Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mt. Manabu | Lost in a Night Trek

The thrill and excitement lurked within me as we were trekking the trail of Mt. Manabu. It was nightime, and I know we're already lost. 

That's what I have experienced on the night of February 25, 2012 when I joined one of my online friends in their night climb at Mt. Manabu. It was my first time to experience getting lost on a trail, and I find it really fun. :)
______________________________________________________________________


Another memorable sabit climb for me as we have conquered Manabu Peak in the absence of daylight, yeeha. It was a night trek adventure - a total different experience in the history of my mountaineering activity (history talaga?! parang ang tagal na ng two months).

Anyways, it was 10:30 in the evening when we started the trek and I was with three brave ladies. None of us knows exactly the trail except for one who has a 1 year old memory of her Manabu climb. Despite that, we still pursued the adventure.

night trekking is fun
I cannot remember much of the trail since it was pretty dark, my navigation system just won't work in the absence of daylight. We just walked until we reached the first forking path, from there we turned right.

But it was a wrong turn! We were walking for more than an hour in a moonless night until we realized that we're actually lost. The trail led us to wilderness, medyo makapal na ang talahib, and there were no more noticeable trail signs around. An old shed greeted us when we reached the end of the visible trail. What made us laugh is that there's a writing/vandalism on the wall of the shed that says: "Tanga ang nandito (the fools are here)". We're really lost in a night trek.

Our situation left us with no other option but to follow back the trail that we passed through. It took us another 1 hour to return to the forking trail where we made the wrong turn. It was pass 12 midnight (Feb 26 na) when we finally got back on track. We lost 3 precious hours in the forest, haay. But it was a different experience, something new for a newbie mountaineer like me.

one of the rope segments on the way up to the campsite

There's another forking path after the first one, that's the right place to turn right. From there we trekked a steep trail, crossed a narrow river, and a few roped segments. We're hungry, a bit tired and sleepy so we rushed our way to the campsite. In less than 2 hours (about 02:10 am), we reached Manabu Campsite.



The place was a crowded by a lot of campers, fortunately we're still able to find a place to pitch our tents. But before we fell into slumber, we still managed to feed ourselves with Chili Con Carne, one of mountaineers favorite recipes. *Thanks to Mam Cess for preparing the sumptuous meal.    

the first recipe I learned on a mountain - chili con carne.

Sleeping time at around 03:45 am.

It was cold and foggy outside, 06:00 am when I checked the time. There was no clearing, no view for the moment, so we just got ourselves busy na lang in preparing our breakfast. I really find it fun, it was my first lutu-lutuan experience while on a mountain (maraming firsts ang nangyari sa akin sa Mt. Manabu).

morning sun, covered by thick layers of fog
crowded campsite of Mt. Manabu
and for our breakfast, yummy.
Before 08:00 am, we decided to break the camp. The fog was also starting to subside, view of Mt. Maculot was already peeking. At 08:30 am, we did our final assault to Manabu Peak, a cross marks the site. Photo opportunity is a must.

Tres Marias, ang aking sinabitan for the 4th weekend of Februry
me with Mam Rosejane
view of Mt. Maculot from the Manabu peak
the campsite seen from the peak
the peak, marked with a stone cross
We descended Manabu Peak from another trail that will pass by the grotto. It was a quick 30 minutes descent from the summit to the grotto where we rested for about 10 minutes. Then we resumed the descent until we reached a house that sells fresh buko juice (P5 per glass).

going down now
the grotto, beside it is the water source
the people that sells the buko juice have a lot of cages full of guinea pigs and a monkey

From there, we still walked for about 15 minutes and we're back at the main jump-off. We took a bath of course before we head back to Lipa for lunch, then to Manila again.  

It was a very nice climb, and a memorable one.

.

21 comments:

  1. Hindi ko na na-try to and I want to try it! Grrr..inggit ako! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Being lost is fun and scary at the same time. You kind of learn when you get lost. Hehe. Pero antagal bago niyo na-realize na nawawala na pala kayo. Hehe. Hmm, I wonder kung sinong nagsulat nun sa kubo? Hahaha. Baka siya ang unang nawala sa trail. LOL.

    I also want to try to mountain climb. Sama ako minsan bro. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. astig! i will include mountain climbing next year naman :)

      Delete
    2. yeah. getting lost is really fun :)

      Delete
  3. Does the campsite have a water source and toilet facility?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the only water source is located at the grotto, about 40 minutes from the campsite..

      and there's no toilet up there. just bring shovel.

      Delete
  4. So brave! Good you still able to track the right way to campsite. That was too scary if ever it would be happening to me. You're lucky to have 3 best buddies leading the way up to Mt. Manabu!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Mitch, buti na lang tlga napasabit ako sa mga matatapang na kababaihan..

      Delete
  5. ok lng ma lost nag enjoy nmn kayo...pics plang enjoy na! Nku legal kaya un monkeys and guinea pigs nila... tsk tsk.. :p

    ReplyDelete
  6. nakakaligaw talaga ang trails ng Manabu, ang dami kc... and our group were no exception... it also happend to us on our way down in 2009...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tama ka mervz, andaming splitting trails. pero ngayon alam ko na.. hndi na ako maliligaw ulit doon :)

      Delete
  7. asar yung sign na yun ah. nawala na nga yung tao nang asar pa. buti at nakabalik naman kayo sa kabilang trail. ingat lagi sa mga treks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ok lang kuya Dom, natatawa ng kami doon e. hehe. dapt tlga harangan yung right trail dun sa unang slit ng daan, yung tlga ang nakakaligaw e.

      Delete
  8. Ah sila Rose Jane ang kasama mo? Kateam ko siya for G2 this Holy week. Hindi ko pa sya nameet in person.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oo nga. na-mention nya sa akin yun. goodlak sa G2 nyo. bring home a lot of photos.

      Delete
  9. Ang batang nag-aadik sa bundok. Laughtrip yung sign dun sa maling trail, parang sampal lang sa mukha. Wahahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  10. nasa sked namin ang Mt. Manabu sa June, gusto ko try tong night trek na to, hahahha, total brave naman ako eh, hahaha, naiinom ba ang water sa may grotto?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, pag morning trek ba hindi naman ba nakakaligaw dun?

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...