Bhimashankar - 2011

A Solo Trek on a Solitary Track

Although I am writing this blog a year and a half after this trek (lazy me!), the memory is still fresh, as if I went there yesterday only!

Trekking is my hobby, and the Sahyadris near Mumbai provided me with an opportunity to do so during my MBA days. Bhimashankar would be my first ever trek and I dared to do it solo!

So, on 20^th February, off I went, alone, in the dark, to explore a territory unknown to me! Little did I know that the trek would prove to be quite difficult for a first-timer like me, that I’ll be lost and desperate for hours, that I would miss my first-aid kit badly, and that nevertheless, I’ll be going to have some of the best experiences of my life, albeit alone! 

Bhimashankar is one of the 12 Jyotirlingams. It is about 150 kms away from Mumbai, out of which, I covered 90 kms by the local train, 40-45 kms by shared tum-tums, and 15 kms by trekking. 

The mountains of Matheran en-route Karjat

I reached Karjat at around 8.30 am, and asked around for the ways to reach Khandas (from where trekking starts). I found out that there is no direct auto or bus. Thus, I would have to change 3 tum-tum rickshaw to reach Khandas village. Khandas village is nearly 40 kms far from Karjat.

I started my onward journey at 9.30 am. The tum-tums were very slow, and overloaded with people.

The 'superfast' tum-tum!

After 2 tum-tums I reached Kashele village at around 11.00 am. Khandas was still about 10 kms away. I searched for the tum-tum to Khandas, but couldn't find any. I was informed that the road is blocked due to some Marathon event, and it would clear only after 12.00 noon. 

Kashele village

Kashele village was rather dusty, and I whiled away time sitting at a small eatery. Soon I went to the tum-tum stand and found that the road has been cleared. So I boarded a tum-tum and reached Khandas at around 12.45 pm.

Khandas village

Khandas village

Khandas is a quaint little village on the foot of the massive walls of Bhimashankar range. There are two routes from here to Bhimashankar - Seedhi Ghat and Ganesh Ghat. The former is more difficult - seedhis or ladders are placed on the vertical patches of the route. I initially planned to hike via Seedhi Ghat, and then descend via Ganesh Ghat. However, the villagers told me, to my disappointment, that Seedhi Ghat is closed as one of the ladders is broken.

Bhimashankar range from Khandas village. The conical
shape on the right side of the pic is Padar Garh

On the very next day, I would be standing on the highest point of this range

The walls of Bhimashankar

Just 2 kms from Khandas village comes a bridge. The road from here to the left goes to Seedhi Ghat. I reconfirmed the situation at Seedhi Ghat from a passing villager - one of the ladders was indeed broken. Thus, with a heavy heart, I took a right turn for Ganesh Ghat. But later I realized that it was blessing in disguise!

View of a rivulet from the bridge

Padar Garh

I was enjoying my solitude, far from the rat race, the fast life, the maddening crowd of Mumbai! But, within half an hour, I was craving for a sight of a human being, for I was lost! Some 2-3 paths diverged from the main path, all leading to the dense forest! I had a morbid feeling about snakes - I could see some holes here and there, some of them covered with foliage. I could also hear some strange noises, as if an animal is following me...

The road converts to a track

The dense forest, the place where I lost my way!

Mushrooms sprouting from a dead tree-trunk

I had a nasty fall - a loose rock under my foot had slipped
and rolled. My elbow was all bloodied. I didn't had any
medicine or first-aid kit. I washed my wound with water.

After half an hour of roaming, exploring each trail and each time meeting the dead-ends, I decided to retrace my steps, hoping to find a villager. However, after just 100 meters of retracing, I found another path diverging upwards from the main path, which was most probably the correct path to Ganesh Ghat. After 10 minutes of walking, I came across a marking, which ended my desperation.

The marking

Info on Bhimashankar sanctuary

I could see the 'milestone' - the Ganesh temple - far ahead. I hastened my pace to make up for the lost time, and reached the temple at around 2.15 pm.

Steep climb

Self-potrait

View en-route Ganesh temple

The route to Ganesh temple

The Ganesh temple

View from the temple

Inside the Ganesh temple

There was no one at the temple. I had my lunch here - chocolates, biscuits and packed juice - in solitude. I rested here till 3.00 pm, and then proceeded.

View from the temple

I quickened my steps - it was already 3'O clock, and still at least 3 hrs of trek was left.

Padar Garh up-close

View of a cliff en route

Deep, but beautiful valleys

The path after the Ganesh temple climbs upwards towards the base of the Padar Garh. After this climb, one reaches the top of a 'plateau', which is just one of the two parts of the climb.

Padar Garh

It was quite hot, and I was half-running due to excitement. After about 45 minutes, I became out of breath due to extreme tiredness. I couldn't breathe fully - and developed dry coughing. "Stupid me!" I scolded myself, "I should have been more careful! This is only my first trek, I lack stamina to walk fast. Oh God, how would I be able to cover rest of the trek?"

The cliff of the first plateau

Various waterfalls emerge during monsoons here

The blue sky

I had some sips of water, and began to walk very slowly. Soon I came across an abandoned well, but full of water. There was a group of students resting nearby along with their teachers. They were also going to Bhimashankar. I decided to take some rest here.

Me resting

The other group left soon after I arrived. I was so tired that I took a half an hour break there. I was still breathless. But since it was well past 4'O clock, I decided to move nevertheless.

Walking on a relatively plain surface for next 1 hour brought back some breaths. After walking for an hour, suddenly, the trail ended, and another patch of the dense forest greeted me. It suddenly struck me, to my horror - "Oh no, I'm lost again!" I again retraced my steps, and found some trails diverging. The path downwards lead to a village. I spotted a villager working far below, and shouted "Bhimashankar?" "Upwards", he indicated. The path upwards lead to an a deserted compound with some small huts and a temple. I explored the compound and its vicinity, and found neither any person, nor any trail. The silence of the deserted compound was kind of eerie. A group of monkeys were staring from nearby trees. One of the monkeys jumped on me, and landed on my backpack. I jerked my backpack, and shook off the monkey. The other monkeys were watching the scene. I ran for life, to where the trail diverged. I stood there panting and desperate. "Think of something!" I told myself and thought of God.

The man and the 'sword'

I remembered what the villager indicated - "Upwards!". So, I decided to explore the compound's vicinity again, and this time, I went farther. The ground was full of foliage and dead leaves. I was vary of the monkeys above and the snake-holes below. Suddenly, I heard - footsteps - 'crunch, crunch...' on the dried leaves. Sure enough, there was an old man just behind the thicket. I was pleased to see him, but my pleasure was short lived. I asked him "Bhimashanker?" and he indicated me to follow him. To my horror, he clutched a foot long sword like knife, and then came towards me. I just stood there, frozen in terror, watching the sword like thing he held... I was thinking what I would do if he wields the knife at me, when I realized that he had gone past me, and was waiting for me to follow him. "God save me" I thought, and started following him.

After about 5 terrifying minutes, he showed me the correct trail. I was very relieved to see the trail again! "Go!" he said. He was certainly sent by Lord Shiva to guide me, I thought! I thanked him profusely, and went ahead! It was 5.45 pm and still some 1.5 hours of steep climb was left.

The correct trail

Padar Garh at eye level

The second part of the climb was very steep and arduous. It was like climbing never ending stairs. I was very tired, so I took a three-steps-than-rest strategy. It gradually increased to four steps, than five, six, etc. The views of the valley and the Padar Garh was stunning; it seemed to provide me a new-found energy!

Breathtaking view of the valley

Steep climb

Steep climb

Some patches, especially the rocky ones, were very steep. The valley on my left was about 300-400 feet deep. I had feelings of vertigo. I was thankful to Lord Shiva that Seedhi Ghat route, which was even more difficult, was closed. If Seedhi Ghat were open, I would've certainly taken that route, and found myself in much more trouble.

At 7.00 pm, I reached Bhimashankar village. It was twilight and the air was cool. I searched for rooms for the stay, and found a decent one being offered by one of the villager. After some rest, I went to the temple for the darshan.

Doorway to the temple

Market at Bhimashankar wore a deserted look

Bhimashankar temple at night

Astonishingly, it was not crowded at all, which was very uncharacteristic of a religious place such as this. After the darshan I went in search for dinner, and found a decent eatery near my accommodation. At 9.30 pm, after the dinner, I went for sleep. It was a peaceful night - I didn't miss my laptop, the Minesweeper or Facebook, in fact I was more content without all this!

Due to tiredness, I had a sound sleep. It became quite cold in the night. The temple's door opens at 4.30 am in the morning. So, I woke up at 3.45 am and reached the temple 4.00 am. The doors were opened at 4.30 am and I had a fantastic morning darshan!

Temple at 4.00 am

Ancient architecture

After the darshan I had tea and biscuits. It was 6.30 am and I decided to explore the nearby areas. So I went to Nagphani, the highest point of Bhimashankar. Nagphani is 3.5 km from the village. The trail leads through dense forests.

Bhimashankar village at morning

Vistas from Bhimashankar village

En route, I witnessed a perfect sunrise!

The sunrise

Self portrait in the sunrise

After 3 kms, I reached Hanuman temple. It is from here the steep climb for Nagphani starts.

A monkey sitting on a statue at Hanuman temple.

View towards Bhimashankar village from Hanuman temple

The way forward

Picturesque moment en route Nagphani

After another half hour of climb, I reached the edge of the cliff of Bhinashankar range. It was simply incredible - I had view of a lifetime! It was very windy, and I was on the ridge. So I crawled the last 20 meters to the top.

Towards the infinite

Windy climb to the top

I will always remember the view from the top! The wind, the nature's music, the solitude, the vistas... it was incredible, simply heaven! It was certainly the 'highest point' of the trip in every sense of the word!

Resembling the hood of a Nag - Nagphani

Padar Garh from top

I crawled towards the edge. Walking here was too frightening!

The walls of Bhimashankar

Khandas village visible from the top

All around, the vistas were breathtaking. I wanted to spend a lifetime at this place! I was thankful to God that He gave me opportunity to witness such a beautiful creation by Him.

Trying to spot the other half of the shadow!

A solitary bench, a perfect depiction of the state of my mind!

En route, while descending from Nagphani, I again slipped on loose pebbles. I could have fallen some 10-15 foot but somehow was saved!

After the memorable Nagphani, I decided to go to Gupt Bhimashankar, the origin of river Bhima. The 2 km trail starting from Bhimashankar temple was entirely through dense forests.

Playful macaque

Pathway to paradise would be something like this

Dense fores

The markings really helped me from getting lost

Gupt Bhimashankar is the source of river Bhima, which originates from the waterfall here.

Mini-waterfall at Gupt Bhimashankar

I spent close to an hour at Gupt Bhimashankar. It was very peaceful here - the sound of water, the chirruping of birds, cool breeze and a quiet atmosphere! It was like being with a friend who was somewhere deep inside me...

Gupt Bhimashankar. 'Gupt' means 'hidden' or 'secret'

After Gupt Bhimashankar, it was time to go back to the maddening world. I had a last darshan at the temple - it was quite crowded as today was Monday.

At around 10.30 am, I bade goodbye to Bhimashankar and started my descent.

Saying bye to Bhimashankar temple

The beginning of descent

Hanumal Tal

Crossing the vertical rock section during descent was especially dangerous. But coming to think of it now, the fear seemed to be just in my mind.

A difficult section to cross

Padar Garh on the way down

Steep descent

I covered the last half distance on the way down with some locals from Khandas village. Oh God - they were very fast! Even though they wore chappals and I wore Woodland shoes, it was difficult to maintain such a pace with them! It certainly saved half an hour, but it took a toll on me...

Another local on his way up

At 2.30 pm, I reached the bridge which is 2 kms from Khandas village. It was so hot that I nearly had heat stroke. The 2 kms seemed impossible for me to traverse in this unrelenting heat. Also, I couldn't walk properly as I developed blisters and rashes on my feet. I splashed myself with the water from the rivulet near the bridge. Somehow, I managed the last kms. Fortunately, a tum-tum was ready and was about to leave to Kashele as soon as I reached Khandas village. I boarded it and heaved a sigh of relief. From Kashele, I caught the bus to Neral. The last glimpses of Bhimashankar range brought a tear to my eye!

Bhimashankar gave me my first trekking experience. It was in my Bucket List to do a trek solo. It is ironic to think that one can experience some of the most memorable and beautiful moments of life even when entirely alone. It gives a sense of confidence, and an opportunity to rediscover oneself...