2022-005 | ADRENALINE ADVENTURE HIKE: SEGMENT V

TEAM ADRENALINE ROMANCE have walked the entirety of the first half of the Cebu Highlands Trail before 2018 ended. For the last four sets of weekends, Gian Carlo, Sheila Mei and their friend, Apol, have crossed over “no man’s land” from Mount Manunggal, Balamban to Caurasan, Carmen, leaving nothing but goodwill and the thawing away of distrust that locals usually heaped on strangers.

After nailing Segment IV, they had consciously and purposely accumulated a total of 207.39 kilometers, a modest achievement but which, nevertheless, will increase, as their sights are now focused on the snaring of this great prize which only two people have so far achieved. The CHT is a difficult challenge and hard to wrestle. As 2019 entered, their plans of finishing the CHT are on due course. 

At 05:00 of January 12, 2019, we all met at the Cebu South Bus Terminal. The bus left Cebu City at 05:30 for Dalaguete. We dropped off at the road corner at 07:45 where we found a restaurant. At 08:30, we rode on motorcycles-for-hire bound for the village of Mantalongon, Dalaguete. We arrived at 9:15 and set about buying the needs for our meals which we would consume along Segment V. 

Segment V starts here in Mantalongon and terminate at Upper Beceril, Boljoon. This is two days with Nug-as, Alcoy as our resting place in between. Mantalongon has a huge public market where all the vegetables grown from around here are sold which is then distributed to the cities, towns and supermarkets. When we have bought enough vegetables and spices, we start our journey to the south at 09:30.

We left the very busy vegetable market and followed an asphalt pavement that became concrete. This is the other side of Mantalongon that barely had a visit by tourists. Mantalongon is also famous for being the jump-off point to Osmeña Peak, Cebu’s highest point. In the old days we walked from the market to the campsite which took us three hours. Nowadays, the trailhead is just a fifteen minute walk. 

The features you see around Osmeña Peak are everywhere even on this farm road, but much closer. Big baskets full of cabbages over the brim, some standing four feet high, are whisked from farms to the markets on motorcycles, a basket rigged on each side with ropes. It passes by you with the driver in full concentration on the road and his balance. Many such baskets wait for their turn beside the road. 

We pass by the village of Langkas, Dalaguete at 10:00 and we get to see the different crops grown on the many farms. It came out of the earth on all forms: cabbage, vegetable pear, spring onions, eggplant, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, string beans, mung beans, sweet potato, turnips, spinach vines, lemon grass, ginger, squash, taro, turmeric, breadfruit, lime, pepper, coconut hearts, bananas and their blossoms and many more. Such bounties earned the high Mantalongon Valley as “Cebu’s Breadbasket”.  

It was more of the same in the village of Nalhub, Dalaguete at 10:45 where we took a rest at a bakery to gulp down cold soda drinks to beat the humidity. After 15 minutes, we resumed our walk, oblivious of the motorcycles and baskets, full and empty, speeding by you on this narrow vegetable highway. At 12:00 we enjoyed noonbreak somewhere in the village of Catolohan, Dalaguete.

After an hour of rest, it was time to go. The narrow asphalt roads became a wide concreted highway. We are now entering the outskirts of the village of Nug-as, Alcoy, famous for its last stand of original forest cover. Along the way, we get to see some of this remaining forest, in pockets, as the land around it were trimmed to introduce farming. It is in Nug-as where people embrace tree farming. 

By 14:00 we arrived at the village center and did a courtesy call on their village council for a place to stay. Our arrival, however, was already expected by virtue of my liaisons with the Office of the Governor and the Cebu Police Provincial Office. Their multi-purpose building was made available for our use. After a very savory dinner, lights out came so early. Then it rained very hard!

We woke up to a very cold morning of January 14. The village and the whole landscape were swathed in fog. Even so, we have to keep the fire burning. On the stove, I meant. Under the comforts of a roof and a wall, cooking was seamless. After breakfast, we repacked our things inside our backpacks. We left Nug-as at 08:00 under a heavy downpour. The road was wet but it was wetter where there were puddles.

On this stretch of the road where there used to be a big coffee farm, the robusta shrubs were cut to make way for a fighting cock farm. What madness sometimes people inherit? Beyond the game cocks, the earth was turned inside out to the whims of another fake landscaping in progress. What got my ire is the building of a road into the last stand of the original forest of Cebu! I walked with a heavy heart for the government could do nothing with this madness! 

It was a long walk to the next village of Nangka, Boljoon which we reached at 09:15. The road narrowed into another concrete pavement. Farms and forested hills clasped each other perfectly to the joys of a passersby, seeing all these so close to the road. It was just beautiful and a balm for the soul tormented by the sight he previously saw and protested to the four winds.

The skies cleared for a while of raindrops as we approach the village of San Antonio, Boljoon at 10:45. Here we stopped at a community store to enjoy another round of cold soda drinks. It was at this time when a fellow hiker stopped by and introduced himself to us. He is Ronald Villanueva and he is the tourism officer of the Municipality of Boljoon. He invited us to visit Dayhag Waterfalls and he will be waiting for us. 

Naturally, we disengaged abruptly from our rest and hastened our pace, hoping that we would arrive there before noon. The waterfalls would be found at the village of Upper Beceril, Boljoon, and it was very far from San Antonio. We could never close the distance with the way Mr. Villanueva was moving. He was running, but we could try in our own pace. 

The road started to cant favorably for us and we arrived at a road corner leading to Dayhag Waterfalls. We have arrived at the terminus of Segment V. It is 11:30 and just a few minutes more we would be at this local resort. I have never been here but I found it, aided by signposts and a big welcome sign on its entrance. Entrance fee was waived because it was closed on Sundays.

Mr. Villanueva welcomed us and assigned a gazebo for us and, immediately, Sheila Mei and Apol changed clothes for bathing. Gian Carlo too. I followed them after I had rested for about 20 minutes but they were on the other waterfalls. There were seven. I did not stay long in the water. There was a slight drizzle and I need to dry my undershorts. I did not carry a spare. 

Mr. Villanueva surprised us with a free lunch courtesy of his office. It was black chicken (Local name: dongkoy) soup, grilled free-rein chicken, boiled bananas and unlimited milled corn. The food, except the soup, were splayed on banana leaves above a bamboo table. Meal was hand to mouth, literally, and it was deliciously cooked, especially the dongkoy. 

This was a real surprise on all of us, to be invited for a free meal and free use of this LGU-ran enterprise. But our unexpected visit in Boljoon was an opportunity also for Mr. Villanueva to take advantage of, upon knowing that Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei were genuine travel bloggers; while I, for my part is some sort of blogger and could bring clients here. It was, so to speak, a perfect exchange deal.

We said goodbye and many thank yous to Mr. Villanueva and his team for their hospitality. We found motorcycles-for-hire and we reached the highway at 15:30. Buses were full but we hopped onto one that was not full at 16:00. It would be a long way to Cebu City and the long day made us drowsy. It was perfect for the bus was airconditioned. 

Team Adrenaline Romance in their high momentum of adventure on this southern jaunt have acquired another 22.35 kilometers after snatching another segment of the CHT. They now have a total mileage of 229.74 kilometers and they are hot on the heels of the last three segments which they vowed to finish before the end of 2019.  

Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei wrote about their Segment V experience on the Adrenaline Romance Blog under two installments plus an extra on Dayhag Falls: 

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment V: Mantalongon, Dalaguete to Nug-as, Alcoy.

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment V: Nug-as, Alcoy to Upper Beceril, Boljoon.

Dayhag Falls: An Unexpected Surprise Down South.

THE THRUHIKE JOURNAL: Days 4 and 5 (Cerdeña to Mantalongon)

DAY FOUR ::::: IT IS GOOD TO SEE SUNRISE after three days of moody early mornings. It rained the whole night but it was not that cold. The forest protected us from the elements. Although there was light rain today, it is so-so and is not bound to stay for long. I touched my wet clothes that I hanged under the canopy sheet. Partly-moist but wearable just the same. The Lorpen socks are now better than the time I removed it yesterday. This would be its last day of use and would probably be worn again on the northern leg of the Thruhike. Today is January 20, 2017.

It is 06:00 and I decide to tour the campsite for a good place to call in nature. When I returned, Jonathaniel Apurado is holding a pot that hot water is ready for coffee. Same breakfast fare of Knorr soup and rice as was done in past mornings. We break camp at 08:12 and it is a very very mild day. We would be walking on roads where, before, were trails. I may be a romantic but I am also a realist. Gone are the days when life was difficult for mountain residents. The presence of roads are a blessing for them, removing them from isolation, having access now to the economy of the lowlands, wide opportunity for education and better income which they could not wrestle in the past.

Despite the roads, the scenic views have not changed. The deep valleys on both sides are filled with seas of clouds after a rain. There are such few places in Cebu where you could view, while walking, both the western coastline, which includes Tañon Strait and Negros Island, and the eastern coastline, where you can see past Bohol Strait, Bohol Island and Siquijor Island. The route follows a narrow range of mountains, skirting two opposing big river systems, that connect the Southern Cebu Mountain Range, that start from Barili to Alcoy, to another mountain range in Oslob which is dominated by Mount Bandera.

A lone Brahminy kite flew over me and it circled overhead riding the thermals as I was about to make my way down to where this new road would join the road at Upper Beceril, Boljoon. We turned left and rest instead at San Antonio, Boljoon, at 09:25 near where we could replenish our water bottles. This is the road that goes to Nangka, Boljoon and this is the road where so much verdant hills are seen at closer distance on both sides, separated by narrow strips of farms. It is unpaved for the most part. Another scenic stretch which goes all the way to Nug-as, Alcoy.

We arrive at Nug-as at 11:35, hours ahead of schedule. We cannot just proceed to the next destination, which is in Mantalongon, Dalaguete, even if we are capable of doing it today. We cannot just alter the order of things this time just because I have the upper hand. There are times where you would have to honor what is on the itinerary and, for that matter, we would have to stay at Nug-as for the rest of the day. I have guests who would arrive later and we also have to meet our supply team tomorrow afternoon at Mantalongon. Good sense dictates that we would have to follow the itinerary to the letter.

The early arrival would do well instead for our bodies so it could recover from the hike of four straight days. This is another phase of the Thruhike where you would have to balance things out since the body could not bear the punishment for long. Remember, we still have 23 days more of walking. I do not want ourselves getting burned out halfway to the end or giving up somewhere along the way to injuries. Besides, I have a couple of sore toes to look over and a pair of shoes to dry. Considering all these, I sent a message to the Alcoy Police Station informing them of our presence.

We proceed to the barangay hall and asked permission to stay. It was not difficult to obtain since the one assigned today was someone who knew us from last time. We tied our hammocks on the same places where we fixed it last time. We do not have to use the sheets since there is a roof. We eat for the very first time a hot noontime meal of local noodles, the extra I carried just in case. I rehydrate a lot of liquid from powdered juice and Extra Joss and tuned in to an FM station signal coming from Negros Oriental. It was a very relaxing afternoon just lying down on a bamboo cot which the body really needs.

I would have stayed on the cot long but I have to find a cellular phone signal. We do not know if the GPS tracking device provided by Galileo Satellite Control System Philippines is transmitting our geolocations to them. The problem is that the only place where I could catch cellular signals here is on a waiting shed located 250 meters away. Photos and information from Day One to Day Four would be sent by my Lenovo A7000 smart phone and have to be posted in my Facebook wall to update my wife and family, my friends, my sponsors and my followers. It was slow at times when the signal appeared on a single bar and disappears from time to time. For text messages, I relied on my Cherry Mobile U2.

At 17:00, a police car from the Alcoy Police Station, led by PO1 Regidor, arrived to see how we are doing. They were sent to assist us if ever we encountered difficulty in finding our way in their area, which did not happen anyway. They stayed until 19:30. When we were on our own, we commenced our dinner of Korean spicy noodles with a sprinkling of shredded dried squid, sweet potato leaves and dehydrated seaweeds. We were well rested and waited for our friends to come but somehow they got delayed. We slept instead when the clock hits 22:00.

Distance Walked: 11.55 kilometers

Elevation Gained: 839 meters and a low of 359 meters

DAY FIVE ::::: JONATHANIEL APURADO WOKE ME UP at 05:00 that our guests have arrived some three hours ago. I am sure they would be tired so I let them rest for a couple of hours more. They have set up shelters in a car porch just a few meters away from the building where we are housed. They are Jingaling Campomanes, Mark Lepon, Christian Tan and Glyn Formentera and all belonged to the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild. Their presence and participation are more of supporting the Thruhike. They would engage in a dayhike with us today – January 21, 2017, from Nug-as, Alcoy to Mantalongon, Dalaguete.

Jon had taken over the cooking and there is Knorr soup and rice, boiled quail eggs and coffee. After breakfast, we took down our hammocks and stuffed all our things inside our backpacks. I changed into a new pair of undershorts and a clean pair of Kailas socks. The Jack Wolfskin shoes are now dry as well as my “uniform”. We are now ready to start Day Five except that our guests were still asleep. We shook them awake at 08:00.

We all leave Nug-as at 09:25 and this was the most late that the Thruhike had started. I have an additional cargo, ten small bottles of Yakult Cultured Milk, courtesy of Jingaling, which I carried inside a plastic bag with either hand. The sun finally appeared but not that scorching. January and February are the best time to engage in a Thruhike here in Cebu. You will be facing the cold winds that the northeast monsoon would bring in from the icy winters of Japan, Siberia and China. The sun would slightly be at your back since winter solstice changes the angle of its shadow.

We cross the boundary into the Municipality of Dalaguete and the village of Catolohan at 10:45. A lone Brahminy kite appeared in the sky, this time, much nearer. We arrive at Nalhub, Dalaguete at 12:10 and stopped for our noonbreak. Jon and I subsist on our food supply while the rest make use of theirs. Cold bottles of Sparkles cured those parched throats. Afterward, I shoot a text message to the Dalaguete Police Station and informed them of our activity, providing them our names. This is now a necessity since our party becomes bigger and noisier and it might send wrong signals to locals.

After an hour, we proceed on our hike and passed by Langkas, Dalaguete at 14:00. The hills here becomes like those seen around Osmeña Peak which is good as scenic attractions. The road goes up and up but I kept on going without stopping. I have taken my regular doses of one Enervon Multivitamin capsule and two Herbalife Natural Raw Guarana capsules each day and these might be the reasons I packed so much power today? Perhaps, but it is too early to tell. The long rest of yesterday might have to do with it.

Anyway, I arrived first at the Mantalongon Vegetable Market at 15:00. I expect to be here at 16:00, enough time to receive my supply team who will arrive at 17:00. As soon as everyone were all accounted for, we walk to the short distance to the barangay hall of Mantalongon. We are expected today by their officials and we were provide the free use of a building with toilet and running water. Just a few minutes after us, the Toyota pickup of the supply team arrived very early. Driving is Markus Immer from Switzerland with passengers Ernie Salomon, Justin Apurado and Glenn Pestaño with son.

They are also with the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild and how glad I am of seeing all of them, giving their support wholeheartedly of the Thruhike as volunteers. I could not ask for more. The supply team had brought bread from Park N Go Bakeshop, courtesy of Randy Salazar, aside from our daily fare of food and fuel for the alcohol burners. Markus also brought two boxes of small brownie cakes baked by his wife Analyn as his personal contribution. I shared what we have with the barangay officials of Mantalongon.

We left for a while the barangay hall and proceed to the market to eat early dinner at 16:00. We found one local restaurant big enough to accommodate all eleven of us. It was the first time in the Thruhike that Jonathaniel and I eat food that was not our cooking. Glad that the itinerary brought us to Mantalongon and break that monotony. Again, Markus chipped the bill and we go back to our billeting area. The supply team left at 18:00 while Jingaling, Mark, Christian and Glyn decides to stay with us. They still cannot decide how they would spend the day tomorrow – a Sunday.

We partied in the room provided for us with the brownie cakes, juice and Korean spicy noodles. I took a bath for the very first time after five days and washed my upper “uniform”. Mantalongon is famous for its cold weather and that is why it is called as Cebu’s “Little Baguio”. The guys even had a “blade porn”, a bushcraft tradition of exhibiting all knives in one place – a sort of pageantry. Then the activity transforms into a pageantry of first aid kits and another for fire kits. My Term-a-Rest sleep pad proved its efficiency by providing me a good night’s sleep.

Distance Walked: 13.65 kilometers

Elevation Gained: 779 meters and a low of 603 meters

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

THE THRUHIKE JOURNAL: Days 2 and 3 (Monteverde to Cerdeña)

DAY TWO ::::: THE STRONG WINDS HAVE MELLOWED down while the monotonous tap-tap of the rain on my canopy have lulled me to laziness. It should be a cold morning but I am surprisingly warm. The Therm-a-Rest insulated foam pad which was provided by Michael Schwarz for the Thruhike have given me strange comfort which I have had not experienced before.  Indeed, I had a good night’s sleep free of worries but I have to rise from the comfortable capsule of my hammock.
 

I was amazed at our coverage of Day One.  We were not supposed to be camping here at Monteverde, Samboan yesterday but somewhere down short of here.  The first day adrenaline spurt might have to do with that.  Or that I intend to change the itinerary.  It is the latter but adrenaline and, perhaps, capsules of multivitamins and Guarana may have helped.  Here, we have a good water source and a perfect ground to set up hammocks and shelters.

It is 06:15 and I need to boil water for coffee.  Suddenly, my hands are afire.  Ants, known locally as “hakot”, have invaded the nooks and crannies of my backpack where I stashed my rice and everywhere on the ground and then my feet got stung and it was all over me quick.  They were working all night while I had that hangtime.  They were also on my Park N Go bread.  I gyrated to a tuneless dance and dragged my bag far, slapped it hard and shook off the tiny army.

 

I did have that coffee while watching over my Trangia alcohol burner doing its work on rice.  Jonathaniel Apurado, my buddy of this Thruhike, is cooking Knorr soup on his alcohol burner.  You might wonder how much food we carried for this journey?  We carried food good for five days only, intending to replenish our supply at Mantalongon, Dalaguete on Day Five, which would be on January 21, 2017.  We each carried a half kilo of rice, repacked in five plastic tubes weighing 100 grams each, and three packs each of Knorr flavored soups and another three for Korean spicy noodles.  Actually, I carried more for insurance if ever Murphy’s Law imposes its will on the Thruhike.

The warm Knorr soup mixed with warm rice on a cold morning is wonderful.  My food plan are soup for breakfasts, baked goods and energy bars for lunch and spicy noodles for dinners.  When we get a chance to pass by markets, we will change our diets but, basing on my food plan, this would be rare and few.  By now, you would get the idea of our eating habits for a month.  You know, planning the Thruhike is not easy.  You will have to study your itinerary long and hard before making it final, careful enough not to overestimate nor underestimate the distances between places found in maps.  When you have the itinerary, planning your meals are next.

The good thing about my itinerary is I could change it if I wished it.  I can enjoy this privilege because I have explored these places in segments.  Days One, Two, Three and Four are part of Segment VIII which I had passed by last September 2016 but we did that starting from Upper Beceril, Boljoon going down to Liloan, Santander and this Thruhike is going on a reverse, which is kind of tricky on your planned pace because it is uphill.  But Day One was spectacular because I changed it.

We leave the campsite at 08:15 just in time when curious locals visited us.  The wind began to pick up its strength and rain lashed at us but we still retained good manners to accommodate their questions and it turned out well and good.  One of those who came is Dominador Rodriguez, and we met him last time when we passed by here.  We followed him as we continue on our journey today, January 18.  Before I reached the boundary of Oslob, I informed their police station about our presence and our activity.  I might not get that chance for I know cellular phone signals ahead are absent. 
  

I do not feel tired nor I feel muscle pains from the labors of a forced march yesterday.  The amount of time walking among mountains done every Sunday for eight years have done wonders for my body and I have adapted well.  If this is to be a gauge then the Thruhike is good as done!  I have trained myself well even before this epiphany happened in 2011 but the greatest transformation is my mindset.  I might be older but I am better than when I was an invincible adventurer of the ‘80s and the ‘90s.

The trail passed by a well but we have already secured water.  We reach a paved road.  This same road goes down to Tumalog waterfall and to the coasts of Oslob but the one we are following is the unfinished Trans-Axial Highway which goes uphill.  The scenery begins to change when you are on higher elevations.  Valleys, farms, verdant hills, rocky cliffs and solitary huts dot the countrysides.  A Brahminy kite flew from behind me to the right and I take it as a good omen.  I tried hard to capture it with my camera but another one caught my attention as it called me with its shrill whistle.

 

For the moment, there is no other way to walk here but I see some shortcuts where it would bypass the pavements and it goes through forest trails.  Actually, you would not know these until you see a long bend or a hairpin turn and then you decide to explore a path which puts you on places where you most wanted it to be.  It goes perfectly well on three of such places because I was certain it would.  We reach Cañang, Oslob at 10:15 and rest at its barangay hall to talk to a local.  Although the building gave us warmth and protection from the rain and cold, we need to continue our walk and so have to leave this friendly village. 

The same road goes into more scenic scenery of long deep valleys on either side, choked with trees and approached by a series of low hills, farms and verdant meadows, landscapes which you would not know existed in Cebu.  The same Brahminy kites that I saw a couple of hours ago appeared.  By now, the weather turned mild with bit of sunshine.  We came upon a waiting shed at 11:25, at a place called Mohon, already part of Can-ukban, Oslob and we stopped for noonbreak. 

Since we were on higher ground, I decide to test the Versa 2-Way VHF radio on selected frequencies for Cebu City, Alcoy, Dalaguete and Argao.  Both Jon and I possessed amateur radio station licenses, being members of Ham Radio Cebu.  Cloudy weather, distance and mountains forbid me to come in contact with these repeater stations.  The rest is a good thing for it made me appreciate this structure at closer range than the last time I passed by here.

Well rested, we leave Mohon at 13:00 in a cloud of light showers. The concrete road is in good condition as it weave its way among hills and pocket forests which, to my mind, contain an enormous number of avian species.  From a distance, you will see this same road climbing up through more elevations and it would probably deter you when you walk it in another time.  The wet weather brought by a Low Pressure Area might have helped us in overcoming this obstacle but you will feel the cold as you go higher.

We arrived too early at the place where we are supposed to spend our second night, at 14:10, but it is pointless to go on under this uncooperative weather to seek shelter on another place.  We will just have to take advantage of the friendship we made with a couple who owned a concrete house which is located just across the Vincent de Paul Hermitage.  It is convenient for us to honor the itinerary this time, just in time to see Miguel Aniñon grind ears of corn with a millstone, which I caught in video.

We spend the rest of the day unloading our things to dry it out, together with our bags.  The hammocks were dry and that is the most important thing.  We do not have to worry about the rain since we tied it on the concrete posts of an unfinished concrete structure where there is a roof, although without walls, and owned by the Aniñon Family.  The location of their house, together with the hermitage, are located on top of a peak and we are, nevertheless, exposed to the spray of raindrops and cold wind.  That night, strong gusts and heavy downpour brought by the storm pelted our camp. 

Distance Walked: 10.37 kilometers

Elevation Gained: 754 meters from a low of 538 meters

DAY THREE ::::: THE COLD CREPT INTO MY SIDES where the Therm-a-Rest had not clasped me as it gave way to weight of body inside a hammock which had become soggy from the intermittent spray of moisture.  It was like that for the rest of the night and, here, early in the morning of January 19, I begun to wiggle out of my discomfort zone.  Jon had already started cooking the rice and boiled water for coffee on our alcohol burners.  The skies were still in a dour mood and it was raining.  The things that we dried yesterday, remained moist.

Fr. Carlo Curacot of the Vincent de Paul Hermitage came to pay us a visit after breakfast and asked of how are we doing?  After a while, he sent us warm buttered pancakes and, finishing it, we set out on our journey to the north.  The ground was wet and slippery but we decide to go against common sense by taking a steep shortcut downhill to evade a long bend of concrete road. We realized it was difficult to stay erect following this trail, more like a suicide mission, but we survived this unscathed.

 

An unpaved road is nice but trails are better.  Only, the trails to our next destination are in short supply.  When there is a shortcut, we took it and, most often, it is so muddy and slippery.  We stop by a small house with so many family members at 09:50 on a boundary between Oslob and Ginatilan.  A matriarch, Damiana Cariño, 72 years old and bent to so much time working in the fields, talked about her predicament of never receiving cash allocated to senior citizens from both towns.  We advised her to focus on the town where she is registered as a voter.  That is where most local funding is based on, of small towns where politics are so divisive.

Another shortcut brought us to another stretch of unpaved road and a welcome sign says Manlum, Oslob and another says Cansaloay, Oslob.  Up ahead would be a shallow well fed by a natural spring.  It is a small marshy place and is one of the headwaters of the Laguinsan River which wind its way to the coasts of Oslob.  A trail goes up to a bald hill which goes up and up.  The rains had not abated, winds picked up strength as we gained elevation.  Fogs obliterate the landscape, making navigation a patchwork of guesses and tells.

Most of the time, I am caught off-balance by the force of the wind.  The Therm-a-Rest is slung across my shoulder to the front of my body and is the object of so much wind resistance so I have to clip it lee of the wind with my left arm.  Mt. Bandera would just be around there beyond my vision obscured by fogs.  As I go further, terrain which lay invisible begun to show its earthly appearance, blurry humps at first then in great details.

Now I am on the hump that is Mt. Bandera and we stop for a while to send out another propagation test to a repeater station of Ham Radio Cebu, found in the Babag Mountain Range of Cebu City, a distance of about 118-120 kilometers.  I am testing a Versa Duo VHF Radio, with stock antenna and 5 watts power.  The first stream of communications was received by station DY7EYN at 11:00 but was interrupted by bad weather and cut short.  The second one at 11:30 went out seamlessly and acknowledged by station 4F7MHZ.

Satisfied by the results of the worthiness of the Versa Duo in extreme weather conditions, we go down the trail towards Tigib Spring, another source of the Laguinsan River.  We arrive at 12:10 and enjoy our 50 minutes of noonbreak under the onslaught of streaming winds and whipping rain.  We munch on energy bar, biscuits, bread and mixed trail food.  I foraged ripe guavas and sliced it in halves with my Buck Classic 112 knife.

 

At exactly 13:00, we followed the trail that would join with an unpaved road, which would become one with a paved one, recently concreted.  This road goes on lazily uphill, twisting and bending forever towards the sky, passing by either at Malabuyoc or at Boljoon, again and again.  The good thing is the rain had abated for a while and there are no fogs to block your view ahead although the wind still ruled the higher elevations, especially at the most exposed areas.  At this stage, I informed both the Malabuyoc Police Station and the Boljoon Police Station of our presence in their area.

At a point where it is most elevated, the road begins to twist and bend downward.  Heavy rains have clogged up ditches with silt and pebbles, on some points, carrying whole culverts down the mountainside.  Landslides threaten a house below while cracks on elevated ground above roads is something you would not want to happen where people pass.  I have not seen one vehicle, not even the omnipresent motorcycles-for-hire.  But there is life here.  A boy rode the back of his carabao while a noisy party of intoxicated locals just came out from a house where there is a feast of some sort.

Schoolchildren walked their way home from school and some of them run at the sight of us.  Stories of child snatchers pervade everywhere and we fit the description of big bags to stuff children inside.  Cannot blame them for these places are indeed lonely which a newly-opened road could not change immediately.  In time, maybe they will get used to the sight of a backpacker.  I hope so.  The Thruhike opens you to different local cultures and different people who harbor different beliefs and, most of them, are talkative enough to tickle you with their simplicity.

By now, the road is eerily empty and silent.  I found a copse of mahogany trees which I have eyed before as a perfect camping site for hammocks.  It is now 15:30 and I do not know if we would get another opportunity to find a good place like this to camp up ahead.  This is perfect, although it is just ten meters away from the road.  It is slightly elevated, since we are at the shoulders of Mount Ablayan, and trees are growing near each other that could hide several shelters.  I got a light gray taffeta sheet and Jon has a brown laminated nylon sheet.  Both are of neutral colors and we are good in stealth camping.

Immediately, I tied the partly-moist hammock to separate trees to wick away moisture while I fixed over it my wet taffeta shelter.  Then I removed all the things inside the bag to let it all dry, carefully storing the food cache above the ground.  I fixed the drip lines at each end of the hammock in the event rain will come.  Set up my Trangia alcohol burner at a spot where I could comfortably sit, scratched the small ferro rod of an Advanced Pro Fire Starter over the alcohol fumes and a fire erupted.  So began my coffee moments.

I cooked the rice and then my first supply of spicy Korean noodles.  Jon seems satisfied with his shelter but there is something different in him today.  He looks fatigued.  Maybe the weight he carried.  His bag is bigger than mine.  We both expect an expedition type of activity but I carried things that are necessary even though some have redundancy in functions.  I even left my metal cup, preferring to savor coffee from the extra lid of my smallest pot.  The only extra luggage I have is a selfie stick.

But there is also something different with my feet today.  I felt a soreness at each base of my big toes.  Walking with wet unbroken shoes and new socks since Day One might have rubbed the skin of the big toes.  The pair of Jack Wolfskin fits just right but it would have been better if I broke it down for a few days before engaging on the Thruhike.  Same with the Lorpen cotton socks which were provided by Viajero Outdoor Centre at a special price.  We are still on the third day and I do not want some things putting a monkey wrench on the Thruhike.

 

In my mind’s blueprint, I would use the same socks and undershorts for four days and will change to new ones only on the fifth day and the eighth day afterward for this southern leg.  The Silangan Outdoor Equipment hiking pants and shirt would be worn without spares for the whole of the Thruhike.  I could only wash it, perhaps, in places where there is an abundant supply of water but that is just about it.  I cannot assure myself if I could take a bath nor brush my teeth.  I hanged my moist jersey, hike pants and wet socks for drying.

Despite our efforts to camp stealthily, I noticed schoolchildren running so fast on the road when they passed by near our campsite and then sneak a glance at our direction.  They have developed keen eyesight even at hours where everything stood gray and they could distinguish something that is not right.  I may fool a mainstream hiker but I cannot fool a mountain youth.  I toast my coffee lid, for want of a cup, to them.  There is light rain yet we enjoyed supper at 18:00, while there is still light.  Rain and wind lashed back its fury during the middle of the night but I am warm even half naked.

Distance Walked: 11.94 kilometers

Elevation Gained: 839 meters from a low of 359 meters

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

MAN-SIZED HIKES XXIII: Nug-as to Liloan Point

IT IS ALMOST OVER. Just one segment more and the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT will be all over. The Year 2016 will always be a very memorable year for me. Kind of busy. Busy of doing things that I loved most like travel, teaching, blogging, humanitarian work and explorations. I had put to history Segment IV, Segment VI and Segment VII and, mind you, these were not easy walks. It resulted to an estimated total of 190 kilometers walked in just a single year, not counting Segment VIII yet.

Segment VIII is that walk from Upper Beceril, Boljoon to Cebu’s southernmost tip - Liloan Point, Santander. But, me and my Exploration Team will start from Nug-as, Alcoy instead and I gave just four days for this exploration hike. Can you dig that? It is not impossible, you see. When you are focused on something, everything can be done. I wished outdoorsmen with a purpose will be inspired by this and would develop the ability to replicate Cebu in their native Palawan or Negros or even combining Samar and Leyte.

Today, September 21, 2016, the Exploration Team composed of this writer, Jonathaniel Apurado and Justin Apurado are on a final mission. We are all pepped up and we are grim and serious. We know not what lies ahead after Boljoon but, definitely, we will try all routes where there is a good sense to walk. We know we would be at Oslob, at Samboan and at Santander a day or some days after but we know not if we will be at Malabuyoc or at Ginatilan. That remains to be seen.

We were all buoyed up by the success of Segment IV last January, of Segment VI last February and of Segment VII last month, even though we aborted this at a point when we were almost at the end. It was not a big deal. We could return any day to finish that short stretch. We were also on a high morale for our benefactors delivered when we needed it the most. Without them, maybe it would take another two years to complete this Project. I will deliver the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL in January 2017 and that is a promise that I will fulfill.

Notable among our sponsors who provided funds and very useful gears and equipment are Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos and Native Delicacies, Alvin John Osmeña, Aljew Frasco, GV Hotel Philippines, Silangan Outdoor Equipment, Jonathan Blanes, Glen Domingo, Alan Poole, Jose Neo, Tactical Security Agency, App Ops Philippines, Lester Padriga, Harold Butanas, Lavilles of Australia, Bakhawan Beach Home, Melo Sanchez, Glenn Pestaño, Amaya Montecalvo, Marc de Egurrola and Markus Immer.

Not to be outdone, the following had contributed to the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT in the form of services, perishable goods and their acknowledgments. They are Drinox’s Kitchen, the Quijano Family, Jeremiah Dayto, Matthew de Leon, Mountain Stories Blog, Ham Radio Cebu, the Mountain Climbers Alliance of the Philippines, the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, PAC Gear, and the Philippine Mountaineering Blog.

All that is or what had been, with regards to the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAILS PROJECT, are chronicled in WARRIOR PILGRIMAGE as the Man-Sized Hike series. This is the blog that inspired the exploration and this is the exploration that exposed the blog to more readership following. Below is the itinerary of the days, time, events and other useful information where the Exploration Team boldly finished Segment VIII in three days instead of the four days allotted to it:

SEGMENT VIII, CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT

NUG-AS, ALCOY TO LILOAN POINT, SANTANDER

FIRST DAY

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

04:30 – Leave Cebu South Bus Terminal, Cebu City for Alcoy by bus.

07:00 – Arrive Poblacion, Alcoy. Take breakfast in town proper.

07:15 – Leave Poblacion for Nug-as, Alcoy by motorcycles.

07:50 – Arrive Nug-as. Prepare gears, tighten straps.

07:55 – Leave Nug-as for Nangka, Boljoon. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Warm with cloudy skies.

09:15 – Arrive Nangka. Rest to repair external frame backpack of Justin.

09:20 – Leave Nangka for Cerdeña, Malabuyoc. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Warm with cloudy skies.

09:45 – Arrive Cerdeña. Chance meeting with village official and make courtesy call.

11:00 – Leave Cerdeña for San Antonio, Boljoon. Pace: Slow to moderate. Weather: Very warm and sunny.

11:30 – Arrive San Antonio. Rest and rehydrate. Coffee break with snacks.

13:00 – Leave San Antonio for Cansaloay, Oslob. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Very warm and sunny but with thunderstorms in the middle of afternoon.

16:10 – Arrive Cansaloay. Courtesy call on village head but we were refused audience. 16:45 – Eagle One decides to make a stealth camp in darkness on an unfinished house in vicinity. Dinner is crab meat soup, rice and fried chorizo. Strong thunderstorms east and west of us. Sleep on ground with shelter wrapped like blankets expecting both storms to pass over our camp.

20:00 – Taps.

Distance Covered: 15.3 Kilometers but only 9.7 Kilometers is officially recognized.

SECOND DAY

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

 

06:00 – Wake up call. Immediately break camp. Proceed exploration for another route to bypass Cansaloay and climb Mount Bandera instead. Pace: Slow. Weather: Cool and cloudy.

07:00 – Arrive at a natural spring on the way to Mt. Bandera to rest and rehydrate and to prepare breakfast of rice and egg omelet with sliced chorizo Bilbao.

08:00 – Continue exploration. Chance meeting with a village official of Cansaloay and decide to inform our presence and purpose which turned out very well.

09:00 – Arrive Mt. Bandera. Propagated VHF signal using a Cignus V85 portable radio with stock antenna at 5 watts power to a repeater tower of Ham Radio Cebu located in the Babag Mountain Range, Cebu City, 118+ kilometers away. Communicated successfully with amateur station DY7EYN.

09:20 – Leave Mt. Bandera for Manlum, Oslob. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Very warm and sunny.

10:55 – Arrive Manlum. Rest and rehydrate.

11:30 – Leave Manlum for Can-ukban, Oslob. Pace: Slow to moderate. Weather: Very warm and sunny.

12:35 – Arrive at the Vincent de Paul Hermitage. Rest and rehydrate. Prepare meal of spicy noodles and rice.

14:15 – Leave Vincent de Paul Hermitage for Cañang, Oslob. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Warm and cloudy.

15:45 – Arrive Cañang. Make courtesy call to village head at his home. Invited to a fiesta dinner later. Set up hammocks and shelters at a copse of trees.

17:00 – Failed to propagate VHF signal this time to Cebu City even when a transmission coming from DX7CBU was very audible.

19:00 – Dinner at the home of the village official.

21:00 – Taps.

Distance Covered: 16.9 Kilometers.

THIRD DAY

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

06:00 – Wake up call. Start cooking fires and breakfast.

07:45 – Leave Cañang for Monteverde, Samboan. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Warm with sparse clouds.

10:05 – Arrive in the vicinity of Monteverde. Rest and rehydrate.

10:30 – Leave Monteverde for Cabutongan, Santander. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Very warm and sunny.

11:45 – Stop at a crossroad of three rugged roads. Rest and rehydrate. Start cooking fires and lunch.

12:45 – Proceed hike. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Very warm and sunny.

14:45 – Arrive Cabutongan. Rest and rehydrate.

14:50 – Leave Cabutongan for Liloan, Santander. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Very warm with sparse clouds.

15:30 – Strong thunderstorm overtook us at Bunlan, Santander. Fog caused whiteout and obliterated trails and landmarks at five meters beyond. Have to stop at one point.

18:00 – Arrive the national highway in Liloan. Proceed to Liloan Point despite pain in muscles and feet.

18:30 – Arrive Liloan Point. Rest and rehydrate. Dinner at port restaurant.

20:00 – Leave Santander for Cebu City by bus.

22:30 – Arrive Cebu South Bus Terminal, Cebu City. Terminate exploration.

Distance Covered: 19.7 Kilometers.

TOTAL OFFICIAL DISTANCE COVERED: 45.30 Kilometers

When darkness overtook us at a road corner fronting the national highway in Liloan, Santander, there really was no stopping even as we knew we still have a day on our schedule left, a day good enough to nurse our aching muscles and sore bones and our tender feet soles. We all felt the nagging pains and the obtrusive weight on our backs telling us to stop but it was just about a half kilometer to Liloan Point, the culmination of our collective sacrifices. IT IS OVER!

For me it was more than five years’ worth of painstaking planning and labor that found many skeptics and a few dissenting voices, overheard or not, from an older crowd who thought they were God’s gift to Philippine outdoors. Creating a route along the length of Cebu is not my original idea and it had been there for the taking right after Judge Menmen Paredes abandoned it. These same people could have taken up the slack but they did not. They were just busy building up their hype and making money from it. They have all the chance but they were not the resilient kind.

I have gained back REDEMPTION and ACCEPTANCE of my place in the outdoors with completion of this bone-jarring project called the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL. It is beyond my comprehension if I were to gauge this on the very first day I started this thing, which was a dayhike from Lutopan, Toledo City to Guadalupe, Cebu City on February 20, 2011. It was impossible, logistics-wise, but I have chopped this beast into segments and sub-segments at my own pace and tamed it and I have made history and there is no denying that.

Even as I sifted the sand along a shore in Santander, my mind is working on the unfinished 7-kilometer stretch in Daanbantayan that was denied me last month which I will cover on the next few days and that Test Hikethru of the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL in January 2017, right after the Sinulog Festival. The CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL is my gift to the Cebuanos, especially to the dozens of outdoor groups who are not under the yoke of one super organization. This is for you guys. This will be your playground soon.

The finished CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL is not perfect for it trudged on a lot of roads where it used to be trails. When I started on this thing, the Cebu Provincial Government was already clearing ground for their Cebu Trans-Axial Highway. A lot had been paved and I could do nothing about it and roads are a blessing to residents of these remote places. Although I am able to overtook and finished my project before they did, it was not what people expected it to be. It could be refined though in later years. I just made a template for the future.

Testing and propagation of radio VHF signals as a side event of the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT is a necessity since it gives hikers the flexibility of communicating to stations from places where it is deemed remote and beyond the coverage of cellular signals. As a licensed ham, this is a necessity. It places responders a better advantage of locating lost hikers and would hasten response time. My thanks to Ham Radio Cebu and to Mr. Ferdinand Mercado of the Municipality of Alcoy for allowing Eagle One to ride on in their repeater stations.

It was my first time to encounter unusual thunderstorms in all my exploration hikes of the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT and it happened to us twice at Cansaloay, Oslob and Bunlan, Santander. The first one on the first night, two storms were approaching towards our campsite coming from the east and west. Just when we were about to receive the full brunt of their furies when they clashed, it disappeared, leaving us a very peaceful night and starry skies. The second one on the third day came from the land mass of Negros and unleashed its wrath obscuring trails and landmarks in a complete whiteout.

The present provincial police director, PSSUPT Jose Mallari, is a very thorough officer who does not let this small activity let slip from his attention. I was provided assistance by his staff and I was able to liaison with all the police stations that has jurisdiction on the routes I would take. It was a very big help on my part and it removed the difficulties that I could have had if there was no such gesture. I did encounter a slight problem in Cansaloay but it was not a big thing compared to the ones I encountered in Mabuli, Tabogon and in Lanao, Daanbantayan during Segment VII.

The CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL is now open and ripe for the taking this January 2017. I would be bringing Jonathaniel Apurado again with me since he would be the only one available among the Exploration Team and it would be another round of looking for another set of sponsors. The Test Thruhike is a month-long activity, about 32 to 35 days, and demand resupply of food in designated cache areas. Someday you will walk the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL and you will be proud to walk in it. Someday.

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer