| Year and Month | February, 2014 (17th and 18th) |
| Number of Days | Two Day Trip |
| Crew | 03 (Tharaka, Upul and Myself) |
| Accommodation | Adiyamalathenna Pilgrimage Rest (ආඩියාමලතැන්න අම්බලම) |
| Transport | By bus, three wheeler and climbing |
| Activities | Mountain climbing, Photography and Spiritual activity |
| Weather | Excellent |
| Route | Colombo->Rathnapura -> Hapugasthanna Tea Estate-> Hatharaganga Division(හත්දාරගග) ->Mukkuwaththa (මුක්කුවත්ත) ->Sri Pada peak-> Kuruwita Road->Pandeniya (පන්දෙනිය)->Udamaliboda (උඩමාලිබොඩ) ->Maliboda (මාලිබොඩ)->Deraniyagala (දැරණියගල) ->Awissawella->Colombo |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
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| Related Resources |
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| Author | Niroshan |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
This was my ninth visit to sacred foot print and I wanted to do it in combination of two uncommon routes. My plan was to climbing up by Dehenakanda-Mukkuwaththa road and getting down from Udamaliboda-Deraniyagala road. As I have been at these two routes before I could guide my other two companions.
We got the earliest bus to Dehenakanda from Rathnapura bus stand by 6.15am. It reaches the road towards Mukkuwaththa by 7.40am. Then we followed a short cut to the trail head.
Historical details about Dehenakanda-Mukkuwaththa road. (Quoted from Lankadeepa news paper.)
 Click Image to Enlarge |
 Click Image to Enlarge |
 This is the junction you have to get down from the bus. Bus will continue towards Dehenakanda in red arrow direction. Green arrow shows the road towards Mukkuwaththa. |
 Hapugasthanna Tea Estate. One of an organized tea estates I have seen. |
 Hatharaganga Division of Hapugasthanna Tea estate. Mukkuwaththa lime houses are seen. Black arrow shows our trail through peak wilderness. Black circle shows “Rama Kallu (රාම කල්ලු) .”(Rama Kallu is a rock which has a Trident mark on it.) Trail goes closer to Rama Kallu. |
 Closer view of “Rama Kallu”. Note mark of Trident on it. |
 This is an important junction. If you are going by a vehicle you have to follow the road shown by the arrow towards Adams Peak Foot Path. But this is too long if you are going by foot. There is a short cut to reach the trail head on other side. |
 Crossing a small bridge to reach the trail head. |
 At trail head. This Buddha statue is at the beginning of the trail. The proper road is shown by black arrow. Short cut is shown by green arrow. Foot pathway is shown by red arrow. Chief supervisor of the estate is here. He was kind enough us to show the short cut. |
We started the journey by 8am. Important landmarks we crossed in this trail were Rath Ganga and Somarathna Ambalama, Wewaldola (වේවැල් දොල), Walkara Galgeya (වැල්කාර ගල්ගෙය), Bothiya Dola, Beruhinna (බෙරුහින්න). Then we reached Menik Ganga/Mahawali River by 3.30pm and had a bath till 4.30pm. We reached Rathnapura road by 7pm.
 Starting the trail. |
 Entering to Peak Wilderness. |
 Crossing Rath ganga. |
 “Somarathna Ambalama”. This is situated in other side of Rath Ganga. Seems it has been renovated recently. This is the only Ambalama found in this trail. |
 Crossing Wewal Dola. |
 Morning sun rays. |
 Some parts of the road is wide like a jeep track. |
 Road gets narrow. |
 “Walkara Galge”. This small cave was used by people who came to cut creepers / වැල් in the forest. That’s why it is called “Walkara Galge”. |
 Beautiful foot Pathway. |
 “Rama Kallu” |
 Wild Beauty. |
 “Mana Patch. “ |
 Crossing “Bothiya Dola”. Earlier there was an Ambalama here. Now you can’t even trace it. We had our lunch at Bothiya Dola. |
 Foot pathway. |
 Crossing another small water stream. |
 First glimpse of Holy peak is seen before Mahaweli River. |
Menik River is an important place of this journey. Although people call it as Menik Ganga, it is actually Mahawali Ganga and “Geththampana”/Ushimale (what Tamils called it) (ඌෂිමලේ) in this trail. This is the significant water source will come across before last climb. We had a bath and rest there.
 “Menik Ganga”/Mahawali River |
 There is about 5m tall waterfall. |
 Swimming at Mahawali Ganga. |
 “Geththampana” |
 Calm and quite. |
 Last few hours of the day. |
 Passing “Geththampana”. |
 Reappearance of Sri Pada. |
 Zoomed view. |
 Getting dark. |
From Adam’s peak base up to Rathnapura road was a strenuous continuous climbing through bushes and after some extent lights of Rathnapura road and Udamaluwa (උඩමලුව) were visible. Foot pathway was clear and it was not that much difficult to climb in the dark as we had an overhead light. We came across Rathnapura-Palabathgala (පලාබද්දල) trail around 7pm.
(Entry point is in between Ehela Kanuwa-ඇහැළ කණුව and Ehela Kanuwa Boutique.)
 Continuous ascend. |
 Evening sky |
 Entering to Rathnapura-Palabathgala road. |
 View of Rathnapura road. |
 Part of trail. Black star shows trail head at Hapugasthanna. Blue star shows Baby Rath Ganga we crossed. Black circle shows Rama Kallu/ Bandigala-in map. Red circle shows Rath Kanda (රත් කන්ද). Foot pathway went along the edges of Bandigala and Rath Kanda. |
We spent our night at Adiyamalathenna Ambalama (Without going to Maluwa). Early morning we climbed up and enjoyed the sun rise and participated for “Ude Thewawa” උදේ තේවාව. After worshipping sacred foot print we started to get down along Rathnapura road.
 Just before sun rise. Giants of Hortain plains. From left to right- Thotupola mountain, Agrabopath and Kirigalpoththa. |
 Sun rise. |
 Sun rise. |
 Sun rise. |
 Sun rise. |
 Sri Pada Maluwa. Closed for Ude Thewawa. (Morning Service) |
 Newly placed Bell |
 Newly built oil lamp. දොළොස් මහේ පහන |
 Shadow peak. |
 Twin peaks of Bana Samanola (බැණ සමොනළ) and Kunudiya Parwathaya (කුණුදිය පර්වතය). |
 Surrounding view. |
 Happy faces at the journey. |
 Adiyamalathenna Ambalama. |
 Ehela Kanuwa. |
 He is showing where we entered Rathnapura road from Dehenakanda trail. Note a water pump house is situated just below the entry point. |
 Holy peak is covering the sun. |
 Land marks of Rathnapura trail. Black arrow-Haramitipana (හැරමිටිපාණ) , Red arrow-Gal Wangediya( ගල් වoගෙඩිය) Boutique, Green Arrow- Kuruwita trail, Blue arrow-Rathnapura trail. |
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 View of Holy peak at Haramitipana |
After having breakfast at Galwangediya boutique (delicious compared to dinner at Adiyamalathenna) we continued our journey through Kuruwita-Erathna trail till we meet the entry point of Udamaliboda-Deraniyagala trail. Entry point of this foot pathway is very clear compared to Dehenakanda route. It is about 100m before Madahinna Ambalama (මැදහින්න අම්බලම). (If you miss the entry point).
We came out from Udamaliboda trail by 4hours.
 Ruins of Galwangediya Ambalama. |
 Kunudiya Parwathaya. |
 “Geththampana”-Kuruwita road. |
 Blue arrow-From Sri Pada, Black arrow towards Udamaliboda, Green arrow towards Kuruwita. |
 Crossing Seethagangula (සීතගගුල) of Udamaliboda road. This is a branch of “Kalu Ganga” (කලුගග). |
 Leaving Seethagangula. |
 Order. |
 Ali Dung. |
 Water streams are dried. |
 Foot pathway. |
 Greenish |
 Crossing a main stream. |
 Narrow escape |
 Foot pathway. |
 Rituals. |
 Final crossing. |
 .Pandeniya River ( පන්දෙනිය ගග). |
 Leaving peak Wilderness. |
 Second part of the trail. Black star shows Bana Samanalakanda. Foot pathway goes along Bana Samanola valley. Red star shows Adam’s peak. |
Thanks for reading.