NAPO TO BABAG TALES CXIV: Country Good for Old Men

IT IS MILDLY WARM TODAY AND I HAVE so much time in my hands. Today is Friday, September 2, 2016, and I have a guest from Switzerland. We knew each other before when he dropped by last December 2015 to place a donation for a fund-raising gig of Christmas United IV held at The HeadquarterZ. He stayed for a few hours to know the wonderful guys running this outreach event and of the crazy people of this Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild.

The Swiss is also my benefactor and friend. He is married to a Cebuana and he lives here in Cebu City. He lets me know of his plans and, one time, he invited me and my wife for an overnight trip in Dumaguete City to have a look over of the property he had bought. Not only that, he gifted me a beautiful Victorinox Ranger Swiss Army Knife when he came back last July. Believe me, big SAKs do not just drop from the skies in this country and I am quite indebted to him.

He wanted to the see the backcountry of Metro Cebu and he wanted to test his own Ranger and a small Gerber fixed-blade knife. He wanted also to improve his stamina after recovering from a minor operation and he wanted to have a dirt-time of his own. We arrived at the same time at the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at 07:00 and proceed immediately to the back of the church where all journeys to the Babag Mountain Range began, begun and begin.

I am carrying light. A tan Lifeguard USA rucksack is all I need to bring to what few things I have like a spare t-shirt, a few bread, my Ranger, another Victorinox Trailmaster Swiss Army Knife, a William Rodgers bushcraft knife, a Mora Companion knife, a Cignus V85 radio, a Magellan GPS, a laminated nylon sheet, a Tingguian Tribe Sierra hammock and a full Nalgene bottle. My Swiss friend carried a sling bag with two liters of water, his own Ranger, the Gerber, his sandwich and more bread.

I am testing, for the first time, an old Magellan Blazer12 GPS unit. It had been donated to me by an outdoor friend along with a thick manual, sometime in late 2014, when I pleaded for sponsorship of any kind and form to equip an Exploration Team that I was planning to organize for the Cebu Highlands Trail Project which, at that time, was woefully lingering at Segment II. It had never been used and never would be in the exploration phase.

I tinkered with it last night, reading the manual, cleaning well the terminals, and made it work with new AA batteries. A date appeared on its screen: April 4, 1998. Wow! It had been that long since its last use. I cannot download nor upload its data. It is a second-generation GPS system. Even so, I set the Navigation mode for today’s test. I might use this when the Cebu Highlands Trail Project is done.

We arrive at Napo and follow the trail meandering above the now-brisk Sapangdaku Creek. I walk easy and slow and, as usual, do my own usual stuff talking about plants, recent occurrences and what to expect beyond. I am conditioning his mind so he could devise his own strategies to adapt to the situation at hand, the ones we called as the “economy of movement”, which the Swiss are good at.

We stop often under the shades when the sun is overbearing and walk the walk – the old men’s way – when we continue. We meet locals along the way and children going to school late, or early, depending on which subject. I am taking my friend to Camp Xi, which part I do not know yet. There are four campsites there, each different and isolated from each other by a stream or by a ridge.

I noticed something wrong. Weeds are hanging from a power cable line. Workers are re-attaching a cable today that had been deliberately cut by thieves early last year in the hope of stealing it. The cable lay in the ground for many months and are overgrown with weeds. When they brought it up, so were the weeds. That is the quality of work when no engineer is supervising and my Filipino brothers are good at it. Not our finest moment especially when the very efficient Swiss are around.

We arrive at Camp Xi at 09:45. My friend loved the place. It is an ideal campsite. Not here, my friend. Too open. We cross the stream and found a path going up on another campsite. It is hidden but the ground was used for farming. I checked an old lanzones tree if it is bearing fruit. It was but it is still green. We go down the stream and walk a few meters upstream then climb another path. Perfect.

The third campsite is good for activities not requiring observers. It is farther from the trail and covered by trees and bamboos growing beside the stream. I once conducted a wilderness survival training here for Army reservists last May. There are large mango trees that would gave shade and we found a spot to test the knives. I drag a dry bamboo pole that was left hanging on thorns after it was cut by a local many days ago.

I splay my laminated nylon sheet on the ground to place things and to sit on. I check the data of the GPS. Power went off. I tried to switch it on but it went blank after a few seconds. Batteries merrily drained away by the greedy unit. I was using the red-colored Eveready batteries and maybe it needs alkaline ones. I guess it has to sit long enough to gather dust before I could afford a set of rechargeable alkaline batteries.

My friend happily used his Ranger and his Gerber alternately on the bamboo pole. The tiny folding saw of the Ranger, which is by far longer than a Trailmaster, make cutting work fast. I tried mine and timed it on the endmost part of the pole where it is around 2-7/8 inches in diameter and about 5/16th of an inch thick. I was able to cut it three seconds less than the one I did with my Trailmaster. Without a doubt, SAK saw design and efficiency are the best when you talk of multi-tool set saws.

I leave him alone while he is toying with the Gerber. I set up the hammock on a nearby tree. After that, I go back to check on his current progress. It seems the Gerber is small enough to do a man’s work yet I believe it could handle well a kitchen job. The humidity is almost unbearable. I do not know my Swiss friend of how he is feeling now. I eat the first of my bread and paired it with water.

Turned the power knob of my Cignus V85 portable radio to monitor stations in the frequency of Ham Radio Cebu. I get lots of splats instead from another frequency used by a taxi company which enters accidentally all the time when you are communicating with another. I waited for it to die down before I press the PTT to check on stations. I do not get a reply. I just let the radio on, hopefully, a message might find my way.

It is now 11:30. I ask my friend how he is doing. He says he is fine. He was waiting for me of what my next plan is. It is too early to call it a day. I ask him again if he is okay for another short hike. A bit steep than before. No problem he says. So be it. I pack all my things back to my rucksack and keep the place tidy as if we were not here. We go down and cross the stream and climb up the main trail.

We arrive at Lower Kahugan Spring and I have to stop to refill my bottle. It is shady but it is empty of people. We resume our walk. I am planning of taking him to the Busay Lut-od Waterfalls. We meet people and children going to school along the trail, this time the children are early for their afternoon class. We rest when we could find shade and we do that many times because the trail is steep. It is necessary.

After about an hour or more of walking, I show him the first of the waterfalls in its grand splendor under a noon sun. I pause for a while to catch a glimpse of two big catfish I saw last March turning up its head at this same hour. They are probably washed downstream during heavy rains. “Can I swim?”, he asks. No problem. Taking off his bag, his shoes and his socks, he immerse himself in the cool water with his clothes on. He needs it badly. The heat stinks.

My friend seems to have recovered by the cool-down in the pool and he is smiling. We go up the path to the trail and go back to the Lower Kahugan Spring to rest for a short time. It is still 12:45 but we meet people and children coming from school. Big smiles for the little ones when my friend parted his untouched bread. In a matter of a half hour, we are now at Napo. A few seconds later, we were on motorcycles back to Guadalupe.

What better way to cool much further for the rest of the day are mugs of the coldest beer at my favorite watering hole. Ciao!

Document done LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL LAND NAVIGATION TRAINING

THE CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL Project is an exploration activity. Its main purpose is to find a route and would ultimately link the northern tip of Cebu with its southern tip or vice versa through a trail or a route which would traverse axially on and among the island’s rugged and middlemost mountains and hills. It is an ambitious undertaking considering that it is a personal crusade pursued by this blogger almost without sponsorships and support.

Cebu is about 260 kilometers in length, more or less, in a straight line and, presently, it can be traveled north and south and all around through the coastal highways. A route blazed by the Exploration Team of the Cebu Highlands Trail Project would someday make Cebu a very tantalizing magnet for backpackers, both here and from abroad, since the idea itself is lent from the Appalachian Trail and by the Pacific Crest Trail of the USA.

The Exploration Team which this blogger will lead will identify and document the possible river crossings, water sources, campsites, entry and exit points, evacuation areas, escape routes, bivouac sites, meal stops and communities, along with its peace and order situations, which the chosen route will pass. The team will rely more on traditional land navigation like terrain and shadow analysis, local knowledge and location of celestial bodies.

The Global Positioning System which everyone favors because of its real-time information is not, and will never be, part of the team’s equipment. On the other hand, each member of the Exploration Team, to include the Base Support Team, will be taught and will learn the basics of map information, knowing how to read a bearing, use protractors to get back azimuths, understand grid coordinates and ascertain locations basing on this time-tested and fail-proof methods.

For this occasion, this blogger is inviting the members of the Exploration Team and the support group to a free Map Reading lecture. I have taught many times practical map reading to a number of outdoorsmen in the past, especially to my adherents belonging to the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, and, I believe, it creates better outdoorsmen of everyone. GPS can fail you anytime but the map, the compass and the protractor would not.

From the team are Jonathan Apurado, Jovahn Ybañez, Justin Apurado and Chad Bacolod. A few of those whom I have invited also came like Aljew Frasco, Bona Canga, Jerome Tibon, Nelson Orozco and Jon Daniel Apurado. I seldom teach technical sessions because it wracks my brain but, just the same, I am glad to share this valuable knowledge to the team members and to the rest.

It is a rainy Sunday morning of January 25, 2015 yet it does not matter. I will do the theories under the wide front awning of the Cebu Cultural Center in Lahug, Cebu City. Everyone are here, except two or three, and I use an unused plywood to act as a “blackboard” and, at the same time, to attach different maps. Of course, there are many kinds of maps but, in land navigation, the topographical map is preferred.

The topo map has all the important ingredients which you could use for navigation. It has contour lines, different shades for elevations and vegetation, bar scales, a declination diagram and, most of all, it can be improved further by drawing intersecting grid lines across it. What this blogger did was photocopying a part of the map and draw grid lines and reproduce it as test maps. The test maps would then be used by the participants during the practical phase of the lecture.

The contour lines are those very thin crooked lines colored brown. Contour lines interpret the different elevations of land as seen on a map and are sometimes seen as eccentric circles. Interpreting actual elevations based on a map are quite catchy and, sometimes, are confusing. For this occasion, this blogger gave the participants a written exercise in profiling a mountain range based on a sample set of contour lines.

After getting familiar with the choice of a map, the choice of a compass is next. While all compasses are made to be dependable, one compass that stands out from the rest because of its design is the one with a base plate. This compass has a transparent plastic rectangular base that functions as a short ruler with measuring units in metric and in English. It has a small magnifying glass that lets you read small details on the map. It is lightweight and very simple to use.

A stand-alone compass is already enough to get the cardinal directions but, paired with a map, it can locate your exact location. How to do that? First, you have to orient the map with the compass. You have to find true north. Your map has a grid north while your compass points to the magnetic north but you have to adjust both map and compass according to the declination diagram and, after doing that, you now have the true north.

Here in Cebu, where we are ten-degrees above the tropics, adjusting the map based on the declination diagram is not necessary. What matters instead is where would you use the compass. The compass needle is subject to magnetic interference and you must avoid, as much as possible, steel towers and metal you wear. Yes, your ring, necklace and your electronic gadget would create a false direction on the needle.

When you have oriented your map and compass, you only need two prominent landmarks to sight your compass at before determining your location thru the dissecting back azimuths as in the method called Resection. On the other hand, Modified Resection uses an already identified feature on a map (like a road or a river) where you assumed you are on and sight only one landmark. The back azimuth dissecting that location on the map determines then your exact position.

Giving a demonstration on the open grounds across the University of the Philippines is quite difficult for these two methods since tall buildings obstruct all view of mountains, leaving me no recourse but to apply dead reckoning on our present location, which is easy anyway, for the features on the map are second-nature for a Cebu native to guess at correctly. Anyway, I proceed to teach them about how to read grid coordinates.

We transfer to higher ground which is near the GMA TV Station on the hills above the Mahiga Creek Watershed. Rain make our map reading difficult to execute since the maps get soaked. Besides that, thick fogs befell on the mountain range where our precious landmarks are and on the very places where we are. We need to find a much suitable place and much much higher than this place.

We found it near where Mr. A Restaurant is located. This time we got what we wanted – mountain peaks, islands, shorelines and man-made landmarks. The guys practice their skills on the compass and the map doing the two methods – Resection and Modified Resection - and converting it into grid coordinates. I am satisfied that I had imparted this valuable skill and my XTeam comes equipped now with this.

For that matter, the Xteam of the Cebu Highlands Trail Project would now be ready to take on Segment III next month and the rest of the segments.  

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NAPO TO BABAG TALES LX: Night Navigation Training

PEOPLE GET A FEEL OF excitement when they hike up the mountains during night. Some do this for fun; others do this because they have to; and a few do this to train themselves. Except training, all rely on the battery-powered flashlight and they all go up to their campsite destinations in a long chain of lights, a wonderful sight to behold from the eyes of a startled toad.

The battery-powered flashlight, which have developed from a low-voltage incandescent bulb to halogen to light-emitting diodes (LED), is the standard equipment of a backpacker and it is a good option to carry an extra. The LED have multiplied the ordinary bulb’s lumen power a hundred times over and changed the name of the flashlight into a torch. Credit that to technology.

However, when you use a torch, there is one primeval function that you inadvertently choose to ignore and disregard. It is not one’s fault though but this is an instinct that have evolved through constant use in the past by our earliest ancestors and have, likewise, declined through neglect, through our dependence with modern technology and through ignorance.

This natural night vision is developed to great advantage by nocturnal hunters. I am not a hunter but I prefer to use my eyes to work my way in the dark. That is a fact. I have led people on the trails many times and, by situations beyond my control, commit them to walk in the night. Of course, they used lights but I advance my natural sight to good use on myself.

Night Navigation Training is taught in the mil but I am fortunate to be taught by them. Like water, knowledge should meander down and be taught to others and when it does I make sure my people at Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild are given priority. Actually, NNT is one of the skills that is highly valued in bushcraft and survival. However, I am generous enough to welcome members from other outdoor clubs or anyone willing to learn upon my invitation or through referrals.

Ten new participants arrive at Guadalupe in the late afternoon of Black Saturday – March 31, 2013. They are Antonette, Patrick, James, Mario, Nyor, Silver, Maria, JB and a couple of guys. Most of them have never tried hiking in the mountains under a pale moonlight. Old hands Ernie, Dominikus and Eli Bryn will assist me in this activity. I give a short overview of NNT and final briefing before proceeding.

We start from Napo, Sapangdaku at 7:00 PM. I advised the participants to use their flashlights when crossing streams and when in doubt of the ground where they are going to tread at. Always fix a certain celestial body as reference when the moon have not yet risen. By the way, the moon waxed full last Holy Thursday and is still bright tonight although it may rise later at 8:30 PM.

Our pace is slow. Deliberately done to control the brain from sending the wrong signals. We arrive at Lower Kahugan Spring at 8:00 PM and proceed to refill water bottles. Sooner, we will be at the place where we will prepare, cook and eat our dinner. Camp Red prefer to eat their meals fresh from the cooking fire.

We leave the spring after a brief nocturnal hunting along the river and I lead them to a steep switchback and, at exactly 8:30 PM, we reach the Roble homestead. We are welcome anytime to prepare our meal at this place and make noise at that certain hour of the night. We begin unpacking things to retrieve our food ingredients.

I start the cooking of the milled corn while Dominikus boil water for coffee. Meanwhile, Ernie begins to prepare an assortment of palatable dish like pork adobao, pork sinigang, swamp radish salad and fresh-water crabs. Silver cook red beans and JB fry dried fish. The rest help in the slicing of the pork meat, vegetables and spices underneath the silver sheen of the moon on the landscape.

In between, I show the participants how to look for Polaris using Big Bear and True South through Cygnus, the Southern Cross. We eat our supper at 10:00 PM. This day is my last day of fasting. I do this every Holy Week and I should have broke my fast at 6:00 PM but my commitment to teach NNT precedes over my gut. We leave the place for Babag Ridge at 11:00 PM. Nevertheless, NNT should proceed without haste.

We follow the East Ridge Pass and I could see clearly the trail. The fogs covered the moon yet it is still bright enough for my eyes to see. Rest is given to those who toil and everyone give their best to ignore pain, fatigue, unfamiliarity and that primeval fear of the dark. Safety in numbers negate that fear and those who paced faster wait for those who lagged.

We arrive at Babag Ridge at 12:00 midnight and everyone take a rest to recover their breath. We walk in almost daylight speed to the top. Wow! The brain must have to do something with this. The fogs are not that thick and it is around twenty-three degrees Celsius. We walk the road down to Babag I and then up to the trailhead a kilometer-and-a-half away.

The last half of our journey will be downhill and it is perilous. The moon is on the downswing of its orbit and it may disappear anytime behind the mountain range. This time I encourage everyone to use their lights and provide walking staffs to those I think who need it most.

This trail to Kalunasan is seldom taken by me and I always have trouble remembering my last route there even during daylight. The night presents a bit of a problem for me this time so I arm myself with a heavy staff. I could use it as a weapon, a probing stick and as an anchor to stabilize my downward pace.

The No-Santol-Tree Trail is a route that I have discovered four years ago based upon the description of a local about the presence of a santol tree (sp. Sandoticum koetjapi) that marks the trailhead. The moment I looked for that tree, it is nowhere to be found, and I got lost as well, walking in circles obviously wanting to satisfy my exploring spirit never knowing that I found a different path.

I have limited control this time and this is the most difficult part of the activity and it is where the old hands come in handy to keep watch of those that are beyond my scope of vision. I have to use my small LED light as well. I remember I slipped here many times last year. Vegetation is much thicker here but I am not worried because I have a torch and a new pair of Columbia Coremic Ridge 2 shoes which I am testing.

The shadows play on my brain and I begin to doubt at myself. The route I followed seems unfamiliar leaving me lost for a while, then I detoured and I persisted until I see a hint of a faintly-familiar bend in the trail that led me to a more common contour. I am the navigator and guide and I use my trailcraft skills to the max despite the deceptive appearances caused by shifting shadows.

I cross a low saddle that lead into another ridge and, this time, I know where I am going but the going is not easy as I have expected. The path have been obliterated almost by thick growth due to non-use by people and I hack the vegetation with my wooden staff to part a way and to shoo away anything lurking there.

Meanwhile, the peaceful night is shattered by blasts of firecrackers in the distance. A religious activity signifying the Resurrection of Christ has just started. I wait for the slow walkers and give myself a break. The trail is very misleading and I would prefer that those behind me are very visible from those much much behind. I walk as if without purpose just killing time so that those from the tail end could catch up.

Satisfied with the pace, I cross several arroyos – dry waterways – where loose broken rocks and detritus accumulate in an unstable manner. I arrive at the first of the many tamarind trees found along this trail. I reach a copse of tamarind trees and rehydrated. I rest and wait for the participants to arrive. One by one they came and welcomed the opportunity to sit again after many hours of walk.

We finish the walk at 3:30 AM and it is still dark. We decide to walk back to Guadalupe on the road and reach it at 4:30 AM. We have come and walked from the dark mountains of yesterday to greet Easter Sunday and it was a great sacrifice. Osiyo!!!

TIPS FOR NIGHT HIKING:

• Night is different than day, caution should be exercised.
• The walking stick is very useful in night navigation. Not only it could aid you in your balance and a counter to gravity, it could be used as a probing stick and a weapon.
• Check night sky fixtures as your reference. It will aid you in your general direction.
• When using your natural night vision, refrain from switching on your torch. The glare of unnatural light destroys your night vision. If it does, switch off the light and close your eyes for ten seconds and blink several times afterward to fine tune it back.
• Use your peripheral vision to great advantage. It is that part where you could detect movement and the details of the trail which cannot be detected by a frontal sight.
• Use your light when crossing a stream or when you are in doubt of the part of the path before you.
• Do not play in to your brain. The brain receives signal from your eyes and tenses the muscles and release more adrenaline. Heart pumps more blood and would need more oxygen. You hasten your pace and you gasp for air and you become fatigued. Save your energy instead as you are not chasing someone in the dark.
• Walk very slow. Take your time.
• Walk during full moon or at least where the moon is not less than half.
• Wear visible clothing.
• Prepare a route card and leave it to your base support crew, a friend or to the authorities; and indicate the time when you will arrive and to notify them.
• Train in a controlled environment.

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BEBUT'S TRAIL VIII: Map Reading Practicals

MAP READING IS a rather technical subject with understanding influenced greatly by the magnetic needle of a compass and by your interpretation of your surroundings into your map. I learned the basics of map reading while with the Boy Scout movement in the ‘70s under the tutelage of the best scoutmaster in the country - the late Sergio Damazo Jr.; and progress into a much better navigator while in Tanay, Rizal in the late ‘80s.

This year – 2012 – is my first time to teach map reading to a group of people and I thought it easy but it is not. It’s different when you are the recipient of knowledge instead of the one giving it. All my life had been used to receiving such valued instructions and I am very grateful for all my very patient teachers. I am not trained to be a teacher but, this time, I have to start acting like one --- even for free!

I did my first lecture about map reading on March 18, 2012 and nine individuals from the different outdoors groups came. I held my morning activity indoors at one of the abandoned buildings of the Department of Agriculture compound in M. Velez Street, Guadalupe, Cebu City. The afternoon segment was dedicated to the practicals at the hills above Guadalupe and Banawa. Critique and review came afterwards.

Aiming to improve my manner of instructions, I scheduled another session for April 29 at the same locations and I may have to accompany the participants, especially during the actual part, so all could fully absorb and understand the mechanics of reading a map in harmony with the compass. Three participants of the previous class availed of this free lecture while two first-timers join the rest.

 

I start the instructions at 7:30 AM inside the room where a bare wall with light blue paint became an improvised blackboard. Unhinged doors propped up with wood crates were used as benches, improving the classroom situation in a more relaxed manner. As usual, I have my set of maps that will be used as instructional aids, my chalks, my lecture handouts and photocopies of the city map under section 3721-I. 

 

The first order of lecture touched on the basic information found in the topographic map and the rudiments of using a compass. Succeeding instructions proceeded with how to use the grid lines; how to place and identify land shapes into the locations found on a map; how to orient the map with the compass; how to get a bearing and how to interpret these bearings into your grid coordinates.

The instructions move surprisingly very fast that, at 9:30 AM, it is over for the indoor lecture. I doubt it very much that I have mastered the art of teaching map reading to others but it is just simply that I have a present set of students who absorb all what I taught like water on sponge. I could not be more happy than to end this in lesser time than what I have expected.

So, we leave the DA Compound for the direction of Guadalupe church. We may have to eat a meal – a brunch – to better prepare us for the difficult part of the activity. By 10:30 AM, we start to head for The Portal, by way of Bebut’s Trail. Along the way, we may also have to tackle Heartbreak Ridge on a hot almost-noontime sun. Walking up a hill with a map and compass presents a good combination of brawn and brain exercise.

The sun – the tormentor at Heartbreak Ridge – gave us a wide berth and did not show face until we reach the treeline. In between, the boys tried their best sighting azimuths on reference points and drawing straight lines or the back azimuths on their test maps. One such bearing was taken at the very place where there is a tunnel vent. Participants are forbidden to use GPS.

Everybody are instructed to locate three positions using the resection or triangulation method; one location using a modified resection method; and another location using dead reckoning. The last task requires self to develop the skill to analyze and find your own position when you run out of reference points to sight upon. All were up to the challenge and manage to finish an imaginary short orienteering course in less time.

We leave The Portal at 12:30 noon bound for a small community where there is a native version of a gazebo with a good supply of water. One participant carried a camp stove, fuel and cook set. I remember us buying sachets of instant coffee from a store and so we boil water for that. After the coffee break, the participants took readings of our present location as a bonus. It seems to me that they are hard to stop when they start on to something.

We leave the place at 1:30 PM, the participants fully assured that they have complied with my map reading requirements. There is one more task to do and it will commence an hour from now. We walk down the road from Baksan to Sapangdaku crossing by a river spillway then on to Guadalupe. 

 

We transfer to the Red Hours Convenience Store in M. Velez Street, just across the old DA Compound, where I conduct critique and review of the participants’ test maps over glasses of ice-cold beer. Over these same glasses, I teach them how to plot and connect each position and how to read their grid coordinates. At the end of the day, my Grassroots Bushcraft Teaching Series about Map Reading navigate itself to good waters.

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NAPO TO BABAG TALES LII: Black Saturday Night Training

THERE IS SOMETHING exciting when people hike in the mountains during the night. I know of outdoor clubs or groups of hikers doing that every now and then. They go up – one way - to their campsite destinations in a long chain of lights, a wonderful sight to behold in the woods from the eyes of a startled toad.

The battery-powered flashlight, which have developed from a low-voltage incandescent bulb to halogen to light-emitting diodes (LED), is the standard equipment that you will find inside the hiker’s backpack and a lot of them are known to carry an extra. The LED have multiplied the ordinary bulb’s lumen power a hundred times over and changed the name of the flashlight into a torch. Credit that to technology.

However, when you use a torch, there is one primeval function that you inadvertently choose to ignore and disregard. It is not one’s fault though but this is an instinct that have evolved through constant use in the past by our earliest ancestors and have, likewise, declined through neglect, through our dependence with modern technology and through ignorance.

 

This natural night vision is developed to great advantage by nocturnal hunters. I am not a hunter but I prefer to use my eyes to work my way in the dark. That is a fact. I have led people on the trails many times and, by situations beyond my control, commit them to walk in the night. Of course, they used lights but I advance my natural sight to good use on myself.

Actually, hiking in the night is strictly prohibited if you jerk yourself hard to read Leave No Trace. That is true. Night has more of its hazards than day. There are only three instances where you could do night navigation in the mountains: (1) When you are caught up with dusk as you try to make it to the campsite or to a pre-defined destination; (2) You rouse early from sleep and start at early dawn; and (3) You are training in a controlled environment.

Night Navigation Training does not come often and when it does I make sure my people at Camp Red is given priority. Actually, NNT is a prescribed skill for bushcraft and survival. However, I am generous enough to welcome members from other outdoor clubs or anyone who is/are willing to learn upon my invitation or through referrals.

Fourteen participants arrive at Guadalupe in the late afternoon of Black Saturday – April 7, 2012. They are Justine, Faith, Bogs, Dominikus, Glenn, Eli, Paul, Edwina, Bette, Ivy, Jessie, Ernie, Boy and James. Seven of them are registered nurses and some are connected with the Philippine National Red Cross as volunteers. I give a short overview of NNT and final briefing.

We start from Napo, Sapangdaku at 6:00 PM. I advised the participants to use their torch when crossing streams and when in doubt of the ground where they are going to tread at. Always fix a certain celestial body as reference when the moon have not yet risen. By the way, the full moon is still a full day old and it may rise any moment.

Our pace is slow, deliberately done to control the brain from sending the wrong signals. We arrive at Lower Kahugan Spring at 7:00 PM and proceed to refill water bottles. Sooner, we will be at the place where we will prepare, cook and eat our dinner. Camp Red prefer to eat their meals fresh from the cooking fire.

By the time we leave the spring, at a rise along the trail, the moon shine its silver sheen. I could see better the path. I lead them to a steep switchback and, at exactly 8:00 PM, we reach the Roble homestead. There is nobody in the house and it is dark. I prepare anyway the ingredients for our meal and started cooking first the milled corn.

I chopped the taro leaf stems, eggplants, gumbos and green peppers while Ernie start to saute garlic and onions in edible oil in a big pot. Water is added and I drop all the chopped green things inside including horse radish leaves I plucked along the trail. Meanwhile, dried fish is cooked in oil by the rest of the guys. Canned tuna are, likewise, reheated.

The cooking took long due to strong headwinds brought about by moonrise that play on the stoves. Mists accumulate and become rain clouds and the night temperature begins to drop. The moon give its full shine on our stay at the Roble place and the participants take advantage of this by talking among themselves, exchanging notes and email ads.

We eat our supper an hour late. We were supposed to leave the place for Babag Ridge at 10:00 PM but it is now 11:00 PM. Nevertheless, NNT should proceed without haste. This day is my last day of fasting. I do this every Holy Week and I should have broke my fast at 6:00 PM but my commitment to teach NNT precedes over my gut.

We follow the East Ridge Pass and a soft shower begins to fall. Even in the middle of summer, this is normal during a full moon. The moon’s gravity carry the mists from the ocean and land, condenses when cooled by the turbulent air that is channeled by the Babag Mountain Range from the sea and accumulates into rain clouds.

The branches and leaves sag as I pass by, brought heavy by water. I could still see clearly the trail. The clouds covered the moon yet it is still bright enough for my eyes to see. Behind me, most of the participants use their headlamps. Their confidence begins to wilt under the pressure of rain and an inner fear of a misstep.

Sooner or later, their brains will play games on them unless I have to stop and reassure everyone that I am in charge of this whole thing. Rest is given to those who toil and everyone give their best to ignore pain, cold and that primeval fear of the dark. Safety in numbers negate that fear and those who paced faster wait for those who lagged.

I arrive at Babag Ridge at 12:30 midnight and everyone take a rest to recover their breath. The fogs are thick and it is around twenty degrees Celsius. Ahead is a store – although closed at this hour - and I may have to boil water for coffee there. Everyone needs something hot inside their tummies. Just a kilometer more and we could have that hot coffee.

After the coffee break, it is time to resume the last half of our journey. This time it is perilous because the path is slippery and it is all downhill. The moon is on the downswing of its orbit and it may disappear anytime behind the mountain range and the rain fell again at 1:30 AM. This time I encourage everyone to use their lights.

This trail to Kalunasan is seldom taken by me and I always have trouble remembering my last route there even during daylight. The night presents a bit of a problem for me this time so I arm myself with a meter-long bamboo stick. I sharpen the end so I could use it as a weapon and as an anchor to stabilize my downward pace.

The No-Santol-Tree Trail is a route that I have discovered three years ago based upon the description of a local about the presence of a santol tree (sp. Sandoticum koetjapi) that marks the trailhead. The moment I looked for that tree, it is nowhere to be found, and I got lost as well, walking in circles obviously wanting to satisfy my exploring spirit never knowing that I found a different path.

I equip the female participants with wooden staffs as an aid to walking and balance. I have limited control this time and this is the most difficult part of the activity and I have to use my small LED light as well. I start at a snail’s pace but I slip and I smack my butt hard on the trail. Vegetation is much thicker here but I am not worried because I have a torch.

The shadows play on my brain and I begin to doubt at myself. The route I followed seems unfamiliar but I persisted until I see a hint of a faintly-familiar bend in the trail that led me to a more common contour. I am the navigator and guide and I use my trailcraft skills to the max to offset the deceptive appearance.

I cross a low saddle that lead into another ridge and, this time, I know where I am going but the going is not easy as I have expected. The path have been obliterated almost by thick growth due to non-use by people and I hack the vegetation with my bamboo sword to part a way. This is a path that is so narrow and where the soil is very soft.

Meanwhile, the peaceful night is shattered by blasts of firecrackers in the distance. A religious activity signifying the Resurrection of Christ has just started. I wait for the slow walkers and give myself a break. The trail is very misleading and I would prefer that those behind me are very visible from those much much behind. I walk as if without purpose just killing time so that those from the tail end could catch up.

Satisfied with the pace, I cross several arroyos – dry waterways – where loose broken rocks and detritus accumulate in an unstable manner. I arrive at the first of the many tamarind trees found along this trail. Four months ago, an unusual bat pestered me here and I wait for its presence. The time is 4:00 AM.

I walk on and rested below another tamarind tree. A bat did appear but it is not the one and I scare its wits by whacking it with my stick almost hitting it save for its timely last-second maneuver. It never returned.

The rain have stopped but it had left a wet and slippery ground. The eastern sky showed traces of light. In a little while the sky will be much brighter and there will be sunrise in an hour or so. Birds in their nests greeted the dawn. The small valley reverberate from the sound of its great number.

The sun did come just in time when I reach a copse of tamarind trees. This is the hub of four trails going east, west, south and north. I rest and waited for the participants to arrive. One by one they came and welcomed the opportunity to sit again after many hours of walk. I ask everyone if they were alright and everyone smiled erasing the tiredness showing in their eyes. 

 

By 6:00 AM, we were already at Guadalupe sipping hot chocolate drink and pairing it with sticky rice. We have come and walked from the dark mountains of yesterday to greet Easter Sunday. Osiyo!!!

TIPS FOR NIGHT HIKING:

• Night is different than day, caution should be exercised.
• The walking stick is very useful in night navigation. Not only it could aid you in your balance and a counter to gravity, it could be used as a probing stick and a weapon.
• Check night sky fixtures as your reference. It will aid you in your general direction.
• When using your natural night vision, refrain from switching on your torch. The glare of unnatural light destroys your night vision. If it does, switch off the light and close your eyes for ten seconds and blink several times afterward to fine tune it back.
• Use your peripheral vision to great advantage. It is that part where you could detect movement and other objects which cannot be detected by a frontal sight.
• Use your light when crossing a stream or when you are in doubt of the part of the path before you.
• Do not play in to your brain. The brain receives signal from your eyes and tenses the muscles and release more adrenaline. Heart pumps more blood and would need more oxygene. You hasten your pace and you gasp for air and you become fatigued. Save your energy instead as you are not chasing someone in the dark.
• Walk very slow. Take your time.
• Walk during full moon or at least where the moon is not less than half.
• Wear visible clothing.
• Prepare a route card and leave it to your base support crew, a friend or to the authorities; and indicate the time when you will arrive or notify them.

Document done in LibreOffice 3.3

BUSHCRAFT BUHISAN VI: A High-Ground Trail

MY BUHISAN EXPLORATION is a work in progress. City people like me depended too much navigating by foot on rivers and dry ravines for want of more knowledge of its hidden trails among thick jungle. You must remember that Buhisan is a watershed area and a considerable part of Metro Cebu's drinking water supply is sourced from there. So, the chance of pissing around and leaving human waste within that place is a big possibility.

It is for that reason that I refuse to bring a big party of outdoors people even if they are well-acquainted with the principles of the Leave No Trace. You cannot stop body necessity especially when you are on the throes of stomach trouble. Get what I mean? (I have to accept these facts even if I am not a staunch advocate of LNT. But that is common sense, isn't so?)

But there is an exception: Take the high ground!

On March 27, 2011, I commenced another exploratory hike among its secretive trails. I am with two old tenderfoots. We start from Guadalupe by way of Bebut's Trail. We passed by “Heartbreak Ridge” and I see an improvement of its appearance. The ugly garbage dumpsite have been removed by the Solid Waste Disposal Unit of the Department of Public Services after Mayor Mike Rama acted on my January 9, 2011 hike photos uploaded in Facebook. However, some garbage are re-appearing.

Along the way, we met three Danes out on an early morning hike near the war-time tunnel vent. We exchanged pleasantries and they knew of the Danes that we brought on an eco-tour hike to the hidden waterfalls of Kahugan and on an island tour somewhere on the northern tip of Cebu. They went on their way to Guadalupe while we have a long way to go and it will take a whole day to finish our purpose.

We stopped by the Portal¹ to slurp coffee under a morning shower and went down afterwards a seldom-used route among thick jungle growth to Kilat Creek. We passed by the huge rock that split in two many years ago. I lead the way and the two followed. As trail master, it is my task to clear the route of blocking debris and vegetation so the next man behind me will not be inconvenienced; identify loose and slippery rocks; and to watch out for everyone's safety and that means looking out for lurking snakes.

Finally, after weeks of rain, Kilat Creek is running with clear water again. It is a fragile ecosystem and minute traces of life are appearing in and along the water route. As much as I like the now-living appearance of dry creek beds, I disdain to walk about it. For one, I hate being caught on low ground by people with rifles above me and, two, I don't want to spoil the ground with my passing. Even if you caution others to leave a small impact with their feet, city people are always careless and don't know the ways of the forest.

My eyes searched everything all around as I walk almost never missing a detail. Poisonous snakes and stingy plants are my priority and then there are gun-toting people to watch out to. You'll never know you might accidentally step into the crosshairs of their rifle sight the moment when they are on the verge of shooting a bird on the ground. It is very important then to look for traces of men like a footprint or a cigarette butt to awaken you that someone's been here before you.

Kilat Creek is now joined by a muddy creek that effuse brownish particles on the former and then another clear one up ahead where we used to spend lunch and siesta. The sound of water pervaded in my consciousness until a time when the creek took its destined path and vanished from my sight when I followed a trail into the catchment basin. For a half hour, I have missed that sound even when I arrive at a wide wash. I walk upriver enjoying the open spaces after being constricted by jungle growth.

By the shade of an old banyan tree, I saw water from up ahead stopping in its tracks on the sandy bed. I follow the water upstream and it is full. There were many deep pools and the river is gregarious. But I could not believe how this surging river kneel down at the mercy of a mere banyan tree!

We stop at a large pool among a jumble of granite rocks and prepared our lunch. We boil water for our seaweeds, cook milled corn, stir-fry a mixed-vegetable soup and sautee dried fish on a single camp stove in the process leaving us with just a pint of water each for drinking water and we don't know yet of how far we will travel.

A moment later, kids from Buhisan arrive to take a bath at the pool. They were bringing along green bananas, firewood and a large cauldron. One of the boys start a fire from a stone hearth and boil the banana while the rest cavort on the pool. Lying on the ground are, I counted, fifty-six pieces of empty shells of edible tree snail which have been feasted on by people a day or two ago. A hunter with a scoped rifle passed by looking for his nephews. Passing by from the other direction were two men and five little boys carrying firewood balanced atop their heads.

We shared our meal to the bathing kids and we all eat lunch together vigorously. All the food were wiped out clean from the pots. Siesta time came and I recline on a huge rock as another party of much-older boys arrived. They were the hunter's nephews and they were already here since yesterday. So that answers the empty shells.

They spend weekends hunting fruit bats, wild roosters, tree snails, river crabs, pythons, monitor lizards and palm civets. They don't bring gears except old flashlights and a rifle. They source drinking water from a burrowed river bed steeping the water until it is clear and cook food with firewood and banana leaf. They are a different breed of bushcrafters and they are damn good and they are kindred.

Leaving the pool to the newcomers, we walk further upstream until we reach a confluence of two rivers. Which way to go? I gamble instead on the trail found in the middle aided by my compass which point north. I observed the route superb; forested with huge trees although we get ourselves entangled by pesky rattan palms. The path led to a high waterfall and we enjoy this rare moment in Buhisan standing on the granite headrock under which the water cascade down into ripples that contain a deep pool. From there, we follow the river until it found another branch and I choose to travel on the tamer of the two. Ten meters up ahead, a rooster flew from river bed to tree bursting in a flurry of wing beats and floating feathers.

More upstream walk made one guy tired and thirsty although water could be had by the mere picking. All the while I climb the steep riverbanks from time to time to observe of any traces of people activity. If there is or was, there surely would be a trail. For a good two kilometers there were none! Reaching another waterfall, I took time to take a picture but my Sony DSC-W220 camera slipped from my hand and fell into the river. Instantly, I jumped into water and retrieved my camera and removed right away the battery so it won't get shorted. For a long time, I have kept my shoes dry but, this time, I have to sacrifice comfort to save an electronic equipment.

Having enough of river trekking, I espied a rare grove of bamboo. Bamboo meant people. Bamboo provide housing materials or livelihood for people living nearby. True to my instinct, a trail is found, at last. (Good judgment!) It lead to higher ground and into a junction of clear paths that go west, north and east. I chose the east trail so I could cut distance between us and Guadalupe. From afar I could hear several wild roosters crowing.

The route goes down and up and joined another trail until it went down into a river and cross it and up again into a ridge then down again into another creek. The water here is so clear and so serene. From one end up to my farthest vision, water cascade down into a zigzag pattern on the rock and on another it dropped into a sheer precipice.

All the while I was looking for the remainder of the trail but it ended abruptly on the creek and that left me puzzled. Somehow I get to find a slight trace of a path above the waterfall only to find it gone fifty meters ahead and I'm not going back and take a chance to pass by that narrow path above the waterfall. It is SO scary!

Now I am left in a quandary of how to bring a partially invalid man up a safe refuge of a sparse copse of teak trees located a hundred meters above us. He is a stroke survivor and his movement is hampered by his left hand which could hold but difficult to unlock and a left foot that cause him clumsy spills. Above is loose loamy soil and below us is the precipice. We have a rope but, in between that copse and us, there is nothing to anchor at.

I change places with the lethargic guy instead and push his butt up, at the same time I have to keep myself from sliding down. The old guy broke a lot of small tree saplings caused by his vise grip-like left hand which could have been enough to give balance to me and the other guy.

Once, we reach the first sturdy tree, I waited for the healthier of the two to accompany the weaker one before I proceed on my own to tackle another tree and another, using each tree as a spring board to cut the gap from the other. I reach the top of the hill and take a rest sitting on a felled tree. I shared the last ounce of my water to the weak guy before proceeding to follow the ridgeline where I find a trail that brought me to the top of a much higher hill. At the peak I get to see the man-made forest of Baksan, of Mount Lanipao and of Starbucks Hill.

After a kilometer of following the teak-lined trail I found myself again on the ridgeline where Freedom Trail is found. I waited for both guys before deciding to go down one more time, this time, into a rough road. Followed the road down I found a small hut that sell cold soda drinks. I opted for a 750-ml bottle and drank half of it leaving the other half to my companions. Proceeding on, we reached the spillway of Sapangdaku River and walked the paved road back to Guadalupe. From Guadalupe we proceed to “Camp Red” and concluded our exploration with a post-activity discussion and rehydrate with one-liter bottles of strong beer where Jerome Tan joined later.

CONCLUSION:

THE DISCOVERY OF TRAILS on a high ground in the Buhisan Watershed Area is the best alternative to the usual walk of taking the streams as a primary route for weekend outdoors activity. This discovery of this hidden trail also opens up the possibility of bringing in of a larger party of people to the fabled forest, that is known by its older name as Lensa. On this premise, the trails that I have documented and those that I will soon establish here shall be now known as Lensa Trail.

Tribu Dumagsa have tasked me to lead them on a training climb before they embark on a difficult route to Mount Pulag come April 20, 2011. Lensa Trail would complement well with Freedom Trail and it is by these routes that I will bring Tribu Dumagsa climbers to develop their endurance and teach them traditional land navigation through thick jungle and river. Freedom Trail will start from Tisa and will pass by Kilat Spring then on to the fringes of Buhisan and Baksan. From there, a little part of Lensa Trail will be the final route where the participants will go.

Document done in OpenOffice 3.3 Writer

1A crossroads of seven trails. Locals call this as “ang puertahan”, which meant as the portal, the gate or the door in English.