As a little lad I grew up in a bustle outdoor activities
back in my province, one of them is hiking. Elementary days were fast growing
testosterone and raw fun adventure are almost an inch of touch. I couldn't forget how
we traverse our way home after school and considered it as
shortcut, inside
the very green forestry lies our playground. We always played in the dense of the dull forest where
sunlight filtering through the trees and we swing through the strong vines of those
huge fig trees - it was less of a Tarzan in a movie. We built shady tree house where we could see the natural view
of foamy oceans. We often brought some snacks to dig in like we're in a survival mode. We
even placed traps for chickens and some monitor lizards around the encompassing
area. My experienced in outdoors were not as tough as those
Pros but as far as I know I used to live
with this.
I have begun suggesting we could have major climb this coming
month. My suggestion served a way to plan immediately my first ever major climb and after making initiative pushing finally we were set – Mt. Tarak here we come.
Mt. Tarak Ridge is one among the list of ten beautiful
mountains to climb in the Philippines, a favored climb for me especially because of
its historic background that served a battleground for Filipino and American
combined forces to set back Japanese troops way back the year of 1942.
If you want to see the detailed information of the mountain
you may want to check
Pinoymountaineer.com.
We are divided into two groups, First group which consist almost
¾ of the whole group are went early to Mariveles to rest for a night, they directed
to the house of my office mate which she was actively in the lead of the
planning. The second group were consist of 4 including me that will drive to
Mariveles from Manila. We arrived to Mariveles at early morning of Saturday and
met the other group.
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| Brgy. Alas-asin |
After we've packed all the necessary stuff we were now
heading to Barangay Hall of Alas-asin to register and pay P20. There too we
meet our former office mate and first time hiker that came just from a nearby
barangay. We also hired a guide/porter to accompany us over the course of the
long hike.
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| L-R: Sir June and Sir Melvin (The warriors!) |
We were very lucky and felt safe to have a highly-skilled
considered Pros hikers we have in our group - Sir
June and Sir
Melvin.
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| A wide trail meter away to the donation area where you can see all the banners of other mountaineers. |
You will register your name to Aling Cording's place, where you can see all the banners hung up. She was so friendly to all mountaineers passing by sometimes she offers hot black coffee (much better than starbucks) and buko juice.
At the foot of the mountain is a very long and scorching
trek before we face steep slopes uphill to the reviving coldness of the Papaya
River that provides a very freezing water enough to revitalize our condition
and shivered our body.
Save all your energy and strength as what comes next after
the Papaya River was pure steep assault up to the summit with gasping of air. Roots and branches were your only allies to pull yourself up that gives you a little comfort.
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| Passing through the dry river trail. |
Some of the trails are not visible thus made you lost for a while. Thank you to those hikers who made such efforts to stacked rocks like small rock balancing which signals, this is the right way.
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| Our Guide! |
Finally we reached the camp site just beneath the summit together with our guide that obviously didn't spotted any form of tiredness giving the fact that he just wearing slippers.
I immediately sat against my bag and catch my breathe while looking to the horizon and felt the coldness of wind blows on my skin. What an experience isn't it?
The perfect terrain is seen up there, the clouds, the grassland that swing to the whistle of the wind, the rock formations and the austere grandeur of true nature scenery.
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| one of sir June petrified stunt |
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| me at the dreadful stone |
Others pulled their cameras and cell phones to take the best pictures with all the angles of the mountain. We crawled down to the grassland to seek a good spot and right down there a astounding stone yet petrifying point.
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| the famous tree! |
Before we pitch our tents we decided to pursue the very summit of the mountain, together with my first group: Jade, Henson, and Ryan. We start going to the peak quickly for afraid we reached by night.
Later did we know they send the guide after us. Timing when we were about to get lost he showed up. We took some pictures to the famous tree, your hike to Mt. Tarak Ridge will felt dearth when you miss a shot with this famous tree.
Sadly, we didn't get to the very peak because of a very lame reason that I don't recall. We've reached a 1135 meter high then we hurriedly back down to our camp site.
Before the sun vanished from the horizon, looking at the orange to reddish sky is the warmness view I can felt over the whole trip. What more beautiful to witnessed the sunset is at the crest of the mountain.
Night had come, foods were ready to be crashed by dirty-hungry-hikers, and socials is waiting to get started.
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| Daing ng pusit from Coron Palawan. |
After we bashed the food, just a few minutes rest, we immediately started the socials with some drink to keep us warm over the cold night.
A hilarious night with great stories we learned from each other. Though others simply choose to rest the still of the night. When everything seems to be getting thicker and dizzy I suddenly sneaked into the tent to take a nap that went to my unfathomable sleep.
What a night of rest with no jolted out of sleep. Morning came. What a fresh breath from the morning breeze of air, a mild heat of sun rays touched your skin that compliment to natural cold of nature.
Say hi to our new friend that greet us on our camp site. A lil-creepy-scorpion.
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| little scorpion. |
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| morning uphill |
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| Photo credit to Yeth |
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| the famous stone |
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| with Team Bahalana |
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| Team Bahalana |
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| Yanj like Rose in Titanic.lol |
Coffee for breakfast, the best experience of coffee since I left my province looking to the nature with splendid scenery while I'm sat sipping my hot coffee. Before we decided to descent we have some picture taking under the clear day of the summit. Before the sun gets so angry we proceeded to descend all the way to Papaya River to have the lunch and refill our bottles. Along the way down, accident happened just a meter away from the start of steep slope. One of our friend got hit by rolling stone because of other mountaineers were above us and slip to weak ground causes to landslide with big stone going down towards us. I immediately lay my bag and pull out my first aid kit, luckily I have some bandage inside my kit. One had to carry the bag of the other one to continue to our descend then we go slowly and firmly.
It was a long way down to Papaya River, finally we reached it after about 3 hours of pure steep descend. Others start bathing to the river and some were cooking our lunch. You can see other groups pitched their tents and others just about to came. We continue the socials after lunch and talked about the Papaya river of why this called Papaya? We are baffled by so many stories connecting to where Papaya river originate its name.
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| Papaya River |
The water is so cold that you couldn't immerse your feet right away and have to dip it slowly for your skin to get use to cold. After a couple of minutes battling to submerge ourselves to this shivering river finally we're on it. We decided to get some refill and proceeded to where the running water best to get from and lead us to the falls with small cove beneath.
After we got back to our camp site, We are all packed, water refilled and ready to continue descending down to jump off site. Like the famous question, if what is really hard: the ascend or descend? I feel like descending got too long of walking downward.
Before reaching the main road, at the jump off site you will pass the Grafane Farm it's a private area perfect for the mountaineers with its amenities such as parking lot, a belvedere, comfort room and shower room. For only Php 20 you can use all the amenities inside.
After the shower, I feel enlightened and felt a lot of tiredness. This experience had a lot of courage, a big step to what we can achieve in the next climb. A big thanks to those I have shared with this such a wonderful experience that built camaraderie among all of us.
See you to the next climb Sir and Mam.
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| The Hangover Mountaineers! |
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Fast Facts:
Did you know that the Mount Mariveles is a dormant volcano though there are no recorded historical eruptions from Mariveles caldera but archaeologists report the last active eruption indicated by Radiocarbon dating occurring around mid-Holocene or about 2050 BCE.
Among the three familiar peaks to mountaineering community the Mt. Tarak Ridge is the well-known destination of most hikers because of its scenic beauty.
Other peaks are Patingan or Bangayan Peak and Mariveles Ridge.
Mt. Tarak said to gotten it's name from the word "tarik" which descriptions perfectly demonstrate its characteristics having steep slope, sharp rocks and precipitous topography.
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