I climbed Mt. Ugo in August of 2014. It was a stormy 3-day DIY itinerary which I customized for my age and strength. My only climb buddies that time were Paeng Cortez, ang Tumao ng Majayjay, Meowchie Wee, Eayore Torres and Celso Bacod, our patient and efficient Guide. It was a stormy climb and we five were the only human beings in Mt. Ugo at that time. Here are my favorite pictures of that climb.
We failed to climb Mt. Ugo last year despite so many intentions and plans. I entitled our Events Page: "Ang Di Matuloy-tuloy na Akyat sa Mt. Ugo, Sana Matuloy na This Time."
Thankfully, among the ten who confirmed, seven pushed and proceeded with the Climb. Those who begged off were Carl's wifey (work sched conflict); Jei Judrial who suffered a 5-stitches wound courtesy of the the Red Horse bottle that fell unto his leg; and, Paeng Cortez who nearly drowned while rescuing local tourists at Bukal Falls. Sigh.................
Our Itinerary
Taking into consideration that we would be climbing with young and physically fit climbers (Carl Hofi, Carlin Hofileña and Roy Valenzuela) I decided to gamble with a suicidal two-day-one-night itinerary in contrast to my first climb which was a Hayahay 3-day-2-night iti. I reminded Eayore to do a lot of walking and cardio exercises prior to the climb.
I was excited because it would be my first time to camp at the summit. On the other hand, I was worried because the limatiks before Indupit might happily have a reunion with me.
Our Ascent (Day 1)
We did not expect to see about a hundred of fellow hikers in Kayapa when we arrived there at around 7 AM. We heard from the restaurant where we had breakfast that Kayapa's 3-day fiesta has just been concluded. There were a lot of people converging at the Municipal Hall and marketplace.
We were met by Celso Bacod, our Guide during our 2014 climb. Later, my work colleagues Geoffrey Noscal and his EA Astrid welcomed us and offered us "mountain brew" native coffee, home-made "Tupig" and sweet organic camote fries!!! Yummy!! We brought some for our trail food!
We departed from Kayapa at 8am.
As we ascended, our group were divided into 3 sub-groups according to pace. Carlin and Roy immediately disappeared together with our Guide Celso. Ricky and I in the middle, followed by Eayore and Eggsy who call themselves "Sweepers by No Choice" and lastly, our authentic Sweeper, Carl Hofi.
The Limatiky Trail
The trail hasn't changed much, except that fortunately, because it was very hot, the limatiks withdrew into oblivion. I was very happy!!
After three hours, we reached Indupit Village. The blazing sun deeply pierced into our skin as we searched for a place where we could take a short nap and wait for the rest of the group. We ate Tupig and camote fries, and mingled with the other groups.
After a long rest in Indupit, we kicked off for the desert-like long and winding "highway" that leads to Domolpos. It was 12:36 noon, and it was very very hot. My recent Mt. Damas memories came to life and I told myself, this is still better than Damas hahaha! (Bitter pa rin.)
Uy!! May Waiting Shed na dito a!
After about an hour of purgatorious hike along the "highway", we reached the Northern slope of the "ant hill", and there, we were greeted by the Mighty Mt. Ugo! We took a 5minute rest at the waiting shed. It was past 2pm.
After a prolonged "take five" we proceeded on to finish the last leg of the winding highway hike and targetted a one and a half-hour walk to Km4 (Waiting Shed after the water source). We resumed walking at 2:36pm. Upon reaching the end of the road, we were surprised that an extension of the road has been constructed connecting it to Domolpos Village. We were also "shocked" that we needed to pass thru the usual "short cut" but had to cross thru a massive landslide (reminiscent again of Damas). It was "knee-shaking".
The cool and sweet water from the spring (water source) 'tho, compensated for our exhaustion. We were recharged. After a brief rest at the Waiting Shed (Km4), we embarked on our final assault to the Summit Campsite. It was already 4pm.
We anticipated that darkness might find us at the last segment of the steep assault so we prepared our headlamps. The clouds were also building up.
At the latter part of the summit assault, the view was becoming more dramatic and creepy. But the sunset although partly hidden by the slope, was uniquely awesome!
We tried to cheer up one another and push ourselves unto the summit by taking more pictures and savoring the wonderful view from that elevation.
We reached the summit campsite by 6:30PM. Thankfully, our advance party has chosen a perfect spot and has already set up our "camp". There were about 6 more other groups sharing the summit camp with us.
It was a windy, starry, moonlit night. After enjoying our dinner, we rested inside our tents as the chilly temperature and very strong Northeast monsoon wind were unbearable outside. The initially noisy and festive "socials" of the young ones from the other groups were gradually subdued by the commanding cold wind that demanded a quiet respite and restful sleep for everyone.
The only one thing that bothered us was a notorious cow who harassed us during our bladder rituals, destroyed our kitchen and also stole Ricky's Under Armor shirt and Egay's TNF hat. Choosy ang cow, gusto pa branded! That crazy cow even gave Ricky and Egay a cute gift. He poo-pood on the shirt and hat. Grabe sya o!!
yan! yan sya!
Day 2
The Breathtaking and Amazing S.O.C. and Sunrise!!!
I woke up at 4am because of our neighbors' noise. (mga walang pakialam, ang aagang nagkwentuhan!!). I was lazy to go out because the wind continued to ram against our tents and I knew it was freezing cold outside. So I waited for 5am. When I've finally mustered some courage to go out, I got up and ran to my "spot". (Unlike in Pulag, there are no latrines in Ugo.) Again, the notorious cow attempted to harass me. His "reflectorized" eyes looked devilish in the darkness of the forest.
As soon as I got back to the camp, my tummy was signalling hunger so I then cooked noodles for our breakfast. While cooking breakfast, we waited for the sunrise and sea of clouds.
and then..................
I was speechless to see these.
Happy Birthday Ricky!!!
The feeling, the view, the experience...were all beyond words... During those moments we could only declare that indeed, God is great and his creations are simply amazing!! How we wanted to stop time and just be there longer...
We have forgotten momentarily that we needed to have breakfast and we had to breakcamp because we needed to descend and go home..
So even if we still wanted to prolong our sunrise viewing, we had to eat, and reorganize our things for that long, gruelling descent ahead.
Of course before we set off for the Summit, we had our one last groupie, taken by Roy Valenzuela and Carl Hofi using their Go-Pro.
Can you guess where I am??
One more closer look....
Hahahaha!!!
When you're that happy, you could deliver that kick!!
Ooooops!! Pahabol pa na photoshoot sa world tree!!!
Sorry for these not so nice shots... my cam was complaining about the heat...
Bye Bye Notorious Cow....
The Long Gruelling Descent
Our younger ones looked excited to descend because it was their first time. They were excited to pass thru the mossy forest, the Summit marker and crash site, and the Pine Forest. They are runners, so we expected them to finish early. While we, especially I, knew what to expect: long, difficult, knee-killer and energy-zapping descent to Tinongdan. During my first climb we hiked Km4 (Waiting Shed) to Tinongdan for two days. Now, we had to do it in one day.
We were disappointed to see a tarpaulin, instead of the old original marker. Nevertheless, we gamely posed at the improvised marker.
photocredits: Roy Valenzuela
(some of the guys in this pic are our new friends; we met them along the trails)
O is for Egay
Our Birthday Boy !!
And... since it was getting hotter and late, our one last pose at the Summit...
photocredits: Roy Valenzuela
After an hour of descending thru a steep slippery grassy trail, we found ourselves at the picturesque Pine Forest. Unlike our 2014 stormy climb that gave a foggy creepy horror movie effect, this time the pines gave vibrant green refreshing colors due to the sun that radiated its hottest rays unto us.
Regardless of weather and temperature, the Pine Forest is by itself a wonder!
The biggest chunk of the descent was the pine forest hike. It took us almost 4 hours to navigate thru its winding trails under the intense heat of the sun. Despite the heat that aggravated our thirst, hunger and waning strength, the sight of the evergreen pines and the unpredictably graceful slopes of the mountains motivated us to walk on. These photos are clear proof that we enjoyed our long trek and brief rests.
One Misadventure Before "Lusod"
It was almost a perfect climb, free from any untoward incident. But we were not spared. Before we could reach Lusod, I requested Carl Hofi (our supposed Sweeper) to catch up with the lead pack at Lusod and inform them that they may go ahead to Tinongdan in case their long rest would bore them. I told Carl that his indicator would be Kilometer Post 7.
But before the Lusod village fence that actually looked like a prohibitive barrier to strangers, I did not know that there was an arrow on the opposite side of the trail. It pointed toward the opposite direction (as if instructing the hiker to do a "U" turn.) When I myself saw this arrow (which wasnt there during my previous climb) my strong impulse told me that Carl "obeyed" the arrow. I waited for Egay & Eayore and told them about my impulse, which has actually turned into an intense worry! I felt so guilty because I was the one who requested Carl to go ahead, forgetting that it was his first time at Ugo.
We called out Carl's name at the top of our voice. Our calls echoed thru the forest and mountains. No one responded. I went ahead to the Lusod rice field, and continued calling out for Carl, at the top of my voice. I saw a guy running and coming towards us. It was Celso and he waited for us at Km 7.5. I informed him that Carl is "missing". He immediately led us to the stopover house where the lead pack was waiting. There, I learned that Carl called them and asked for directions after seeing that arrow. However, they misunderstood his question, and he also misinterpreted their answer. Confirmed: Carl took the wrong trail! :(
This is how I felt:
I could only hope that Carl would remember what I said about Km7, and that he would come back if he didnt see any kilometer post.
Despite my worry, I felt that I needed to document our arrival at Lusod.
When we arrived at the stopover house at Lusod, Carlin was on the phone and yes! it was Carl!! True to our worry, he took the wrong trail "in compliance" with that arrow!!! that damn arrow !! There we learned that earlier, another group was also misled and lost because of that arrow! Carl finally caught up with us. He relayed that he reached the water source which according to the Sitio people was 2.5km away from the junction (the location of the arrow.) Carl explained that he enjoyed running down the trail so despite his doubt he kept running until he finally confirmed that there was no longer any kilometer post. Thankfully he found a spring with cool refreshing water!!
Lesson learned: "Not all arrows point to the right direction!" >Carlin.
The Last Leg of our Descent: Lusod to Tinongdan
During our 2014 Climb, it took us 6 hours to tread this segment. The expectation that it was going to be difficult started to overpower my enthusiasm. On the other hand, the good news was, it would be the first time I would see this trail under broad daylight. In 2014, it was a night trek along this part so all that we saw before was just the trail and not the surroundings.
Indeed, I saw that it was as beautiful as the earlier part.
The latter part found us complaining already because our feet and knees were terribly painful, tired, weak and screaming for rest !! But still, I was happy to see these sights once again, and in a different light.
My Favorite StopOver Spot (Along the Dead Trees)
This spot could be seen at Km Zero using the dead trees as markers.
The Uniquely Beautiful and Artistic Round Gate
It was almost sundown when we reached Km1 where the lead pack cleaned up and waited for us. The sight of cold coke was heaven!! Thanks God our looooooooooong hike was over!
I wasnt able to take pictures of the hanging bridge and the rest of our trip due to tiredness.
But just to put a closure to my 'docu', I took this final shot. It meant a lot of us!
The van that would take us to Baguio was waiting at Km 0. It took us to the Barangay Hall of Tinongdan, Itogon where we registered and received our Certificates of Recognition. Carl had wacky jokes about the certificates but we'll keep it to ourselves. hihihi!!!
In Baguio City, Ricky treated us to the overdue Jollibee dinner that we all deserved!!!
Happy Birthday Ricky!!!
The joy on our face as we were enjoying our yummy heavenly dinner was as joyful as the smile of Jollibee!!
Some of us were chance passengers, but luckily, chance was given to us. We reached home before the break of dawn, just in time for our manic Monday.
Thank you Mt. Ugo... Thank you Kayapa, Indupit, Domolpos, Lusod, Tinongdan.... Thank you so much Celso for being such an efficient and caring Guide.... Thanks to all the people who helped us along the way....
Thank you for the great company Carl Hofi, Carlin Hofileña, Roy Valenzuela, our birthday boy Ricky Realubit, our superman Eggsy Lindo Siena, and my greatest climb buddy Eayore Torres! May this climb make us better persons and may it strengthen the bond of our friendship!
Again, to God be the glory!!
Until our return to Ugo...
Until our next climb to whatever mountain, God willing.
