Climbing Adam's Peak at Midnight: Solo Adventure Travel in Sri Lanka at 56

I Climbed 5,500 Stairs to Find God in Sri Lanka — Solo Adventure Travel at 56

I left Kandy with a hangover and a bad idea.

The bad idea was Adam's Peak. 5,500 stairs. A midnight start. Sacred ground for Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians alike. Each one convinced the footprint at the summit belongs to their tradition. I wasn't going for religion. I was going because the road said go.

That's how most of the best decisions get made out here.

Through Tea Country: The Road to Adam's Peak

The drive up through Sri Lanka's hill country was the kind of thing that makes you pull over and just stand there. Hill after hill of green so precise it looks painted. Waterfalls dropping off the edges of things. A roadside warung selling veggie roti that had no business tasting that good at noon on a Tuesday. I ate it while driving. Didn't want to stop moving.

This is what slow travel looks like when you're not on anyone's itinerary.

The Midnight Climb: 5,500 Stairs and No Plan to Quit

The next morning, I hit the trailhead at 2:00 AM.

The place was alive. Pilgrims from everywhere, headlamps cutting through the dark, the smell of incense already drifting down from somewhere above. Nobody looked like they were suffering. They looked like they were exactly where they were supposed to be. That feeling is contagious.

The stairs don't ease you in. Some sections are closer to a ladder than a staircase. Somewhere in the steepest stretch I fell into pace with a 36-year-old Sri Lankan man who spoke almost no English. We didn't need it. We just kept moving, checking on each other with a nod every hundred stairs or so. Solo travel over 50 has a way of finding you the right company at the right moment.

The Summit: What Happens at 4:45 AM on a Sacred Mountain

I stepped into the temple and watched people drop to their knees. Not performing. Not for a camera. Just arriving. Whatever they came here to find, they found it. I'm not a religious man but I felt something shift. I bowed anyway. Some moments ask for that.

There's a bell at the peak. The tradition is you ring it once for every time you've made the climb. First time up. I made that pull count.

Then we waited for the sun.

It came up slow, the way the best things do. The kind of sunrise that makes you feel both very small and completely fine with that. Pilgrims all around me, nobody speaking, the sky doing all the talking. I've been to 71 countries. That moment is in the top handful.

What the Descent Teaches You About Getting Older

The descent reminded me I have knees. But somewhere on the way down, something settled. We spend a lot of energy grieving what age takes. Standing on that mountain at 56, I wasn't thinking about what I'd lost. I was thinking about what I'd just done.

This is what adventure travel after 50 actually looks like. Not a sufferfest. Not a proving ground. Just a man on a mountain, present, earning the view.

At the bottom, my first egg hoppers. Rice flour, egg, a gas fire, and about forty cents.

On the road back I gave a lift to a monk. He was maybe 75, saffron robes, small bag. We drove and tried to communicate for about twenty minutes. He got out, put his hands together, and blessed my future. I asked for a selfie together and got it.

The road provided that day.

Aberdeen Falls: The One Most Travelers Never Reach

Before I left the area I scouted Aberdeen Falls. Getting there requires a descent that earns it. Steep sketchy trail, but worth every step. There's a guy who offered to take me under the falls for 2,000 rupees. I took it. Cruising through the waterfall, the noise so total that thought becomes impossible, I understood why people come to Sri Lanka and never fully leave.

Off the beaten path isn't a phrase I use loosely. Aberdeen Falls earns it.

What's Next: Indonesia and the Outer Islands

I'm heading for Indonesia now. The outer islands. Rote. Sulawesi. Maluku. I’m looking for Kebebasan in the remoteness.

Nowhere to be and everywhere to go.

The road is in charge.

Before You Go: Practical Notes for Adam's Peak and Aberdeen Falls

Adam's Peak: midnight start gets you the sunrise. The trail is lit and well populated. Just keep moving.

Aberdeen Falls: 2,000 rupees cash for the boat ride. No ATM near the falls. Sturdy shoes for the descent, not sandals.