At this moment, a group of adventurous spirits have started their 2-day Mt. Purgatory-Mangisi Traverse in Bokod. A~ah. If not for certain circumstances, we’d have likely been part of that group. Maybe next year? Anyhoo, this post is all about Day 3, the final day, of our very own traverse last October 20, 2013.
(This is the last installment of my series of posts about the Mt. Purgatory-Mangisi Traverse.)
Sharing early morning coffee while shivering in the cold. Hey, it’s a mountaintop, it’s in Benguet, and it’s already late in November. Cold temperature is a given! (That was my roundabout way of saying that, no, Baguio is not the coldest place up here.)
There’s nothing more invigorating than being greeted by these sights in the morning!
After breaking camp and packing things up, there was a short program, with the community around Mt. Tangbao in attendance. As a way to commemorate this activity, two pine tree seedlings were planted.
And we’re off! This time, our next stop is the highest point in the traverse.
It was mostly a trek through mossy forest as we made our way up.
It took roughly an hour and a half from Mt. Tangbao to the highest point of the Mt. Purgatory-Mangisi Traverse, Mt. Kom-Kompol.
From this point, you can see a bit of Mt. Salingsingan, which is the highest point in Bokod (and, as of now, still unexplored. We’re hoping that will soon change.) Look closely, and you’ll see the highest point waaaaaaay back there. See it? That’s Mt. Pulag.
The whole day trek is starting to make its effects felt. Limbs are becoming sore, and some even refuse to function properly any more. Haha! We took the momentary rest at the Mt. Kom-Kompol View Point to do some stretches.
I give a lot of credit to those yoga classes I’ve been going to at Fitness Edge c/0 Sir Raymond and Sir Jimmy for getting me through these three days. I swear they were all the preparation/conditioning I needed. (Which reminds me, it’s been months since I was able to go there and attend their class. I miss it~ Ah, RL, stop being so busy, wontcha.)
And the hike continues.
From this point, it is a downhill trek through Mt. Tinengan.
Much to the detriment of our already abused legs. 🙂
Let me just acknowledge my trail food. haha! I make it a point to put these together every time I go on treks like these. 
Along the way are buwis-buhay photo opportunities.
This experience made me realize that I SO PREFER GOING UP THAN WALKING DOWN.
Mt. Tinengan is considered to be one of the most challenging legs (no pun intended) of the traverse, and we blame it on tis terrain. It’s downhill, the surface has a lot of loose rocks and soil (yes, I slipped a couple of times, which is funny considering there wasn’t much slippage while in the mossy forest), and one side is basically the side of the mountain.
We have come to our 2nd to the last stop. The barangay hall of Barangay Ekip. Here, we had our late lunch, which was prepared by the locals.
From here, there was another hour-long hike. This time, it was not through vegetation or a forest, but through a dirt road, then a concrete road.
But it’s still downward-moving, so at some points I decided to walk backwards, because I don’t want my knees to give up on me.
The end was marked by the river and a hanging bridge. On the other side was a jeepney waiting to take us to the Municipal Hall for the closing program.
It was late afternoon when we got to the Municipal Hall in Poblacion. We all took showers and baths at the Tourism Office, and some of the residences nearby even opened the doors of their bathrooms for us to use.
“Pan-aspulan shi Bohot” literally means “a place to meet in Bokod”. Aspul means “meet” in Ibaloi. Taken in the proper context, this means “gathering” or “getting together” in Bokod.
I sure had a lot of fun revisiting this adventure in these series of posts. It felt like it happened just a few months ago, instead of a whole year! Again, much propz and much love is given to the local government of Bokod for making this happen, the other participants for simply joining and savoring each moment, and the guides and members of the Association of Bokod Adventure Eco-Guides (ABADEG) for making sure that we DID savor each moment.
Climbing a mountain is bound to be in most everyone’s list. How about adding “traversing mountains” (especially those in Benguet) to yours?
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