If you are in Banepa or Dhulikhel for a few days, you must go hike the Gosaithan hill located at the east of the Banepa city. The view above from the top of the hill with a huge drop off to the east will reinvigorate you. On a clear day, you can see many waves of smaller hills to the east and glimpse of mountains from northeast. The cool breeze will rejuvenate your lungs and make you feel lively. Also great as a early morning hike or exercise.
The top of the hill lies at the height of 1700m above the sea level. The city of Banepa is at 1460m, so you have to walk along about 3 km through the Budol village to the elevation of about 250m. This is not much and it may take you 30-1 hr to reach the top.
The fascinating thing about the trail is that when you reach the top, the east view will look like a complete drop off. There are no hills blocking view for miles in the east horizon. What you see is a wave of smaller hills until the far end of the horizon. It is quite a sight to behold and savor.
Once you reach near the top, you can take the stairs to the view tower to get even a better view of the scenery. On a clear morning, you can see beautiful glimpses of the mountains to the north and a beautiful sunrise on the east.
Some days, the fog may envelope the entire scenery making it impossible to find anything fascinating. The most preferable time to go for a scenery is in the winter when it is dry and the sky is clear.
It is also great for morning exercise hike. There are multiple trails you can take with rough road, old trail or you can probably make your own trail. It all depends on how much pressure you want your body to take or how fast you want to get to the top. Just besides the footsteps of the stairs to the view tower, there is an outdoor exercise setup with monkeybars and some pull up bars. They are great for making you test yourself. The scenery just makes is addictive to go there regularly. If you get a chance to visit Banepa or Dhulikhel, I definitely recommend you to visit the place.
However I have to warn you that there are not many buildings nearby and is surrounded by a dense forest on all direction. There are two picnic spots on either side of the hill but there is no water source or a bathroom. So take precautions before you try to visit alone. While it’s not likely that you will die of dehydration or get mauled by a leopard, it’s much more of a convenience if you go with a friend and with water bottle when you do. There’s a hotel being built but isn’t close to completion yet at the time of writing.
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