Hiking Guide Ella Rock
There are two places to start this hike, Ella railway station or Kithalella railway station. We started at Kithalella station as it was closer to where we were staying and cut out a portion of the hike just walking along the tracks. If starting at Ella station you’ll walk along the tracks toward Kithalella station.
Once at Kithalella station, keep walking the turn is inbetween mile marker 166 1/2 and 166 1/4, being very close to 166 1/2. It will be a very sharp left. Apparently there’s a blue rock with an arrow, but we didn’t see that.
Once you go up the path you’ll see this bridge. It comes pretty quick so if you’re walking more than 2-3 minutes you probably took the wrong path. Continue to follow this path up (crossing the bridge) through the tea plantations (the path to the left that goes up).
Bridge
Path to the Left
Follow this path after the bridge.
Tea Plantations
Here we did see a rock with some blue on it. Soon after the tea plantation you’ll enter the long grass, this goes on for a while (stay straight! We were tempted to wander, but stay straight and flat). You’ll come to an opening with a tiki-hut, keep going straight (the path to the right next to the tiki-hut). It barely looked like a path but once through the bushes you’ll see the path continuing.
Rock with Blue
Long Grass
Tiki Hut
Continuing Path
Once past this you’ll get to a split to left into the woods or right into the tea plantation, go left into the woods.
Left Path into the Woods
Wrong Way (Right Path)
Do not go this way
Soon after you reach the mid-point of the hike, basically the bottom of the mountain you’re about to climb, you’ll see a great view. It only gets better from the top. The trail is pretty defined here, but there are many trails so we wandered a bit and it didn’t seem to matter much.
Next you’ll start the (mild) climbing portion of this hike, seeing as it’s mostly flat until this point. It will eventually go flat again and will seem like you’re going around the backside of the mountain, but don’t worry it comes back around and goes into climbing again. I’ve posted a picture so you can be sure you’re going the right way. This should ease your nerves if you’re doubting the path you’re on.
Definitely give yourself some time at the top to enjoy the view! It’s so so beautiful and definitely deserves some appreciation. If you feel up to it try this hike for sunrise, we were really wishing we had. While many sites and guides try to make this a confusing hike its not that bad if you have a vague sense of direction. You can also check on you’re GPS to make sure you’re slowly getting closer to Ella Rock, this helped calm my nerves a bit. The area struck me as pretty safe, but since tourism is taking off in Ella you should always be careful, there have been recent incidents at the Ella Bridge, always good to be aware. Enjoy! Round-trip it should take about 3-4 hours, we did it in about 3 starting at Kithalella. Another note: when its rainy I’ve heard there can be leaches so be prepared to handle them.
