I am always fascinated with the mountains. The altitude, the relative temperature, the fog, the smell, the silence. It was last year, September of 2009, we went to SAGADA with my family and friends. We woke up at 3AM and drove to the mountains for 12 hours. It was indeed a long drive for some. For me, it was a time for contemplation while driving. I find it relaxing to drive. I am weird and full of it.
The road from Manila to Banaue is paved. We drove to NLEX then turned right to San Simon, then turned left when we reached GAPAN, headed north till we reached BAGABAG, then headed Northwest to BANAUE. The roads from BANAUE to BONTOC to SAGADA that time were not paved yet. They were muddy, with puddle of water, rocky, and uneven. And not for the weak heart : ). We suggest 235 / 75 R15 tires, but 195 R14 will survive. We just took it slow. But the view.... WOW!!! There are small water falls along the road : )
We stayed at Saint Joseph's place, 17.08523N 120.90117E, and rented the Staunton cabin for 3 nights and 3 days. The cabin has 2 rooms at the ground floor and another attic room. We brought with us a mini LPG cooker (superkalan) and cooked our food we bought from the market place just approximately 100 meters from Saint Joseph's place. It is a nice place to relax and drink coffee in the morning. The place has lots of pine trees around. The place is clean.
At 7AM the following day, we walked north to see the view and to feel the cold breeze. We were going to bathe at BOMOD OK FALLS, 17.13204N 120.90138E. It was a half day walk, but of course you can always choose to ride a jeepney going there from Saint Joseph's place. We were somewhat tired and thirsty till we reached the stairway going down to the falls at 17.12193N 120.89488E. We walked down till we reached a small barrio / town were an old lady volunteered to walk with us to the BOMOD OK FALLS itself for 100 pesos per person. Well, we have to agree. You know what i mean. :) The walk from that barrio down to the falls is surrounded by rice terraces. A nice view. Then finally we reached BOMOD OK FALLS. : ) A large smile on our faces, and yes it is majestic. The water was cold and refreshing. : )
We told the old lady if there is another way up because the stairway is steep and we are kinda tired. She said we head south east till we reach the jeepney terminal, 17.13174N 120.89237E, and ride the jeepney back to Saint Joseph's place at exactly 1300 hours or else, we have to walk our way back for another 6 hours or so. We were just lucky we reached the terminal before the scheduled departure at 1300 hours. : ) Well, I think you can also leave your vehicle at the terminal for a shorter walk to the falls. I think you just have to inform the terminal officer or just pay a minimal fee.
When we reached our cabin, man, I could eat a horse : ) but chose to eat 3 servings of chicken thigh plus lots of rice and longanizas.... and juice.... At 1500 hours, I told my friend that we drive to BESAO to see the view. The road was not paved as usual but doable with a pick up truck. The road was like a drive in the clouds : ) It was like a scene in TWILIGHT MOVIES in FORKS where the place was foggy / misty with pine trees around and all we heared were birds and sound of the water falls. WOW!! : ) That road was also good for biking and walking. When we reached a town, i was not really sure if it were already BESAO, the fog became tooooo thick that the visibility was just 3 meters or so. We drove sooooooo slow. And we never saw a person walking at the street. There were houses of course, but we never saw people at the windows or doors...... We were kinda scared and drove back..... har har har har...... What a loser move......
On the 3rd day, my friends went ahead to SUMAGUING CAVE with a guide from the tourist center. I stayed at the cabin with my son. I already went to that cave before, so i chose to spend that particular day to walk with my son. : ) At 1500 hours, my friends from SUMAGUING were back, so we decided to walk at ECHO VALLEY, and so we did :)
On the 4th day, we headed to BAGUIO CITY via HALSEMA HIGHWAY. Of course there were landslides along the way that were not cleared yet. Some of them are large and long that we had to drive over those landslides. It was kinda scary at first, but, if you love the mountains, landslides are essential part of it :) It was a 5 hour drive on that long and very winding road... Then we took our lunch at CAMP JOHN HAY, then headed back to MANILA.
There are places I still haven't written a blog. You can visit my panoramio : ) for geotagged pics. I will be posting tracklogs in the next blogs. There are just some traklogs that I cannot upload to garmin connect. I will keep on trying anyway : )
