Trekking Mt. Pulag (Akiki-Ambangeg)

Province of Benguet

I was supposed to scale Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Oriental but I missed it so I decided to join Mt. Pulag hike via Akiki-Ambangeg trail.

The hike was expected to be difficult with a scale of 7 out of 9 with 9 being the hardest so I expected that there will just be a few of us.

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Eight hikers met at Victory Liner Pasay terminal at 11:30PM on the 28th of October and head on to Baguio City. We reached the city of pines at about 6:30AM the following day. We had few minutes buying our supplies and then boarded a monster Jeep. We headed to the municipality of Bokod, where the DENR/Protected Area Office is located, to register.

Ambuklao Dam

Along the way, we stopped over at "Pinkan Joe" for a late breakfast and buy our packed lunch. After having our late breakfast, we decided to ride atop the monster Jeep for fun. Riding atop the monster Jeep while travelling on a zigzag road was so exciting. I enjoyed taking snap shots and video clips of nice landscapes that include the Ambuklao Dam and Power Plant.

Akiki Jump-Off Point

There are portions of the road going to Bokod that are still under construction so it was bumpy and dusty along the way.

DENR Office

We reached the DENR/Protected Area Office past 9:00AM. We registered and got some few souvenirs. From the Protected Area office, we travelled 4 hours more onboard the monster Jeep going to Akiki jump-off point. We reached the jump-off point at aroung 1:00PM.

Trail to Camp Site

It was an exciting 7 hours of travel on-board the monster Jeep from Baguio to the jump-off point. We had our lunch at the jump-off point and registered ourselves. We started trekking at about 1:30PM going to Eddet river. The trail was very nice. We reached Eddet river at about 4:00PM and set camp. The weather was also nice.

On the second day, we started preparing for a challenging climb at 3:00AM. We started trekking on the steep trail going to Marlboro Country. At this time, it started to drizzle. If the first day trek was easy, the trek going to Marlboro Country was indeed challenging. It was a very long steep trail through a forest of pine trees. We reached Marlboro Country at about 10:00AM and there was a heavy downpour. It was totally cloudy and the wind was strong. We had our early lunch and then commenced trekking to the Mossy forest at about 11:00AM.

Camp Site

We reached the Mossy forest at about 1:30PM. This forest was amazing because the trees were all covered with "moss". At the end of the Mossy forest, we reached the grassland at about 4:00PM. The golden - colored grassland was so amazing.

This part of the trek was the most challenging part. There was a heavy downpour, a strong wind and a very cold temperature. Our guide manong "Teddy" who was leading the trail had to fall back to guide the others who were at the tail of the trail. As I go further along the trail, the wind blew stronger. I can feel each drop of rain hitting my face and I had hold on my raincoat and stopped on the trail for a while to brace myself.

Trekking from Edet River

I first saw a small house, the waiting shed, near the saddle camp at the middle of the grassland and for me it was a sign of hope. As it gets colder, my hands and face turned numbed. I almost can't feel my fingers and I can't speak clearly. We were all at the saddle camp/waiting shed at about 3:30PM.

Trail to Saddle Point

Because all us were wet and shivering, Osep asked our guide if we scan stay at the waiting shed instead of pitching our tend at the saddle camp. Our guide lets us stayed at the waiting shed for a while but at the end, five of us had to be "evicted" because there were guests coming in and we can't all fit inside.

Camp Site

Gladly, after an hour, the rain subsided and five of us went back camping at the Saddle camp. We had a chance to see the sun setting at the saddle camp and it was so nice.

Sunset

Our summit assault on the following day was scheduled at 5:30AM for sunset but since there was no clearing, then we delayed it by 7:00AM.

After having breakfast, we started trekking and reached the summit at about 7:15AM. Although there was no clearing, it was still worth it to be at the summit. We started trekking to camp 2 (Ambangeg) at 7:30AM and we were there by 9:30AM. When we were at the Ambangeg trail, there was a short clearing and we saw the majestic golden landscape of Mt. Pulag.

We continued trekking to Babadak Ranger Station at 10:00AM. We were all at the Babadak Ranger station at 12:30PM, fixed ourselves and boarded the monster Jeep going to the DENR office to log-out. Along the way, we stopped over at ma'am Gina's place where we had a delicious "Pinikpikan" lunch and a coffee.

Ranger Station

We headed back to Baguio after logging-out at the DENR office. We had a flat tire along the way about 18 kilometers away from Baguio.

We were all back to Baguio at about 7:45PM and checked in at Victory bus terminal for 9:00PM scheduled trip to Manila. We decided to have a quick dinner at "Cafe by the Ruins" and then back to the bus terminal. Photos: Gallery #1 Gallery #2 Gallery #3.

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Trekking Mt. Arayat

Province of Pampanga

15 October 2011

Early 3:00 AM October 15, 21 hikers met at Mc Donalds El Pueblo and prepared for travel to the province of Pampanga to scale Mt. Arayat. Guiding us were Ace, Joel and Darren.

Trail leading to Mt. Arayat from jump-off point

We left Mc Donalds 4:00AM onboard two private vans. Our destination, Brgy. San Juan Baño, Arayat, Pampanga. We had a stop-over at a gas station along NLEX to buy some supplies and CR break.

We reached the DENR (Ranger Station) office at Brgy. San Juan Baño in Arayat, Pampanga 6:30AM and it was still closed. Our guide Ace had to go back to the Brgy. office to register us, get 2 local guides and settle the DENR fee for our climb.

Approaching the covered trail

We started trekking Mt. Arayat at 7:00AM. This is 1 hour and a half earlier than our IT of 8:30AM.

Mt. Arayat trail in general was nice. The first part was a nice open landscape covered mostly with cogon grass. After about an hour of trekking, we started to trek a more steep part of the mountain and this time, a forest. This part of the trail was quite tiring.

Lush green environment

Our summit assault was quite tiring because the trail going up was long compared to Pico de Loro and Sierra Madre.

At about 10:00AM, we reached the "View Deck". The view of the Pampanga river at this point was very majestic. Looking over it from the top reminded me of the arial view of Amazon River.

Mt. Arayat summit

We continued our summit and finally reached the peak-camp site 15 minutes before 12Noon.

There were about 5 mountaineers who went ahead of us and were preparing for lunch when we arrived at the summit. The summit though was covered with trees so we had to go down a little bit to have a full view of the awesome landscape below us.

Steep trail

From the summit, we saw the long and winding Pampanga river and the green rice fields some of it were still flooded. We were so lucky to be a little early at the summit. After few minutes, the clouds spread and the view was completely covered with fog.

After having few camera shots at the view deck of the summit, we went back to the camp site and had our lunch.

Huge rocks and trees along the trail

After lunch, We rested for a while and then started our descent past 1:00PM. At this time, it started to drizzle.

When we were at the middle of trail, there was a heavy down pour that made the trail slippery and muddy making our descent more challenging. Most of us were wet.

Mt. Arayat summit

Myself, Nel, Bianca and AJ went ahead and reached the jump-off point at 3:00PM. We were quite fast.

We were all back at the jump-off point safe at about 6:30PM. We finally left the DENR office at about 7:00PM and went back home to Manila straight. More photos.

-o0o-