Trek to Harishchandra Fort via Khireshwar village 

Day 1: Khireshwar to Harishchandragad (Konkan Kada)

Time taken: 9-10 hours

The trek from the base village to the top of Harishchandragad takes nearly nine hours. Start as early as possible. It’s advisable to camp the previous night at Khireshwar village, which is the base camp, after arriving from Kalyan.

In the morning, a five minute walk will lead you to a nearby stream lying alongside the village. You can freshen up here. You can arrange breakfast, maybe poha and tea, from one of the local houses.

The main trail starts from behind the base village, leading to the base of the mountain. Take a narrow track that leads to the back of the village and extends into a wide grassy plain that forms the foot of the mountain. Keep proceeding on the same path and 15 minutes later, the track narrows down beneath a sparse forest cover. A short walk of 10 more minutes will lead to the main stream bed.

Once you reach the Tolar Khind the 1st part of the trek is over, I reached the Khind at around 1.05 pm, then had a break of 5 mins, there is a lemon stall there.

After the break I started ascending the rock patch the 2nd and the most dangerous part is about to begin, here there is a rock patch of 600 feet which is divided into 2 parts. The 1st part is a bit easier, but the 2nd part is nearly a vertical rock patch. Also, the 1st part has more railing support than the 2nd part.

With the help of our team I successfully completed the final rock patch and finally we got relaxed view of above picture

After the rock patch the 3rd part of the trek starts, their are a couple of huts (approx 7 nos) one encounter within 500m of each other. From the second hut the route bifurcate, one that goes left goes through balekilla and the right or one that goes behind the hut goes through the seven hills.Seven hills having are just karvi trees all along the route and dense forest.

Since this route is less traveled there are chances of wild animals running in your way, though I didn’t encounter it myself. Even this so-called dense forest is in patches, it’s not continuous.

I was able to reach the Kedareshwar temple. 4th and last part of the trek starts with the blessing of Lord kedareshwar towards our base camp to kokankada

It is said that any trekker in Maharashtra must visit Kokankada once in his lifetime and what I feel is that he should not miss the Stunning Sunset at Kokankada.

Sunset here lasts for more than 35~40 minutes … Till now what I have seen in sunset typically ends in 10 minutes .. but here Sun remains in the same position for about half an hour … it melts down in 3~4 minutes as soon as it kisses the horizon ..

Now the time to relax and play Antakshari along with bonfire

Next day Morning Start early today For an view of the sun rise, you will have to get up at least two hours before and make your way to the top of Taramati peak that lies further along the mountain.

Taramati peak is another spot for panoramic view of the valleys. Taramati peak is the highest peak on Harishchandragad in Maharashtra

we are start descending from Taramati peak towards kokan kada and enjoy early morning nature view from konkan kada

Freshen up with water from a nearby stream; get breakfast from the local porter settlement.

Now its time to backpack to descending from Konkan kada

One the way back, you will come across the various tourist spots the fort has to offer. The main attractions here are the temple of Harishchandreshwar and the cave of Kedareshwar, lord Ganesh temple.

we explore some ancient temples on harishcnadragad

There is a small lake adjoining the temple and a further hike of 15 minutes will lead you to one of the two biggest caves on the hill fort.

its time to say good by harishchandragad

The path downhill starts from the Difficult Rock patch way to kalyan darwaja . For this, you will have to walk for nearly 2 hr to the edge of the main mountain

Finally we reached at one plateau after 2 Hr of difficult trekking

Finally we reach base village after 3-4 hr difficult trek and got relaxed at khireshwar base village.

Here is the brief summary.

Khubi Phata to Khireshwar : 1 hour

Khireshwar to Tolar Khind : 1 hour 30 min

Tolar Khind to 1st Hut above rock patch : 35 mins

Hut to Temple : 2 hour

Temple to Konkan kada - 30 Min

Konkan Kada to Taramati peak- 1 hour 30 min

Konkan Kada to kalyan Darwaja - 1 hour

kalyan Darwaja to rock patch - 30 Min

Rock patch to Khireshwar

Harischandragad is an irregular tabletop with base height of 1200m, there are two peaks on this tabletop, namely Taramati which is the highest point on the fort at 1424m and the balekilla which is at 1390m, also there is Rohidas peak nearby which is at 1412m. There are lots of streams flowing throughout the fort in the months of monsoon, these streams feed water to rivers in both ghats and the Konkan region. The plateau is rich in flora and fauna, lots of wildflowers and butterflies can be seen, namely the Blue Mormon butterfly is a treat to watch. There are carpets on Sonki flowers all along the route in the month of October. Harischandragad has been inhabited since Monolithic age (Stone age man approx 8000 BC – 33000 BC). Tools used by them have been found on this fort.

You must read this article also: lohagarh fort

After having darshan at the temple, I decided to have lunch in one of the food stall, there is food facility available on the fort every weekend and for rest of the days you have to call before you come to the fort for a particular day. I had also contacted the person named Mr Bhau Bharmal (mobile no +91-7507033350). These people are friendly and would take care of food and lodging arrangement. They also provide tents at reasonable price.