MAN-SIZED HIKE XVI: Mantalongon to Boljoon

AFTER FINISHING SEGMENT III of the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT last February 21, 2015, I decide to prioritize Segment V over Segment IV. Segment IV may have been scheduled first for October 2015 over the other but it is long, difficult, demanding of strength, skills, patience and time. It flows north from Mount Manunggal to Taguini, Carmen and would pass by places where many years ago were considered dangerous for mainstream outdoor activities.

On the other hand, Segment V, which I had first scheduled in the first quarter of 2016, is the shortest and the easiest and would be fine if I do it ahead of Segment IV instead. It requires no special considerations and I do not mind of the short space of time for its preparation after I had set the schedule for May 1, 2 and 3, this year. This route would link with Segment III and was to terminate originally at Nug-as, Alcoy but I lengthened it to Upper Beceril, Boljoon instead.

I pressured myself to end the exploration phase of this ambitious project in 2016 and make the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL available to the public by 2017. I have done this almost singlehandedly and I am determined to finish this to the end even if I am left with rags to wear. What you do not know is that I will leave a legacy of dots in a box – a template – so others who will follow after me would refine the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL as a first-class long trail that would attract international backpackers and encourage local ones to enjoy their own mountains.

Today, May 1, I am embarking on the fifth segment of this Project. I already had a dedicated Exploration Team and had prepared well the member’s stamina, including the basic items that the Team need. I need this Team to be better prepared and organized than the previous ones I led so as to lessen waste of time. The sacrifices and preparations had worked well during Segment III where the Team had shaved a day from its original four-day schedule.

I will lead again the Team into places where many mainstream outdoors people have not gone into before. There is more to Cebu and adventure can be most enjoyed here horizontally instead of vertical ascents. This is a three-day hike that will start from Dalaguete and, hopefully, would end at Boljoon. I will follow a route that will surely pass into Alcoy and, probably, might stray into either Alegria or Malabuyoc.

After waking up at 02:30, I walk out of my house an hour later to the 7Eleven Convenience Store located across the Cebu South Bus Terminal and waited for the rest. Jonathan Apurado, a marine biologist and an inactive mountaineer, came with his son Justin. Justin is an engineering student of a local university and dabbles into bushcraft and parkour. Not available this time is Jovahn Ybañez, a struggling ultramarathoner, designated as reserve.

As in every organized explorations, there is the Base Support Team. Its primary function is communications and assistance. It will monitor the progress of the Exploration Team and will give updates on weather to the Team and informs the outdoors community in Facebook. Chad Bacolod, a good communicator from Naga, will man the desk again. Another crew, Jhurds Neo, of the Camp Red and Bushcraft and Survival Guild, will be on standby and would be mobilized when needed.

The Team, will carry a banner that describes our activity as well as the logos and names of sponsors. These are GV Hotels, Silangan Outdoor Equipment, Titay’s Lilo-an Rosquillos and Native Delicacies, Tactical Security Agency, PAC Outdoor Gear, Jonathan Blanes, Glen Domingo, Boy Toledo and Glenn Pestaño. Also included are entities who contribute to the Team by other means like Camp Red, Mountain Climbers Alliance of the Philippines, Ham Radio Cebu, the Philippine Mountaineering Blog and the Warrior Pilgrimage Blog.

The elements of the Team are proudly wearing the team uniform jerseys provided for by Silangan with the name of the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT emblazoned on the front. Silangan Outdoor Equipment is my official outfitter since I endorse their products through my Warrior Pilgrimage Blog and in fora where the outdoors community interact. I am wearing their Greyman Hiking Pants and carrying their Predator Z Tactical MOLLE Backpack.

Aside that, the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT is officially sanctioned by the Cebu Provincial Government as a legitimate outdoor activity that would help them identify places where adventure tourism would be developed on the once-remote mountain areas of the island. This, after my meeting with the Honorable Grecilda Sanchez, board member representing the Third District, and Ms. Mary Grace Paulino, the provincial tourism officer.

The following are the narrative of events in chronological order that tell the whole picture of SEGMENT V, CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT:

DAY 1 – May 1, 2015

• Leave the Cebu South Bus Terminal at 07:00 by bus bound for Dalaguete. We were delayed departure by two hours due to a good number of vacationers taking advantage of a long weekend.
• Arrive at Dalaguete at 09:30, transferred to motorcycles-for-hire.
• Left highway for Mantalongon Vegetable Market but delayed further by 45 minutes because of road clearing and construction.
• Arrive at Mantalongon, Dalaguete at 10:30 and then take a quick breakfast.
• Start of first day hike. Leave Mantalongon Vegetable Market at 11:00 for Alcoy by an alternately paved and unpaved road known as the “Vegetable Highway”. Pace: Moderate. Weather: Warm and sunny.
• Starts communicating with Base Support of our progress by radio, through a frequency provided by the Argao civic radio group, and by mobile phone. Exploration Team use EAGLE ONE as its callsign while Base Support use EAGLE BASE. Radio equipment in use is a Cignus V85 UHF/VHF Portable Radio Transceiver but radio contact weak as well as by phone.
• Pass by villages of Langkas at 11:40 and Nalhub at 12:20 and stop at the village of Catolohan at 13:05 to to rest, rehydrate and eat bread from a small store.
• Resume hike at 13:25 and proceed to somewhere in Alcoy. Weather: Partly cloudy.
• Cross boundary into Nug-as, Alcoy at 14:00 and pass by the community of Bulalacao.
• Arrive at the village center of Nug-as at 15:00. Make courtesy call to head of village and ask permission to spend night at their multi-purpose building. Prepare coffee then supper. Food are carbonara, asparagus soup and milled corn. Dinner at 18:00. Weather: Cool. Taps at 20:30.
• ESTIMATED KILOMETERS WALKED: 12.9

DAY 2 – May 2, 2015

• Wake-up alarm rang at 04:45. Prepare coffee then breakfast. Food prepared are fried chorizo Bilbao, scrambled eggs, asparagus soup and milled corn. Breakfast at 08:00.
• Start of second day hike. Leave Nug-as at 09:00 for somewhere in Boljoon. Pace: Slow to moderate. Weather: Partly cloudy.
• Stop by community of Liptong at 09:10 to drink fresh coconut wine offered for sale.
• Resume hike at 09:20. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Partly cloudy.
• Cross boundary into Nangka, Boljoon at 10:30. Radio transmission unsatisfactory.
• Pass by village of San Antonio at 11:15.
• Stop by small store at the community of Calot at 11:50 to rest, rehydrate and eat bread.
• Resume hike at 12:10. Pace: Moderate to fast. Weather: Warm.
• Pass by villages of Upper Beceril at 12:50 and Lunop at 14:00.
• Stop by a small store in Lower Beceril at 14:20 to rest and rehydrate.
• Resume hike at 14:50 and arrive at the village center of Lower Beceril at 15:00 to pose before camera.
• Resume hike at 15:05 for Poblacion. Pace: Slow to moderate. Weather: Partly cloudy.

• Arrive at Poblacion at 16:50. Take a rest, rehydrate and eat an early dinner at a local restaurant.
• Leave Boljoon for Cebu City at 18:00 by bus.
• Arrive Cebu South Bus Terminal at 21:30.
• ESTIMATED KILOMETERS WALKED: 20.48

This present Exploration Team had prepared so well in terms of physical conditioning that we shaved off a day of its original itinerary by our pace alone. Another factor which caused us to make this a 2-day affair instead of three is the presence of the “Vegetable Highway”. The existence of this little-known vein of progress actually is unknown even to some people living on the places we passed by. For most of those who lived along it, it is a blessing.

The Team officially have logged 33.57 kilometers of walking from Point A to Point B, basing upon the auto computation of Wikiloc, a web-based application which can either be manipulated by uploading GPS waypoints or by manual tracing of the route by a mouse but, I believed, we had logged more than what we were supposed to since the absence of a reliable transport system in the hinterlands of Boljoon forced us to walk down to the national highway located along the shore.

We each carried an average of 13+ kilos although we are observing light backpacking. Food, survival gears and our sleeping equipment had used up much of our cargo space. It is good that water could be had along the route even under a mild El Niño phenomenon. The places where we pass by are still abundant of water so there is no need to carry more than two liters of water. Along the route are natural springs which pour out cool potable water for man and creature alike.

On the other hand, folks see our presence on most of the places we passed, except at Mantalongon, Dalaguete, as unusual. They have not seen hikers or outdoorsmen or urbanites with backpacks before and they viewed us with suspicion until you break the ice by giving them a smile and a greeting. Ultimately a conversation begins, explaining your purpose, would make them see a bit but they cannot comprehend of why we walk when there are vacant seats on a few motorcycles passing by.

The completion of Segment V is but one step closer to my objective. The next routes would not be as easy as the finished segments nor would it ensure favorable conditions. Definitely, the next segments will not be a walk in the park and would demand navigation savvy from the Exploration Team, which that responsibility rests squarely on me. The CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT from hereon goes on a high swing of difficulty but the team accepts that challenge by adapting to what it demands.

I have learned so much from the different segment hikes with different teams. This present team is so flexible and very much prepared for the physical challenges at hand that it had given me a great assurance that we can deliver the CEBU HIGHLANDS TRAIL PROJECT true to its schedule. Me and my team had explored and achieved fifty percent of the Project and I am quite elated about this. The next 50 percent would be different.

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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

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