Bhimashankar Trek: A Perfect Combo Pack of Adventure,Nature and Spiritual
BHIMASHANKAR TREK: A PERFECT COMBO PACK OF ADVENTURE, NATURE, AND SPIRITUAL
Bhimashankar Hill station is famous for being one of the twelve sacred Mumbai to Bhimashankar is 275KM by road and from Pune to Bhimashakar is 110 km by Road.
The Bhimashankar is also the source of Bhima river which flows southwest and merges with the Krishna river near Raichur, Karnataka.
Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary is also rich in flora and fauna. It is the home for Giant Flying Squirrels and many other birds and animals. Therefore, it has become the favorite Weekend getaways for Bird watcher’s wildlife photographer and nature lovers. However, I will not get into more details about the temple and the Wildlife reservoir. Since I am a trekker, I will cover the trekking aspect of the Bhimashankar.
Bhimashankar is also one of the popular trekking spots which actually test your endurance and hiking skills. Therefore, it is famous amongst the serious hikers and trekkers from Mumbai and Pune. The rough and rocky terrains, vertical Hills, sparkling waterfalls, lush green dense forest, narrow pathways, tricky trails, and deep rivers and picturesque view make an ideal trekking destination for trekkers and hikers. A good number of Hikers and trekkers from Pune and Mumbai hit this trail throughout the year. Bhimashankar is one of my favorite trekking spots which I wish to go to again and again due to the nature of the trail and the difficulty level. It has all the essence of a good trekking spot.
Bhimashankar Trek Details
●Height: 3296 feet
● Trek Grade: Moderate to Difficult
●Endurance level: High
● Nearest Railway station: Neral Railway Station
●Trek Duration: 4 hrs
●Location: Nagar District
●Base Village: Khandas
● Best time: September to February
Planning for any good trek requires a good amount of research to find out the nature of the trail, difficulty level, risk level, location and distance to cover, base village, transportation availability, and which is the best season. Plan accordingly and decide whether you join a good trek organizer or prepare a good itinerary by yourself. Bhimashankar trek is one of such trekking spots where we have to do our homework thoroughly and plan accordingly. Remember if you just go without any preparation or proper homework, you may have landed up in serious trouble. Villagers have many such stories to share where they have rescued many hikers who lost their path in the dense forest or struck at the Ghat trek route. Where they have rescued after two days with the help of rope.
How to Reach Khandas(Base village) from Neral Railway Station
Khandas is a small village with no accommodation facility. However, there is one Chinese fast food joint serving the tourists and trekkers a quick bite. The owner's name is Dashrath Ainkar. He also arranges an auto or cab to Neral and Karjat by request.
1.Catch CST Fast karjat Local 5:18 am
2.Get down at Neral 7.55am
3.Neral to Khandas by Private vehicle (Direct)
4.Distance: Neral to Khandas: 24.6 km. 44mnts.
5.Other option: Neral to Kashele by TUM TUM/Taxi
6.Distance: Neral to Kashele :11.8km. 22 mins.
7.Kashele to Khandas by OMNI Van (on shared base)
8.Distance from Kashele to Khandas: 12.7 km. 22 mnts
How to Reach Bhimashankar from Khandas.
Bhimashankar Trek has two trek routes namely: Shidi Ghat and Ganesh Ghat Both trek routes start from Khandas, the base village.
Shidi Ghat Trek Route is named after the Shidi means ladder. This route has installed three iron ladders to scaffold the risky path. Though the trek route is shorter in distance but a difficult and risky one. The distance from Khandas village to Bhimashankar via Shidhi Ghat route is 5kms. 4 hrs. Shidi Ghat trek route passes via three mountains and a ladder route. It is more challenging than Ganesh Ghat as One has to walk through the dense forest, river crossing, climbing three deadly ladders, and many crazy steep and slippery rock climbing and ascending vertical hills. A basic hiking skills and good physical strength is required here to cover this trek route. This route is not for beginners and random hikers. I would strongly recommend taking local people’s help if you are alone or taking this route for the first time. Especially in the Rainy season, this route becomes very dangerous. Yet hard-core trekkers take this route to challenge themselves and for a thrilling experience.
temple that falls on this
route. The total distance from Khandas
to Bhimashankar via Ganesh Ghat route is 8 km and it takes around 4 -5 hours.
It is a longer route as compared to the Shidi Ghat route. The Ganesh Ghat route is
known for its picturesque nature. The trek route is good for moderate level trekkers. The
Ganesh Ghat trek route
There is a one isolated temporary tea hut during the summers and winters is where the Ganesh Ghats trek starts. The trail will lead you through the dense forest and the moderate climb till you reach the Ganesh temple. The trail is well marked thereafter till you reach the first plateau.
DAY 1: Mumbai to Bhimashankar via Shidi Ghat
Bhimashankar trek was listed on my to-do list. And when I was gathering information related to this trek, that’s when I realized that this trek is a must to do trek because it has all the essence of a good and challenging trek.
Now the question is how do I go for this trek. Should I call a few other known interested hikers or join a trek organizer? So I just checked with the Mumbai Travellers upcoming schedule and luckily, Bhimashankar trek is listed in the upcoming event but it is in the month of September and I have inquired in the month of July. It was the peak of the Monsoon season. I wanted to do this trek in the rainy season but Mumbai travelers discourage me to do this trek in the peak of the rainy season. I trust Mumbai travelers. I started Hiking in Sahyadri with Mumbai Travellers. Though I had to wait for some time but for the safer side, I decided to go with them and till that time, I was exploring some other nearby Hiking spots.
Finally, the September month has arrived and we hit the trek on 8thSept.2018. Took Karjat train early in the morning from Thane. We have 11 trekkers including the two trek leaders with a good number of mixed-aged groups. All were experienced hikers. We reached Neral station around 7.45 am. From Neral we moved directly to Khandas by Van.
Reached the base village after a 40 minutes’ drive and had our breakfast. We stretched ourselves and had a quick meet and greet session. Trek leaders briefed us about the trek route and do’s and don'ts. Our trek leader was Harsh and Gautam from Mumbai travelers. They both were experienced, dynamic, and well aware of the trek routes. Our plan was to ascend Via Shidi Ghat and descend Via Ganesh Ghat to save time and to cover both the route., The ahead and reached near a well, directed towards the left from 'well' to the Shidi Ghat route.
The Ghat route starts after crossing the river and the trail slowly lead towards the strenuous climb uphill.
The trail is a bit tricky if you are coming for the first time. Within an hour, we reached the first ladder out of three.
The first and second ladder was almost connected. But the second one was much longer. We followed the trek leader instruction and climbed slowly. My previous experienced helped here. I climbed such ladders at Kalsubai and Gangar Fort trek route. We all climbed slowly one after another.
Harsh was leading from the front and Gautam at the back. A full concentration and your mindful step are extremely important to climb such a risky patch.
After crossing the two deadly ladders, the path leads towards a more dangerous route.
we all managed to climb one after another without any hiccups. After climbing the last steep dangerous rock patch which was a huge climb and 90-degree path, we were rewarded with the beautiful waterfall on the right side.
A very good place to sit and refresh. We soaked ourselves under the cold waterfall. Within 2 hours, we managed to climb the most difficult route without any hiccups. I realized that we all have taken a light bag pack that helps us to climb comfortably to some extent.
It is very risky to climb such rocky patches with heavy bags. It will simply tire your shoulder and requires extra effort. We took a good rest and chilled under the waterfall for some time.
Visit Gupt Bhimashankar
Gupt Bhimashankar is about 2 -3 km. 40 mins of a straight walk through a forest from the Shiva temple.
Gupt Bhimashankar is a place where original Shivling is seen behind a waterfall. As the name suggests this place is mostly hidden from the eyes of devotees who visit Bhimashankar reserve. It is also considered as the place of origin of river Bhima, where the water of the river falls forcefully over a Shivalinga placed on a stone ledge a long time ago. It is said that this Shivalinga has been discovered here itself, this draws the numbers of visitors here. We went there and paid our respects and later we also enjoyed the chilled waterfall. The water was too cold.
Darshan Time
Finally, it became dark and we got back to our room. We were asked to change our clothes quickly and had to go to Temple Darshan after the Arti as it is difficult to get the turn. Since the temple was very sacred. It is obvious that there is always a long queue for Darshan. Many of us do not have much energy to stand in a queue. But we decided to explore around, and pepped into the temple route stalls and bought some prasad.
After one hour, our trek leader was looking for us and half of the members were nowhere to be seen. So only a few of us along with our trek leader have rushed inside the temple and requested the priest for a quick Darshan. It was a bit late but luckily the priest acknowledged our request and allowed us to go inside the temple and we took quick darshan. We went back to our room feeling blessed but few of our members have missed it. Our room owner offers us a yummy and simple local Maharashtrian dinner. Now the fun part, we went back to our room after the dinner, we shared our trekking experience, jokes and fun moments, we interacted with each other like as if we knew each other for a long time even though we met for the first time. Around 11:30 PM, we rested for the day.
Day 2
Exploring Nagfani and Returning back via Ganesh Ghat Trek route
We woke up early in the morning. It was a bit difficult to get up after late-night sleep. However, we had another exciting day ahead. So we got up on time and refreshed ourselves. It was a beautiful morning and divine serenity outside. We finally headed toward the
The trail leads to a straight route to the Hanuman Temple. We rested there for a few minutes and looked around. From the Hanuman Temple, there is a point where the climb to Nagfani Pinnacle starts. They have put a signboard at the entrance of the temple indicating the direction of Naghfani.
We started ascending towards the Hill, There was a unique tree with full of coins on the way. We call it a coin tree which is a trail mark towards the top.
After half an hour of a very comfortable and delightful ascending. We finally reached the Naghfani peak. The tip of the mountain actually looks like the hood of a cobra. Therefore, it is correctly named as Nagfani (Nag = Snake i.e. Cobra; Fani = Hood). It looks very beautiful and elegant.
The whole hill range was so beautiful and green. We were mesmerized by the panoramic view of Padar Killa and the surrounding areas. We further climb towards the right point, we get an awesome view of the Bhimashankar temple area and Siddhagad fort in the background.
Luckily the weather was favorable, a clear view from the top. This part of the trek was the best moment of our journey. Never-ending beauty around. We enjoyed the view and lost ourselves in the lap of nature. Took lots of pictures and captured those beautiful moments in our heart. With a happy and refreshed mood, we started descending after one hour. The return journey was always quicker as all were in a hurry to go back. After one and half hours of steep slope descending, we reached Padharvadi Gaon. We took a short Nimbu Paani break. We have maintained a good speed as there was no fall or slip which is common on this route.
From there, we took a Ganesh Ghat trek route by enjoying the great view of the surrounding hills and we could see the beautiful Shidi Ghat mountain view on the other side and the beautiful sharp peak hill on the right side on the way Around 2pm,
we reached the Ganesh temple, we took darshan and then rested for some time. After 50 minutes, we reached the base village. It was such a long walk but happy at the same time. We had our lunch with great joy by successfully completing the trek without any injuries and as per scheduled time. We headed towards the Neral station and concluded our trek by thanking our trek leaders.
When I was traveling back by local train, I started reflecting on the whole journey. I realized why they have chosen the September month to do this trek. September month was an ideal time for Bhimashankar trek as the aggressiveness of monsoon subsided yet the forest and hills remain lush green and we can still see waterfalls and enjoy walking under the rain. The best part is you will get a clear view of the surroundings. In the peak of the monsoon season, the whole view will be blocked by the thick clouds most of the time.
Tips:
● Wearing a good hiking shoe with a good grip is a MUST.
● A good raincoat if you are visiting in Monsoon
● Cap, UV sunglass and sunscreen lotion is a must when you are visiting post-monsoon or in winter.
●Carry at least 2-liter water bottles and some ready to eat snacks.
● Carry Glucose or Electrolyte powder.
●Start your trek early. It’s a long and difficult trek.
● Nimbu Paani tea stall is available at Padharvadi gaon. The point where both the routes meet (Halfway)
●Accommodation is available.
● Bhimashankar plateau receives heavy rainfall and it is often covered in low clouds during the monsoons.
●Low thick clouds are common in Bhimashankar area during Monsoon and it often reduces the visibility at the distance of 5 meters. In such cases, risk of going off the route. Waiting till visibility improves is a good technique or using preloaded GPS devices or route maps is extremely helpful.
●Avoid the Shidhi Ghat route in Monsoon unless you have a good guide or local people with you.
●Mosquito repellent is a must if you are taking a Ganesh Ghat route.
●Carry a good torch and first Aid box.
● GPS and map is highly recommended if you are taking the Ganesh Ghat route.
●Two days is an ideal duration for this trek to cover Gupt Bhimashankar, Nagfani, and temple Darshan.
●You can also pitch your tent on the top post-monsoon and in winter but the temperature dips in the night.
●Leave the trail, not the trash. Bring your trash back to the city and dispose of it in a dustbin.
● Be sensitive towards the villagers when you are interacting with them.
●Respect the culture and the heritage of the site.
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