Night trek to Harishchandragad - May 2017

When the Mischief Managed event invite reads as “Respite From City Heat | Pre-Monsoon Magic | 11th century caves | Kedareshwar Shivalingam | Taramati - Third Highest Peak of Maharashtra | “ the trek to Harishchandragad becomes a must do (all the more so since my previous trek was done in early February 2017. ) 
The journey starts with the mandatory and unavoidable looooooong train journey to Kasara whereby we cover a major portion of the distance. After reaching Kasara and an even longer ride to the base village with the customary dinner break at Baba da Dhaba, we are all set for the night trek. But first; a dose of kadak chai by our friendly host and his family. The long journey is more than amply compensated by the sheer beauty of the ghats (even at night) and the natural coolness in the atmosphere
Within a few minutes of starting the trek we have the good fortune of chancing upon the much heard but hardly seen (for Mumbaikars at least) fireflies . . . . We gleefully take a detour from the trek route and start oohing and aahing about the beauty of the fireflies . The sighting of fireflies as I understand is normally before the onset of monsoon since they cannot survive once the big showers start. So alongwith the beauty that they spread it also brought hopes of early showers . .and respite from the energy sapping heat. The scene of fireflies in the pitch dark reminded me a bit of all the fancy computer graphics used in movies and I was left marveling at the beauty of God’s creation.
After the mandatory selfie (!!!) wid the fireflies :P , we move onward with the trek. A funfilled few hours with lotsa staring at the skies and wondering at the beauty of the stars we reach the 11th century Caves . . . . a sudden cloud burst cover with resultant low visibility ensures that we roam around a bit before eventually reaching the top . While few of us decide to promptly plonk down in the available space others decide to explore the surroundings.
After the blistering Mumbai heat the pleasantly cold peak with strong winds was lovely. Few hours later we are up and looking eagerly forward to the Sunrise. Over those few hours we realize that we are (again) in the midst of clouds. For the technically inclined , it’s a natural phenomena where a vertical cloud burst is seen at the Konkan kada and One gets to experience a thick layer of cloud cover. Not much visibility of the plains below . . .and obviously not of the sunrise either. But the surreal atmosphere , beauty and the feel has to be experienced . The breathtaking hues of the skies with the moving clouds and continuous wind raking up the fine dust into the atmosphere . . . . Can go on and on . . . Lot of photo opportunities . . selfies . . VDOS . . . Slow mo(s) . . . Time lapse . . . .
Onward to Taramati peak is fun but slowly leads few to start huffing and puffing :P and only a handful end up reaching the third highest peak of Maharastra. The breathtaking view is worth the extra effort as we are treated to a single shot view of all the landmark peaks . . be it Ratangadh (Nere-needle point) . . Kalsubai . . . and the Bhandardara dam. The view of the plains and the peaks with sunlight and the shadows of the clouds formed an interesting collage of colours .
Descent to Harishchandra Gadh happens soon enough and after breakfast we start the actual descent to the base village. It takes much lesser time and inspite of the merciless sun, we are treated to some breathtaking landscapes on our way down while gorging on wild berries. 
Special mention of the pathetic state of the temple with the Kedareshwar Shivalingam . 
Reaching the base, lunch, loooong road journey to Kasara station , mandatory scrambling for the train and ensuring a comfortable seating (4th seat hi sahi) and we return back to our respective homes pleasantly tired and cherished memories eagerly looking forward to a shower, dinner and the much needed night’s sleep before gearing up for the working week. Thank you Mischief Managed for an amazing weekend, new friends and promise of many more such memorable trips in future