1. One & Only Pristine Core Forest Trek
2. Enormous wildlife
3. Creepy feel, keeping you always on the toes
4. One of the best trek in South India to challenge endurance.
5. Never ending walks with streams, falls and beautiful mountains surrounding you all the way.
The plan for this trek began 3 yrs ago.... Along with a lots of other locations, this too was in our top priority trek list. Oh you may be thinking, why did I mention 'our ', right?
So, during start of this year, I had a gut feeling to check for the passes availability of AgasthyarKoodam trek and luckily spotted the pass booking date and came across a few details regarding the same. ( Like; When it starts & ends, total no. of passes given etc...)
Booking day, reached office in the neck of the time, and took laptop and sat in Vivek's place, both of us together waiting for the booking to commence.... Clock ticks 11:00 and the link appears. We hurry to book in a similar pace to tatkal . This was sadly worse than that! :-P 3000 tickets for an year : -o , Which is 100 passes a day! The only season for this trek is from Jan mid to Feb mid ! We ran thru the same booking process several times before finally getting the damn pass! Alas after 4 tries gotcha! Faced timeout, no connections, etc... and all possible nightmares! Still we got 2 passes for us to trigger our epic journey to a core forest area, which was long awaited!!!
The days were moving towards Feb 9th, the day we had to start to Trivandrum from Chennai... Few days before that, we bought trekking shoes from Decathlon( Quality of the same will be discussed soon ;)). And all required accessories were listed and arranged( Summarized in the blog ending).
Feb 9th: A morning, as similar to all other days, just that the previous day I stayed in office. I had already packed all the stuffz required for the trek. Just awaiting the day to run in a fast forward pace... It's 17:00, our bus was by 17:15, we started from office to boarding point. It was pretty nearby. Reached on time, but sadly the bus was not on time :-( We were eagerly discussing about the trek, finally the bus came around 18:00, it was a semi-sleeper, in which we had to travel for roughly 12 hrs. He wasn't going in a fast pace, he was just riding in 80 kmph . By then we had calculated the worst case scenario of getting down at Neyyattinkara, just in case if it crosses Nagercoil only around 5:00. Our bad luck and our calculations became just ***king true!
Around 5:50 the bus was near Neyyattinkara and we asked him to stop in the upcoming town, in hopes of getting a taxi to Bonacaud. We had to reach Bonacaud Picket Station by 7, which was the mentioned time on the pass. We got down and walked towards an auto stand to inquire for taxi nearby. But again our bad luck strikes and tada .... No Taxis!!! We were left with no choice other than boarding an auto to the nearest next town enroute to Bonacaud! Kattakkada !
We boarded an auto and he was pretty friendly and excited about the ride, since it was his first ride of the day. He had said, he will charge Rs 300 for 15kms. And we started the ride... I had mentioned my hurry to reach and the time constraint. He said he will take care and will blast all the way. In Gmaps it was showing 2 hrs. Holy! We were so damn worried about our time constraint. Auto cruised all the way towards our next prescribed stop, but no damn taxi, he offered us that he himself will take us to Bonacaud! Seriously! I understood one thing that moment, that he doesn't know it is small town over a hill roughly 500 mtrs in altitude. I conveyed him the same and he was like okieeeeee .... What the f*** will we do if it stops in middle of nowhere ??? :-?
Finally, after two & half an hr auto journey we are in the trek commencing point, we were feeling so relieved! We waved a bye to driver and walked towards a counter step kind of thing, where the verification was happening. There were around 20 members waiting for the same. In the meanwhile, there was another set of batch kicking off their trek. For a batch of 25 a ranger was assigned, and pre commencement of trek bags were checked for all forms of plastics and deposit was collected for number of bottles being carried and other utmost sachets like glucose, electoral etc … In the meanwhile, we finished off our basic morning duties ;) and we waited there for 45 mins and the forest office came, verifications were done and we went to get some food. We were bit hungry and the main concern was we won’t get anything to eat till we reach basecamp (Athirumala). We had a plate chappathi and black coffee. It costed 60 Rs and 10 Rs respectively. And the same can be parceled if required to consume as lunch en route the trek.
We checked our bag for all forms of plastics and removed the same, and wrapped all forms of edible items in paper . We waited for the next set to be formed to commence the trek. We waited for a while and officer came with our passes and started calling names to do bag check and to proceed the trek. Our names came, and our backs where checked, sadly we didn’t know that even halls and strepsils in my first-aid backs were not allowed. I had to remove those to proceed thru. Done! We were all set to begin our trek… The clock ticked 10:00.
From Picket station to ABC( Athirumala BaseCamp ) was ~13 kms, we had no idea how long we were gonna take. Batch of 25 assembles and trek kicks off… Yuhooooo
I was so damn excited and took a selfie and we started walking… The route was super green and dense as we started walking, even the path was also quite big and easy. I had checked elevation details a few days before the trek and our first half of trek , that is till ABC there wasn’t any mad climb, It was roughly 500 Mtrs elevation gain over ~13 kms. We two walked in between mini batches within the big batch. There we lots of people in our age group and a few veterans. The route was nice and scenic with mild chillness all along. Lots of different varieties of flora around us all the way along. Few medical students identified medicated grass and the smell from that was superb . He showed us the first glimpse of our towering summit on a bend, and it was appearing damn huge and tall! There were mild ups and downs and crossed the the second camp Lothimala[ need to check]. We talked to our first Guide/Ranger ‘Thirupathi’ for a while, inquiring about this trek, season timings, and inquired his personal details etc … and we crossed a few streams before we reached Karamana aar . This was the third checkpoint and the place where first guide/ranger change. Every ranger covers only 4 kms, thus in the span of ~13 kms, there will be 3 rangers guiding us the entire route. Lots people planned to have a big break to refresh themselves by taking a bath and having lunch. But we were not even close to the term hunger, hence with a face wash we resumed our trek…
The terrain transition was happening, till now it was pretty dense forest with deep gorges on side and super tall trees on the other side of the trail. En route there was a wonderful stream crossing which was converting to a mini falls… The entire stretch was pretty scenic, the beauty around us, made us to forget our tiredness. From here dense forest was fading and more of sun was touching us, trees were scattered around and high grasses started to accompany us along our way. This is a biological reserve and it’s home for lots of wild life , almost all the fauna which can be spotted in overall India can be found here. Now were walking through the home of ‘Tigers’ : -o And this Shola type forest region is home for powerful contenders too; Bear and Bison!
This stretch was from almost 7kms to 11 kms. The surrounding was too good, Shola on a side behind that super scaling mountains, and on the other side valley and another range of mountains. The stretch continuously gaining the inclination. If you are a beginner, I’ll recommend you to havestick with you for support during climb/descent. This section had a bit of slippery sand. After a long walk we saw the mighty peak scaling beyond a pass which we had to cross en route to reach our Basecamp.
The Shola was slowly transitioning to a climb to get over the pass. In the beginning of the climb, there was a wonderful location to take a small break, with splendid view of the route in which we came and the surroundings. After a small break, we walked towards our final phase of the day. The sun was shading away because ofdense forest which started to mark the boundaries of the pass. The route was damn good, in few places , we were walking through the path of streams, just imagine the case what if it was running ;) :-P The trail was bit rough and tough, high steps all the way to the top. Around 13:00, few people from Basecamp were trekking down towards Bonacaud. There was a slight relief after inquiring the approximate time taken from that spot to ABC. After continuous climb for an hour, we almost reached kind of plains, there were no climbs there after. We saw a board saying ABC is few metres away :D We saw a camp on right, we were excited that we have reached ABC.
This stretch was from almost 7kms to 11 kms. The surrounding was too good, Shola on a side behind that super scaling mountains, and on the other side valley and another range of mountains. The stretch continuously gaining the inclination. If you are a beginner, I’ll recommend you to have
The Shola was slowly transitioning to a climb to get over the pass. In the beginning of the climb, there was a wonderful location to take a small break, with splendid view of the route in which we came and the surroundings. After a small break, we walked towards our final phase of the day. The sun was shading away because of
But sadly, its rangers camp. We had to walk bit more to reach ours. Few more meters from there on the left side of us, we were able to see the mighty summit scaling super high and in few 100 meters, we saw the Athirumala board. Yeppieee ABC finally.
Staying and spending time there the rest of the evening, post lunch. That blissful sight of the gigantic peak in front of anyones eye is quite mesmerizing! No matter what, one can just keep staring at its beauty for a very long time, along with the circling clouds in front of the range.
Evening they had offered tea and a snack, pretty good for that place! Getting the stuffs here is a big deal! Trust me!yes it is!!! Time was pretty slow, compared to our busy life at cities. Had lots of time, spend time star gazing, walking around the area, watching different trees and plants, searching for any wildlife, if any can be spotted. Sunlight fades away makes us very eager to wake up to the next morning and start hitting the trek to the majestic summit! In between, met my friends, who were also there for the summit trek tomorrow, we spend some quality time and lots of chit chat.
Slowly post dinner, the night looms over and forces us to sleep, adios to the wonderful day.
Feb 11th The summit day, we woke up keeping alarm for 5, post snooze, finally by 5:30 we are up and finished our routine and we are swiftly ready and standing in the first line to start the trek. The trek was flagged off on by 7, once the ranger comes, as the area we are going to go through is a core elephant corridor. And pretty dense wildlife zone, hence can't be taken lightly! Trek commences and we walk / run along with the guide till the shoulder of the mountain,vroom he goes, after 5-10 mins, he is already above the shoulder, we are yet to start :-P too good he was. The way was indeed scenic and misty! Lovely weather it was! Truly a must visit atleast once type place! Clam , serene, virgin of its own! Just loved it. By 8:30 we were ready to kick off the proper final summit climb, this was really one hell of a climb, this stretch had 4-5 fixed rope climbs, they are installed as a part of the steep gradient. The route was nice and challenging. Closer towards the summit, it was pretty interesting, steep and windy :D Was thinking how on this earth people will climb this, if its rainy! : -o finally the summit! There the Agashityar shrine. What a View! Top of cloud, above all the surrounding peaks! Priceless!
Saluted the saint andarathi was there, it was quite touching and felt happy and sat in a corner of the summit, we were around 1-5 people to reach the summit first on that day. Sat there for a quite some time, before the ranger chased us, saying, start moving only then we can return back to picket station by evening 6. This round trip from ABC to summit was 8-10 kms. And we should reach back by atleast 1pm, so that we can eat and start back to Bonacaud. Post 2 PM, from ABC they won't allow to walk back, as it will become dark, by the time we will reach the picket station! And its not a gr8 idea too. Hence we started back, the down hill was equally challenging and it was like an adventurous activity, sort of like rappelling. Around 12 - 12:30 we managed to reach back and packed and finished lunch and started back.
It was quite a long journey, 10 kms + 19 kms back, wedidnt spend much time resting or standing anywhere, we kept walking in order to catch bus from Boncaud by 5:30 pm, as thats the last bus for the day. And the bus stop was another 2-3 kms from Picket station.
The terrains changed and westarting properly descending the altitude, the day was changing , the next set of people for the next day climb was marching towards the ABC... It was interesting to guide them and motivate them, finally after maintaining good pace , took bath in a falls enroute and managed to reach picket station by 5.
After saying adios to the place, walked towardsbus stop and in another 20 mins, and we made it. We had high fear of missing it, But we were lucky enough that, bus was on the way and there were a set of people already waiting there. This bus will take us down hill to a town Vithura, from where we had to board bus to Trivandrum....
Finally, the bus arrived and waved a bye to Bonacaud withheart and mindful of Agasthiyarkoodam memories. :)
Evening they had offered tea and a snack, pretty good for that place! Getting the stuffs here is a big deal! Trust me!
Slowly post dinner, the night looms over and forces us to sleep, adios to the wonderful day.
Elephant Corridor, below: opp view from below shoulder , last one a stream crossing near shoulder climb
Feb 11th The summit day, we woke up keeping alarm for 5, post snooze, finally by 5:30 we are up and finished our routine and we are swiftly ready and standing in the first line to start the trek. The trek was flagged off on by 7, once the ranger comes, as the area we are going to go through is a core elephant corridor. And pretty dense wildlife zone, hence can't be taken lightly! Trek commences and we walk / run along with the guide till the shoulder of the mountain,
Saluted the saint and
It was quite a long journey, 10 kms + 19 kms back, we
The terrains changed and we
After saying adios to the place, walked towards
Finally, the bus arrived and waved a bye to Bonacaud with
Agas 2.0
We managed to book tickets to Agasthiyarkoodam this year( 2019) too, and along with us 5 other people who joined to embark on this blissful journey. Similar to last yr , it was a 2 day trek, but 3 of the group members where planning to return on the third day. Hence we had to split the group into two, since we had two tickets, we managed to pull that out, else it's not possible! The entire set of people who are starting the trek should come back together! Per group there can be max 10 people, and a group should consist of a leader. Like last year, it was really splendid and mind blowing. Adding to that the chillness was pretty high, last year we had kept our sleeping bag unzipped and slept, this yr we had no choice! It was 10 degrees : -o
During this jounery , a guru was part of our group and lots of learning and sharing happened! This year it was more spiritual in context, didn't spend much time photographing, instead the sense where wrapped with the feel for nature. This journey was indeed a memorable one, and a game changer!
Successfully completed this yr's trek too. But the most amazing part was return . We hadn't booked the return tickets as we were not very sure, when we will start back, because of the uncertainity of group splitting. Hence we had to do 5 hops to reach back to our destination, Chennai. It was indeed the most painful part rather than the trek! 20 hrs of Travel back!
Finally managed to pull that and reached back Chennai.
Now comes this year's a few wonderful snaps. Thanks a lot for reading it till the very last word. Hope you too enjoyed the journey along with us. : Namaste:
Take only memories, leave only footsteps :)
All set to scale the summit @ 7 am
Splendid view from 3/4 of the way to Summit, already above all the surrounding peaks :D
View of summit from ABC
Another Perspective
First rope section
View of Ainthumalai Pothigai
Enjoying the view from summit
The corridor to bus stop, on the left is a closed factory
For more snaps:
1st Yr: https://tinyurl.com/y8q8olrf
2nd Yr : https://tinyurl.com/ybrlrp6c
The second day would have been vaguely described as I wrote that after almost an yr : joy:
General Tips For Forest Trek:
1. Wear dark clothes which will act as camouflage and don't use deo / perfume.
2. Walk in a normal pace and watch your steps, Be super conscious!
3. Carry less weight, you are the one who should carry
4. Avoid all forms of plastics, remember what you throw can even kill an Animal!
6. Do carry all necessary things, carry your default medication and a mini first-aid kid
7. Carry the printout of pass ( if any) along with an original ID proof containing your address
8. Carry enough food or energy bars required for according to the length of the trek
9. Carry necessary clothing to withstand cold, a sleeping bag will be really useful
10. Torch, extra batteries and power bank(s) will be really useful!
Distance Info:
Nearest Airport/Railway Station: Trivandrum (~60 kms from Bonacaud)
Nearest Bus Station: Vithura (~21 kms from Bonacaud), Nedumangad (~40 kms from Bonacaud)
Known Bus Timings For Returning from Bonacaud: 1:25 PM & 5:35 PM (Please do inquire the same @ Picket station before start of the trek to plan accordingly)
Happy trekking…
| Terrain Toughness | Medium |
| Risk | High |
| Endurance Lvl | Medium |
| Self Sufficiency | Medium |
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