Nearest
Town :
Deraniyagala
Nearest
City : Awissawella
Total
Length : 12km
Approximate time: 8 – 12 hours
ROUTE
Colombo >
Awissawella [58km on A4] > Dehiowita [8km on A7] > Deraniyagala [13km]
> Ihala-Maliboda (Tea Factory) [15km] > Pandeniya river crossing, Near
Dikelikanda Village, Udamaliboda [6km] (approximately 94km)
0 to 6.9km:
As you cross the Pandeniya River at the trail head (Waypoint:
UM01), you will have to climb up from the river bank to the broad,
unmistakable trail inside the protected area.
The trail moves slightly in to
the forest, but continues to be along the river valley. With in the first 500m,
underfoot conditions will fast change to a rough walk over roots, boulders on
the wet forest floor with plenty of leeches welcoming you to this rough and tough
terrain (Waypoint: UM03).
About 750m from the trail head, the trail will start moving
away from the river valley (Waypoint: UM04). Up to about 1km from the
trail head, it is an overall mild ascend with occasional ups and downs until a
continuous ascend is encountered at around 1km form the trail head (Waypoint:
UM05).
As you climb about 500m more, you reach a beautiful complex
of streams cascading down to the river in the valley from the mountain side
crossing the trail (Waypoint: UM07 & UM08). Crossing these streams,
and after a brief flat section, the trail continue it’s ascend with average
steepness but continuously. Underfoot conditions are quite rough and the trail
is now a narrow foot path.
The trail moves uphill in this fashion for the next 1.5km.
The
trail moves progressively away from the river in the valley as it moves both
uphill and around the mountain side. Around 3km from the trail head, as the
sound of the river completely disappear in the distance, you will encounter a
section of steep ascend (Waypoint: UM12).
Once you tackle this steep section, you will again start to
hear a stream in the valley below from distance (Waypoint: UM13).
With
in the next 200m the trail will climb up to this stream along the mountain side
and cross it (Waypoint: UM14).
After crossing the stream, and after
another brief flat section, the trail goes back to its usual rhythm of moderate
ascend on a narrow, rough forest trail and quickly move away from the stream.
The short hard climbs become more infrequent and brief flat sections become
more frequent.
Overall it becomes bit easy to walk after passing the above
stream compared to the section up to the stream.
This state of the trail will
remain for about 500m more after which you again have to tackle a steep ascend which
will last for about 200m and then you reach flat section of the trail.
Around
4.8km from the trail head, you will start a steep continuous descend (Waypoint:
UM17).
As you descend about 150m, the intensity of descend becomes
less (Waypoint: UM18).
The trail continues to climb down until you reach
another stream (Waypoint: UM19).
After crossing the small stream, the trail will be a steep
climb for a very brief section (Waypoint: UM20) and then become more or
less flat.
Overall it slowly descends to reach the valley of the upper reaches
of “Kuru Ganga” river (Waypoint: UM26) in next 1.75km.
This 1.75km is an
overall mild descend but there is a mix of short ascends, longer flat walks and
occasional sharp descends.
You will also cross two small streams (Waypoints:
UM23 & UM25) in this stretch.
6.9km to 8km:
Once you reach the Kuru Ganga
River (UM26), which is also called the “Seethagangula” or “Icy River” on
this route, you should take a careful assessment of the water level of it.
This
is one of the rivers which have a very bad reputation of flash floods.
To continue the hike, you have to cross this river.
The
continuation of the trail on the opposite bank of the river is located about
25m upstream from UM26, the location where you reach the river (Waypoint:
UM27).
The trail on the opposite bank will be mostly flat for the
next 500m. There is a very mild ascend overall.
The trail moves along the river
bank and you will continuously hear the stream in the valley on your left hand
side.
This will continue until you reach a point where the trail splits in to
two, with the left branch taking a sharp descend to the river and the right
branch taking a sharp turn uphill and start moving away from the river (Waypoint:
UM28).
After an intense climb for about 100m after the UM28, the
trial will again become more or less flat (Waypoint: UM29) for another
200m after which you will encounter a some what continuous descend (Waypoint:
UM30). With in the next 100m you will reach the Kuruwita Erathna Road (Waypoint:
UM31).
8km to 12km:
The next 1km along the Kuruwita
trail will again be a continuous climb. The trail is broad now but the frequent
boulders will make underfoot conditions difficult.
At about 9km from the trail head, you will reach a somewhat
flat area with a large bed rock and a permanent resting place (Waypoint:
UM32).
This is called the “Idikatupana” or “GeththamPana”.
As the trail
goes over this bed rock, take a look behind you.
You will see an interesting
landscape with a prominent square shape mountain in the backdrop seen over
layers of trees.
If you happen to be at this place in the late evening you will
be able to witness a memorable sunset scene.
There are few places in this
section of the trail where you find this square spare mountain creating interesting
compositions, the sunset scene at this place is the best out of all of them in
my opinion.
Passing this point as you climb another 1km along the rough
trail, you will reach the resting place called “Galwangediya” where the
Rathnapura-Palabathgala Trail meets the Kuruwita – Erathna Trail, 10 km from
the trail head (Waypoint: UM33)
There are few resting places in the next 100m from UM33.
The last of this bunch situated at 100m from Galwangediya (Waypoint: UM34).
This entire area is a high altitude plain and it’s called “Haramitipana”. From
“Heramitipana”Adam’s peak rising like a pinnacle from the surrounding peaks can
clearly be seen making it clear that from this location it is a single
continues climb to the summit.
Passing “Haramitipana Plain” you have to tackle a somewhat
intense and continuous climb on an irregular rocky trail for about 1.2km to
reach the last permanent resting place before the summit which is called
“Adiyamalathenna” (Waypoint: UM35)
From this point the steepest ascend of the trail has to be
tacked. This section is called “Mahagiridamba” or “The Great Rock Climb”. This
entire 800m of length is a steep climb. The last 600m is so steep that the
steps are continuously aided with steel bars on both sides. As you reach the
summit it feels more like walking in the Sky as the steps are so steep.
12km from the trail head you reach the summit of Sri Pada
which is the 5th highest and the most prominent peak in Sri
Lanka (Waypoint: UM38).