Bhimashankar

After doing these many treks I can surely rate this the best one. You come across risk to loose life, on top there's Lord Shiva's temple where you feel satisfied and complete about the efforts you took to reach there. There you can find all the arrangements for lodging, eating etc. Its a pilgrimage where you can go through proper private transport. The route which we took was through Shidi Ghat which is a risky one while there's another one known as Ganesh Ghat which is a simple walk without any risks.

30 Aug - Saturday (Early Morning mess-up)-


It was the usual day for me - going for another trek after Night shift. I was bit uncomfortable this time as I hadnt slept properly on Friday and did hurt my leg when I dashed my bike on some idiot biker. Neways this I reached early at Shrikanth's place. All I got was " Just sit outside I will not open the door, I am sleeping". :-( But somehow I got him to open it for me. Then started the scene. I literally got "rattofied" Rahul's caller tune but he wasnt just picking the call. He had the reservation tickets and we were like ......... Finally we started for Khadki at 5:15 when Ashutosh arrived. Later on we decided that Shri will go to Shivaji Nagar and pick others as he had the contacts and Ashu n me will board at Khadki.

But at the end me, Vaijan, Ashutosh,Parin,Prashant,Sourabh went ahead with Anup joining in Pimpri and Aditya in Chinchwad. Trupti and Shri went to get Rahul who were supposed to meet us in Khandas.


As the march started my sole aim was to complete my sleep whichever way it could be and the situation really helped me. As we boarded the train Vaijan notified me that he has a window seat reserved in another bogie. I immediately grabbed it and finished around 1.5 hour of my sleep. We reached at 8:00 at Karjat. This has become quite a familiar route for us after so much time. The bus from Karjat bus-stand to Kasheli was at 9.45 . Woww 1 more hour gained :-).


Its aound 45 minutes journey (Actually I am not sure - I slept again). From Kasheli we took a jeep to Khandas which is around 13 kms from Kasheli. We had a quick breakfast(poha) and a tea. The localites were insisting to take a guide if were going thr Shidi ghat as its is very risky for the ones who dont know it or go through the Ganesh ghat as its a way simpler. But we also remained stern to go through Shidi Ghat without guide.


Walk towards Shidi Ghat -


Just 2 Kms ahead from Khandas you find a Literal "T". The right goes to Ganesh Ghat while the left towards Shidi Ghat.
Again one more important thing to note - As you follow left just after 5 mins walk you will see couple of wells on right off the track. You have to leave your normal path and actually go besides the wells to go towards shidi ghat. Around half hour walk and you will come across a nice big stream. There we came across another group who were planning to go and come back the same day. Quite optimistic though. The localites did scared us so much about the route that I gt very enthu to see the particular path asap. So after a small rest I suggested others that we will move ahead slowly. But it was very hot on that day and water seemed too soothing. So we decided to wait for Rahul, Trupti and Shri. By that time they had started from Karjat. Another 2 hours to take a nap. Seriouly yaar after this nap I felt really refreshed. Now I was ready to face anything :-).


We resumed our trek when they arrived at around 3:00 pm. It was a pretty decent 1 hour walk where on the way we met Tukaram. We really felt him like an angel when we came across the most awaited shidi ghat (the patch). We came across the first shidi which was quite interesting. But the most intersting was a patch whr you have to cling on to your fingers to get on to the next rock. And the risk is you dont have anything below to rest your foot upon - just a straight rock whr you hang-on and a deep valley beneath. Very rarely you can see such a small bifurcation between life n death. You just cross it to get to the ladder n woww the ladder itself hangs beteen 2 rocks beneath which again there's nothing. Some how you cross the ladder to get on the rock. You again have to crawl over it to get on proper pathway.You have to be extra carefull over wet areas on the rocks. The way to the third ladder was also awesome though not that life threatning. The third ladder is almost of bamboo(small part of it is steel) and is quite slippery.


The feel of Heaven and satisfaction:-


We took our leisure to cross that patch and later on it was just a picnic walk over the edges and forest. Atleast on this trek it is advisable to always follow left if you always want to be right. :-) But due to Parins's insistance to follow a water way we went towards Abhaya Aranya (wild life sanctuary) instead of Bhimashankar town. It already was around 6:45 pm and fog was becoming very dense. We took a right after coming out of the forest towards a plateau. Just 5 mins walk and everybody was just amazed. It was a dead end with dense fog. Nobody spoke for a couple of minutes. All of us went to our own direction and sat alone. I am sure everybody must have thought about their best times ever and compared it with this. At least I did so. Its was very chilling out their and very soothing after such a long walk in strong sun. And to the surprise the network in everbody's cell. SO most of us called their dear ones to describe and notify about the progress while others were happy enough to be in their own thoughts.


But later we did struggled to find the way back to town as it was very foggy and nothing was visble. I think God itself found us instead of we finding him. It was around 7:30 pm and time for Aarti. So sound of bells come from some side. We just followed the way and voice of people became louder. We just followed the voice and in 5 minutes found ourselves in a town which was deeply immersed in fog where the street lights seemed like small torches in that fog.


As it was aarti time most of us went directly to the temple. It felt really peacefull in that particular temple like atmosphere. The smoke of incense sticks, the ringing of bells, the chorus of aarti was just the next thing which you want after this much effort. The aarti was soon followed by a very appreciated dinner. Later on Shri, Rahul n Anup had a talk with temple officials to let us stay in the corridors of temple. They agrred but after 10:00 pm. So we had some time which we decided to look around the place. 6 of us me, Shrikanth,Vaijan, Rahul, Ashutosh,Anup n Prashant headed towards the a path through thick foliage which actually traverse ahead to "gupt linga" (secret linga). We walked for around 20 mins and rested in a open area. It was already an Amawasya and to add on the effect we did off our torches. Now there were only darkness, sound of night insects and we.We changed our clothes for sleeping and went back.


We were supposed to sleep in temple. Some of us also suggested to try out Dharmashala as we didnt had enough covers.But there was a stadium (small one). We cleaned the steps and slept over there. I think only Trupti wasnt able to sleep due to shortage of covers and to add on; dogs barking around and we snoring (dont count me in plz).

31st Aug, Sunday -

We were woken up by Shri at around 5:30 am. Everbody completed their morning tasks by 6:15 am and we started our way back at around 7:00. We did halt once for Brkfast. Some monkey tricks, some snaps, fun and we were on our legs again.Vaijan, Rahul and Ashutosh were in full pace leading the way while we others were enjoying each moment. Next halt was at a stream on the way were everybody freshened up and relaxed. The ext halt was drectly at base village Khandas where final group snaps were taken. We took a tum-tum to Kasheli and then other one to Karjat. Our train was at 4:00 pm but we reached at 2:00 so we had lunch and a much needed cane juice.

Back to Pune:-
As we had our tickets in waiting we had to take new ones. me, Vaijan and Aditya did wait for Singhagad while others went by Karjat-Pune Passenger.It was a nice journey sitting at doors. I was at home by 6:15 pm.

So all in all a thrilling, a bit hectic yet a full pleasure trek completed.


Details:

Team :11
Route: ShivajiNagar ->Karjat ->Khasheli ->Khandas

Distance: Karjat ->Khasheli : ~30kms Khasheli ->Khandas: ~13kms

Altitude: ~3650ft. above MSL.

Endurance: High Difficulty : Ganesh ghat -> Medium ; Shidi Ghat -> High

Time : Uphill: 4.5hrs. Downhill: 4.0hrs

Transport: Train to Karjat: 6:00am from Shivaji Nagar Karjat -> Khasheli : ST at 9:45 am or TT for
16Rs. Per head Khasheli -> Khandas: TT for 15rs per head.

Expenses: Rs 250

Stay: Bhimashankar temple / adjacent stadium(or wherever you feel better). Lodging available

Duration: Preferable opt for an Overnight stay.

Best time to visit: Monsoon!