My Mother Mountain Mt. Pulag (via Akiki-Ambangeg trail)

May 14, 2016

My Mother Mountain Mt. Pulag (via Akiki-Ambangeg trail)

Mt. Pulag via Akiki trail what?!

Our Mt. Pulag climb was the first adventure we looked forward this year. Sir Jong, our former professor and at the same time our friend, has invited us to this trip. He was the one who did all the scouting of organized climbs to Mt. Pulag. After all the inquiries and issues on possibly closing the mountain because of a recent fire at Mt. Apo, we finally have a date: May 5-6, 2016 with the team of Sir Ado Descalsote.

I am very excited and the same time nervous because I think I am the only one who has no experience in climbing in our group. My friends Sheba, Freya and Sir Jong have already climbed Mt. Apo while Glaiza, though has not been part in any organized climb, has already been climbing mountains since 2011 (I think) because of her work.

Mt. Pulag is the 3rd highest mountain in the Philippines and the highest peak in Luzon. The "sea of clouds" is one of its most prominent attractions, hence, people usually flock the mountain especially during weekends.

There is a much easier route to the peak, but then again, Sir Jong challenged us (he has been doing this ever since college, hehe) that if we go to Pulag we should do the Akiki trail aka the Killer trail as it would be more worth it. And yup, we agreed :)

There were a lot of road blocks as we near the supposedly climb date. Friends having commitments that are not within their control, sick family, ripped bag, angry taxi driver and so many more. But then, after we have arrived in Baguio, everything went smoothly. Though it ended that only three of us did push for the climb (me, Freya and Glaiza), there are a lot of things we are truly grateful on this adventure:

1. We were blessed with an amazing team.

My friends Glaiza and Freya (walang arte), Ms. Mich who is such an inspiration (this is the 3rd mountain she climbed and one of her leg is an artificial limb), Sir Ed and Sir Ding (seasoned climbers and men of wisdom), Sir Paul (just cool and always leads the group in asking for the Lord's guidance) Sir Ado and Sir Dan (the hosts of this event and they are simply just good motivators).

2. The pristine view!

Though it was a hard climb since almost everything is assault....assault to Marlboro Country, assault to Mossy Forest (I did feel assaulted, hehe). All of the sweat and hardships dissolved every time you look at the nature in front of you. Truly, God's gift :)

the Pine trees during our assault to Marlboro country

Camp at Marlboro Country (Photo credits: Sir Paul Agetano)

chasing lights at the Mossy forest

sunrise

3. The sea of clouds

Our organizer said that the sea of clouds is not really a sure thing when you go up the peak. We were just lucky to see it in our own eyes. There is a good view of the clouds from the mossy forest and we tried to catch it all the way to the peak. We even have a video trying to jump and catch the clouds :)