Amazing monsoon trek to Harishchandragad

It was Saturday, 5th August and we planned to leave for Harishchandragad trek in the night. I was very excited about this place since it was my first monsoon there, though I had been there before few months ago in the summer. I left from office by 8 in the evening and went home to get refresh. I left from home with my backpack to catch the train for Kasara from thane. We were total 8 people for this trek and everyone seemed high as a kite and ready to fly. Some people brought bag full of snacks and ready to eat food, some were having their first trek.

We reached Kasara station around 1.30 am on midnight (Sunday) and boarded in the private jeep to leave for base village Paachnai which is in Ahmednagar. Around 5 am we were on the ground of Paachnai. With the clouds still dark outside we still had time left in our kitty, we utilized this time to refresh ourselves and had a fresh cup of tea. Around 6 am, when the clouds gave their green signal we were ready to start the trek.

Start of the trek

We started ascend with fresh mind, the trail was too beautiful with surrounding having beautiful green walls of mountains flavored with cloudy sky and water stream on it. After climbing for around 40 minutes we have reached a point where water falls are smashing the rocks below, where we stood by and enjoyed the natural shower, these are the small things which I love the most and that’s the reason why I like to explore Sahyadri. After fully soaked with water and taking some beautiful pictures, around 10 minutes later we continued our journey. Walking along the trail uphill, we found a running stream which comes from up mountains where we could enjoy the natural pool but we reserved this plan for return back since we were still away from our destination. This part of mountain is covered with a beautifully overflowed river in the monsoon which splits into water falls down hill and again immerse to a large river which crosses through Paachnai village. We continued walking through beautiful trail covered with fog which reminds me one more beautiful phenomenon of nature.

Midway in foggy Jungle

After climbing and walking through jungle for around half an hour, we were on the top of plateau, from where we could see all the surrounding lush green mountains each having torrent of water oozing out of their walls. The clear view of vicinity didn’t last for long, soon the plateau got covered with so much fog, that visibility dropped to only 5 meters ahead, still this looks so beautiful.

From now onward it was flat walk and around half an hour later we have reached Harishchandragad temple and moved in to the temple for Darshan. This temple is marvelous example of the fine art of carving sculptures out of stones that prevailed in ancient India. It is about 16 m high from its base. Around this temple there are few caves, ancient water tanks. There is a Shivalingam and Lord Ganesha idol, we chanted one anuvaka of Rudram (Vedas) in the temple and It was really a resonating experience which filled us with energy and positivism, the place is so serene and calm that we wanted to stay there for some more time. We explored Kedareshwar Cave and Saptatirtha Pushkarni one by one and explored the surrounding for some time and moved for our breakfast point. We had Poha and Chai which was really nice. Now it was the time to continue our journey towards mighty Konkankada.

Over Konkankada Cliff

Half an hour later we have found our self on top of the Konkankada cliff and it was raining cats and dogs. The cliff was totally covered by heavy fog and it seems that God had lightened the place by putting a bulb below it. The cliffs climate and the serene atmosphere was having a soothing effect, it felt amazing to be there. We settled there to witness the beauty of mother nature, soaked the freshness and purity in around an hour. Though I don’t like to leave too early from there but it was time to head back, we followed the same route and started our hike to return and about one hour we have reached near the stream of water where we planned to take a plunge into the water. It was time for Jacuzzi in natural pool and wash the spirit clean. It was a wonderful hour there and everyone seems joyous and colorful.

Plunge into the river

We started back journey towards base village and about an hour descend we reached to base village. By the time we reached there, hunger had caught up with us. We quickly changed our wet clothes and freshen up. The lunch again was really delicious, of course it was village flavored consisting of Bhakri, Matki Bhaji, Chaval and Dal, It was really tasty and satisfying. Some time after the lunch, we loaded our self into jeep and left the village to move back towards our mundane life with sweet and amazing memories.

It was really wonderful experience around the nature and these moments will always stay there in my memory forever. I think everyone had great fun and good time over this short one day trek.