TheFreeBird
Niraj, how to find non-crowded treks in Sahyadris on weekends ? Well the answer is simple go for offbeat options. One such hidden gem in the very famous Matheran range of treks is Pisarnath ladder route. Pisarnath caves lie just below the Matheran plateau. Some people say that the temple from the cave was shifted to the bigger Pisarnath temple at top. This route is very offbeat and loved by all the pro- trekkers for its peacefulness, emptiness & the beautiful views it offers. In this Pisarnath ladder trek blog you will find all the information to plan this trek yourself from Umbarnewadi. Similar adventures like this one at the end of the post.
Matheran is one of the most famous hill stations in India where vehicles are not allowed. Normal tourists reach Matheran via the Neral toy train or just drive on the normal road to reach Dasturi Naka ( which is the entrance point of Matheran). These tourists then visit different view points of Matheran by walking or on a horse. However adventure lovers like me love to reach Matheran by trekking from base village to these view points & then descend by some other point or return from Dasturi Naka.
How long is the Pisarnath trek ?
Niraj, how much time does it take to complete this Pisarnath trek to Matheran? It takes 2.5 -3 hours to reach the Pisarnath temple at top at full speed from Umbarnewadi village. However reaching Umbarnewadi itself is time consuming. Being a complete offroad with no public transport available many people like to walk from Chowk to Umbarnewadi which itself takes about 2-3 hrs. Another option is to reach Umbarnewadi from Ambewadi which again takes about 60-90mins. If you take your vehicle on this very bad road to Umbarnewadi you will need to descend the same route for returning . Most people prefer ascending from this ladder route & get down from some place else. i.e. not taking personal vehicle.
Is Pisarnath ladder trek difficult for beginners ?
This Pisarnath ladder trek is very tiring trek if you walk all the way to Umbarnewadi from locations mentioned in the above paragraph. The trek from Umbarnewadi itself is very steep which gets very tiring especially on a hot day. The ladders present in route are easy to climb but the height may be an issue for some. Hence i term this trek as a INTERMEDIATE trek for beginners when done in presence of a regular trekker. In monsoon the ladders are covered with a waterfall which makes the climb very risky , hence DIFFICULT in MONSOON
What is the best time for Pisarnath Trek ?
Winter provides beautiful sunsets & sunrises. This trek is also worthy of summer time because once you toil through all the climb Matheran provides with a very cool weather ( should preferably start early morning). Mostly trekkers do this trek on winter mornings because of the difficulty level. But i also prefer to do this Pisarnath Matheran trek on winter evenings to enjoy the sunset from Lord Point at top next to Pisarnath temple. Trekking here in monsoon is extremely risky due to the steep ladder which gets covered in a waterfall
Trek pe khaane ko kya milega ?
Since its not that famous there are no food huts through the trail. There are no shops available at Umabarnewadi. Since this trek is very offbeat home made food available at other sahyadri treks is not available here easily. You can request some locals for food but it all depends on your luck. Once at Matheran top plenty of food options are available.
Matheran Range Trek Idea
Many Matheran points are trekkable. These points include One Tree Hill Pt. from Ambewadi, Rambaug Pt via Dhanwadi, Alexander Pt via Katwan, Beatrice Pt via Katwan, Sunset Pt from Dhodani, Garbett Pt from Bhivpuri, Malang pt via Hashyachi Patti, Pisarnath Ladder route via Umbarnewadi, Peb fort from Anandwadi. So for doing a range trek you can trek to any of these points and then descend to another point. If some of you are tired after the ascend they can simply skip the remaining part of the range trek by taking a taxi from Dasturi Naka ( Matheran’s entrance). My personal choice is to select Garbett for descend since it is better connected with railways for going home easily after a tiring Matheran range trek.
For Pisarnath trek one can plan this trek in many ways, but If you have your personal vehicle I would suggest to reach Ambewadi walk to Umbarnewadi trek to Pisarnath & then climb down via One Tree Hill to reach Ambewadi
How to reach Umbarnewadi for Pisarnath Temple Trek ?
Umbarnewadi is the base village for Pisarnath trek to Matheran & it can be reached from the starting points as follows:
- from Nanivali ( Chowk side) – walk on the offroad to reach Umbarne (~2 hrs). There are no transport options available
- from Ambewadi ( Borgaon side)- walk on the Ambewadi trail to reach Umbarnewadi (~1hr)
One can reach the starting points as follows:
- Ambewadi is the base for One Tree Hill Trek to Matheran. Read that blog for directions to reach Ambewadi
- Nanivali is the base for Irshalgad trek. Read the blog for directions to reach Nanivali
From Ambewadi there is a well marked all weather trail to reach Umbarnewadi .
RIVER CAUTION: For walking from Nanivali side the route passes by Morbe Dam and provides beautiful views throughout the walk before it enters a forest. Lastly when we reach Arkaswadi we need to cross the Dhavari river to reach Pirkatwadi. This river bed is dry after monsoon and an easily motorable offroad. However in monsoon the river is too strong for vehicles but can be crossed on foot at certain places where it is shallow.
Pisarnath Trek Route Map
The most common question that i get asked is I want to travel a lot but I dont have leaves. Should I quit my job ? I have always suggested to not quit your job unless you have another source of income. In search of this source of income I tried freelancing , trek leading, vlogging and I realised nothing works in the long term. After trying many different thinkgs finally I came across trading
Trading for getting freedom & income is perfect for a person with traveller mindset. You can trade from anywhere around the world be it some off the grid village in Himachal or Meghalaya, be it some island in Andaman. All you need is an internet connection and a trading account. You can earn by trading for 1-2 hrs a day and would have freedom to do anything in the free time.Or you might have just earned enough in a day to take the month off travelling around the world. If you are able to learn this then it has potential to make all your dreams come true. I would suggest you take it up as a side project for 6 months to see if you have patience & intellect to master it.
Pisarnath ladder trek to Matheran: TheFreeBird’s story
As part of my personal #ProjectMatheran, I have already trekked to Matheran via Rambaug Point, Garbett , Peb fort, One Tree Hill , Sunset point & Hashyachi Patti . I wanted to finish all the trekking routes to Matheran as quickly as possible. Next in my line up was the most adventurous trek to Matheran i.e. the Pisarnath ladder route. The route is famous for its multiple rock patches which earlier had bamboo ladders . Instead of walking all the way from Chowk to Umbarnewadi I decided to take my bike directly till the base & plan the return after enjoying the sunset.
The route passes
through dense forests
beside Morbe dam
My bike saved me almost 2 hours of walking as we reached Umbarne in 30 mins. Its complete off-road and in monsoon it would have multiple stream crossings as well.
The biggest problem in monsoon would be to cross the Dhavari river which in winter has a good mud road connecting Arkaswadi & Pirkatwadi.
After finally crossing through many dry paddy fields we reached Umbarnewadi. Parking my bike we started our way to the adventurous Pisarnath trek. As soon as the bikes engine was turned off I started to hear so many different birds chirping which was very peaceful to my ears. There is a well marked trail from the village which is used daily by locals to go to Matheran for work. After the initial walk there is a huge stream that needs to be crossed. In winter this is completely dry & I could imagine this to be a very beautiful monsoon sight
Trek starts
After the stream the climb starts which gets steeper with every step, being the steepest at the ladder. My plan was to complete the exposed steep part quickly before the sun gets hotter. But my winter calculation was wrong as at 10:30 am it started to feel extremely hot. We took few breaks to reach midway of the climb from where the Louisa Point started to become visible.
The Pisarnath gully finally became visible & thats when i decided to redo this trek in monsoon when it would be all green with various waterfalls coming to life. Agreed it would be much risky but Usse mujhe kick milegi. The view of final set of ladders at the top of this gully got me excited
Last of the wooden ladders still used. Longer ones have been replaced by metal ones.
Climbing on the ridge we reached a height when Morbe dam & Irshalgad started to become visible in the background.
If you climb this in peak sunny hours you are bound to be exhausted like us. Good point is that there are few parts where there are lots of trees to provide some cool shadow. Finally we reached the Pisarnath ladder section. While climbing towards the ladder we found a broken off railing fallen below. So much for comforting our nerves
Theses stairs are located at a precarious position with Prabalgad & Kalavantin clearly visible in the background. The fact that locals use this Pisarnath ladder daily to reach Matheran gave us enough confidence to not doubt the structural strength. We started our way to the top
Climb On
By now we were in dire need of some place to hide from the sun. Luckily after this stairs there is flat walk which takes you to the Pisarnath cave. So glad we started early in the morning , if we had attempted this in afternoon i am sure we would have needed many breaks.
The cool shade at the caves was much appreciated. We wanted a place to have lunch and we could not have expected a better place with terrific views
On that hot afternooon, the view & the hunger made the food taste even better in the cold shade of the cave. In the cave we found a unused net designed for retaining stones of the waterfall. After lunch this net felt like a wonderful cushion to lay on. A peaceful afternoon nap followed. After the cave is the set of 3 stairs to reach the top of Matheran. I remember seeing the photos of these stairs for the first time & I had waited so long to be finally here. It was going be an exciting time in the gully
Earlier there used to be wooden logs for climbing this gully. With time these wooden ladders have been replaced by metal ones. In monsoon waterfall cascades over the stairs leading to a very risky route. Right now it was just a tall ladder waiting for us to climb it.
Just imagining the locals climbing this daily is very frightening. Glad that these have been replaced by metallic durable ladders.
The old times without stairs would have been much more adventurous & risky
Above this ladder is another short one which leads to a rocky gully which I can only imagine to be a powerful waterfall in monsoon. The rock is naturally cut in such fashion that it feels like stairs. The steel rope tied would definitely be useful for climbing in monsoon. Right now I am just holding it for better photos.
Once at the top I was super happy to enter the Matheran jungle for some cool weather. Walking a bit ahead we reached the Pisarnath temple. Just beside the temple is the famous Charlotte lake of Matheran & Lord view point . Charlotte lake provides water to entire Matheran. There are many view points in Matheran and we decided to visit 4 points on the sunset side of Matheran & return back for sunset from the temple.
After the lake we moved ahead to reach Celia Point ( where a huge waterfall starts in monsoon -dry today), then moved forward to cover other view points. I moved parallel to the west side of Matheran to see the following points
Pisarnath Temple > Lord pt.> Lake > Celia pt. >George pt.> Edward Pt. > Echo pt. > Honey pt.
Beyond honey or honeymoon point is the Louisa pt, Malanga pt….Sunset pt on the west side. But in afternoon none of these points provide a good view & felt a bit tired to just walk to them & see nothing much. Hence decided to turn back to the temple & wait for the sunset from Lord Point. Last time when I trekked to Malang point it didnt feel great looking at these view points in broad daylight and had gone to the Matheran main market to spend time before coming back for sunset. This time after reaching Echo point we head back to Lord point & waited for sunset.
Finally after trekking since morning it was the first time we sat & took off our shoes to let the breeze touch our feet. The sun slowly started going down with the wind getting cooler & cooler. After about an hour the sky finally started to show golden hues as the sun touched the horizon
I took as many photos as possible till the sun went down. After the sunset we had a huge task of descending back towards Umbarnewadi via all the Pisarnath ladder. Many of the trekkers descend from some other point or just take a taxi from Dasturi naka to go home. Not wanting to waste any remaining light we rushed down quickly.
I guess in March or April sunset would be visible directly from the cave itself . We reached down in about 75 minutes. Washed my face, got on by bike , drove home in the cold night.
Bye !!
That’s it for the Pisarnath trek blog.
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I've written blogs covering numerous Sahyadri treks, all accessible in the section below. Additionally, I create ambient Sahyadri videos on YouTube, featuring solely natural sounds such as birdsong, wind rustling through the trees, and the soothing patter of rain—the elements of nature that I hold dear.
SAHYADRI TREKS NEAR
