Thursday, January 10, 2013

Luzon 3-2-1: The Dark Night in Tawangan- Pulag


November 2, 2012

Mt. Pulag
Tawangan, Benguet

Define Crazy? A bunch of stupid guys who dubbed this climb as Tawanan sa Tawangan. The Tawangan trail to Pulag was anything but fun. I can still imagine the ordeal that we have to go through just to reach the summit. 
 
 
We started the trek at dawn without knowing what was stored for us that day. For those who don't know this is probably one of the toughest trail that exist around this part of the Cordilleras. There is a part whereas one has to cross rivers. Also, there were areas that the soil is soft that has a tendency to have holes. 
 
 

Then there is my personal favorite the limatiks or blood leeches. That is why the trail is dubbed as the bloody trail. This was my first encounter with these blood suckers. Instead of thinking about it too much, I did not bother removing them from my body. It turned out to be a terrible idea as I had many marks around my feet area.
 
Wounded by the limatiks
 
This time, our guide was Josiah, who is the son of sir Santiago. I never met Josiah but I am aware of his reputation as a trail runner because I read him in one of the blogs I regularly follow. Also, he was an informative and entertaining guide as well. He shared his knowledge of this parts of the mountain while we were trekking.
 
 
Most part of the trail was mossy. It is just covered by trees and grasses where the limatiks are hanging around and waiting for their prey. That probably made the journey much longer due to the non-stop interference of our unwanted "guests". 
 
 
This 14-hour trek is not for the broken-hearted. My legs and knees were virtually broken when we reached the grasslands. One should be physically fit when trekking this trail. I learned that the hard way.

The sun was already gone when we reached the saddle camp. We started while it was dark and ended our trek into the dark night as well. I was so tired that I slept immediately. But when the ever reliable Noli had prepared our dinner, I woke up to eat. Damn, it was cold out there. I was chilling and freezing the same time but I can't wait for the sun to rise the next day.

 
To be concluded...
 
Thanks to sir Vic for the wonderful photos. 

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