Climbing Adams Peak.

The sunrise enjoyed from the top of Adams peak. It felt good, it had been a long night.

Sri Pada, or Adams Peak in Sri Lanka, is a destination for hikers as well as local pilgrims. On the top of the mountain there is a temple. The reason for its fame is a rock formation near the top, said to be the footprint of Buddha. Hindus claim the footprint to have been left by Shiva. Christians claim Adam set foot there-thus the name.

I climbed the mountain with a group of fellow volunteers from the Millennium Elephant foundation-MEF. We hired what has become sort of the "in house" trip fixer-Mathalee Travels-to transport us to the trailhead and back.This trip has evolved into something most volunteers seems to at least try to undertake. The climb starts in the middle of the night in order to complete the 1400 meter ascent before sunrise. In the main season running from December to May there are lights along the trail, and refreshments to be had, but we went  we went before the season. There were no services for us to enjoy.

It started with a bad omen when head volunteer Chloe stumbled  in a deep ditch in the darkness even before start. But no real harm done. It was just that the mentioning about first aid stuff earlier in the night got more relevant. It was tough going. There are several thousands steps-of varying heights and quality. Some are very high-making it a strain for the legs. And most of the time it is very steep going. I must confess-I totally stiffened. I can thank our faithful headvolunteer for me being able to get to the top in time for a good rest before the sunrise.

The morning light starts to come out. Beautiful but freezing cold.

Mountains of rock and mountains of clouds.

Ringing the bell at the shrine on the very top of Adams Peak. One time for every scaling accomplished.

In the temple.

The mysterious shade of a perfect triangle. Nobody knows why this shade which is short lived-have this shape. Adams peak is a pyramidal mountain-but not a perfect shape. And as it is possible to photograph it, it is not an optical illusion as some people have suggested.

The weather is good, but the landscape below is shrouded in clouds. They started to disappear as soon as the air started to warm a bit.

At the top.

Heading down.

View from the trail.

A trailside shrine.

Beautifull landscape of canopies below us.

Adams peak.

The trail got blocked by insects. Luckily they were not of the bloodsucking kind.

Headvolunteer Chloe posing at the roadsign.

We met this impressive and lovely lady when we came down. She is about to start her 87th climb to the top. Her own age is around 80 years.

A pretty waterfall seen from the car on our way home. There was a lot of sleeping going on!