Title : BhimaShankar - Trekkers Delight
Bhimashankar - One of the 12 Jotirlingas for Hindus is a place for worship, but it also a trekkers delight. Situated at a height of more than 3500 Ft. above sea level, the weather here is always pleasant. In the monsoons, it is heaven on earth. the enitre place is engulfed in heavy fog and visibility is not beyond a couple of feet. There are basically four routes to reach Bhimashankar, the route by road, which I have never taken, so cant write about it. The other routes are for trekkers. The first is by Ganesh Ghat, which is the easiest and for the take-easy trekkers, This route is endless walking through the the jungle and it sometimes gets tiresome with a heavy sack on your back.
The more adventurous and appealing route is the `Shidi’ (ladder) Ghat and the `Ghogal’ Ghat. I have been going to Bhimashankar for the past 12 years every monsoon, and I can assure that the best route to be taken is the Shidi Ghat. It is a bit dangerous for first timers, but with some experienced person alongwith you, you would enjoy it the most.
If you are from Mumbai, you need to take a train from CST to Karjat. It is advisable to take the first morning train from CST at 4.30 am. It reaches Karjat at around 645 a.m. From the Railway station, head immediately for the Bus Depot as the first Bus for Khandas village leaves at 7.00 a.m., take the bus and you will be in Khandas by 7.45.
Once in the village, change to your trekking gear, have breakfast in one of the houses there and start off by 8.30. In about 30 mins the mountain ranges of the Bhimashankar will become visible. The first sight of the huge cliff, (90 deg) at a distance, which is to trekked is scary and puts off a number of first timers. After leaving Khandas, we reach a stream in about a hours time, In the monsoon, this stream has a very strong flow and one can rest here and take a swim, before starting the actual trek / climb.
From the stream, if you take the route on the right side, you will be taking the Ghogal ghat route and if you take the route on the Left side, it will take you to the Shidi ghat. The shidi ghat route, is basically a 90 degree climb along the cliff edges. There are ladders kept at different points, where it is impossible to climb up or to ascend from one cliff to another. These ladders are said to be from the time of the Great Maratha King Shivaji.
The original wooden ladders have now rotted and more recent Aluminium ladders have been put up now by trekking groups for the benefit of other trekkers. This route by Shid’s is a bit dangerous and slippery due to monsoon. One has to be extremely carefull on this stretch as a slight miss will plummett the person to almost certain death, There are occassions when picknickers have taken this route in an intoxicated manner and ended up not seeing next daylight. This jungle is full of tigers, leopards and wild beasts and it is advisable to undertake this trek at day time and in a group. Once this stretch of Shidi’s is over, one reaches a plateu of some sort, where there is small village with a few houses.
One can rest here and have the tiffins here after the strenous shidi ghat climb. From this plateau, it is now a very tiring walk up for another 2-3 hours upt to Bhimashankar. Other routes join the shidi ghat route here on the plateau. The view from top is breathtaking and the weather simply awesome. It is chilly up there and one needs to take warm clothing along. By 3.30 p.m. one should reach the top of the Bhimashankar mountain.
Just where the route comes out of the dense jungle on the top, is a water pond, with freezing water in it. One can jump and get refreshed or have a swim, before reaching the actual village where one can rent a room in the several Dharmashala’s or local hotels. Rates are reasonble in the Dharmashala and offer basic amenities. But one should not expect anything else other than a place just to rest your back, if you have come to rough it out.
The actual temple is also an architectural marvel, one can’t but be amazed, how such a huge and beautiful temple could have been built centuries ago, without the help of modern machineries. One has to see it acutally, to experience the beauty of the sculptures on the temple. There is also a huge Panchadhatu (5 metals) bell hanging at one end of the temple. This bell was brought by Chimaji Appa from the fort of Bassien after he defeated the Portuguese 3 centuries ago. Penning down all details would be impossible and time consuming for me at this moment of time, but in due course I will be writing an even more point wise article on Bhimashankar and also on various trekking places in Maharashtra. Happy trekking.
P.S. : There have been several equiries about the 3rd route to Bhimashankar from Khandas village. This route is exactly in between the two other routes i.e. shidi and ganpati. While going up, the route on the left hand side along the stream which we encounter at the base of the steep cliff goes up to the plateau, just below the Thumb like structure (Peth fort) that is seen from Bhimashankar. This route is nonexistent during heavy rains, as it is actually a waterfall and a steady climb at about 100 deg. Though this route is not dangerous it is extremely tiring.