Aug 29, 2015 06:22 PM
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Harishchandragad….the name has always evoked some exciting responses! Both among the newbies and the oldies….everyone seems to be well acquainted with this proper noun.
Harishchandragad via tolar khind, via pachnai, Rajmarg(from khireshwar going from the side of nedhe), via sadhle ghat…n via Nalichi waat…
Not to mention the central and left rockclimbing routes over konkan kada! This huge magnificence has number of routes going up over its flat topped plateau of about 3 miles diameter…which bears the peaks.Rohidas and Taramati…
The beautiful harishchandreshwar temple….the serene kedareshwar shivling…series of rock-cut caves in the belly of Taramati…and the spellbinding…ferocious semicircular eroded concavity .the konkankada….sheer drop of 1000 feet…and one of the most magnificent sights in the western ghats….inarguably the best.
When the name harishchandragad was raised for our weekend trek…it again evoked some responses… “not for the 6th time re…”…but then followed Harish via nalichiwaat and everyone was just sprang to say yes….
This trek was on out To Do list for long…and as every TO DO trek…this too kept us eluding far too long for our comforts… The route climbs up steeply from the gully…descending down from the Nakta side of konkankada….virtually climbing parallel to kada…through the nali…which is Paanyachiwaat….
Leaving late Friday night for a night halt at savarne n starting early on sat…n return back on sun….everything so cool n finely scheduled… Then again some questions… “mala jamel ka re?” “technical climb aahe ka re?”. aapan karoo shakto ka?”. And it took some assuring….and the trek was finalized. The group was of 11.quite a few of them novices….some paying their first or second visit to sahyadris So I was quite assured that we were for a long trudge…slow…to reach the top…
We reached savarne fri night…had to get some sleep to counter the tiring day which was to follow the next day….alas… I should have slept… We rested in the yard of the primary school at savarne…gazing at the starlit sky…
Morning tea awaited everyone as they woke up at dawn.steaming hot tea… We relied on the availability of firewood…and chose not to carry our cylinder…and the first horror…preparing the morning tea.was…means.i was weeping…the eyes went sore to the smoke emanating from the burning fuel.woods… Anyways…the tea was too good and refreshing…enough to kick start the trek from savarne…
We headed for belpada…crossing the river at savarne on the otherside…about and hours walk….which we did extend by half an our….resting in the cool shades as and when they appeared. We reached belpada….filled our water stocks…and then seeing the gully which we had to follow…headed forth… The gully.behing the first overlap from the kada…i.e.3rd from left…awaited us.the nali. Climbing over the boulders…huge rocks…and inching neared to the awe-inspiring façade of konkankada…
we moved ahead. We continued until we reach a bifurcation in the nali. At this point .if we look straight ahead…lies the central climbing route of konkankada…slightly to our left lies the left climbing route of konkankada…and just a glance at this two routes is enough to indicate that these do require rockclimbing equipments…taking the extreme left turn from here…we see the fourth gully…the actual nali… This nali is entirely of brittle and slippery slate rocks… the rocks are immensely fragile and one has to be extremely careful while stepping on the rocks…and taking holds.as its very difficult to say which rock.or .i dare say even a boulder may give away.and any slip or fall may be difficult to gauge … Negotiating carefully the brittle rocks…and about …a couple of patches…we reached an opening…on top of the nali….brittle slate rocks now gave way to more firmed basaltic rocks. This opening is the extreme left side of konkankada.towards naktaa….and one has to climb up to right…to reach the top of konkankada… By the time we reached top of the nali…it was pretty dark…thanks to extended breaks…a few cramped calves…tired trekkers…and scarcity of water…
The wind was getting chilled….the darkness increasing and we had to reach the konkan kada. The climb to the top of kada from here did require a bit of searching from here…and a small patch in the dark…carefully negotiated… We did reached there.and from here eventually to the harishchandreshwar temple… There was a group of about 200…hi-tech adventures from mulund…for konkankada rapelling.and amidst the chaos we did manage to find ourselves a small…cave in the belly of taramati… The empty stomach.those who managed not to doze….filled with zunka-bhakar.and the khichadi prepared… Everyone was too tired to say anything and just before realising most of us were fast asleep…
Getting up…as usual tea….biscuits…sheera… Everyone just got over the tiredness of the previous day…and were seemingly quite energetic and afresh… We descended from tolar khind to khireshwar…quite quickly uncharacteristically…and then to khubi by a long.but enjoyable walk ovet the dam wall…. Recounting the memories of the past two days…. We got to kalyan in a open-air truck….the chill of the wind pricking us…still the warmth was maintained by some good old hindi songs…interspersed with the new remixes…
Tata…bye bye time at kalyan and way back home…to see just another routine the next day… Nalichi waat…was just amazing and got more than we expected…the might of konkankada….mesmerizing each and every eye that glimpses it!
