Conquering Mt. Pulag, Benguet Province, February 1 - 4, 2007

Day 0 : The trip – Manila to Baguio City to Ranger Station

We left Manila at about 3 a.m., had breakfast in Pangasinan and arrived Baguio City at about 10 am. With hired 3 jeepneys, proceeded to DENR Field Office where we registered and had short orientation about Mt. Pulag and mountaineering. Along the way, we took our lunch. At about 5 pm, we reached Babadak Ranger Station our Jump Off Camp. 

Day 1 : The Climb – Ambangeg Trail

At Babadak Ranger station the temperature was 5 degrees centigrade. It was foggy and windy. That made it more chilly. Well and good we are wearing TNF jacket with fleece. I added on a dri-fit shirt and cotton shirt inside for added insulation against cold. I was wearing cotton gloves that were not good insulator and I felt the chill thru my hands. My shoes were brand new Merrel mountaineering shoes, waterproof.

We spent our first night in Babadak Ranger Station. We pitched three tents, two TNFs for 10 guys and one Blazing Product tent for me and one of my co-mountaineer. Other fellow mountaineers stayed inside a wooden house beside the Ranger Quarter.

We cooked our group dinner for 10 persons. That was rice, adobo, and beef steak. No problem with drinking water as there is spring water by the faucet that is so cold. There was no socializing on our first night of since it was so cold, foggy and windy. Early morning about 4 am, I had to pee and looked at my thermometer, it was 2 degrees centigrade. It was so foggy, cold, quiet and lonely but romantic under the full moon.

Hey that’s me. That was taken early morning after the our first night. Not anymore windy but still the temp was 5 degrees C.

After our first breakfast, we started our trek about 8:30 am.  After about 3 hours, we reached Camp 2 for our lunch.

Here we are. We are all 34 mountaineers of SICAT (Standard Insurance Climb and Adventure Team).  On the left is our team at Camp 2. We took our lunch here. The camp site has spring water, improvised toilet and one unoccupied wooden house. The tents from the background are not ours but were earlier team of mountaineers ahead of us. They left to assault Mt. Pulag and will get back here.

The two pine trees on the left background are quite famous for you will see them in so many angles in the internet. The mountain on background was full of clouds.

After lunch, we resumed our trek at about 2 pm to reach Camp 3 at the base of the summit. We passed thru downhill mossy forest then ascending/descending grassland. The weather was good and the sun was shy hiding behind the clounds most of the time. The trek was pleasant although the temperature must be about 7 degrees C.

  At the background, that’s the start of our trek of mossy forest from Camp 2. Above is also picture of mossy forest and behind it is the grassland before hitting Camp 3.

 My backpack weighs about 12 kilos. That carried my tent, sleeping bag, earth pad, two 500 ml water, clothes, etc..

See my gear. I was wearing green/gray TNF jacket with fleece inside, the blue dri-fit, cotton undershirt and inside polyester shirt with cotton bonnet and red cap. My hands were covered with cotton gloves that were  wet and cold. I got one trekking pole and one knee cap to protect my left knee. I got also one trekking bottle of water to prevent dehydration.

That’s me again. See the mossy forest and the trail. The trees with their branches are covered with moss and are dripping wet. That’s very nice picture, not me, but the background, hehehe. This trail is mostly downhill.  The next trail is mostly grassland and more uphill.

We reached Camp 3, that is about 2,734 meters above sea level at about 5 pm. From here, we can see summit at about 188 meters high more.

From Camp 3, a higher level than surrounding mountains, we can see the clouds below us and on top of lower mountains. It is so cloudy that we might not see the sunset if we climb the summit.

We pitched our tents and prepared our second dinner. The temp was still 5 degrees centigrade and it is windy and cloudy as well. Still no socializing event and everybody went to rest right after dinner.

Wake up call the following morning, Day 2, was at 5:30 am and started assaulting the summit of Mt. Pulag at 6 am of about 1.5 kms ascent.  At the break of dawn, we are at the summit and conquered Mt. Pulag. Everybody was elated and cameras keep on clicking to record the event.

Despite all the hardship, we felt no pain but all victorious at the summit.

Day 2 and 3 :  The Descent - Akiki Trail

On the descent, we took Akiki Trail that is commonly known as “the Killer Trail”. Going downhill is quiet difficult specially when the trail is very steep. Akiki Trail is mostly about 45 degrees slope. Earth was dry and the trail is very slippery due to dried pine needle leaves and pebbles. Good thing the trail is not wet otherwise it will be more slippery and dangerous.

According to our guide, this was called Akiki because of small birds that sing “a ki ki ki ki ki ki”. Mountaineers call it “Killer Trail” because after traversing downhill, you might have one or two dead toes.

We started our trek back to civilization on the Day 2 at about 8 am. We reached Marlboro country at about 12 noon and had our lunch.

We resumed our trek to Eddet River at 1:30 pm and reached Eddet River about 5:00 to set up our tents for the night. Many guys went to swim the cold water of Eddet River.

We had dinner at about 7 pm and our party about 8 pm.

On Day 3, we started our trek at about 9 am and reached Kabayan School where we had our lunch and end of our trek. From here, we are fetched to Baguio City for about 5 hour travel.

Day 3 – Gimik Night

We had our sumptuous dinner at Marios Restaurant and proceeded to Nevada bars in Baguio City.