ONE OF THE BEST TRAINING route for
stamina and endurance which I first tried in August 2012 for the Camp Red
Bushcraft and Survival Guild. It follows Segment II of the Cebu Highlands
Trail, coming from Lutopan, Toledo City but it veers down the coast once you
reach Tubod, San Fernando. I miscalculated its length though, based on an
estimate, and measured it at around 31 kilometers. Actually, I found out later
that it is more than 41 kilometers.
The Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival
Guild has a few requirements for membership and one of these is called the
Selection Hike. It is a cross-country day hike that needs to be finished in
under twelve hours. This present long day hike is the first time that I would
implement strict time pressure. Although, this is a guild activity, I
considered many non-applicants to join so local residents would get used to our
presence and activity.
Thirty-six signified their intention
online but only twenty-eight committed individuals arrived at the assembly
place at 7Eleven, across the Cebu South Bus Terminal, at 05:00 of October 8,
2017. We board a bus bound for Toledo City and arrive at 07:00 at the outskirts
of Lutopan, now known as Don Andres Soriano. Across the highway is the village
of Bunga and there is a road which, many years ago were mere paths of
residents.
At 07:10, the Selection Hike begun.
The day is starting to go warm but it is nothing. Adrenaline is on our side. We
passed by Bunga, some upland rice farms and Lake Poog. Due to an unusual number
of participants, six Camp Red regulars accompanied me. They are Jhurds Neo,
Aljew Frasco, Jonathaniel Apurado, Justin Apurado, Christopher Ngosiok and
Jingaling Campomanes. Half of them have been here.
Six of the participants are members
of the triathlon team of the Municipality of Liloan and I expect a torrid pace,
which I do not want to happen. Although we are under time pressure, this is not
a race, and I have to curtail the speed that would accommodate the slowest.
Besides that, I am not that young anymore and I need reserves of energy during
the last stretch, which would be to the coastal highway.
We go down the valley of Lamac, in
Pinamungahan, and reach its market at 10:00. Here, participants and veterans
take time to rest, rehydrate and take snacks. After 15 minutes, we continue and
crossed a spillway to another village of Sibago. The valley is humid and it
begins to take its toll on some of the participants. Rest spaces under any
shade are most welcome as the pebbled road begins to create pressure to the
soles.
Going out of Sibago is climbing up
a trail that is bare and rocky. Except for three of my wards, the rest do not
know that there is a store selling cold softdrinks and I relied on that
presence so I could have a modicum of control for the weaker hikers. The
triathlon team is still strong, much more so with marathoner Eduardo Eduria,
the most senior among us yet possesses the greatest stamina.
We overcome a hill and we are on to
a road that is the boundary of Pinamungahan and San Fernando. Just a few meters
is the store and how everyone loved to just sit and relax and eat bread, energy
bar or good old raisins and peanuts paired with cold softdrinks. I did not
allow a long break this time like we used to in the early selection hikes where
we cook food with real fire. I, myself, has bread as my meal.
We have an hour of break and that
is part of the time needed to finish this test in under 12 hours. We arrive
here at 11:30 and, by 12:30, we proceed on our quest. We will be treading this
time on a dirt trail that was carved by sleds of many generations of swamp
buffaloes, which I loved to call as the “Carabao Highway”. It is a scenic trail
that passes on a single ridge of mountains that goes north and south and is
found exactly in the middle of Cebu.
This is my sixth time to walk this
beautiful trail and the last time was leading eight pilgrims during Cebu’s
first Camino de Santiago last July 2017. It was raining then and the path was
muddy, slippery and nasty. I thought I heard thunder from afar and I looked
back to see dark clouds northeast of us. We are walking south and making
distance from it. Suddenly, the afternoon air is cooling down. Breeze blow from
our back and it is so soothing.
We arrive at a concrete marker. It
is square with the names of the places at each face. This is where the most
scenic spots can be seen. You would not see the sea on each side of the island
from here but the valleys of Magsico and Anislag are a dramatic sight. We have
passed the part where the trail is carved a meter deep by the sleds and the
ground from hereon are hard sod. It is now 14:30 and there is a threat of
thunderstorm behind us.
We reach the village of Tubod after
25 minutes. This is the midpoint of our Selection Hike and there is a good
water source here which comes deep from the ground. We only halted for a while
to top off water bottles and then we proceed down the road to the direction of
the coastal highway. We stop by a store to rehydrate on cold softdrinks for
about 10 minutes but we were off again, spurred on with beating the 12-hour
limit.
The road goes down until we arrive
at a bridge and this is now the difficult phase. It goes uphill and uphill. Road
rises, which you thought was the end of it but, once over the top, you see
more. Hiking from Lutopan to Tubod was hard already and you expect to claim the
reward of your troubles by following the last half of the journey in splendor.
This was not to be and two of the participants decide to end their journey. They thought this was picnic.
Those who persevered would discover
that, right after the endless road rises, are another endless downhill
stretches. Our foot soles are now tender to the constant pounding on hard
surface like pavements of asphalt and concrete. I would prefer walking on the
side of the roads where there are grasses but underneath it are hidden pebbles
which would be painful when stepped upon, a concession you receive when you
wear light hiking shoes.
I arrive at the village of Magsico
after a series of horseshoe bends. There is a store that I knew from last time
to enjoy cold softdrinks because we will have a long way to go and too few
daylight hours left. It is now 16:30 and I am worried about the rest for they
begin to feel pain. There will be more downhill stretches beyond here although
not that steep anymore. The hard part here is that it is a broken road strewn
with holes and pebbles.
When some of the participants
arrived, I resumed towards our destination for the day. Twelve came with me
while the other thirteen needed a breather. The line stretched long this time.
Pain on the soles and knees, fatigue and humidity were the culprits. This time,
pain on the weight of the backpacks came bearing on our shoulders. The contents
inside the bag are just water, extra t-shirt, a knife and a first aid kit.
Gravity multiplied the weight.
We passed by the village of
Tabionan at dusk. Pebbles are all over the road while asphalt pavements stubborn
enough to withstand rain and heavy vehicles remained, creating a patchwork of
lunar-like landscape. You have to find the best spots to step on and you need
light. I do not have to use one since all behind me started to light their way.
Motorcycles passed by leaving trails of dust and annoying muffler roar.
You cannot always walk on the best
places because these are marked by motorcycle drivers, locals who knows every
inch of the road and they always travel at full speed. They cannot brake and
wait for you to step aside. If they do, they would steer wildly sideways. Most
of the time, they do not honk their horns and, sometimes, their motorcycle
headlight is not functioning. You can see their narrow well-beaten paths on
both sides.
You cannot walk at the outermost,
on the shoulders, and you certainly cannot walk on the middle. You walk single
file and warn each other of oncoming motorcycles and step aside together. You
stay alert and keep conversations and jokes to a minimum. Silence, borne out of
coping pain, step after step, becomes mandatory. You go slow or fast, pain is
still there. Then you see light coming from a cement factory and your morale
goes high.
There are two cement plants in San
Fernando and the one operated by Taiheiyo Cement Corp. is the one where we are bound to. The visible light comes from its smoke stack but it is still
three kilometers away. I see a light behind me in a long line bobbing left and
right and I thought I saw a few walking lights some 300 meters away. That is a
good sign. We will overcome pain and we will reach our destination safely.
I arrive first at South Poblacion,
San Fernando with Eduardo Eduria, Maria Theresa Lanit, Jenmar de Leon and the
Liloan Triathlon Team and they all made it in 11 hours and 37 minutes. Next to
come are Rany San Juan, Rodel Arnejo and Christopher Ngosiok at 11:38. Coming
too at 11:39 are Locel Navarro and Justin Apurado. Then you have Mark Moniva,
Joy Delantar and two guests at 11:44. Randy Salazar nipped the bud at 11:59 for
that 41.64 kilometers of happy torture.
For those who did not make it,
there is always a next time and it would not be here, thankfully. Honestly, I
cannot do this all the time. I had a hard time up there. My age caught up with
me. Besides, I was nursing a pinched nerve in my lower vertebrae and, although
pain was tolerable, it was annoying. It limited my movement and I have to think
about it all the time, keeping in mind not to over exert.
Document done in LibreOffice 5.3
Writer
Some photos by Christopher Ngosiok
Some photos by Christopher Ngosiok
1 comment:
Missed this
Post a Comment