The Awesome Beauty of the Bhimashankar trek

Bhimashankar cliffs from Khandas

What makes a perfect monsoon hike? A great place, an interesting route with some thrills thrown in for good measure, great views, the company of friends and above all good weather with lots of rain. It all came together at the end of July at Bhimashankar to make one of the best hikes of the year.

Bhimashankar (3500 ft) is a famous Shiva temple situated between the Malshej and Lonavala regions. Declared a wildlife sanctuary by the state government, it is lies in a beautiful sacred forest. For trekkers it is a long hike with a choice of two routes: the ‘treacherous’ tricky Shidi ghat or the long, arduous Ganesh Ghat. We had the good fortune of doing both in a day.

We took a local to Karjat and met my uncles from Pune in a perfect stroke of timing. But we almost missed the 8:30 bus to Kashele from where private jeeps and ricks take one to Khandas, the base village.

From the moment I stepped outside my house, it was drizzling and I knew it was going to be a wet hike. It was raining in Karjat and at Khandas, dark clouds were above us shrouding the mountains; the row of cliffs was adorned with a row of gushing waterfalls. Sipping tea in a leaf-topped hut beside a roaring stream, we searched the tall forested cliffs where the faster but steeper Shidi ghat route was hidden.

Around ten, equipped with a local guide, our group of six (two seniors over 50, two adventurous girls and two veterans of Bhimashanker) took on the ladder strewn route. I think I did this hike last time in 1997; that time the ladders were either made of rusty shaky metal or worse, wood and bamboo. Things had changed; a trekking group has gifted a bright green metal staircase to all. After this ‘ladder’ things get interesting; from my previous attempt I clearly remembered the spot where there are only hand holds and hardly any place to take a second step. A fall at this point is fatal but the hand holds are excellent.

Past this point came two more rusty ladders wedged in the narrow clefts of rock with water gushing through so that it hits you in the face. Wet, drenched, exhilarated, a bit shaken we continued through swollen waterfalls to reach a cave curtained with streams of water. Through the glistening beads of water you could see the vast expanse of green and the adjacent row of cliffs that ended into the sentinel-like sharp peak of Padar Killa.

We reached the first plateau at the point where both routes meet; nearby is Koli village idyllically surrounded by lush paddy fields. Enterprising villagers have erected little huts for tired trekkers to rest to whom they sell tea. Yet this was the half-way point. A steep route climbs up and the forest wears down to bushes and grass. Skirting the edge this route zig-zags steeply and then traverses towards the north, each step proving that the view only gets better before you reach the mists.

The rain gods had quite a treat for us and poured their offerings generously; just in time we reached the upper plateau of Bhimashankar which is covered by a dense, dark forest made all the more mysterious by the dark clouds. There was so much rain that it compensated for all the lack of it in my previous three hikes. We walked through this gorgeous water drenched forest for about an hour until a final climb took us to a foggy top marked by the small Hanuman pond. To the right a route goes to Nagphani, the highest point and the left to Bhimashankar temple.

The fog had come stay; the swirling mists and pouring rain meant that there would be no chance for sightseeing. Shivering and cold we rushed towards the motorable road that comes to Bhimashankar from Pune, which is hugged on both sides by little eateries and shops. It had taken us four long hours to get here and our sprightly seniors from Pune would end their trek here. For the rest of us it was a choice and we chose the more difficult option of returning. A darshan at the temple was not possible because of a long waiting line and so after cups of rejuvenating hot tea and going through everybody’s food stocks we bid our goodbyes and started the long way back home.

It was past three when we made our way back; initially we lost our way in the white mists but luckily grasped the right route and held onto it firmly. We made our way back, past the tall dark forest, down the long walk along the edge, down to the forests till we reached the tea-stalls. The last of the trekkers were making their way up, hoping to stay at the top or take a bus away to wherever. We were the only group moving at our top pace to reach Khandas.

View from Ganesh Ghat

Our newest trekker was a novice and on her first trek she showed admirable reserves of strength to not only complete hike but also keep up with our pace. The Ganesh Ghat route is scenic and in absence of any trekking groups the silence in the beautiful forests was soothing. Water flowed everywhere; scenic streams and gushing cascades met us on our way only to appear later on facing cliffs as a chain of milky waterfalls. On the way back, we took pictures, posed under waterfalls, surveyed the heavenly views, cemented our friendships and stolidly walked on till we finally reached the base just in three hours totally. At the base we booked a tum-tum to Neral station and changed and relaxed. A last look behind showed us that Bhimashankar had retreated back into the clouds. We had made it just in time, as the light of the day slipped away. A perfect ending to what had been an almost perfect day.

Pictures by Shannon & Vikram at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/upsidedownv/Bhimashankar2010?feat=directlink