Five hours on the road yesterday. Tired bodies and aching bottoms for sitting too long. A reason to oversleep. We planned to start out early but 5:30 dawn became 6:30 and we were still loading the van of our night baggage from the small cottage. And there wasn't hot water from the tap... we braved the ice cold water to refresh our weary bodies the previous night.

Goal: To reach the World's End at Horton Plains (well, rolling hills on top of the mountain, actually) before the afternoon rains try to drench us.

Elevation: approximately 7000 feet/MSL.

A lovely sight to see the moon still up though we were late to race ahead the sunrise.. the sun was already smiling when we set out.

Glimpse of the valley below. We are literally higher than the clouds!

Lone man on a cold rail. Train stop in a small town.

A  tea estate.

The entrance to Horton Plains National Park.

The map of Horton Plains and the trail.

A quick reminder in three languages.

Sri Lanka has three official languages namely, Sinhalese, Tamil and English. Signboards like these aren't unusual to the locals. You find many important signs posted this way everywhere. Even in church, joint worship services are done in three languages where 2 translators speak with the preacher.

The Horton Plains - the grasslands are protected. We are only allowed to walk on the trail and not step on the grass.

Read more about Horton Plains here.

There is a trail to The Mini World's End and Great World's End - it took us two hours up on a rocky trail with cold springs gushing out from the sides and rushing on the trail. I can imagine the water swells if it rains hard. And they say heavy downpours come in the afternoon.

The drop. It is a 885 m drop from the Great World's End

Two hours later, our efforts were rewarded..

The World's End

The cloud forest.

Yes, it was cold but we were perspiring and have to peel off our warm clothes after that hike.

With a Sri Lankan family we met on top.

Here is the view on the other side. There is also a trail going to Baker Falls but it was flooded that day. 

We were so in a hurry to climb the top that we forgot to bring our drinking bottles. Fuzzy was so dehydrated and complained of dryness of throat. We instructed him to calm down and just rest. After awhile, he was ready to go back to camp so he can drink. But we stayed on for thirty minutes to rest and enjoy the  breeze. As for the view, we couldn't see much because of the gathering clouds. We could never have reached the top if we gave up easily. We almost did. Dark clouds were already forming. It already started to drizzle. It went off and on for sometime. It could pour torrents during this season, they say.

We started walking back and it proved easier when going down the mountain... thanks, gravity!

Lessons learned from this nature walk.

1. Always bring a water bottle but bring home the plastic and trash.The place is amazingly plastic free. It is just right to.. "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."

Amazingly, this was the first time we have forgotten to bring water. We always bring water to our nature walks and hikes. I realized later why. God has prepared for us a wonderful lesson. Fuzzy was already complaining of dehydration. We wanted reach camp as fast as we could. But everyone was thirsty and famished. It was almost noon. After we got rested, we started back and midway, about 45 minutes later, we discovered something not from a handbook, field guide or any  book. And we realized it wasn't just by chance we forgot our bottles.

Throughout the trail, a stream runs the whole stretch from the foot of the mountain to the top in various directions. But where do we find a source, a root, an origin of a spring to make sure it is clean. I wasn't actually thinking of it. As I step. I observed a clear stream of water coming out from one point under a tuft of grass by the trailside. The grass looks cleaner and fresher too. From the source, water is flowing in opposite directions off  the origin both down and up the trail. It is quite puzzling. I then thought it might be an origin or source of the spring. I tasted it first. It was cold and good and refreshing. I was a bit hesitant and spat it out. While we were deciding if we will let the children drink, a Forest Ranger trekked by.  I asked him immediately if it is potable. He immediately understood and gracefully shook his head from side to side. In Sri Lanka, it means yes!

Relief! A water of life. We were so thirsty but God provided us water from nature, from His own creation. He again proved His faithfulness as a Father to His children. Our thirst were quenched and filled. Fuzzy was ecstatic and was loud again he he. It renewed our energy and refreshed our eagerness to complete the trail back. Even Lil Ruffin walked part of the way after that!

2. With a keen and observant eye, one gets to discover new things.  As we approach the camp. we spotted a lizard burrowing a nest on the ground. I can hardly believe my naked eyes saw it amidst greenery. We believe it is about to lay eggs. It is amazing, it wasn't even intimidated by our camera.

Here is a video of the lizard digging ahole.

3. As stewards of God's creation, we need to be aware of the problems affecting nature even in forests like this. Air is a lot cleaner here as you can see from the photos, but some trees already indicate effects of the acid rain. They have studies to show it is a sad reality. Efforts are being done to preserve this park. As parents, we can educate our children and instruct them what the Bible says about our world and how we can nurture and preserve it. Even at it's fallen state, God has indeed gifted us with a beautiful planet.

3. The Lord sustains everything. Animals and plants thrive in polluted cities. Here, they and exist live well. The same God sustains them all.  Antelopes and deer roam these plains, even leopards and other small animals, but since we can not have a close up look because of the restriction on the grasslands, the park administration adopted two mountain deer - a buck and doe. They might be trying to breed them yet we do not really know why they keep them. They are too friendly to humans. It was a delightful experience petting them and Lil Ruffin enjoyed it the most.  We viewed them from the van on our way out of the park. Fuzzy and DH spoiled them with crackers and apple.. =(

I realized this entry has become very lengthy and I have just covered half of our day. We arrived the camp at Horton Plains a little past 1 pm. So there,  it is a Half-a Day Two.

Tomorrow: The second half of  "Up the Mountains, Down the Beach in a Day - Part 2"