A trek to Agasthykoodam Peak Feb 3-4 2014

A trek to Agastya muni

Last  January 2013  I called up the  Kerala Forest Office, at Trivandrum for the trek pass but the officer informed that, better luck next year.  This is a limited edition trek pass to control the inflow of trekkers / devotees.

On January 2014  by 7^th  8^th got the information in facebook that passes for the trek are being issued online and booking starts on January 9^th , so I had a notion that we can get the pass. ( you can also get the pass from the Kerala Forest Office at PTP Nagar, Trivandrum )

So by 8^th I called up my uncle Kannan mammen, he was also waiting for this trek, by 9^th morning I sat before the computer to book our pass, and after so many tries we got the pass for February 3^rd

We got the inter city  train  Ernakulam to Trivandrum and reached Trivandrum at 11 AM and after a stroll near the transport bus stand, we got a bus to Vithura, we reached there at about 12.30 pm, with the help of a distributor we arranged a room at PWD rest house at Vithura, a new building value for money Rs. 225.00.  We have our lunch and planned to got Ponmudi hill station and waited upto 3.30pm as we missed the 1.30 bus, and the transport bus conductor told that if we gotby 4.30 pm it will be difficult to reach back Vithura, so dropped our plan and move back to our room.  But there is a  waterfall at Kallar which we come to know later.

3.2.2014

The bus to Bonocaud the base station of the camp starts from Trivandrum by 5 am and reached at Vithura at 6.30am boarded the bus and stopped for breakfast had ours and moved towards Bonocaud, on the way we can see the Peppara dam and beautiful views. One the way there is a waterfall Vazhuvanthol which can be reached by trek.

After about 1.30 hrs reached Bonocaud bus stop from there it’s a 2 km walk to the forest check point walked thru the Bonocaud tea estate it s name estate and the Bonocaud Tea Factory is in its ruins and locked out. Saw small groups moving to the base camp after registration and frisking ( name sake ) by the forest wardens, with Eco Development Committee forest watchers started the trek.

We met a group of 5 people from Nedumangad, and informed that they were regularly coming to see Agastya Muni  17 years back

After we met them the trek was transformed to a religious trek started by offering poojas and burning incense sticks, breaking coconuts at the first idol Ganapathi and on the way also they lit incense sticks and put haldi ( turmeric powder ) on stone idols  

The trek was moderate with boulders and streams on the way at one point the Nedumangad group stripped their shirts and informed that we are entering the forest rich of medicinal plants and the fresh medicinal air will protect them from  diseases for the whole year. On the way we had a a dip in a water fall icy cold water couldn’t stay there because its was very cold .

By about 3.10 we reached the base camp at Athirumala ie we have walked about 18 kms in 6 hrs and had our Chappatis and instant salad made by Nedumangad group had a small nap near the stream and walked back to the camp, there is a concrete structure in ruins any time it can come down.  So the forest department has built temporary sheds for overnight staty for the campers.  The camp boundary is with  trenches to stay away elephants, and had a beautiful view of the Agastya koodam peak. 

We have to book our dinner at the forest canteen it was kanji ( porridge ) steamy hot with pickle, pappad and curry had a sumptuous dinner and back to our shed, the night was with howling winds as were in the valley the shed was taking all the toll of the winds, had not so nice sleep and wake up 6 am

4.2.14

The trek to peak is about 6 km ours the first group to leave the camp, and we started by 6.45 am and one more from Trivandrum joined us, his father used to go regularly to Agasta Muni, but due to old agedhealth related problems he could not, so his son has taken up the journey.

9 am we reached Pongala Para were we made pongala and moved towards Agastya Muni, from Pongala para  its hard trek steep climbs, rocky faces, at three locations we have to climb with the help of ropes, easy climb, but it was very difficult when we came back, not for the faint hearted.  Even on the steep climbs thru the hill we can see elephant dung on the way, so we are encroaching their area. There is an area called Poonkavanam ( heaven ) because we were moving thru forest surrounded by short trees, walking thru the cool shades

We had our breakfast it was our  bun with amul butter

11 am we reached Agastya Muni and started offering pooja to the swami, the peak was a flat rocky face with a small area with bushes trees and after offering pooja.  We were planning our descend its time bounded because by 1.30 – 2pm we have to reach Athirumala base camp then only they will permit us to move back to Bonocaud so after small time calculations we concluded that we will reach in time.

At Pongala para we had our prasadam and pooja rice with jaggery and bananas, and started our descend under the scorching sun, by 1.30 pm we reached the base camp and started to move towards Bonocaud that too is time bounded because the last bus lefts at 6.45pm.  It was walkathon at brisk pace me, kannan mammen & Kumara Das was finding difficult to go along with the Nedumangad group, but some how we managed and reached Bonocaud at 6.15 pm