Harishchandragad 26th-28th January 2012

Harishchandragad (4000 ft) is one of the most scenic forts in the Sahyadries. This fort is paricularly famous for its 'Konkan Kada' or Konkan Cliff. The fort is covered in dense forests, and is known to have wildlife as well. There are several routes by which you can ascend this fort, but the Khireshwar-Tolar Khind route is the most common. By this route, one requires about 5-6 hours to reach the Ganesh cave, on the fort.

Ever since I first visited this fort in 2008, I have been in awe of it. Everytime me and my friends get into a discussion of treks, Harischchandragad is sure to pop up, leading to a long description of its beauty by me. It was mainly due to this we were planning to go to Harishchandragad for a long time.  Then, around 21st January, Ankit told me that He and some of his friends from Talegaon (where he lives) were planning to go to Harishchandragad on the 26th and asked if I was interested in comming with them. We decided to leave in the afternoon on the 26th and climb the fort at night. We were a total of 8 people; Myself, Pranao Pandey, Ankit Nagapurkar, Nikhil Vaidya, Varad Lele, Viraj Shete, Rushikesh Bhegade and Dr. Nikhil. As per our plan, we would leave Talegaon around 3 pm by car and reach Khireshwar by 7 pm. Thereafter, we would begin our ascent and reach the cave in about 6 hours, that is around 1 am.

We left Talegaon at around 3:30 pm, and reached Khireshwar via Junnar around 7 pm. By the time we had reached Khireshwar, it was already dusk. Therefore, we parked the cars near a small hotel in the village, got ready and immediately started to climb the fort(approx. 7:30 pm). The route to the fort via Tolar Khind is very well marked. Thanks to this, we reached the khind in about two & half hours. We had some snacks in a small shack near the khind (this is where the local villagers sell lemonade and buttermilk on weekends, when quite a few people come here). Once we had rested for a while we left immediately for the rock patches. We completed the rock patches and reached the top of the fort at approximately 11 pm. The next part of this trail is the crossing of 7 hillocks; at the end of these hillocks, we finally reach the Ganesh cave. However, by the time we had completed the rock patches, everyone was quite tired. In addition, the route ahead is a little tricky to navigate in the dark. Therefore, we decided to call it a night, and laid out our sleeping bags in another makeshift shack immediately after the rock patch.

The next morning, we woke up to the sunrise. We immediately repacked our bags and took the route across the hills to the cave. The Ganesh cave is not very far from the rock patches, we reached to the cave in two hours. Immediately after you enter the cave you can see a large idol of Lord Ganesha to your right. With the mouth of the cave behind, you can see an amazing view of the Harishchandreshwar temple and the peaks of the Sahyadries behind it. 

We had some tea and breakfast, and laid down to catch the rest of our sleep. In the afternoon around 4 pm, we left to visit Kedareshwar. Kedareshwar is a huge Shivaling which is completely surrounded by water (all 12 months) in a cave not very far from Harishchandreshwar. After taking a 'pradakshina' around the shivlinga, we headed back to the cave to get changed. 

After changing in to a set of fresh clothes, we left to see the sunset at Konkan Kada. Unfotunately, our view of the surrounding area was obstructed, since the horizon was hazy. There was also a group here who was conducting a rapelling event here. 

Once the sun had set we started back to the cave. We met a villager near the cliff who agreed to provide us dinner of pithla-bhakri-bhat at the cave. We reached the cave, played some cards, had dinner and sank in to a peaceful sleep.

The next day, we woke up a little early, since Ankit, Pranao and 2 friends were going to perform a ritual known as 'Rudra' at Kedareshwar & Harishchandreshwar. This ritual is dedicated to Lord Shiva, who is one of the three primary gods in the Hindu religion. After Ankit and the rest had completed the ritual, we returned to the cave, packed our bags and 'checked out'. We were going to the highest point on Harishchandragad, known as Taramati Machi. We left our bags in a small hotel near its route and left for the machi (1 pm). We reached the top at around 2:45 pm, stayed for 15-20 minutes and started to descend the machi. We reached the hotel had some tea, took our bags and immediately started our long trek back to Khireshwar.

We reached Khireshwar at about 7:30 pm. We had some maggi at the small hotel where we had parked our cars, and started back. We reached Talegaon (Ankit's home) at one 'o clock in the morning. From here I collected my bike and took off, to reach home at around 2:30 am.