Harishchandra Gadh is my second Trek. Again in Sahyadri mountain range. I have heard about this place from people and also have seen some videos online. After consulting with a friend, I have finalised this trek. I am going on trek with Dhyas Sahyadri. They have arranged everything from travel, trekking, food and safety needs. Last time also went with them. It was pretty good experience.
It is pre-monsoon Trek. So probably, there will be cloudy environment and I will not have to face much summer heat. Other things is I have purchased new Trekking shoes last month, which I wanted to try. And luckily this Monday we have holiday in office. It means, one day break after trek. Together everything is fitting well in schedule.
As per plan, we will be travelling by bus from Pune to base village "Khireswar". Then from there we will Trek to Harishchandra temple. Enjoy beautiful Kokan Kada view. By afternoon return back to base village. In village, we will have lunch and till evening, back to Pune. It is one day Trek.
Getting Prepared
Today in evening I am going on Trek. From morning I have started preparing my bag. Packing things here and there. I have took my new trekking head torch, which I purchased along with shoes from Decathlon. In my bag, I have got extra pair of clothes incase it rains. I have got sufficient water bottles and some snacks. Apart from that, I have got hand sanitiser, adomos cream and some medicines, which might be useful on the way .
Bus is starting from Deccan by 10pm. So I need to reach there, and catch bus. I need to reach 20 mins early. Took dinner at 8:30 pm. Then after taking blessings of Lord Krishna, I started my ride to Deccan bus stop. I reached Deccan by 9:40 pm. Exact on time. Kept bike there in Deccan parking lot. Last time, also kept here. So it's all good. After parking a bike, walked for 2 min to reach Deccan bus stop.
It is Saturday evening, lot of crowd is there. I sat on one of the bench and waiting for Trek lead to come. There is one guy who looks like going on Trek, but I am not sure, who is him. I have not met him before. I kept waiting for some more time. At 10pm, dial phone to Trek lead. Same guy to whom I was keeping an eye was Trek lead. Few more people where also sitting beside. Just after knowing them, started chit-chat. Had some casual introduction and chat on past Trek experiences.
There was one guy from Ranchi who is going on Trek for the first time. He came along with his friend, who is trekking from long time. I shared with him, my first Trek experience. He found to be very excited as I was in my first Trek. First Trek is very special. Because we don't know anything about it. We don't judge ourselves, because there is no good or bad past experience. We try to give our best to tackle the things as it comes. And we just enjoy that special hat of first time trekker and the special treatment given to us.
Mini Bus
There were fewer people than last time. So they have got smaller this time. In sometime mini-bus came. We get into bus. I took left side single seat in second row. Generally I keep my luggage down the seat, so single seat is more preferably to me. Trek lead posted an online location update on WhatsApp group, so people joining along the way can follow it easily.
FC road was very crowded. Lot of people gathered for some event. Took a while to cross it. After that bit lesser traffic. In sometime, I was started feeling sleepy. So I just closed eyes and try to sleep as much as I can. It was not much comfortable but trying to change position and getting as much as sleep as I can.
Surprise
At 1:45 am, bus stopped. I thought may be some intermediate stop. But then when I looked outside we reached base village. One by one people started going out with bags. I was unable to understand what is going on. Last time we reached base village at 4am and started to Trek at 5am. I was under impression today also it will be same. After sometime I was only one left in the bus. I also tied my shoes and came out with bag prepared.
We all gathered in circle. Trek lead introduced himself. He gave some instructions regarding Trek and precautions about night Trek. There were two Trek leads. One will go first and other will remain last. He said after everyone's introduction we will start Trek. Now I understood it is a night Trek. I should have properly read schedule. May be I overlooked it. But that's okay. I am excited to experience, the surprised night Trek.
In introduction session, found most of folks are from IT. Some college students. One from banking. And there was one guy from medical. We were total 17 people, plus 2 Trek leads.
Starting Trek
I wore my head torch and I was ready to Trek. Today I have also got my digital watch, which I have recently received as gift from office. It will help me to find approximate distance and steps travelled.
Without taking much time, exactly at 1:58 am, we started to Trek. I noted down exact time, so I can calculate time it will take in return journey. Just after some initial distance, there were rocks. It was not normal walk, but had to climb rocks. With head torch and new trekking shoes, it was not much difficult to climb rocks. Of course my real test will be in descend. We kept walking and trekking in night.
This is my first time trekking in night. It was pleasant night. First hour or so I felt I am walking in sleep. There are some mangoes seen on the ground. Probably there are many mangoes trees nearby. Due to dark nothing much visible here. I picked some mangoes and put it into pocket. Thought to eat it on the way.
We kept climbing. After sometime there was one guy selling lemon juice. First I thought, who sells lemon juice at 3am on this empty mountain. But there was one mad guy like me. May be he was not mad. But may be earning money is so difficult here. To run his family, he may have to do it. I drank one glass. I prayed for him that he get many customers today. I felt things we get with less effort or with ease we don't give much importance. But one who put lot of effort to get it, understands the importance of it.
With that glass on lemon juice, new energy was flowing inside me. I am now feeling bit more energetic. We kept climbing, we reached a place were small open temple was there. When we reached here, wind was blowing very fast. Now it was not just climbing, but have to keep balance in stronger winds. We stopped there for 5 mins.
Rock patch
After sometime we reached difficult rock patch. Since it was dark everywhere, we were able to see only those things which were coming under focus of torchlight. Due to lack of knowledge, there was no fear of falling down. But this small rock patch was the most difficult part of the Trek. Rocks were big and hardly able to find out the right place to foot on. Again shoes helped here. With calm mind, carefully balanced the body weight and climb it up.
After finishing rock patch we stopped for couple of minutes. Here there was beautiful view of moon hiding inside cloud. Moon was playing hide and seek in cloud. It was totally dark, hardly able to see anything else. Moon was visible intermittently, since clouds were running fast in stronger winds.
Again started, we kept trekking for sometime. Trek lead realised, we lost the direction and have came wrong way. Oh my god what to do now? How much extra we have to cover? were some of the questions running in my mind. At same time, I was thinking how do they remember the route. Nothing much was visible, there is no Google map working here.
We went back some 200 steps and found the right direction. I observed there were arrow signs in white colour on the way after every few steps. May be that's the sign, Trek leads were following to go in right direction. Also they have come here many time and so might have remembered the route.
We kept running for more time. We reached a place were very strong beam of light was there. Initially could not able to understand what it is. Took some nice night pictures from there. After sometime found, they were focus light kept for trekker to find out path in case they went in wrong way. There were 2-3 big white colour focus light. They were near to temple. A place where we supposed to reach.
Temple
Finally at 5am, after trekking for 3 hours reached Harishchandreshwar temple. The temple is very old. As it sound from the name, it is Shiva temple. Behind the temple there are smaller cave like rooms. The plan was to take rest there for sometime and then go to Kokan Kada for breakfast in morning.
Now some day light started. It is still all fog all around. Visibility is hardly 15 meters. Nothing is clearly visible except those white clouds. Due to fog, all cloths are wet. And due to fast blow of wind, I am feeling very cold. It felt like a December and not May. It is so much cold.
I went along with other folks in one of the cave room to get some heat. Sit there for sometime to take rest. Then eventually slept for some time. It felt little better. Now due to cold, I am feeling so much hungry. I took my snacks box and had some snacks. Doubled t-shirt to protect from cold wind. Wore dry t-shirt and then wet one on top of it. Also wore cap to protect from fog. I clicked some photos inside cave and temple.
At 7:30am, we went to nearby old structure where water was reserved and there was small temple like structure inside. There is some history behind that place. The place is called "Saptatirtha Pushkarni". There are four pillars. People believes when forth pillars will break, world would come to an end. From outside, it looks like a covered swimming pool with depth nearby 4ft max. And it was all part of one big cave. It was not well maintained and people had dumped junk inside. So water was not so clean. Few folks went inside in water took some pictures. It was still very cold, I decided to visit from outside only. I took some pictures of the that place and surroundings.
Kokan Kada
Next around 8 am, we started to Trek towards Kokan Kada. It was still fog. Visibility was not much. If someone stay behind will have to shout names to find person. Distance was short it took around 20 mins to reach Kokan Kada.
This place is much more like a tourist attractions. There are tents and restaurants to stay. On the way near to tent, seen few bone fires. May be people would have fired it in early morning.
We reached to a tourist point from where a beautiful view of entire place is supposed to be seen. But due to cloud, nothing is visible. I clicked some photos. But since everywhere it was just white clouds. Nothing came in photo.
Snake Book
There is one guy in our team, who is studying Zoology. He is very young. He is studying on snake. In Pune, In Rajiv Gandhi Zoological park he works as wild life helping guy. Here he has came with his book of snake. Some of us who were interested, were sitting and standing beside him. He opened book and started explaining about each snake, page by page. He was sharing his own experience with snakes. Initially in the book they were all non poisonous snakes. He was explaining everything in Marathi. I don't speak Marathi, but I can understand. I was able to follow him. In few mins, it started becoming more and more interesting. More and more people joined to listen him. In Marathi they call poisonous snakes as "visheli" and non-poisonous one as "bin-visheli".
After all non-poisonous snakes, then came the poisonous one. One of us asked "in how much time person will die after bite?" He said 30 mins. Now it started getting scary seeing more snake from his book. He keep explaining many things. He told for every snake we have antidote in Pune. There are only 2 government hospital where antidotes of every snake is available. One is Sasoon Hospital and other is ZVM Hospital. Private hospitals also has antidotes. But it is very costly. One antidote in private cost in few lacs. While in government it cost around 5k only. So much informative. Hope I will not have to take antidote in future. Just in case, this information might be useful.
It was fun and very interesting, listening to him. He was speaking with such a passion. I was really impressed seeing his passion and knowledge about wild life. He had snake eggs in his home. Which he is looking after. He recently helped in Katraj snake park to rescue one of the Chetah.
I believe one should never give up on his/her passion. We have only have one life and limited period on this planet. We should keep following our passion and shape the life in such a way that you feel proud of it.
Breakfast
After sometime we walked towards restaurant, where we would be having our breakfast. Along the way, I was chatting with him. I was trying to learn more about him, his studies and how he got this wildlife passion. He was very friendly person. He had one snake stick with him. Incase he finds one on the trek. He would catch it.
In sometime we reached a restaurant. It was a small room like structure. Walls and top were made of wooden planks. Floor was natural sand. We spread the carpet on the floor all across the room. Everyone sat near to each side of the wall. Outside tent it was still very cold, due to fog and cold wind. Inside it felt very warm and comfortable. The restaurant owner quickly arranged the Poha and Tea. We distributed dishes and had our breakfast. Poha were delicious. By the way, every thing tastes good when one is very hungry.
While eating some activity to be done. One of the guy took lead and shared one of his ghost story. I listened to his story with lot of interest. I do respect his sharing honest experience. But since I have never experienced any such thing in my life. I personally don't believe in the ghost like thing. Who knows I might be wrong. As of today, I believe it is just a state of mind, which puzzles the people to believe in something which doesn't exist. May be in future if I experience such thing, I may believe in it.
Here in restaurant, I noted down the distance travelled and number no of steps from my digital watch. It is around 10km and 15K steps. This information will be helpful in descend.
Back to Kokan Kada Point
After breakfast it was around 10 am. Restaurant owner told, fog may go away by 11 am. So we decided to go back to Kokan Kada again and see if we can get beautiful view of Kokan Kada.
We reached there in sometime. It was still fog, but it has started reducing. We would have waited for 15-20 mins and fog was reduced. A beautiful view of Kokan Kada was in front of us. This point is called "Kokan Kada cliff". It's big steep down. It's like a basket shape area, where we were on one edge of it. May be following beautiful photo can explain it better than what am I writing.
There we invented something amazing. One guy throw a small wooden stick with full force inside. But the blow of wind was so strong that. It just flied up like a kite in the sky. After sometime every one were trying to throw something and enjoying. One other group of trekker tried to send a smiley ball. Ball flied out beautifully. Then they send something else which was very heavy weight. Unfortunately that thing didn't fly and but went inside 🙂
We had lot of photo graphs here. We took some group pictures as well. Our trek lead had 360 degree camera, with which he took some special photo and videos. Finally around 11 am, we started for return journey.
Descend Journey
Last trek, my descend trek was horrible. I had that picture in my mind. This time, my new shoes has amazing grip. So I am not much worried. It really helped me in descend. Additionally I had got one wooden stick to support. Using stick may be not good idea in descend. Since it can break and can lead to injury. A metal stick would be good choice to use. But I still used that stick for quite a long time. It was helping me.
Now sun was on top. After walking down for sometime. It was feeling hot due to double t-shirts, removed extra one. Then was feeling much better. In return we could see all beautiful mountains and nearby area, which we missed in night trek.
We stopped at couple of place in return for 5-10 mins. Now need of water was increasing. Even though it was not much hot, but walking in Sun was making difference compared to night trek. Good thing was there were lot of trees. So direct sunlight didn't hit in half of the distance.
Rock Patch
So far descend was all good. I didn't felt any trouble. Now one difficult rock patch came. In night we could not able to see much and there was no fear of falling down. Now we could see steep down fall. So it was really scary. I had to sit and drag with hands. It took a while to get down. I think this was the only difficult part of whole Trek. Everyone helped each other. One of the friend took my stick with him. I learned, at such difficult place, we need to slow down and carefully take every steps. Balance of body is very important. Rushing here can lead to injury. After a while, passed through it.
Mango Trees
After rock patch, we started seeing lot of mango trees. In night we had seen lot of fallen mangoes, but trees were not clearly visible. Some place we stopped to pluck mangoes from tree. We had long sticks to help. Some trees were too high to reach, there we throw few stones. Thankfully our stone didn't hit anyone. But just plucked few more mangoes. It was fun plucking mangoes from tree like this. I kept some plucked mangoes in bag and continued walking down.
It was really long route. Last 2 km I was keep checking distance and steps in my digital watch every few minutes. Since our route was same, I knew it would be approximately same distance in return.
Then after walking more, we finally seen a house. That's the end of trek. We reached base village. There was some ceremony going on in the first house. We asked for some water. They were kind people. They had one big water pot arranged outside their house for trekker like us. We refill the water bottle. Drink it and went to our bus. Three of us were reached first, since we didn't stopped much in last half an hour.
I changed cloths again and took some rest. After while, other people also reached. Once everyone reached we went for our lunch.
Lunch
Lunch was arranged in one farm house. It was house but was being used as restaurant. Veg and Non-veg eating folks were separated. For veg folks, they sent us inside main hall of the house. While for Non-veg folks they arranged outside. It was quite big hall. Unfortunately electricity was not there. Our phone lights were enough to get some light.
Similar to breakfast, we sit down at side of hall and had lunch. I was feeling very hungry now. They served big size wheat made chapati, sabji, daal and rice. Everything was very good. I felt I eat much more than usual. It was really good food. Thank you to everyone who arranged it. While eating we had good time on talking and re-collecting good memory from the Trek.
Finish
That's it, after lunch we went back to bus and we're ready to go back to Pune.
This was really amazing experience for me. It was all in one Trek. We faced winter like season when reached temple, it was very cold. The fog in early morning was giving a feeling of monsoon season. In day it was like summer. We trek in dark night in ascend and in descend trek in sunny day.
We trekked approximately 20km and 30K steps in 12 hours. I felt it was bit tough for me physically due to longer distance covered in a day compared to last trek. But since I went along with team, I able to make it. May be more such trek would increase my mental strength. Thank you to Trek leads and every one who helped and supported to make this Trek a wonderful experience.
Finally concluding my Trek, with one line learning;
"Mountain teach us to remain strong and steady, no matter what whether comes"
Comments
Post a Comment