It was my first time and best experience so far to be on the summit. Dreaming of touching the clouds but it happened, I touched it. :)
Thank you Mt. Batulao for making my first experience worth it. Hope everyone see how amaze I am in your outstanding beauty.
It has been a week since we’ve hiked Mt. Batulao and I still cannot get over the fact that I’ve survived climbing the summit.
It was only a good one week preparation for us to decide to hike this mountain since one of our friend already did. I was actually contemplating whether or not to join since I was so sure that my parents wouldn’t approve of this and I wasn’t allowed to do overnights. Well, I did some magical tricks since I really, really wanted to try something new this year.
We were 11 all together. After class, we changed clothes and readied ourselves to be there at least before 4 o’clock. It was almost 3:30 when we got there and rode a tricycle to the registration point. Man, the view was really nice! I was just telling my friend, Joanne, about some mountain and how pretty it looks, only to find out that it was the mountain we were about to climb.
So we started the hike with sun rays blinding us. I think it was peak 1 or 2 when I realized that it was no joke hiking. There were sweats everywhere and I was wearing a gray shirt covered with sweat. There are two trails to choose which is the old trail and the new trail. Our friend, Jam, suggested we’d try the old trail since the new trail has no thrill. We asked locals there what’s the most advisable to trek for beginners. In the end we chose the new trail since the woman said that if we wanted to see beautiful views we’d take the new trail and the old trail is a forest-like.
I’ve remembered that I was asthmatic that time. I was gasping for air and I wasn’t really sporty or anything. My friends kept on asking if I’m okay or we should rest for a bit.
There were a lot of sliding (thank you for my butt), climbing, and sliding once again. At the last rest stop, we asked the lady vendor where could we set up the tent. She said that we could sleep on peak 10 but not on the summit since it’d be very cold and our tent could be flown any minute. So we hiked one last time to reach the summit before the sun sets. At around 5:30, we were already at the top with all sorts of emotions. Selfies couldn’t be left behind. We were wondering where was the peak 10 the lady was talking about. It turned out that peak 10 and the summit was the same.
We went down at 6 to find an even ground to set up the tent. This was the time I thought for a moment I was gonna die and I’m not even kidding. I will not forget when we had to go down with only a rope to hold and rocks to help us move. It was like rappelling but with no safety gears! I had to get my shit together to save myself and get down quickly. Just thinking back makes my palms sweat because I’m afraid of heights. One wrong move and it was goodbye world. I tried my best not to look down and coordinate my hands and feet. We were split in two since we were left behind because of me. I was just really frightened that time. Darkness crept in which made it harder to find the solid ground. I was already crawling to be safe. It was 8 P.M. when we reached our friends who was already at the base camp.
We went stargazing, talked about scary stuff and love life. I won’t forget all of that. I only had 2 hours of sleep because of severe coldness and crowded tent since we only had two to share. It was also a first to see a shooting star.
We originally planned to go down by 6 or 7 A.M. but fog was too thick. We waited for the sun rise first then off we went down by 8 A.M. We met many hikers on the way as they try to start their hiking. By 10 A.M. we were already at the registration point ready to go home and rest our tired bones.
I survived Mt. Batulao and brought home body aches, contusions and a handful of memories. I might reconsider climbing another mountain.
