Trekking Kalsubai

The place: Kalsubai is the highest peak in Maharashtra located about ~40 km from Igaptpuri. It stands tall at approximately 5400 feet behind a small village called Bari from where most trekkers start climbing. Though quite famous, it may still take an effort to find the village if you are the only people on the road.


Reaching Bari: The village is located about ~10km from Bandhardara and 30-40 km from NH3. You need get off the highway immediately after paying toll at Igatpuri. From there go through Ghoti and get on the road towards Bhandardara. The road from there on is a bit confusing if you dont have Google maps (like we had) or someone to tell you the way.

How we did it: We started from Mumbai at 11pm and reached Bari at about 4:30am. Reaching Bari by car was easy, though a bit of help was required from drunk truck drivers and ofcourse, Google Maps. The same cannot be said if you are travelling by ST buses. We didn't come across any on our whole journey.

We chilled at Bari for an hour or so and started climbing at 6 in the morning. It was still dark but the moon gave us enough light to move ahead. It is a surreal experience to trek under moon light. Everything appears as if you are viewing it in a mix of infrared light and fake HDR. Photography enthusiasts will know what HDR is.

About 200 feet up the mountain, you will reach a small open area. This place provides an excellent place to click photos as the sun rises over the mountains.

Sunrise from Bari

You will cross 2 single huts before the actual climbs begins. After that its almost a straight climb to the top. There are many stair cases on the way which make your climbing up a bit easier. A note of caution though, these stairs might be slippery in the rains and it is advisable that 2-3 people be on them at one time. They might be sturdy but certainly dont look like they are. :p

One of the many staircases

Looking behind (facing North)

As you climb up you can see many other peaks behind you. About 500 feet from the peak, there is a tea stall and natural well which provides much needed refreshments. This well is supposed to, according to legend, have 3 feet of potable water at all times. The water is chilled and looks clean, but personally I wouldn't advise anyone to drink from it since dogs and cattle mostly get their water from this well.

From here on, the peak is about 30 minutes away. You climb up the last ladder which takes you right at the top. We reached the peak at 11:30am. The view from up here is unbelievable. On a clear day,  you will be able to see Bandhardara backwaters in all their glory.  There is a rock behind the temple which juts out  from the sheer cliff. If you were ever to fall down from this rock, there would be nothing to stop your fall till you reach a small plateau about 3000 feet down.

We rested on the peak for an hour or so and then made our way back. Climbing down was fairly easy, though it was slippery in quite a few places. We reached  base by 3:30pm and rested in the village for a while before heading back to Bombay.

Total climbing time: ~4 hours

Total descending time: ~2 hours

Things to carry: Torches(if you are trekking at night), enough warm clothes, sufficient water and fruits. Travel light as the trek is long and tiring. Even when you feel you are there, you will still have some more trekking to do before you reach the actual summit.

Independence Day Trek - Harishchandragadh

This trek, no doubt, qualifies as the most adventurous and the most riskiest thing I have ever done. The plan was made just 2 days before we started. The place, Harishchandragadh, is around 90-100 Kms from Kalyan. You need to catch a bus for Ahmednagar from Kalyan Station and get off at Khuphipada (atleast thats what i was calling it).

We reached Kalyan Station at around 11.30PM but only managed to catch a bus somewhere around 2:30AM. Taking around 3 hours from Kalyan, we reached there in the morning at 5. Pitch dark, raining like hell and dense fog everywhere. The bus dropped us at a roadside 'dhaba' from where we started.

Now, it would'nt be wise to venture out on a road when you don't know where you are. But the what hell, we decided to start walking towards Harishchandragadh in this 'awesome' weather after taking directions from the dhaba owner. The highway boards mention that this place is 4 km from Khuphipada, but to be honest it feels easily over 6-7 kms.

This road, which is mostly a rocky path over a dam, leads to a small village called Khireshwar, which we called our Base camp. I must tell you, the road over this dam is something straight out a movie. Some locations are almost like scenes from Lord of the Rings, 300, Narnia etc. Green fields on your left, fog covered lake on your right, a twisting and turning road which appears to be leading nowhere.
After walking for what seemed like ages, we finally reached Base Camp. Fully drenched and very tired after all the travelling and walking. Now, at this stage, we were already thinking of abandoning the plan and heading home. But no, the 'keedas' in all 4 of us egged us on to go further. We rested for an hour, had breakfast and then started walking. Mind you, the rain still hadn't stopped.

Score: Us = 0 : Mother Nature : 1

Base Camp - Khireshwar

Before starting out, we had researched this place on the internet. Each and every blog that we hit said it takes around 3-5 hours to complete the trek and reach the caves. So wrong, so f****g wrong.
Nevertheless, we headed out from Base Camp. 2 hours into the climb, we reached an open area. The view from this place is phenomenal. You are essentially on one arm of a 'U' shaped cliff and this is an approximate 1000 feet above ground level. You can actually see the fog rolling in from far away, over your head and into the jungle behind you. Awesome!

Refreshing as it looks, we met another group of trekkers here who gave us the bad news. The caves where we were planning to stay for the night was another 6-7 hours away. So much so for the 3-5 hours on the internet! Exhausted that we already were, a 'strategic meeting' was called in. Another 7 hours in this weather seemed a little too much. Quitting now would suck, yes, but it was the most sensible decision at this stage. Just about to turn back and climb back down, enter: Another group of trekkers. Fully prepared, with guides, walking sticks, cooking utensils et al. These guys, all between 30-45 years of age were the ones who actually instigated the 'keedas' inside us. I honestly still regret my decision of going forward that day. We turned back and started climbing again with this group. Rain, cold and fog as bad as it could get.

Score: Us = 0 : Mother Nature : 2

3 hours of climbing rocks and crossing streams came the most toughest part of the trek. Sheer cliffs covered with moss and incessant rain making things more slippery. Not that we hadn't noticed all this since all we wanted to do now is get in the caves, light a fire and sleep! To give you an idea how risky this was, one wrong step, you go down atleast 3500 feet with nothing to stop your fall. We climbed, paused to think, what the hell were we doing and then climbed again. Below is one of pictures that I somehow managed to click.

Hanging on

At the peak, to my amazement and relief, there was a much needed tea stall. We all certainly needed to rest and re-energize. But stopping here for long meant that your body would get cold again and venturing out in the rain would cause more shivering and muscle cramps. After a 10 minute tea break we started again. From this point the caves were another 2 hours away.

Score: Us = 1 : Mother Nature : 2

Mother Nature welcomed us to the caves with gale force winds, heavy rain and visibility reduced to hardly 10 feet. And super cold it was! We managed to get into some dry clothes and then managed to sleep through the night. Yea, nothing too interesting about living in a cave. Its dark, cold and absolutely disgusting to sleep in all the muck.

Next morning we left the caves. We came to know about a shorter and less demanding route leading down which would take 2 hours. Way better than climbing down those cliffs, I say. This route leads to a village called Pachnayi. The way down was so easy we covered it in around 1.45 hours which including taking photos and chilling for while. We all wished we had come up this way rather than taking the longer and more dangerous route via Khireshwar. Once down, photo sessions were the norm for the next 2 hours till the next bus would come. :-D

Score: Us = 2 : Mother Nature = 2

Approx. 2000 feet of the mountain is covered with fog

My trek mates (L to R) - Hardik, Danish, Ankit, Me

Looking back on what we had done in the past 24 hours, though there was a feeling of pride and achievement on what we accomplished, we were all very glad that it was finally over.