I TAKE OFF FROM home at 05:00
for the church in Guadalupe. Today,
January 5, 2014, is the start of another season of my outdoor pursuits and of the
Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild.
The Guild is the only one of its kind in Cebu, in Visayas and in the
Philippines. Nowhere else would you find
a local outdoors club here whose main existence is primarily focused on
primitive-living techniques and wilderness survival skills.
The weather is now colder but
it came late. I expected it in December
but it never came and it is so unusual.
Credit that to climate change. A
good scenario to prepare for. I have
prepared for any SHTF situation and so do the rest of Camp Red. That gives us advantage over the rest because
we are regularly out there to hone our skills while all are beholden to their
couch and the electric outlet. Although
some come to the mountains, they do nothing but take pictures, kill time and
feel good. That’s all. Nada!
Today I will tackle again
Manggapares Trail but I will switch to the dangerous Liboron Trail to reach
Babag Ridge instead. I came here last
week with four others but we did not pass this route and I hope we will finish
this activity today before dusk. Coming
again with me is Dominic Sepe; and first time for both Aljew Frasco and
Christopher Maru. We all leave Guadalupe
at 07:00 under a slight drizzle for the trailhead at Napo after securing the
ingredients for our noontime meal which we will cook along the route.
I am trying out a newly-bought Blackhawk!
Warrior Wear Tactical Pants. It is
made of canvas cloth and is well suited for urban use but it might be good to
test it on difficult terrain. Taking a
cue from last week’s experience with heat, I will don my South African veldt
hat because of its wide stiff brim to shield me from the sun and its meshed
structure to let air through. I wear my
old Rivers 3514M Hike Boots over a newer Columbia. Although the new one gives good traction, the
older one is comfortable. I will use my
experience instead to compensate what it lacked.
By 07:30, we are now at the
branch of the Napo Trail where a connecting route to Manggapares Trail
starts. I open carry my big AJF Gahum
knife by my side. So is Aljew with his Sycko
911, Christopher with his older AJF prototype and Dominic with his Seseblade
NCO knife. It is all uphill now but,
thankfully, the weather seem mild. Might
be because we start early. The Blackhawk!
pants seem to be a drag as I struggle with my breath trying to keep up with the
pace that the three had imposed behind me.
Nevertheless, we reach the first of a chain of steel power pylons
planted above Tagaytay Ridge and I pause for timeout.
I carried two liters of water
and that is two kilos. I am not known to
use a lot of water to quench thirst but I insist to carry an extra. Another cargo I have is a kilo of rice, fire kit, first aid kit and trauma kit, two cook pots, a skillet,
a stainless-steel cup, spoon-fork-knife set, a spare shirt, a kilo of
vegetables, a Victorinox SAK Trailmaster, a steel carabiner, a LED torch
and a William Rodgers bushcraft knife standing guard above the Sandugo
Khumbu 40 liter backpack. This is
just routine load yet it is like lead today.
I sip a small amount of water hoping that this lessens the weight.
The sun comes out of the clouds
but the cool breeze, robust and strong, coax our determination to pursue the
upward route until we reach the second steel tower. Along the way, I forage wild pepper leaves to
add to our vegetables and show them edible mushrooms that grow on dead wood and
pluck out some to make our soon-to-be cooked meal sumptuous. We came to a wide saddle that was converted
into a camp by firewood gatherers. It
has bamboos and purple taros on each side of the saddle where ravines are
located, a sure sign that water could be sourced somewhere along the length of
each.
The third tower seems hard to
tackle and I begin to notice that my heavy pair of pants is chafing on my inner
thighs. The action of walking on steep
terrain had caused creases between crotch and knees and these keep on rubbing
the skin which is now getting sore. I
decide to change gait, if applicable, towards the fourth tower and the
unfinished fifth tower. Beyond it are
the sixth and seventh steel behemoths but I opt to switch route for Liboron
Trail instead with dread.
In my first pass there last
year (NBT 57: The Last Wild Place),
I fell on a spot where soft ground gave way to my weight and I rolled six
meters down. My timely presence of mind
prevented my downward plunge with a self-arrest procedure. It was a close call that I do not want to
repeat on myself and on my trail mates.
I warn them of the trail condition and of my fall before we
proceed. This is a slightly better
option though than following the back of an exposed ridge, skipping around
Mount Liboron, and finding a long-lost trail to a saddle. I do not want to waste time again by blazing
a trail.
We stick to the old trail,
almost missing it, and come upon a secret meadow where there are lots of
coconuts of whose fruits are husked by an upright steel rod pointing to the
heavens. It would have been a perfect
campsite if there would have been a water source. We did not stay long and follow the path and,
when I step over a tree trunk, the ground give way. Deja vu!
I almost fell, of all places, on the same spot but on the other side of
the trunk! Just when I am being
careful. A closer close call.
We reach the saddle and climb
up a hill and down into a pass choked by spiny bamboos, that sway and creak to
the ever-present breeze. We climb up a
steep ground where there is a big mango tree, cross a brook, climb again a steep
ground and reach the home of Julio Caburnay and his family at 11:00. On this spot, we will prepare our meal for
lunch. But we will boil water first for
coffee. This is essential in recouping
lost energy. I request Julio of four
young coconuts which we will consume as dessert later.
Dom and I begin slicing the
vegetables while Aljew and Christopher gather firewood and set up a hearth to
cook rice. I soak the mushrooms in water
and give instructions to Dom on the finer points of cooking mixed vegetables. We did eat a sumptuous meal of mixed
vegetables with mushrooms done without monosodium glutamate. While most wanted an easy way out of their
cooking by using MSG or of those “magic mixes”, the Camp Red way is just using
the right frame of mind to achieve taste.
I give a kilo of rice to Julio before leaving for higher ground at
13:30.
We pause to savor the view
above the Caburnay homestead. It is just
too awesome and I begin to entertain to set up an “outdoors education center”
here. Just like the Roble homestead at
Kahugan, the Caburnays could provide coconuts and it would provide them some
form of livelihood catering to hikers apart from their farming. When we are now amongst thick vegetation, I
hear the distant sound of small engines, unmistakably that of racing
motorcycles.
I hasten my pace just in time
to see the last two colorful riders astride their Enduro bikes on a trail I
hold dear. Julio talked to me last year
about motocross riders passing by here and I find it unbelievable until I saw
it today. Although they have all the
right to be here as much as I do but they leave tire tracks and deep furrows on
the path. This is a foot path above
Babag Ridge and some people abuse that by using racing motorcycles here and
that is why some property owners decide to close some places with fences where
this beautiful trail used to thread that greatly altered the route.
A lot of hikers, unable to find
their way in the past because of these fences, got discouraged and opt to set
up camping sites at a peak above the old Swiss Chalet Restaurant. This trail is really the old Babag Trail that
tiptoe its way from Garahe in the north to Bocawe in the south, even farther up
to the Mananga River. I used to walk
this trail alone in a day in the early to middle ‘90s starting from Buhisan to
Upper Busay when preparing myself for big climbs outside Cebu. I thought this trail had been made into a
road until I rediscovered it last year that it was not.
Altogether, these fences might
have caused a boon to conventional hikers, yet it helped to my own cause,
although I will have to grudgingly share this trail to off-road riders. Babag Trail is home to the stoutest poles of
crawling bamboos (Local name: bokawe) and rattan palms. These had been fixtures here since I first
came here in 1993. This is also home to
other indigenous species and is a favorite roosting ground of the rare black
shama Local: siloy). The
vegetation on both sides of the ridge are thick and I believed that the few
outsiders who visit here the better would its condition be. I would utilize the trail and the whole
route, for that matter, as a training ground for bushmen.
Babag Ridge had been used by
the Japanese Imperial Army during their last stand in Cebu and I showed Aljew,
Christopher and Dominic of the places where they used to camp. They converge around cave openings which they
developed into a complex system of tunnels that dig into the gamuts of the
Babag Mountain Range. I take out my
compass to find the north when I see five trees that fell down during Typhoon
Yolanda. The trees all fell in one
direction – to the east – and the wind that caused it came from the west. This wind is called by the oldtimers as “badlong”
and they describe it as the wind that silence all winds.
We reach the part of the trail
where it is off limits forever by fences.
An alternate route had been made or been developed to through many years
of use by locals and we follow it down a dry gully where the route climb up
again for the high ground. Along this is
the track left by the motorcycles that dislodge soil, rock and debris causing
the walking slippery on an almost toothless sole like my Rivers
shoes. We reach a part where the ridge
is thinnest and this is where the local guerrillas had used as lookout point in
World War 2. From here they could
observe enemy movement below and send signals to Cantipla, where it is relayed
to the headquarters at Tabunan.
We leave at 14:30 after a good
rest and go to the trailhead down to Kahugan.
We pass by Mount Babag and follow the long trail down, most of it loose
soil and some steep. Uncomfortably steep
for my soles to grip on but I use both hands to grab for balance and to arrest
myself against the pull of gravity.
Vision is good and no long shadows to hinder judgment. I walk carefully, sometimes doing a reverse
walk down when doing a normal advance seems impossible. I persevered until I reach the Roble
homestead and I need a rest especially when one knee goes numb.
Aljew take off his shoes and
socks to let his feet breathe after that pounding caused by that difficult
downward route. We boil water for tea to
replenish our energy as the meal we had eaten during lunch had, somehow, been
used up by walking on difficult terrain.
It is 15:15 and we could finish this day at 16:00 if we like to but we
have a lot of time so we rest long at the Robles. After that, we walk some more downhill
stretch until we reach the Sapangdaku Creek and cross it for the trail going to
Napo, passing by the route that we used in the morning.
It was a “rosary loop”
encrusted with “mysteries” with Napo as the “cross”. Unfortunately, this will be for Camp Red use
only. It will remain a mystery to others
though. No waypoints would be uploaded
in my Wikiloc account although it is openly shared and documented in this blog
for your consumption. For that matter,
only the bold begets this treasure. If
you are bold enough, possessed with a good dose of wit and cunning, you may win
this prize and my respect.
Godspeed to you whoever you may
be!
Document done in
LibreOffice 3.3 Writer
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