Knuckles Rilagala (1604m)/ රිලාගල

Year and Month	2019 Octomber 20th
Number of Days	One
Crew	04-Keshan, Kasun Lakmal, Wikum and Myself
Accommodation	Previous day night at Katool Oya Holiday Bungalow
Transport	Hiking, Bus and three wheeler
Activities	Hiking, Sightseeing and Photography
Weather	Morning was clear. Later it was Gloomy
Route	Colombo->Kandy->Waththegama-> Gomariya->Katool Oya->Knuckles five peaks->Knuckles Rilagala-> Sari Ella -> Thawalanthenna->Gomariya->Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Leech protection methods to be followed. Be aware of weather. Avoid rainy days. We have studied maps before hike. Google off line map was our guide. Better carry 1l of water per person for drinking purpose. Start the journey in early morning. It is essential to get a ticket to enter Knuckles five peaks. Nobody checks tickets. Tickets can be bought from the office at Udawatta forest-Kandy or Digana forest office. We directly descend from Rilagala to the tea estate at it base in return journey. It took about one to one and half hours to reach the tea patch. If you need can continue the journey till Hulang Kanda via Selva Kanda.
Related Resources	Knuckles Selva Kanda (1618m) Hike
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Knuckles Rilagala (1604m)/ රිලාගල

Rilagala (රිලාගල) and Selva Kanda (සෙල්වාකන්ද) are two lesser known peaks of Knuckles forest reserve, situated between Knuckles five peaks and Kalupahana area. We were able to reach one peak of Selva Kanda (Selva Kanda has two peaks) in July 2019 as a day hike. Here we trekked Selva Kanda from Hulang Kanda (හුලo කන්ද) in KMP foot pathway. We have noted the peak of Rilagala when we were at Selva Kanda. Thereafter Rilagala was in my to-do list. Here I have planned to reach Rilagala from Knuckles five peaks. Knuckles five peaks, Rilagala and Selva Kanda approximately situate in one line at Google map.

Knuckles five peaks, Selva Kanda and Rilagala in metric map. Note these three peaks approximately situate in one line.

It was part of two days trip in Knuckles area. Previous day we have hiked to Kandasamigala (කන්දසාමි ගල) and stayed at Katool Oya Holiday bungalow. First day ended up with slight rain and misty weather which continued till latter part of the day. Therefore we needed to start Rilagala hike early in the morning. Rilagala was clearly seen to Katool Oya Holiday Bungalow. We followed the same foot path to Knuckles five peaks from Gomariya (ගෝමරිය). I have not been at Knuckles foot pathway from Thangappuwa for a long time. We were able to view five peaks on our way up but it was almost covered with mist when we reached 2nd peak of five peaks.

Rilagala range and Rilagala is marked by an arrow. This was taken from Katool Oya Holiday Bungalow.

Knuckles Rilagala

Team	Katool Oya

Road side beauties….

Knuckles five peaks foot pathway. This peak was mentioned as Batagala by a villager.

Rilagala

Hunnasgiriya, Hathale MW and Kelebokka areas

Beginning of Knuckles foot pathway

Crossing the stream

Foot pathway

Yakkunge Hela and Gombaniya

Towards Knuckles five peaks

Early morning hike

Following Knuckles five peaks path.

The view

Filtering…..

Peaks of Sudugala

Gombaniya and Yakkunge Hela are covering with mist

First peak of Knuckles five peaks

Knuckles Kirigalpoththa

Kandasmi Gala and Hunnasgiriya

Sacred peak

Towards Piduruthalagala and Nuwera Eliya

Kandy town and Bathalegala

One of my common captures

On top of first peak….

After second peak we have gradually moved to third, fourth and fifth peaks. Rilagala is situated much beyond fifth peak. Here we have followed the edges of the mountain as it is easy to mislead the path with mist. We didn’t get a clear view with the mist.

From second to third…..

Happy faces

From second to third

On top of third peak…

Fourth and fifth peaks…

Fifth Knuckles peak

Fourth peak from fifth peak…

Fifth peak…

When we were at fifth peak…

After the fifth peak, we have followed the edges of the mountains till we reached Rilagala. The path (there was no clear path) was covered by short bushes, Nelu and mountainous forest. It took about another two hours from fifth peak to get first glance of Rilagala.

Beyond fifth peak, towards Rilagala. But you can’t see Rilagala in this picture

Towards Rilagala

Thawalanthenna area

Small forest patch

Furthermore to go….

A break….

Another drop

The area we have passed

Knuckles peaks covered by mist….

First glance of Rilagala

The peak of Rilagala is almost covered with forest except few places. There was a small nice plain just before the peak, which continues with the plane between Rilagala and Selva Kanda. We could see both peaks of Selva Kanda from top of Rilagala. Thawalanthenna side should be seen from the view point but we were not able to see anything due to thick mist. It took about six hours to reach Rilagala from Katool Oya. If you need can continue the journey to Hulang Kanda via Selva Kanda.
According to the map, the Cyprus Hermitage is situated at base of Rilagala. Initially we had a doubt whether we can descend this drop or not. Otherwise we had to follow the same path we came here. But we were able to reach the tea patch around this hermitage at the end. There was a significant drop to descend and latter part was full of throny bushes and bamboo. Then we walked through tea estate to reach Sari Ella road which ends at Thawalanthenna (තවලන්තැන්න).