Churdhar trekking

Also known as Churchandni, this peak is perhaps the most easily accessible from the plains-nohradhar,one of its base points, is only about four hours from kalka on a very good road.However, it is adviseable to start the trek from the chopal side, in upper shimla.Drive upto sarain, 25kms from chopal and spend the night in a heritage forest rest house set amidst pretty orchards.Next day it is a four hour easy climb through dense deodar and blue pine forests to the famous temple on the peak.(actual peak, at 3636mts, is about 100mts above the temple, in a cluster of rocks, cairns and red prayer flags).spend the night here,for one gets an unimaginable 360* view at night-the lights of both chandigarh and shimla are clearly visible.one can stay in the serai, or pitch tents,or even stay in the wooden hut of the temple priest who gave up a cushy teaching job and came here more than 40years ago.it is an easy 18kms, walk the next day through uninterrupted  forests,down to Nohradhar, 30kms, from Rajgarh in sirmour district.The entire churdhar range is a wildlife sanctuary.legend has it that it is on these mountains that Hanuman found the "sanjeevani buti" with which he brought laxman back to life.Even to the naked eye the mountain has an abundance of medicinal herbs and plants,Nohradhar has a good pwd rest house and frequent bus connections to solan/kalka/shimla/chandighar.