Shivapuri Peak 2732 m/ 8963′
International– Nepal
Total Time: 6:10
Distance: 16.4 km/ 10.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 1585 meters/ 5200′
Crux: Class 1
Trailhead: From Budhanilkantha, guide required for non-Nepalese, about $30 USD for entrance fees and guide
After a successful outing on Jamacho Peak, it was time to try and hike something a bit higher. So, on my first full day off in Nepal, I decided to hike Shivapuri Peak, the high point of Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park and second highest mountain overlooking Kathmandu. Although the trailhead and entrance to the park is quite close to where I’m staying, only about an hour walk, I decided to take a cab north to the base to optimize my time in the park. The road to the entrance deteriorates very quickly so I instead had my cab driver drop me off at Budhanilkantha, an ancient temple to Vishnu, carved from a single piece of black stone reclining in a pool.
This site is a ways off the normal tourist circuit, and I was the only foreigner walking around the site as locals made offerings to the statue. Of course, this put a bit of a target on my back, as several people came up to me asking if I needed a guide for the area. Once I had my photos I high tailed it north towards the park entrance, hiking the primitive road through small villages that made me feel like I was truly back in the Himalaya for the first time since arriving.
From Budhanilkantha, it took about 30 minutes to reach the park entrance. I was already prepared to hire a guide after Jamacho, and quickly paid my fees and was paired with Shekhar. Similar to the Nagarjun section of the park, there was a listed of prices depending on how far you wished to hike. I opted for the loop option, which would steeply climb to the summit and descend via a gentler route, passing the headwaters of the Bagmati River and Nagi Gomba, a Buddhist nunnery.
Despite only being a little bit higher than Jamacho, there was a noticeable difference between the two when we stepped onto the trail. Shivapuri was far greener thanks to multiple small rivers and streams. We immediately crossed our first river, startling two Rhesus Monkeys as we hiked past.
Shekhar asked how fast we should hike, and I casually replied “fast is fine.” I will say that it is rare that I have trouble keeping up with someone in the mountains. But I was panting to keep up as Shekhar worked quickly up the steep and dusty steps. Perhaps I wasn’t in as good of hiking shape as I thought. Or maybe it was the two extra strong beers the night before. Either way, I was somewhat relieved when we took our first break to see him panting as well. About 30 minutes in, we stopped and sat down on some steps and Shekhar checked his watch.
“It normally takes most people over an hour to reach this point,” he said, which made me feel immediately better about being so out of breath.
Shortly after, we reached a small shelter and the trail mercifully leveled off. The air became noticeably colder as we left the scrub and small pines down below for huge oak trees, some hollowed out yet still standing. We passed a junction, leading to a village on the opposite side of the mountain. The roads in and out of Kathmandu or so bad, it is actually faster to hike through the park than to try and take one of the roads over the passes!
We started following the western ridgeline of Shivapuri Peak and the grade slowly increased. We were only about 30 minutes from the top when the steepening trail became relentless stone steps. The summit itself is forested without views, but just a few minutes below the summit is prominent rock jutting from the mountain. A thin use trail brought us to the top of the rock, offering 270 degree views of the high mountains. The views were far better than Jamacho, with in your face views of Langtang Peak and the jagged summits of the Ganesh Himal to the west. Manaslu could be seen faintly to the far west, my first definitive 8000 meter peak spotting.
We had reached the lookout in less than 2 hours, and I was very pleased with my time. It was hard to rush leaving this spot, knowing the rest of the hike did not have such fantastic views. But as afternoon clouds descended on Lantang, we left our view point to reach the true summit. We passed a bunker used by the Nepali military during “the peoples’ movement,” a Maoist revolt that lasted from 1999 to about 2007. This decade of Civil War led to a population explosion in Kathmandu as people left small villages for the safety of Kathmandu, and resulted in the death of over 13,000 people. But with the war over for over a decade, the bunker sat empty and was being slowly reclaimed by nature. A few minutes later we reached the true summit, completely socked in by trees as Shekhar had promised. On the east side of the summit plateau sat a statue of Shivapuri Baba, a holy man who used to pray daily at the summit for years, living in a hollowed out tree on the southeast flank of the mountain.
Without any views, we continued off the summit, and I pulled out a large trash bag to collect garbage on the descent. It’s something I’ve been trying to do once a month, and thought it would bring me good karma for Mera Peak. Shekhar seemed a bit surprised at first, but jumped to the task with enthusiasm, picking up pieces of litter faster than I could spot them. Just below the summit, we passed the hollowed out tree that Shivapuri Baba used to live, with a monastery just below that.
This section of trail was much less steep than the ascent route, and I was glad to have chosen the loop option. About one third of the way through our descent, we reached Baghdwar, the sacred headwaters of the Bagmati River. The waters flowed into a man-made pool with a statue for Shiva in the center.
Sadly, this place had a significant amount of garbage, and we had nearly filled our trash bag cleaning up the area. As we left the Baghdwar, we passed a group of people on their way to the river. Not a minute later, we came upon fresh trash they had clearly left, a bit disheartening considering the work we were actively putting in to cleaning up the trail. But of course, no change comes with having a nihilist attitude, and we kept filling the bag as we descended. We hit a large clearing that appeared to be used for camping by villagers passing through and over the mountain. This site probably had more trash than the rest of the trail we had been on so far, and we quickly filled the bag to the point of nearly ripping. I guess I should have brought two bags…
Leaving the clearing, I began to feel the heat of the valley, and for the first time all trip, start developing a pretty rough headache. I had only brought two liters of water with me, and was running a bit low, so I assumed I was dehydrated. At our next break I took some ibuprofen to help. But a few minutes later, I started to feel nauseous. I was hopeful that it was just from taking the pills on an empty stomach, the classic, ‘she swallowed the spider to catch the fly’ situation. But I’ve also had some episodes of traveler’s diarrhea that started with some intense nausea. So just to be safe, I popped a Ciprofloxacin. Of course, adding another pill to my empty stomach made my nausea far worse. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider…. I was happy when we reached Nagi Gomba, a Buddhist nunnery complete with a small store where I was able to purchase some water. This made me feel infinitely better, confirming my early suspicions of simple dehydration. Before leaving Nagi Gomba, I was able to observe the nuns in afternoon prayer, all chanting while swinging a tambourine looking instrument in synchrony.
We were nearly to the park entrance after leaving Nagi Gomba, and we used some use trails to bypass the dusty road leading to the nunnery. Not only did it save us time, but we passed a barking dear on the descent, which we had heard in the distance from the summit. By the time I reached the entrance gates, I was feeling back to normal. The guard raised an eyebrow when he saw me leave with the large bag of trash, and Shekhar and I took a photo beneath the entrance sign with our haul.
I tossed the bag in a large bin near the entrance before the two of us parted ways. It was only 3 PM, the entire trek taking about 5 hours, and I decided to just walk all the way home from the summit, passing through the small villages and Budhanilkantha all the way back to my apartment.
