ALTERNATIVE MAJOR CLIMB (BENGUET-NEUVA VIZCAYA) APRIL 7-12 1998

BY MERCI GUILAS

There are several known routes leading to Mt. Ugu but the ones used by mountaineers is the one via Itogon traversing Luzod then to Domolpos, and finally to Kayapa, Nueva Viscaya. This route takes 3 days trekking. Since there are a lot of established trails used by the natives in the area, it is advisable to hire a guide. A guide can also point out other possible trails, whichever takes the fancy of the group whether the group would like to take the short cut or the longer route passing through several villages. Trekkers are bound to meet villagers on the trail – women carrying sack of rice on top of their head, men with boards of feet of lumber on their shoulder and some are even planting on the slope of the mountain mostly, sweet potato and yams .

Starts your day at around 8:00am. First day, hire a jeep that will take you to Tinungdan schoolhouse at Itogon. Expect rough, dusty and narrow road going down although some parts of the road are cemented. The view is spectacular except that some parts have been affected by bush fires. Transit time will be around 1 ½ hrs. Fee for the jeep is Php 600.00/trip. Since our driver does not know where the Tinungdan schoolhouse is, they took us as far as their jeep can take us way down near the creek, where an abandoned cemented house is located. Cross the creek through the rickety Bamboo Bridge and walk towards the Tinungdan schoolhouse for about 30 minutes. Explore the area, you will find the monkey bridge near the schoolhouse. There is a store nearby where you can buy Coke and noodles. Note: this is the last station you will find that has ice cold softdrinks. Take an early lunch and refill water before heading for Luzod schoolhouse. Look for Mam Rose to help you find some guides. Put sunblock as you will be exposed to midday sun. Trekking will take around 4 hours of picturesque mountains, spectacular view and endless grasslands in hues of green, brown and orange. Take a rest at the covered shade near mango trees. Take time to enjoy the tranquillity of the place. You don’t get much of this in the city. Along the way, you will see a cemented trough flowing with cold and clear water. Try to wet your head and face to refresh. A water source is nearby, a few minutes after the water trough. Expect the climb to be steeper after this. As your breathing gets laboured, view at this height is more breathtaking and the air gets a little chilly. Trail will be wider and lots of pine trees. Some pine trees that you will see were burned by the villagers who spend the night on the trail. Can you imagine the number of pines being burned on a weekly basis? If the villagers do not replace every tree that is being burned, they might ran out of trees to give shelter to the animals that graze the area. As soon as you see a small plateau, you are near the village where the Luzod schoolhouse is. Look for Judy (teacher) and ask permission if they will allow the use of the schoolhouse for the overnight stay. Villagers seldom see mountaineers so be prepared to be stared at, especially by the children. The kids maintain a distance and won’t come near you. The kids look like Japanese dolls with chinky eyes, reddish face and ching chop hairstyle. They are content to just look, whisper at each other and giggle. There is enough water for everyone to take a bath that is if you can withstand the freezing water. Temperature is around 15 degrees Celsius. They also have cemented comfort rooms nearby. Since Luzod is quite remote, they do not have a store that sells coke. Tough luck!

The houses near the schoolhouse are typically Ifugao style, low ceiling hut with raised floor on four stilts. Look for Mang Gregorio and ask for a guide. It would be wise to call (Smart cell phone 0918 - 2804163) in advance so they can arrange for a guide. In our case, no guide were available, we were just lucky that one of the villagers will be going to the sawmill early the following day.

The next day, the group woke up early to bask in the sun and prepare breakfast. The kids were already awake with morning glory and all. We tried to ask them to join us in our group picture in front of the schoolhouse but they were too shy. We asked one Manang if she can take our picture but misinterpreted us by fixing her hair and started posing. The biggest joke of the climb! People there speak in Ilokano and some in English and Tagalog. After a quick breakfast, we went to Mang Gregorio’s house to thank them for their hospitality. Since we have not prepared any gift in exchange, one of the guys thought of giving his new stack of playing cards (special playing cards). Don’t wonder in case the rate in population in the area has increased a notch. Mang Gregorio let us sign the logbook. Some of the mountaineers we met say that the logbook was for people who want to make Mt. Ugu as a national park like Mt. Pulag.

From Luzod, there are no more water source so prepare at least 3 litters of water. Expect the terrain to be difficult. PALMC call it the cardiac assault. I call it the onslaught on one’s physical endurance. But in between gasp for air and weariness, one gets rewarded by the unrivalled beauty of the surroundings.

From the sawmill, we changed our guide. The lady guide, Naty, was able to convince Mang Melo to accompany us to Mt. Ugu. Later you will find out how easily we convinced Mang Melo to accompany us all the way to Domolpos. The sawmill by the way is a historic place. It was once occupied by Americans.

The burned Pine trees become more abundant as one nears Mt. Ugu. The effects of El Niño are also evident –patches of dry grass on the slopes. Along the trail, one will encounter goats and cows grazing. Take lunch along the trail. Some of the cows ventured near us while we were having lunch- ‘might be because we were having corned beef’. There are two possible campsites: one is at the summit and the other one is at the shoulder leading near the "helipad" (platform used by the rescuers during the plane crash rescue operations). The best choice is the latter due to its spectacular sunrise amidst cloud covered hills. Rise up early in the morning to see distant peaks jutting out from the clouds that had blanketed the hills beneath. At this time of the year, horizon was clear, no fog had settled and surprisingly, the ground did not become wet or soggy, considering the freezing temperature around 11 degrees centigrade. Mang Melo could not resist burning the semi-charred remains of the dead pine tree during the night. The group expressed their concern that the fire might spread since the ground is very dry & littered with pine leaves. He said not to worry. Extra provisions must be considered for the guide. Chow time was Chopseuy with a dash of pine leaves. Our cordon bleu cook decided to share his efforts with mother earth first. With all of us weary and hungry, the veggies tasted superb.

The next day, Mang Melo burned another semi-charred Pine tree. We were all drawn to it to keep warm. 1 tree per day. At this rate, pine trees might get even scarcer in this area especially if mountaineers, aside from the villagers using the trail will frequent it.

There are two options in going to Kayapa, either go to Kayapa central or proper. We opted for the latter since this is the shorter route passing by Domolpos. The terrain is mostly steep and the trail is soft clay with loose rocks going to Domolpos. It took us around one hour to reach the village. Before reaching the village, there’s a small covered shade. From here, only 30 minutes to reach the village. The barangay chief introduced himself and got each of our names. We refilled our water containers since it will take 3 hours to reach the next area with water source. The chief was very friendly and even took a picture of us all. Mang Melo already wants to leave us on our own at Domolpos but we asked him to stay until we reach the next village. Trek from here is more exhausting due to the heat but the wind takes pity on us from time to time to cool ourselves. Halfway through the trail,, along the steep slopes of the mountain, we gaped at this woman who is planting Kamote impressing us with her agility.

After several winding trails and curves, the covered cemented shade is the best place to take lunch and a short rest. It gets rather cold when you take a long time resting under a shaded area. From here, the next village is Indupit, around 2 hours trek. This small community have their own chapel where you can say a little prayer of thanks for having had the opportunity to experience traipsing the remote areas in Benguet which can only be reached by foot, visit the villages, meet the friendly people and commune with nature. I don’t mind repeating the experience all over again.

One family in the village offered us water and lots of pudding shaped like flattened flying UFO’s made from minced Kamote. It tasted good and that is not because we only had fruits and biscuits for lunch. We gathered our left over food and divided it between Mang Melo and the family who gave us the Kamote. The kids feasted on the candies and biscuits. Mang Melo gave us directions going to Kayapa and bid his farewell. We gave him a reasonable fee for guiding us during the past 2 days.

Going down to Kayapa took us about 1 hour. As soon as you enter the village, there are stores and restaurants there that serve halo-halo, soft drinks and meals. The mayor allowed us to use one of their classrooms overnight. It was a Good Friday but in Kayapa it was quite festive. A feria was being held in one of the corners of the town. Nothing to do in the evening, we went to the feria. One lasting impression were the "batmans" hanging on the trees to peek on a makeshift cinema showing Air Force One starring Nicholas Cage (maybe a new version specially made for the people of Kayapa) which tempted me to peek but realized that I’m too tiered for such stuff.

We inquired about the transport to Baguio and were given 2 options: the jeep that leaves Kayapa at 7am and the Norton bus that leaves at 8:30am. We took the bus for a more comfortable ride back. Transit time is 4 hours going to Baguio.