Dukes Nose trek | Nagphani | Monsoon trek | Kurvande | Lonavala | Pune | Pious Pravasi

District - Pune

Base village - Kurvande

Height of the peak - 3200 feet

Time - 1 hour

Grade - Easy

Endurance level - low

Nearest railway station - Lonavala

Mumbai to Kurvande - 90 km

Pune to Kurvande - 80 km

Dated - 24 July 2022

You must have seen a mountain standing like the hood of a snake in the Khandala ghat while traveling via Mumbai - Pune highway. That is Nagphani hill and also known as Dukes Nose.

Dukes nose view from Khandala ghat

Lonavala is a favorite of all for a day trip from Mumbai/Pune and Nagphani/Dukes nose is famous for trekking in the Lonavala area. Since it is an easy grade trek, not only do new trekkers come here, but adventurous activities like rappelling, rock climbing, camping, slackline, and valley crossing are also done here which attracts rock climbers from all over India.

This hill is the reason why I halt at Ghat on every Mumbai Pune trip I do. Sometimes it would be hidden in the fog & clouds and sometimes it would come out slowly from the fog and give darshan. For the last two years, I only observed this peak from the Ghat. 

October 2020

June 2021

But never got the chance to go on top of it. But in the rainy season of 2022, I did this trek from Kurwande village. This blog is of that Pravas.

Apart from Kurvande village, you can also do the trek to Nagphani/Dukes nose from Khandala railway station which is lengthy and bit a confusing as compared to the trek from Kurvande village.

How to reach base village Kurvande

At 6 in the morning, I came from Kharadi, Pune via Dehu Road and proceeded to Lonavala via Mumbai Pune Old Highway. I was coming from here by bike alone. Two of my trekker friends from Mumbai were coming to Lonavala. Reached Lonavala after traveling about 80 km from Kharadi - Khadki - Dehu Road - Kamshet - Karla. We met at Lonavala around 8 o'clock. We had breakfast at the bus depot and proceeded to Kurwande village from Bazar Marg.

Going towards Kurvande village

The distance from Lonavala to Kurwande village from where the trek starts is about 6 km. Instead of taking the road going to Bhushi Dam from Lonavala Lake, we took the right path towards Kurwande village.

Way to Kurvande village

Lonavala Lake was visible on the left side during the journey. 

Lonavala lake

You can get an Auto rickshaw to reach Kurwande village from Lonavala but most of the trekkers take their own vehicles or walk for a distance of 6 km. A parking facility is available in the village.

Selfie with trekker friends at Kurvande village

Parking facility in the village

Trek begins

As there was thick fog, we started the trek by asking the villagers for the initial route. 

Trek starts from the village

The trek route leading to Nagphani starts from behind the Leela Villa. You can note this as an important checkpoint of the trek.

Trek route starting behind Leela villa

Since the trek route is easy to identify, so there is less chance of getting lost or forgetting the route. 

Trek route behind Leela villa

It is good if Nagphani hill can be seen in front. But during the rainy season, due to the thick fog and cloudy weather, Duke's nose hill becomes invisible.

Trek in dense fog and heavy rain

There were many small routes along the way but we continued to walk on the one that was the widest.

Wide trek route

After fifteen minutes, of trekking some distance, we started our ascent upwards by the route on the right.

Ascent upwards by the right side route

The fog was so thick that we had no idea whether we were climbing Duke's nose Mountain or the neighboring mountain. If you are going to be in a group, everyone should stay together. As the climb from Nagphani hill is a bit steep and dangerous in the rainy season, our plan was to climb the hill next to Nagphani and then go to the top of Nagphani. As we climbed a little higher and the fog subsided a little, then Nagphani hill came into view, and we realized that we had climbed from the neighboring mountain as planned.

Nagphani hill

Climbing the hill next to the Nagphani

Whenever we looked back while climbing, we could see the play of fog and clouds. It rained from time to time.

Play of Fog and Clouds

After climbing up, the path on the left side leads to the top of the Nagphani, while going straight, one can reach the cliff of the mountain next to the Nagphani. We headed for the cliff.

Going towards the cliff

The path to the cliff is very short, with rain and wind. This place is as attractive as it is dangerous. Even the slightest mistake can cost lives.

Mountain cliff

Nagphani / Dukes nose

Selfie at the cliff

Seeing the valley between these two mountains, which are a few feet apart from each other, is heartbreaking. The thrill of crossing the valley between these two mountains also takes place here occasionally. Now we headed to Nagphani.

Going back from the cliff

Going towards the Nagphani

After climbing a little further, within a few minutes we reached the Shiva temple on the top of Nagphani.

Climbing up to the Nagphani

Top of the Nagphani

Shiva temple

A railing has been installed here for safety. It took about an hour to reach Nagphani hilltop from Kurwande village.

Shivling

We got to know some fellow trekkers from the H. A. trekking club.

H. A. trekking club memmbers

We had lunch together and waited for some time to get a view of the ghat and surrounding mountains from the top.

Lunch with H. A. trekking club members

Waited some time to see the view from the top

But the fog was not subsidizing. Finally, after visiting the temple once again, we started our way back. 

Way back to Kurvande village

We returned to Kurwande village in half an hour in thick fog, gusty wind, and rain. Even after insisting the H. A. trekking club members to drop them on our vehicles at Lonavala station, they decided to walk for 6 km. They will definitely meet again sometime in some such Pravas. On the way back to Lonavala station spent some time at Lonavala lake.

Going to Lonavala lake

Lonavala lake

Return journey

Came back to Lonavala, and we had tea and breakfast for a while. I Bought Chikki from the market and my friends headed towards Mumbai while I headed towards Pune. Again traveling through Mumbai Pune old highway from Lonavala - Karla - Kamshet - Dehu Road - Khadki and reached Kharadi after 2 hours.

Our Pravas ends here. 

Click on Duke's nose to watch a YouTube video of this Pravas.

Click on Pune to read other trek blogs in the Pune district.

Jai Shivray

#nagphani #dukesnose #monsoontrek #kurvande #lonavala #pune #piouspravasi