I truly have a penchant for being in nature and I think hiking is one of the best ways to immerse oneself. I'm writing this while my memory is still fresh, because I want to remember it all as much as possible. I also want to share more of my experience for dear readers who are also lovers of nature and might want to get into hiking. :-)
Hiking feels like a combination of two of my favorite things: walking long distances and nature. The walk is a lot more challenging in hiking of course, what with ascents and rope segments.... but I love the challenge. I also like the feeling of being small in this world when I'm surrounded by nature; seeing all the greens, being under the sun, and admiring its beauty up close humbles me a lot.
My first ever mountain would be Mt. Pinatubo, so I guess this would be my "Mother Mountain" -- this is the term that mountaineers use to acknowledge the first mountain that they have climbed and reached the summit. It has a 2/9 difficulty level according to Pinoy Mountaineer and it is 960+ MASL. From my understanding, Mt. Pinatubo has multiple trails, and of course we chose the easiest one. I'm aware there's an option of camping overnight with the Delta-5 and Sapang Uwak Trails, but we're all working professionals with limited availability, so we opted for the one with the 4x4 vehicle.
This hike was with my high school friends, and it's considered as a birthday trip for dear L which she herself organized :") I love friends who push you out of your comfort zone and they do it together with you huhu. We booked our trip via Danny Mt. Pinatubo Tour, and we met with the organizer in Capas Tarlac directly.
My friends and I are all based in the South of Metro Manila, so we all left from there by 2:00AM. We arrived in Tarlac by 5:00AM, and we had an hour to complete the paperworks, payment, and preparations before starting our hike by 6:00AM.
We met Danny! and he led us to where the 4x4 vehicles were parked. We hopped on one and headed towards the vast stretch of land filled with lahar. It was perhaps the bumpiest ride of my life; we were screaming and holding on to our dear lives since we were riding at the back of our 4x4 jeep. It was the kind wherein you would fly off your seat if you didn't hold on tight enough. My precious Outliers Studios cap almost became an outlier as it nearly came off my head. :"(
4x4 Ride
It was a sight to behold, seeing nothing but lahar and mountain ranges from afar. Interesting to note as well how there were little streams of water, some of which were sulfuric. There were no other life forms as we slowly ascended; I personally didn't feel the ascent since it was mostly flat, but for sure we were going up! It was all gray and sandy and a different environment all together, yet we were taking it all in. The ride lasted for an hour, and we had a break in between, wherein we got off the jeep and took some photos and felt the ground beneath us after a while of bumpiness.
Aside from admiring the scenic views, my friends and I sang out loud to our heart's content all the songs that came into our heads which made it feel like time passed so quickly.
Start of Trekking
At 7:00AM, we finally arrived at the point wherein we had to start trekking. The trek consisted mostly of non-stop walking, crossing water streams of varying sizes, and passing through rocks and boulders. The terrain was a unique one, one I never saw anywhere else. The eruption really did alter the whole place, but from such a disaster came beauty.
The trek took a total of 2 hours. I'd say it was more of a trek because there wasn't much of an ascent. The only ascent/steep portion of this trek would be before reaching the summit. We took short breaks, wherein we would just occasionally drink water.
After a long while of streams and rocks, we entered into a lush forest filled with trees and even more streams. It was uphill from there, and we were stepping mostly on uneven rocks. Eventually though, there were stairs. Stairs!? Yes. They carved out stairs and I couldn't help but think- wow! Thank you so much for these stairs...
Reaching the Summit at 960+ MASL
Once we reached the top (at around 9:00AM), we were greeted by a majestic view of the Mt. Pinatubo crater lake. We spent a lot of time here at the summit. We caught up, drank water, and ate some of our trail food. We took a lot of photos, and we even descended down nearer to the lake. We stared at the scenery and admired it; no one is allowed to swim due to an accident from years back. We were contented however to just sit and talk and bask in the beautiful scenery.
At around 11:00AM, we decided to go back. The way going down is the same as the one going up, so we pretty much knew what to expect. Going down was quite alright, although there were times wherein I needed the guide's help because I didn't know exactly where to place my foot. I think a hiking pole would've been very helpful, since I saw other hikers with it. Sadly though, I wasn't able to purchase one prior the trip.
We eventually got down at around 1:00PM. We then hopped on our 4x4 jeep and headed back to town. We arrived at 2:00PM in our base and ate a late lunch. We then finished and headed back to Manila by 3:00PM. We were able to get back by 6:00PM, which wasn't so bad considering it was a holiday!
Some learnings from this hike:
♡ This was my first hike, and it made me realize how fun it can be, especially with friends.♡ It's truly something else to see nature at its undisturbed natural form. The eruption has definitely done its damage and humans probably left the place as it is, but it remains to be beautiful and out of this world.
♡ Wear hiking sandals because you'll be crossing a lot of streams. I was originally planning to hike with my hiking shoes, but I didn't want to risk getting my shoes and socks wet. That would be an uncomfortable hike if you ask me!
♡ Bring a raincoat just in case- we experienced light drizzles and it's pretty much expected.
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