Degodathurawa (441m)/ දෙගොඩතුරාව Hike

Year and Month	2020 February 4th
Number of Days	Half a day
Crew	03-Eshan, Nuwan and Myself
Accommodation	Not applicable
Transport	By bus, bike and Hiking
Activities	Hiking, sightseeing and photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo->Ibbagamuwa->Polpithigama (පොල්පිතිගම) ->Degodathurawa->Galkadulla Lake (ගල්කඩුල්ල වැව)->Back in same route->Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Carry a bottle of water of 500ml. This is a small hike and we spent only 1-1½ hours to reach the top. But the ascend is step. Explain your intention to locals. As usual this mountain also is under the threat of treasure hunters. Don’t know the historical background. The highest point of the mountain has no view point. No risk of trap guns. No need permission. The ascend of the hike is about 300m.
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Degodathurawa (441m)/ දෙගොඩතුරාව Hike

Degodathurawa is an isolated mountain situated closer to Polpithigama area. I have noted this mountain when I was at Kalugalpaya. Anupama has been at this mountain before and he mentioned there is a clear foot path to the top where transmission towers placed

Degodathurawa in metric map. Click image to enlarge.

Degodathurawa is seen to Kalugalpaya. Note there is a small rock in front of Degodathurawa. It is mentioned as Indakadawala in metric map. Don’t know such a name persists.

Degodathurawa Mountain with surrounding paddies.

As I assumed it was a short hike in dry zone. Anupama was busy on the day of hike and his brother-Eshan has joined with us for the hike. Nuwan and myself reached Polpithigama early morning and had our breakfast. Eshan has found the starting point of foot pathway to the summit of mountain. Galkadulla Lake is a small water store situated adjacent to Degodathurawa Mountain. The forest patch covering the mountain is called Degodathurawa conservation forest. We drove along the road over the bunt of Galkadulla Lake and reached the starting point.

Degodathurawa conservation forest

Beginning of the journey

This was the foot pathway used to carry goods to construct the transmission tower. Currently they are building another tower which is bigger than the existing one. Therefore they have placed a rope and a carriage along the path. It was a steep ascend since beginning. After a certain distance we came to an open area with limited surrounding view. Indakadawala (ඉදකඩවල) with paddies was the main objective seen to this narrow view point. This foot path straightway goes to the summit where transmission towers are placed. Nobody was there at the construction site on that day. It was the highest point of Degodathurawa mountain and it might be the reason to place the towers. But this highest place has no view point.

Clear foot pathway

They have fixed a carriage to transport heavy to the top

Bags of sand and metal were on the way

Half a way view…. Nearby mountain is called Indakadawala.

Mini break

The rope….

Rising up…..

.	New transmission tower is being placed

Current transmission tower on top

On top of Degodathurawa Mountain

When we were on top of the mountain

Just next to the summit we were able to find a minor view point. Degodathurawa has two peaks and we were moving to next one. On our way to second peak we have reached another view point with270 degree view. As it is situated at lower level to the summit, view is obstructed by the summit of Degodathurawa. This place has a nice rocky seat to have a nap and to enjoy the view. We were able to identify Thalpaththekanda, Yapahuwa, Diyabeththekanda, Galgiriya, Nikawewa Kanda and Daduru Oya reservoir with fairly hazy weather on that day. Pale yellow color paddies were surrounding the mountain and villagers were busy with the harvest. We spent an hour at this view point and started to descend along the same path without going to other peak. On our way back we have met a group of workers coming up to construction site.