Churdhar is visible from my house and we watch sunrise daily appearing from peak in mornings. Its highest peak of Sirmour district in Himachal Pradesh. So since childhood , had a thought that some day we will trek to the peak. But mostly we think, but can never plan because of various reasons. In fact we planned in 2014 and even booked Rest house in Nauradhar but later had to cancel it.
View from Churdhar from my house in Sarahan, Sirmour- From Archives of 2007
In 2017, one of our family friends visited us just after visiting temple on Churdhar. We got surprised when he said, he could do it in a single day. Before that we only used to know one way to reach, which is from Nauradhar ( Sirmour) which is around 18KM+ trek. He told us that there is another shorter trek which is from Sarain Sarahan, Shimla district.
So we decided to pay a visit but in every summer vacations, pre-monsoon starts in Himachal is and it is not considered a good time for travelling. Even this year, when we went, we weren’t sure we could trek in rains as there were early rains even this year( 2023).
So we decided to tour in such a way that even if we miss Churdhar, we would cover some other key places in Sirmour. Also I discovered that there is very ancient temple at Sarain, Sarahan, Shimla from where the trek starts. So we decided to visit Mata Bhangyani devi temple first and go to Sarain, Sarahan next day.
We started our journey from Sarahan, Sirmour to Haripur Dhar to Mata Bhangyani Devi which is 110KMs approx. (4 hours) but it took us more time due to narraow road and heavy rains on the way specially after Sangrah. Sangrah to Haripurdhar stretch is quite bad and roads are narrow.
Mata Bhangyani Devi, Haripur Dhar, Sirmour.
We reached around Mata Bhangyani Devi around 2 PM. Since it was raining heavily , we decided to wait in car for 30 minutes. When rain fizzled out we visited temple and we were lucky to get darshan in 10 minutes. Also we could witness “Devi” in Pujaari as locals use Devi to sort out their life problems.
Most locals come to these temples with domestic problems and Pujari ( who represents Devi or Devta) after “Khel” suggests them solutions. This faith in local Deity keeps people honest and avoids lot of court cases. In ancient times, when courts didn’t exist, local deity used to serve as court.
After visiting temple, rain receded and we started asking locals if we can reach Sarain, Sarahan in Shimla that day. A local lady told us that we can make it in next 4 hours. Also she guided us the root which was little longer but better.
We decided to make it to Sarain Sarahan. Since we were not aware any hotels in Sarain, Sarahan, hence I called my childhood friend to find out if we can get a place to stay. My friend was kind enough to help because with accommodation in government rest house at Nerwa which was 23 kilometers earlier than our destination.
The journey from Haripur Dhar to Nerwa was very picturesque and we saw new area of Sirmour which had boundaries with Uttarakhand..
Sarain, Sarahan can be reached from Delhi via Delhi – Dehradun – Nerwa, Shimla (H.P.) ( 394 KMs) or alternatively in around 10 hours.
We drove from haripur dhar to nerva very slowly add reached nerva around 7:00 PM. We took rest in government rest house and started early morning for Srain, Sarahan, which was 23KMs from Nerwa.
After reaching Sarain, Sarahan, we visited local temple which is more than 300 years old called Bijat maharaj temple .
Since we visited early morning there were very few people in the temple. This temple has idols of Bijat maharaj and Shirgul maharaj who are considered to be local deities. Bijak maharaj consider to be incarnation of Lord Indra and Shirgul maharaj is considered to be incarnation of Lord Shiva. Mata Bhangyani Devi it's also considered to be sister of Bijat maharaj and Shirgul maharaj.
Sarain, Sarahan town.
After visiting temple we inquired locals about weather and if we could trek to Churdar. Since its monsoon season locals told us that they cannot comment on whether but take our own decision.
From here we were guided to take a road 2 the base ( Madhalni, pronounced as Madhaal - ni), local name) of the place from where Churdhar Trek starts. ( Madhalni can’t be found on google yet.
Next 5 Kms was a dirt road and because of monsoons, it had become much more difficult to drive because of slush and water. There are lot of pine trees along with the road and trek. Some of these trees are more than 100 feet tall. One can't distinguish these unexplored areas from Europe.
After reaching ( Madhalni, the weather was clear and we saw a lot of locals tracking to the temple. We collectively decided to trek which is around 7 kilometers from ( Madhalni.
Road from Srain Sarahan onwards
Signboard put by temple management committed to guide distance.
Started our journey around 10:30 AM hoping to reach you know three to four hours. If you are perfectly fit one can make this journey end 2 1/2 hours. The track difficulty is moderate and can be done by most of amateur trekkers like me.
You don't get fruits on the way so in case you need to eat fruits you should bring it from previous town.
Temp structures to sell tea/eatables
You will be surprised that cost of you tables are very reasonable in this shops. It took us almost 4 hours to reach Shirgul Maharaj temple which is 1 kilometer from Churdhar peak. It started raining very heavily after 3:00 and we had to wait to visit temple till rain stops.
The temple committee had made very great arrangements for all the visitors. We enquired about stay since we knew that we can't make it back to the base today. For stay there are arrangements made for gents and ladies separate. These are big halls with mattresses. There is no charge to stay at temple which comes to a very big surprise to me. The blankets can be the rented at the rate of just 10 bucks and one can rent as many number as he wants to be.
Rain continued till 7:00 PM and we had to wait also the temple gates were closed after the rains. Be participated in temple aarti which started sharp at 7 PM. It was divine experience as there were very few people to attend ( 10-15 apart from priests). Weather becomes very very cold you winning big summers so please be prepared for with warm clothes when you visit this place. We could feel that temperature is around 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.
Shirgul Maharaj temple at Base.
After the evening “Aarti” the temple committee has arrangement of free food for all the visitors.
There were around 250 to 300 people staying at the temple premise that day. We were surprised again with the arrangements of free food as it was very well managed like a gurudwara. We had food and went to sleep in the common areas.
I was awake next morning at 4:30 AM but it was very foggy outside. I decided till it clears.
Sunrise view.
The weather got cleared around 5:30 AM and I decided to go out and check. I woke up my family and ask them to see a view of sunrise. We were lucky to witness a sunrise above the clouds. It was a spectacular view.
The peak it's still one kilometer from the base temple and the rest of the track is quite difficult. We started our journey to the peak at 6:15 AM and we could make to the top within 30 minutes.
the weather was awesome, and we could see various peaks from top. Since this is the highest peak of districts Sirmour, one gets a feeling of being at top.
Churdhar peak as seen from Shirgul temple.
East side view
North side view from top.
View towards east.
That's to Churdhar peak, there is a Shiva Murti and as Shiva Linga. The 360 view from here was spectacular. Churdhar trek is open from 15th of March till 15th of October. The weather conditions may would be difficult till April as there is heavy snowfall on the peak during winters. Those snow starts melting only after may. There can be snowfall even in may or June. The other track from Nora dhar is little longer and around 18 kilometer . So if you have shorter time one should use this particular track to reach to the peak during summers. One should avoid monsoon rains season yes there are landslides on the roads in Himachal.
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