During those times when I had intense desire for mountaineering, it was part of my plan as a mountaineer-wanna-be to conquer the highest peak in Philippines, the father of all mountains, our Mt Apo. I am pretty much aware of my physical limitations. I've never been a hardcore mountaineer, and never will be. Hence, the idea of reaching the summit of Mt Apo was something I did not really dream of doing, but it's something that's worth of giving a "try". And so, when BP organized the climb, I joined.
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| Lake Mirror in Kapatagan, Digos, Davao del Sur |
I'm going to divide this write-up into three parts. This is the first part which tells about our first day experience in our 3 - day Mt Apo Trek.
Our first day in Davao began with a tour around the city and near by tourist attractions. We were waiting for Ivan's contact person to pick us up at SM Davao and it took time before they could meet us at the agreed location so we did visit some places in Davao, a travel experience which I'm going to share in a separate blog entry.
It was almost night when the tour guides arrived in SM Davao. They came with a jeepney, then we all got in. From the city, they drove us all the way to Kapatagan in Digos Davao del Sur and that's where we spent a night. I forgot the name of the resort or inn, whatever it's called. I felt like the place was closer to home. I'm not sure if it's with the ambiance or it's with how the locals treated as well or it could also just be a product of my excitement. Anyway, we had a good night there. Beside the inn is the famous tourist attraction, the Lake Mirror, where Mt Apo can be seen from afar. It's a very nice place. Seeing Mt Apo from Kapatagan excites me more that I couldn't wait to begin the actual trek.
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| This is where we spent an over night. |
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| Christine, my climb buddy |
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| The Lake Mirror_Courtesy of Liz Honrade |
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| With Christine, my climb buddy |
After spending a cold night in Kapatagan, we got ready for a three-day trek to Mt Apo. Everyone started to get busy. Tour guides were distributing loads among themselves, including our porters.
Trek to Mt Apo is going to be a long trip, with 3 days spent at most, and I just know I can't sustain the required stamina with heavy loads at my back. I needed a porter to carry my back pack and so I got one for only 1,200 for the whole 3 days.
When everything was all set, we proceeded. We boarded a small truck that brought us to the jump-off point. It was a nice truck-experience, though not really comfortable because we were exposed directly to the sun. But seeing such beautiful scenes along the way, it was an over-all fun.
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| We're excited! |
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| Photo by Liz |
From the jump-off, the trek began with traverse along plains and some slightly hilly portions. It's manageable at first. I mean there wasn't a need for an overly excessive consumption of strength. It wasn't tiring yet. However, due to intense heat of the sun, we had multiple requests for "five minute - break" and photo-ops. While others were resting, I took every single opportunity I could get to take photos.
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| Kapatagan |
Few more kilometers and we're about to enter the gate of wilderness. I had the gut feeling that the trail would be getting more difficult. It's Mt Apo. What should I expect? But when we entered the forest, it seemed like we found shelter from the sun. It was not hot at all. It could be because of cloudy sky or the thick leaves from tall trees covered us from the sunlight.
I could not remember how long we'd been walking. All I could recall, my goal was to reach the campsite where we could rest for the night, and I'm sure everyone in the group had the same thinking. Although the trail could still be categorized as "easy and manageable", given proper precaution, but walking for more than half a day, that was tiring. I was getting little weaker as we moved a long. Gladly, we reached the area where the tour guides said we could take a nap and rest for a while. Whoah! Finally, I could lay my back on the ground, sleep and recover my strength.
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| Hahah. I was dead tired. Photo Credit to Liz Honrade |
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| Our guides cooking |
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| Christine, helping the tour guides with the cooking. |
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| Lunch Time :) |
After an hour of rest which included lunch break, we continued the trek. We needed to reach the campsite before dark because it would be very dangerous to do a night trek, especially for us who were all first - timers in Mt Apo.
We had walked more than hundred kilometers and everyone was still having fun, including myself. It's always nice seeing such beautiful vegetation in the forest, and the trail to Mount Apo offers one of a kind. There were greeny and mossy meadows and trees but one has to be very careful because at any point, in just one wrong move or misjudgment, accident may happen, just like when I did an epic-fail assessment of the pathway. I accidentally bumped my head against one of the tree trunks on our way to the campsite. There were portions in the trail where we needed to walk on big trunks of trees that are laid down on the ground. While bridging in one of those trunks, I could no longer bend my knees to step down from the trunk and walk on the ground again. To reach the other side of the trail without bending my knees, I jumped big time and hit my head on a tree on the other side, and it was a huge "ouch!". My head was bleeding and I was crying. I didn't know what to do. I was scared. I could die on the spot. I didn't know exactly why I didn't see that big tree in front of me before I jumped! It's either because it was getting dark or I was not just looking.
So I got an injury on my head. Christine gave me first aid. She cleaned the wound I had on my scalp. When she could not tell how deep the wound was, I panicked. I'm not ready to die, not yet. But with supportive peers around me, I just knew I need not worry. "I'm going to be safe", I told myself.
My head was aching but I needed to proceed with the trek. I needed to reach the campsite and rest there. And finally we did.
It was past 5 in the afternoon when we reached the camp site called Godi-Godi. At last, the whole day trek ended. I hurriedly took my tent and set it up. I was freaking tired. I wanted to rest. Right after I got myself cleaned, I contained myself inside my tent and slept. I didn't join the evening socials which, according to Christine, was one of the best socials she ever had. Our tour guides and porters were so cool and were on-the-game. While everybody was having such a fantastic night, undoubtedly I was snoring in my tent so good.
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| The Campsite |
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| Our porters and guides. Just like us, they were also tired. |
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| A beautiful plant in Godi-Godi campsite. I don't know what t's called. |
I had a very nice sleep. When I woke up, I felt extremely energized; and with head ache gone, I was completely ready for another day of trek. That was all I needed - long hours of sleep :)
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| Day 2 at Godi-Godi..packing up for our second day |
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| Nice morning at Godi-Godi |
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| These were all the girls in the group: From L-R April, Me, Christine, Liz, Shine and Weng |
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| The entire group. We were all ready for another whole day of trek |
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| Christine |
Everyone was ready for another whole day and probably for a non-stop trek. We were so blessed to have a good weather on the first day of our trek, and we hoped to have the same. Before we left the camp-site, we had a little prayer for everyone to be safe and to have the same nice weather as we had on day 1, and that there shouldn't be another injury.
To read about what happened on our day 2, please click this link.
Cristina
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
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