BHIMASHANKAR - A MUST DO TREK
Being sick of studies and all the 12th standard pressure, I went on another trek last year. This was eventually the 3rd trek of the year. And, as we believe in happy endings, this trek ended with a bang! Full of fun, a little harder mountain awaited us.
This time, I went with some other group. It wasn't of my college friends, it was of my society's co-residents. We were 6 people, 4 boys, a girl & her father(who arranged trek).
We had a first timer, who eventually made our trek more funnier with his fear. As I said earlier, the trek was a little harder, and he was climbing a mountain for the first time ever in his life!
After the plannings and packings, we met in our society at 04.00 AM. We went to Thane station and took a train to Karjat 04.59 AM(very first train of the day). We got down at Neral station by 06.15 AM and went to Neral bus stand from where we took the taxi (TumTum) to the base village. (You can get down to Karjat station also but it will slower your journey by 1 hour) The base village is about 30 km from Neral station (approx 40-45 kms from Karjat station) so we had a lot time to chit-chat with each other. We took a guide as we were about to enter in. We left the taxi and were ready to start the trek.
When I got down, the very first thing I saw was the dense Jungle road and high mountains. "This is going to be a satisfying trek!", I said to myself. We started walking. I was showing off a bit with my new trekking stick which arrived a day before the trek. We kept on walking. On one hand there was a jungle and on the other hands there were high steepy mountains. I was feeling happy.
There are two roads from where you can start climbing.
1) Ganesh Ghat (Where you come across a Lord Ganesha Temple)
2) Shidi ghat (Where you have to climb through creepy ladders and steep rock patches)
We had a newcomer, so for his sake of safety, we initially decided to go by Ganesh ghat, but after a lot of insisting, he agreed to go by Shidi ghat. Which was ultimately the unplanned side of the trek. We started hiking. After half an hour, we came to the creepy ladders which were inclined to almost 70°. The newcomer was so terrified, he started giving reasons and we were dying laughing. We somehow managed to get him up. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a snap of ladders, as I was in my own mood. As soon as the ladders passed, the steepy rock patch began. Seriously, it was too awesome and deadly that if you take just one wrong step, you'll be thrown in the valley. Once again the newcomer made us laugh with his terrified face and fear. He did it nicely though. Pretty good for a first timer. When all that steep and creep ended, the road was almost easy.
I was set in my trekking mood. I put my sunglasses on, wore my buff, took my stick and started walking. Everyone else was climbing with a little slow speed as they came to enjoy with each other. But my goals were different. I came to enjoy the nature's company, to feel its beauty, to calm myself in the cool breeze of air. I kept on walking and stopped at frequent intervals to keep in touch with my group.
After nearly an hour or more, the jungle area started again. There were huge rocks. Almost 3-4 people can fit in those rocks. After entering the jungle, the atmosphere felt pretty cool, so all the exhaustion began to calm down. Around 11.30 AM, we completed our trek, and were at the peak point.
We were tired, so as soon as I reached to the plateau, I threw my bag off and slept on the ground under a tree. Then everybode came up and did the same. We rested for a while and then went to Bhimashankar temple. (One of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva) We sat there, had some snack, washed our faces, and came back to the plateau to have lunch. After lunch, we all went to the lake on the plateau and sat there for nearly 20-30 mins, relaxing. We took off our shoes and dipped our legs in the cool water of the lake which eventually made our exhaustion run away. All set, we packed our things and started to climb down at 02.45 PM.
We decided to go down by Ganesh Ghat's route as climbing down through Shidi ghat was a little bit risky to life. Walking through Ganesh ghat is a normal hike. It slows your journey by an hour. We went down at around 06.15 PM. It took us much time to get down as we took more haults due to exhaustion.
One remarkable thing about this trek was, as we were climbing up, a local female dog saw us and started climbing with us. She followed us to the temple and back to the base village. She sat with us, had lunch with us. She was sort of emotionally attached to us. Because as we came down and when the taxi started to move, she ran behind the taxi for around 500 meters. We left some biscuits for her to eat. This thing will surely make this trek a bit more special.
We reached Neral station at 07.45 PM and took a train to Thane station 08.01 PM. We reached Thane station and came back to home.
It is a must do trek for every fellow trekker.
Nearest Railway station - Neral
Difficulty -
Through Ganesh ghat - Easy
Through Shidi ghat - Medium
Recommended season - Rain (with proper trekking equipment)
Height - 3393 feet above sea level
##All photos by - Vinayak Palande Uncle
This time, I went with some other group. It wasn't of my college friends, it was of my society's co-residents. We were 6 people, 4 boys, a girl & her father(who arranged trek).
We had a first timer, who eventually made our trek more funnier with his fear. As I said earlier, the trek was a little harder, and he was climbing a mountain for the first time ever in his life!
 |
| View from base village |
When I got down, the very first thing I saw was the dense Jungle road and high mountains. "This is going to be a satisfying trek!", I said to myself. We started walking. I was showing off a bit with my new trekking stick which arrived a day before the trek. We kept on walking. On one hand there was a jungle and on the other hands there were high steepy mountains. I was feeling happy.
 |
| Trekmates |
1) Ganesh Ghat (Where you come across a Lord Ganesha Temple)
2) Shidi ghat (Where you have to climb through creepy ladders and steep rock patches)
We had a newcomer, so for his sake of safety, we initially decided to go by Ganesh ghat, but after a lot of insisting, he agreed to go by Shidi ghat. Which was ultimately the unplanned side of the trek. We started hiking. After half an hour, we came to the creepy ladders which were inclined to almost 70°. The newcomer was so terrified, he started giving reasons and we were dying laughing. We somehow managed to get him up. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a snap of ladders, as I was in my own mood. As soon as the ladders passed, the steepy rock patch began. Seriously, it was too awesome and deadly that if you take just one wrong step, you'll be thrown in the valley. Once again the newcomer made us laugh with his terrified face and fear. He did it nicely though. Pretty good for a first timer. When all that steep and creep ended, the road was almost easy.
 |
| Lying down after completion of trek |
I was set in my trekking mood. I put my sunglasses on, wore my buff, took my stick and started walking. Everyone else was climbing with a little slow speed as they came to enjoy with each other. But my goals were different. I came to enjoy the nature's company, to feel its beauty, to calm myself in the cool breeze of air. I kept on walking and stopped at frequent intervals to keep in touch with my group.
After nearly an hour or more, the jungle area started again. There were huge rocks. Almost 3-4 people can fit in those rocks. After entering the jungle, the atmosphere felt pretty cool, so all the exhaustion began to calm down. Around 11.30 AM, we completed our trek, and were at the peak point.
 |
| Huge Rocks |
 |
| The Lake |
 |
| The steep mountain patch |
We reached Neral station at 07.45 PM and took a train to Thane station 08.01 PM. We reached Thane station and came back to home.
It is a must do trek for every fellow trekker.
Nearest Railway station - Neral
Difficulty -
Through Ganesh ghat - Easy
Through Shidi ghat - Medium
Recommended season - Rain (with proper trekking equipment)
Height - 3393 feet above sea level
##All photos by - Vinayak Palande Uncle
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