We made it! I MADE IT!!!
I will always consider climbing Mount Pulag as one of the biggest physical achievements of my life. Before the climb, I had probably read most, if not all, blog entries related to climbing this mountain. I thought I was mentally prepared for it but boy, was I wrong! Before I go through the details of the actual climb, let me start from the misadventures the week of the climb.
In my previous post, I mentioned that we will be joining Vagabond Pinas. I even posted our itinerary. I also mentioned that we booked this group because of the private car, extra food and our early ETA to Mount Pulag. 4 days before the trip, I was contacted by their "travel consultant", JP. He texted me that he emailed me changes in the itinerary. To make the long story short, he changed EVERYTHING. He wanted us to take the bus because another group suddenly "cancelled". He was giving us a refund of Php200 because our meals are now reduced to 3 and we will be reaching the camp at 4PM. We tried reasoning with him and after frustrated calls and text messages, he CANCELLED our trip, lying that we were the ones who cancelled. We did not even get the refund that he was supposed to issue. We are now filing a case against them and I strongly suggest never joining any of their trips. They are very unprofessional!
Anyway, Ayn came to the rescue by giving us the number of Deo Calumba of BACKPACKERS UNITED. Her friend just climbed with this group a week before so at least we knew they were legit. Deo was very accommodating. He asked us to create a Facebook chat group with everyone so we can ask him any questions. He also sent us a detailed checklist, unlike the 10 or so items sent by VP. After introductions and information were exchange, we were ready.
We all met at Ivan's house at 8:00PM so Drei can park his car there. We were using my brother's car and family driver going to Baguio so we can all get some shut eye before the climb. We reached Baguio around 12:30AM. It was chilly but manageable. Some of us went to Jollibee and KFC for breakfast. At 3:00AM, we met Deo and the rest of the climbers at the Victory Liner Bus Terminal. Take note, this is at the new terminal. We made the mistake of going to the old one. Hehe.
At the bus terminal, we rode a monster jeep to Jang Jang's Eatery. Since we have already eaten our breakfast, we just sat down and rested. Afterwards, we went to DENR for the briefing. The DENR representative, Mering, reminded me of a strict professor who cracks jokes out of nowhere. The briefing consisted of a video containing the do's and don'ts on climbing Mount Pulag. Basically, the following are not allowed -
1. Littering
2. Shouting or too much noise
3. Drinking alcoholic beverages
4. Sexual acts
5. Taking home anything from the mountain home (leaves, flowers, rocks, etc..)
When the briefing was done, we were off to the Ranger Station. The road going there is currently under construction so we had to start hiking a few kilometers before. You can hire a porter to the Ranger Station for Php100. Because both our packs were quite heavy, Reg and I got one each. I, shamelessly, also opted to ride a motorcycle for another Php100. Hehe.
When we all reached RS, Deo helped us get a porter going to the campsite for Php500 each, two-way, maximum 15kgs. We knew about this even before the trip so we packed with this consideration.
And.. off to the mountain we go! I tell you, this was a really hard climb especially for people who has no regular physical activity. I had to make frequent rest stops to catch my breath. I even told our friends to go ahead, with Reg staying behind to help me because I really could not do it alone. Along the way, we met another couple, Mara and Ian, who were in the same dilemma as ours. Mara and I were both exhausted and a little dizzy. We were too far up to give up and yet still too far from the campsite as well. We tried diverting our attention to telling stories about ourselves instead. During this time, our guide, Kuya Santi, has been helping us by walking ahead and pulling us up over steep steps. After 4.5 hours of climbing, complaining, almost crying and resting, we all finally reached Camp 2! Our porters have reached the site 45 minutes before us and were smiling as they saw our tired expressions.
We soon parted ways to go to our respective tents. Our friends had settled in so we removed our muddy shoes and set-up our sleeping mats and bags inside. We then went to the "common area" for a short activity. There were 26 climbers with Backpackers United that day and we all introduced ourselves then ate our late lunch of delicious mechado and rice. Afterwards, we all went back to our tents and had siesta while waiting for the sunset. I cannot remember exactly who woke who up but I remember how cold it was. The temperature had dropped significantly from the time we reached there so we all got into our jackets, bonnets and gloves. We had to climb a little more from where our tent was so we can fully see the sunset. Everyone was still very tired with Ivan, pumping himself up by muttering "Sunset, fun set!" repeatedly.
We took loads of pictures before heading back to the tent for dinner. Deo and Ria made a hearty meal out of pork sinigang and rice. The hot soup was heaven! Reg and I even had a cup of Milo before bed. At 8:00PM, everyone in our tent was asleep.
Reg and I originally planned to join the first batch of climbers to the summit because I was slow but we woke up 10 minutes late so we climbed with our friends. It turned out for the better as some members of the first batch were left by the group, made a wrong turn and ended up in peak 3! They had to go down and climb peak 1 all over again! To go back to my story, the stars were beautiful when we went out of the tent. Too bad we were all in a hurry, I was not able to take pictures. The road to the summit was long and steep. It was a good thing we were only able to see the ground we were stepping on as we were all relying on our headlights to see where we were going. We had frequent rest stops too as the grogginess from just walking up and the extreme cold temperature had us gasping for air. Only a few minutes left before the sunrise, our group decided to take the steep shortcut to make it. Kuya Santi, like the angel that he is, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pulled me up! As soon as we reached the top, I immediately sat down and stopped myself from barfing. There was no time to waste. With the sun rising in seconds, I got my Samsung camera from Reg, turned it on and got the no battery icon of death! I HAD NO BATTERY! The cold discharged my camera and the extra battery was left at the campsite. Grr. Good thing our GoPros all had full batteries and our phones fully charged.
In my previous post, I mentioned that we will be joining Vagabond Pinas. I even posted our itinerary. I also mentioned that we booked this group because of the private car, extra food and our early ETA to Mount Pulag. 4 days before the trip, I was contacted by their "travel consultant", JP. He texted me that he emailed me changes in the itinerary. To make the long story short, he changed EVERYTHING. He wanted us to take the bus because another group suddenly "cancelled". He was giving us a refund of Php200 because our meals are now reduced to 3 and we will be reaching the camp at 4PM. We tried reasoning with him and after frustrated calls and text messages, he CANCELLED our trip, lying that we were the ones who cancelled. We did not even get the refund that he was supposed to issue. We are now filing a case against them and I strongly suggest never joining any of their trips. They are very unprofessional!
Anyway, Ayn came to the rescue by giving us the number of Deo Calumba of BACKPACKERS UNITED. Her friend just climbed with this group a week before so at least we knew they were legit. Deo was very accommodating. He asked us to create a Facebook chat group with everyone so we can ask him any questions. He also sent us a detailed checklist, unlike the 10 or so items sent by VP. After introductions and information were exchange, we were ready.
We all met at Ivan's house at 8:00PM so Drei can park his car there. We were using my brother's car and family driver going to Baguio so we can all get some shut eye before the climb. We reached Baguio around 12:30AM. It was chilly but manageable. Some of us went to Jollibee and KFC for breakfast. At 3:00AM, we met Deo and the rest of the climbers at the Victory Liner Bus Terminal. Take note, this is at the new terminal. We made the mistake of going to the old one. Hehe.
At the bus terminal, we rode a monster jeep to Jang Jang's Eatery. Since we have already eaten our breakfast, we just sat down and rested. Afterwards, we went to DENR for the briefing. The DENR representative, Mering, reminded me of a strict professor who cracks jokes out of nowhere. The briefing consisted of a video containing the do's and don'ts on climbing Mount Pulag. Basically, the following are not allowed -
1. Littering
2. Shouting or too much noise
3. Drinking alcoholic beverages
4. Sexual acts
5. Taking home anything from the mountain home (leaves, flowers, rocks, etc..)
When the briefing was done, we were off to the Ranger Station. The road going there is currently under construction so we had to start hiking a few kilometers before. You can hire a porter to the Ranger Station for Php100. Because both our packs were quite heavy, Reg and I got one each. I, shamelessly, also opted to ride a motorcycle for another Php100. Hehe.
When we all reached RS, Deo helped us get a porter going to the campsite for Php500 each, two-way, maximum 15kgs. We knew about this even before the trip so we packed with this consideration.
And.. off to the mountain we go! I tell you, this was a really hard climb especially for people who has no regular physical activity. I had to make frequent rest stops to catch my breath. I even told our friends to go ahead, with Reg staying behind to help me because I really could not do it alone. Along the way, we met another couple, Mara and Ian, who were in the same dilemma as ours. Mara and I were both exhausted and a little dizzy. We were too far up to give up and yet still too far from the campsite as well. We tried diverting our attention to telling stories about ourselves instead. During this time, our guide, Kuya Santi, has been helping us by walking ahead and pulling us up over steep steps. After 4.5 hours of climbing, complaining, almost crying and resting, we all finally reached Camp 2! Our porters have reached the site 45 minutes before us and were smiling as they saw our tired expressions.
We soon parted ways to go to our respective tents. Our friends had settled in so we removed our muddy shoes and set-up our sleeping mats and bags inside. We then went to the "common area" for a short activity. There were 26 climbers with Backpackers United that day and we all introduced ourselves then ate our late lunch of delicious mechado and rice. Afterwards, we all went back to our tents and had siesta while waiting for the sunset. I cannot remember exactly who woke who up but I remember how cold it was. The temperature had dropped significantly from the time we reached there so we all got into our jackets, bonnets and gloves. We had to climb a little more from where our tent was so we can fully see the sunset. Everyone was still very tired with Ivan, pumping himself up by muttering "Sunset, fun set!" repeatedly.
We took loads of pictures before heading back to the tent for dinner. Deo and Ria made a hearty meal out of pork sinigang and rice. The hot soup was heaven! Reg and I even had a cup of Milo before bed. At 8:00PM, everyone in our tent was asleep.
Reg and I originally planned to join the first batch of climbers to the summit because I was slow but we woke up 10 minutes late so we climbed with our friends. It turned out for the better as some members of the first batch were left by the group, made a wrong turn and ended up in peak 3! They had to go down and climb peak 1 all over again! To go back to my story, the stars were beautiful when we went out of the tent. Too bad we were all in a hurry, I was not able to take pictures. The road to the summit was long and steep. It was a good thing we were only able to see the ground we were stepping on as we were all relying on our headlights to see where we were going. We had frequent rest stops too as the grogginess from just walking up and the extreme cold temperature had us gasping for air. Only a few minutes left before the sunrise, our group decided to take the steep shortcut to make it. Kuya Santi, like the angel that he is, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pulled me up! As soon as we reached the top, I immediately sat down and stopped myself from barfing. There was no time to waste. With the sun rising in seconds, I got my Samsung camera from Reg, turned it on and got the no battery icon of death! I HAD NO BATTERY! The cold discharged my camera and the extra battery was left at the campsite. Grr. Good thing our GoPros all had full batteries and our phones fully charged.
We spent an hour at the top before heading back down for breakfast. We had a big BIG serving of corned beef hash and rice. We rested a bit before packing up our things and starting the descent.
Going down, as expected, was easier than climbing up. Although we were still slower than the seasoned hikers, we reached the Ranger Station in record time. I once again hired a motorcycle to bring me down the last kilometer as well as down to reach the jeepney. We spent the long ride to Baguio sleeping. We first dropped by Jang Jang's Eatery again as we left our change of clothes there. You can shower for a minimal fee but our group decided to just shower in Baguio. Good thing Nina has relatives there who were kind enough to lend us their bathroom. Thanks Tita!
We arrived at the Victory Liner Bus Station. This is where we met our driver again who drove us to Nina's relatives. After the wonderful shower, we went to Cafe by the Ruins for dinner. Review to be posted in another entry. :)
We finished eating around 8:30PM. We did not want to be on the road too late so we went straight to Manila. We arrived around 12:00 MN. As soon as I got home, I went straight to bed and slept like a baby until noon the next day.
The experience of climbing this mountain was uncomparable to anything I have ever done before. I have pushed myself to the limits and I am proud of what we have all accomplished. This climb also reaffirmed my relationship with Reg. I know that he will not leave my side when I need his strength and support, physically, mentally and emotionally.
I decided to make a video of this trip. Looking at the pictures with my long-time college friends, it got me all teary-eyed. I realized how much we have all been through already. Our relationship might not be perfect but at least we know we have each other to count on when times get tough.
Song: The Sun is Rising
Singer: Britt Nicole
Equipments Used: Samsung EX2F, GoPro Hero 3+, Chesty, Monopod, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5
Link to the video HERE.
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