Mt. Pulag, The Second Time Around
I wasn't a mountaineer back then, I am not sure if I am one now though, are there any qualifications? Let’s just say I haven’t climbed a mountain back then, but there was already the desire to go tramping into the green wild. Year 2011, a friend from Nueva Viscaya told me how there is a mountain she wants to climb close to her hometown and so I searched for it and bam! I fell in love. How could such a beauty not be seen in one’s lifetime?
Last April of 2012 I have fulfilled that dream but my friend hasn't, the irony of life. After a year has passed I began to miss it and I knew I had to go back. This time I was going with total strangers (but not anymore), I figured I want to see different faces and meet new friends so last Dec. 27-29, 2013 I once again packed my gears (makes it sound like I have all of them) and decided to brave the cold and hit the killer trail (Akiki trail) once again.
The night of December 26 we boarded Victory liner in Pasay (every Filipino mountaineer knows this bus) at 20:00 and arrived in Baguio the next day at around 3:00, we waited for some of our group mates who were already in Baguio, had some coffee and oh that strawberry flavored “Taho”. We had our breakfast at Ate Gina’s (she is one of those you need to contact if you want to climb this mountain) restaurant at around 4:30 and boarded the monster jeep again at 5:00 to take us first to the DENR HQ and then to the jump off. This was also my first experience of “topload”, this is what we call riding the jeep (sometimes bus) on the roof. Yes, it was exciting, fun and it kind of hurts your butt too.
Dec. 27 at around 9:00 we took the first step and we know there is no going back. We hiked 3 hours to Eddet river and had our lunch. At around 12:45 we our misery started because we will be literally defying gravity with the almost 90 degree slopes of the Akiki trail. At 16:00 we were all smiles, congratulating ourselves because we made it to the Marlboro camp and not everyone can do that I must say, specially with a heavy backpack. But of course, thanks be to God for giving us the strength to do so. We set up our camps, prepared our food, had our socials and just enjoyed the place before we called it a day, slept and re-charged our bodies, specially our knees for the next day.
I've heard that laughter is the best medicine, I say sleeping is one of those medicines, but as soon as you get enough, you have to wake up and get moving if you want to get somewhere. So we woke up at 6:00 on our second day to get the meals done, took pictures, packed our things up once again because the mossy forest is waiting. We agreed to have a heavy breakfast because we were targeting to reach the saddle camp by 14:00 with no lunch break.
We left Marlboro Camp at 9:00 and thankfully we were able to reach the Saddle Camp on the time set. We can already feel the chill, but not freezing yet as the friendly sun was still with us so we were able to prepare the meals with smiling faces, roam around mini peaks near the camp (and took pictures as usual) before we decided to prepare food for dinner. As the sun bade us goodbye, we became ninjas, we covered everything except our eyes. Even though it was freezing cold we still managed to have our socials courtesy of Kuya Elvin’s party tent and some sort of foil-like thing that reflects heat placed on the top of the tent. This is where we officially introduced ourselves, our organizer, Christian really pushed us to do what you usually do before at school (say your name, what you do, first climb etc.) except you have to add your first impression with everyone at the team which was really tough because I don’t usually form an opinion about a person I just met and I am just not really good at this thing.
After the socials, I was the first to say goodnight again (I was always the first one) but I woke up in the middle of the night because of the cold, I was trying to psych myself but it didn't work so I got out and found out that the youngest from our team, Kevin was having a fever of sorts due to the cold as well and his cousins attending to him. I requested for coffee since they were already heating some water and there’s no way I’m removing my gloves in that subzero temperature (good thing I have a team who can do that for me huh?). I stayed at Kuya Elvin’s tent for the rest of the night while he and the rest of the men in our team just stayed up till the dawn, I didn’t kick Kuya Elvin out of his tent, he decided for himself to stay awake, and besides they were eating their way till dawn (that should keep you awake right?).
They woke the rest of us at 5:00 on our third and last day at Pulag so we can reach the summit before sunrise to witness the famous Sea of Clouds. God granted us our heart’s desire and we were blessed with a stunning sunrise over the Sea of Clouds. We jumped, we smiled, we posed and did all sort of things for the camera trying to capture the beautiful scenery in front of us. We didn't want to leave but we had to, specially that we have left Kevin due to his fever with his cousin Kuya Makki back at the camp.
At 7:30 we were back at the saddle camp to prepare our last brunch at Mt. Pulag and surprise! We were greeted by the snow all over our tents! Okay, they're not really snow, they call it frosting, but isn't Frosty the snowman? We left feeling so blessed at around 9:30 still seeing the sea of clouds, they seem to linger a little longer that day. We arrived at Ambangeg's jump off at around 1:30 and bought something to eat before we headed to Ate Gina's restaurant again to have our early dinner and went straight to Baguio. We arrived there at around 17:30 at the Victory terminal because three of our teammates had to buy tickets while the rest of us stayed in Baguio at Christian's friend's house to have a taste of Baguio the next day before going home.
They say you never climb the same mountain twice, because the weather is different, the company maybe different and you are a totally different person and yes they are right. Maybe we haven't changed big time but we, whether we know it or not has embraced new ideology and formed a different world view while letting go of some. It was my perfect Pulag climb because everything was just perfect, the company, the pace and the weather. There wasn't even a drop of rain, yet we had the sea of clouds and those little frostings!
On that climb we weren't fast, but we were consistent so we got on the target place at the set time, which formed this thought in my head that I'll leave with you "What you can't beat with strength, you can beat with time" (I hope I was the first one to say that :D). Till next time?
Oh and below are our photos and here is my facebook page you can like it if you want. :)
https://www.facebook.com/timelessterry
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| Yes, the sea of clouds. |
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| And here's the snow! |
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The team on Top. L-R, Kuya Jojo, Carmela, Michael, Paula, Kuya Myk, Felix, Wilson, Mira, Me, Pau, Christian and Kuya Elvin.
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| "The Jeep", Inside and out - my first topload experience. |
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| I know, looks like a still from a scary movie but it actually is a beauty when you see it with your own eyes. Akiki Trail. |
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| Stop over along the Akiki Trail nearing the Marlboro Camp |
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| the Ladies and Gentlemen at Saddle Camp. At the back is the summit of Mt. Pulag. |
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| At Baguio, Kuya Alex' House, he's the one at the topmost left part. |
