There I was, too giddy and excited to care that I was about to embark on a super strenuous journey that will leave me drained and sore... I set out with the group full of energy and optimism for the hike ahead. We left my place around 3:15AM. Reached the jump off at 7, I think.
Being a level 4 climb, I had to expect some sort of difficulty so I decided to forgo doing vanity shots along the way. The trail started out
--Intermission: At the start of this post I've gushed about how excited I was to finally be able to blog about my recent adventure, then half way through spilling narrations, this happens:
I lost my internet. For hours. Annoying. Really. Anyway--
As I was saying, the trail started out fairly easy. It was a long stretch of incline, about 15 degrees maybe. Despite my last minute attempt of weekly jogging to get myself into shape, I was huffing and puffing after the first 10 minutes. I had to stop and think about whether I really wanted this or not. The answer was a fast and easy yes! So I hauled myself and my backpack up the path, and ignored the tightness that I almost immediately felt in my chest.
Think happy thoughts. I started remembering how ecstatic I was when I finally had this chance of climbing an actual mountain. I thought of how fulfilling this would be compared to my Sagada trek. I saw the company I had --they were laughing, joking, and everything was great again. The truth of what people say about challenges like this being as much psychological as it was physical was so darn real.
After the wash of fairy dust (the happy thoughts), I was good to go again. We started to observe the shrubbery thickening to eventually cover the road and leave a single beaten path. We had to climb over fallen trees a couple of times and swat a few bees along the way.
I remember thinking, if this is what a level 4 climb is, I could do this for 5 hours, easy. How wrong was I to assume that. After everything has been covered with flora, we found ourselves in the thick of the forest climbing steeper and steeper trails, until we finally reached this:
It's a little piece of paradise! I was in awe at how clear and comfortably cool the water was. The pictures I took don't actually do it justice. I wanted to stop right then and there and stay overnight, but obviously, we can't. So after 30 minutes of cooling down, resting, snacking, and taking pictures, we were back on the trail hiking up the 2nd half of the ridge.
The next part would be twice or thrice as hard, or so we were warned. Excruciatingly hard was what I would call it. Surely it was at least 5 times as hard. Cliffs threatened every turn, and to say that I was scared of heights would be an understatement. I was petrified. I wore running shoes that has started to split its soles from the abuse I've been putting it through the past hour and a half or two. I started losing stable footholds and kept sliding off small rocks. As they fall a few feet and bounce off the edge of the path, I became increasingly aware of how much I underestimated the difficulty of this climb. Nonetheless, I kept pushing.
It felt like an obstacle course intended to torture lazy asses like me. I had to climb mounds with nothing to hold on to but branches and twigs that snap off without warning. The height of most of the rocks we had to climb over were higher than knee level, and I had to hold on for my dear life a few dozen times. You'd think I was exaggerating, but well, let's put it this way: this. is. not. for. beginners.
Pushing and pulling my way up, I finally reached the top. Thank God. Not without help, though. Tons of it, actually. Marc had to carry my bag for me on half a dozen buwis buhay moments. (I especially hated the part where rocks were sticking out a wall of earth and we had to climb Spiderman style to get to the other side.) Lexy had to wait for us a few times to make sure we don't get lost. It was all worth it though. The view at a thousand meters above sea level was breathtaking, both literally and figuratively. Again, no matter how much pictures I took, I would not be able to do justice on God's creation. At that moment, there it was... another reason to praise God. This time for being a God of beauty and greatness.
To be continued...
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