The rest house was built in 1928 and is right in the middle of the beautiful pine forest, during the early land settlement in Punjab. The history of this dated back to annexation of Punjab by British and subsequent and early establishment of forest department in the Punjab province.
It is constructed on a leveled piece of clear land surrounded by tall pine trees, and the rest house is situated in a picture postcard setting. You can also spend the night here through an advanced booking from the forest department office near Sawan station, Rawalpindi.
Total traveling distance from Islamabad to Danoi rest house is around 60 kilometers, and it is at approximate altitude of 1300 meters.
Danoi Rest House
Just a few steps from the rest house, there will be many paths climbing upwards. You can take any of these which will cross the road at a few points before joining it back. Road can also be skipped if one continues to climb up a little towards right to reach the ridge. One can also spot some arrows for the directions which are marked by ASG but they are getting diminished with time. Continuing with the shortcuts and the road, the road turns in to a rough jeep track. Soon, you will be able to see Murree and Patriata on your left towards west. Enjoying the pine forest and the beautiful views hike trek offers, you will reach a place where there are big boulders stretched over a large area. This part is the specialty of this trek. Nowhere else in the whole region, you will find any thing like this. It is not just these large stretched boulders, throughout the trek you will notice large rocks of very unique size and structure. These rocks are also very tempting from rock climbing point of view however I am not sure if anyone has ever attempted them. At some places they offer a scary vertical drop of rock with a height of more 100-200 ft. Continuing on the trail will take you to Panjpeer which can be spotted from the distance by a large junk of jumbled up trees on the top. If one keeps walking along the edge and skip the road turning right, towards the shrine, one can reach the end of ridge with a nice view point from where river Jehlum can also be seen. Total travel time from Danoi to this place or the shrine is 2-3 hours. On clear days, from the top, you can see Makra and other mountains of Kaghan area on your north while different peaks of Kashmir are visible on the east.
There is also a 1908 Narrar Forest Rest house near the shrine; however, that is currently in use of security forces and not accessible being close to Kahuta. Danoi is not only connected to Narrar Rest House through a proper trek but also to Lehtrar Rest House Down the hills.
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