Harishchandragad Trek

Trekking is one of the latest trends in tourism in the world. It is treated primarily as a modern form of adventure tourism .On one hand, due to the extreme terrain where it can be practiced and a certain dose of adrenaline, is treated as a form of an adventure tourism. On the other hand, the beauty of trekking relies on that it is implemented in an extraordinary and stunning natural and geological environment.

One of my office colleague(Omkar) used to organize trek on every weekend near Mumbai. That time venue for trek was Harishchandragad trek. Harischandragad a hill fort in the Ahmedanagar district of Maharashtra, is one of the most challenging trek in the western ghat also historically linked. I along with Kumar Saurav and Suhas joined the trekking group for exploration of the challenging environment and learn about our own abilities, both mental and physical.

On 11 Nov 2016 friday night in second last local train from Thane railway station to Kasara station we started our journey for Harishchandragad trek .Later in the Kalyan station we were accompanied by other trekker namely Sachin Sangle, Mokshad,Abhijit Sonar, Rupen Patil, Kunal , Tushar , Mayur , Omkar and many more. Around 01:30 a.m. we reached Kasara station and grouped our-self in a group of 8 member to accommodate easily in Jeep. Once everyone settled down we started our journey for Pachnai the base village of Harishchandragad trek.

On the way we stopped at roadside Dhaba for dinner .Post dinner we started our journey around 3:30 a.m. we made it to Pachnai . The sky was very dark and there was dead silence in the entire village.Our Accommodation was arranged in one of village house, where everyone one got settled and had powerful nap sleeping on the floor and veranda of the house.

In morning everyone woke up got refreshed . In breakfast we had Poha, Biscuit and Tea from our house host.Then there was introduction section in which everyone in a group had to introduce own self to the group and in the end the trek leader ended up the session by giving basic knowledge of trekking and band distribution.

The initial trek was mostly flat with few steep patches .Then came the dense forest which was the delightful walk.The route provide us the shelter but it was steep and tiring.After clearing the forest patch we came to open area. Below a tree a villager was selling Nimbu Pani and Kokam Sarbat. Each one of us had a glass of Nimbu Pani to boost up for further trek.

Going further the climb was quite steep and one needs to be very careful. After around an hour of trekking , we made it to the Tolar Khind. Tolar Khind was an important part of the trek.Here one has to be careful and sure about every step. Beginner can find it bit difficult but its manageable as it gave us certain dose of adrenaline .

Few railing were installed to assist in trekking but most of them were in the ruined state.We followed the path of poles installed for those trailing with bit of fear, thrill and excitement whole group was able to make it.The further trial is pretty flat with few up and downs .

Tolar Khind also offer amazing view . We sat there enjoying the view and cold breeze.After crossing the Tolar Khind a vast Plateau welcomes us. From there most of part was just walking . It seems like a small village settled on the top . One can see people all round during the weekend.Also there many bamboo huts which used to serve tea,coffee, cold drink and snack . In the way we had multiple break and it took almost 4 hour to reach Harischandragad fort.

We were the first to reach Harischandra fort among the group. Konkankada was the our base point that night at Harishchandragad fort. With an half hour all group member reached over there .After having light snack and resting for almost 1 hour under bamboo huts of snack center we decided to cover Tarmati peak on same day as we had lot time left before sunset.

Next we went hiking for Taramati Peak , which is the second highest peak in the Maharashtra after Kalsulabi peak.It took around 1 hour to reach to the top of Taramati peak from Harischandragad fort. The route pass throught the dense forest cover and few rocky patches.

A stretch of dense forest gives way to grass route and some steep rock climbs at the very edge of the mountain. Apart from two slightly challenging rock climbs, the trek to Taramati peak seemed pretty straight forward.The view from the top was breath taking and we can see the surroundings.Warmth of the rising sun began to further enrich the colour of balsams and the yellow wild flowers forming a picturesque sight and the view from the Taramati peak is mesmerizing.

After spending an hour over we started to descend back to our base point . Post reaching our base point we had our lunch bhakri, rice , dal and vegetable on the veranda of the Harischandragad temple. After relaxing for sometime we went to Kokankada side .

Konkankada was the famous attraction of Harischandragad .We were very excited to experience the sunset from Konkankada. Post Tent pitching activity, we visited Konkankada and spend our time watching sunset.It is a concave structure formed on the mountain.This nature architecture is beyond description.

In evening we’ll light campfire and share our experiences in various outing, sung old Bollywood songs , played antakshari and spend night under twinkling stars at Konkankada. Also we experienced the chilling weather and cool breeze in the night while camping. Camping was always fun seating besides a camp fire in Chilling weather and enjoying the peace of nature.

In morning we freshen up with water from a nearby stream; got breakfast from the local porter settlement.Now its was time to backpack to descending from Konkan kada.

One the way back, we came across the various tourist spots the fort has to offer. The main attractions where are the temple of Harishchandreshwar and the cave of Kedareshwar, lord Ganesh temple and Saptatirtha Pushkarni.

After visiting the main attraction it was time to say good by to harishchandragad. on the way back to Khireshwar village we also had group dance after several retake and practice we recorded our group dance .We walked for nearly 2 hour to the edge of the main mountain.