The Cloud Forest – The Bridle Trail and Much More

It has been a few months since we did something adventurous and we were itching for some action. We were clear from the beginning on what we wanted to do; it had to be at least a 3day hike, away from civilization and most importantly we didn’t want a guide or a clear trail. Although we knew what we wanted finding a hiking trail that we like proved to be much more difficult than we initially imagined.

After looking at all the possibilities we finally agreed on the Bridle Trail in Horton Plains. The only problem with this trail was that it was only a 2day hike whereas we wanted the hike to be at least 3days. One possible way would be is to find a path from the Diayagama trail to the base of Agra Bopath Mountain and form there find our way to the start of the Bridle trail this would add around 10km to the Bridle Trail making it a 3day hike.

They say that rivers/streams are the highways in the jungle and I fully agree with this. In my opinion the easiest way (perhaps not the safest) to travel in a jungle is to follow a stream. I have done this quite a few times and it has paid off. To find a path form the Diayagama trail to the base of Agra Bopath I first needed to find a stream and to find a stream I needed to find a valley. Thanks to Google earth and Garmin BaseCamp finding the valley was easy and by analyzing it further we realized that there was a high probability that a small steam was there.

Once the trail was decided it was time to fix the dates, Kasun was upgrading some of his gear and so was I and since we both thought that this hike would be a good chance to try our new gear the trip was postponed till the new gear arrived. This delay was also a blessing in disguise as it gave us plenty of time to study the terrain and plan the trip in great detail.

Day 1 Marked in Blue, Day 2 Marked in Yellow & Day 3 Marked in Red – Click Map To Enlarge

Please note that all photographs published in this report were taken by Kasun and full credit should go to him for photo documenting this trip.

Day 1: Diayagama Trail (2.5Km) > Followed a stream up to the base of Agra Bopath Mountain (5Km)

The night mail from Colombo arrived in Ohiya around 4.30am and after disembarking, myself and Kasun went across the street from the station and went in to Mr. Gamini’s shop to have breakfast he served us hot roti and sambal. To be honest we thought that the roti was a bit stale and he had just warmed up some old roti and served us. Anyway after managing to eat one roti each we asked him about transport to Horton plains. Mr. Gamini offered to drop us at the Diayagama trail head for Rs.1000/= we took him up on his offer and went to up to the Diayagama trail head passing the Visitor centre in one of his three-wheelers.

The walk down the Diayagama trail was easy and according to my calculations we should find a stream coming from Agra Bopath around 2.5Km for the trail head. Weeks of analyzing Google earth and maps paid off as the stream was there on the exact spot we predicted.

In the beginning Kasun didn’t want to get in to the stream, he wanted to travel parallel to the stream without getting his shoes wet!! But after traveling this way for some distance (250M) it was becoming very clear that we had no option but to get in to the stream as the vegetation was getting denser.

Day 1 : Marked in Blue – Click Map to Enlarge

The Road from Ohiya

.

Diayagama Trail Head

Agra Bopath in a Distance (our Target for the Day)

According to My Calculations the Stream Should be Here

And Here it is !!

Me with The North Face Conness 52

Kasun with his Deuter ACT Lite 40+10

Dense Vegetation

It’s time to Get Wet

The water initially felt a bit cold but as our feet grew accustomed it didn’t feel that bad. We didn’t encounter too many obstacles just a few cascades and one waterfall (marked as WF546 on the Google image). JUST A WORD OF CAUTION: TRAVELING UP/DOWN STREAMS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS; YOU ONLY NEED TO MAKE ONE WRONG FOOTING TO SUSTAIN SERIOUS INJURY.

Leftovers

.

Peaceful at Times

A Little bit Challenging at Times

Within “Acceptable Level of Risk”

WF546 (Level 1)

WF546 (Level 2)

Avoiding a Waterfall

.

.

.	The Road to Heaven

.

.

2Km up the stream we saw a rather large savanna patch and at the end of it was another waterfall (marked as WF625 on the Google image) in haste I immediately came to the conclusion that this is part of the Great savanna that we were looking for and without climbing the waterfall we could go left and find the Great savanna. Kasun had his doubts form the beginning but I insisted that we go up the savanna and see. So we climbed out of the valley and almost went up to the edge of the savanna just to find out that it was a dead end !!

After nearly wasting 1hour we came back to the Waterfall (WF625) and had to find a way to climb around it. After overcoming this hurdle we were back following the stream a few more cascades later we came upon another waterfall (marked as WF660 on the Google image) after passing this it was becoming difficult to follow the stream as it grew narrower and narrower so we were traveling parallel to the stream

Time was ticking by and yet we haven’t found the Great savanna patch that we were looking for (we were planning to camp at the base of it). It was almost 4.45pm when we decided that we have to give up finding this savanna and we needed to make camp before it got dark. It was a hard decision to make but it was the correct thing to do.

The tent was setup and we put an additional fly sheet just in case it rained. While setting up the tent we did not clear the ground of the weeds that were there as they would act as a buffer between the tent and the cold earth making it a little bit warmer inside the tent.

Once all this was done, supper was prepared on our little stove. By 6pm we had had our supper and the campsite was prepared for the night. But, there was one problem. I did not bring my sleeping bag because I wanted to save space inside the pack and also to reduce weight instead I brought a sleeping bag under layer to keep me warm and to stop stones from pricking. This mat was strapped to the back of the pack and when we stopped for the day we realized that it has fallen some ware along the trail. Kasun came up with a simple plan, we had some extra large heavy duty garbage bags and we also found large heaps of dried grass close to our campsite so we filed out a garbage bag and made a large mat to sleep on.

Mistaken Identity

Heading the Wrong Way

WF625 in a Distance

WF625

.

.

.	At the Top of the Waterfall (WF625)

Cascades

More Cascades

Some More Cascades

Many More Cascades

Still a Long Way to Go

.

No Option but to Set up Camp

Day 2 : From Agra Bopath Base to Kirigalpotha Trail (1.1Km)> On Kirigalpotha Trail (900M) > Bridle Trail (4Km)

Day 2 : Marked in Yellow – Click Map to Enlarge

After a peaceful night’s sleep we got up at 5.30am and started to pack. By 7am we were packed and ready to start our 2nd day of hiking. Our plan was to travel up to a small savanna patch marked as Waypoint 15 of the Trail Guide. According to my calculations this should be a good place to camp and there should also be a water source.

But before any of those we needed to find the Grate Savanna patch and then find the Kirigalpotha trail !! I and Kasun were divided on this, he thought that we need to travel further down the valley to find the Grate Savanna patch and I was insisting that we only had climb out of the valley and we will find it. So we finally agreed and climbed out of the valley as I suggested and to our relief we did find the Grate Savanna patch !!

We knew that the Kirigalpotha trail was at the other end of this Savanna patch so we continued crossing it and ultimately found the Kirigalpotha trail. Once on this trail we continued towards the Visitor Center after continuing for 900M we came to the Belihuloya crossing, there we had our breakfast and headed back in to the jungle towards the Bridle trail.

Good Morning !!

.

Start of Another Day

Climbing Out of the Valley

Yes We Found It !!!

Kirigalpotha Trail Should at the End of the Savanna Patch

Beauty of the Savanna

.

.

.

Finding the Kirigalpotha Trail

.

.	Belihuloya Crossing on the Kirigalpotha Trail

We continued towards Slab Rock Falls (Marked as “WF739” on the Google image) and after having a quick look at it we continued on our quest to find the Jeep track (Bridle trail) this section of the trail was densely over grown. We had a nightmare of a time trying to find the Jeep track.

After a bit of a struggle we did come across a very broad trail which clearly looked like a Jeep track!!

If the path was this clear this is going to be “a walk in the park” or at least that is what we thought!! After traveling less than 100M on this clear trail the trail suddenly became overgrown and full of thorns cutting a path through the thorns became a very painful challenge. Since we had no other option we continued to follow this trail and cut a path just enough for us to squeeze through

Found the Old Jeep Track (Bridle Trail)!!

A Walk in the Park or so we Thought

The Nightmare Begins

Never Ending Nightmare

Finally an Open Area

The Concrete Bridge in the Middle of the Jungle

After battling with thorns for a considerable distance we suddenly came out to a clearing and found a Concrete bridge in the middle of no ware!! Then it was back it to the thick jungle till we came to a savanna patch. From the planning stage our plan was to camp here unlike the previous day we came to our destination with plenty of daylight left (around 2.20pm) and we found a stream at one end of the savanna along with a small waterfall (around 15ft high)

Our camp was setup close to the stream in a place which was well protected from the wind. Since we didn’t have much to do we explored the area a bit and started to prepare our supper around 4.30pm and had an early meal and went to bed around 6pm

Emerging from the Thick Jungle on to the Savanna Patch

The Savanna Patch (Waypoint 15 of the Trail Guide)

Clear Skies a Grate Blessing

The Waterfall Near Our Camp Site

Haven

Cooking

Nothing like Corn Beef & Magi for Supper

View from the top of the Waterfall

On Top of the Waterfall

.

Day 3 : Bridle Trail (8Km) > North Cove Division (1.3Km)

Day 3 : Marked in Red – Click Map to Enlarge

By 6am we were up and after munching on a few bars of Mars and packing our gear we were ready to leave by 7.30am. Kasun was insisting that we abandon the Bridle trail and find our own way by following a stream. I was reluctant at first because the thought of getting in to a cold stream early in the morning with shoes didn’t make much sense. But his point was that following the Bridle trail was boring and I had to agree with him on that it was becoming a bit boring. So after looking at maps and studying the contour lines we figured out that the stream that we were camping next to could lead us out of the forest or we could join the Bridle trail further down.

Traveling down this stream didn’t pose too many complications the water was flowing lazily and it only had a few small cascades that we had to tackle. Around 1.5Km from camp we climbed on to a vantage point to get a better look at our surroundings and to our surprise saw a mining site not far from where we were. The site looked like a working mine but when we got there we did not find any miners. Form the mine there was a small but clear footpath heading in the direction of North Cove So we changed our plans and decided to follow this mining trail.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Mining Trails

.

.

.

After coming across several abandoned mining sites the trail eventually led us to Mahadeniya and to our surprise the mines at Mahadeniya were also abandoned!! We were interested in talking to some of the miners and at the same time were glad that nobody was there as we were not sure if the miners would consider us as hostile. From there we followed the trail up to Mahaeliya and found that this large mining site was also abandoned!! (Later we learned that the STF was carrying out a raid on the mines on that day and word has been sent to the miners form the estate workers)

Continuing along these trails we finally came out of the forest around 2pm and found ourselves in the North Cove Division of the Loinorn Estate about 1.5Km away from the North Cove Cabanas. From there we continued along estate roads and after walking for around 1.3Km we found a van which travels from the Estate to Bogawantalawa town as soon as we reached Bogawantalawa town there was a bus that was preparing to leave to Hatton. Once we reached Hatton bus stand we immediately found another bus that was going to Colombo and we boarded it and reached Colombo around 9pm.

.

.

Mahadeniya in a Distance

On the Way to Mahadeniya

.

.

.

.

He’s Got His Lunch

Towards Mahaeliya

A Frog in a Gem Pit

Surely We Must be Close Now

Entering North Cove Division

.

.

The End

Thanks for reading.