The Trek to Churdhaar is probably the most easy and comfortable that one can take in summers or even in monsoon . The place offers multiple trek routes to the visitors and the locals who very often visit this place for the religious reasons. For most of them visiting the place from whatever route is most often than not a day's excursion . They usually start early morning and back before end of day light.
The two most common trek routes are :
1. From Shimla-- Chaupal -- a 7 to 8 Km trek mostly steep climb .
2. From Sirmaur -- Rajgarh- Nauradhaar -- a 14 to 18 km trek .
We took the second route from the Nauradhar side in early may 2010.
Approach to the trek :
Nauradhar serves as a base for the trek and the approach is very simple and easy. Distance wise its can be termed as a sort of long weekend getaways from Delhi .
Distances :
Delhi -- Chandigarh -- 250 Km
Chandigarh -- Solan -- 69 Km
Solan --Rajgarh -- 42 Km
Rajgarh --Nauradhar -- 28 KM
Nauradhar -- Churdhar -- 14 KM ( approx ) .
Once can travel over nightly from Delhi and reach Nauradhar in the morning . The road is perfectly safe and easy drive . For stay there are some good resorts between Rajgarh and Nauradhar , one can do an advance bookings on internet.
The Actual trek :
Approx 14 Km to trek and it took us close to 7 to 8 hours considering the trek was quite steep for the first 4 Km and we halted at two places for about 30 mins each .
From the Nauradhar route the trek can be easily broken down into 3 stages :
1. The first few km of steep climb into the oak forest .
This is a well marked stony path about 2 feet wide going through some local dwellings and terrace farms . Well after approx 1 hour of climb one can see the entire Nauradhar town and all the villages in its proximity. Just after about an hour of trek and approx 3 Km one enters into pine forest which eventually will turn into a very dense oak forest as one keeps on going deep into it .
2. The walk through the forest .
This is a again a well marked stony path about 2 feet wide . The forest actually starts just after aprox 3 km of steep climb after nauradhar, but very soon one finds himself walking amidst a dense oak forest.
There's a meadow right in the middle of the forest ( after about 7 to 8 Km ) which is called "Jamta " by locals . If you are lucky you can find a tea shop here , but thats not 100% certainty. This can be an ideal place for camping overnight . In summers Gujjars camp here for grazing their cattles . We rested here for about 15 mins and had some snacks those we carried with us . The next hour or 2 were again through the dense forest and at times very irritating as it feels like you are walking the same turn again and the forest seems never to end . But finally one comes out of the forest cover and can se the first glimpse of the actual peak .
3. The Second break point (Teesri) and beyond :
Now you are out of the forest and reached teesri . This place can be identified with a rain shelter and a local dhabba that operates mostly through summers . This place serves as a pass, here after one moves to the other side of the hill. The forest mostly ends here and the temple is still approx 5 Km's . The road again is well marked and as one walks through it the valley is to the left and the holy Churdhaar peak will be the highest point of the right hand side mountain of the trekker walking towards the Churdhaar .
The final destination for the day was the Shirgul Dev temple at the end of the road . This is not situated at the peak but about 2 km below the actual Churdhar peak .
There's a beautiful temple of Lord Shirgul Mahadev and a lot of options to stay for the night . During the rush of the summer pilgrim season one can stay at the sarai which is in the temple compound only and there are lot of dhabas serving food .
We visited the temple in the evening and attended the aarti . We stayed in the forest guest house which is just about 50 meters below the temple on the chaupal side of the road . We were in bed by 8 :00 PM and dis not realise when and how soon we were deep into dreams .
The next morning as all the mornings in the mountains are, wonderful and refreshing . This one night sojourn was much need after last day of tiring trek.
After breakfast in the local dhaba we started to head for the peak which is situated at above 3600 meters . Distance wise its probably less than 2 km but gradient wise its the steepest and most tiring . A distance of 10 meters here above 3000 meters is more tiring than 100 meters at the plains . In less than 2 hours we were at the peak . This is the highest point in the region and while you stand and admire the view from here you also realise that nothing is higher than you from here . This point present the most panoramic 360 degree view , from the distant spread of forests to the south , and a white barrier of greater himalayas to the distant north .
From here on one does not need to come back to the temple road but can climb down to the other side of the peak towards the nauradhar trek route .
With the splendour of the nature captured and stored deep into our memory we started the road back . Every step that we were taking back we not only losing height but also a sense of accomplishment that for a moment we gained at the top for another trek well trodden .
It must have taken us about 3 hours to climb down to nauradhar . We hardly halted for more than 5 mins on our way back . We pickup our bike that we parked at the PWD guest house and hit the road back to solan .
Note: The supplies of water should be filled at Nauradhar and carried along as water may not be available on the way except for one or two places which is also not a certainty.
The two most common trek routes are :
1. From Shimla-- Chaupal -- a 7 to 8 Km trek mostly steep climb .
2. From Sirmaur -- Rajgarh- Nauradhaar -- a 14 to 18 km trek .
We took the second route from the Nauradhar side in early may 2010.
Approach to the trek :
Nauradhar serves as a base for the trek and the approach is very simple and easy. Distance wise its can be termed as a sort of long weekend getaways from Delhi .
Distances :
Delhi -- Chandigarh -- 250 Km
Chandigarh -- Solan -- 69 Km
Solan --Rajgarh -- 42 Km
Rajgarh --Nauradhar -- 28 KM
Nauradhar -- Churdhar -- 14 KM ( approx ) .
Once can travel over nightly from Delhi and reach Nauradhar in the morning . The road is perfectly safe and easy drive . For stay there are some good resorts between Rajgarh and Nauradhar , one can do an advance bookings on internet.
The Actual trek :
Approx 14 Km to trek and it took us close to 7 to 8 hours considering the trek was quite steep for the first 4 Km and we halted at two places for about 30 mins each .
From the Nauradhar route the trek can be easily broken down into 3 stages :
1. The first few km of steep climb into the oak forest .
This is a well marked stony path about 2 feet wide going through some local dwellings and terrace farms . Well after approx 1 hour of climb one can see the entire Nauradhar town and all the villages in its proximity. Just after about an hour of trek and approx 3 Km one enters into pine forest which eventually will turn into a very dense oak forest as one keeps on going deep into it .
2. The walk through the forest .
This is a again a well marked stony path about 2 feet wide . The forest actually starts just after aprox 3 km of steep climb after nauradhar, but very soon one finds himself walking amidst a dense oak forest.
There's a meadow right in the middle of the forest ( after about 7 to 8 Km ) which is called "Jamta " by locals . If you are lucky you can find a tea shop here , but thats not 100% certainty. This can be an ideal place for camping overnight . In summers Gujjars camp here for grazing their cattles . We rested here for about 15 mins and had some snacks those we carried with us . The next hour or 2 were again through the dense forest and at times very irritating as it feels like you are walking the same turn again and the forest seems never to end . But finally one comes out of the forest cover and can se the first glimpse of the actual peak .
3. The Second break point (Teesri) and beyond :
Now you are out of the forest and reached teesri . This place can be identified with a rain shelter and a local dhabba that operates mostly through summers . This place serves as a pass, here after one moves to the other side of the hill. The forest mostly ends here and the temple is still approx 5 Km's . The road again is well marked and as one walks through it the valley is to the left and the holy Churdhaar peak will be the highest point of the right hand side mountain of the trekker walking towards the Churdhaar .
The final destination for the day was the Shirgul Dev temple at the end of the road . This is not situated at the peak but about 2 km below the actual Churdhar peak .
There's a beautiful temple of Lord Shirgul Mahadev and a lot of options to stay for the night . During the rush of the summer pilgrim season one can stay at the sarai which is in the temple compound only and there are lot of dhabas serving food .
We visited the temple in the evening and attended the aarti . We stayed in the forest guest house which is just about 50 meters below the temple on the chaupal side of the road . We were in bed by 8 :00 PM and dis not realise when and how soon we were deep into dreams .
The next morning as all the mornings in the mountains are, wonderful and refreshing . This one night sojourn was much need after last day of tiring trek.
After breakfast in the local dhaba we started to head for the peak which is situated at above 3600 meters . Distance wise its probably less than 2 km but gradient wise its the steepest and most tiring . A distance of 10 meters here above 3000 meters is more tiring than 100 meters at the plains . In less than 2 hours we were at the peak . This is the highest point in the region and while you stand and admire the view from here you also realise that nothing is higher than you from here . This point present the most panoramic 360 degree view , from the distant spread of forests to the south , and a white barrier of greater himalayas to the distant north .
From here on one does not need to come back to the temple road but can climb down to the other side of the peak towards the nauradhar trek route .
With the splendour of the nature captured and stored deep into our memory we started the road back . Every step that we were taking back we not only losing height but also a sense of accomplishment that for a moment we gained at the top for another trek well trodden .
It must have taken us about 3 hours to climb down to nauradhar . We hardly halted for more than 5 mins on our way back . We pickup our bike that we parked at the PWD guest house and hit the road back to solan .
Note: The supplies of water should be filled at Nauradhar and carried along as water may not be available on the way except for one or two places which is also not a certainty.
