A Day Trip to Phulchowki
It was a Friday on Oct 14, 2022. Shradheya, out of nowhere, asked , “Can
we go somewhere, tomorrow, dad ?” “Hmm,”
I replied, without giving a definite answer. He further said, “ Soon it would
be Tihar, and then after I will be more busy…. And we haven’t been out for
awhile…” he wanted me agree with him. “Where would you like to go ?” I wanted
to know what he had in mind. “What about Phulchowki ?” he blurted, only half
sure of what he had said. “ Oh, Phulchowki…good idea, let me think about it.” I
could not give him an answer.
While going to office, Shradheya’ s idea of going to Phulchowki, again came back
to my mind. We had several times in the past talked about Phulchowki. We knew
of its location – that it rose high above Godavari, the place of my alma mater.
We had several times visited Godavari, and near by surroundings like the
Naudhara, the place with 9 natural water sprouts, embedded in the forests of
Godavari. I had also narrated my school-days experience of climbing Phulchowki,
when I was aged 10/12 – a memorable outing event for the school kids. I knew
Shradheya and Shuvanjali both liked to hike to Phulchowki some day – and this
time has finally come. But it needed some planning to be done.
The Phulchowki Hill
Phulchowki, is a popular destination for hikers. The hike would start
from Godavari, which is about 11km from Satdobato at Ring Road. From Godavari
to Phulchowki, it is another 12km by road distance. Up to Godavari, a smooth black
topped road exists, and the driving time is only 20 minutes. From Godavari, one
can take a 4-wheel drive Off-road Pick-up to ride the winding, bumpy, gravel
road with a steep average gradient of about 30 degrees, and average speed of 15
kmph, and 1 hour drive with occasional stoppages to see and enjoy the scenes
and sceneries on the northern side. For the more enthusiastic hikers, it would
take about 6 to 7 hours, 1-way uphill, to walk along the motorable roadway, and
about 5 hours to those with stronger legs, who can hike through the fairly
steep walking trail, that exists at several locations. At several locations,
these walking trails are paved with concrete steps, making the hiking very
easy, but at most of the lengths, these walking steps are not yet complete –
which makes walking sticks very handy to avoid slippery falls.
Phulchowki is the highest peak within several peaks that surround the Kathmandu
valley – it is at an elevation of 2757m from mean average sea level – which means
it is 1427m above the Kathmandu valley’s average elevation. The Phulchowki peak
can be clearly seen from any place in Kathmandu, on the southern eastern side
of the valley. On a clear day, the peak can be seen with a pointed tower, which
is a communication tower atop the hill. All the hills that encompass the Kathmandu
valley is covered with forests and very little human activities can be seen
within these forested hills. In the north eastern to western hills, the hills
of Shivapuri exists, which is conserved as a National Park. On the western
side, the hills of Chandragiri exists, where recently a cable car is operated
for the ease of reaching atop the hill. The southern hills of Phulchowki is a
very well preserved forest areas, with thick vegetation of hill trees species.
Phulchowki – means ‘Hills of Flowers’ in Nepalese language, and it is very
flora and fauna is well preserved. The naturalists have identified a wide
variety of trees, flowering plants, butterflies, birds and wildlife – and is a
haven for nature lovers.
Trip to Phulchowki
We finally decided to go to Phulchowki the next day on Saturday. We had
to do some preparations too. Even though in Kathmandu, the rains have stopped,
it was not predictable in the hills around the valley. Looking towards the
hills, we could see the dark clouds that cover the hills and assume that rain
is falling in those hills, even though the valley was having sunshine. For a
hiker, the rain is the least thing to be expected, and they must always be
prepared for rain, while hiking through high hills. And rain in high hills means
the ambient temperature would falls drastically – in addition to natural drop
in temperature due to elevation gain. So we prepared to take our warm, water resistant
jumpers, and non-slippery hiking boots, an umbrella for each. We knew that
after reaching the hill top, we would be hungry, so packed our lunch and
bottled water. We also included our wooden walking sticks that would be very
handy later on. In one of our previous outings, we forgot to check if our
digital camera was loaded with the SD memory card or not, and could not save
our photos in our camera – so this time we made it sure it was working well.
Sometimes while travelling, Shradheya and Shuvanjali would get car-sick, so
they took their tablets to be on the safe side.
Before leaving, I warned my kids, “Guys, God forbid, but any best car on
earth, can also break down, and so if our car breaks down in the middle of the
forest, we might have to camp overnight, till help can be received. So be
prepared for the worst.” Shuvanjali was smart to gather some firewood, and
packed them in a cardboard box, with a khukuri knife and a match box. “Dad, we
might need to light a fire, and we cannot use to the wood from the forest,” she
said. “Then, why don’t you add a teapot, and some tea, so that we can boil some
tea, in such a case,” I suggested. The idea of the likelihood of spending the
night started to make us feel creepy. “Shuvanjali, add some packets of instant
noodles in our bag,” Shradheya smartly remarked.
Finally, we departed by 11 am, in our pick-up van. I suggested, since
there was plenty of space in the pick-up, we load Shradheya’ s bike, so he can
enjoy his ride downhill. “We are going for a hike, not a bike ride. And I don’t
think my bike will withstand the rough and rugged road surface…” he opinioned.
On our way I asked, “Guys, would you prefer to buy a bottle of Cold drinks, or
some yogurt ?” Both the kids wanted yogurt and so we got some.
The ride to Godavari was much smooth because of the road surface was
finally blacktopped – a year ago, the rough and dusty road to hardly bearable
to pass through, even in a vehicle. Surprisingly fast, we reached Godavari in
20 minutes from Lagankhel. We alighted at Naudhara – the 9 natural water sprout
– had a quick darshan at a small temple, and saw some fish in a small kunda in
the premises of the Naudhara. We finally started our journey to our destination
to Phulchowki hill.
The kept all the windows of the car down, so we could smell the fresh
vegetative smell of the forest and also could watch the thick forested hill
sides all around us. The car slowly moved forward along the twists and turns
and gaining its height. There were no other vehicles, and only occasional
bikers and hikers were to be seen. We
make several stops to see the hills and forests and also to stretch our legs.
At one of the stoppages, our driver, Ganesh Dai, was itching his foot. He took
off his socks and started looking closely – and there it was ! - he plucked off
a black earthwarm-like leech, who was sucking his blood, of 2cm length. He said
he had briefly gone inside the jungle, to take a nature’s call, at Naudhara,
and the creature had gotten to his shoes. It can creep inside the sock and suck
blood and fall off after it is saturated. We were surprised to see how much
this small creature had devoured human blood, in such a brief time, when he
angrily crushed the creature with a sharp pebble. Seeing the leach, we were all
queasily uneasy. I had totally forgotten to prepare against this unwelcome
creature. When we were kids, while we hiked on these hills, especially during
rainy seasons, leech attacks were very common. No matter how tightly we wore
our shoes and socks, we would see bloodied leeches fall off after removing our
socks. Some leeches fall off from our neck and shoulder areas – especially when
we used umbrellas on rainy days. We were told by our teachers to rub some kind
of leaf-paste, with strong offensive smell – to ward off the leeches. We also
used powered salt, and kerosene, and other things too. To make sure we were not
already preyed by this creatures, we took off our socks and checks very
carefully. We did not have any leech-repellents but had carried our
mosquito-repellent – so I advised to spray the mosquito-repellents to our feet –
to repell them, incase they wanted to attack us – an alternative that we were
not sure if it really worked or not.
As we gained altitude, we were frequently checking the sky. The hills
above us were hidden in the clouds and we could see the misty fog moving across
the hills just close above us. We were not sure if it would start to rain. Some
people were returning from the top, and they told us that it had not yet
rained, but can rain at any time. We just could hope that it remained rainless
until our trip.
The road was not too bad – at some places, the road had been
maintained recently – especially the sharp turning bends were concreted
pavements for easy turning – but rest of the lengths were only graveled road.
Due to gravelling of the road, there were only few large putt holes and washed
out section, or muddy areas. So the ride uphill was “smooth”.
Shradheya is a walking man than us. He had been insisting that we
should walk up, than ride. I was not sure, if it would rain, the walking would
be very difficult so could not allow him to walk. But at 3km ahead of the top,
we all decided to walk. Shuvanjali also said she would like to walk. So we all
three started walking, with our walking stick and advised Ganesh Dai to follow
us. Even though the road was steep, it was not as steep as the short-cut walking
trails with steps on them. We enjoyed walking by seeing the vegetation, and occasional
view on the north-side of the below hills, settlements and the mountain ranges
with Ganesh Himal, Lakpa Dorje and other peaks. But the Himalayan peaks were
not fully visible due to sheets of clouds. Shradheya walked at double the speed
than Shuvanjali and myself. He would walk ahead and take a rest and wait for us
to catch him. We could, surprisingly not see any birds or animals nor their
sounds. The forest is serenely quiet, cool, calm and tranquil. We had only been away from home for an hour, and
we have reached the peaceful place, away from the busy, noisy and polluted
environment of the city. This is the best part of our trek.
We slowly ascended, savoring what nature has given us. The three
kilometer uphill hike was just ideal for Shuvanjali and myself even though
Shradheya would have been happier if he could have walked longer.
On Top of Phulchowki
We finally reached the top !! We were the luckiest people that day !
There was no rain, no fog, no cloud, no wind either. It was a perfect day. As
if we were important people and the nature had welcomed us with its best
possible weather !! We were so thankful to the mother nature. Even at the
height of 2757m, there was no chilly winds, and only a cool, refreshing breeze.
Oh, what a pleasant feeling to reach the top ! It a feeling like you have
conquered your destiny. Even with this small hike, reaching a destination after
expending our efforts is rewarding. We congratulated ourselves for making it to
the top. Reaching to the top of a pinnacle gives a different feeling – there no
other hills above you – there is only you and the sky above you - all the creation
was is below you. Unknowingly I was humming to myself, “ I’m on the top of the
world looking, down on creation…” I wondered, how would a mountaineer feel, who
have risked their lives, after standing on the top of the world. Only the
person who have gone through the hardships in their lives would understand the
true meaning of the rewards from his/her efforts.
We had reached the top at 1.30 pm after walking 3km in about an hour.
The top of Phulchowki was a small place, with lots of Tibetan prayer flags
hanging low. There is a small shrine with different idols of gods. The top had
many protruding rocks and looked like a small rockery. There top had an army
battalion stationed to protect the electrical communication antennae towers that
are erected on the hind side of the top. The tower was about 50m in height and
had many disk antennas that faced both Kathmandu side and the south side
towards the terai. This was the tower that is clearly visible from the cities
of Kathmandu.
At the top, we met students from a school, who had hiked half the
length. Some people had hiked all the way from Godavari and they reported that
it had taken them 7 hours to reach the top, and another 4 hours to descend. So an
entire hiking for both ways will obviously be quite strenuous and should only
be undertaken if you have a backup plan to be helped by a vehicle, in case of
need. Every year young teenagers undertake the hike without knowing its
details, especially during winter season, in wanting to enjoy and have fun in
the snow. The incredible cold, slippery road, and losing the way, has led to
many mishaps and large scale search operations, every year. There is no safety
instructions to hikers given by any agency, or recording of details of entrants
nor any means to report rescue calls, in case of emergency. The entire trip is
a trip on your own, and it should be well planned, without overlooking possible
hazards.
Downhill from Atop
After bidding a warm adieu to the magnificent Phulchowki top, be
descended after spending a hour and having our lunch. Prior to reaching the
foothill at Naudhara, there is foot trail. Shradheya and myself started
downhill through this foot trail, which had fine concrete steps constructed.
The downhill was easy, but the concrete steps ended abruptly and we had to walk
on slippery, steep, mud tracks for about 15 minutes. Here our wooden walking
sticks were a great support for trudging downhill. We were glad to reach
Naudhara, the foot hills of Phulchowki hills. We cleaned and washed and got
fresh in the cool waters of Naudhara. The continuous flow of water from hill
springs were collected and avoided from being wasted and supplied to the people
of Godavari. While trekking in the hills of Phulchowki, we were surprised not
to find any streams or water falls anywhere, except a small muddy water pond at
one location, unlike the Sundarijal area.
We had a plan to take a different route while returning. We wanted to take a trip through climbing another hill and reaching to Lakuri Bahanjang, which is on the eastern part of the valley, and finally reaching Lamatar, Lubhu area and then finally reaching the Ring Road at Gwarko Chowk. But as we were not sure of the quality of the road, and it was already 4pm, we decided to take this road another time. And by 4.30 pm we were comfortably at our apartment in Lagankhel. Tired as we were, we took a nice rest and savored the memories of our one day trip to Phulchowki.
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