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Title	2013 Jul - Deerwalk Hiking from Nagarjun to Jamacho Gumba
Route	Driving (Kathmandu>> Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Gate), Hiking (Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Gate>> Jamacho Gumba>> Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Gate), Driving (Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Gate>> Kathmandu)
Date	July 21, 2013
Hike Duration	5 hrs
Coordinator	Dinesh Gautam
Participants	Bijay Shrestha, Bimal Pant, Dinesh Gautam, Manish Dhakal, Pratik Kayastha, Ribench Rijal, Rosina Shakya, Sagar Chakradhar, Sumira Shrestha, Sweta Gurung, Yangjee Rai.
Photos By	Bijay Shrestha, Pratik Kayastha, Rosina Shakya.
Report By	Bimal Pant, Sweta Gurung
Creative Support	Kanchan Raj Pandey, Rinesh N Bajracharya
Edited By	Rinesh N Bajracharya

Bimal Pant It was the first time I was going on a hike with Deerwalk. I had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time as I was unable to join my team in few of the previous occasions. We were very excited about our hike. Weeks before, we had started planning for our hike. After thorough discussion we settled for a hike from Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park to Jamacho. Our hike was planned for 21st July, and every participant was given direction to be at office premises by 7 am with required accessories. Due to rumours of ‘Nepal banda’, we thought that the hike could be postponed. But it was not the case. Manish, Ribench, Dinesh and I were the first ones to reach the office. We wasted no time and started buying the required stuffs available at a nearby store. By 8:15, most of the hike participants were at the office. By then, we knew that Sabita, Bipul and Amir would not be joining us due to some unforeseen reasons. Our hike team was reduced to 11 members. Shortly, we left the office for Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park (the starting point for our hike). As we had to pickup Rosina and Yangjee, we planned the route accordingly. We planned our route though Sorhakhutte and Balaju to the park. At Balaju, we had our breakfast and got prepared for our hike. We reached the gate of the park at 10 am and bought tickets for entry. We distributed our stuffs among participants. Everyone was given their share of snacks and water. We left the park gate at 10 for our destination Jamacho. The enthusiasm of such hiking expedition was clear on everyone's face. The environment was perfect. The dense forest, the slippery path, the dampness of the soil, the solitary environment far from the noise and pollution of valley were all making the hike awesome. Feeling of unity in the group was prominent. Each participant was enjoying the freshness of the open environment. Making fun of each other and screaming in the wild without any reason was an incredible experience. Watching the hills, plains, sceneries, beautiful insects etc were another aspect of the hike. While Pratik was keen at picturing the event, Manish was busy making fun of others as expectedly, supported by Bijay. The victims being Dinesh, Yangjee and Sagar for most of the part. After an hour and half of climbing up we reached a plain land with incredible view of the valley. We took rest for some time. We shared our snacks with each other. After 15 minutes of rest, we headed towards our destination Jamacho. We were all tired of walking the ups and downs of the dense forest. It felt like we had been walking for hours, though it was only an hour and half of hiking up till then. We were taking rest continuously at short intervals of 10-15 minutes. Every person in the hike team was carrying their water and snacks by themselves, so we didn’t have any shortage. By 12:30 we reached Jamacho, our hike destination. We took rest for a while, shared our remaining snacks. From the top of the tower at Jamacho perfect view of the Kathmandu valley could be seen. At 2:45 we left for the national park gate. Walking down to our starting point was comparatively much easier. It took a bit more than an hour to reach the park gate where we meet the office van for pickup. Overall we had lots of fun and had a great time with Deerwalk Hikers. This was one of the most incredible hikes of my life. Those funny and incredible moments of this hike will be remembered for long time to come. This was my first hike with Deerwalk and I look forward to many more in the coming months. Sweta Gurung Well, before I start getting into all hike-mode, that bandh rumor circulating in Facebook did have some effect on our hike schedule. Originally planned to commence our journey at around 7:00am, we simply couldn’t, because of the bandh talks. I guess it's better late than never, but getting prepped early in the Sunday morning for a supposedly postponed plan made it sound worthless when you could have had a pretty sweet sleep. After all that hustle and bustle, we finally made it to the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park entry gate, with a brief stop at By-Pass for breakfast. A step beyond that entry gate turned into thousands and thousands of more steps. All I can remember is walking and just walking. Had there been no leeches, walking wouldn’t have been such an issue. Not that I am complaining but, having to drag your feet up while keeping a lookout for those creepy little blood suckers was frustrating. But it was like “Hey, that’s what hikes are supposed to be”. Few mini-stops in-betweens were truly like heaven. Everybody used to check their shoes and feet for leeches. Those whoever were the victims were heavily made fun of. As, few of our hiking crew are so lean, we even assumed that the leeches would have a bad day if they ever get onto any of those folks. On top of that, “a blood donation program organized by leeches” was the main line used by every other hiker for pulling each other’s legs. These few funny moments really made it possible for me to complete the hike. Finally, at around 1:30pm, we reached our destination, Jamacho. The view from the hill top was breathtakingly awesome. We could literally see the entire valley. Ring road, Tundikhel, Bus Park, Dharahara, etc were looking so small that they could easily fit in the palm of our hands. After few photo sessions, we were back on our feet. It was relatively easier to go down a hill than climb up. It took us just an hour to reach the main gate. Since, we were all famished and tired; we decided to stop by Sheesha in New Road. After that, all I can remember is FOOD and DRINKS. All in all, the hike was fun and a sort of escape from the humdrum of daily life.

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