Mt. Ulap
The
Wik and her friends planned to climb Pulag for the weekend. However, their plans changed. We then find ourselves planning a hike to Mt. Kupapey in Bontoc, but Mara said she'd join us if we go to Mt. Ulap instead. It was settled. Mt. Ulap is nearer and Wik and I have never been there.
I first heard about Mt. Ulap from the guys I met at Rumours last year. I was surprised when I learned that there's actually this mountain in Baguio (that's not Sto. Tomas!) which is open for hikers. (Later, I shall learn that it's actually located outside Baguio, and it's it's called Ampucao-Sta. Fe Ridge). So anyway, to make the story short, nabenta sa'kin so I thought I might as well go experience Mt. Ulap for myself. Also, Mt. Ulap is one of the settings for Solenn and Dennis's movie 'Lakbay2Love.'
We arrived in Baguio at around 6AM, walked down to Session Road and entered a Jollibee store (dahil balita ko ang dami nang Jollibee sa Session, baka may iba sa Jollibee sa Baguio kaya nagsulputan sila). We bought another set of meal, this time sa Chowking naman, for our lunch, bought other necessities, and rode the jeep to the jump off.
We started the trek at around 10AM, which is several hours behind our initial schedule. We chose to do the reverse traverse (to avoid the traffic)--starting at Sta. Fe and traversing through Mt. Ulap, Gungal and Amabao Paoay trail. It was a regular two-day weekend but the number of people hiking Ulap made it feel like it was a long weekend. By default, Baguio is popular during the early months because that's when the weather is at its coldest.
Maybe it was the trail or maybe it was because I have a cold and Wik has her period (she was a bot dizzy), but it was probably the slowest we've been on a trek. Reverse traverse is more difficult because the Sta. Fe trail is more steep. What happened was we'll climb probably for two minutes, and then rest. Climb for another five minutes, and take a three-minute rest. We got tired easily. The bright side though, of resting frequently on the trail, is we got to enjoy the views. Which is how climbs should be--nature tripping di ba, so enjoy/embrace/experience nature. Hindi yung dadaanan lang.
Kape!
"Ito dapat ang nilalagay sa Instagram! And mg puno, ang sky!! Itooooo!" --Solenn
Amazing, 'no?
We passed by a couple of burial caves along the Sta. Fe trail (Pong-ol burial caves).
Pitcher plant
Parang Batanes, 'ika nga ni Wik.
We reached the highest point at noon, and had lunch right there and then. After lunch, we headed to the 'rock'--that area where people likes to take photos. We had to wait for several minutes for our turn to have our photos taken at that spot. But it was foggy when we got there, so yeah, white background.
We met Karen's group (Mara's cousin) at the rock area, had some brownies, before starting the descent, which took longer because Mara liked to stop every now and then, she even took a nap, while I went to see another peak alone. Well, sumunod din si Joel (our guide eventually).
I feel cold when idle so I had to cut Mara's nap short. We commenced with the descent, and about an hour later, when we're already feeling bleh, because we just want to reach the end of the trail, that's when we meet the 'three archangels' and we're instantly reenergized. That's all we talked about for the rest of the trail. The thing is, yun lang talaga yung moment. Alam mong walang future.
So yeah, ang tagal namin nag-trek, pero masaya. Ang ganda ng trail, ang gaganda ng views, malamang marami ka lang makakasabay pag weekends, pero malay mo di ba, makakita ka rin ng archangels/angels. ;)
