Adam's Peak Trail via Sandagalathenna - off the beaten tracks part II

Tips and Notes: 

1. The Morray Estate – Adam’s Peak trail starts at Rajamale, a far corner of the estate.
2. Public transport to Rajamale is scarce. Only a couple of buses (Vans) run from Maskeliya the nearest town to Moray Estate.
3. Roads inside the Morray Estate are not in good condition. Only a 4x4 or a van with good ground clearance can tackle the road
4. There are no water sources between Sandagalathenna and Adam’s peak. But there are a couple of water sources in between Rajamale and Sandgalathenna
5. Please do not harm the natural beauty and surroundings
6. Minimize carrying plastic and polythene. Remember to bring back all you garbage and dispose them properly.
7. The route can be infested with wild elephants in the night.

 

It was another freezing cold morning to Sri Lanka’s holy mountain. We had a good night sleep packed in a small room at the peak, after a two days difficult journey across Peak Wilderness and woke up early praying for a clear morning to witness a beautiful sun rise. It was still dark when we went out and already crowded trying to find a good place on the top deck to see the sun rise. Meanwhile I and Ashan spotted a corner of a passage little below the top deck closer to the staircase and decided to wait there. After about half an hour wait shivering on the freezing morning the sky over the Horton plains started glow in red and orange. The mighty Horton plains and trio of its peak created a lovely silhouette before the sun started rising right over the tip of the World’s End abyss. 

 

 

the dawn

the crowd

towards Horton Plains

Pettigala Range

The Horton Plains - Thoutupola Kanda, Kirigalpotta & Agra Bopath mountains are seen

Maussakelle reservoir

Agra Bopath (left), Kirigalpotta (middle) & World's End Drop (right)

colors

we waiting for the sunrise

sun rises from behind the world's end

WOW

As soon as the sun rose we rushed to the other side of the deck to see the giant triangular shadow of Adam’s peak and spent some time running around capturing the beautiful sceneries on that clear morning. 

the giant shadow

Bena Samanola & Kunu Diya Parwathaya

twin peaks of Bena Samanola

the trio

towards Piduruthalagala over the Maussakelle reservoir

Sandagalathenna plateau seen from the top

towards Pettigala

Having done worshiping and admiring the nature from top of Sri Lanka’s fourth highest mountain we started our return journey. The trail we chose for our return is the shortest but probably could be the most scenic trail – The trail from Morray Estate via Sandagalathenna.

The trail starts at the edge of Morray Estate, the one where the famous “Fishing Huts” are situated. This trail starts at the highest elevation among the six trails to Adam’s peak and crosses the rock plateau called “Sandagalathenna” on its way and then joins the stairway from Nallathanniya at the base of “Mahagiridambaya”. We squeezed through the thousands of people climbing the stairs and came to the turnoff to our path.

  

Diva Guhawa

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WOW

Lovely

The mighty Trio and the Horton Plains

Maussakelle

the crowd

at the turn off

This trail also is a lesser travelled one and ‘non-developed’ one. So the natural beauty remains intact along the trail. The first part is through a mountainous forest with beautiful pigmy trees and might Adam’s Peak standing tall to the skies. Sandagalathenna plateau is at the end of this stretch.

 

here we go

a rest

gadgets

approaching Sandagalathenna

 

Sandagalathenna is a lovely open area on top of a hill. The view of Adam’s peak is so beautiful from here. We had a rest there admiring the stunning scenery.

Adam's peak seen to Sandagalathenna

Sandagalathenna

The view

rituals

The second part of the trail is through a dense jungle. The path is steeper than the previous section and s lot more shady. After about 1 km we came across two streams close to each other and had our thirst quenched from the ice cool crystal clear water.

the stream

After a somewhat steep descend the terrain got flatter and the footpath got wider hinting the trail end is closer. By noon we came out of the jungle and found the water “peella” around the corner and washed all our dirt and sweat before changing into our journey back to home. The van we had hired to get to Hatton came in just before it started raining cats and dogs marking the end of our three days of hiking trip in the Peak Wilderness.

path got wider

Morray Estate.!

Gartmore Estate Falls seen far away

where we had a bath

our transport

Thank you for reading.