Our Mt. Ugo hike with Happy Feet
Adventours last April 18-19, 2015 proved that sometimes, the thrill of mountain
hiking is felt not when you are at the summit – but when you are only 4 kms away
from completing the entire trek. I will tell you why. The adventure was truly
something to be remembered.
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At the summit of Mt. Ugo (2,150 meters above sea level) |
April 17, 2015. Victory Liner,
Kamuning Station
My trekking buddies Hannah and
Ranna arranged a hike at Mt. Ugo in Itogon, Benguet with Happy Feet Adventours
thru Happy Feet’s adventure guide and Ranna’s friend, Justine. A week prior to
the trek, Justine met with the participants at SM Megamall where he provided a
briefing on what to bring and what to expect, among others. I wasn’t able to
attend the briefing but the pointers were discussed with me through Facebook. I
was reminded to bring jacket, umbrella, hat, sleeping bag, extra shirts, food
container and utensils, and trail food, among others. I made sure that all of
these were ready a day prior to the hike.
Since the trek on April 18 would
start in the morning, we needed to leave Manila in the evening of April 17. From
the office, I dropped by condo where I stay, picked up my things, and went
straight to the terminal. We met at Victory Liner, Kamuning, 10pm. There I met
Justine in person and the two other hikers, Kuya Alvin and Ate Anna (husband
and wife). I forgot to bring blanket so Hannah lent me her peacock-inspired malong. I also forgot to bring water
because it was not in the things that we had to bring!
(Mountaineering Tip 1: Those who would go on hiking should bear in mind
that water is a necessity. Just like oxygen.)
We took the bus going to Nueva
Vizcaya. We left at 1130am and slept inside the bus. The usual 5-hour drive
took 7 hours because we were caught in a traffic jam due to a road widening project
somewhere in San Jose. It was rather an uneasy travel for some. As for me, I
had a pretty good rest.
April 18, 2015. Kayapa, Nueva
Vizcaya
We reached Nueva Vizcaya around
730am. From there, we transferred to a van going to Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya. We
travelled for an hour and a half. We met with our guide, Kuya Manuel, and our
porter, Kuya Bryan. Before we officially started our 32-km Nueva
Vizcaya-Benguet traverse, we had our breakfast at Eat and Go, a nearby carinderia in Kayapa Market, across from
the barangay hall. I ordered for Pinakbet and one serving of red rice that cot
me around Php 50. We also bought a loaf of tasty bread, a pack of mayonnaise,
and bottle of peanut butter which we would eat for lunch.
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Eat and Go Restaurant at Kayapa Public Market |
We freshened up and took photos of this tree with purple flowers which mimicked cherry blossoms of Japan, before we started with our trek.
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The tree with purple blossoms (Jacaranda tree) |
Then, we began what we called the
“walk to remember”. The ascent was challenging because of the literally burning
heat plus the steepness of the trail. Good thing, the trail was covered with
towering pine trees which provided shades. Whenever we stopped to rest (which
was every 10 to 15 minutes), we would ask our guide to take our photos! Kuya
Manuel was a servile and helpful guide/photographer. And, even if we were not
going to rest, but we would see a picturesque scenery, we had to stop and
capture the astounding natural view!
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Tree-covered trails |
What I noticed about the Ugo Trail were the structures and sheds built for hikers where they could rest. We had our lunch in one of these sheds.
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Covered structures where hikers could rest |
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"It's an uphill slope, but I won't lose hope" - Go The Distance |
We continued with the arduous
uphill climb until we reached Indupit Village. Indupit Village was where we
would start walking on a flat terrain, finally! There we took photos of
breathtaking setting of mountain ranges and rested for 30 minutes in a small
community where we met lovable kids. One of them gave Hannah yellow flowers
that she took with her for the rest of the trek.
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At Indupit Village |
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Justine and Hannah with the Indupit kids |
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Hannah with the little girl who gave her flowers |
Our relatively easier trek
continued. We were looking forward to reach the boundary of Nueva Vizcaya and
Benguet. We would have our photos taken there to be captioned “being in two
places at the same time”, similar to what Mandy Moore and Shane West did in the
film “A Walk To Remember”. As we went higher, we had to stop from time to time,
as Hannah experienced difficulty in breathing. But she was able to overcome
that. On our way to the boundary, we saw the fog covering the trail! It was a
stunning sight to behold, having the blanket of fog as your background! In no
time, it drizzled. Thus, we had to cover our bags and our heads!
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Flat terrain from Indupit Village going to Domolpos Community School |
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Hannah ang myself taking advantage of the view |
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More photos for me... |
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...and for the group! |
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Keep on going: 11 km more to summit! |
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How cool is this shot, huh?! |
The drizzling only lasted for a
while. After a while, we reached the boundary of Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet.
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At the boundary of Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet |
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Doing the "standing in two places at same time" |
As
planned we asked Kuya Manuel to take our photos! Then we proceeded walking to
Domolpos Elementary School where we stayed for the night. Going to Domolpos was
difficult. Because it rained the trail was slippery due to the clay soil. Around
6pm, we reached Domolpos Community School.
At Domolpos Community School
During summerbreak, the local
government allows the hikers to stay in the school classrooms. If I am not
mistaken, there were 3 rooms which could be used. Kuya Brian our porter, was
already at the school waiting for us with our belongings when we arrived.
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Domolpos Community School |
Kuya Manuel lives nearby. According
to Kuya Manuel, the kids attend elementary school here. When they reach
highschool, they would go to the town and stay there for the week. The kids
would just return home on weekends.
The school had no electricity.
But it had a source of water. According to Kuya Manuel, we could drink the
water as long as it’s boiled.
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The classroom where we stayed for the night |
There were 2 comfort rooms/toilet
and 2 shower rooms, one of each for male and female. The challenge was the
illumination and the place to hang your clothes should you wish to take a bath.
But we’re able to take a bath and “release our inhibitions”!
We had our coffee. Since we did
not have drinking cups, we used our plastic food container, instead. According
to Ranna, we should pretend like we were sipping Japanese tea! True enough.
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Our coffee! |
Justine prepared our dinner. He
had his portable stove where he cooked rice. We just discovered that he did not
know how to cook rice if not thru a rice cooker! “Justine, kung gaano kataas ang bigas, ganoon din karamin ang tubig.
Itinuro yan sa elementary,” we told him. Justine learned something new that
night. He brought delicious adobo (yes, already cooked) and prepared salted egg
with tomato. Ate Anna and Kuya Alvin brought canned tuna which they shared with
us, too.
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Our dinner! |
We shared travel stories during
our dinner. We learned that Kuya Alvin was a chef in a cruise line and has been
traveling places. He would return to work by June and he was looking forward to
this trek.
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Conversations over dinner |
We washed the dishes when we
finished eating. Since we were not able to bring dishwashing soap, Justine
shared with us a “mountaineering trick”: use dry tissue and wet wipes. How?
Wash the food containers and utensils with water, wipe them with wet wipes, and
then dry them with tissue. So we followed him. It worked, we could still smell
the oil of canned tuna.
(Mountaineering Tip 2: Bring dishwashing soap/liquid.)
Around 9pm, when we were about to
sleep a group of around 25 hikers arrived. They set up their tents and stayed
awake until dawn. We could hear their noise from where we stayed.
April 19, 2015. Domolpos to Mt.
Ugo Summit
We woke up at 2am and prepared
for 4am ascent. Justine boiled water from the faucet and prepared coffee for
us. He also cooked tuyo, scrambled egg and rice. Hannah and I did not eat rice.
We washed the dishes again using the new trick we learned.
And because we run short of
potable water, we boiled the water and filled our containers. Because the water
was boiled in the pan, it tasted more like wet wipes. But we had to do that to
survive! We had 5 more kilometers to trek to reach the summit.
We left the school at 5am. The
other hikers were still sound asleep, cans of beer resting outside their tents.
We witnessed the sunrise while climbing.
It was a view to behold. The sea of clouds from afar and the mountain ranges
made me realize how wonderful the world was. It’s God’s creation.
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View of sunrise |
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The sun was greeting! |
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Sloping terrain to summit |
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More astounding views! |
Finally we reached the summit! We
weren’t able to see the sea of clouds touching our feet but to be able to stand
2,150 meters above sea level was already a feat!
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At the summit with Happy Feet Adventours banner |
We had our mandatory photo-ops
and stayed there for about 30 minutes before beginning our descent.
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2,150 meters above sea level?! Wow! That's an achievement! |
Mt. Ugo Summit to 4kms before the
end of trek
The descent was relatively easier
because the terrains we trekked were relatively flat. And, most parts of the
trail were covered with trees. I enjoyed this because we’ve got to talk while
walking instead of just focusing on how we would secure our feet on the
soil/rocks, so that we would not stumble!
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This is me and Kuya Manuel (at 15 km to end point marker) |
We had our lunch at around 11am,
and as usual, Justine cooked our lunch. We still had adobo! And Ate Anna and
Kuya Alvin shared with the rest of the group their canned luncheon meat! We
rested for a while and continued with our trek.
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The group rested while Justine was preparing our lunch |
We target to be at the end of the
trail by 5pm. Thus, we were walking fast, but we would have our occasional
rest.
The trek was going smoothly until
we saw a forest fire from afar. We asked our guide if the fire would passed by
the trail and he said probably it wouldn’t. So we continued with our trek.
We stopped by a community to ask
for some potable water. We’re directed to a “poso” (water pump). The village
was also selling soft drinks at prices as high as the mountains!
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The store where my friends bought softdrinks |
When we reached the 4km marker to
the end of the trail, we were shocked that the forest fire that we saw earlier
was crossing the trail!
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At 4 km marker: yes, the fire was crossing the trail! |
This was where the action
happened. Kuya Manuel, Hannah, and I were the first to cross the trail! We
jumped over the knee-high fire. The first one. The next fire crossing the trail
was taller than we were! The moment we’re about to pass “through” it, the wind
blew, which made the fire even bigger and wilder! The smoke covered the path
that we weren’t able to see anything before us! There were rocks falling from
above! “Should we go or should we not?” “We should go!” I told Hannah. Hannah
got the peacock-inspired malong from
my bag and I gave her the bottle of water, waited for a minute until the
visibility was clearer, before we crossed the fire eventually. Imagine the
thrill of running – just one wrong step, you might off the cliff!
The experience was worse for Ate
Anna, because she was wearing contact lenses! So she had to close her eyes and
Kuya Alvin had to hug her while passing through the fire!
But God was good! We survived the
most challenging part of the trek!
With our knees still shaking, we
rested for a while before we continued walking. And the remaining time we had
was spent recollecting what just happened – this time, laughing at what we had
just experienced.
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This just shows how extensive the fire was! |
One kilometer from the end of
trek to the end of the entire journey
One kilometer from the endpoint,
we rested in a village again and drank cold water and soft drinks. Finally, we
reached the bridge where we had our mandatory photoshoots again!
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Another store where we had refreshments |
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The bridge |
We walked another 500 kilometers
to the end of the trail. From there, we rode a van that transferred us to
Itogon, Benguet Barangay Hall.
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Zero kilometer selfie |
At the barangay hall, we freshened up. (They
were serving free coffee there!) We also reported what just happened and sadly,
we learned that forest fire seemed to be a “common incident”. According to the
barangay officials, they could not do anything about it. They suspected that the
fire was deliberate and was done by those who own cows! The grasses were too
tall already that instead of just cutting them, these owners opted to just burn
them so that when it rained, new grasses would grow!
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Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet Barangay Hall |
What saddened us was the fact
that the local government seemed to accept this. We would like to start an
advocacy to stop forest fire. And the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
should be strict in implementing its policies. Otherwise, just like other laws,
these rules would just be good in papers.
We received our certificates of completion,
having conquered Mt. Ugo. However, to say we conquered it was an
understatement. But this was truly a memorable traverse!
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The faces of victory! Woohoo! |
The van transported us to Baguio,
where we were able to catch the 10pm bus going to Manila.
I promised myself, after my
comprehensive examinations in July, I would be joining Happy Feet in their
treks!
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I would always remember this trek. |
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For hiking enthusiasts or for curious spirits who want to experience their first mountain climbing, visit the page of Happy Feet Adventours,https://www.facebook.com/ happyfeetadventours for schedules.
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