IT
IS MILDLY WARM TODAY AND I HAVE so much time in my hands. Today is
Friday, September 2, 2016, and I have a guest from Switzerland. We
knew each other before when he dropped by last December 2015 to place
a donation for a fund-raising gig of Christmas United IV held at The
HeadquarterZ. He stayed for a few hours to know the wonderful guys
running this outreach event and of the crazy people of this Camp Red
Bushcraft and Survival Guild.
The
Swiss is also my benefactor and friend. He is married to a Cebuana
and he lives here in Cebu City. He lets me know of his plans and, one
time, he invited me and my wife for an overnight trip in Dumaguete
City to have a look over of the property he had bought. Not only
that, he gifted me a beautiful Victorinox Ranger Swiss Army Knife
when he came back last July. Believe me, big SAKs do not just drop
from the skies in this country and I am quite indebted to him.
He
wanted to the see the backcountry of Metro Cebu and he wanted to test
his own Ranger and a small Gerber fixed-blade knife. He wanted also
to improve his stamina after recovering from a minor operation and he
wanted to have a dirt-time of his own. We arrived at the same time at
the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at 07:00 and
proceed immediately to the back of the church where all journeys to
the Babag Mountain Range began, begun and begin.
I
am carrying light. A tan Lifeguard USA rucksack is all I need to
bring to what few things I have like a spare t-shirt, a few bread, my
Ranger, another Victorinox Trailmaster Swiss Army Knife, a William
Rodgers bushcraft knife, a Mora Companion knife, a Cignus V85 radio,
a Magellan GPS, a laminated nylon sheet, a Tingguian Tribe Sierra
hammock and a full Nalgene bottle. My Swiss friend carried a sling
bag with two liters of water, his own Ranger, the Gerber, his
sandwich and more bread.
I
am testing, for the first time, an old Magellan Blazer12 GPS unit. It
had been donated to me by an outdoor friend along with a thick
manual, sometime in late 2014, when I pleaded for sponsorship of any
kind and form to equip an Exploration Team that I was planning to
organize for the Cebu Highlands Trail Project which, at that time,
was woefully lingering at Segment II. It had never been used and
never would be in the exploration phase.
I
tinkered with it last night, reading the manual, cleaning well the
terminals, and made it work with new AA batteries. A date appeared on
its screen: April 4, 1998. Wow! It had been that long since its last
use. I cannot download nor upload its data. It is a second-generation
GPS system. Even so, I set the Navigation mode for today’s test. I
might use this when the Cebu Highlands Trail Project is done.
We
arrive at Napo and follow the trail meandering above the now-brisk
Sapangdaku Creek. I walk easy and slow and, as usual, do my own usual
stuff talking about plants, recent occurrences and what to expect
beyond. I am conditioning his mind so he could devise his own
strategies to adapt to the situation at hand, the ones we called as
the “economy of movement”, which the Swiss are good at.
We
stop often under the shades when the sun is overbearing and walk the
walk – the old men’s way – when we continue. We meet locals
along the way and children going to school late, or early, depending
on which subject. I am taking my friend to Camp Xi, which part I do
not know yet. There are four campsites there, each different and
isolated from each other by a stream or by a ridge.
I
noticed something wrong. Weeds are hanging from a power cable line.
Workers are re-attaching a cable today that had been deliberately cut
by thieves early last year in the hope of stealing it. The cable lay
in the ground for many months and are overgrown with weeds. When they
brought it up, so were the weeds. That is the quality of work when no
engineer is supervising and my Filipino brothers are good at it. Not
our finest moment especially when the very efficient Swiss are
around.
We
arrive at Camp Xi at 09:45. My friend loved the place. It is an ideal
campsite. Not here, my friend. Too open. We cross the stream
and found a path going up on another campsite. It is hidden but the
ground was used for farming. I checked an old lanzones tree if it is
bearing fruit. It was but it is still green. We go down the stream
and walk a few meters upstream then climb another path. Perfect.
The
third campsite is good for activities not requiring observers. It is
farther from the trail and covered by trees and bamboos growing
beside the stream. I once conducted a wilderness survival training
here for Army reservists last May. There are large mango trees that
would gave shade and we found a spot to test the knives. I drag a dry
bamboo pole that was left hanging on thorns after it was cut by a
local many days ago.
I
splay my laminated nylon sheet on the ground to place things and to
sit on. I check the data of the GPS. Power went off. I tried to
switch it on but it went blank after a few seconds. Batteries merrily
drained away by the greedy unit. I was using the red-colored Eveready
batteries and maybe it needs alkaline ones. I guess it has to sit
long enough to gather dust before I could afford a set of
rechargeable alkaline batteries.
My
friend happily used his Ranger and his Gerber alternately on the
bamboo pole. The tiny folding saw of the Ranger, which is by far
longer than a Trailmaster, make cutting work fast. I tried mine and
timed it on the endmost part of the pole where it is around 2-7/8
inches in diameter and about 5/16th of an inch thick. I was able to
cut it three seconds less than the one I did with my Trailmaster.
Without a doubt, SAK saw design and efficiency are the best when you
talk of multi-tool set saws.
I
leave him alone while he is toying with the Gerber. I set up the
hammock on a nearby tree. After that, I go back to check on his
current progress. It seems the Gerber is small enough to do a man’s
work yet I believe it could handle well a kitchen job. The humidity
is almost unbearable. I do not know my Swiss friend of how he is
feeling now. I eat the first of my bread and paired it with water.
Turned
the power knob of my Cignus V85 portable radio to monitor stations in
the frequency of Ham Radio Cebu. I get lots of splats instead from
another frequency used by a taxi company which enters accidentally
all the time when you are communicating with another. I waited for it
to die down before I press the PTT to check on stations. I do not get
a reply. I just let the radio on, hopefully, a message might find my
way.
It
is now 11:30. I ask my friend how he is doing. He says he is fine. He
was waiting for me of what my next plan is. It is too early to call
it a day. I ask him again if he is okay for another short hike. A bit
steep than before. No problem he says. So be it. I pack all my
things back to my rucksack and keep the place tidy as if we were not
here. We go down and cross the stream and climb up the main trail.
We
arrive at Lower Kahugan Spring and I have to stop to refill my
bottle. It is shady but it is empty of people. We resume our walk. I
am planning of taking him to the Busay Lut-od Waterfalls. We meet
people and children going to school along the trail, this time the
children are early for their afternoon class. We rest when we could
find shade and we do that many times because the trail is steep. It
is necessary.
After
about an hour or more of walking, I show him the first of the
waterfalls in its grand splendor under a noon sun. I pause for a
while to catch a glimpse of two big catfish I saw last March turning
up its head at this same hour. They are probably washed downstream
during heavy rains. “Can I swim?”,
he asks. No problem. Taking off his bag, his shoes and
his socks, he immerse himself in the cool water with his clothes on.
He needs it badly. The heat stinks.
My
friend seems to have recovered by the cool-down in the pool and he is
smiling. We go up the path to the trail and go back to the Lower
Kahugan Spring to rest for a short time. It is still 12:45 but we
meet people and children coming from school. Big smiles for the
little ones when my friend parted his untouched bread. In a matter of
a half hour, we are now at Napo. A few seconds later, we were on
motorcycles back to Guadalupe.
What
better way to cool much further for the rest of the day are mugs of
the coldest beer at my favorite watering hole. Ciao!
Document
done LibreOffice 5.2 Writer
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