A Day Hike to Champadevi

 Hiking around  Kathmandu Valley

As we all know Nepal is a beautiful mountainous country with it's mesmerizing beauty which is attracting people from all around the world. Many people come to Nepal for it's natural beauty and they spend most of their time in exploring Nepal mostly by trekking in various places. Those who don't have much time to spend can go for hiking around the Kathmandu Valley which can be a better option to know about the beauty of Nepal. There are many hiking destinations around Kathmandu Valley which can be the advantageous experiences to achieve for anyone who loves traveling. Through this travelogue I suggest not only international tourists but also Nepalese teenagers, youths and Nepalese families to visit these hiking destinations at least once which may give you more reasons to be a proud Nepali Citizen. Main features of these destinations are; easy hiking trails, pleasing fresh air of the forests and The Arial view of The Himalayan range which can be obtained at low cost. For a refreshment that will give you the feeling like you are in heaven, Champadevi hiking would be one best place where you can utilize the free time and avoid your brain from being the devil's workshop.

Wondervibes hike to Champadevi ( May 1, 2017)

Champadevi is the high green hills that lies in the southwest of the Kathmandu Valley. The name Champadevi is given to the hills in the name of Champadevi Temple which lies at the top. Champadevi can be excellent choice for one day hiking around Kathmandu Valley which lies at the altitude of around 2250m - 2300m.
From the destination Champadevi Hills we can see majestic view of Kathmandu Valley, Ganesh Himal, Lantang Himal, Jugal Himal and Gauri Sankar Mountain Range.

I have always an affection towards traveling and hiking is one best option to approach. My fondness towards hiking can be known by the incident which happen in April 30, 2017. My friends and I were walking in the street of Basantapur and My friend Mahesh said, "Guys, lets go for traveling somewhere around valley." Then exact at that moment we planned to go for Champadevi hiking on the next day. I was impatient for the hike. Next day, as we had planned I woke up in early in the morning and prepared for the hike. At 6:30 AM we three friends Me, Mahesh and Ashim met at Old Buspark.

There are two routes for hike to Champadevi hills, one from Machhegaon, Kirtipur and another from Hattiban Resort in Pharping, Dakshinkali. These both route are connected at Champadevi Temple. You can start to hike from one route and end at another route.

We plan to start our hike from Machhegaon, Kirtipur so we took bus to Machhegaon from Old Buspark. It took about 30 minutes us to reach Machhegaon. As we reached Machhegaon, I noticed that the dark cloud was covering the sky and was worried a bit about the rainfall. Later than, We took light breakfast near Puspalal Park in a small hotel and bought some dry foods and water from the same area as there were not any settlement area in the whole hiking route after Machhegaon and before Pharping. Then we started walking uphill. We were welcomed by Melli-fluent voice of Cuckoo and the forest was covered by dense vegetation.  

As we walked uphill the trail became narrow and suddenly the weather got changed and started raining with thunderstorm. We were not prepared for that unexpected rain and there was not safe place from rain, so we decided not to stop and continued walking towards our destination. As we walked uphill we saw large number of leeches but we were already prepared for these parasites as we had taken salt which is used to remove the leech while biting and we had also applied Sancho ( A Multipurpose Herbal Product) on the lower part of our legs so that not even a single leech bit us. While climbing to Champadevi the surrounding was pleasant by the chirping of the birds and we saw many bird species. People of Machhegaon were saying, if we had a luck we can also observe the deer and but had not such luck. It was still raining and after walking for about 45 minutes we saw a shelter made of zinc plates which gave us some relief because we were totally wet and it was too cold. Just by entering the shelter we noticed that we were in front of the Champadevi Temple. By seeing the destination just 10 meter ahead of us so we celebrated by shouting and dancing like crazy from which we felt little bit warm inside our wet clothes. The rain became even bigger and it was not looking like short rain so we set and ate the foods we had taken. 

Champadevi Temple was a open type of small temple without roof and it was on a flat surface at top of the hill. At the temple there was several statues like, Statue of Goddess Champadevi and Shivalinga ( Staute which represents the existence of Lord Shiva). As the locals of Machhegaon said, once in a year thousand of people comes to Champadevi Temple for a festival celebrated in the name of Goddess Champadevi. There were many spiritual pieces of clothes which were probably left by people who came there for worshiping.

After waiting for one hour the rain stopped and the weather became decorative and we again started walking towards Hattiban Resort. After passing Champadevi Temple we feel pleased to see tremendous scene of Kathmandu Valley along with eye catching view of Taudaha Lake.The sight of Bagmati river was looking like, it is flowing in the flat land of the valley. Mahesh was missing his wide lens as the rain had just stopped and it was a super supreme for landscape photography. Then, we followed wide endless staircase paved with flat stones downwards. From those staircase on the north we saw Kathmandu Valley where as beautiful green forest on the south. 

After 45 minutes of walk we reached at the junction of two trails one was leading Bosan and another to Hattiban Resort. While following the trail we met some tourists along with a German Couple who were also going to Champadevi Temple. My friend Ashim is fluent in german so he had some chat with them and we (Mahesh and me) also greet them by saying Namaste. Again we walked towards the resort passing through the beautiful formation of pine trees. Though the trail was bit slippery to walk because the leaves of pine was scattered all over the area, it was looking beautiful. Later on, we saw Hattiban Resort from where we walked downhill towards the Karma Chagme Gumba as it is seen from the area of resort. After 15 minutes of walk we reached Pharping and took some snacks. After resting for a while we rode back to Old Buspark by taking a public transport.

 Trip details:

- Half an hour bus ride to reach Machhegaon starting from Old Buspark and paid 20 rupees each person as travel fare. (*Student card discount not included).
- Took light breakfast at hotel near Puspalal Park, Machhegaon and bought some foods before starting the hike as there were not any shops and hotels before Pharping. 
- Walked uphill for around 2 hours to reach Champadevi Temple.
- Took rest and ate the foods we had taken at Champadevi Temple.
- Walked downhill through the stone paved staircase trail towards Hattiban Resort. 
- Reached at Vehicle road after walking 2 hours at the place called Khahare.
- Took some rest and snacks at Khahare and rode back to Kathmandu.

Highlights of the Trip
   
- Mesmerizing view of Lantang, Gauri Sankar and Jugal Himal.
- Breathtaking view of Kathmandu Valley. 
- Tremendous environment made of decorative looking pine trees and sound of various bird species.
- Good sight of green forests and small hillocks in southern area.  

Trip Cost Details 

Around 500 Nepalese Rupees will be enough, if you take simple breakfast, snacks and public transport but cost will increase if you take beverages, smokes and heavy snacks. 

Things need to know before going for Champadevi Hike 
- Comfortable clothes for hiking. 
- Comfortable sport shoe or trekking shoe. 
- DSLR with wide lens will be best if you love photography but good smartphone can be kept as an option if you are not interested in photography. 
- Small bag to carry dry food. 
- Water bottle with water as there is no source of water in the route. 
- Rain coat if you are traveling in monsoon season. 
- Small amount of salt or a bottle of Sancho to get rid of leeches.

Photo Gallery

TITLE: 2017 May- Wondervibes, A Day hike to Champadevi
ROUTE: Machhegaon-Champadevi-Hattiban Height Resort, Pharping
DATE: May 1, 2017, Monday
HIKING TIME: 6-7 hours 
COORDINATOR: Prakash Malla
PARTICIPANTS: Ashim Ojha, Mahesh Dhimal, Prakash Malla
PHOTOS/CAPTIONS/EDITED BY: Mahesh Dhimal
REPORTED BY: Prakash Malla