Shrikhand Mahadev
Preface
I heard about this yatra almost 2 yrs ago and after that looking for the suitable timings. Finally in July 2009, I completed this yatra successfully along with my colleagues Vijay, Bharat, Vivek and Vishav. The plan was made keeping everything in mind. The yatra officially started from 16th-25th Aug this year, so we had very little time in hand for preparation and all. Initially we were more than 9 people for this trek but finally the count reduced to 5 only. Shrikhand Mahadev is one of the adobes of Lord Shiva. People worship the natural, rock-made shiva-lingam situated at a height of 5200-5400msl, the lingam is approx 72 feet high. The view is breathtaking from the top. There are 2 ways to reach to the top, one is from Neermand and another from Arsu side, and we took the first route. The trek from jaon Village takes 32 kms one side to reach Shrikhand Peak.
I must admit here that this is very tiring and difficult if you have short of time. The final ascent is very tedious and takes a hefty toll on your legs and an ultimate test of one's stamina. Please build some stamina before planning for this trek otherwise you can face several difficulties.
Journey
Day0: July 16th 2009: Chandigarh --> Narkanda --> Rampur --> Neermand --> Bagi Pul --> Jaon (100 + 65 + 50 + 30 + 28+ 7 = 280kms by car)
We left office at 4:30PM on Friday. Bought some essential things and we all were ready for this tough & hard yatra. We hired an Inova for our journey. The ride was costly but very comfortable. We had dinner at Narkanda, and further enquired about Shrikhand Mahadev yatra.We specifically choose these dates because during this time the Shrikhand Yatra Sewa Samiti organize their stalls at various points along the entire path, where you can find food, shelter & medical facilities free of cost. This is organized for very short time (about a week only) so it’s better to plan this yatra as soon as possible because after that you have to be your own, and there are very few private tents left where you can get accommodation & food only.
Day1: July 17th 2009: Jaon --> Singhad Village --> Thachdu (3+ 8 = 11 km trek)We reached Jaon village at 12AM and soon find a nice accommodation in a small lodge at Rs150 per room. Next day we woke up at 6:00AM. We bought some water bottles from local shop and headed to Singhad Village. The yatra officially starts from Singhad, where you can find very decent accommodation and food served by Shrikhand Yatra Samiti. We also had our breakfast at Singhad (delicious pakodas and jalebis) only. We hired a potter cum guide at Rs300 per day.
We left thachdu at 10:30 sharp. The journey was quite tiresome and soon we realized that how much this yatra proved to be difficult. The initial path passes through river bed. You have to negotiate boulders and tree trunks that scattered on the river bed. A slip and you are in trouble in that icy cold water. This was the scariest experience for most of us.Note: Two members of our group Bharat and me put on Woodland shoes and believe me that shoes was proving disaster in that wet area. We slipped here and there and never maintained our original pace in fear of slipping. I never recommend these shoes to anyone while on trekking on wet path (although crossing boulders with these shoes is like cake walk, but on wet lands...God save us!!).
Soon we crossed the river bed and now the ascent started. The ascent is almost 70-80 degree till thachdu which is some 5-6kms from here. This was very taxing on our legs, we breathe out in no time and now it’s our stamina that made us moving. The weather was hot and humid and the entire stretch passed through dense forest, which made this ascent more tiring and boring. There are very few water resources till Thachdu (1-2 only), so carry lots of water and glucose with you.
We had Maggie noodles as lunch on the way and reached thachdu at 4:30PM, completely exhausted. We were expecting to reach till Bhimdwari that day but exhausted to such level that we decided to stay at Thachdu rather moving ahead. We rented a tented accommodation in Rs50 per head. We were looking for the food as we don’t had have dinner but the lunch timings were over by that time. So we had to wait till 6:30PM after that the dinner was served. 
My health started deteriorating and I felt very chilly. It might be due to the profuse sweating and cold that I had faced while coming to Thachdu. I had developed Minor symptoms of AMS, so I consulted with Doctor available. He prescribed me few medicines, I took those medicines and slept until Vijay woke me up and gave dinner (delicious & warm Rice & Daal). I felt dizzy but comfortable. The night was chilled and I had putted some 4 ply of quilts over me. 
Day2: July 18th 2009: Thachdu --> Kali Ghati --> Bhimtalai --> Bhimdwari --> Parwati Bagh (3 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 11 km trek)We woke up late this day at around 7AM. Soon after refreshed from daily activities we left for Bhimdwari, which was our next target, at 8AM. Initially I felt very tired and unable to maintain my pace till Kali Ghati (I was even giving a thought of terminating my Yatra). Vijay suggested me to walk till kali Ghati and told me that if I still felt the way I was, we would surely return to Thachdu.
But as we reached on the top of Kali Ghati, my heart pumped up after seeing the beauty of the valley. You can see the never ending stretch of this beautiful valley full of greenery. You can feel the chill in your bones and clouds touches your feet that engulf the entire valley. One can catch the sight of Bhimdwari from here. The view of trek path from here is somehow disappoint you, as the path is full of continuous up’s and down’s. Descend from Kali Ghati top to Kali Ghati is very steep (almost at 80 degree). We knew that we have to use all our limbs to negotiate that hard steep fall while ascending later on. There is only a single source of water in between Thachdu and Kali Ghati top.
We took stoppage at Kali Kund for breakfast. The sun felt scorching but the wind was chilly, this kind of discrepancy you can feel at these places only. We move further at around 10:00AM. We crossed various small and big waterfalls en-route to Bhimdwari. We saw 4 people from Shrikhand Mahadev Sewa Samiti carried a critical ill person on their shoulders at those hard & slippery paths, where even a single person might feel hard to move. Hats off to these people. I wonder how the hell they can manage to negotiate this path with that much weight on their shoulders. 
There are 5 waterfalls on the way and each time you have to descend to negotiate these waterfalls & more frustrating is that you find a steep ascent up ahead every timeJ. The path is very narrow & slippery and sometime descend was not all together easy. I remembered that at one place we find a gorge with vertical fall of almost 15-20 feet, which had to be negotiated by putting our feet at both side wall of the gorge. Thanks to Woodland shoe that made the things worse for usJ. Water is available all along the trek path. 
I and Vijay were the first to reached Bhimdwari at 1:30PM. We had lungar and took a quick nap until Vivek and Bharat reached here. The view from Bhimdwari is breathtaking. Lush green valley and some local ship folks complete the picture. People at Bhimdwari told us that many devotees already headed to Parvati Bagh and to find accommodation might very difficult due to limited tents up there. One should return to Bhimdwari if he can’t find any accommodation there. So at around 2:45PM, I along with Vijay moved towards Parvati Bagh. The path is moderate till Shrikhand River and after crossing it almost vertical ascent starts.
The path provided you marvelous view of the entire valley. We reached Parvati Bagh at 4:30PM and realized that getting accommodation here was going to be very tough. We initially got a tent which was not sufficient even for 3 people, leave 6 people aside. So we start searching for another tent for other members but couldn’t get oneL. By God mercy, our tent owner informed us that one additional tent just vacated and available for hiring. We quickly confirmed our booking. We paid Rs1500 for both tents + food. We decided to start our final assault at 3:00AM in the morning for Shrikhand Mahadev.
Vijay started feeling tired and shown the same symptoms that I had faced last night. He told me that he might not be able to complete the Yatra and willing to go till Nain Sarover only. Soon Vivek and Bharat also joined us. Vivek had some pain in his thigh which was due to a wrong jump while coming to Thachdu. Vishav was way behind coming with our potter, so we don’t felt any worry regarding him.We had our dinner at 7:30PM. Vijay took some medicine that was prescribed to me by the doctor at Thachdu. The night was warm (although the outside temperature was bone chilling cold) as we were 4 people shared the single tent. We started hearing the voices (like Har Har Mahadev and Jai Shrikhand Mahadev) from the Devotees that started from Bhimdwari to Shrikhand Mahadev in the pitch dark at 12:30AM.
Day3: July 19th 2009: Parwati Bagh --> Nain Sarover --> Shrikhand Mahadev --> Bhimdwari (2+ 9 + 13 = 24 km trek)This was perhaps the very long and tiring day. I woke up at 3:00AM and asked Vijay about his conditions. He was positive and we were ready to move to Shrikhand in no time. We left our tent at 3:45AM in the dark. Lots of devotees were on the way, we even saw the torch lights on crawling on the peak. That was the mesmerizing moment. We reached Nain Sarover at 5:30AM. The weather was chilled and wind made things worse for us. We saw many people taking bath in Nain Sarover. This small pond contains the melted water of surrounding peaks. This is the last possible halt where you can find drinking water.
Note: I recommend you to carry plenty of water, energy bars, Glucose, walking stick and Camphor with you. These things make your ascent quite comfortable.We saw people ascending on gigantic mountain. Vijay had shown his unwillingness to move any further. Though he had very much potential but he got afraid of his health. We had a long chat that lasts about 2.5 hrs and finally Vijay agreed to moving further. Vivek and Bharat also joined us by that time and Vishav as always coming with potter at his moderate speed.
We covered many slopes, mountains, glaciers and after very long and tiring trek, finally reached Shrikhand peak at 12:30PM. The surrounding was full of mist and visibility reduced to barely few meters. We had taken every step with proper care. The path is full of dangerous curves, a small slip and you can falls down into never ending gorge. The first view of Shrikhand Mahadev was very refreshing, we paid for our long journey. 
Vivek was the first that reached Shrikhand Mahadev and the last person that headed back to Bhimdwari. As we reached at peak it started raining. We headed back after spending 30-40 min there. We met Vishav all alone on the way back; we informed him that he almost reached to the peak. We enquired him about the potter and let knew that Bharat had several headache and thus returned to Parvati Sarover with potter. We told Vishav that Vivek was at peak and that you must returned with him only.
We saw a physically disabled man with both his legs disabled but mentally strong enough that we felt way behind him. He moves so fast that even we couldn't keep the same pace as him. He continuously raising the slogan "Jai Shrikhand Mahadev" and moving like a jet plane. He negotiated those hard boulders very easily which even we found difficult to cross. Hats off to him. The back journey was very tiring as we finished off with water & food. Thanks to some kind persons who offered me refreshing Ganga Jal and another offered Coconut. People told us that had not the clouds swallow up this place; we could have witness a marvelous view of surrounding. We returned to Parvati Sarover at 4:00PM and after settling down the accounts with tent owner proceed to Bhimdwari along with potter and Bharat, which now felt better.
We reached Bhimdwari at 5:30PM, busy in taking many short intervals for photography. It was 7:00PM now and darkness started but we don’t know anything about Vivek and Vishav. We were quite worried and told our potter to enquire about them. We were praying for their safety and curse our self that why we left them alone. Our potter returned with no information that increases our anxiety to peak. Well we soon had dinner and slept. We decided to wait for them next day and move all along.
Day4: July 20th 2009: Bhimdwari --> Bhimtalai --> Kali Ghati --> Thachdu --> Singhad --> Jaon - Chandigarh (3+ 3 + 3 + 8 + 3 = 20kms trek, 280kms by Car) Next day we woke up at 4:30AM and looked for Vivek & Vishav. They came at 5:15AM to Bhimdwari, and we all took a relaxed breath. They told us that how they face difficulty with no water and food up there and how a kind person offered them some food. They started from Parvati Sarover, where they stayed for the night, at 4:00AM. Now we decided to move altogether to avoid any difficulty.
The back journey was the same as previous, lots of up's and down's. The only difference is that we now took more halt for photo sessionsJJ. We had lunch at Kali Kund. We reached Singhad at 5:30PM and had a delicious dinner cum evening snacks there (Delicious Maal Pooa, Kheer, Chole, Chawal. Roti & Daal). Really this Sewa Samiti person makes everything available to devotees to Shrikhand Mahadev Yatra.
We waited for Vishav and Bharat to come to Singhad & meanwhile we settled the account of our potter. We reached Jaon at 8:30PM and Chandigarh at 6:30AM. We had faced very heavy rain from Rampur till Shimla. It seems that somebody intentionally thrown the buckets of water on the windshield of car. I had join office at 10:30AM.