This trip was back in 2007 when I was pretty new at organizing trips. Me and my friend finalized the venue like a day before we left. I have never been to the place and only found about it because a friend suggested it was a safe place for two crazy girls on a last minute mountain adventure.
My hiking buddy for that day is a good friend from HS who I trust with my life. It was her first mountain climbing trip and she had been wanting to try the sport. I had been hiking in mountains since college but I wasn’t an expert. I just love the outdoors. I got the itinerary and information by researching from the web. (I love Google!)
We started trekking around 10:45 AM. Sun was high and there was no wind. I can still remember how humid it was. We didn’t see anyone else climbing and we almost missed the entry point to the mountain. We just laughed it off. In fact, laughter got us through all our misadventures that weekend. Less than an hour of trekking, Bitchay’s shoe – last used in HS when she played for our school’s volleyball team, gave up and she climbed the rest of the way barefooted! Way to go gal pal!
We reached the summit after 3 hours of trekking. We ran into a mountaineering group who invited us to camp with them but we felt shy to join them. We opted to go down the same day and check in at Phil Pan resort which is the nearest resort to the jump-off and a popular stop for mountaineers. On our way down the mountain, about 30 minutes on foot from the resort, we decided to hitch on a passing jeep. In it were three young guys. Hehe! They generously gave us a lift and we got down quickly.
When we reached Phil pan, we found out that the rate per night was higher than what we anticipated so we bargained with the owner. She was kind enough to help us out. She was intrigued with us because she normally sees huge groups of mountaineers but rarely two little ms. Sunshines.
Water Misadventure!
After showering and taking our dinner, we easily fell asleep. The following morning, we wandered around the area and reached another resort where we met a young male caretaker who let us borrow their kayaks for free!
Thing was, I didn’t know shit about paddling but we had a great time anyway even if we wandered a bit far from the shore. We actually got caught in the current and started heading for the open waters where there were passing boats. We started yelling “Open water, open water! Helpp!”.
Seeing that yelling would get us nowhere, we stopped panicking and thought of what to do. This I gotta hand it to Bitchay. She completely took over. She was at the back part and directed me where to paddle. I listened. I had to because we were at the open water already and the current was strong. Our tandem effort worked and we reached the shore safely. We immediately returned the kayak after that and made our way back to Phil Pan but before we got back to our resort, we saw some tractors and had our pictorials there. I’ve always had a thing for heavy machinery. One of my dreams is to drive either a tractor, backhoe or a bulldozer. Haha!
After that, we dined at an eatery before we returned to where we checked in.
The rest of the day went by – me and Bitchay laughing and talking all the way. We again ran into the group we met at the mountain the day before and we hanged out with them for a few minutes. Then we had to pack and head home. This definitely boils down as one of the best adventures I’ve experienced because of the company I was with and now, I am so happy to announce that my gal pal, is embarking on another adventure – with me and her special guy to the most awesome adventure ever - her journey to the altar.
Congratulations gal pal!
Congratulations gal pal!
Summit |
Getting started with kayaking :P |