AGASTYAARKOODAM TREK- PART 1

This is a detailed write up on how to go for the Agstyakoodam trek. I would divide it into 3 parts 

• Part 1: How to reserve your seat 
• Part 2: Day1 Hike from Bonacaud to Athirumala 
• Part 3: Day2 Hike from Athirumala to Agastyaarkoodam to Bonacaud

After the Ladakh cycling trip in Sep 2019 I did many small fort hikes along with the kids around Bangalore city. Was itching for a good overnight hike before the onset of the summers. It was then a whatsapp forward by Samarth caught my attention - a 2 day hike to Agastyaarkoodam near Thiruvanathapuram. And as usual gave into impulse got a buy in from all concerned that this trek we have to go. 

Part 1: How to reserve your seat 

Entry to Agastyaarkoodam peak and its surrounding areas is restricted. One can drive upto the abandoned Tea factory without any permit. Every year trekking starts on Makaravilakku festival in Sabarimala Temple and ends on Sivarathri.

One can track this website (link below) to see when they open the onsite booking. Its usually first week of January. Many newspapers in Kerala carry the advertisement by the Forest Department

https://serviceonline.gov.in/trekking/login.do?OWASP_CSRFTOKEN=SE4R-T82X-E15F-95C6-X3ZW-QK7H-Q74S-P8WU

Only 100 permits are allowed for a day so if the trek is open for 36 days (like in 2020) then only 3600 lucky folks will get the permit to go for the trek. This means you have to be ready with everything to make the reservation.

On the day of the reservation I had put all the details required on a textpad/notepad. This should contain the details of you and your trek team members. 

• First Name
• Last Name
• Age
• ID card
• Address
• Phone Number
• Credit Card Details

For ease of payment I had also made details of the credit card on the same document so all I had to was copy paste into the online form. 

The reservation link was enabled at 11:00 AM and we were able to secure our seats by 11:10 AM. They do give some time for the payment gateway process. 

TIP: If you are a large group best is to split it as you have to type all the names.