කටුපොත්කන්ද –රජරට දැවැන්තයෙක්

Chamara and myself we wanted to extend our range out of NW province and our target was “Rajarata”. So as Chamara was very interested in hiking the adjoining giant of Mihinthale I too agreed upon that. We left early as usual to reach the base of Katupothkanda. This beautiful rocky hill lies neighboring historical Mihinthale and is taller than Mihinthale too.

The map

Google map

After reaching Mihinthale we headed towards Katupotha tank spill where we met some local boys who guided us with directions. There was a wide gap which took us towards the summit ridge and on our way up we traversed a lovely dry zone forest.

on the way to katupothkanda

misty morning

on the way

boulders

nai hatu

Mihinthale seen

On the summit ridge there were few outlook points, We reached two of those points and one was the summit. Actually there are few protruding rocks and you need a whole day to explore the full range. From the top we easily noted Mihinthale range, Maha kanadarawa tank, Mihinthale wewa, Getalagama kanda, Nachchaduwa tank, Ritigala, Katupotha tank, Nuwara wewa, Ruwanweli seya, Mirisawetiya, Jethawanaya, Abhayagiriya, Rajagiri lena, Kaludiya pokuna site, Meegalewa side and etc.

towards mihinthale wewa

දක්ෂයෝ

the range

mihinthale

Eth wehera

mahakanadarawa

Getalagama kanda and Nachchaduwa

Ritigala

summit few minutes away

Nachchaduwa

.

.

.	mihinthale tank close by

katupotha wewa seen

Nuwara wewa

mirisawetiya, ruwanweli seya, jethawanaya seen

Abhayagiriya

katupoth wewa

natives

Rajagiri lena and kaludiya pokuna site

.

meegelewa

summit

looking back

us

mihinthale rock

.

.

The return journey was a quick one and this time round we didn’t loose the path. After reaching the tank we had a nice cool dip before saying goodbye to the giant of Rajarata.

getting down

the dip