Hiking in Manmad Region -- Part 1 (Katra to Shambhu Mahadev Range)

Year 2015 ushered in with lots of hopes. Personally though 2014 was the most outstanding year in my life, I planned to make 2015 even better. There is no point in sitting on your past laurels; real joy of life is in learning something new each day, stretching your limits, setting some new benchmarks and living the life to the fullest.

Right at the start of year, I hiked on Kailsagad Fort near Mulshi dam and thus crossed my first milestone of hiking on 50 forts since starting my hikes in Feb 2013. With this milestone, I rewarded myself with new DSLR, Canon 70D with 18-135 STM lens. So I was excited to hike with this new gear hoping to better myself as a photographer.

Manmad region forts had kindled a lot of interest when I had witnessed them for the first time while traveling to Dhule for a marriage of my relative. It was the time when I was becoming a regular trekker. Finally the day dawned when I finalized the weekend of (17th and 18th Jan, 2015) to hike on these forts with my other trek buddies - Tushar (my elder brother), Amol Chandurkar (my office colleague), Sameer Kadam and Vishal Raghuvanshi.

Original plan was Katra, Hadbichi Shendi, Ankai and Tankai with a night halt in the temple on Ankai Fort. My cousin Sanjay Amrutkar, who is a well-known trekker arranged for the guide as Katra fort is difficult to locate and its hiking trail is confusing.

"We are waiting in front of Visapur Phata. Please send the guide".

"He is coming in 2 minutes. he will come by bike".
Nivrutti was communicating from Nasik as we reached to Visapur diversion where our guide was supposed to meet us. Nivrutti was supposed to act as our guide but he had to rush to Nasik and he had arranged alternate guide for us to take us to Katra Fort.

Another 10 minutes passed; no sign of our guide.

"Nivrutti, your guy has not yet come."
"Oh sorry. He doesn't have the bike. Please drive through the gate for 4 km and you will come across a square where he would be waiting for you."

This time his instructions were correct and we were greeted by Nivrutti's brother and his friend Ganesh. They greeted us warmly and showed us direction of a temple where they would meet us in next 5 minutes. Following their direction, we proceeded towards the temple.

Before entering the temple, we chatted with few people sitting in front of the temple. After knowing about our purpose of trekking on Katra Fort, they showed us Katra Fort clearly visible from the premises of the temple. (leftmost mountain in the below picture).

After parking our car, we removed our shoes and entered the temple. Temple was really very serene tucked away amidst lot of trees and we felt lucky to be in the temple as we never knew the existence of it and only because of the local guides, we got the opportunity to visit it.

Few photos of the temple and its premises:

My joy knew no bounds when peacocks resting on a small tree in the temple premises flew before my eyes. I hurried to capture the moment in the camera but peacocks were very agile in nature and I could just capture some part of it.

As there was no sign of our guides coming back, we decided to linger in the garden. Butterflies were fluttering across and I managed to click a picture of a butterfly resting on a branch of a tree.

We felt cheated when our guides did not return back even after an hour. We again called Nivrutti and showed our displeasure, took our guides' numbers to talk to them personally and as we finally decided to hike without our guides as their cell phones were not reachable, they came on their bike. They apologized and without wasting any further time, we started following them in our car to go towards the base of Katra Fort - our first hike of the day.

Road for some distance was pretty good but suddenly we needed to ply our car on very uneven dirt road. After a point, it was not possible to take the car further and we decided to park it at that point only and started from our hike from there.

Looking back, "Hadbichi Shedi" (thumb shaped pinnacle) was looking very inviting. Our next plan was to reach to the base of this pinnacle which actually did not materialize as few interesting things happened afterwards.

We came across a small temple on the trail going towards Katra Fort.
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Route chosen by our guides did not go directly to the base of the fort. They took us on a trail which was traversing the earlier mountain and leading us to col between the mountain and Katra Fort. Trail was slippery with lot of scree and we had to be careful on every step.

A small rock patch along the way:

Soon the traverse of the earlier mountain ended and we reached to a col between Katra Fort and Shendicha Dongar.

From the col, keeping the fort on the left, we again needed to traverse the trail. After the trail, we came across few rock patches of easy grade which led us to top of the fort.

Few wild flowers along the way:

We came across few caves on our right side but were difficult to reach. Only one of our guides went there to check those out.

While ascending further, we came across few more caves.

View of Hadbichi Shendi and surrounding landscape:

Water cisterns on the fort:

This fort does not have any rich remnants and must have been in use as a watch tower. A colored stone, small cave like opening and a water cistern were only some of the remnants.

After exploring the fort, it was post 2 in the afternoon and we started having the hunger pangs. So we decided to have a packed lunch under a shade near a rock patch before deciding on the next action plan.

" As you have come so far, we will take you on each mountain on this range till Shambhu Mahadev Mountain. We would descend on the opposite side where we have parked our vehicles. We will arrange a vehicle to bring back our parked vehicles" our guides were proposing the new plan as we finished our lunch and their idea excited us even if it meant idea of dropping the plan of hiking to the base of Hadbichi Shendi.

With the revised plan, we proceeded towards the base of "Shendicha Dongar" (this is different from "Hadbichi Shendi" pinnacle), next mountain in the range. Traverse we took this to reach base of "Shendicha Dongar" was narrow and full of scree. Amol had very difficult time but managed with the help of Sameer.

Now, we were at the base of Shendicha Dongar. There was one more traverse to reach on top and it was looking frightening - very narrow and full of scree. In comparison, rock patch to go on top was looking safer; so I urged our guides to take a look at it.

They too agreed and one of them was swift and negotiated the rock patch very skillfully. After going up, he confirmed that rock patch was not difficult and everybody could come up. I asked trek mates to wait and I decided to climb first. First step was really difficult where you had to take your foot to the level higher than your waist and with your few fingers in the grove, you had to haul your body up with the full force. It worked for me and I was also up within few minutes. Next turn was that of Amol who being the novice in the field was hesitant and with a lot of plodding and encouragement, he was able to scale the rock patch after a whopping 15 minutes. After Amol. Tushar came up in no time and later Vishal also had to struggle; he struggled more than Amol. Sameer was the last but being short in height, he was not able to reach to hold the grip in the groove and was stuck below for many minutes. Finally, one of our guides descended and pushed him from behind and finally Sameer was up; though he was agitated that he had to take help to negotiate the rock patch. I only consoled that this could happen to anybody and he should not take it to his heart.

Tushar climbing the rock Patch (Photo Courtesy: Sameer Kadam)

As Sameer was coming up from the rock patch, I decided to check where the traverse which we avoided was meeting the mountain and descended on the North side to check it out. As I was checking out, I saw everyone emerging indicating that Sameer was finally up.

We now proceeded towards other mountain in the range where another rock patch was waiting for us.

This rock patch was easier as compared to the previous rock patch.

Looking back, Katra fort was looking intimidating. As we had earlier planned to return from Katra, we were not carrying enough water (though I was carrying 2 litres of water, I was not aware that everybody else was carrying 2 lit of water in total). After a while, all water was finished and our mouth went dry. I was not too amused with trek mates not carrying enough water and reprimanded them for being so careless.

Katra Fort and Shendicha dongar from third mountain in the range:

We had to cross one more mountain which was not at all difficult but dry throats were making the walking little difficult.

Finally we reached near to Shambhu Mahadev mountain where there is a small temple of Shambhu Mahadev.

Growing thirst made us to skip visiting the temple which meant again ascending on the next mountain and descend from the same route. Instead we proceeded towards the gorge between the two mountains from where we were supposed to descend. We were ecstatic when we came to the small stream of water where water was cold, fresh and tasty. You become thirsty and then you realize the value of a single drop of water.

Source of water:

After gulping water, we felt rejuvenated and decided to descend. The gorge from which we were supposed to descend looked frightening and looked impossible to descend. You need to take a small traverse on the right and from where your descend starts. A chain and rope is fixed permanently to descend from a difficult rock patch.

Amol was fully exhausted after the day’s toil and his legs were shaking and he was finding it difficult to descend. But due to sheer will and lack of any other option, he decided to continue and with painstaking effort, he descended the tricky rock patch and all heaved a sigh of relief.

Soon, we joined to the well-marked trail and after that descent was quick. Tushar and Ganesh were far ahead of us. I waited for Amol and Vishal and we descended together. Tushar was already gone to take the car which was parked on the other side of the mountain. Evening was turning into the crimson red as sun was marching rapidly towards West. Gorakshagad, our next target for the next day was looking resplendent in the golden rays of the setting sun.

Legs were tired; there was look of absolute tranquility of everyone’s face. Joy of day’s hard work and feeling of achievement was palpable on everyone’s face. Everyone was engrossed with oneself; talking to the inner self. Vishal was busy in connecting with his fiancee over the phone; Amol was perching on the grass may be reflecting on the day’s hardships and his triumph over the challenges; Sameer and I were still not done with our photography and trying different angles to capture the dying moments of the setting sun.

Soon, Tushar was back with the car. It was a time to say thank you to our guides with whom we shared some thrilling moments.

Ganesh urged us to take a stop at his home for tea and we did not disappoint him. Soon, hot tea was served; Tushar a keen follower of politics soon struck a chord with Ganesh’s father who also seemed interested in politics and we sipped tea hearing their conversation.

Ganesh's home where we enjoyed evening tea:

After showing us the direction of the Gorakshanath temple, we were soon our way towards it. A single light was flickering at the base of Gorakshagad Fort and our car was heading towards it.

Part 2

Bhorgiri to Bhimashankar - A Magical Trail Trek

Friday, 29th Aug

Time 4 pm: 
Plan for Bhimashankar was set perfectly. This time, my cousin Sanjay Amrutkar, a famous trekker and photographer and his group from Nasik and my group from Pune were going to trek together. Both the groups were formed but alas! There was some communication gap. I prepared the group to hike on Saturday, 30th Aug and my cousin prepared the group for Sunday, 31st Aug. Though I had sent the detail plan to my cousin on whatsapp, he forgot to notice the day and date. There was a sudden last moment’s twist in the overall plan. Changing the plan at the last moment was difficult and after discussing with my trek-mates, I decided to go ahead with the trek without Nasik Group.

Time: 4.30 pm:
Rain was pounding on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.It poured heavily for more than an hour and

there was water everywhere. This was a potent sign considering I was going to trek in the Bhimashankar region – the region known for its heavy rainfall.

Time: 5.30 pm: 
Tiny droplets were hanging on my balcony grill. I decided to capture it in my camera. To my dismay, message popped up on my camera screen “No Memory Card”. I checked the camera and memory card was in place. I shook the camera, re-inserted the memory card but still the same message. Damaged memory card on the previous evening of the trek. Another bad luck!

Well, three instances happened which could have easily toppled the plan of hiking to Bhimashankar but the sheer determination helped me not to deter from the original plan. By evening, rain was abated, I purchased the new memory card, personally called each of trek mate (Milind Patil and Siddheshwar Kadam - my office colleagues, Sameer Kadam - my regular trek mate and Tushar Kothawade - my elder brother) to take the final confirmation and finally, everything regarding the trek plan came back to normalcy.

Saturday morning dawned without any rain which was such a big relief. Siddheshwar was supposed to join me on Sus Road at 6 am but he called saying his two wheeler got punctured and he would be coming by his car. He arrived almost 25 minutes late and we started around 6.25 am from my home. Siddheshwar was in mood of driving his car; so instead of taking my car, we decided to take his Swift Dzire car. I was happy as I was delegated to the rear seat where I could just relax and enjoy the whole journey as a passenger. We picked up Amol from Pimple Saudagar and Sameer from Kalewadi and we were on our way to Rajgurunagar – our first halt for breakfast.

After breakfasting Misal-Pav at the restaurant, we enquired about the petrol pump on the way to Bhorgiri but as there was no petrol pump available on that road, we drove backwards for 2 kms and got the petrol tank filled up.

We needed to take a left turn from Rajgurunagar. There are arrows indicating the direction of Bhimashankar. We came across Chaskaman Dam along the way and its backwater accompanied us for most of the journey. Whole expanse of water was looking gorgeous and we soaked in the views.

The weather was overcast but there was hardly any iota of rain. Whole earth was carpeted with lush green grass and it was sight to behold. Road condition was better than expected and we all were enjoying the scenic ride.

Soon, we reached to Bhorgiri and parked our car beside a temple. Many college going boys were sitting in premises of temple and after enquiring for the guide, one of them, a boy named "Ajit" agreed to join us and we started our hike amidst the breathtaking scenery.

Initial walkway passed through the dirt and muddy puddles which gave fair indication how our next hiking trails would be. After walking for certain distance, we came across first stream which we had to cross by jumping on stones inside the stream.

Soon, the hiking trail entered the dense forest and there we had our first glimpse of Giant Malabar Squirrel (called as Shekroo) – the famous squirrel in Bhimashankar forest. There were two of them -  giant, brown coloured squirrels with a very long tail. We were awestruck by the beauty of this magnificent animal and tried to click few photos. But these squirrels were very agile in nature and we did not get any clear photograph but nevertheless we were happy to imprint the image in our mind.

Soon, we came across a small plateau and from there surrounding mountain range was visible. We spent few moments doing some photography and resumed our hike.

Unique thing about the hike that you continuously hear gushing sound of nearby streams which really is soothing to your ears. Along the way, we again had to cross second stream which was larger and wider. Crossing the stream without wetting your shoes requires a lot of skill – good firm grip, confidence on your shoes will take you through. If you are not confident, don’t try the acrobats and walk through the stream even if it means wetting your shoes. Wet shoes are better than a bad fall.

After crossing the stream, again on the left side, we spotted the giant Shekroo. This time we really got a good view and better time to photograph it and we were so ecstatic.

Beauty of the hike was that we hardly had to drink water from our bottles. Fresh and gushing water from the streams quenched our thirst.

Last part of the hike was again through the dense forest

After crossing a stream of big boulders, we reached to Bhimashankar and we were greeted by the hoard of pilgrims, chanting mantras, bathing in the kund, standing religiously in queues to take darshan of God Shiva. It was 12.30 pm and we decided to stand in the queue to take darshan. We had to wait for about 45 minutes. Finally we entered the innermost part of the temple and quickly bowed our heads before being quickly ushered outside by the priest whose only job seemed to make sure that  no devotee would spend more than 5 seconds in front of the deity.

After coming outside of the temple, we rushed to find Kshitij restaurant suggested by Onkar Oak. After munching lunch followed by a hot ginger tea. we got the much needed warmth and energy and started descending towards Gutpa Bhimashankar, a secret Shivlinga tucked away in the dense forest.

There is a sign board attached to a big trunk of a tree indicating the direction of Gupta Bhimashankar. 

Again, the trail passes through a denser forest. As we were passing through the forest, loud noise of thumping water caught our attention. We followed the direction of a sound and were refreshed to see a medium sized waterfall falling merrily. Sameer and myself decided to go to the base; I gave up midway because my shoes were slipping on the wet rocks but Sameer went ahead and reached to the base of the waterfall.

Soon, we came across a fallen gigantic tree and we clicked a group photo around it.

After trudging for few more minutes, we came across a small temple.

Soon, we came across a big stream which was getting transformed into a small waterfall. Gupta Bhimashankar lies at the base of this waterfall. Again some boulders are placed in the stream and you have to do some acrobats to reach to the other side of the stream. My HEAD shoes were deserting me throughout the trek and I had almost lost the confidence on the grip of the shoes. As I was planning my next jump from a rock, suddenly both of my feet slipped and I had a bad fall with few cuts on my palm which oozed some blood. I immediately removed my shoes and walked through the stream with bare feet.

Soon, we were at the base of the waterfall and we were just wonder struck by the beautiful Shiv-Linga of Gupta Bhimashankar. Really one of the most amazing feelings!

After spending few moments of real bliss in the presence of divine Gutpa Bhimashnkar and splendor of nature, we started our hike back to Bhorgiri. As local boy was our guide, he took us some shortcut from the dense forest and we joined back to the hiking trail. Looking back, we couldn't believe how we came out safely from the dense forest. This is where local guides really help.

Along the way, we came across a snake which was resting on the trail as if it were dead. Probably it had eaten something and had got lethargic. Considering it may get killed by other hikers or it may cause harm to other passerby, we poked it gently using the stick and after a while, it coiled itself around branch of a small tree.

Soon, we reached Bhorgiri village. Though legs were tired, we were determined to visit Bhorgiri Fort and we proceeded towards it.

Soon, we reached to the cave where there is a small Shiva Temple. It was very serene there and we rested a bit. Sameer had brought home made  Gulab-Jamuns  and we couldn't have got a better place than this to feast on the desert.

There is another cave just few meters away from this cave and it contains water tanks and a temple inside the water tank. This was again the sweet surprise. Though nobody was willing to enter the knee-deep water and walk for almost 20 ft inside the cave to reach to the idol, I and Milind decided to explore it with the help of Ajit and everybody followed the suit. It was again one of the most amazing feelings and after a while, we all came out, wore our shoes and started descending with a simpler route.

Soon, we reached to the village. Bhorgiri is a tiny village with very few houses.

I talked to few villagers and photographed an elderly man who was sitting in front of his house. I was expecting the man to give a smile but sombre expressions on his face stirred my soul making me wonder if this man had really lived a tough life!

After reaching to our parking spot, we handed over Ajit his fees (300 Rs) as a guide,changed our clothes and rested outside the temple. Three small kids were playing in the premises of the temple and we offered them biscuits. As we had still many biscuits available, I asked them to call their friends and gradually there were almost dozen of kids. All seemed happy after receiving the biscuits and they were more than happy to pose for a group picture. Seeing the happy faces of these lovely kids was the fitting end of the trek and we started our journey back to Pune.

Along the way, we halted at Rajgurunagar for tea, called our respective families as we were out of mobile coverage all day along and finally reached to Pune around 9.30pm.

Exploring the wilderness of Bhimashankar Forest was a sheer divine experience. Sometimes nature just makes you speechless and spellbound with its beauty. As I am penning this post, fragrance of woods of Bhimashankar seems still fresh in the nose, melody of gushing water of the streams still seems musical to the ears and sights of the giant Malabar Squirrel still brings a rapturous smile on the face.

Special thanks to "Onkar Oak" whose inputs helped me plan this hike perfectly.

Tips for the hikers:

• Best season for this hike is just at the start of rainy season.
• Hiring a guide is advisable as there are some confusing trails.
• Don't miss visiting the place of "Gupt Bhimashankar".             
• Don't miss visiting Bhorgiri Fort. 

Thank you for reading the blog!

Do visit my home page to easily navigate to my other blogs.

Happy hiking!

Appeal: No litter; no plastic; no wrappers; keep the mother nature clean!