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

THE BOND OF THE FIRST BORN

THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAVEL on a weekend to Bohol is such a good thing. The Bohol that is in my mind is a Bohol that I once knew which, surprisingly, still had retained its rustic beauty. But this time, its special significance on my boyhood memory had evolved into something of a different dimension. My bond with the island is not ordinary. It goes beyond comprehension.

I am overwhelmed of my thoughts as I lay on a cot of the small boat going to the Port of Talibon on a warm night at sea. I feel a sheer longing, bordering on the sentimental, which caused a few tears welling in my eyes. I was not born in Bohol. My mother was but it was in the middle of a harsh war where my grandfather was forced to hide from the Japanese. I only spent a small part of my childhood there with my grandpa on our visits in the late '60s and the early '70s.

I am with my eldest son, Charlemagne, and his sister, Laila. Going with them are their officemates Ariel and Edah. We arrive at the Port of Talibon on the early morning of November 14, 2015 and proceed on to the next town of Trinidad. Seeing the verdant hills and the ricefields during travel, I am suddenly enveloped in nostalgia, expectant of meeting someone whom I have not met before but someone who is closely related to me.

This same someone will notice this same scenery that I am seeing today and this is his home. Today, I will meet my first grandson and, for the first time in my life, I am entitled to the role of a real grandfather. Today is his christening under the rites of the Roman Catholic Church and my feelings are ambivalent which I am not open to expressing. Meeting us at the door cradled in his mother's arms is a handsome baby boy, eyes half-closed, but awake. He has the striking looks of his father.

Once my grandson is in my hands I raised him up above me. I gave thanks to the Creator and the offering of my grandson to the heavens is a gesture of my gratitude to the Giver of Life. I felt in my subconscious that my late grandfather have once done this same thing to me, in the full daylight of his life, which I am also relishing today, and which his grandfather before him might have addressed his Creator.

I cannot explain this bond in explicit details except that it is a rite that is reserved to the circle of the grandfather and his grandchild. It has no scientific significance but it is spiritual in nature borne out of the complexities of a forgotten culture which an outsider could not relate to. Not even the father of the child has this same privilege. My spirit is in its joyful mood and I can feel its aura reaching out to the infant boy raised in the air.

For the moment, it is enough that the little boy know of my voice, my odor, the beat of my heart and the rough texture of my hands. Later on, when he is strong enough, he will know the songs and the lore of his forefathers which will come to him as if in a dream. We will have time together, just as my late grandfather had spent precious time for me. It will come in God's own time.

As the night starts to mellow down the day's heat, me and the rest who came in the morning will have to depart for Cebu. With a heavy heart, which my son also felt, I have to part with my dear grandson. It is just a temporary void. In time, we will be seeing more of each other again. December would be a good time.

Oh, ha le…Oh, ha le!

Awbizhaye

Shichl hadahiyago niniya

Oh, ha le…Oh, ha le

Tsago degi naleya

Ah-yu whi ye!

Oh, ha le…Oh, ha, le!

Oh, ha le…Oh, ha, le!

Through the air…I fly upon the air

Towards the sky, far, far, far.

Oh, ha le…Oh, ha, le!

There to find the holy place,

Ah, now the change comes over me!

Oh ha le…Oh, ha le!

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

THE RONIN'S WAY (A Warrior's Pilgrimage)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! As we all know, a new year brings forth another new year's resolution. A change from the usual things we do in the past. An improvement for ourselves. For some, they refine themselves to keep them in stead to the demands of their job, their business and their relations. For those approaching middle age, re-inventing themselves to suck in fresher air or munching greener grass. For me, it is another landscape.

Starting today, January 1, 2016, I am jobless. I will be riding again on the waves of uncertainty. A situation that does not offer me a promising future. But, I will not be seeing unsmiling faces anymore that you always find in board meetings which makes your stomach curl with sickness. Also, I will be free from conventional timekeeping designed for a corporate world that leaves people married to their work in behalf of their masters, even to the ends of the earth, and losing their souls in the process. I am now free to do as I like with my free time. I am FREE!

This feeling is so liberating. To make this more significant, I am using a different font for this article called Liberation Sans. I am now master of my own fate. I do not know how long will this take but I am quite sure that it would take more than the best of me to breathe above water. I will not beg, of course. I am too proud for that. Instead, I would engage on my livelihood through what I do best: teaching people good old common sense and leading them to that place called “freedom of the hills”.

The lure of the outdoors had always beckoned me ever since the time after my grandfather had brought me to the woods at a tender age to learn the crafts that, someday, I would teach others. These skills had lain idle for sometime until I found it again useful. It had not been used extensively in the past as it did during the last seven years. As always, this passion ran in conflict with my day job. I was a security professional until yesterday.

I am on my own now. I will begin life as a contractor. A freelancer. A masterless ronin. I sell my services to anybody or to any entity at a price. It is better that way than being at the end of a leash where somebody else controls how I spend my time. I repeat, I will be master of my own time. I have no regrets about severing myself from my employer. With all due respect, my former employer had given me the means to feed me and my family for eight years before we decide that it is time to move from each other.

It is hard and I know what it means to scrape the hard end of a barrel. Been there before. God willing, windows of opportunity would be opened for me again. I just hope and pray that it will! It had been knocking on me for sometime but I had not been courageous enough to let go of a conventional way of earning a living as a mere employee. Until today! I think, it is now ripe for the taking. I hope I am not wrong this time.

I have always entertained the thought of roaming the land unimpeded and living off it for days or weeks or even months. This idea is now realistic to me since I am in a situation where I have complete control of my time. It may sound absurd if you think that modern living have removed all vestige of wilderness that the hills have afforded to people a hundred years back. Think again. I have been privileged to see it all during my outdoor sorties even at limited opportunities back then.

In the far shallows of my life, right after midstream, I change careers once more. I will be explorer, bushcraft teacher and writer all rolled into one. I will pursue my livelihood in an unconventional manner with the shape and terrain of Cebu as my arena of opportunity. This masterless ronin has now the time and his sole attention to lead you on a journey to a world that he had already created for you. I am in the best of my health and possess the faculties and confidence to bring people to this environment called adventure.

What I can offer you is the learning of real-world skills, personally from me, at close quarters, while in the pursuit of a part of the Cebu Highlands Trail as a “grasshopper”. It is a quest that nearly equates with old-time frontier travel – a warrior's pilgrimage – at almost the whole length of its southern route, and terminating in Cebu City. Twelve days of walking close to 150 kilometers at your own pace and eleven nights of sleeping under the stars. You will earn a special patch and a certificate of training.

Along the way, you will learn a lot of things that you do not learn in a controlled environment. It is bushcraft at its best, learned as it should be learned, in a journey with a teacher. You will engage in survival hiking on a route that does not offer a “sea of clouds” and mild weather. You will yearn water and the first shade you would find along the route under the brunt of a tenacious sun at its highest orbit. The southern half of the Cebu Highlands Trail is already a great challenge but your greatest will be against yourself.

This is a radical approach of learning that veers away from the usual. You add a long hike of many days and it becomes an adventure worth telling. Twelve days of quality time from the only person who has the capacity to do this on foot in an environment where you have almost no total control of. Frankly speaking, this has no parallel elsewhere and I am sure you will have great tales to tell after you have reached the trailend of your journey. If you only have the time and the daring.

With a lot of time in my hands, I could also finish the rest of the Cebu Highlands Trail this year at the earliest time possible. There is still Segment VI and Segment VII to the north and Segment VIII to the south. I am hoping to open this 260+ kilometers route in 2017. Maybe, much earlier. Once completed, you could walk through the island of Cebu from north to south or reverse at its most rugged mountains found in the middle in 15 to 30 days. Since its blueprint is still in my head, this is exclusive to just me and those that are chosen to walk with me.

The Cebu Highlands Trail thru-hike, which I would soon change name anyway, is a different adventure from the “grasshopper” walk. This is just a longer trek from the first and more of fulfilling the physical aspect of the hiker. For this, you will also receive a certificate of completion and a special patch if you complete the whole route. For those engaging in segment hikes, you would receive a certificate.

I have now time for everything. I will still be doing the rounds of teaching all interested individuals – from emergency responders to outdoorsmen – about bushcraft and wilderness survival in standard 3-day campouts to 10-day advanced cross-country courses. I can also do a tour of public lectures and motivational talks to the corporate world, the professionals and others about prepping, urban survival techniques, my explorations and articles I authored. I can also serve as guide for people who do trips in the mountains and the backcountry.

Lastly, I will be focusing on my other passion: Writing. Adventurers who write are a rare breed and I thank God I am both. Yes, I will still be maintaining this blog. It is a good blog for its niche and it is without a local peer. However, writing good non-fiction books and adventure novels will be my thrust once I settled on a good spot with a desk, a PC, a good landscape and a good wine. I am almost finished with my first book – ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. Once I am done with the graphic illustrations, I will look for a publisher.

There are no financial rewards for an explorer. He might snare accolade and renown but he will live in poverty unless he has sponsorship backings by big names from different industries, where he might gain something through speaking engagements. On the other hand, sales from books you authored does not ensure you a decent source of living. You only get so little with the big percentage shared by the publisher and your agent unless you are a regular bestseller, which is still unheard of for a Filipino.

Surprisingly, as a teacher of bushcraft and survival, I can turn the wheel around for as long as I want but there are others following in my wake who would also want to share in the fruits of what I pioneered. It is a free country and anybody could do his own business but it would be to the discernment and judgment of the student or the client to choose from whom to give them quality learning. I have taught many and only a few became rare jewels. I give my blessings of those who asked and none for those who did not.

I will be experiencing the real world in the coming days soon and it will be a long journey ahead. Very long. Forecast is somewhat gloomy. Chances are 51%. Just a slight edge for me. However, I would not want it in any other way. But I am hoping my independence from the conventional would elicit sponsorships from the very world that I am trying to shy away from. It is a strange world indeed.

Photo courtesy of Justin Apurado

Patch concept designs by Mark Lepon

Document done in LibreOffice 4.3 Writer

A JOURNEY OF THE SOUL

IT IS 16:50 OF APRIL 17, 2014 – a Holy Thursday – when I start my solo walk to Mount Manunggal.  The van dropped me at the Transcentral Highway which I rode at the Citilink more than an hour ago.  I go on a half-day of work for this occasion so I could engage on my personal sojourn of righting my soul before my Maker and this year’s Lent is the most profound time for this.

Mt. Manunggal will just be a place where I will spend the first night and the jumpoff point where this penitence hike will start.  From there, I would walk on trails and some roads, cross rivers and valleys, climb mountains and saddles, and rest wherever my feet would take me.  I would follow the route I blazed with five others more than a year ago ending at Guadalupe on the third night.  Maybe.

That time we were many and I was fully provisioned.  This time, I am alone.  I would be fasting during daytime and will try to overcome the obstacles with less.  I would eat my food during darkness, cooked in primitive fashion without the convenience of a modern gadget like a stove.  I have to ration my two liters of water from two bottles for drinking and cooking only and the pots would be cleaned when there would be spare water.

As I walk on the dirt road to my first campsite of the first night, I silently utter a prayer for blessings, strength, protection and guidance for this journey of the soul.  Hanging by my side openly is my Chipaway Cutlery Bowie knife.  The shadows are getting long and soon it would be darkness.  There is a slight drizzle and it is cold.  I pick up a green bamboo pole and carry it with either hands.  It is 18:20 when I reach the place called the “parking area”. 

There is an unused structure undergoing a painting job.  While it is closed, its frontage is sheltered and a better alternative than camping near the Magsaysay Monument under the grip of gusty winds and a slight shower.  Here, I could sleep off the ground using the scaffolding and platforms made by workers as my cot and there are scraps of partly-moist coconut lumber that I could use as firewood.  Comfort with less can be achieved by using your common sense instead of being hooked closely with gears and then feeling sentimental about it. 

While I am occupied with my things, I feel something eerie as the hair on my back stood on its edge.  I look behind and I see a big black dog standing a few meters away from me.  I do not like surprises at this hour.  I imitate the menacing growl of an angry dog and the creature walked away.  I cannot explain how it suddenly appeared without being noticed by my five senses.  It took a “sixth sense” to do that for me.  How strange?

I make a tripod of sticks and forage firewood, splitting this with my tomahawk.  When, after a considerable bout of blowing a flame to life on moist wood, I cook milled corn in a pot suspended from the tripod.  Leaving that I prepare the viand.  I fry garlic and onions in oil and add a few wood mushrooms (Local name: kwakdok).  I pour half of my supply of mixed vegetables into the pot and stir it.  I pour water and let it boil then I just add salt.

I begin my simple dinner after a prayer.  I just eat half of the one-fourth kilo of the milled corn I cooked tonight.  I set aside the rest for breakfast tomorrow.  The sliced vegetables are crunchy and I liked that.  The soup gives warmth inside me.  It is raining lightly and it is very dark save for the glow of my LED torch.  Soon I will rest on the bed I made but, first, I will pray the five decades of the rosary. 

I split more wood after the prayers so I could use it for tomorrow’s breakfast and feed some to the fire for the rest of the night.  Fog enveloped me and it is cold.  I retreat to my bed.  I tossed and turned trying to chase sleep.  I hear a lot of strange noises.  There are, I believe, a lot of lost souls here on Mt. Manunggal.  For the rest of the night, I am on a “conscious sleep” until a man on a motorcycle pass by at 05:20 of the next day.

I hurriedly rekindle the flame of last night with so much difficulty until I get a flickering finger.  I boil water for coffee and then fry strips of eggplant smeared with egg.  I am not able to cook three-fourths of the sliced eggplant as the flame died on its own despite a considerable amount of time blowing it alive.  I leave it be, eat my light breakfast, break camp and leave at 06:50 for Inalad.  It is now Good Friday (April 18).

I pass by the Magsaysay Monument where the park caretaker, Leopoldo Bonghanoy, and his family lived.  I proceed immediately to a trail after acquiring water but I was warned that vegetation had claimed the path.  The heavy clouds of last night begins to evaporate and a promise of warmth begins to trickle in as my hike shoes pursues to negotiate some of the trickiest stretch of the trail going down to the valley of the Bangbang River.

The Bonghanoys have used part of this land where I traversed as a farm and pasture but, beyond it, thick vegetation obscures the trail.  It passes by woodlands, grass and brush and steep soft ground.  Nobody had used this route for a long time.  I should know because the feast commemorating the death anniversary of the late President Ramon Magsaysay was held just last month and there are no traces of footprints where there are supposed to be.

I forage Indian rhododendron leaves (Local: yagumyum) for cleaning the pots to save my supply of water and cut a forked branch from a Mexican lilac tree (Local: kakawate) as my staff.  The stick is most welcome, aiding my balance and getting the load off my ancient knees.  While I pass by thick grass, something big moved underneath and I jumped off the trail.  It is a rather large python and it got me excited!  I move away as fast as I could.  No hero stuff.  No pictures this time.

Winded, I continue on but my senses now are on a high notch and so is my pace.  The staff becomes a liability when the trail narrowed and it saps my strength carrying it.  It is seven feet long, the forked end snag on vegetation.  It can play its part though as my “cross”.  I step on a wet limestone and I fall on my butt.  Got to be careful next time.  Then I walk on another steep but soft ground and the stick becomes relevant again.

I cross several brooks until I reach the edge of a mountain settlement.  When you are among people again, paths crisscross each other and it temporarily disorient you for a while like I do until I get to follow the ones I remembered.  There are no more clouds and it is very warm.  The coolness of the higher elevation on an early morning was temporary and now this is reality.

When my right foot got buried in soft mud while crossing a brook, I used a lot of strength to get it off.  When I pulled it out, I staggered exhausted.  I rest for a while sitting on a rock contemplating if this personal mission is really worth it.  I am tempted to drink a good amount of water but I stop myself of that idea.  I soak my military-type meshed shawl with water from the brook and wipe my face with it.  Wow, the water is cool!

The blue house, now long abandoned, is a landmark and that is where I am going.  I will not be going downhill but up.  With enough courage, I push myself up on my feet knowing that I am now engaging in a very difficult battle against my mind.  I should be able to reach Inalad before 12:00 else a delay would mean that I am not up to the challenge.

This is so different than the last time.  My pace is a drag instead of a steady gait.  My bag weighs like lead as I approach the upward trail.  Is it pride that pushes me on?  Bravado?  Pride may have something to do with it especially when you announce this journey in public on Facebook.  But when you are a man you stand by what you said.  I am committed to finish this, unless a voice upstairs says otherwise.  So commitment is the right word.

I finally reach the blue house.  Why the owners abandon this big structure is beyond me?  Anyway, I could rest for a while here.  It is now 09:20 and I need to recoup my energy.  I feel a burning hunger inside me.  I cannot spare anything to chew on but I have coffee.  Immediately I make fire using dry pieces of bamboo and crushed dry palm leaves so I could boil water in my stainless steel cup the hard way.

After I had taken coffee, my confidence returned.  I stash pieces of the dried bamboo and dried leaves in a plastic bag so I could use this as fire kindling later tonight.  It had been raining days before, which is quite rare during this season, and I am not sure if I could find dry wood just like last night’s.  I drink a good amount of water too because at Inalad, I could have more of this.

I go down the steep trail following it into a valley.  The Bangbang River curl and cut across the land and it gives life to the farms.  By now, there are houses and one of these sells bread.  I buy one piece of bread and nibble it slowly while washing each swallow with water.  It is a hot day and sitting under a scant shade is already very welcome for me.  Before I go, I buy one more piece intending to consume it at Inalad.   

I cross Bangbang River on bare feet.  The staff had served its purpose well and I planted it on the river bank.  From hereon, it will all be uphill walk.  The sun will be at my back.  That piece of bread I had eaten some minutes ago will be my only hope.  I cross a small stream and pass by farms.  Shades are now few.  I closed my mind from the heat and the monotony of breathing takes over my attention.   

Slowly, in my laboured steps up a trail, I gain elevation and diminish the distance between me and Inalad.  At 11:50, I reach the saddle of Inalad.  This is the boundary between Cebu City, Toledo City and Balamban.  The Transcentral Highway pass by here and it is also a farmer’s market.  A lot of stores are open for business.  Cold soda drinks and hot food are available but I want none of it even though my body craved for it. 

I sit down on a cool place and close my eyes.  People ask me many questions.  I honestly answer all.  When I am alone, I close my eyes again.  I make the sign of the cross and pray.  Three hours from now, Jesus will be crucified.  Before He will leave this world, I confess all my sins to Him like the thief at Calvary who asked of forgiveness.  I am a great sinner myself and I spill tears while I am in the middle of my prayer.

I feel His presence and I tremble in awe.  I have discerned that this is the highlight of this personal quest and I am “released” of whatever troubles I may want to seek for myself on this journey.  After I had said the prayer and opened my eyes, I prepare myself for the rest of this day’s trek by securing water for my empty bottles. 

I see a coffee-vending machine across the street and I put a coin into the slot and take the filled cup.  I will need coffee to pair to the bread I bought at Bangbang River hours ago.  After that coffee break, I close my eyes and take rest for a half hour.  By 13:00, I cross the Transcentral Highway into a part of Toledo City. 

I follow a dirt road under the heat of the sun.  The shawl partly cover my face but I remove it everytime I meet people to give a smile, to nod or say a greeting.  I am going to the village of Tongkay.  This place is nestled in another valley with a river running across it.  There are some houses along the road and foot travel is sparse at this time of day.

It is 13:35 when I reach the village and I sit on the shade of a small store listening to a radio program about the Seven Last Words of Christ.  I am all ears to a long oratory describing the part where Jesus was heard to have said “I am thirsty”.  After 20 minutes, I walk to a public school where there is a ford at the back.  I cross the river stepping among stones and climb up a long ridge.  The trail is in good condition, very shady on some long stretches.

But I am already very tired.  The steep slope add to my misery.  I can feel a tell-tale sign of a heartburn and that is a bad omen.  I take it easy, careful not to push myself hard.  I will rest and pitch my shelter once I will reach my campsite.  I found it at exactly 15:00 after a long uphill struggle.  I relish at the idea of finding this place during Segment 1B of the Cebu Highlands Trail Project in October 2012. 

It is the only level ground around here that could accommodate more than five tents.  It is shady with lots of dry wood.  I opt to pitch my shelter at the place where I place it the last time I was here but, first, I will have to make a tripod, forage dry firewood, make fire and drink coffee.  Ah, coffee always tastes good when you are thirsty, cold or tired, even on a very warm sunny day!    

When my fire and coffee are now secured, I make my bedding.  I place leaves on the ground as a cushion.  Then I look for a straight pole and place it on the whole length of my planned shelter.  You know why I do this?  I will make it sure that I will not roll over.  I will also make sure that my body will be confined to just one place and save my body heat in the process.  Then I place a used advertisement tarpaulin over it as my shelter footprint.

I tie one end of a flat rope to a tree while tying the other end to two trees in a Y-fashion.  This becomes the ridge for my Apexus taffeta sheet in which the corners are secured by notched wooden stakes that I carved with my William Rodgers bushcraft knife.  When that is done, I make a seat made of cut poles across the fire and burying stakes so it would not roll forward and backwards.  

I cook a small amount of milled corn then next is the viand, which is similar in preparation as that of last night.  I have a lot of daylight hours to do all these things and I feel relaxed doing all.  I listen and watch many birds.  There is an abundance of bird life here.  One wild hen even made its presence felt by calling for a mate which two roosters answered from afar. 

I waited for dusk before I start my simple dinner.  After the meal, I wipe the rhododendron leaves on the insides of the pots to remove grease.  I prepare more firewood to keep the flame burning and ward off mosquitoes, ants and other insects.  I retrieve the rosary and pray the five decades aloud.  I watch the valley below even as I prayed and the folks there are having some sort of a religious activity.

I check my watch when I lay down on my bed.  It is 18:30 and too early to sleep.  The place is warm.  Credit that to the thermals that rise from the valley floor during evening.  I did not know that I slept well until I am awakened by gusts of wind at 23:30.  Well, that is good.  I switch on my light and I see a spider under the shelter some inches away from my face.  I remove it with a quick flick of my hand.

I listen to the night sounds but I feel nothing unusual here.  Not even mosquitoes.  I go back to another “conscious sleep” for the rest of the night.  When light begins to catch on the dawn sky, I rose from bed to answer the call of nature.  Today is Black Saturday (April 19).  It had not rained last night despite the presence of storm clouds from the southwest yesterday.

The call of a palm civet pierce the early morning silence.  The cat is just a hundred meters above my location.  It is very vulnerable at this hour since it had spent its waking hours during nighttime foraging food but I am not on a hunt today.  Probably, it had been attracted to the scent of my last nights’ cooking and of the leaves I wiped in my pottery with.

I begin again the process of making a fire and of preparing my breakfast.  When the flame flickered and danced, I boil water for coffee first.  Next I cook milled corn and, later, fry strips of eggplant in oil.  The same routines, very simple, practical and nourishing.  When I have finished breakfast, I break camp.

I leave the tripod standing.  It is my gift for any local who might visit this place.  Not the contraption, but the idea.  This system is way much better than the trio of stones that we are used to doing when we cook our food.  I let the leaves be on the ground, for soon, these will decompose.  I put out the fire thoroughly before I leave at 07:00 for higher ground.

I pray and ask again His guidance of whether He would want me to continue on my journey to Guadalupe or not?  It needs to be felt and discerned not by sitting but by doing the hike later.  If I think that it is pointless going on, I will cut the journey.  If the body is still willing, then I will push on.  It depends.   

I follow the path but I was misled by another one going up a farm.  I step on the rows of soft burrowed earth using it as steps but the effort is very strenuous.  I changed strategy and assault the steep slope in a zigzag pattern until I am at the high saddle of the mountain.  Oh God, when will this end?  I gulp mouthfuls of air into my lungs as I lean down forward and drink my last drops of water.

Across me is the peak of Mt. Tongkay.  I follow the back of the ridge and climb the peak and go down on the other side into another long ridge going to Mount Etwi.  Below this second peak is a spring where I could refill my now-empty bottles.  I drink like a dog and soak my shawl and press it above my head.  Driblets of water run down my face and it is so cool.

Soon, I will be at Maraag.  I follow the path and meet people and creature.  The long ridge of Cantipla covered the sun at this time while I am walking.  My steps are unsure, my knees wobbly, my gaze unsteady.  Just when I reach the last rise, something switched off.  I pause to gather my strength.  This is not good but there is a road ahead.  And a store that sells cold drinks.

I opt to buy a sachet of powdered orange juice and let it shake in my full Nalgene.  One bread is enough for me.  The juice quickly work on my thirst where water failed but it will just be temporary.  It could not provide a solution to a deprived body should I choose to cross the much wider Bonbon River valley and then climb up the Babag Mountain Range into Guadalupe.  It simply is not realistic on this very warm morning as I calculate all the risks and possibilities.

The road north leads to the Transcentral Highway and I may have to follow it.  It is far but I had already accomplished my purpose and this is a graceful exit.  A ride down to Cebu City is all I need.   I arrive at JY Square at 10:30 and a woman asks me five pesos so she could go home to Mindanao.  I am puzzled but, nevertheless, I gave her the equal amount in loose change. 

I got His message.  The coins’ weight were of the same weight that my spirit – a weightless matter – had been carrying all these years and I had just relinquished it happily away.  Alleluia!

Document done in LibreOffice 3.3 Writer

PARTING TIME & REINVENTING

THERE COMES A TIME when the heart seeks its sweet spot in a very imperfect world. It finds its solitude and happiness where lines and edges are obscured by a heartbeat semblance of independence that have had itself been restrained by the time values of modern living. Time flies fast but the self seeks the unconventional and the roads less paced.

This heart seeks the life of old. The excitement of a chase during a hunt might very well describe this feeling. It could also be the sensory discovery of new places, faces, scents, sounds and warmth that a little boy experiences on his deviation from the routine. We know that the sense of adventure are beginning to wane nowadays and much of it are literature (and hype) as the world becomes too small for our kind.

Haphazard travels atop buses and cargo trucks early in my youth, running away from home, translates my idea of adventure which progress later by sailing into remote islands and strange harbors as a tug crew. Sweating among the lower ranges of the Sierra Madre as a grunt provided me the peep hole of what am I to assume in my weekend pursuits later. I take that chance when the Cebu Mountaineering Society (CeMS) planned a trip to Mount Pangasugan in 1992.

We failed to attain our objective, yet we rejoiced. We survived the jungles of Pangasugan and we lived to climb another day. We had overcame the difficulties and I was thrust into the middle of the club’s euphoria and became part of it. That was a very beautiful time worth remembering. Beautiful friendships blossomed thereafter and drinking sessions mattered well into the early mornings months and months after that.

I got myself attached to the circle of Bebut Estillore, Patrick Young, Tony Cabigon, Dennis Legaspi, Lilibeth Initan, Ann Gonzales, Rosebelle Daculan, Atong Genato, Ben Lao, Alex Manlawe and Nanding Mercado. The elders at that time like the late Joe Avellanosa, Dr. Abraham Manlawe and Judge Menmen Paredes pampered me and I blossomed into one of the most able and experienced climbers of CeMS.

Many mountains, many campsite stories, many trails and many came and went and laid low. My time with CeMS had become rare after Mount Apo in 1994 as I embark to put more time on my career. This lasted more than a decade with few interruptions made possible by Joe, Judge and Doc that saw me traversing the Malindang Range in 1998 and 2004 and the Cuernos de Negros Range in 2001. When the warrior’s pilgrimage ended in 2007 I found myself back with CeMS.

The year 2008 found me holding the reins for CeMS and I was swept in a number of activities like the fabrication and installation of steel environmental signage at Mt. Manunggal in March; the specialized mountaineering seminar at Olango Island in May; and the epic traverse of Mt. Dulangdulang and Mt. Kitanglad in three days of June which I led. The last activity had been successful in the sense that I am with two other veterans of Mt. Pangasugan and we nipped in the bud when things start to go awry.

My time among the high ridges and trails had been numbered after I based my performance of that traverse climb with outdated gears and heavy loads. Although light backpacking had become a vogue among the present CeMS members, I was not about to give up my hardy Habagat Venado II – a hardware that typified the old-school kind that tracked the mountain trails of the ‘80s up to the mid ‘90s. Change is good but not at that time. I abhorred the new gears in the market for its unmanly appearance, complex design and for its atrocious price tags.

One of the last things that I would not dare let go is my freedom of unimpeded movement. To go anywhere I chose to and to do anything I chose to do. To walk my own trail and set up my own camp of my own choosing and own time without being dictated to and that includes making a campfire. In the early days, these had been possible but, when I made a comeback, there were now a lot of rules, obviously, influenced by this Leave No Trace.

Almost all local outdoor clubs abide – to the letter - the principles of LNT, an ideology formulated by environmentalists of the dominant Western culture that throws a monkey wrench on individual freedom. The spirit behind LNT is good and should be taught but imposing these as a rule is counter-productive. My freedom of unimpeded movement and plain common sense takes precedence over useless practices and I have to improvise to enjoy the outdoors better.

I yearned for that freedom and it has to be earned even to the point of distancing yourself from some relations that you have known so well for sometime. This is not easy but last July 29, 2012, I finally tendered my resignation with the Cebu Mountaineering Society thru my close friend and mentor, Doc Abe. I believe that CeMS could move much better without me and relieve them of certain questions caused by my inactive status for a long time.

The values and history of my association with CeMS are embedded well in my heart as well as the treasured memories and friendships that I have nurtured through the years. I have only the kindest words for CeMS and I have written several articles of their activities in my websites. My separation from CeMS will never ever hinder me to share the trails and campsites with them anytime and I will still support their programs and activities should they find me relevant.

I have walked my own path and made it different from all the rest and so the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild is hatched but I preferred that the loose and relaxed atmosphere that CeMS had enjoyed in its early days be relished by my present stripe of tigers. Emphasis will be more of adaptation and not depend on gears; the full enjoyment of the freedom of unimpeded movement and discretion are guaranteed; and to never tailor-fit itself with this LNT.

The chase is on and the juice of excitement flashed from the eyes of the hunter as it is gaining ground on the prey. Running against the wind, the path is jagged and steep but I am almost onto that place where few mortals go. When you are there, expect sheep to snarl like a wolf at you...

...then go for the jugular!

Document done in LibreOffice 3.3 Writer