Bhimashanar Trek - I

As mentioned in my earlier blogs, “Monsoon and Maharashtra” give us very beautiful, scenic and adventurous places to visit. As the monsoon almost came to an end, we thought of going for a nice trip which involves a trek and an overnight camp. Bhimashankar was the place selected.


Bhimashankar - One of the 12 Jyotirlingas - is a place of worship for Hindus. Added to that, it is also a trekker’s delight. Situated at a height more than 3500 Ft. above sea level, the weather there is always pleasant. In the monsoons, it is heaven on earth. The entire place is engulfed in heavy fog and visibility is not beyond a couple of feet. Before going, we did some research (googling) and read few blogs written by people who went by trek through the forest.


Initially I thought of giving up the trip as I visited Bhimashankar by bus when I was in Pune in 2007. But, after reading the blogs, I got a very good feel of the trek and decided not to miss it. When I informed about this trip to one of my friends, Sridhar, he said, “Chakkaga vellandi ra ani govt vallu mee kosam 4-lane road vesthe … ala vellakunda ee kondalu ekki vellatam enduku ra … adi kooda adavi lonchi !!!”. Definitely he missed the trip and a great adventure. Don’t worry Sridhar - I’ll share those pics. Thanks to Aditya and Co., for planning and organizing this wonderful trip.
Our research confirmed that there are 4 routes to reach Bhimashanar - one by road and other three are by trekking. Trekking starts from the 'Khandas' village, near Karjat. Of the three routes, the Ganesh ghat route is the easiest and involves mere walking through the forest while the Shidi (in hindi - Ladder) Ghat is the toughest. This is what we know before 20th September.
It was 20th Sep - we (16) started from pune at 11:30 am and reached Khandas via Karjat by 3:30 pm. Of the two tavera's, one stopped near Karjat to get food parcel to everyone and in the other tavera. Rest of us continued our journey towards Khandas. After travelling around 10-15 kms, suddenly road came to an end - a dead-end. We could see a mountain and a forest-like atmosphere within few meters from the dead-end and greenery on either side of the road. We thought that it was the starting point of our trek and were eagerly waiting for the other tavera to come so that we can eat and start the trek asap. We found only one man and didn’t bother to ask him if it was the correct route to take to reach Bhimashankar. We waited there for almost an hour but the other tavera didn’t come. Added to that, being a forest area, there were no mobile signals. Neither the Hutch dog nor the Idea Sirji followed us. So, we couldn't reach the other tavera. Finally, at 4:30 pm, we decided to start trek by sending the tavera back. Pradeep thought of playing a safe game and asked the man if it was the route to Bhimashankar. Then we came to know that we were waiting at a wrong starting place and went to Khandas village by 5 pm. Had Pradeep and Madhu not asked or had the 2nd tavera came early, we might have started the trek and struck up in the deep forest searching for Bhimashankar Ghats.


As it was 5 pm by the time we reached Khandas, we decided not to start trekking that evening as it takes 4 hrs to climb. Instead, decided to climb on Sunday early morning. But, somehow, at 5:15, we couldn't control the excitement and dared to start the trek. Added to that, one of the local villagers accepted to join us as a guide @ Rs. 400. Bhimashanar, being a Tiger sanctuary and trek during night in an unknown forest is not that safe. But, I still don’t know how and why we dared to start the trek that evening. I think there are two hidden reasons that pushed us to keep our foot towards the mountain: 1. we could see the mountain in front of us with waterfalls. 2. Excitement and young (boiling) blood - konchem ekkuvayindi kada !!! Part two continued ..

Bhimashankar Trek - II

We started walking towards the mountain .... and after few minutes ... group is divided into two. Guide with the first group moving further and the 2nd group taking photos near every other scenic place. I was in the 2nd group. After 10 mins , we realized that we have missed the group; started wandering and shouting names of those in the first group. While searching -> myself, madhu and pradeep went one side - where I saw a big stream flowing at a gr8 speed. It was really beautiful. I thought of asking to take some photos there - but the situation forced me to shut my mouth. At that time, we should join the group. Within 5 mins, we listened the first group guys shouting for us and we moved towards that direction and met them.

Journey continued further amidst the great forest with every tree looking at us like strangers; passing streams asking us to cross them; herbs and shrubs scolding us when we stepped on them; medium sized rocks and inclined stones challenging us to climb them to move further. We started enjoying the trek whenever there is a challenge in crossing. But the real excitement started when we climbed up some uneven rocks by crawling. It was thrilling. On one side, slippery, uneven 90-100 degree rocks and on the other side deep valley. One wrong foot -> Count = Count - 1 from the group. But, the feel we get after crossing such spots is really gr8. Added to that, a great team-work and guidance helped everyone to cross many obstacles. Sometimes, I took advantage of wearing a jeans - but at times, I faced problems especially, when I was supposed to lift my leg more than 90 degrees to get a grip on a bulging rock. It was near Sidhi ghat, where we spent some time to refresh under the waterfall and took some fotos. We crossed the ladders to reach the next part of the mountain and moved further. The bad thing is that we couldn’t take fotos after 7 pm as the sunlight faded.

It was after 7 pm, the real thrill started. We were in the middle of the forest. We knew the difficulties faced to reach there. We had 2 torch lights and 16 cell phones. These were our sources of light. We started walking one behind the other. Whenever we identified a slope while walking, we, at the start of the group used to shout “Keep Right” or “Keep left” based on the direction. The same message used to pas till the last person. Of course, the next day we made fun of those “Keep Right” and “Keep Left” shouts. Our guide led the group using the torch. The same torch was used to show the way for the first half of the group. Of course, the 2nd group used the other torch and their cell phones to see where they are stepping. With the same torches and cell phones, we crossed few sliding rocks and waterfalls. Whenever I remember those incidents, I question myself –“How did we do that ?”; “Could we have crossed them if it was during day time when we can see the deep vallyes ?”.

We continued walking. Whenever we question the guide “How much time will it take?”, he used to answer “10 minutes”. After the same repeated answer, we confirmed that he forgot the route in the night and is misleading us. We didn’t know where we were heading that night. We cannot take any decision as we were in the middle of the forest and that too amidst the mountains. While walking, we heard some Annamayya songs. One of us said that we are near the temple. I said, “It might be someone in the group playing the songs from their mobile. Added to that, we are going to Siva temple. So, we cannot expect Annamayya songs, that too in TELUGU”. At around 945 pm, we reached almost a plain surface, which looked like the top of the mountain. As it was almost 10 pm, we were really irritated and finally asked the guide, “If we are really 10 minutes away, we should able to see the lights and people. So, let’s stop here and take rest and start tomorrow morning.” He asked us to come with him and within 10 minutes he guaranteed Bhimashankar. Finally, at around 10:15 pm, we could see an old unused building amidst the fog. Within no time, we reached the Bhimashankar main street. So, forest is few hundred meters away from Bhimashankar. In other words, Bhimashankar is located amidst the forest and mountains. Immediately after reaching Bhimashankar, we rushed to the nearby shop. I didn’t observe what others had – but I completed 500 ml sprite in no time.

We hired two rooms for rent and slept that night to get up only after 8 am on Sunday to see the fog completely covering the Bhimashankar roads. After getting up, the big question is where to go for nature calls as the two rooms which we hired don’t have any other facilities. We took the water bottles available with us, filled them up and went to the same route from where we came the previous night to find the forest entrance. I need not write what was done there. After that we found a pond-like water body to take bath. Water was damn freezing – but the water was very fresh. After taking bath, went to Lord Shiva temple. Finally, at around 12 in the afternoon, we started to visit few places within Bhimashankar by hiring another guide. Normal pilgrims cannot visit those places. Most of them don’t have the knowledge of their existence. Few of them who knew about them couldn’t reach them as they need to trek medium sized hills and cross few streams. I feel lucky to have the energy and enthusiasm to reach such heights and places. Of all the places covered that afternoon, Gupth Bhimashankar was good where they say that one shiva lingam is present in the middle of the Bhima (river) stream. I’ll upload the image in my next blogs. It looks as if the place is few feet from the shore. But, few steps from the shore, you will be neck-deep. We saw few more places, which can be considered as the highest peaks around Bhimashankar. We finished our trip by visiting the originating point of Bhima River.

If you have the passion to visit such places – I suggest you to go as early as possible in your life. Age and health doesn’t permit you to go always. If you are not passionate enough, you can have a look at few important snaps which I’ll be posting in my next blogs.