Budget Hotels in Castle Rock

The route, to the Dudhsagar Waterfalls, starts from Castle Rock station. Once you alight at the station, the trek is nearly 14 Kms along the railway tracks until Dudhsagar station. Since mid-July 2015, the Indian Railways has strictly prohibited walking along the railway tracks due to an incident of unruly crowd resorting to stone pelting, climbing on the Train Engine and endangering the safety of other passengers on the train at Dudhsagar Railway station. We were among the first groups arriving for the Dudhsagar trek, after the restrictions imposed by the Railways. Hence we were not quite sure what to expect when we reached Castle Rock.

Last point of civilisation on the trek, which has its roots in the border of Karnataka and Goa

Starting point of the trek. Reached at 3.30am. There is cloak room where you can freshen up and start the trek.

The Murmagao railway line never delivered the economic impetus it was designed for and Bombay continued to grow as the most favored port of ships arriving from Europe. But today the route is used extensively for transferring goods over the Ghats and this is evident at Castle Rock railway station where trains loaded with a variety of goods await their turn to indulge in a roller coaster ride over the hills.

Castle rock to Dudhsagar falls is a 15km long walk and is probably one of the most beautiful hiking routes I have been on- away from the hustle bustle of the world, hidden within the bosoms of nature, largely untouched by man and glowing with all its glory during the monsoons. The pitch dark tunnels made way to brighter lands and wasn’t very different as coming out of the Wardrobe into the world of Narnia! Traversing through eleven tunnels (with the longest one being about half a kilometer long), watching out for the occasional oncoming trains, maneuvering through gravel, keeping a close eye on the wild monkeys, I was gradually moving to utopia with every step in a world covered by mist, rolling green hills, dark clouds and meandering streams. A little known railway station called Caranzol came into view around 8kms after I had started my quest and I never realized it disappearing into the mist. The rains poured without relief. I walked through some little falls which in most parts of the world would have become a major tourist attractions themselves. As I stepped out from one of the tunnels, there ran two sleek but really long falls that gently made their way down the hills into the valley below. It was quite a view to watch these falls standing on the escarpment viaducts- a small, but high rise bridge standing stop the valley, staring into the mouth of the tunnel.