Yakdessagala (430m) climbing……

Year and Month	2015 August 29th
Number of Days	One day
Crew	03- Chathuranga, Nadeesha and my self
Accommodation	Not applicable
Transport	Train and Climbing
Activities	Mountain climbing, sightseeing and photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo-> Kurunegala->Kurunegala-Wariyapola Road-> Gonagama Junction-> Turn to Gonagama (ගෝනගම) road->Sanwali (සoවැලි) RMW->Yakdessagala (යක්දෙස්සාගල)->Back in same route to Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Start the journey in early morning. Carry at least 1 liter of water for one person. No water sources found in the mountain. Fill your bottles from the temple. This is a moderate strenuous climb. Always follow the arrows and cut marks on the trees. It is not that much tired as you have to walk under dry forest. No risk of trap guns. Don’t pollute the area with plastic items. If you get correct start no need a guide. If you miss the pathway when you come down, don’t get panic. Definelty you will come to Gonagama road if you go down. Sanwali RMW has some ruins and a cave with drip ledge. You can visit there. Height of the peak is shown in both Google and survey department map is 420-440m.
Related Resources	කුවේණි විජයට දෙස් තැබූ යක්දෙස්සා ගල (Yakdessagala 540m)
Author	Niroshan
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The peak of Yakdessagala shown in the map- black star. Direction from Kurunegala town is shown by red arrow/Click map to enlarge

Yakdessagala (යක්දෙස්සාගල)
Yakdessagala is a mountain situated at Kurunegala district closer to Kurunegala town. This peak is a part of the range which connects with Athugala (ඇතුගල) and Andagala (ආදාගල). It is said Kuweni (කුවේණි) cursed king Wijaya (විජය) from Yakdessagala and leaped from here. As Kuweni belonged to Yaksha (යක්ෂ), this peak is called Yakdessagala.
(Lathonigala at Anamaduwa is believed as another place where Kuweni cursed king Wijaya. Don’t know where is the exact place she did this)
I was waiting to climb Yakdessagala for a long time. Yakdessagala was noticed by me several times when I pass Kurunegala town on my way to Colombo from Polonnaruwa. Ashan’s visit and report encouraged me to climb there.
I fixed poya day for this one day climb and Nadeesha and Chathuranga joined with me. Chathuranga and myself reached Kurunegala station by crowded Yaldewi train from Colombo around 8 am. Nadeesha has picked us from there and then we had our breakfast.
We drove along Kurunegala-Wariyapola road and passed Haragama Lake. Then we got right hand turn at Gonagama junction. Our destination was Sanwali RMW which is situated after 5 km post of this road. On our way we have noticed Yakdessagala peak.

View of Yakdessagala peak. Note foot pathway lies behind the peak

Zoomed view of Yakdessagala peak

Foot pathway lies in between two rocks

The foot pathway begins just in front of the temple. There was a small pond at the entrance. Soon after it entered to the forest and up to last bit of climbing foot pathway was always under the tree canopy. Most of the time it was a continuous ascend. I was searching for tree marks to follow the correct pathway.

The pond at the entrance

White Lilly at the pond

Getting the start

Painted arrows on rocks. Less in number. It is helpful in getting down.

Typical dry forest

Arrows on woods. Frequently came across. More reliable

Walking in dry forest

Climbing………

Narrow pathway

Greenish paint

Zoomed…..

It was a continuous ascent since beginning

Reaching the base of accessory rock

Looking down the pathway we came

Chathuranga was an amateur for climbing

Helping hand……

More and more ascent

Last bit of climbing through mana patch

Reaching the peak

On top of Yakdessagala peak, we could view Dolukanda, Rambadagalla/Bisogala (highest peak of Kurunegala district), Athugala, Andagala range, Handurukanda, Nathagane and Wellagala. Second line of peaks was, Galgiriya Kanda, Mana Kanda, Ritigala, peaks around Matale and Dambulla, Knuckles and Alagalla.

We have spent about 2 hours to reach the peak and within an hour we returned back.