සමනල රක්ෂිතය යනු පූජනීය ස්ථානයක් බඳුය. උතුම් බුදු සිරි පතුල පිහිටි සමනොළගිර වන්දනාමාන කිරීමට උචිත උඳුවප් පොහොය සිට වෙසක් පොහොය දක්වා කාලය වාරය (Season) ලෙස හඳුන්වන අතර එය දළ වශයෙන් මාස පහකි. ඉතිරි මාස 7 අවාරය (Off-Season) ලෙස හඳුන්වන අතර ඈත අතීතයේ පටන් පැමිණි සම්ප්‍රදාය වනුයේ එයයි. එය හුදෙක් ආගමක් සම්බන්ධ වූ නියමයක් නොවන්නේ ඒ තුළ පරිසරයේ නියමයන් අන්තර්ගත වී ඇති හෙයිනි.

This was my 11th visit to Sri pada and third off season hike. No matter how often I visit this sacred mountain I never get enough as this Sri pada Sanctuary is the best place on earth by means of bio Diversity and uniqueness.

Off season Sri Pada visit permits to view number of cascades in it’s full phase. This is my attempt to cover waterfalls at Hatton-Sri Pada trail and around Hatton.

In 2013 we got together and did the Dehena kanda trail to Siripade. And on our way we came across a location called Paradise which is seethagangula of Dehenakanda trail. The river which we crossed was Battulu oya which flows by Fishing hut of Moray estate before ending its journey at Maussakele reservoir.

Finally I managed to convince myself and the crew that 5 and 6 of Sep are the best option remaining for us. I simply couldn’t afford to keep it postponing any further and decided to take our chances with the constantly changing weather conditions. I kept looking up the AccuWeather, Weather Channel and FallingRain for weather updates. Unfortunately our own Met Department is a symbolic white elephant and not as reliable or dependable as we would like it to be so we’ve no choice but to rely on alternatives such as the above. The rain patterns have shot to hell especially during the last couple of years probably due to the global warming and our irresponsible actions towards the earth. This has made it extremely difficult for farmers, fishermen and those who depend on the regular patterns of the climate.

Even the seasoned farmers, villagers or fishermen find it difficult to predict the weather conditions as a result. Usually you can trust those villagers’ expertise better than the state of the art equipment of the US Met Department but not anymore so we resorted to these web-based weather forecasts. It didn’t look good, not at all as it kept forecasting thunderstorms and heavy rains throughout. I was hoping against the hope for a clear window to make it safely to the summit. Anyhow, we were fully committed and there was no turning back. In the back of my mind there was this feeling of security that if your intentions are good and your behavior is acceptable, you’re going to be ok, especially at the Sri Pada. It’s said in the Buddhism that those who live by the Dhamma will be protected by the Dhamma itself. So we had faith we’d face no problems and if there was any, those powers that protect the area will take care of us.

It is November the month before the official Sri pada season and I just couldn’t resist not visiting Adams peak before the crowds took over. I and Thinu were wondering whether to go to Sinharaja or Adams peak and suddenly the weather seem to be settling off so we decided to do an off season hike. Early morning we arrived at Kuruwita where we had breakfast and took the first bus (6.10am) to Erathna and from there took a trishaw to Adawi kanda (there is a bus to Adavi kanda at 7.45am). Sharp at 7 we started the hike and off we went through the overgrown mana section. The humid environment started to cause few problems within no time but we proceeded continuously.

I’ve a penchant for being with them as long as possible, simply looking at them can make my all sorrows, no matter how terrible they are, vanish into thin air. I’ve already a collection of more than 100 waterfalls in my Facebook page and I hope to visit as many as possible before they disappear from the face of earth thanks to ignorant, careless and heartless activities by many idiots.

I got a sudden craving to go see some of these beauties in and around the Sacred Mountain, Sri Pada and Atha too decided to jump in and this was a very last minute journey making only the two of us this time. We left around 4.00am on a rainy dawn and reached Kalugala Junction while the sun was battling an unwinnable fight against menacingly thick and grey clouds. The Kelani River that runs parallel to A7 was not so rich making us anxious to the water levels of the falls. We were nonetheless fully committed to the mission by then to turn around.