THE THRUHIKE JOURNAL: Day 12 (Guadalupe to Biasong Creek)

I HAVE RISEN EARLY today, January 30, 2017, to finish the rest of the Thruhike. I have not really rested well on the two days that were allotted as rest days. I was working on the loose ends of the Thruhike like shopping for more food items and stove fuel that I have failed to procure the last time, assorting all of these in three separate plastic bags for the three rendezvous points of the northern leg, handing out these same bags to our supply team and another bag for Jonathaniel Apurado as his share of the stuff that we both will carry.

I have slept late on those two days. I was quite stressed out. When you are the organizer and the lead person, the weight of responsibility would bear on your shoulders. On the other hand, I am healthy and good to go for the final half of the Cebu Highlands Trail. My CHT jersey and hiking pants, which were both provided by Silangan Outdoor Equipment, are properly washed and smelled good again. For a change, I will use my old pair of Hi-Tec Lima shoes to let my blisters heal properly since these are a good fit and properly broken.

One great change that I have imposed on my gear is the replacement of a backpack that have caused misery on my shoulders during the southern leg. It was a local brand and the design had many flaws. I could have endorsed their brand in social media and in my blog if they have answered my message since I advocated support for local products. But it was not to be. They missed their chance and that freed me of the misery of endorsing a bad product. Gian Carlo Jubela of Adrenaline Romance Blog, however, provided me instead his pre-loved High Sierra Titan.

As it turned out the High Sierra bag is bigger, at 50 liters storage capacity, I was able to organize better my things this time. It is much lighter, giving me more option to carry more, and has fat shoulder pads and waist belts. It has extra pockets found on the waist belt and underneath the top cover and has an expandable pouch. The pouch is very important because I could retrieve quickly my itinerary, maps, documents and journal sealed inside a waterproofed Sea Line map case. It has another front opening near the bottom and has an earth-toned color of olive green.

Basically, the things that I carried on the southern leg are almost the same for today except, perhaps, a few minor ones like replacing the Buck Classic 112 with a Victorinox Ranger and adding the Camp Red Limited Edition Balaraw for slashing work on the hardest part of the northern leg. Our food would still be the same. Breakfast would be rice and Knorr soups, energy bars and baked products for lunch, and spicy Korean noodles and rice for dinner. Our meals would be supplemented by capsules of Enervon Multivitamins and Herbalife Natural Raw Guarana.

The northern leg of the Thruhike would be more difficult than the ones found in the south and I have to be kind to our legs and feet by identifying three different places to replenish our supplies. That meant that we have to lug supplies a few days less than what we did for the southern leg. Today we are carrying four days worth of food and fuel to be carried over the Babag Mountain Range and the more rugged Sudlon Mountain Range. As the initiator of this Thruhike, I am carrying extra.

We start from the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Guadalupe, Cebu City at 05:10, following the road at the back of the church. I send a text message to the Cebu City Police Office informing them of the continuation of the Thruhike. We arrive at a place called Napo, which is part of Sapangdaku, Cebu City at 06:00. Eight minutes later, we were on our way again. The trail goes on into familiar ground, crossing the Sapangdaku Creek where Jon had a quick breakfast of spaghetti, right across the Lower Kahugan Spring.

By 07:00, we begun the assault of Mount Babag, following the trail that I personally designate as the East Ridge Pass, passing by the abandoned homestead of the Roble family and the Upper Kahugan Spring. We arrive at Babag Ridge at 08:50 and followed the road to a store owned by a friend, Vicente Bontiel. The climb and the walk that start four hours ago have started to eat away my resolve. It is 09:30 and it starts to go warm. A couple of cold Coke and 15 minutes rest would be ideal to recondition the mind that we are in a Thruhike instead of a dayhike.

This road goes to a junction and we choose the left one for it leads us to the village of Bonbon, Cebu City. Along the way, we meet Michael Cabras and wife. They are settling here as homesteaders. I teach bushcraft and survival and Michael learned from me during the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp last year in Liloan, Cebu. Homesteading is not easy, especially if you are doing it on your own. You would need to blend, adapt and improvise. If you know bushcraft, you fit in easily. If you are not, then you have a lot of real hard labor cut out for you.

We reach the Transcentral Highway and bought a few bananas. It is very humid and the bananas would be helpful in staving off muscle cramps. Just a couple of meters away is the road to Bonbon. It is paved and all downhill. We followed it until we reach a bridge at 11:20. We stop by here to spend noonbreak inside a small restaurant. The heat of the day is just too much. It is even felt under the shade of a roof. I cannot do something about it but get on with life. In about an hour, we would be on trails and streams.

I cross the wide Bonbon River, whose water level reach my knees. I have to remove my Hi-Tec shoes and Lorpen socks and fold my quick drying Silangan hiking pants up to my groin. Up ahead would be a place called Biasong and a creek that I would follow upstream. On a point where there is a trail, I would climb a mountain that would lead me to Maraag Ridge, our designated campsite for Day Twelve. It looks so easy on the itinerary. I hope we could achieve our destination despite the obstacles of climbing two mountain ranges in a day.

I am forced to walk Biasong Creek, following the route that I have identified and refined during the several exploration hikes that I undertook on Segment I in the years between 2011 and 2016. Of all the segments that the CHT would choose, this would be the most dangerous, for it cross rivers. Not only that, you would walk upstream on one river, like I am doing now. If I have time, I would remove this part and refine the segment on entirely drier ground, which I already did on its other half.

When you are walking a stream, you are forever indebted to check the sky from time to time. Biasong Creek is deeper than the last time I was here and, where I walked with dry shoes and socks before, I am forced to remove these now. Water goes up beyond my knees at places where it is most shallow. At one point, I felt goosebumps when I saw dark clouds blotting open space among thick jungle. I doubled our pace and suffer for that by walking barefoot a lot of the time.

Time was not on our side. The water level impeded our progress. Again, I will have to compromise and modify the itinerary by looking for another place to camp. It is not easy, this campsite. It took us almost dusk – at 17:30 – to find it. It is fifteen meters away from the edge of Biasong Creek and on a high ground. I have to consider those treacherous flashfloods. You cannot be too sure. We claim our bivouac site where there are trees to tie our hammocks to. We have only a few daylight hours left to set that up and cook our evening meal.

I am able to set up my shelter quickly while Jon was struggling with his. I boil water for coffee and enjoyed the natural sounds of running water and the sounds of dusk creatures. Then I remembered my late grandfather, who took me to these same places to learn the ways of the jungle. From him, I learned how bushcraft is done, the same idea that I teach people. Jon recovered from the stress of fighting off fatigue and taming his brain and settled down to fetch water down the stream.

We are both carrying a half-kilo of rice each, repacked in 100 grams inside plastic tubes that people used to sell ice or cold water. This 100 grams is good enough for one meal shared by two people. Jon dropped his first 100 grams into the pot to start the cooking of rice. Our fuel are denatured alcohol totalling one liter each which would be burned in our Trangia burners. Jon has two billy cans while I have a Kovea cook set. Our dinner would be Korean spicy noodles which would come from my own supply.

Dinner came at 19:30. Camp life is noticeable only within the range limits of our head lamps. There is no moon. The food was good. Spicy as always. A spoon of virgin coconut meal finished off my day, as I have done in the south leg. I squeezed into my hammock and it sagged closer to ground. The jungle sounds and the stream became a lullaby to my ears. Checked the phone signals of both my Cherry Mobile U2 and my Lenovo A7000. No need to waste battery power so I turned it off.

So was the Versa Duo 2-way radios directed to a repeater tower of Ham Radio Cebu. No signal. I have underestimated the distance from Guadalupe to Maraag Ridge just like I did on Day Seven. I was not tired but my brain got overwhelmed by the immensity of the country we walked in at a pace which was faster than usual, considering the weight we are carrying. We were fortunate we came this far at the edge of Sudlon I, Cebu City. Tomorrow would be harder. What we failed to take today would be added tomorrow.

Distance Walked: 18.58 kilometers

Elevation Gained: 718 meters and a low of 56 meters

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

Some photos courtesy of Jonathaniel Apurado

MAN-SIZED HIKE XI: Sinsin to Guadalupe

SEGMENT 1-A OF MY Cebu Highlands Trail Project is the most used route I take whenever I engage people to a cross-country day hike. This route is also used as a requirement for membership into the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild. This route then satisfies the adventure adrenaline of most, as a selection hike for a chosen few and torture for someone who had been on this six times.

Today, October 26, 2014, would be my seventh. I do not like to do this all the time for the simple reason that my ancient body could not keep up to the demands of what the brain imposes. Just walking and crossing the Bonbon-Mananga River System twenty-one times for 2-3 hours is enough to feel the pounding of my water-soaked feet to stones that I stepped on and to sand grits lodged inside shoes and socks. The heavier you are, the more pronounced this foreign objects on your feet. I weigh like a pygmy rhinoceros.

But I have to do this. I am a different breed and I possessed a warrior’s grit and spirit. I want to leave a legacy. I want to mold warriors from this pampered generation and then teach them how to deal with pain. Pain is a nuisance but it is a a fact of life. Pain creates character and fortitude. Without it you will always be walking meat. The stretch of this route, which used to start at Lutopan, Toledo City, is mind-boggling to achieve in twelve hours but it is just a state of the mind.

Today’s activity is delayed by “Filipino time” and further delayed by people who still needs to be baby-seated all the time. We leave the assembly area at Citilink, Cebu City at almost seven. We took a public jitney to Tabunok, Talisay City and then procure ingredients for our noontime meal at its public market. Long ago, we used to take a bus bound for Lutopan and you have to be early because the bus took an eternity to reach its destination.

Today we will ride motorcycles for hire. It is not safe but it cuts away travel time. The Manipis Road is still undergoing facelifts caused by recent landslides. There are no steel railings on a lot of stretches and you can feel your soul beginning to break away from your physical body as you cast your eyes downward into the distant river below. Stretches of unpaved road, muddy and wet, causes tire wheels to skid and run on snaky patterns! Shucks.

Jhurds Neo and Nyor Pino, veterans of this route, are the first to go; then the father-and-son tandem of Jonathan and Justin Apurado; then husband-and-wife, Mark and Marisol Lepon; and me, as last man. While the motorcycle I rode took a refill at a gas station, I saw Jingaling Campomanes, in a quandary of looking for missing people, asking locals about us. I cut away her worries by calling her and offered her space on the small 100cc motorcycle. Our entourage now feels like a scene from a popular TV adventure race.

When me and Jingaling arrived at the Sinsin junction of the road, nobody was there. How could Jhurds and Nyor miss this place? I looked, I asked locals and I sent text messages of the missing six. Meanwhile, minutes tick by, further aggravating the itinerary. It is 08:00 and we have a schedule to catch. Fortunately, Jhurds, on the prodding of the driver, called me. We meet them halfway between Sinsin Junction and Odlom. It is 08:25 and I have to brief them so there would be no mistakes this time.

The road from Odlom cant downwards to Buot-Taup, an upland village of Cebu City which is located nearby Bonbon River. My plan does not enter the village center but it takes a detour to a trail going down onto a small tributary which we follow downstream into the bigger Bonbon. I remind everyone to get used to having wet shoes and socks because there are no other ways to get to the other side. Some did not get my message right and tried to be Indiana Jones. Their futility leads to water just the same and a sprained ankle on one.

Streambeds, which you see as flat, hide quarry holes, which you may notice only when you are on its edge. I do not want people walking where they choose and inflict injuries through carelessness and ignorance. I remind them again to walk single file and follow me. When excitement and adrenaline controls your mind, you tend to overlook the finer details of the surroundings. You tend to reject common sense. I remind Nyor to stay at the tail and keep the ears glued to the slightest deviations of the river’s rhythm.

Meanwhile, I grudgingly welcome the walking on water. Personally, I really do not like to thread on streams and I was taught to travel smartly so I could keep my feet dry. Walking on streams exposes you to a lot of dangers. Flashfloods are your main concern. Then your soles soften, exposing you to pain underneath. Stones, whether exposed or underneath, are slippery and you lose balance. But this is the best training ground to increase your outdoors awareness. I am serious when on rivers because I have seen its power many times.

By 10:30, we got past the place where I previously stop to prepare a meal. I think our pace is just too slow. Too many stops along the way to accommodate a limping member caused us precious long minutes. It had been fair weather when we start and I see dark clouds from the east. It does not matter for it only bring rain. What I worry are rainclouds from the west or north. Slight drops of water begins to appear and everyone is worried. I am not but I am quite worried of Jhurds. I need to stop to make coffee on a sandbar.

The water boiled just as Jhurds and Nyor arrived. There is a slight drizzle yet coffee time goes on. Jhurds needed that. Very much. Sitting on a rock made me better. The change in weather cooled the oven-hot streambed. We resume our journey. The slight rain caused water from the Manipis Road to cascade into the river system by way of storm ditches. The water is brown. It joins the Bonbon making it brown but, as time goes by, the great quantity of clear water won over the effuse.

We pass by the fork of the river system where the Bonbon River becomes the Mananga River. The stream becomes wider and becomes dangerous. Additional tributaries increases water volume like the Maraot Creek, where water current come strong, by virtue of its location from a much higher elevation. I evade the place where the Maraot joins the Mananga. Bad memories. With that, the trailhead to Cabatbatan would not be far. It is almost twelve noon and I have to change route: from the river bed to drier ground.

We rest underneath a mango tree at Camp 4, Talisay City. This is the halfway point of our journey. Long ago there used to be a big acacia tree here which gives a better place to rest. It is now gone, cut into pieces for no apparent reason except to cash in on charcoal. We stayed and boiled water for coffee. We needed this. Some of us do not have the luxury of breakfast. Me, I bought two binangkal (English: ball pudding) at Tabunok. I ate the first and would have eaten the second when a Bajau girl appeared asking for alms.

Yes, the coffee would be a big help because Cabatbatan Trail is an unforgiving trail. How many of my party suffered cramps here in the past. I remind all not to keep up with the strong pacers. The weak should walk at their own whims. I tasked Mark to count the number of concrete footpaths. I am leading the pack and I am relentless here. I seldom stop but I have to look back once in a while. I really am concerned of Jhurds, of Nyor, of Jingaling and of Mark.

I met a lone hiker in the middle of this route. He is clad in a trail-running outfit but he is wearing thong sandals. He also has an alpine cane. It is the second time I see such kind here. He came from Pamutan, he says. I told him I came from Sinsin Ridge and will exit to where he came from. But I am challenged by his footwear. It is not threaded and the man is slight of build even though he is tall. He would leave almost no trace on the trail and that is where my excitement is focused. I will look for it and study if I found it.

It is slightly raining again. It would certainly disturb his fresh tracks which would be indiscernible. Beyond a lone tamarind tree, I saw his sandal print. The right foot made a slight indent near the grass. He was travelling light and I did not see another print until I pass by a muddy stretch. Obviously, he is oriented to walking along the middle of the path and he has no knowledge whatsoever of trailcraft. As I was doing that, his alpine pole left a series of perfect holes on the ground.

I reach Maraot Creek and take a rest. Justin and Jonathan arrive not long after. I just bought a Cherry Mobile U2 mobile phone. The manual says it is waterproof, dustproof, shockproof and encased in a floatable material. I tossed the phone on the stream. It hit bottom then it floated to the surface and was carried by the current. I took pictures of this wonderful gadget which had been so true to its packaging. The gear test were witnessed by father and son.

Jingaling and Marisol came after five minutes. Nyor, Mark and Justine after eight minutes. Mark counted 1,860 steps. Very good and thank you. Jhurds seem to be okay but he felt his ankle beginning to swell. It distracts his walking and he favored only one foot. Well, Jhurds, this is not your finest moment. You got to walk, pain or without pain. I cannot babysit you at this stretch of the game. We cross the stream and proceed to Cabatbatan. Yonder is the only store that sell cold drinks between Sinsin Junction and Pamutan Junction – a distance of roughly 15-16 kilometers.

We pass by small plots cleared for farming, a homestead and, on a clear glimpse below, clearwater pools of the Maraot Creek good for swimming and bathing. Small tributaries and ravines are alive with water where before were not. The beautiful banilad tree is still standing but it is threatened by clearing. A part of the trunk is being scraped, maybe used for home medicinal remedies. With my AJF Gahum heavy-duty knife, I freed several young soursop trees (Local: tsiko karabaw) of strangling vines. We reach a headrock of a waterfall and we rest.

A path leads to the store above and we believed we would have those cold refreshments soon. At 14:50 we occupy the benches. I pulled out my blackened pots, rice, storm sandals and a dry T-shirt. Wearing something dry, especially, freeing my feet from its wet stranglehold, improves my well-being. Justin takes care of lighting the fires on a “dirty kitchen” offered for free use to us, to include the stocks of firewood. Jhurds provided a kilo of salmon belly. Soon we will have a hot meal of salmon soup (Local: tinola, towa) and rice.

We eat our meal at around 16:00 and it was very satisfying. A hot meal is essential for a body deprived of heat and energy. I had always been espousing cooking over pre-cooked meals. Even though it eats time but a meal is the most important activity of a human being in a day. In the old days and even today, a man has to hunt or find his meal the hard way before he could eat and there are days when the stomach goes on empty. The opportunity to eat a meal then is a blessing unlike today where it is relegated as a consumer product.

We left Cabatbatan at 16:30 and follow the winding road up to Bocawe. Dusk overtook us. Sinsin Ridge and the rivers that we had passed by hours ago are deluged with spectacular scenes of a sunset and a thunderstorm. Darkness had obliterated the vision of never-ending road rises and that bodes well with our psyche. One of my knees do not take kindly to the walking on concrete pavement, much more so, my feet soles. The roads are abandoned and people here sleep early. It is still 18:00 when we pass Bocawe.

In my group are Justin, Jonathan, Jingaling and Marisol. Unseen from us and far away behind are Nyor, Mark and the limping Jhurds. When the big city lights are in view, the morale of the rest begins to liven up. Smile begins to cross their faces yet they do not know that it is still a long way to go. Jhurds pass us by astride a motorcycle with an even bigger smile. He is finally “rescued” by a willing driver. His safety is my main concern and it is as if a big needle had been removed from my back!

We reach Pamutan Junction at 18:45 and we wait for Nyor and Mark. Meanwhile, Jingaling has to leave. Husband called. She goes when a motorcycle passes by. When Nyor and Mark arrived, we six walk the road down to Baksan and then to the Sapangdaku Spillway. I had to shelve the direct route to Guadalupe offered by Bebut’s Trail as it is quite late and our passing might disturb communities. We will go the long way using the road.

We arrive at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at 20:10. I personally congratulated each for their steadfastness and for braving the pain, the fatigue and a hundred other concerns. We immediately proceed to Napolitano Pizzeria to cool down and to end the activity with discussions over cold glasses of beer. Although we were not able to reduce our ETA nor beat the deadline of 20:00, it is okey because all have enjoyed the walk and there was no untoward incident.

But I have another plan for the future. I have seen a possible route to cut travel time and, maybe, I would utilize bread and coffee as our meals next time.

Document done in LibreOffice 3.3 Writer