Everest Base Camp to the summit nine times in a month

Check each day’s activity on my Strava profile.


Long-distance hikes done in the Sahyadri in the past

I did my first trek in the Sahyadris in 2017 but at that time I could not realize the potential that the landscape holds. After each edition of these long-distance routes I got addicted to doing new routes every time and mapping as many trails as possible.

It was during these 850+ kms done from 2022-2024 that I understood Sahyadri better and decided to do a long 650 km route with more than half of it being unmapped.

Note: I don’t repeat routes. So all these landscapes that I covering, I am navigating through them for the first time. I use my navigation, backpacking and hiking skills to ensure that I hike with a lot of confidence and never compromise on my safety in the wilderness.


What is an unmapped trail?

An unmapped trail does not mean that I am making a trail on the go bushwhacking through the landscape. An unmapped trail simply means that though the trail exists on ground, it is not mapped digitally so it is not shown on any of the offline navigation applications. Example: Maps.me, Mapy.cz, OsmAnd, AllTrails, Gaia etc.

The more trails we map, the safer the outdoors would become. I keep a track of all the hikes that I do and you can find all of them on my hiking timeline.


Route Planning

Route planning simply translates to “knowing the trail before you hit the trail”.

I research enough to manufacture a long-distance hiking route ensuring that I don’t need any technical gear and I always would have a backup trail if I get stuck somewhere due to any unforeseen circumstances.

Planning a long-distance hike is relatively difficult in India as most of the trails are not mapped. So, it is more or less a chance that I take and this ‘figuring out’ whether the trail is going to be there or not is what makes hiking in India a very skill building activity.

Please note that Route Planning is a part of the Trek Planning process. It takes a lot more than just route planning to execute such a long distance hike specially when more than half of the trails are unmapped. I will share my trek planning process for this hike in the next post which will cover: How do I pick the right season, how do I do wildlife research (animal behaviour and encounters in the area), how I decide what to carry (clothing, gear, food, water) and how do I optimize the weight of my backpack.

Coming back to route planning, my route planning process has six-steps.


Step 01 : Mapped Trail Network

I start by scanning through the mapped trail network of a region.

For the December 2024 hike, I wanted to start hiking from the Trimbak Mountain range present West of Nashik. At present, the best way to look at the mapped trails in a region is through hiking.waymarkedtrails.org.

I have made a short video on how you can use Waymarked Trails website to plan your treks. Use your laptop to view this website as it is not compatible on phone.

Things you can do using this website:

  • Know how many trails are mapped around a city or hill station. This is useful for people who are planning to work from hills.

  • Know about the distance and elevation gain of a trek so that you can pick the trail that you will find comfortable at your present fitness levels.

  • You can also download Gpx file and share it with other co-trekkers.

I keep mapping trails on OpenStreetMaps and all those trails reflect here and on any other offline map navigation app that you will use.

Once you know how to use this website you can start looking at the mapped trail network around any region and you can start planning your treks. This is useful when the region that you are heading to is new to you.

While planning a long-distance trek, my main goal is to avoid road sections as much as possible. So I look for the breaks in the mapped trails and then find unmapped trails that can avoid road sections and take me from one wilderness region to another.

For the December hike I decided to start from the West end of the Trimbak Range. The major forts in this range aligned (West to East) are as follows;

Bhaskargad > Utwad > Phani Dongar > Harihar > Trimbak > Anjaneri > Dangya > Ghargad.

All these forts had their individual trails from their respective base villages but they were not connected through a single trail and hence the motivation to choose this region to start the hike from. The mapped trails gave me the patches and now in the following steps I will use tools to figure our how can I connect these forts through a single trail so that it can become a Range Trek.

A Range Trek is basically a trek that encompasses one single Mountain Range. For our example above; the Trimbak Range.

Since I have already mapped all the trail routes that I did, the trail network in the region looks pretty rich as of now. Many of the sections in yellow and blue color were not there before.

Now this brings us to the next step of looking at old maps for trail references for the region, if any.


Step 02: Referring to old Survey of India Maps

You can download the Survey of India Maps (SOI Maps) for any particular region across the Indian subcontinent. They have a map scale of 1:50,000 (50k Topo Maps). Here's a short video on this.

In India, there are so many villages, lakes, mountain passes, peaks that are unmapped. Survey of India provides all the information about these important points of interest (POI). These are the only map source available for hikers in India.

While hiking in a region where you don’t even know the language, these maps become very useful as you can refer to these names and ask locals for directions using sign language.

I was able to hike through Meghalaya using this simple trick. You can watch the Meghalaya video series on YouTube here.

Once you have the map tile downloaded then you can look for hiking paths (red dash lines) and hiking trails (red dotted lines). These maps are very old so the chances of these trails routes being in use depends on a lot of factors but these old routes do give us an idea about how the locals use to interact with the landscape in the past.


SOI Map of the Anjaneri Reserved Forest of the Trimbak Mountain Range in Maharashtra

In this map tile you can see that the Anjaneri Temple has a trail present on the ridgeline. (If you look closer you can even see a temple symbol right above the [E] of RESERVED FOREST text). This was a potential trail connection and thus the obvious next step will be to check the satellite images for the same spot. Since this trail is on a ridgeline, chances are that we can see the trail in the summer tile of satellite maps. I usually use Google Earth or Google Maps Satellite view to look for trail clues.

One can clearly see a trail coming to Shri Hanuman Birthplace Anjaneri and then there is one faint trail going South. So this satellite view suggests that there is definitely a trail on the plateau. However, the trail is faint and if people are not using it then it might not exist.

I scanned the whole region from Nashik to Karjat using SOI Maps and noted down all the potential unmapped routes that the SOI Maps suggested. At the same time, I also checked the trails in Satellite Maps to make sure that I find some clue that the trail still exists in the region.

Now since I don’t have any other trekking maps for reference I will see what is available in the trekking community in Maharashtra. The best way to go ahead is to look for GPX files as they are pretty accurate.


Step 03: Scanning GPS trail repositories

There are platforms like Wikiloc, Ramblr and Strava where people record, save and share their hiking activities. This information is saved in the form of Gpx or KML files. Hikers install the app and record the trail using the app. Later, the route shows on their profile.

I then use the search feature in these platforms and check if someone has done a route that is unmapped. I use location or POI keywords like Bhimashakar, Basgad, Ganesh Ghat etc. If I find a Gpx file and if the route is unmapped then I first download it and then in Step 06 I decide how to include that route in my overall plan.

I searched for ‘Umber Dara’ and you can see the suggestions shown by Wikiloc.

I spend close to 4-5 hours on these websites and download all the relevant Gpx files. I will store them in a single folder on my laptop so that I can import them later in the app that I use for navigation in my phone.


Gpx files kept in one folder in my laptop.


Now, getting these route files does not mean that it I will be able to navigate smoothly through these routes. It depends on various factors like;

  • When did this person did the trek. If the hike was done 3 years ago then the trail might get closed if locals don’t use it anymore.

  • Are there any technical sections in this route that might require me to carry a tape sling or rope.

  • The wildlife that I need to be aware of while doing the particular route - Beehives, Red Ants, Snakes, Leopards, Sloth Bears, Bisons etc.

  • The flora also plays an important role. The brown spear grass (Kusal in Marathi) is very irritating and enters your shoes and socks. I try to avoid these sections wherever possible.

  • There are many routes in Sahyadris that favor ascent and many that favor descent. For example: Paathra Ghat is a route with rock climbing patches and scree sections. It is better to ascent through it rather than planning a descent.

To summarize, Gpx file is great for reference but make sure that you do not rely on them completely. The clues that we find on ground will always take priority.


Step 04: Phone Conversations with experienced hiker(s)

These first three steps itself I get a fair idea of how can I stay on the trail most of the times and avoid roads.

Now it is time to pick the brains of experienced hikers from the region. I usually always reach out to my friends from - Maharashtra Prasad Tandale and Mahadev Gadade - to further improve my hiking plan.

There are also some very informative books that you can read as a hiker and plan offbeat hiking routes. These books are written by experienced hikers but almost all of these books are written in Marathi.

Since I am from Rajasthan, it becomes difficult for me to read these books and plan hiking routes. This is where these phone conversations becomes very important in planning such a long hike. I make sure that I do my homework on the first three steps before reaching out to these hikers over a phone call.

I take notes from these phone conversations with Prasad and Mahadev bhai. The notes are taken down in the following formats:

  • For some trails I get a Gpx file shared by Prasad

  • For some trails Prasad draws a Gpx route using satellite maps or will share waypoints with me

  • For some trails we will refer to the same topo map and then they guide me using the relief features and contour lines on the call. I then draw the route on my own (discussed in Step 06) using Strava.

  • They also share the local names for few trail sections like, Ghodepanyachi Naal, Shidobacha Daar. These local names are very useful as I can ask the locals at the base village using these keywords. These names can never be found in Survey of India maps.

It is during these conversations, that I also educate myself about the do’s and don’ts for specific regions. Example:

  • The Hadsar and Hatkeshwar region is known for leopard sightings so while hiking I should not sleep in the open. I request locals to let me sleep in the hall inside their house. I stay extra careful while answering my nature calls early morning.

  • There is a patch of steep climb through scree on the Anghai Dongar trail, do not descent through this route. Plan your traverse in a way so that you ascent through this.


Note: The 650 km long hike in the Sahyadris is NOT a straight line traverse.

It is more of less like a spider web. I keep changing directions and I keep looping around. The agenda is simple, have fun, educate the community members so they they learn hiking, keep my ecological footprint minimal and map as many trails as possible.

At the end of Step 04, the whole route looks magnanimous in my head and since I have referred the maps so many times, all the names of villages, route etc. are there on my fingertips.


Step 05: Satellite and Contour check

The next step is where I will look for clues in satellite maps for all the routes that I have accumulated until now.

  • Check the condition of mapped trails in satellite view. Read blogs on each trail and accumulate all the crucial information. Example: Bus timings, local contacts, water availability etc.

  • I don’t do a satellite check for SOI maps as I have already done that in Step 02.

  • Check the satellite view of all the Gpx files and I will try to reach out to the specific profile (on wikiloc or ramblr) to gain more info.

  • I will specifically check the regions with closely stacked contour lines because these are the steep sections which might require a rope. Contours are the key to offline navigation. Even in my field course I spend a lot of time on contours module so that the students can be well versed with the concept.

Satellite and Contour Map comparison of Ajoba peak trail. I zoom in further to understand better.


Step 06: Stitch a route

I now have a tentative long route that I can hike through. I have already sort of manufactured the trail. The next step will be to break it into day-wise plan and also check the gross distance and elevation gain for the whole route.

The main aim here is to know the hiking stats (distance and elevation gain) for unmapped trail sections. In order to do so you would need a subscription on Strava.

  • Head on to strava.com/maps > Click on Create Route > Keep Manual mode toggle ON

  • I start drawing the route (tentative) using the map reference (Survey map, Gpx file, or instructions given on call) that I can open on another device.

  • As I draw the route I keep seeing the distance and elevation gain and loss.

  • For Speed Hiking in Maharashtra I usually keep 20 km distance with 1000 m elevation gain as a daily average.

Route Planning on Strava

I keep drawing the routes for each day and save them in “Routes” section in my profile.


Now I have a tentative route file (Gpx file) for each day. I do this exercise only when I want the community members to join me on this hike.

This is the overall process of planning a 500+ Km long route in the Sahyadri. You can use the same model for Himalayas too.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions and I will be happy to help.