FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE, I accommodated
a request from my friends belonging to my former club, the Cebu Mountaineering
Society. Actually, I had done so for them in July on a climb to Mount Babag
from Napo and, again, just last December 28, on a hike through the Buhisan
Watershed Area to Napo. This time, I would do so again for them from Napo to
Bokawe to Guadalupe. Today is another brand-new year, January 2, 2018. Happy New
Year!
The opportunity to go out again to
the mountains instead of snoring through the party fats of the past few days
brought about by holiday goodwill is most cherished. Without any second
thoughts, I came first at the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish
and waited for my friends. They came and they were Lilibeth Initan, Mon Corro,
Paul Morgia and two ladies who, I think, are new members, since it is the first
time I saw of them.
It was already 08:30 when we start
from Napo. I would surprise them today by bringing them to my playground. They
were indeed surprised when I brought them to a different trail right after
crossing the foot bridge. The Manggapares Trail, from its very trailhead, is
known by the locals only and my people from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival
Guild. It goes up upon the very moment you step on its path.
There are a few houses here and a
flower farm at the beginning but, once you get past it, it is a very lonely
trail. It is very shady. Mexican lilac (Local: kakawate), cassia (bistula),
alom, beach hibiscus (malibago), Java plum (lomboy),
mango, tamarind and bauhinia trees abound here. The ground is hard and rocky.
Shrubs, herbs and grass line the path and elevation is forever rising.
Tagaytay Ridge is just one of the
many ridges of the Babag Mountain Range that extend far to the east and it had
been used for many years by the older generations when travelling to Mount
Babag and beyond. Manggapares Trail is really an old trail that I once trod in
the early ‘90s and have been forgotten when I laid low from the outdoors scene
for years. I only rediscovered it in 2011 but, by that time, there was an
earth-moving activity on the ridge.
Yes, there was a crude road made so
that heavy equipment and trucks could be brought up. Big holes were dug from
the ground and a lot of cement were poured on it. These were the anchors for a
series of steel towers that would soon be erected. My heart ached at the sight
of these but, after many years, when the ground settled down and nature
reclaimed what was theirs, I accepted the presence of the steel behemoths.
We reach the first of these towers.
It now has high-tension cables over it, relaying electricity from a power plant
in Naga City over the mountains and down the line from here across to Mapawon
Peak in Kalunasan and beyond to the distribution facility in Cabancalan, Mandaue
City. The second tower is on a higher elevation and is 200 meters uphill. We
follow a path between a field of wild-growing sweet potatoes and yams, hoping
not to disturb any reptiles snoozing among it.
The third tower is a bit of
difficult to reach since a path to it is steep. Once you are below it, a row of
Mexican lilac trees provide you shade from the sun. However, at this time of
the year, there is no need for that. Northeast monsoon winds carrying the
winter cold of Siberia, Manchuria and Japan reach the tropics making the
weather very mild. The cooler wind is most welcome.
The path is now rolling terrain and
we stop to rest at an abandoned backhoe. Why it had been left there to rust
against the elements is a question which I have not had a credible answer as of
this time. According to my local friends, it had fell twice on the side of the
mountain but was salvaged each time. They were even more mystified than I am
when the workers left it even if it was not broke.
It became part of the landscape and
a landmark of sort. It is a natural magnet of conversations and people
naturally rest here like we are doing now. We have just overcome the hardest
part and it would be easy walk from hereon. Yonder is the fourth and fifth
tower and a sixth on top of a hill. As we were going to the next tower, I
happen to scan the sky and, above me, is the unmistakable silhouette of a rare
Philippine falconet.
Tried to take a photo of the small
raptor but the distance was just too great. My being close to nature all the
time, have developed my observation skills to a finer edge. I can see many
things that most people do not see, the finest details, and I am awed at such
spectacles. The spectacles I yearned are not the landscapes and scenery but the
ordinary ones which do not elicit a second look from a mainstream hiker.
Everything on my path is
interesting and each rock, plant, footprint, soil, stream, insect, bird, or
creature tells a story. It gives me joy to see all these in their proper order
of things and that joy increases if you could see something beyond the
ordinary. The outdoors is better appreciated if you would only relegate your
ego to the background and put yourself into your most humble form.
I am now approaching the fifth
tower and, in a few seconds, would walk past it to the next one. If I was with
my Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, we do not walk past the fifth tower.
There are trails here which we use just for ourselves. I do not often share
these secret places to the mainstream, although sharing now the Manggapares
Trail is already a favor. Must be their lucky day.
I walk to a high saddle where one
of the peak hosts the sixth tower. It is a cloudy day and the lower hills and
the metropolis are covered by fogs. The wind roared, bringing with it the cold
winters of the temperate zone. Mon and the rest are trudging up the trail
towards me. A familiar cry overhead changed my attention to the sky. Another
raptor. It is not a Brahminy kite. Then it must be a serpent hawk! It is!
I am quite elated to see two
different kinds of birds-of-prey today which are not so common in Cebu. Both
were wedge-tailed and flew effortlessly! I developed a keen sense of amity for
raptors after I had encountered a great Philippine eagle in the wilderness of Pangasugan
in ‘92. It glided in my direction then under the forest cover and dropped a
lone feather which fell on my opened palm. The ground around me dimmed when it
passed by.
A path lay before me as I studied
the landscape on the other side of the saddle. Bokawe. It is a big mountain
district yet it is not a village. In fact, one huge part belonged to Pamutan
and another smaller part to Sapangdaku. I could be wrong but the absence of
boundary markers could be the reason. A road that I dread lay in wait for me
below the mountain and I believe this path would lead me there.
We reach the road and, good thing,
we walked just a couple of kilometers of paved concrete to the junction in
Pamutan. Locals called this particular place as “bagsakan” - a term
which meant as a place where the farm produce are collected, before being
brought to the market. This is now a very popular place for hikers where they
take rest and eat meals. There were five when we arrived and we took a table to
feast on cold soda drinks.
More hikers arrived. A few
recognized me. The shorts-and-black-leggings crowd. That is how they look now.
Appropriate for a girl though, but… Only Paul and me are wearing long hiking
pants. Mine is made in Cebu by Silangan Outdoor Equipment. Thin, stretchy and
quick-drying, my pair of Silangan pants have proven its worth during my 27-day
Thruhike of Cebu last year and to so many dirt times with the Camp Red
Bushcraft and Survival Guild.
On this junction, four roads
crossed each other. From the north is the road that we just walked in from
Bocawe. From the south is the ones coming from Buhisan and To-ong. From the west – Pamutan; and from the northeast – Baksan, Sapangdaku and Guadalupe. We
will go to Guadalupe and so we will take the last road. It goes downhill
between a man-made forest of Burma teak.
The afternoon sun appeared faintly
but we are now in a shaded road and would soon disappear into jungle. We reach
Managobtob and transfer to a trail into the Buhisan Watershed Area. This is
another of my well-kept secret paths which I am sharing to this group. I do not
have to worry of their second coming, They cannot remember a thing nor any
landmark anyway. This is the famed Lensa Trail which passes Camp Damazo.
Camp Damazo is holy ground to the
Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild and I have just committed sacrilege by
introducing non-guild people here. It is okay as long as you do not tell them
that. The path goes downhill and we take it very slow, warning them of the
slippery surfaces. We cross a small stream and another before I let them rest
near a water source to rehydrate.
Jungle travel is different from a
normal mountain hike underneath a forest. In jungles, the air is stuffy, the
heat so humid and your thirst doubled. Once we resumed our hike, I warned them
again of harmful plants. There are so many on Lensa Trail and there are also
many plants that they are not aware of but actually are growing here like the
stinging tree (alingatong), Moluccan ironwood (ipil) and the
Madras ginger (galangal).
The trail took us to a stream –
Creek Bravo, and follow another trail that goes around a mountain until we come
upon another stream – Banauan Creek. We take a rest here and showed them a
small cascade, never knowing that this was the first site of the first Philippine
Independence Bushcraft Camp held in 2011. I tell them tales to distract and to
refresh them since a jungle environment can be so demanding on your stamina.
Tales should be craftily woven to
suit to a certain mountain and a person’s experience and when that person is an
acquaintance, the moment, or should I say a forbidding peak, then becomes light
to surmount. The humour to the story is what goads a tired hiker to discover
for himself or herself the actual physical attribute that have almost waylaid
that certain individual. The interest offsets the fatigue. I am talking about
“Boy T’s Hell”.
This is a low peak but steep and
this is the best exit to take in the hours when the shadows are now longer.
Inside jungles, 2 o’clock looked like four. I follow a path where I can only
see and the rest followed me. The good thing about a high ground is that you
get all the light you need. The shadows disperse and you can see the skies
clearly, almost without obstacles. We reach the peak after two false ones and
take a deep breather.
We must follow a trail east of us
that has long grasses to reach another mountain. The trail follow a long ridge,
steep on one side, and goes up to link to another ridge. The northern branch
goes down to a phoney forest of Burma teak and then a road. We are now at
Baksan and we have to walk a paved road for a few meters before electing to
transfer yet into another trail.
Again, they do not know this trail
existed and it would take them all the way to Guadalupe. The path goes to a
mixed forest of native and fruit-bearing trees like mango, Johey oak (marang),
cottonfruit (santol), Java plum, breadfruit (kulo), currants (bugnay), star apple,
tamarind and coconuts. The forest becomes a stunted limestone forest. This
time, vegetation are cleared and fields of corn, cassava, lime grass and
horseradish tree are planted.
Then we come upon the bare slopes
of Guadalupe Hills – the one I loved to call as “Heartbreak Ridge”. Another
raptor appeared from out of nowhere and, this time, it is a Brahminy kite. This
would be the third one and it is the least kind of raptor that I would want
observed. This is also the most common and it does not instill a sense of awe
that I would have given to other kinds.
We pass by a hole in the ground. I
explained to them that this whole range we are on was a battlefield during
World War II and the hole was a vent from a tunnel made by the Japanese. The
dome of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish is clearly visible and anytime from
now we would be back to the parking area where we met in the morning. We did
reach that at 16:30 and everyone were very happy of the long walk. I am too.
The best thing is to reconnect with
them for we are not getting younger. The more time we have for times like this,
the better. Maybe in the next episode, I would tell them all the secrets I
kept. But, for now, it is best that we toast this New Year as a Good and Happy
Year.
Document done in LibreOffice 5.3
Writer
No comments:
Post a Comment