Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Road to Mt. Pulag

Mount Pulag (or sometimes Mount Pulog) is the third highest mountain in the Philippines.

It is Luzon’s highest peak at 2,922 meters above sea level.
The borders between the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya meet at the mountain's peak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pulag
http://www.pinoymountaineer.com/2007/09/mt-pulag-2922.html

Our bike ride and hike adventure from QC/Manila all the way to the summit of Mt. Pulag.
Took us 3 days of bike ride and 2 days of hike. Most of it were rainy as I guess it was tagged as signal #1 in Benguet.

Spent the night at an old house inside the Benguet State University campus. Yes, some weird/unwanted noise and/or movements while we were inside the tent to sleep. Creepy it is.

For the the most memorable and emotional part of the adventure, Joycelle and Manong shared their blessings to the kids at Ambangeg Elementary School.
We will definitely be back there to give more supplies that you deserve.
Thank you so much for the most sincerest smiles and appreciation; those were more strength-giving than any multi-vitamin we took.

Manong and Joycelle stayed in the ranger station to sleep instead of pushing through the camp site and to the summit; the perfect choice made due to the bad weather.

Not able to get some sleep as it was too cold and wet especially at the camp site of Mt. Pulag.
Reached the summit at 5:45AM of day 5 embraced with clouds/fog/rain/etc and hit by strong winds.
Zero view, Zero visibility. Waited for a few minutes to let the clouds pass and finally witnessed the majestic sceneries from the summit of Mt. Pulag.
Mission accomplished.

Pain. We got water and time to rest.
Too much cold. We got a layer of shirt/jacket and a warm breath, and unlimited shots of patience to wait for a few hours until the sun comes up.

Thank you DENR Ambangeg.
Thank you Terry and Felix at the Ranger Station.
Thank you for all the people who gave us accurate directions when we were on the road.
Thank you Manong and Joycelle for the full support.
Thank you for everything, God.

We survived. We are alive.

Cast:
+ kublador
+ nikko

Support/Finance Team:
+ manong
+ joycelle

Let us continue to share our blessings.
Let us be thankful for everything we have.
And just like what Bob Marley said, "Give thanks and praises to the most High.."

Keep it real.







Day 1 breakfast @ Pampanga

flats: 2 kona , 2 scott

kublador @ a bridge in Tarlac

massive farm lands along McArthur Highway

Nikko at rest

ube + buko + cheese ice cream of Mang Pepito in his 25 years of business pushing the cart by himself too


the last sunset we saw in the entire adventure due to the rain/storm

sunrise @ Sison

Nikko along Kennon Road

Kublador at rest @ Kennon Road

still at Kennon





a
one of the rivers along Kennon

itlog na pula with rice for lunch

videoke and billiards chill-out

picture picture!

Nikko and his brand new 50pesos poncho



Nikko's gorp, gotta have it all! haha! yumm!

lion's head

a few kilometers before Baguio City @ Kennon Road

ultimate lugaw with triple egg for dinner. Welcome to Baguio City!



on our way to Beckel and Ambuklao


Binga Lake?

Kona's broken spoke on electric tape


Scott's spoke, broken, and totally gone.


one of the longest downhills during the ride, forgot where this was



Nikko

Kona

a

gulay + chicken for lunch





Kublador

incoming!!!

started to rain when we passed Ambuklao


7 kilometers to go to reach DENR Ambangeg

DENR Ambangeg Station


pansit breakfast. Manong and Joycelle.

haha! weeeed!

veggies along the road


hike time. which way?

Nikko. Philippine team? hehe

Manong and Joycelle hiking

equality and fraternity. peace, truth and justice. patriotism and valor. unity, freedom, people's democracy and sovereignty.

Kublador @ the Ranger Station

us four. Manong and Joycelle stayed here instead of hiking up all the way to the summit.

hike hike hike. mild rain.

Nikko and his flag

l
Manong's orange nalgene at the camp site

camwhoring inside the tent. cannot sleep properly. so cold, so wet.

at the summit of Mt. Pulag





 dirtybikes reprezent! mission accomplished!

Nikko + Kublador at the summit

Baguio City dinner at KFC before Nikko and Kublador went home.



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And these below are our old pictures (when we hiked 6-7years ago) inside the DENR office and some on their desk.

We must see you again Sir Roger, Astor, and Jojo.