One day trek to Harihar Fort, Nashik

Harihar fort , also known as Harshagad, is a fort situated in Nashik district of Maharashtra. The fort is one of the important watch tower constructed to look the trade route through Gonda Ghat. The main attraction of Harihar fort is the 60M height pinnacle, and the steps curved on it. Steps look like a stone ladder placed at 80 degrees along the scarp of the hill. At many places, the steps have worn out but the small holes curved on both edges of the steps are helpful to hold. The first half of the steps are curved on the scarp of the pinnacle and the remaining are curved inside the pinnacle. Last part is steeper than the first one as the height of the steps increases as you go up.

How To Reach Harihar Fort

Harihar Fort is located 20 KM away from Trimbak. The base village for Harihar Fort trek is Nirgudpada village located on Trimbak-Igatpuri road. One has to trek less than 5 KM to reach the top from the base village, Nirgudpada, and will take less than 2 hours.

For those who are coming from Mumbai side, board the first train to Kasara, which is also the first train on the central line. The train will reach Kasara by 7 AM. There is a bus from Igatpur bus station to Trimbak going via Nirgudpada, starts at 8.30 AM. To reach Igatpuri Bus Depot from Kasara Railway Station before the bus starts from the depot, board a shared vehicle to Igatpuri. But the shared vehicles to Igatpuri are not frequent, and the vehicles will not start until all seats are occupied. The other option is to board a shared vehicle to Ghoti, which are frequently available. The bus starting from Igatpuri will reach the Ghoti bus depot after 15 minutes. So you can board the same bus from Ghoti.

Note that the Trimbak bus from Igatpuri is unlikely to start on time. Usually it starts at 9.30 AM. The bus journey will take one and half hour to reach Nirgudpada. The same bus will return to Igatpuri from Trimbak on the same route. The scheduled time to reach Nirgudpada on the return journey is 3.30 PM, but usually, it reaches back at Nirgudpada at 4.30 PM. So you will get a 5-hour buffer at Nirgudpada which is enough to complete the trek, 2-hour trek to Harihar Fort, 1-hour exploration, and 1-hour to get down.

Those who are coming from Nasik side, board an ST bus to Trimbak, which are frequent. ST buses are available to Nirgudpada from Trimbak, they are not frequent. But shared vehicles frequently available to Nirgudpada from Trimbak.

Hareshwadi is another base village for Harihar fort trek and is near to the fort as compared to Nirgudpada. There is another road to reach this Harihar trek base and is only 15KM away from Trimbak. It is better to hire a taxi to Hareshwadi from Trimbak for those who are coming in a group instead of waiting for the bus or shared vehicle.

Ticket:

Kasara Railway Station to Igatpuri : 30.00

Igatpuri to Nirgudpada : 60.00