Google
Custom Search
  • Home
  • Images
  • Wallpapers
  • Attractions
  • Trails
  • Tools & Tips
  • Forum
  • Contact Us
  • Trips

Trip Reports Archive » Trips Filed Under Sri Pada Peace Pagoda

Today's Most Viewed

  1. Hiking Kabaragala – The Highest Peak of Dolosbage (1506 M) 29 views
  2. Waterfalls in Deraniyagala-Noori road 15 views
  3. කුවේණි විජයට දෙස් තැබූ යක්දෙස්සා ගල (Yakdessagala 540m) 14 views
  4. Nuwaragala the castle with a heavenly pond! 12 views
  5. 3 Day Trip to Waulpane ,Pitadeniya Conservation Center via Sinharaja (වන නිවහන) 12 views
  6. Hike to Dumbanagala (1642m) in a clear day 11 views
  7. ගවරා විසූ ගවරවිල (Gawarawila plains) 10 views
  8. Scenic walk to Karagahatenna 10 views
  9. Alagalla mountain hike (1140m) 8 views
  10. Heritage of ancient Magama, the capital of Ruhuna kingdom 8 views

This Week's

  1. Hiking Kabaragala – The Highest Peak of Dolosbage (1506 M) 118 views
  2. A Family Trip to Morningside 88 views
  3. Dhanigala / Kandegama the Alien Mountain 75 views
  4. Camping on Dolukanda (600m) 61 views
  5. Camping at Kelebokka 360 view point…. 59 views
  6. First Ever Camping at “Haritha Kanda”, Bogawanthalawa 47 views
  7. Hike to Gongala (1357m)-Highest peak of Sabaragamuwa Mountains 46 views
  8. Hike to Bathalegala and some attractions of Pilimathalawa 46 views
  9. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 45 views
  10. Knuckles Duwili Eli through Walpolamulla – The Most Wanted trip of the year 39 views

This Month's

  1. Hiking Kabaragala – The Highest Peak of Dolosbage (1506 M) 425 views
  2. Camping on Dolukanda (600m) 299 views
  3. First Ever Camping at “Haritha Kanda”, Bogawanthalawa 290 views
  4. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 245 views
  5. Camping at Kelebokka 360 view point…. 209 views
  6. Dhanigala / Kandegama the Alien Mountain 181 views
  7. Hike to Gongala (1357m)-Highest peak of Sabaragamuwa Mountains 180 views
  8. ගවරා විසූ ගවරවිල (Gawarawila plains) 166 views
  9. Uda Lakshapana Gala / Saptha Kanya / Seven Virgins (1569m) hike 161 views
  10. A Family Trip to Morningside 156 views

All-Time

  1. Two days in Heaven (Madulsima to Pitamaruwa) 45,492 views
  2. Aliyawetunaela Hike – 1665m (අලියාවැටුණඇල) 32,022 views
  3. Camping trip to Meemure – One of the best trips ever!!! 30,060 views
  4. Bathalegala (Bible’s Rock) 798m 26,902 views
  5. Chariot Path of Ravana & Sitha on top of Piduruthalagala range and James Taylor’s Loolecondera! 25,722 views
  6. Waterfalls of Colombo District 24,747 views
  7. Scenic Hike to Wangedigala 19,003 views
  8. සබරගමුවේ ආදරවන්තයන්ගේ කන්ද (Paraviyangala) 18,983 views
  9. ගලේ බණ්ඩාර දෙවියන්ගේ අඩවියේ පිහිටි රාවණා රජු මල දවස රජුට ජනතාව ගරු බුහුමන් දැක් වූ ස්තානය (යහන්ගල/Yahangala 1220m)... 18,206 views
  10. Great Western (6th highest mountain in Sri Lanka- 2212m) Once in a life time HIKE! 17,436 views

Wife’s first Pilgrimage of Sripada in the off-season

This is the first time that my wife visited peak wilderness for the pilgrimage of holy foot-print. We had this on a poya day as the Uda Maluwa is open on poya days. We headed to Hatton by night mail the previous day and we have arranged a van to pick up us from there and to Nallathanniya for Rs.3,500/-. We started our hike in the dawn and slowly we were able to reach the summit at 12 noon and fortunately, the Uda Maluwa was open for worship.

Ambalam Hopping – Sri Pada Off Season (Hatton-Palabaddala)…

After a snail-like journey, we reached Maskeliya and bought a couple of essential things like instant noodles. We were planning to take a tuk-tuk from here but our luck held coz there was a Nallathanniya bus leaving at 10am. So having breathed a sigh of relief we got into the bus and settled. The sun was back and my hopes soared like an eagle. However as we got closer to Nallathanniya aka Dalhousie (remember it’s Dalhousie not Delhouse or Delhousie), those hopes came down and down like a deflated balloon.

It was very gloomy and there were a couple of passing showers as well. “This is going to be one heck of a hike” I told Atha and we both regretted not having brought the umbrellas. Well we shouldn’t have worried coz the usage of umbrella becomes next to zero after Geththampana due to the open area and strong winds. We had our long overdue coffee from the shop just before the bridge. Already there was a group of people getting ready to climb for a Pooja and we started our hike around 11am, after 8.5hr journey, well literally.

Cascades around sacred peak

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.

When Cockroaches are Killing Butterflies – Sri Pada (Via Palabaddala Trail)…

As soon as you hear the name Sri Pada, there’s this calm and soothing sensation which goes through your system as if a nice cool flow of water through a parched throat. That mountain is so special even her namesake alone is enough to make us feel reinvigorated. I don’t think there exists any such mountain in the whole wide world that has been worshipped and visited as much as this despite her location in a tiny out of the way island in the Indian Ocean with nothing below it until the frozen Antarctic Glaciers. This is very special and it further proves by it being chosen to leave the footprint of one of the most respected and enlightened philosopher that walked on this earth some 2600 years ago, Gautama Buddha.

Since then, this has been worshipped by millions of devotees every year between Dec (Unduwap Poya) and May (Vesak Poya). However the situation has become a bit alarming due to the unprecedented crowds that gather to visit and worship the sacred footprint every year. If you were following the media (and supposing they were reporting the truth), there were reports of some 800,000 people visiting on long weekends and somewhere in April that figure rose to some 1.5 million. There were so many who were planning to go from Hatton but due to the large number of people ultimately ended up climbing from Kuruwita. Just imagine the plight of those people who were only prepared for an easy ride of 4-5km yet were forced to do 12+km. Most of them had been in tears by the time they had reached Galwangediya.

Off Season Pilgrimage to the Mountain of Triple Gems – Sri Pada (Via Erathna Trail)

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.

Daring Mission to the Most Scared Mountain – Sri Pada (Via Maliboda Trail)

We all get these impulsive thoughts of doing things out of blue moon every now and then. Something like that happened when we visited Eli Hatha deep inside the Sri Pada Forest Reserve off Uda Maliboda in the first week of February. That journey, one of the dreams of Hari, turned out to be a great success, probably the best ever. During this journey I kept thinking of visiting the Most Sacred Mountain, Sri Pada via Uda Maliboda trail, one of the six known paths to the summit.

I was longing for it by the time we returned from Eli Hatha and didn’t wanna do anything else but that. So when I presented the thought to Dodam, my mate for the Beloved Lakegala, he seconded it with no second thoughts. So we fixed it for the 15 & 16 Feb. Thanks to Hari, I got the contact number of Yasawardhane mama, a real nature-loving gentleman who is very friendly, humble and helpful. When I called him to check the status of weather conditions and the trail, he gladly offered to help us. I, being the cautious type, asked if he could find a guide for us at least till we reach the Kuruwita trail but he said that there was no way we could go wrong yet promised to get someone at least for a part of the journey.

Copyright 2015 Lakdasun.org - Please obtain permission from the author before duplicating, re-publishing or adapting content of a trip report

Best Viewed with Minimim Horizontal Resolution of 1024 Pixels | Site Tested for IE7, Firefox and Chrome