Mt. Mariglem Hike, 2025

 

This hike is close to my heart because it's my first hike with my sister. She's an avid hiker and has been to quite a number of mountains here in the Philippines. During her month long vacation earlier this year, we decided to go for a hike together. One of the mountains on my list was Mt. Mariglem since it's somewhere up North this time and it offers such beautiful 360 views including surrounding mountain ranges and the West Philippine Sea. 

The hike itself was moderate, although because we lacked sleep (thanks to the driver who blasted the whole album of The Weeknd non-stop..... I am convinced I'm no longer listening to any of these songs for a long time), I had to take breaks here and there. It's a popular mountain, so it definitely felt like we had fallen in a long line going up. It was still quite dark before sunrise, so I could see everyone's headlamps from afar. But once we passed the first and second station, the gaps began to widen and we had a lot more space. After the third station, there wasn't much of an incline anymore and the sun was already beginning to rise. We definitely took our time to admire the scenery around us because this motivated us to reach the summit.  

There was a line to take photos with the signage by the time we arrived near the summit. My sister and I took that as a cue to take a good long break and sit down on the grass and eat our snacks. We ate, caught up on life (there's just something about being on top of a mountain overlooking everything below that makes one more reflective), took photos, and simply rested. 

This scenery left a mark on me. I felt the need to imprint this memory by making an oil pastel art of it:

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A post shared by Art by Anna Jo (@helloannajo.art)

It was a slow descent after that, mainly because I wanted to really soak up the view and so I was tailing behind the group intentionally. Since it was the beginning of the summer season, the grass was no longer green. When the sun was already up, the grass seemed to have a golden glow. 

By the time we reached the flat earth, we spent some time by the river to rest once again. The water was so beautifully clear and so cold to the touch; it was very refreshing. 

After the hike, the whole group fell asleep on the ride going home. I no longer had a hard time sleeping by this point because I was so tired.... but grateful. It's nice to be grown up and doing these kinds of things with my sister. It was also my first time trying to do a joiner group wherein I didn't know anyone from the bigger group, but it was a good experience.

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Writing about this experience, even if it was at the beginning of the year, is so healing for me. It makes me want to go on a hike as a type this right now haha! But what can I say, a lot of things have happened in this year, and I'm looking forward to share more soon. :") wishing you a blessed Sunday, dear reader.