Tikona - Tung Trek

Tung on the left, Tikona on the right.

Tikona is a friendly trek. It is a really good choice for a beginner or someone who wants to do a leisure trek. But what makes this trek superb is the scenic surroundings. Located besides Pavana Lake, Tikona (the name translates roughly to triangular) gives a splendid view across the lake where you can see Tung fort and Lohagad - Visapur forts at a distance.

Lohagad - Visapur as seen from Tung.

Tikona is strewn with yellow flowers called Bristly Smithia that makes the climb heavenly.

Bristly Smithia. You can see the Tung peak in the background.

We had done Tikona earlier and knew that it is not that strenuous a trek so thought of adding Tung to it. The plan was to drive to the base village called of Tikona called Tikona Peth (via Mulshi - Pirangut - Paud) do a quick Tikona trek and then drive down to Tung (via Javan) and climb from the base village called Tung Wadi. The right turn to Tung Wadi is a little confusing. Better to keep checking with the local folks.

Tung does look formidable from Tikona, but as you see it from the side, it looks assailable. The route up is quick but steep with an ascent all along the route. The stony, barely-visible route does add to the adventurous charm. I believe Tung is not that visited by trekkers.

Slightly hidden route.

This time around with the receding monsoon, we had to do the trek under proper sunny conditions. From the past experiences where we were blanketed by think fog or clouds with intermittent rains, the sunny, hot, and humid environment ensured that we kept sipping water every other time. But the conditions helped to get excellent pictures. We had started around 7:00 in the morning and by 1/1:30 pm we were done with both the forts.

Then, the usual haunt of butter chicken! :)

The special feeling of climbing Tikona and looking at Tung and then climbing Tung and looking at Tikona was splendid. These are the moments that make us plan a trek almost every other weekend.