Puja Maharjan We started our hike with some group selfies amid mirthful laughter. Stopping at Dhulikhel for breakfast, we met Kanchi—a jovial four months old Boxer. We instantly fell in love with her. After a while, we began our hike from the New Horizon Resort. My motto for any hike is, “Always walk ahead so that you will have plenty of time to rest and enjoy the sceneries, while the rest of the group catches up.” So, I walked quickly. Listening to some upbeat music, we descended the slippery hills in Dhulikhel. Because it was tough going down, some of us lost control and slipped over. Along the inhabited hills we moved, leaving behind branches and spider webs; I remembered one of the episodes of ‘Man Vs. Wild.’ We rested at the Ganesh Mandir for a while, where we snacked and drank water, and continued our journey to Nagarkot. None of us were sure about the route; therefore, we wandered around for about an hour. As if luck would have it, we made our way from the rice fields to the potato farms eventually. On our way, few of us rested in a hut at the top of the hill and drank ice-cold water from the natural stream. No sooner had we resumed our walk than was shortly interrupted. Someone told us to wait. We waited, enjoying the marvelous natural vista. Afterward, all the hikers met under a tree in Tamang village and began to ascend the Nagarkot hill. We clambered the narrow pathway through alluring hills with potato fields—white flowers shimmering in the golden light. A huge challenge was to climb the longest stair: we questioned our health and well-being. When we finally reached the top, we threw ourselves on the ground and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing while gazing at the sky and laughing. After that, it was only an easy stroll through the woods until we arrived at our destination. As the dying dregs of sunlight flickered in the Western hills, we realized that our hike had come to an end. It was around eight in the evening when we ate a sumptuous dinner at Thakali Bhanchha Ghar. Carrying the sweet memories of the day, we headed back home. To be candid, descending was scary; ascending, quite tough; walking straight, an eternal enjoyment. Aerosmith once sang, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Well, I think that without the highs and lows in life, living would be a dull affair. Words can’t express the happy memories we gathered from that hike. Thank you, Deerwalk, for this opportunity. Grateful list: Deerwalkers for the Hike Dai, Didi, Bhai and Bahini we met during the hike for showing us the way. The hiking team for being amazing! Thank you 

Rishav Jain We were supposed to start our hike from Deerwalk at around seven in the morning, but as usual, nobody was on time. At twenty minutes to eight, the bus rumbled: many hikers started to board the bus. We were on our way to the starting point, Dhulikhel, picking up the remaining few on our way. Before formally starting the hike, we had some breakfast at an unnamed roadside local eatery in Dhulikhel. After breakfast, Santosh dai handed us chocolates, cookies, and juice: food for our muscles and souls during the hike. At five minutes past ten, we began. The path was rugged and slippery. Whenever anyone tripped over, we had a good laugh. The twigs and branches gave us a narrow space to move forward. Often, we lost our way and Biran (‘The Pathfinder’) most of the time looked out for the possible routes. We had clambered our first hill within two hours, two of the three still remaining. We rested at a small temple and took some group photos and videos. After a while, we ascended the second hill. This time Ramesh dai was taking the lead. Every one of us was cheering for Ramesh dai. At the first attempt, he led us through another person’s potato farm only for us to turn back and find another way. We started ascending the second hill. Our group got split into three—the fastest ones, the slower ones, and the one which had two guys (Sanjeev and Sanjay Dai)— ‘The Lost Wanderers.’ The Lost Wanderers had split from the slowest ones and had plans to join the fastest ones, but instead, they got lost again and wandered through the whole village, eventually joining the slower ones after seeing them atop the hill. All of us regrouped after an hour or two and finally took some rest. After getting to know that there is still yet another hill to climb before reaching our final destination, many of us were demotivated as we were much tired and weary. But in order to get back home in time, we all knew we had to take the challenge and move forward—that’s what life is all about: facing every obstacle that comes our way yet still moving forward. There wasn’t an option to quit. After two more hours of walking, we made it to our bus in Nagarkot at around six in the evening. Walking 17 kilometers, crossing three hills and burning approximately 4000 calories, all of us deserved a great dinner. Everyone had typical Nepali food in Thakali Bhancha Ghar at Nagarkot. On our way back home, little did we know that this would be one of the best moments of the entire day. Dohori battle between Susan dai and Sanjeev, jokes cracked by Ganesh dai and I, and everyone laughing their hell out—such was the journey back home. It was indeed a great day. Cheers to Sabin for stepping up to coordinate the hike and making it a successful trip. “Life is dull without challenges, boring without friends and gloomy without laughter.” —Rishav Jain “Mountains know secrets we need to learn. That it might take time, it might be hard, but if you just hold on long enough, you will find the strength to rise up.” —Tyler Knott