Day 1: Preparation Day
Most of the Backpackers
United (JM, Sha, Leo, Marlon, Victor, Nino, Ben, and me) had their flights from Tiger Airways, so we arrived in Bacolod and
filled up a shuttle van to go to Lopue’s East mall for a fixed price of PhP 150. (It actually takes you up to Bacolod, still with a fixed price of PhP 150.)
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| L-R: Leo, Victor, Marlon, Sharlene, me, Ben, and Nino. (Photo credit to JM) |
There, we met Deo, AJ,
and Cesar. We did some last minute shopping and had dinner at Deo's aunt's
house. Some were playing video games, some played basketball, while some like
yours truly, slept. Most of us already know each other but we met our new climb
mates from lloilo, Julius and Troy. After dinner, we met up with Nadz and
Dwight, then proceeded to the Deo’s Uncle’s place to stay for the night. Trying to get
some rest for the grueling hike ahead. An understatement. Really. I cannot
sleep because of the possible insects regardless of the fact that I only had
2-4 hours of sleep for the past 3 days!
Day 2: Guintubdan Trail
The jeep was late in
fetching us and we started our trek around 8, from the jump off point which was
Guintubtan, about 800 meters above the city according to Julie's watch. We had breakfast
of tuna pasta in the jump off point.
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| BU Challenges Mt. Kanlaon (L-R): Marlon, Sharlene, Cesar, me, Leo, Victor, Nino, AJ, Ben, Julius, Dwight, Troy, Nadz, Deo (Photo Credits to JM) |
After an hour or so into the trail, we passed by the Ranchos Dos Waterfalls. Originally, we wanted to do a Wasay-Guintubdan Trail, but due to our numbers (according to Deo), we did the reverse. This was supposed to be where we're going to wash almost at the end of our trek. Since we were all pretty clean at this time, we just took photo ops.
We had lunch in a campsite where other campers were already settled. But there was no one about because they were assaulting at the time. We cook and ate lunch. It started the rain and drizzle, and people started water proofing themselves (aka putting on their rain coats, while I forgot to bring my own and instead put on a garbage bag under my dry fit shirt).
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| Stretching Time (okay, yeah, we stopped for stretching but it doesn't show on the pic) - Photo Credits: JM |
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| Rocks aplenty. Rock climbing should be part of the training. - Photo Credits: JM |
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| Ranchos Dos Waterfalls |
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| Hurdling ourselves near the cooking area for some heat and shelter against the rain |
What can I say about
this trail? About today's trek? It was hard. A lot of fallen logs. A lot of
logs to go under. Over. Trees to cross with cliffs on both side. The steepness
of several slopes. Plus the rain. And the cold there after. Especially for me
who failed to bring a raincoat. Haha But learning from Tapulao climb, I
waterproof myself by the garbage bag method. Helpful against the cold. We had lunch
of menudo in a campsite somewhere.
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Water Source Aplenty
(Thus, you only need about 1 liter for hiking because you can continously refill it.)
Photo Credits to Nadz |
And on the hike goes,
more wind, rain, logs and mud. There was a point where I just want to stay for
a while and sleep on the trail. But my climb-mates at the time were Cesar and
Nino. I feel guilty for slowing us down and just offered to let them continue
without me, while I sleep while waiting for the sweeper team. Nino continued
on, but Cesar stayed with me. We talked and bonded for about 30 minutes, eating
my trail food, eventually reaching sunset and the dark. It was also getting
really cold, so I suggested we go ahead just to get warmed up. But when we
shouted, apparently the sweeper team was already near, so we waited for them.
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| When you see this boundary, have hope. You only have less than an hour to the camp site. |
Eventually, we reached
our campsite after 30 min to 1 hr of night trekking. I was really cold at this
time, I was so glad for some clean warm clothes. We had dinner of tinola, very appropriate for the very cold weather. We also had 2 to 3 rounds of
alcohol for socials then slept... I slept very well, thank you very much! I
should have savored that night of rest.
I was able to test the
water proof socks and they work very well indeed :-) I was happy jumping on mud
because I know that it won't seep through my feet hehe Though I may feel the
cold and the squishy feeling when stepping on the mud, when I removed them at
the end of the day, my feet were cool but dry! Cool!
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| Victor testing the water proof socks. It can hold water! (Taken in Casaroro Falls, Valencia, Dumaguete) |
Day 3: The Assault, Crater, and the start of the Wasay Trail
We woke up around 5 to
6am, and we were hesitant to assault the summit because we didn't think there
would be a clearing. We were right hehe but since we were there, we still did
the assault. We passed by the kissing rock, where we were to kiss this rock for
luck. I was doubtful of such a thing but they said that they all kissed it, so
I also did Haha Then we put some rocks up in a sort of stone sculpture (or pile
of rocks) after making a wish. The bigger the rock, the more likely it will
come true hehe Really?
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The Kissing Rock - Photo Credits: Dwight
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| The bigger the rock, the bigger probability of your wish coming true. |
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| Backpackers United Conquers the Kanlaon Summit - Photo Credits: Dwight |
It was so cold up there, that the temperature reading reached 13.4°C if I remember correctly. While we were talking, mists of water would condense in our eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Afterwards, it’s like we took a bath, without really getting that wet.
After eating breakfast (luncheon meat), we fixed ourselves and head on out. It was a long day of trekking for us. 2 hours to get to the lunch stop near a lagoon, and another 6 hrs to the camp site via Wasay trail. We had pork adobo for lunch and sinigang na baboy for dinner.
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| Backpackers United at the Lagoon - Photo Credits: Dwight |
If yesterday was hard, today's trek was hell! This is why this trail is also known as "Killing Me Softly". There were parts I couldn't lift my legs anymore. Or bend low enough for the fallen logs. Or slide beneath the logs. I cannot even bend my legs to sit while crawling down a steep slope. Instead of the usual downhill after the summit, there were several uphills then downhill, then uphill again. The sloping seems to reach 90 degrees! Sometimes, there were no trees to hold on to, or if there were trees, they were very bushy. When there was a “flat” land, there were many thorny bush and trees. It would have helped if our guide or porter had a bolo to cut these off.
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| Example of logs to go under while going down a cliff |
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| Sloping uphills |
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And many sloping downhills
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| Hardly a trail can be seen - Photo Credits: Nadz |
We had lunch near a clearing with a lagoon so we had some photo ops while waiting for the food to cook. Then 6 more hrs of trekking... It seems to be a blur hehe It became better once we reached the Avatar forest, where the trees were just… amazing. The tree formations and the moss covering them were cool. Seems to be like we’re really in the movie Avatar.
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| Some you have to really hold on to (aka the need for rock climbing practice) |
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| Logs that you slide underneath (Photo from Nadz camera) |
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| More branches to hold on to |
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| Avatar Forest. Ganda ng weird tree formations - Photo Credits: Nadz' camera (pero sino ba ang kumuha?) |
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| A glimpse of sunset. This is the best clearing that we could get because the mountain was really full of trees and shrubs. |
Anyway, eventually
after 1-2 hrs of night trekking with less rain today, we reached the camp site
which was near a stream, I think. Then dinner. Then socials... Which was way
fun-ner than yesterday. Maybe because we were more alive? Or had better sleep
the night before? Anyway, we were more rowdy this time around. The girls’ tent was
far, so we forced ourselves and all of us slept in one big tent. All 15 of us
in 1 tent. Can be fun, but very crowdy. Hence… wasn't able to
sleep much.
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| 15 people inside one tent = crowdy + fun + body warmth - Photo Credits: Dwight |
Day 4
Yey! Last day of our
climb. That was the main thought in my mind!
Regardless, there were
still several uphill and downhill as we cross different mountain (ranges) to
reach Wasay. Though the second day was still the hardest. There were more
downhill than uphill this time. Thank God for small miracles! Hehe There was
also the problem of limatik sucking our blood especially during the first and
last day of the climb (there were such miniscule problems on the second day
because of the exercise we were having) but we weren’t that concerned
because it doesn’t hurt really, just itch. And we have some salt to ward
them off hehe
There was a part where
we reached a stony road, apparently the road where PNOC trucks can enter. We
thought it was the finish line, but false hopes! But we were so relieved for a
moment, that we lay down on the dirty road for a while as in an accident
happened and our bodies were thrown all over the road haha
After that rest stop,
we once again went inside the forest and continued our downhill trek.
Eventually, we reached a clearing with some cows and were told that there is
only about 1-2 hours left! Whew! The trail was now an easy one, and we were
able to trail run. The first half of group was already waiting for us for about
an hour.
So eventually, we
finished and reached the finish line. End of story hehe It seemed like a hazy
dream... Or nightmare! Though I'm so
proud of myself for climbing Mt Kanlaon! Though we didn't see the crater, it
was a really awesome climb with really good friends!
We once again went to
Deo’s Uncle’s place where we washed up and fixed our things. Then we
had dinner in Bacolod along Manukan Avenue in Nena Rosa, where Shee was already
waiting for us. Then we had a taste of the Maskarra Festival where we went to
the tourism office to ask for directions, tried some masks on, and took our
picture.
Some of our climb-mates
were leaving very early the next day, so we stayed in some street bar and had a
few beer to celebrate a successful climb. (There were festivities because of
the Maskarra Festival so it was still very loud.)
It was a really long night. After drinking
until about 2 am, we split. Nino and Ben were going to walk around until 5:30
am where they would be picked up to go to the airport. Marlon, AJ, Dwight and
Nadz also would go home tomorrow, but would sleep at Deo’s Uncle’s place for the remaining of the night. Deo stayed with them. And
the rest? Extended Negros adventure including yours truly, Victor, Leo, JM,
Sharlene, Cesar and Shee (who only arrived after the climb haha)
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