Harishchandragadh - Trekker's Wonderland
Harishchandragadh is
a beautiful hill fort in the Ahmednagar district of India.
It is also called as Trekkers Paradise/ Fairy tale trek which makes it a
popular trekking destination in the Sahyadris of Maharashtra.
It is
an ancient fort from the Medieval period where the Great sage Changdev (Writer
of the epic Tatvasaar), used to meditate in the 14th century.
Situated at
a distance of approximately 90km from Kaylan and 165Kms from Pune,
Harishchandragadh trek is one of the most challenging treks in the Western
Ghats.
The fort mountain along with, TOLAR KHIND, MALSHEJ GHAT offers a lot for trekkers. The main attraction here is the KONKAN KADA which offers a spectacular view of Konkan.
This quaint sleepy region’s scenic
beauty and alluring charm will leave you awestruck
One can reach harishchandragadh fort via 3 routes (previously there were 7 routes but few are closed down now)
One can reach harishchandragadh fort via 3 routes (previously there were 7 routes but few are closed down now)
3 routes are
1) Pachnai
Pachnai is name of a village,
reachable through local or private transport. Harishchandragadh is 3kms from
Pachnai.
harishchandragadh via Pachnai is a beautiful trek surrounded by mountain and in monsoon you can get visual of five falls from base. On this way there is a small beautiful pond. Trek is easy via Pachnai
harishchandragadh via Pachnai is a beautiful trek surrounded by mountain and in monsoon you can get visual of five falls from base. On this way there is a small beautiful pond. Trek is easy via Pachnai
2) Nalichi
Vaat
One such route via Nalichi Vaat
(which translates to ‘passage through a gorge’) is a channel that lies to the
extreme right of the mountain. It is the most difficult path to the top.
Popular among climbers and experienced trekkers, Nalichi Vaat involves a
near 80 degree climb, involving steep rock patches. The trail begins on a
stream bed filled with large man-sized rocks and eventually leads to the foot
of the gorge.
3) Khireshwar
Would like to provide a detailed
description of this route
I along with my 3 friends took this trek with Adventure Club Pune via Khireshwar Route.
Group travels are always good, glad to meet joyous souls who made the trek more exciting.
I along with my 3 friends took this trek with Adventure Club Pune via Khireshwar Route.
Group travels are always good, glad to meet joyous souls who made the trek more exciting.
Hill
Fort Height: 4710 ft.
Grade: Medium
Difficult level : Medium.
Endurance level : High.
Category : Trekking .
Duration : 01 Night / 01 Day
Grade: Medium
Difficult level : Medium.
Endurance level : High.
Category : Trekking .
Duration : 01 Night / 01 Day
We started from Sivaji nagar Pune, at
11:00PM and reached the base village by Early Morning 3 AM.
After freshening up and morning tea we started with our trek at 3:30AM, it was deep dark and walk was mainly headed by our faith on the guides, torch light struggled in rain trying to help us and fight darkness, foot-steps landed on assumptions.
We walked straight to Tolar Khind, .
Walking a few minutes from Tolar Khind, we come across a rock-patch on which
railings are fixed.
Rocky patches were the tricky part, if a step is missed, we
will fall in the deep valley, continuous rains and climbing the slippery rocky
patches where nothing seems to be visible, this was something we never
thought this trek will bring us, railings were of no use (I learnt a little
thing about human mind here : we all climbed those risky slippery rocky patches
in rain where nothing was visible, while returning back when we encountered the
same rocky patches, everyone was scared to descend down, all of us had 1
question ‘how the hell did we climbed this at night?, it's our mind that
control us).
After ascending the railings, we come
to the plateau region on which less dense forests are seen. From here, we have
to cross 7 hills and after a walk of 2–3 hours, we reach the temple of
Harishchandreshwar, the temple of Lord Shiva.
Temple of Harishchandreshwar
Temple of Harishchandreshwar
Harishchandreshwar temple is
beautifully carved out of a single huge rock. It has marvelous sculptures
carved out of stones that prevailed in ancient India. It is about 16 m
high from its base. Around this temple there a few caves and ancient water
tanks. There are entrances from all four sides. On the main entrance there are
sculptures of faces of the temple guards.
Towards the right of
Harishchandreshwar temple, there is the huge cave of Kedareshwar, way to reach
to the cave is little risky in monsoons as a huge stream flows across the way.
Somehow we gathered all our courage to
reach there. In the cave is a big Shiva Linga, which is completely surrounded by water. Its height from the
base is five feet, and the water is waist-deep.
It is quite difficult to reach the Shiva Linga because the water is ice-cold. There are sculptures carved out in the cave. There is a huge rock above the Shiva Linga. There were four pillars built around the Shiva Linga to support the cave, 3 out of 4 pillars are broken, it is said that world will come to an end if the 4th pillar breaks
It is quite difficult to reach the Shiva Linga because the water is ice-cold. There are sculptures carved out in the cave. There is a huge rock above the Shiva Linga. There were four pillars built around the Shiva Linga to support the cave, 3 out of 4 pillars are broken, it is said that world will come to an end if the 4th pillar breaks
The
Caves
After Shiv Linga darshan we had
delicious poha and chai in the caves,
These caves are spread out all over the fort, we choose a cave near a waterfall. After breakfast we headed towards Konkan kada.
These caves are spread out all over the fort, we choose a cave near a waterfall. After breakfast we headed towards Konkan kada.
Konkan
Kada
It took 1.5 hours for us to reach
Konkan kada from caves
This cliff faces west and looks down upon the Konkan. A paranomic view of malshej ghats and mounts can be seen from here, during monsoons one can experience reverse waterfall at extreme left of the cliff.
This cliff faces west and looks down upon the Konkan. A paranomic view of malshej ghats and mounts can be seen from here, during monsoons one can experience reverse waterfall at extreme left of the cliff.
It took 14 hours of trek for us to
complete Harishchandragadh (obviously including few breaks in between), we
started at 3:30 AM and returned back to the base village by 4:00PM
A ride to Malshej ghats was cherry on top for the day.
A ride to Malshej ghats was cherry on top for the day.
Good one
ReplyDeleteGood job :)
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