Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 3 of 4)

Now for this third installment of the 40 mountains project, we get to see more of multi-day, multi-mountain trekking expeditions. From the famed D2K (Dulang-Dulang - Kitanglad Traverse) of Mindanao to the Kibungan Circuit of the Cordilleras. And oh, I would also like to introduce you guys to Fighter, the mountain dog. 

Let me bring you to the peaks of Mindanao, to the Cordilleras and Taiwan's highest. 

Life begins at the mountains. 

#21-22. Mt. Dulang-Dulang (2,938 MASL) Mt. Kitanglad (2,899 MASL)| Lantapan - Impasug-ong, Bukidnon

Campsite at Manny's Garden. Nope. Not named after Manny Pacquiao, but after Mindanaoan mountaineer Manny Serina.

We started the D2K expedition with a traditional send-off from the Tala'andig tribesmen at the base of Mt. Dulang-Dulang in Lantapan the night before. The mountain is part of Tala'andig's ancestral domain so be sure to get their approval first before heading on to climb Dulang-Dulang. AND don't forget that chicken for the sacrificial ritual. We were welcomed by muddy, unpaved road towards the trail head as we start the trek since it has been raining the day before the climb. The trail, although already distinguishable and established enough can be tricky at times. So be careful not to lose sight of your team mates. The campsite - Manny's Garden was a feast for the eyes. The moss-covered trees and ferns were like pulled from those fictional worlds. Except that this is all true. And it is amazing! This campsite can be compared to Mt. Apo's Godi-Godi Campsite (Kapatagan Trail), but much, much cleaner. Godi-Godi has a mini smokey mountain for crying out loud! What the heck is the LGU doing with the environmental fees that they are charging!

Kitanglad on the descent. Looking towards Dulang-Dulang

As day 2 dawned, we started to make our way to Mt. Kitanglad. With my limited mountaineering portfolio, I can say that this has been my most challenging so far. There were nearly 70-80 degree descents which you have to scramble through slippery roots, rock and mud because it was raining. Then there was this 90 degree rock wall which you have to rappel with full pack which is slippery as f*ck too! No time to celebrate because not long after, you will find yourself under huge-ass cogon over-arching that has (I think) 60 degree incline. You have no choice but to do a 4x4 - sort of crawling your way up - with full pack. When I saw that sun light at the end of the cogon tunnel, I was relieved - thinking that I just went past all the hard part. Then I saw one of the porters looking up. Which he then turned to me and said: 'Ser meron pa.' Then it dawned on me that we had to climb this almost 90 degree wall of mud and rocks in front of me - and it was raining to top it off. Since we had no rope to assist us, we just had to brute force our way up, carrying ourselves up that wall and calculating where to hold, then place our footing. Slowly clawing our way up, leading to the bunkers at the summit of Mt. Kitanglad. Then there's Fighter the mountain dog.  

Fighter posing for a Hachiko-esque profile pic while we geared up for Dulang Dulang's summit.

What you see up there is Fighter. He is one of the farm dogs in Binahon Farm - the jump-off point for Mt. Dulang-Dulang. He, along with Shamcey, another farm dog, surprisingly went with us on our way up the mountain. The guides told us that due to the trail towards Kitanglad (composed of that batsh*t crazy trail I elaborated earlier), the dogs will be forced to turn back. Well, not Fighter. He went with us and shared the ordeal with us, all rainy and slippery. He was my companion when I climbed that almost 90-degree rock and mud wall on the final stretch towards Kitanglad's summit. He went up the wall one step at a time and he even waited for me when he saw me having a a hard time pulling myself up - pretty much like Kiba-Akamaru tandem in Naruto. He completed the 3-day traverse with us (with an injured leg) and now resides at our team leader's residence in CDO. As for Shamcey, I do hope she was able to go back to the farm safely. This, along with the sh*t ass crazy experiences we had on this traverse made it epic. Another one for the books!

#23. Mt. Ugo (2,150 MASL)| Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya - Itogon, Benguet

Trekking up the final stretches of the assault leading to the cow-infested campsite. 

The trail stretched for around 30 kilometers which covers various patches of pine forests (which where formerly logging sites). Comparing to past treks, I can say that this one has been one of the most relaxing because of that pine forest patch and its relatively walk-in-the-park-ish trail for the most part (though it is quite long and tiring, long assault at the start of the trek, as well as tree-less parts where it would be scorching hot at high noon). PLUS there are are freakin cows! They are everywhere! haha! A bunch of hoodlum cows terrorized our campsite near the summit. Some cookset were stomped upon, also shirts and pants that were chewed like grass. Anyway, we granted clear night sky (with shooting stars and a view of the milky way) and a good clearing at sunrise.  

Mt. Ugo can easily become an alternative to the increasingly-deteriorating Ambangeg trail of Pulag. Well the trek is certainly longer and tiring, and there's no grassland-filled rolling hills at the peaks just like Pulag, but if you are one of those who value the experience of trekking more than basking at the summit, then try Ugo! We also met some mountain bikers along the trail, who did the Benguet-Vizcaya traverse - and they were equally thrilled!

#24-26. Mt. Tagpaya (1,820 MASL) Mt. Oten (1,875 MASL) Mt. Tagpew (2,105) - Kibungan Circuit | Kibungan, Benguet


Kibungan Circuit I can say, is one of those long and tiring trek but at the end of each day, when you pitch your tents and start preparing your dinner, you start to feel refreshed again. The trek is composed of climbing three main peaks - Tagpaya, Oten and Tagpew.

Daybreak at the summit of Mt. Tagpaya

Your first day will be spent negotiating ascent after steep ascent with a steep rock-faced, Kinabalu-esque final assault to reach the camp site. There you will settle down having Tagpaya's summit greeting you in the morning. The trail is pretty much well covered up by trees (mostly Pine Trees), which is monitored by the local government - we even came across people from the barangay (I think) who are making rounds monitoring newly planted trees along the mountain trail.  

Mid-day fogged-up ridge trail leading to Mt. Oten

Second day of the adventure will leave you descending Mt. Tagpaya and traversing through side mountain trails, which looking at a distance, will kinda freak you out. But hey, it's much easier than it looks. This section of the trail will lead you to fogged-up ridge lines, crazy-ass steep ascent (on the final stretch towards Mt. Oten) and my favorite - Pine-scented trails. Those pines were so goddamn feast for the nose!

Sunrise at Mt. Tagpew

As you start your final day of the trek, (if weather permits) you will be greeted by the astounding sunrise over the horizon - accentuated by the contours of the nearby mountain peaks. The trail for the most part heads down, descending towards the communities below, up to the river (where we took a cold plunge as we took a good lunch break) and finally onto the end of the trail. 

The mountain trails of Kibungan has been used by the locals as far as they can remember - to traverse nearby provinces, even reaching La Union. 

Bonus: As you descend towards the river onto the final end of the trek, you will pass by this gem. One of the wonders tucked in Kibungan. We just gotta stop over and take it all in - dropped jaw in awe and all. 

This is just a small segment of the massive rice terraces in Kibungan.

#27. Mt. Yushan/Jade Mountain (3,952 MASL)| Nantou, Taiwan

Among all the other photos I took on the summit, this has been my favorite. The sunrise was bursting with colors!

This has been my second international experience as of posting and I can say that this has been my favorite mountain so far (Kinabalu is a close second). The trail was so well-kept and the Yushan National Park was well managed that guides and porters were unnecessary - which, by Philippine mountain trail standards is very much out of our league. Some, if not most of the climbers we came across were quite aged (again, by Philippine standards), around 40-70 years old which puts to shame the so-called (or self-proclaimed) Filipino 'hardcore mountaineer'. That one hell of a mountain was just a walk in the park to them! I, on the other hand, got high-altitude sickness upon reaching past the 3,000 MASL mark. The nasty throbbing head pain, accompanied by breathlessness is simply annoying - I had a hard time sleeping because of this. While here in the Philippines, just climb a 600-meter mountain, do buwis-buhay shot and we already claim to be one hardcore mountaineers. 

We are very, very far from the levels of park maintenance compared to our neighbors. Heck, we can't even maintain the cleanliness of Pico de Loro for crying out loud! Jeezuz. Personally, experiencing international climbs and seeing that these mountains were managed so well has widen up my horizon - and made me quite sad considering the current state of the Philippine mountain trails. Sustainable development can be done to national parks, others can do it, so why can't we? It is not enough that we do lip-service, that we respect and revere our mountains. We have to walk the talk.Quite frankly, our most revered - Mt. Apo is far from respected. Have you seen the smokey mountain at Godi-Godi campsite?

Our three-man team was quite disappointed as we were expecting our first snow-capped mountain experience (and my first taste of snow!). Our Taiwanese friend told us that winter came in late this year and we should be thankful because we wouldn't be allowed to push through the summit without crampons had there been snowfall. Although there were snow yet, the trek to the summit was cold and windy, more that what we had expected! Just imagine if there were snow - our balls would have been frozen solid. Guess we gotta prepare better for snow-capped peaks next time.

#28. Mt. Timbak (2,717 MASL)| Atok, Benguet

Out of the Philippines' top 10 highest mountains, Mt. Timbak (rank 9 of 10) was dubbed as the easiest one. This mountain can be done as a dayhike if you are coming from Baguio City. Others who want to add more spice to it, do the Luzon 3-2-1 which covers Mt. Tabayoc (Luzon no. 2) and Mt. Pulag (Luzon no. 1) in one go. But for us, we just want to leisurely experience Mt. Timbak - so we did a dayhike from Baguio. As you start trekking and gaining altitude, you get to see the Halsema Highway - further accentuated by the surrounding terraces. 

One of the three crosses at Timbak's summit: Overlooking Halsema highway and the surrounding vegetable terraces.

Timbak's trail covers terraces planted with vegetables and flowers. Well, too bad though when we did the dayhike, the flowers are all harvested already, save for a few left overs. If we were lucky enough to have trekked during the blooming of those flowers just before harvest, damn it would've been a blast! Trekking along the fields of flowers would be just awesome!

#29-30. Mt. Tabayoc (2,842 MASL) Mt. Al-Al (2,658 MASL)| Kabayan, Benguet

Mountain nos. 19 and 20 are situated in Mt. Pulag National Park. As such, at the peaks, you can get a glimpse of Pulag’s summit as well as that of Timbak. But during our ascent to Luzon’s 2^nd highest, we were not lucky enough to have that coveted clearing. It was late in the afternoon when we reached the summit’s view deck and the view is already shrouded in fog. 

Mt. Tabayoc summit view deck: First time I've seen one. haha! 

Mt. Tabayoc’s trail, as the park ranger has described to us is a ‘monkey trail’. Where you would need to grasp, hang and scramble your way through irregularly-shaped branches and moss-covered trees on ascending trail. Seeing the trail’s condition, it is evident that despite its proximity to the more popular Pulag, as well as the high-altitude lakes surrounding the area, not many people climb the mountain. Which I think is good, contributing to mountain’s preservation. The thing that made me enjoy the climb though is the wooden observation deck on the mountain’s summit. It is surprisingly sturdy and brings you up the mossy forest’s canopy – pretty much gives the feeling that you can already a stone-throw’s away from the skies.

Mt. Al-Al's unspoiled mossy forest trail.

The nearby Mt. Al-Al has an unobscured view of Mt. Pulag’s summit on a clear day. But sadly, during our climb, we were not granted a good clearing. But nevertheless we enjoyed the assault buffet that the mountain fed us. The trail leading to Al-Al’s summit can be found along the mountain trail used by the locals who used to traverse Ifugao (correct me if I’m wrong) to the town of Kabayan to bring their goods for trading. Relatively undisturbed, we found fresh foot prints of wild deer (or boar) on a dried up puddle as well as fresh animal stools which I presume to be of wild deer on the summit’s grassland. Believe it or not, this is the first time I came across fresh traces of wild animals on a mountain (if you would exclude those cute squirrels – many of them – that you can find along the trail of Kinabalu). The mossy forest is very astounding, magical to say the least.

I would prefer that these mountains remain as it is – undisturbed, and preserved. So this I plead to those who, like us, ventured to their domain: (Cliché as it may seem) leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time, and take nothing but pictures.