Trek to Kalsubai Peak

Ht. : 5400 feet from MSL
Range : Sanhyadri
District : Nasik
Village : Bari
Level : Easy

Kalsubai is the highest peak in the anhyadri range in Maharashtra. Bari which is of Nasik district is the base village for Kalsubai Peak. There is a temple of "Kalsubai" at the base, a local Deity - thats why the peak is recognize as Kalsubai Peak.

We planned to catch Dadar-Amritsar Exp. from Kalyan at 12:35 am. Some of our friend (Nitin, Rupesh & Purva) caught train from Thane. Me & Sagar (Morkya) caught same train from Dombivali. Our one more friend Chaitanya was already reached to Kalyan station, ready with our tickets to Igatpuri. We were late from our scheduled but because of train was running late, we could manage to catch the same train. General compartment was full, so we had no option to get into the Reservation compartment and follow the corrupted system, thus how our journey got started.

Reservation compartment was crowded too because all other people are like us only. Some how we manage to stand in a space between two compartment near toilet and it was so uncomfortable while any one going to toilet or crossing the compartment. We were talking, cracking jokes and trying to get comfortable with in that space, this whole drama continued for next one & half hour and we reached to Igatpuri at around 2:15 am. We had to reach Bari village from here. There was no source of transportation until morning so we decided to spent around 2 hours on Igatpuri station. We ate some Bhaji & drink tea and trying to sleep, we were smart enough to carry one bed sheet each to protect ourselves from mosquito (this was from our last experience in Peb-Matheran trek) but this time trains won't allow us to sleep


Around 4 o'clock we came out of Igatpuri station and started walking towards Igatpuri bus depot. It was still dark outside, as soon as we came out of station cold started taking its grip on us. We were blessed with a rich blanket of stars. Thousands of stars scattered in the vast expanse of the sky. All special in their own way.Very soon we reached Igatpuri ST depot and immediately got a bus to Bari village. We reached Bari at 6.30 in the morning. As the bus left, we all got the glimpse of our destination – “the kalsubai peak” which looks very near (short) from ground but its not, which we realized later. We jokingly doubted on our Morkya (Sagar) for location. It was still shivering cold out there. Some of our friend buy some necessary stuff from a small shop run by localite, (Tapri) which is beside S.T. stand and already open at that time. Immediately we started walking towards Bari village. As we entered into the village, all dogs from village gathered to welcome us. The village was one of its kind. It was small, but neat and systematic. The houses were small but well maintained. There were meadows all over ranging from shades of tender green to golden. We passed through the narrow winding roads into the fields and reached to very beautiful the temple of kalsubai at the base - the starting point of our trek. We had our breakfast at the back side of temple and again started our trek.The sun was already up now showering it tender light on every one, making everything look so gentle. As we moved much higher the farms appeared exotic.Suddenly we came across to very beautiful natural well which is completely dry and not much deep, one can easily reach up to its bottom. We entered into the well and did some photography.We would be confronted by four ladders and steps on the way was told by our leader. The trek was not that risky but we asked to observe discipline. More than the fear, there was excitement.

The trek is of 4 hours one way. After trekking more than hour we reached the first ladder followed by some irregular rocky step Now the climb was getting steeper. Very soon we reached the second ladder, of course enjoying the panorama and admiring variety of natural forms of cliff, cleft, ridge etc. The third ladder is longest among all four and very interesting as it covers a huge patch of rocks. By 9:30 am we were past the third ladder and moving up further. After sometime we reached a well, a fresh water well, having water throughout the year. Its a shallow well and the water was clear enough but fill of some wild flies, so initially I was skeptical to drink this water but water was very cold and clear. We wash our face, pour some water on head and refresh ourselves

We headed towards our ultimate destination now which was almost 30 minutes from the well. Our ultimate destination was above a straight huge rock, around 30 feet high. This was accessible by ladder. This was the fourth ladder. I was feeling little monotonous after climbing 3 ladders and wanted to do some more adventure, so I started climbing the rock. The rock was quite moderate to climb but after finishing three-fourth of climb I had to take support of metal vertical on which ladder was fixed.

After reaching on our summit I gave a sigh of relief and so must have everyone else. The rock top was almost flat and big enough to accommodate around 100 people at a time. There is a beautiful temple of Kalsubai. The temple is small but really stands out against the blue skyline. The view from the summit was awesome. We could see Bhandardhara lake and beautiful hills all around. It was a clear day and we could see miles around. Through out there were hills and barren flats spotted with water bodies. There was very meager sign of habitation. We relaxed here for an hour. We spotted some shed behind temple and sat down by resting our back on temple wall. We ate some fruits, biscuit and did some photography.

As we already decided to take our lunch on very interesting place which we found while climbing up, so we began our descend. While returning I preferred to take ladder than rock to avoid over adventure. The descend was proving tough for all but we were determined. Very soon we reached our decided place where we had our lunch and took a long rest and then continued our descend. After sometime we came across to a small stall of Limbu Pani (Lime water) We drank some limbu pani and again continued our journey.

We reached the base at 5 pm. And took a jeep to Ghoti from main road.From Ghoti we caught rickshaw for Igatpuri We reached Igatpuri at 6:20 pm. We ate some Pav Bhaji and Samosa in small restaurant near Igatpuri railway station.

We planned to spend night at Chaitanya’s house in Ambernath as his parents was out of station We caught Tapovan Exp. at 7:15 pm. from Igatpuri station, all seats in train was occupied. We are so tired that we decided to sat down on train floor between the gangway. We reached Kalyan station in one & half hour at 8:45 pm. Again we caught local train for Ambernath. We enjoyed dinner went to sleep. We all woke up early morning and rush to our homes as every one wants to reach office in time.