THE
PREPARATION FOR the Cebu Highlands Trail Project goes on high gear
today, February 1, 2015, with a Survival Hike Training from Lutopan,
Toledo City to Tubod, San Fernando then going down to South
Poblacion, where Taiheiyo Cement Corporation is located. I have
tried this route last August 17, 2013 but it was a leisurely activity
which took me and those with me more than 12 hours to finish.
Today
I am with my chosen Exploration Team composed of Jonathan Apurado and
Jovahn Ybañez. I woke up at 02:00 and walked my way 30 minutes
later from residence to the Cebu South Bus Terminal. I buy five
pieces of bread to be consumed later during the hike and take time to
nap on an empty chair. By 04:30, I transfer to the 7Eleven
Convenience Store and wait for Jonathan and Jovahn.
Jovahn
did not arrive but Jonathan and I leave, nevertheless, at exactly
05:00 from Cebu City on board a bus for Toledo City. I do not want
again to make my activity to be held hostage by people who are not
punctual. We arrive at Lutopan at 06:55 and walk to a waiting shed
that marks the start of our route. The village of Bunga will be the
jump-off point for this training hike and the early morning clime is
cold but, otherwise, fine.
I
grab my new Canon IXUS 145 Camera, provided for by Tactical Security
Agency by special arrangement, from inside my Silangan Predator Z
Tactical Backpack. The camera will be used for documentation of the
whole project as well as for this occasion. I also make ready my
Cignus V85 VHF radio and set a frequency where another cog of the
team – Chad Cordova – will be monitoring as Base Support Crew.
I
will open carry my AJF Gahum Heavy-duty Knife inside its PVC sheath.
The knife is made by Aljew Frasco, a fellow bushman and one of my
benefactors. One of the reasons why I will open carry a knife on
this route is to facilitate familiarity to the locals of a different
lifestyle that bushcraft will undertake. To recall, inhabitants on
this route are suspicious of outsiders and they do not see hikers
often and, much more so, from a knife-carrying urbanite. It is time
to break that taboo.
At
07:00, me and Jonathan follow the road to the community of Bunga. We
are still on the jurisdiction of Toledo City and, soon, we will be in
Lamac, a mountain village of Pinamungahan town. We pass by a small
lake and go down the road into its shore. Across us are people
fishing using lines while nearby the lake is a poultry farm. It is a
small lake alright and we know its name by the time we go back to the
road. It is called Po-og Lake.
Today
I am blessed with the finest weather. It is supposed to be a rainy
morning and that would not have bothered me except the new camera.
The camera kept blazing at its target seen in the viewfinder. Some
parts of the road were cleared recently of earth caused by Typhoon
Seniang. The walk becomes fast-paced as the grade of the road goes
down into Lamac. We reach the village at 09:00 and eat rice cakes
without stopping.
Without
stopping really meant without stopping for a short respite even the
chance to rehydrate. We do stop beyond the village of Sibago, still
a part of Pinamungahan, but on the foothill of a trail that led to a
ridge to drink water. This ascending trail leads to a road that is
the boundary between Pinamungahan and San Fernando. The trail had
been washed by rain runoffs and by small landslides yet we reach the
road at 10:00.
We
reward ourselves with cold bottles each of soda drinks and, at the
same time, eat our first pieces of bread. After about five minutes,
we proceed on with the training. We follow a path that had been
widened and dug in deep by the sleds pulled by the many generations
of swamp buffaloes. I call this the “Carabao Highway” and it
would lead to the village of Tubod, in San Fernando, and, perhaps,
would go all the way to Mantalongon, Barili in the old days.
The
animal path is wet but there are parallel paths for humans to walk
on, like a street sidewalk, and we shift often to one or the other
whenever it suits us. We pass by an old concrete marker on top of a
ridge that divide San Fernando and Pinamungahan and a couple of
albino carabaos grazing. Since we left Bunga, I gave my best
courtesy to the locals, giving greetings with a smile to arrest their
instinctive suspicions of our presence. Sometimes they may ask what
we are doing but I gave them honest answers.
It
is not strange if they would ask us if we are doing a survey. That
is the strategy that some groups with ulterior motives had been using
to cover their real purpose but they get, instead, our honest
answers. One local even asked us if we are treasure hunters. It
elicit me a smile when I remembered that this was the prevalent
question which the mountain inhabitants of Carmen had been asking of
me and my previous group when I was there in 2009.
We
reach the village of Tubod at 12:00 and it looks empty. On the
communal water source, women are crowding around a concrete basin
filled with water from a natural spring. They are doing laundry. We
asked for a piece of their clean water and filled up our water
bottles. We do not tarry and again we found ourselves walking on the
road. This is the second half of our training and may well be the
hardest.
Tubod
is found exactly in the middle of Cebu between San Fernando and
Pinamungahan and it could be 15 to 16 kilometers, when a bird flies,
to either shores. It is located on a mountain ridge but on its east
and west are other mountain ranges. Your view of the sea are blocked
because of these mountains! We happily go down the road and reach a
bridge after 30 minutes and, slowly, our torture begins when the road
goes up. Ahead of us is a mountain range.
The
bad thing about walking on mountain roads, especially if it is paved
with concrete, is it is torture on the feet soles. Another thing is
its monotony which bleeds away your expectations of a reprieve. I
had been tempted many times to end this walking by accepting an offer
of a free ride from drivers but I politely declined. During four
days of Segment III (Mantalongon, Barili to Mantalongon, Dalaguete),
which would be in about three weeks from now, it would all be
mountain roads.
I
face the ascending road with dread as it evolve into unending rises
which would be broken by just a handful of level grades for just a
few meters only. I would want to take a brief rest but the breaking
of a momentum would be hard to recover. I would get that rest,
however, if I am assured of a cold drink from a small store, which is
rare. I need to replenish my spent energy and the best answer is
sugar from soda drinks.
When
I found a store in Bugho, we stop and drink the cold contents of a
bottle and eat our second pieces of bread. After that, we bravely
face again the endless rises of the road. We pass by the village of
Magsico and further on would be the village of Tabionan which we
reach at 14:00. My feet are now complaining as it is now swelling at
the heels and the ankles are a bit stiff. I have found the 5.11
Tactical Series Shoes unfit for long walks on concrete roads. I
don’t know why? But it must be the great care I treat the pair by
changing my gait so soles would not drag on concrete.
We
stop at Tabionan for one final drink of cold drinks. This is where
the end of endless rises and the start of an unending downhill walk
of asphalt and concrete pavement. Asphalt are missing on some parts
of the road and I chose to walk on where it is unpaved. The soft
ground would have been a reprieve but the feet have suffered so much
and can only feel a little comfort. Worse, the weight of my
backpack’s contents are beginning to be felt on the flesh of my
shoulder as well as on the back of my waistline.
I
walk slow to diminish the impact of feet on the ground and to lessen
the bounce of the bag on the shoulders. I see a different ridge from
my angle that would have lessened the travel on the road and I could
have dared to explore it today if I only knew of its existence. The
road I am on wind on a very long horseshoe curve and I am appalled at
this torture. I have seen no local walking on the road like we do
and they might have thought us as foolish for declining a ride.
Our
hopes begin to soar as we see from afar the shoreline and the tall
exhaust tube of the Taiheiyo Cement plant. I am hoping we would
reach the cement factory by 16:00 but, at my controlled pace, I doubt
it. I am not worried because we have a lot of daylight to spare.
Steadily, the slow and controlled downhill walk diminish away the
distance and my expectations that I would reach the highway at 16:00
becomes achievable.
I
reach the plant at 16:00 and the highway five minutes later. We
crossed the road half limping and sit on the waiting shed. Sitting
still had never been so wonderful as is felt now. I congratulated
Jonathan for surviving this test. We have accomplished our Survival
Hike Training in nine hours of an almost non-stop walk without a
solid meal in between. My experiments on just bread and water gained
success once more with this long hike.
Today’s
preparation would be tested on Segment III. The monotony of the
roads and the different attitude of locals upon strangers would be
our big obstacles. The pains felt on our feet and our shoulders can
be remedied by adjusting the loads to the most basic of essentials
like simple shelters, extra clothes and dried food. Navigating by
traditional means would still be our main strategy in dealing with
distance and objectives.
Apparently
my feet took a beating and I wince in pain as I try to stand up from
where I sat. I sit down again and, silently, I begin to return the
camera, the AJF Gahum and the 5.11 operator belt inside the backpack
while changing to a dry t-shirt. I have learned a lot from this
day’s activity and I will make a big adjustment on the care of my
feet since Segment III will be 4 days. I would need pain killers and
some balms for that or even change my shoes.
It
would be noted that on Segment III our loads would be heavy
considering that we will be carrying our food. My own load would be
very heavy and I begin to doubt the externally-expandable 32-liter
Silangan Predator Z could carry all my needs. But it does not faze
me at all. Today’s activity had prepared me and my team what to
expect.
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