By Joel B. Belinan
The mountaineer in me prompted this topic after seeing several posts of my relatives and kakailians hiking and enjoying nature just like how we were back in the 90s.
I was a co-founder of the Cordillera Mountaineering Club (CMC) and was its training officer then. When the club became popular, we were always being tapped to lead or do some pioneering climbs or treks or to technically assess some caves. The purpose of these for local governments was to explore the sites’ potential for their eco-tourism programs. One of these was the 1998 Mt. Pulag Summer Climb organized by the Governor’s Office of Benguet through its tourism office. The climb was scheduled for four days but it would be a “cross-country” trek. We started it at the easiest route, the Ambangeg trail. The number of participants was huge as, for the first time, the provincial tourism office accepted about 60 people most of whom were from Metro Manila.
We were seven (7) from the CMC which was low compared to the number of the climbers to be guided. With us was my friend Luis Bambao, a former tactical and ground warfare specialist at the Philippine Military Academy. Also the Provincial Tourism Officer Claire Prudencio and Jovy Ganongan, the Department of Tourism-CAR regional director now. Starting early from Baguio, we registered everyone at the Protected Arsea Service Office (PASO) at Ambangeg that manages the Mt. Pulag National Park. We also had two local tour guides as we were to cross the Mount Pulag Mountain all the way to its eastern side. Since we took the easiest route, there was no difficulty in reaching the Mount Pulag grassland where we camped on the first night, and where we prepared a vegetarian buffet, courtesy of Dominic Leproso, with veggies bought from the nearest village, sitio Babadak. The participants from Metro Manila were surprised as they considered the food to be luxurious on a climb.
The second day began with a 4:00 o’clock wake-up call and then we proceeded to the summit which was just 20 to 30 minutes walk. The usual program was to be at the summit before the sunrise to be able to take photos with the sun rising at your back. During summer, one can also chance upon a sea of beautiful clouds on the western side towards the Halsema Highway. After the sunrise viewing and the breaking of the camp including breakfast, we proceeded to the Lusod Trail to eventually reach Barangay Tawangan, the last Barangay of Kabayan Municipality abutting its border with Tinoc, Ifugao.
After passing through Lusod proper, the two local guides whom I designated to take the lead, as they knew their way around the trail which was seldom used for mountaineering groups that big. The trail was almost a virgin pine forest with a thick undergrowth of kallasan. The vegetation was wonderful with a canopy of vines on branches of trees on both sides, thus we were being slowed down by many of the climbers taking their time to take pictures.
Unfortunately the two local guides got worried that we might not be able to reach the designated second camp site by nightfall so they decided for us to take a hunter’s trail which was supposed to be a short-cut. The problem was they themselves seemed not to be very familiar with the route and just before lunch, we found ourselves in the middle of a very thick pine and kallasan forest. For three hours we couldn’t find the right path. That was when I, as the head of the climb, decided to stop the group and told everyone to take some rest and take their lunch. They made a long line of sprawled bodies along the trail as I met with the CMC climbers to ask for suggestions on how to solve our predicament. We decided to task Clint Taynan, Mr. Bambao and one of the local guides to recon our surroundings and find our way back to the main trail to Tawangan Elementary School, the supposed next campsite.
At last after two hours, the recon group returned and told us that they spotted the main trail from afar. They resorted to climbing the tallest trees to finally see the main trail. After another almost four hours in the thick forest, we were finally at the main trail by a very clean river with a wide river bank suitable for camping. We decided to pass the night on that site. During the whole duration of our stay inside the thick forest, most of the participants were actually enjoying the ambience and those with cameras (no android cellphones yet that time) were having a fiesta taking photos. The following morning we took our time knowing that we were near our next camp site in Tawangan. Thus the participants took time exploring the surrounding areas of the forest and the river. As early as 3:00 o’clock p.m. we reached Tawangan Elementary School with the barangay officials waiting for us. After some formalities between them and the tourism officer Ms. Prudencio and the DOT’s Ms. Ganongan, we then settled ourselves in the school rooms designated for us. Most of the participants however chose to pitch their tents on the school grounds. But before dark, most of the participants were roaming around the Kalanguya speaking village to get acquainted with the people and to take souvenir shots.
Waking up early the next morning, I saw almost everyone busy heating or preparing their breakfast. That was when a little accident happened. A British national of Chinese ancestry suddenly caught fire on his lower body. Dominic Leproso, a registered nurse and trained paramedic, who was on his way to take a bath jumped and covered the British guy with his bath towel that put off the fire immediately. Luckily the guy did not suffer any serious burn injury. He however was obviously shocked that he had a hard time talking and could not stand on his own. His group companions told us that there were so many mosquitos the night before so they applied insect repellants all over the exposed parts of their bodies. When he started his portable stove to cook his food his body caught fire. The insect repellant might have been highly combustible.
I requested for help from the barangay captain and they arranged for local guys to carry the British up to Ballay, near the Tabeo Lake where our jeepney ride to Baguio was waiting. They used a traditional rattan hammock as stretcher (not palanquin). The route was around 7 kilometers uphill to Ballay. What was funny was when we arrived at Ballay, the British guy suddenly alighted from the hammock where he had been sleeping most of the way. He was refreshed like he did not have any problem at all. He was walking or even running to the delight of almost everyone. He generously offered some amounts to the members of the group who took turns carrying him, and who at first refused to accept. They however took the money after I told them to accept it and use it to buy certain animals to butcher and partake with in accordance with their tradition.
We left Ballay at 3:00 p.m. and arrived in Baguio at around 7:30 in the evening. **
