Mt. Fato

A sumptuous breakfast awaits us once we arrived at the inn. We stormed through this power meal in an instant because we decided to hike Mt. Fato before leaving.

We still had time before noon, and we were confident we'd still be able to catch the last jeepney trip going to town, so we went for it.

Here is a side story, that day, the guides all went to a seminar, thus Manang Suzette had to find someone to guide us because we're not allowed to go all by ourselves, and we wouldn't know where to go anyway. I've forgotten our guide's name, but he's very shy and did not talk to us unless we asked anything.

Almost half of the trail to Mt. Fato is already paved, so it's quite easy.

The road is filled with dry leaves that breaks when being stepped on, so yeah, I enjoyed walking on them.

"Is that it? Mt. Fato?" That's me everytime I see a remarkable rock on the trail. Another fun fact: Fato is Ifontoc for "rock" that's why it was named as such. You guess it right, there are great rocks in the summit. 

Before the ascent, another local joined us. He's probably a caretaker of a property we passed by, and our guide asked him for direction, but instead of just telling us where to go, he showed us the way. Yes, up to the summit.

Carne Norte. Cows having their lunch in the steep mountainsides.

And finally, the summit! Great big rocks as expected. Aside from rocks, there are a lot of amazing plant species on the trail and near the summit. Wow, spoken like a botanist. It's true though. Nakaka-appreciate naman ako ng halaman.

While we're at the summit, this little light-bluish butterfly went to us. We decided it's probably Karen, who will definitely be with us had she not left us for a better place last year.

We stayed a bit for photos, and snacks before descending,