Travelogue
I had visited Bhimashankar Mahadev with my parents in 2015, but trekking through the forest was even more fun! There are many ways to reach Bhimashankar from Khandas village, the main two of which are, the first - Shidi Ghat and the second - Ganapati (Ganesh) Ghat. The Bhimashankar trek is fun during the rains, especially at night, because there is glowing moss in this forest. But due to the rains that have been resembling cloudbursts in the last 2-3 years, we have been avoiding the monsoon trek.
I decided to trek to Bhimashankar with my colleagues Santoshraj Karande and Ameya Vipat. The dates were set for October 22nd to 25th, I planned to trek to Bhimashankar on the 22nd, relax on the 23rd and on 24th trek to Shingeri, one of the peaks in Maharashtra, which is near Santoshraj's village, but for some reason this plan had to be cancelled. Then I made another plan and decided to go on November 5th, but this time I decided to trek only to Bhimashankar. I found information about the Bhimashankar trek from Google and YouTube. I booked an auto rickshaw using the number I got from YouTube and the fare was Rs 600. I decided to catch the Deccan Express at 7:00 am. On November 5th, I got up at 4:30 am and got ready, my mother also got up with me and she prepared ambolya and chutney for me in the morning, because the Bhimashankar trek is 5-6 hours long. I reached Dadar at 6:40 am. My bag was too heavy due to water bottles and food boxes. I sat down on a seat on the platform and waited for the train. As always, Indian Railways showed its virtues. The Deccan Express, which was supposed to arrive at Dadar at 7:11 a.m, arrived 20 minutes late, at 7:31 a.m.
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| Peak of Bhimashankar Temple |
Santoshraj had boarded the train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, I from Dadar and Ameya from Thane. Since we did not have a reservation, we travelled to Neral in the general compartment, but we got seats to sit. We reached Neral around 8:45 and called the designated rickshaw driver ( Sameer Tare: 8552012510 ). Our journey started towards Khandas village. The rickshaw driver Sameer was quite talkative, so we chatted with him while we were travelling. In 30-35 minutes, we reached Kashela (Kashele) village. We had tea and breakfast in the market and took extra water bottles with us and started journey towards Khandas. Around 9:50 in the morning, we reached the starting point of Bhimashankar Trek Ganesh Ghat. We paid the fare to the rickshaw driver Sameer and started the trek after relaxing for a while.
Note: Since there is no network in Khandas village, online payments are not possible, so you should take cash with you when paying the auto fare. You can reach Kashela village from Karjat by State Transport Board bus and get shared rickshaws to Khandas, but we wanted to save time and hassle, so we booked a rickshaw from Neral.
We started the trek at 10:00 am. In about 35 to 40 minutes, we reached the Ganpati temple. We had darshan of Ganpati Bappa, had a snack which we brought with us, rested for a while and started the trek again at 11:00 am. ( This path is named Ganpati Ghat because of the Ganpati temple ). Compared to Ganesh Ghat, Bhimashankar can be reached quickly through the Shidi Ghat, but some stages in the Shidi Ghat are difficult and a small mistake can be fatal and the ladder installed in this ghat also broke a few years ago. Therefore, the route that goes around Padarwadi, i.e. the Ganesh Ghat route, seemed convenient to take. We started the trek again, but since there were two paths, we took the left path, but since we had doubts in our minds, we came to the correct path by taking right with the help of the Durg navigation app .
👉 Download Durg Navigation App from Playstore
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| Photos from Ganesh temple, Santoshraj Amey, Prathamesh. |
In just 30 minutes from leaving the Ganpati temple, at around 11:30, we reached the forest department post . We chatted with the young employees present there and paid the forest department entry fee and moved on. As we moved forward, we were getting closer to Padargad. We wanted to go to Padargad, but I remembered the chimney climbing that we had to do while going to the top of the fort and restrained our temptation. We were tired after walking continuously for 40 minutes and also due to sun heat. Around 11:40 a.m, we decided to take a break for a moment and sat in the shade of a tree. Santoshraj had brought lemons with him, made lemon juice of it and drank it and felt refreshed.
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| Lemonade Expert 😀 |
We took a selfie with the padargada and started the trek again, this time we had decided to cover the maximum distance. We used to take the help of the Durg navigation app time to time and decided when to take a rest according to the points given in it. This time we had also increased the walking speed. The path through the dense forest, the silence and the occasional sounds of animals and birds calmed our mind. We forgot all about the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. Since we were trekking in weekdays, there were no other tourists around, we were the only ones in the forest, we felt a little scared, but one good thing was that there was mobile network throughout the trek! While walking, we saw a water spring. Someone had deliberately stuck a plastic pipe there so that the water coming from the spring could be filled in bottles. Our water bottles were half full, we were going to fill them. Meanwhile, the forest department official had said that a well has been dug ahead. So we thought of going ahead and fill the drinking water from the well. We went some distance further and Amey's attention was drawn to the Monitor Lizard, which was about 40-50 meters from us, by crossing the path was went in the bushes on the other side. We went one hundred meters further and came to the edge of two mountains. The Konkan forest valley below and the edge of the Bhimashankar mountain, as beautiful as they were scary, in such a forest, if someone lost their way or fell into the valley, it would be difficult to find them. We took some photos and moved on.
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| Selfie with Padargad |
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| Panorama, Konkan valley and Bhimashankar mountains below |
We went some distance further and came across a well, we moved forward to fill water bottles, but seeing the water in the well, we were disappointed. There was moss on the water, and some tourists had thrown plastic waste in the well. Until we found a source of water somewhere else, we had to manage with the water that was with us. One thing was worth learning from this, whenever you saw clean water, fill the bottles, if you ignore and decied to fill them later, then it would be a hassle. Crossing a waterfall in the middle of two mountains (there was no water in the waterfall). We went to the mountain on the other side. We continued walking along the path on the side of the mountain. Since the rainy season had just ended, there was mud on the path in many places and there were crabs in that mud. My mind was racing, I wanted to catch one by one and fill it in the bag, but there was not that much time. We kept walking and in about 50 minutes, i.e. at 12:30, we reached Padargad Wadi. I was hungry and the further stage was a bit difficult, so I needed to rest and eat. The villagers had built a shed to provide rest and lemonade for the tourists coming during the monsoon. Sitting in that shed, I ate the Amboli and coconut chutney made by my mother and rested for a while. While I was resting there, some old age people came down from the mountain. When I asked them, they said are returning from Bhimashankar Mahadev and had left in the morning. I was surprised to see that aged peoples had climed the mountain. I asked Baba how much more we would have to walk? How long would it take? He said it would take 40-45 minutes, he gave these figures according to his usual journey, but the situation was different for us. Seeing the mountain in front of us, we realized that we would have to do some exercise, but the figures given by Baba were a bit more realistic.
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| Bhimashankar Forest |
Before leaving, we were searching for a suitable place to litter. There was a public toilet but no water and the stench was very bad, so we decided to go into the forest. When we went to the back, we were saddened to see the plastic bags lying there. We consider ourselves educated, but are we really educated? We have obtained degrees from our education, but our common sense remains zero. Tourists do not even bother to put their empty bottles in a bag and throw them in the city garbage bin. This is not only the fault of the tourists but also of the villagers and forest department officials. If they can carry the filled bottles far into the forest, then it should not be a difficult task to take the empty bottles out into the city.
Around 1:25 pm, we started crossing the last stage, the numbers given by Baba turned out to be false for us. Because we were out of breath while climbing the steep hill, we had to stop for rest every 8-10 steps. This steep hill was a real pain in the ass . We were drinking water mixed with lemonade and electrolyte powder made by Santosh to increase the energy in our body. We were moving forward while resting, the challenge was to cross the mountain before sunset, because we were taking rest after every 8-10 steps. After going some distance, Santosh remembered his trekking stick. All three of us started looking at each other's hands, then we realized that we had forgotten the trekking stick below. We forgot the same places where we had made lemonade. It was difficult to went back to get the trekking stick, so decided to forgot the trekking stick and started walking forward.
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| Padargad seen from Bhimashankar mountain |
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| Nature's decoration |
While walking along the mountainside, I noticed that water had formed crystals on the rocks and I lost overwhelmed. I went ahead to show it to Ameya and lost my balance, but I regained my balance in time else I fell into the valley and had an accident. For a moment, Ameya was also scared and screamed. Santoshraj had no idea what had happened because he was far ahead of us. I let go of the curiosity of the pebbles and walked forward cautiously. We saw some people coming from the opposite direction, they were on their way back after having darshan of Mahadev. Santoshraj informed them about the place where We had forgotten trekking stick and asked them to keep it if they found it. After walking some distance, we could see fences and some buildings, even though they were far away from us, it was a relief that the temple was not far away anymore. We rested for a while and started walking again. In just 5-10 minutes we reached the lake, after walking some distance we reached the Bhimashankar plateau. The trek that started at 11:00 am was completed at 4:00 pm, it took us a total of 5 hours. This was the longest trek I have done till date.
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| Wild flowers of the Sahyadris |
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| Directional signboard at the last stage of the Bhimashankar trek |
Our water supply was exhausted, we drank lemonade from a shop in the market to moisten our dry throats, but our thirst was not quenched, so we drank two more glasses of lemonade each. We wanted to do Gupta Bhimashankar and Nagphani, but we had no energy left in our bodies and it was already late. Also, Santoshraj's family was going to have darshan of Bhimbashankar Mahadev. We waited for them for some time, when they arrived, we all went to have darshan of Mahadev. We had to walk down for about 1 kilometer and then walk back up the same distance. We had darshan of Mahadev around 6:20 pm.
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| Selfie - Santoshraj, Prathamesh, Ameya |
I came out of the temple after taking darshan. I saw a big bell installed in the temple premises. The historical importance of this bell is that Chimaji Appa brother of Peshwa Bajiroa brought this bell from the church after conquering the Vasai Fort. The ancient temple was destroyed during the Islamic invasion, although the present temple is beautiful and spacious, the art and carving work on the walls of the temple was not as beautiful as the ancient temple. Even with the modern tools of the 21st century, today's generation cannot show the delicacy and beauty of the idol. It is safe to say that the art of carving on stones has largely disappeared.
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| Historical Bell |
We all came back to the market and got refreshed after drinking tea. Our stay today was at Santoshraj's village house. Around 8:00 pm, we reached Karande Wadi in Pait village by private car. We took a hot water bath and freshened up and went to the terrace after having dinner. Since it was Diwali, Santoshraj had brought crackers for his son (Shivansh). Shivansh was scared because he was bursting crackers for the first time, seeing him also reminded me of my childhood. After bursting crackers, we all went to bed. Before going to bed, Santoshraj told us that the sunrise can be seen from the terrace, if you want to see it, get up early in the morning. Now, after having trekked so much, it was impossible to get up early in the morning, still we set the alarm for 5:30 in the morning and went to bed 😁. Surprisingly, both of us, Amey and I, woke up before the 5:30 alarm went off. At 6:00, We went to the terrace and sat down. We watched the sunrise, took a timelapse and stood in the warm sun for a while to get some vitamin D 😃. We wanted to go to the Kondeshwar hill, which is visible to the left of the house, and have darshan of Kondeshwar Mahadev. There is road for car, but we wanted to trek, but due to lack of time, we canceled the plan.
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| Sunrise seen from Karande Wadi - Credit Amey (iPhone 14) |
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| Sunrise seen from Karande Wadi - Credit Amey (iPhone 14) |
After taking a bath, I freshened up, ate tea and snacks, and went for a walk in the field. We picked lemons from the lemon tree in the field and came home. We drank tea, eat Kanda poha, and Anarse and then went to the nearby Santoshi Mata temple. We had darshan of Godess and went with Santoshraj and his father to drain the bore water in the field behind the house. We spent some time there, picked tamarind from the nearby tamarind tree and came home. We packed our bags and got ready because cab was booked to Mumbai for 2 p.m. I had village crabs in the lunch. I had a great time and left for Mumbai.
Expense details
Note: The cost of lodging and meals has been included. Also, since the party traveled from Pait village, the cost has not been included.
