Awanish Ranjan
For me, this hike was a surprise hike as I decided to join the hiking team on the morning of the hike. Up until then, I had no plans for the hike. I was pretty excited to join the DW hike team for the first time. The reason for my excitement was also due to the destination. Barhabise is one of the places where I always wanted to go but never got a chance. One of the interesting parts of the hike was its ending point. We knew where to start, but did not know where to end. It was decided only after reaching Barhabise. We decided to ascend the nearby hill until 4:00 PM and after that wherever we reached, we had to start descending the hill. After a long gap, I was having such a heart pumping climb. Exchanging thoughts with locals and beholding the beauty of nature, I did not even realize that we crossed the time that we set for our hike. With a very tasty dinner and sweet musical drive back to valley, we concluded yet another wonderful hike. Thanks to all hike team members with whom I had such a wonderful time during the hike.
Hiking is always fun for me. I like to walk, which is why I enjoy hiking. Hikes can be of two types – one in which destination is predetermined, and the other in which the destination is not determined. I prefer the second one as I like to wander. Such hikes are full of surprises. My first hike from Deerwalk was of the second type in which the destination was not set. We were to hike from Barhabise, but to where? No one had the answer. I managed to wake up early on the day of the hike and reached office at 7AM. Suresh was there already and we played table tennis until others arrived. I had a good warm-up after a long time. After others arrived, we departed from the office to pick up Rudra dai and others on the way. We headed for Barhabise, our initial point of hiking. I didn’t know where Barhabise was. On the way, Rudra dai was directing Ram dai to stop anywhere there was a good spot for hiking. At around 12PM we reached Barhabise, and we asked the local people about a suitable spot to start our hiking. Finally, we found one and we started our hike from there. Talking with locals about their life and their daily work and enjoying the natural scenery on the way are the best part of any hike. Nepal is blessed with nature. Initially, it was not difficult as there were stairs. But the hike got harder as we went along, so more than half of our team members could not make it to the top.
The steep slope of the hill made it more difficult.
The steep slope of the hill made it more difficult and the route the locals had suggested was apparently not suited for the people living in the plains. I remember the locals say “There is a path to the top which we manage to climb daily, but I don’t know about you guys.” Only five of us managed to conquer the hike, and guess what - I led the way. Difficult it was to ascend and much difficult it became to descend. It was already past 4 pm when we started our descent and we were not sure if we could make it back to Barhabise before darkness fell. All of us were very much tired but we managed to conquer the seemingly-never-ending stairs, hunger, thirst, and inevitable fatigue. When we reached Barhabise just about the time of sunset, our prize was waiting for us: delicious food, chilled beer, and a sense of satisfaction.
