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Title	2014 Jul - Deerwalk Hiking from Shivapuri to Sundarijal> via Chisapani
Route	Driving (Kathmandu>> Shivapuri), Hiking (Shivapuri >> Nagi Ghumba>> Bhaghdwar>> Chisapani (Night Stay)>> Sundarijal), Driving (Sundarijal>> Kathmandu)
Date	July 13-July 14, 2013
Hike Duration	15 hrs
Coordinator	Suvash Shah Thakuri
Participants	Bijay Gauli, Mukesh Chaudhary, Rajendra Prasad Gyawali, Rajesh Prajapati, Sajana Shakya, Suvash Shah Thakuri, Swoyambhu Shrestha.
Photos By	Swoyambhu Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad Gyawali.
Report By	Swoyambhu Shrestha
Creative Support	Kanchan Raj Pandey, Rinesh N Bajracharya
Edited By	Rinesh N Bajracharya

Swoyambhu Shrestha Realizing that just sitting hours in front of the computer everyday was not just making me lazy and unhealthy but also keeping me away from the beauty and thrill of nature. I along with other seven Deerwalkers set forward and got ready for a two days hike. Starting our journey from Deerwalk premises, our office vehicle helped us reach the starting point of our hike, Ranabam Barrack, Budhanilkantha. We were leaving the crowded, busy city behind and climbing uphill to reach our first destination point, Nagi Gumba. This was quite easy for us as we were all full of energy and excitement. After walking for about 2 hours uphill from Budhanilkantha we reached the beautiful place. We snapped some pictures, took some rest and enjoyed the view from there. Then we left for our second destination Baghdwar. This part was really tiring as we had to climb steep slopes on narrow foot trails. But the tiredness and pain was worth it. We reached this one place before reaching Baghdwar where huge clouds would pass through us. That moment was really amazing, the clouds were so thick that we couldn’t see another person just few meters away from us. After walking few minutes from here we reached our second destination Baghdwar. This place is about 2700 meters from the sea level. We found a small hut of a Baba Ji ( A God’s devotee living alone away from the materialistic world ) who welcomed us and served us with warm tea. This was really refreshing as it was slowly raining and we all were very tired. This was the highest point of our hike and then started the next part, destination Chisapani. We started going downhill then after. Slippery trails and leeches were our main challenges then on. We all always agreed on going right, if there are two ways. It was scary as well as fun because there were no sign of human settlements up to a mile and we were moving ahead without a single map. With Rajesh’s funny jokes and Subash’s unusual sounds we continued our journey with laughter. There came a situation when we all started to fear that we were heading the wrong way but to our great relief we met a ‘Chicken Man’. He was a chicken seller and was carrying 10 chickens to his house. We were literally grateful to meet him. He said that we were heading in the right direction and we were almost near Chisapani. He easily declared that we will reach there within “1 hour”. Taking his words, we entered another dense forest trail again. Leeches climbing up our pants and big puddles along the trails were really slowing us down. We used salt to remove the leeches and moved on. There were some really funny moments when some of us started crying for help because of the leeches. We walked for more than an hour but we were still inside this dense forest, this was the time we all were worried as it was already past 5 pm and we couldn’t even see a single house. Rajesh was so furious about the wrong information from the chicken man that he was determined to give him a nice lesson if they came across again. All the action packed skills and survival techniques shown by Bear Grylls of the TV show Man Vs Wild were coming to my mind that time. We all, totally exhausted and hungry, kept on moving with all our strength. And finally it felt like heaven when there was a first sight of a small house; we all were so very delighted. Finally we reached Chisapani at around 6pm. We quickly found a hotel for the night and rested there. We all sat and enjoyed our dinner at Dorje Lakpa Hotel and Lodge. It was really funny as well as frightening to remember the trails that we had completed that day. The next day, after enjoying our breakfast, we started towards our next destination, Sundarijal. As we all were really annoyed by the leeches, we decided to move on the graveled motor road. Tiredness and pain in the muscles from yesterday’s hike made some of walk in the “Gentlemen Style”. In this style a person walks like he is walking on a ramp but this wasn’t a ramp walk, this was all the result of pain and stain in leg muscles. We slowly walked down and soon we were trapped inside rainfall. Despite rain, we continued to move on. I would say the weather was quite drunk that day because after a while from heavy rainfall there was scorching sun on top of us, after some time there was rain again and again sun came up. The weather even turned foggy sometimes. We followed a river downhill; we sat down and dipped our tired legs inside running water for sometime, which was really soothing. Another fun thing was asking people we meet in the trail about what time we would reach Sundarijal, and to our surprise every different person would say a different time. Slowly and steadily we reached our final destination Sundarijal; all with good health. Over this hike we were mostly lead by Rajesh (Mr. Gentle walk), Rajendra (video director who sees scope in every corner of the trail) and Sajana (first time hiker from Deerwalk). We walked for around 16 hours in two days and covered almost 50 km distance in total. I would describe this hike as a tough one and suggest avoiding hiking during rainy seasons. But if you are okay to roll with slippery roads and find no problems with leeches, then please go for it. The scenery and greenery is amazingly good. This was one of the thrilling moments of my life and totally worth getting out of the desk, away from computers and enjoying the nature’s code.

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