| Year and Month | March 2016 |
| Number of Days | One Day Trip |
| Crew | 3 (Ashan, Chamara & Anupama) |
| Accommodation | N/A |
| Transport | Pajero |
| Activities | Hiking / Scenery / Trekking / Photography |
| Weather | Sunny and foggy |
| Route | Chilaw -> Kurunegala -> Mallawapitiya -> Indulgodakanda |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
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| Author | Ashan |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
It was a 3 day holiday and I really wanted to go somewhere. So I decided to hike few Rocky Mountains around Kurunegala. After many years I got a chance to get Anupama involved and Chamara also joined in. we left early to reach Mallawapitiya at around 7.30am where we had breakfast. From Mallawapitiya we took the Indulgodakanda road and on our way we saw a jackal caught in a trap near a road side forest patch. With few villagers we only managed to free him partially because a piece of wire was still left on his body. I pray for this little chap who had been caught to a “madda”. Our next stop was Indulgodakanda from there we took the road towards Handurukanda. The road was a 4wd one and at some points it was cemented. We stopped at a small village with line houses though the road continued uphill. The road goes further uphill but through a privet property so we had to stop at this point.
 The map – click to enlarge |
 Handuruk kanda as seen from keppetigala |
 a fox caught in a trap |
 Yakdessagala |
 Athugala seen on the way to indulgodakanda |
We had to climb parallel to a dried out stream which lied along the left border of the privet estate until we reached the Buddhist shrine at the end of the estate where the road ends. If you get permission from the estate you could drive up to this point in a 4wd. From this point it was a continuous ascend and one needs to tackle 500m’s before reaching the summit. The summit is covered with trees and bushes so there is no clear view. There were ruins of an ancient Pagoda and people call it Bimba viharaya. The only side one could view is Mawathagama side from this point. There is another steep climb to the summit from Udugammana and Yatiwela villages which Anupama has done on his previous attempt. From the summit we went towards the 3 way junction where the two paths meet and at this point we headed towards the rocky area to get a clear view of Kurunegala side. From this point one could easily see Kurunegala town, Athugala, Kurunegala lake, Yakdessagala, Bathalegoda lake, Mallawapitiya, Mawathagama, Ambokka peak, Etipola, Wiltshire, Keppetigala, Bisogala and Rambodagalla area, Thunbage, Parape range & Alagalla.
 on our way |
 on the way scenery |
 Kauwel kanda – Parape kanda |
 starting point of the proper trail |
 steep climb |
 morning rays |
 all together |
 walking along the summit |
 Bimba viharaya in ruins |
 close up |
 paddy |
 left hand peak is etipola and right hand peak is Wiltshire |
 a flag |
 alagalla peak seen |
 paddyfields of mawathagama |
 valley of paddyfields |
 more scenery |
 Alagalla |
 Rambodagalla biso gala range |
 Mawathagama town |
 bisogala range in the front |
 towards thunbage |
 Kurunegala town |
 kurunegala zoomed |
 Batalegoda lake |
 Ambokka peak |
 paddy been plucked |
 Mallawapitiya |
 the team |
 the rock where we spent some time |
After a 45 minute stay we started descending down because the heat was unbearable. Within one hour we reached the village where we halted our vehicle. After a successful morning we were now ready to attempt another mountain in the evening.
 getting down |
 natural peella |
Thank you for reading