And today, another weekend has started and we are three weeks before our first major climb. We are again going to Mt Naupa via Lanas trail but we will go up this time on another trail. We discovered this trail while going down the peak from last week. This is actually the trail used by the locals when they want to have some fun at the mountain top.
It was a busy Sunday morning and I was at the office hurrying up everything for me to be able to meet the call time at 10AM at the southbus terminal. Everything was set and ready .
Me and ario, arrived together at the southbus terminal for we have the same shift . We were the last to arrive, the rest of the gang was there already, Nette and Apple were eating, Rea, Alice and Vincent were patiently waiting. I told the team to wait up for the Madam Zuli but minutes after I received a text that she wouldn’t be able to make it this time due to some important errands. We were all set and off we go. We are gonna pick up Jack and Aljun in Minglanilla to complete the casting for today’s adventure.
This week’s plan was to go to Mt Naupa and three other more peaks, exploring the unravelled mountains of Naga and just camp wherever darkness falls. Sounds like a plan but we started late and it’s almost noon so I thought that this will be another camping at Mt Naupa , just at the same mountain where we had camp from last week.
Although , we are gonna go up the mountain using a different trail, it’s still gonna be the same mountain , just the same mountain or so I told myself. I didn’t know that we were in for a treat this time .
And yes we arrived at he base camp, pitched our tents and started some photo ops.
The clouds were cooperating and more and more pictures were taken. A few moments after , it was magic hour and the light was almost out just in time our dinner was ready.
It was also just in time when we were done eating when the heavy rain fell and we were forced to go inside our tents. We were just starting to have fun and it was only 6 PM but we didn’t had any other choice.
Tired and no sleep, I tried to keep my eyes shut but I convinced myself that this is not how I supposed to end my night . An hour later, the rain stopped and so we decided to continue the drinking session, but just as we went outside , the rain went back so we were forced to find shelter, good thing there was one nearby so we held our socials night there talking about love and life and anything in between.
It was a goodnight full of laughter and more laughter . Lights off.
It was a very cold night. We all had a good night’s sleep due to the weather and the alcohol. It was very relaxing to sleep on the ground with the wind and the rain outside your tent as the background music.
Morning came and I was the first one to rise and when I got out of the tent, to my amazement, it was very foggy and there was sea of clouds . I was teary eyed. It was like I was on another dimension . The view was amazing. I woke up the others and with no hesitation, the pictorials went on.
It was really amazing since not all campers can experience this ,on our last week’s camp here, it was just a tiny winee foglet. But this time around, it’s as if this was nature’s way of making amends since we were not able to drink under the stars last night . And apology accepted, this is way much nicer .
After breakfast , we cleaned the area and got ready for a week delayed plan, to climb the actual peak of Mt Naupa. And so we did with heavy stomache and an even heavier bag due to wet tents and fly’s.
It was a great experience to climb this side of the mountain , the actual peak of Mt Naupa . Not all campers went on this part . The view was spectacular but the cliffs on the other side were very dangerous too. We didn’t stayed long and went on our traverse activity since we will be taking the Cogon Route in going home . It was an easy trail going down the slope since this is the most common one and the locals already made it easy for tourist by making stairways on the ground specially on those very steep parts.
In the previous climbs that we made, we started this ” no habal2x policy to and fro” , meaning we don’t take any habal2x in going to and going back from the jump off point, we hike it. In the first place that’s what we want, to stress out our sweat glands.
We arrived at the Cogon Chapel tired and sweaty and craving for something cold. I finished two bottles of ice cold sparkle. This is actually one of the highlights of the event, to be able to drink sparkle and appreciate the enginuity of man for inventing the refrigerator.
Since I was the only one who was able to experience the Cogon Trail, the group asked me if it was doable if we are gonna walk down to the main highway. And with no hesitation, I answered yes and told them that it was only 4 KM long. Since we were getting ready for our major hike, they bought my idea and started walking.
We were on for a food trip, for every store that we pass by, we buy something and eat. It was a fun activity.
It was only when my GPS said that we already walked 2 KM that they started to ask if I have them the correct number if it was really just 4 KM total since at that point , all we can see were just mountains left and right. I jokingly told them that I miscalculated and that it was really 14 KM, everyone reacted but we were already walking and pumped up so we decided to just continue to walk for as long as we can.
And by the time , when my GPS told me that it was already 4KM , we were on a dirt road going to the main highway . It was noon already and a lot of big vehicles were coming to and fro making it hard for us to walk on the muddy dirt road so we decided to take a habal2x to finish the trek.
When we arrived at the main road, I checked my GPS and it was a total of 7.6 km , it was like times two of my estimate . Good thing we decided to take the motorcycle.
It was a fun weekend being with the gang sharing stories as we went down the mountain. One more week to go and we will be one with our first major climb.
That will be very exciting and I know that that will be one long blog I should say.
Until next week.
Thanks for reading.
Fees
South bus – Lanas php 40
Lanas- south bus php 40
Guide fee : none ( ask the locals of use GPS , Or you can contact me)
Important Things to bring
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