Tag: mountains

Tacadang Travel Challenge Pt. 2…in Tacadang, Kibungan, Benguet

That one time in the year where we are allowed to be contemplative is here again: the coming of the New Year. For those who are still into making New Year resolutions, I say, “good for you”. For those who, like me, have stopped, and just relied on hoping for the best (haha!), I say, “yaaay for us!” But no, really, if you’re going to make plans for change, this is the best time for it. For me, personally, though, I’m just glad to be able to look forward to 2016. And continuing this series of posts on the Tacadang Travel Challenge.

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Tacadang Travel Challenge Pt. 1…in Tacadang, Kibungan, Benguet

Christmas Day has passed, everyone! How did you spend it? I hope you had a good and meaningful Christmas, with the people who matter. I had a restful one, thank you for asking, and with the family, too, so all’s well! And it looks like this blog, too, had a bit of a rest period. And before the year is over, imma shake it up a bit! This time, with a series of posts about my last major climb/trek for 2015, in Tacadang, Kibungan.

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Vulcaneering at Mt. Bulusan Pt 2: Lake Aguingay to Lights Out

This post is going to be short but sweet. You see, in just a few hours, I will be seeing G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri perform live yet again. It’s the second time I’m seeing them, after their ALIVE Tour in Manila a couple of years back, and the moment I heard their MADE tour is going to have a Manila leg, it was a no-brainer. I had to go. Sometimes, you have to feed the fangirl in you. You know, to make sure she stays fun. (Haha!) But that’s not what this post’s all about. This is about our short sojourn at Lake Aguingay, which was pretty close to our campsite. (Check out Part 1 of this vulcaneering adventure here.)

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Vulcaneering at Mt. Bulusan Pt 1: From Bulusan Lake To Camp

As early as the end of January, plans have already been made for us to go on a climb to Mt. Bulusan in Irosin, Sorsogon during the Holy Week on the first week of April. Calendars have been marked, leaves of absences from work have been initially filed, bus tickets have been booked… Holy Week came around, and Typhoon Maysak loomed, with all forecasts saying that the region where Mt. Bulusan is located will get the brunt of the typhoon. (So we moved things around a bit and decided to head up north, instead, to Batad. I chronicled that trip in these posts.) We then moved our Mt. Bulusan adventure to Labor Day weekend.  Continue reading “Vulcaneering at Mt. Bulusan Pt 1: From Bulusan Lake To Camp” →

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One Night At Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad

The month of July has finally rolled around, and the powers-that-be has declared that, yes, the rainy season is finally upon us. During this latter half of the year, there is a smaller chance of going on treks and hikes, because there is always the rain to ruin even the best-laid plans. But we take what we can get, and we are lucky that we have the nearby Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad to tide us over, at least until we can find another hike-worthy spot to explore. Continue reading “One Night At Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad” →

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The Batad Rice Terraces

They say some things are sweeter the second time around. In case of travel or, to be more precise, visiting one place for the second time, that could be a hit or a miss. It’s a hit if the place, which you absolutely loved the first time around, did not change or, even if it did, it changed only in good ways. It’s a miss if it’s the opposite: the changes weren’t good. How was my second visit to the Batad Rice Terraces, you ask? Read on.
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The Road to Batad

The key phrase for this 5-part posting arc is “Plan B is for Batad”. It’s a bit of a long story, but I’ll try to make it short: early February we made plans to climb Mt. Bulusan in Irosin, Sorsogon during the Holy Week, and we were able to sort everything out. The week before Holy Week, news about Typhoon Maysak wreaking havoc and doing a direct hit in that region made us scramble and look for a Plan B. So we rearranged the Mt. Bulusan details for Labor Day weekend, and proceeded up north, instead, to Batad, Ifugao.  Continue reading “The Road to Batad” →

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Why We Climb…

I’m not a mountaineer. I do, however, love going up mountains. Maybe it would be more apt to say that I am a “walker”. I love walking. I enjoy hiking. I derive a certain joy in trekking and just making these legs work to get me somewhere. While I still can. And I’m not prejudiced to mountains and peaks, because I pretty much have my switches turned to “ON” mode when we talk about nature. Continue reading “Why We Climb…” →

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Coron 2015: Of Sunrises and Sunsets… at Mt. Tapyas

There is something universally appealing about sunsets and sunrises. Or, should I say, universally moving? Perhaps, more than the splash of colors on the horizon, or the spectacular display of a slow and gradual ascent or descent, it evokes thoughts of beginnings and endings: the sunset marks the end of the day and the beginning of the oncoming night, whilst sunrise is a way to bid farewell to the night and welcome a new day. This is one cycle that is anything BUT vicious.
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Bauko, Mt. Province Pt 2: Mt. Polis, A View Deck in the Sky

Whoever said that one mountain is just like any other clearly does not know what he’s talking about. Or hasn’t gone to more than one mountain. Simple as that. I love how, despite experiencing something that is seemingly ordinary, we are still somehow given a surprise. It’s like the Creator is telling us, “So you think you’ve seen everything, huh? You think you’ve experienced the best and the finest. Well, I have a lot of aces up my sleeves to show you yet.” To which, I could only say, “that is one looooong sleeve you got there. BRING IT.” One of those aces, it turns out, is called Mt. Polis.

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Japan 2014: Kawaguchiko

Me and my love for mountains. While planning this trip, when it came to choosing between any Disney-related jaunt to checking out Mt. Fuji, I went for the latter. So it was really no contest between Tokyo Disneyland and a Fuji-san sighting. In fact, I’d pick a nature-related sojourn over any amusement park ANY TIME. So it was with so much excitement that I included a side trip to Lake Kawaguchi, or Kawaguchiko on my second day in Japan. Continue reading “Japan 2014: Kawaguchiko” →

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Being Conquered By Mt. Pulag

On my first climb at Mt. Pulag, I overheard one of the journalists gripe about how many who reach the summit go “I conquered Mt. Pulag!”. He said that YOU don’t conquer Mt. Pulag; Mt. Pulag conquers YOU. I agree. How, on God’s green earth, can you expect to ever conquer a mountain? And how can you boast to have been able to conquer something that doesn’t even care that you did?

After writing that post about Kabayan’s Four Lakes, I suddenly felt the urge to dig through my hard drive for old photos and, what do you know, I still have them! So that spurred me to write this post about my three jaunts up Mt. Pulag.

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Echoes of the Past at the Mt. Kalugong Eco-Park

If I were to choose key phrases to describe my high school years at Benguet State University-Secondary Laboratory School (BSU-SLS), they would include “solid work”, “4-1”, “Pomology”, and “Mt. Kalugong”. It has been more than 15 years since the last time I set foot on Mt. Kalugong. Which is a shame, really, considering how it is on my doorstep (heck, the side of the mountain greets me each morning I wake up!) and how it is now more accessible to everyone as the Mt. Kalugong Eco-Park. Continue reading “Echoes of the Past at the Mt. Kalugong Eco-Park” →

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