One day hike to Champadevi
I have recently been for a one day hike to Champadevi, for 5 minutes I will be sharing my experience of hiking in the pick monsoon season.
Summer for me is not about the Netflix and chill; for me, it is to travel or go for a day hike. But will not surely wrap me in a blanket and watch some streaming shows in winter days. I do for most of the times, but in winters I prefer to go for a week-long trip to different popular destinations in Nepal. You know, like Annapurna Base Camp, Mustang, Tilicho Lake, and so on. Let’s not go on that day, I will surely post a blog about that too. (Let me visit there first, except Lower Mustang, been there already.)
I and my friends were kind of sad about the ending of the Game of Thrones (was expecting the ending, but actually it turned out to be the one. No worries Game of Thrones never gives you a happy ending.) To ease that pain might sound chessy, but yes, we came up with a plan to freshen up our mind. I called Mr. Babu Thapa, CEO of the Jatra Travels, to give some destination tips. His response was as quick as lightning speed. Go for Champadevi. I wanted him to manage all the things as it is nearby and since we are hiking with the group he told me to go on your own. And even told us that the way is safe and if some problem arises then do buzz him up. I took his words, I and my friends planned to go for a hike the next day. (When it comes to hiking or traveling you shouldn’t wait long, or else it got canceled. This is what I learned after planning and canceling so many travel plans.)
Actual Day of Hiking to the Champadevi Shrine
As per our plan, we met around 11 am in the morning near my home. There were 6 of us, including me. Since my home is near to the Balkhu, gateway to the Champadevi. Champadevi is situated at the top of the hill. Deep down inside I was kind of scared. You might laugh, but yes, I fear of leeches. It really takes my breath away. Not in a good way though. And my friend, Shraddha she was scared of snakes. (Snake greeted on our trail, yeah, I will write down below) I was kind of freaking inside and all were laughing I guess, specially Shraddha. But she was comforting me like you telling me not to worry about the leeches, you so big and leeches are so small. And deep down she was scared of snakes, I read her face (a hidden talent of mine, joking though), it was clearly shown on her face. What are best friends for, obviously, to comfort each other? Let’s keep my joke aside and move further.
The half of the road was good nothing basically happened, and the other half it was slippery as hell. As it rained the day before. Finally, we reached to the base of the Farphing Dada. There we had a simple brunch and moved further to go for a hike. We parked our bikes in the Hattiban Resort, which is situated on the top of the hill. The resort is really beautiful and peaceful. Then our hike to the Champadevi started.
The trail was good, there were prayer flags, we stopped there for a photo session. Without wasting our time we moved further, the pass is quite ascending and muddy and it was a bit hard for me and Bishal Brother to walk further but we did it. And was happy at least we crossed it the more was coming. That was just the beginning. From there you can actually see the descending and the ascending steep path. See the picture below. That was not the ending point. Have to walk further to reach the top of the hill.
Where thoughts came into reality
We have no other choice than walking further. The weather was chilling so it gave us a bit of energy to boost our hike. The trail was awesome. We were laughing, talking, listening to songs on our Bluetooth speaker. For me, hiking is a bit hard, I think I don’t have the stamina to hike. But for Shraddha, hiking has never been a big deal for her. She has traveled a lot. Meantime, she was there boosting me up. She was telling me that I can walk further and trying to distract my mind by showing the amazing scenic view of the foggy hills. It was a nice idea though. But in the meantime, Snake came to greet us. As soon I saw a snake, I called up Shraddha and take a moment to see her face, she was somewhere in the other planet, totally stunned (told you before, I am a good face reader) and don’t know what to do. All she did was holding my hand so tightly that her nails actually scratched my upper skin. At last, we came to know that it was dead and completely unaware of us. We laughed a lot. Some of our friends were further than us. I thought we were near to reach the Champadevi temple. As we have had already passed the steep trail and the path was plain but slippery. I told my friends if it rained we will slip for sure. And to my surprise, the plain path just ended and there is a stairway to reach the top of the hill. I gave up. It was so hard and as losing my breath. I walked for 2 minutes and rest for 10 min. Then again my, savior. Shraddha told me I can and started to distract my mind. This time my other friend, Mukesh was there to help me up.
As we moved upwards, we could see the Kathmandu one the one side and the green foggy hill on the other side. So I forgot to tell, somewhere on the trail, one friend got bitten by a leech. Fear of getting leeches, my pace became a little faster. Finally, after resting more than 10 times, we reached Champadevi Temple.
Top of the hill
When we reached there, me and Bishal brother did nothing and rested on the wall of the temple. There are was a hut we started a fire. After resting a few minutes, I got some energy to roam around. From there you can pass over other hills, either go to the Macchagaun or Markhu Village. Me, Shraddha, Mukesh, and Vishal bro walked a little bit further. I and Mukesh turned away as soon as we say leeches crawling on the branches on trees and grass. Shraddha and Bishal Dai went forward. We unpacked the packets of chips, and noddles and started to lite a fire more. As it rained, foggy and chilling breezes are passing by. Then, Shraddha and Bishal bro came back. But there were leeches on Bishal bro’s pant and shirt. Even Shraddha had on her jeans and jacket. They were so brave they took out. Mukesh and I were scared and shouting, This was when I actually realized that, there was a leech on my leg too. Now I was on a different planet, all I could say was Shraddha, maybe more than once or thrice. She truly is so brave, she told me not to move and took it out with the help of a stick. After sitting there for more than an hour it was around 3 pm and it was raining; so we thought of returning. It was easy now as the trail was descending most of the time. But somewhere in the middle, it was slippery and Shraddha slipped so badly. I was controlling my laugh and gave her a hand to pick her up. At last, I couldn’t hold back and keeps on laughing. Finally, we came to the end of the steep trail, it was ascending though, but we crossed it away. Now we move a little further to see the amazing Kathmandu valley from the end and the top of the small hill. It was truly amazing. Rain pouring over the valley was something to watch for. And we move back to the parking a lot, but the path was very slippery, muddy and descending. Yeah, I slipped 4 times, and Shraddha laughed so hard, you guys couldn’t even imagine. You know what BFF does? First laughs and then only gives you a hand. She did the same. (We still laugh imaging it). My clothes were muddy. Then we reached the parking a lot and ride back to Chobar to have tea, some foods and went home. It was around 6 pm by the time we reached home.
We all had an awesome time. It was one hell of an experience to hike on the pick monsoon season. We all had fun. Thank you Babu Thapa for recommending us such a beautiful place.