Missing My Merrells

Things are meant to be used and people are meant to be loved. Not the other way around.

I've always gone by this adage. Still, there are some things I have that I treasure dearly because they've impacted my way of life.

One of those are my very first hiking shoes – a (used-to-be) pretty pair of baby-blue-tinged-with-gray Merrell Gore-Tex shoes. I got it in an outlet store shoe sale sometime in early 2009 and it's never been missing from my climbs since then.

I'm already missing you... :(

Kwentong Kaladkarin #33: Mountain Chillin' and Beach Bummin'

Da Where: Mt. Gulugod Baboy and Philpan Dive Resort, Anilao, Mabini, Batangas, Philippines
Da When: January 14-15, 2012
Da Who: Too many to mention! Haha! :D Me, Vin, Archie, Jac, Maggie, Ferdie, Malou, Joey, Isabel, Ice, Jason, Cy, Sweet, Bitz, Ton, Ian, Jonette, Ann, David, Brigsy and Christian
Da Trivia: Biggest group we've organized for a climb! Major logistics headache but an all-good-vibes weekend. :)

It all started over a few buckets of beer and sizzling plates of sisig and chicken wings before 2011 ended, it was decided that a few climbing buddies and Vin and I will have a New Year's climb, just like the Mt. Pico de Loro climb we had to welcome 2011.

Kwentong Kaladkarin #28: Bleak Mt. Batulao and a Bowl of Bulalo

Da Where: Nasugbu, Batangas and Tagaytay, Cavite, Philippines

Da When: August 27, 2011

Da Who: me, Vin, Naheem, Mehdi and Jamie

Da Trivia: It's my 6th hike up Batulao but a lot of firsts - dayhike, with friends from the US, Canada and Germany, and during a tropical storm. Hello Typhoon Mina! ;D

Da Words for the Day: "Does this road never end?" - Mehdi

Note: This is a text-heavy post. Typhoon Mina made photo-taking with non-waterproof gadgets impossible. ;D Photo credits to Mehdi.

It sucks when our country goes into monsoon season, right around the the start of June lasting into early February. It's the time of the year when low pressure area, typhoons and thunderstorms are part of the local weather reports. It's also the time of the year when climbs and hikes are blown out of anyone's weekend plans.

A new project is underway at work and a few friends from work who are first-time visitors to the country wanted to see the Philippines past the smog-filled Metro Manila skylines, merchandise-stacked Greenhills and expat-littered Greenbelt. What better way than to introduce them to the beauty (and fun) of tropical hiking, right smack in the middle of the monsoon season? ;)

Our guests were up to it so we scheduled the dayhike on a Saturday, right off work. With Vin as our unofficial guide, we brought Jamie, Naheem and Mehdi to Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas. The three of them are in the country for a couple months for work and I wanted to take them to another Pinoy experience other than Boracay or Palawan. Jamie's from the US, Naheem's from Canada and Mehdi's from Germany.

It will be my 6th time to hike up Mt. Batulao and it'll be Vin's 10th time, I think. Yes, that's how much we love this mountain. :) We stopped by at McDonald's for a quick breakfast fill as Mehdi worried about the weather. He just saw an early edition newspaper with frontpage headline of Typhoon Mina making landfall in Isabela and the Cagayan areas.

Technically, there was no storm signal raised for the NCR and neighboring provinces; not until later that day, at least. Safety is always a first so any indication of the weather being too risky, we would've called off the hike. We're not suicidal just yet. Haha!

Vin and me, with our foreigner friends! :) See the fog and rain surrounding us?

Kwentong Kaladkarin #14: Batulao, Beer and Belarmino

Da Where: Mt. Batulao, Nasugbu, Batangas
Da When: April 30-May 1, 2011
Da Who: me, Vin, Angel and Mark
Da Trivia: I was effin' starstruck to meet and share tequila shots and beer with one of Philippine mountaineering's women legends! :D
Da Words for the Day: Best pick-up line ever - 'Are you an athlete?' Hahaha!

Because of a crazy work and school schedule plus an international travel planned, it has been more than a month since my last climb. A couple weeks ago, Vin and I originally planned to do a comeback climb to Mt. Cristobal in Dolores, Quezon after our disastrous first climb up that mountain 2.5 years ago. We're re-scheduling that long-awaited comeback climb this May so I'll tell you more about it some other time. :)

To make the long story short, we couldn't get anybody else to join us on these dates so we decided to forego that and do an easy but rewarding hike instead. And of course, only one mountain came to mind - Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas! Angel, a friend of ours, joined us on this climb and brought along Mark, a friend from work. Funnily enough, the first and last time I climbed with Angel was that Cristobal climb so yes, it has been 2.5 years since we last saw each other. :D

Kwentong Kaladkarin #10: Blue Roses and Bubblegum Saved My Sanity in Mt. Balagbag

Da Where: Mt. Balagbag, Sitio Balagbag, Norzagaray, Bulacan
Da When: March 14, 2011
Da Who: Jamboree Mountaineers (Team C’s Sir Bidz, Repa, Lia, Hazel, Johann and Kriezl) plus the Team A folks who did the overnight climb
Da Trivia: Little did I know, this was Budz’ marriage proposal climb!
Da Words for the Day: “Ang cake!!!!!” :D

Nothing between me and the big, blue sky. :) @ Mt. Balagbag's summit

My mind was already set in not having any climbs scheduled for the months of March and April. That’s because I just enrolled in a continuing education course in College of St. Benilde which will require me to come in for classes for six Saturdays, hitting all the climb schedules usually slated on weekends.

So I surprised myself when I decided to join a dayhike with the Jamboree Mountaineers scheduled for Sunday, 14-March. Repa, together with her friend, Lia, also expressed interest in joining me. Getting home Saturday night after my class, I started packing my stuff with my eyes half-closed from drowsiness. I slept for about 3 hours before being rudely woken up by my cellphone’s alarm. ;P

Kwentong Kaladkarin #09: Over Boulders and into the Bowels of Bulacan

Da Where: Mts. Manalmon and Gola, Biak-na-Bato National Park, Sitio Madlum, San Miguel, Bulacan
Da When: Feb. 20, 2011
Da Who: Jamboree Mountaineers (Team A's Sir Kiko, Isabel, Pia, Hazel, Dora, Raisa, Brianne, Jake, Emma, AnPaul, and Mae)
Da Trivia: Lots of FIRSTs - first time to climb without Vin, first dayhike, first 2 hits, first to go home after a hike without taking a shower. Haha! :D
Da Words for the Day: Team Amazingly Awesome! ;D


Scaling the 'Tower' at Mt. Manalmon's peak

Kwentong Kaladkarin #08: The Smiles and Splendours of Mt. Pulag

Da Where: Mt. Pulag National Park, Babadak, Kabayan, Benguet
Da When: February 12-13, 2011
Da Who: me, Vin, Joey, Isabel, Germaine, Ferdie, Repa, Mon, Nikka, Vic, Bob, Guill and Quennie

Da Trivia: My first major climb for the year, second visit to Pulag and made it more memorable by helping out local kids to celebrate a worthwhile Valentine's Day. :)

Da Quote for the Day: "Malamig ba? Hindi naman eh!" ;D

 

Ovelooking Ambuklao Dam, enroute to Mt. Pulag National Park

A couple weeks of warm, sticky Manila weather and it feels like its been eons since my last visit to chilly Benguet; which surprisingly only happened the other weekend. I remember I couldn't be any more excited in getting to climb and experience Mt. Pulag again after my first time there in April 2009.

We've been preparing for this climb for about a month and I don't remember being this prepared for any of my previous climbs. Perhaps its because I know it's been freezing cold up north for the past weeks, causing frost with the farmed produce. If there's anything I hate more than shivering in the cold, its shivering in the cold with wet clothes on. So I packed warm clothes for layering and waterproofed like crazy. :D

Kwentong Kaladkarin #07: Pondering in Pico de Loro

Da Where: Mt. Palay-Palay at Mataas na Gulod National Park (Mt. Pico de Loro), Maragondon, Cavite
Da When: Jan. 15-16, 2011
Da Who: me, Vin, Cy, Archie, Germaine, Ferdie, Repa, Rhia and Ice
Da Trivia: My first climb for 2011 and my first time there! :)
Da Song for the Day: ♫♪ "Hanggang dito na lang..." ♫♪

Three days after the Pico de Loro climb, I'm still musing over what has happened over the weekend. Before the year ended last year, I promised to myself that I'd aim to climb and experience new summits for 2011. this being my 25th year of existence and wanted to make it my 'exploring and discovery' year. My 2010 was as amazing as I wanted it to be but I only got to experience a new mountain, Tarak Ridge in Bataan. The rest of my 2010 hikes were repeat climbs.

Kwentong Kaladkarin #06: Tales from Tarak Ridge

Da Where: Mt. Mariveles (Tarak Ridge), Brgy. Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan, Philippines
Da When: Nov. 27-28, 2010
Da Who: me, Vin, Archie, Joey, Isabel, Doie, Dhoobie, Gboi and the Jamboree Mountaineers and United Trekkers
Da Trivia: My first climb-for-a-cause and my 2nd akyatniversary climb. Can you believe it? Two years of this crazy pastime/passion!
Da Quotes for the Day: "Papaya River na ba to?" in every stream and trickling mini-falls we reach; "Mahangin ba sa labas?" at camp; "Di makatarungan ang tarik na to!" during the cardiac trail assault

Mt. Tarak Ridge Climb from Brayan Maglalang on Vimeo.

"Sigurado ka? (Are you sure?)" was the initial reaction I get from the folks I dared mention to that I'd be on another climb just this past weekend after some bad-ass physical activity the other weekend in Sagada. Marvin also blurted out the same thing when I said it's going to be at Tarak Ridge in Mariveles, Bataan. Indeed I was crazy, Tarak Ridge is classified as a major climb after all. And we haven't clocked in much conditioning for the past months.

Kwentong Kaladkarin # 04: Anilao Adventures

Da Where: Mt. Gulugod Baboy and Philpan Resort in Anilao, Mabini, Batangas
Da When: Sept. 4-5, 2010
Da Who: me, Vin, Archie, Vince, Paolo, Lene, Wesley, Germaine, Ferdie, Mico, Lynn, Lem and Kuya Emil, the van driver
Da Trivia: a.k.a. Inter-Company Training Team Friendship Climb ;D
Da Word for the Day: Like! :)


View from the top of Mt. Gulugod Baboy

Kwentong Kaladkarin # 03: Back in Batulao's Arms

Da Where: Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas

Da When: July 31-August 1, 2010
Da Who: me, Vin, Archie, Jac, Germaine, Ferdie and Mico
Da Trivia: May nataga ng Gran Matador sa climb na to. Guess who? hahaha!
Da Word/s for the Day: "Ate", the Business Tycoon (I still can't stop laughing whenever I think about this. LOL!)

Mt. Batulao holds a special spot in my heart. This mountain is my first climb with Vin back in October 2008. My second climb was with VEAT, and the third was my first anniversary climb. This past weekend, I was with an awesome group of people, familiar and new. And I knew I was in for another rockin' good climb.


I have been wishing for a good-weather weekend ever since my birthday so I'd get to climb again but it wasn't granted for the longest time. So when Vin said that he and his team from work confirmed the climb, I just resigned to the fact that I will experience another wet climb; which I hate, after almost freezing to death in Mt. Cristobal.

Reaching the Philippines' Rooftop

- as published on The Sutherlander, Vol. 5, September 2009


If there’s one thing that Sutherland prides itself on, it’s breaking new barriers and reaching new peaks. It came as no surprise when the Outdoor Club challenged all Sutherlanders to visit and conquer the highest point in the Philippines – Mt. Apo.

Overlooking the cities of Davao, Digos and Kidapawan and towering at 2, 594 meters above sea level – this majestic mountain is dubbed as the Grandfather of Philippines Mountains.
After a couple of months of planning and praying for good weather, the cool dawn of June 27th came and saw 11 brave souls take on the test – four participants from our Davao site and three from Makati. We were also joined by four other friends from other companies.


Led by our guides, Sir Bong and Sir Kenneth, we started our climb with much anticipation. The itinerary was set for 3 days with at least 8 hours of trek each day. The climb was long and arduous, the trail made more difficult by gigantic fallen trees made slippery by the unpredictable rain. We had to battle overgrown plants, insect bites, 90 degrees ascents, muscle pain, freezing rain, muddy trails and altitude sickness.


But despite all this – we all can’t help but be amazed of how breathtakingly beautiful Mt. Apo is.
The sheer magnificence of its forests covered in lush vegetation, gurgling streams of waters, the peculiar sounds of birds and insects, an occasional wild orchid, the sulfuric boulders before reaching the peak, the mirror image of the sky on its crater lake, and the serenity of waking up to a sunrise that is viewed above the clouds. All this is has made all the little sacrifices worth it.

 

We knew that experiencing this is once in a lifetime, reaching the rooftop of the Philippines.

Descending on the third day is bittersweet – when you look back and see where you’ve been and longing to go back. And from all of us – Gen, Mon, Paul, Tam-tam, Tyrone, Marvin, Mel, Edward, Ricky, Rene and Bernie – we know that we’d be back someday and still get astounded by the splendor of Mt. Apo.


"It need not be a summit – it can be a career, a project, a business or any endeavor but the same principle applies: a mountaineer will always have the passion to succeed!"