Here you are on my 7th edition of climbing adventures. Please know that this won't be full of sweet words or picturesque views of the mountain because not all climbs are epic. But I do need to write what transpired here because one way or another, this story adds to those climbing tales I get to reminisce with my old friends. So here it goes...
I found myself reuniting with college friends in 2018 for an overnight climb. This is my second time to be in Mt. Lanaya. The first one was with another college friend but I don't have many photos to go with it. Anyways, Mt. Lanaya is situated down south of Cebu island, in the municipality of Alegria to be exact. We took the bus to get here. It's about 4 hours of travel from the city.
The jump-off point is this corner post with a welcome sign just along the main road. The Legaspi trail is known to most locals and tourists so it's rare someone will get lost. The first part of the trail was relatively easy. Minor if you would like to classify it. The weather was perfect! The scenery was filled with communication towers (yes, you heard it right! 😆), lots of coconut trees, and... goats!
The contrast of the green grass with the blue color of the sea just makes the place so attractive and refreshing. No wonder this mountain has been one of those quick go-to hike for newbie or advanced climbers alike. We were damn excited to reach its summit hoping we would get to see a beautiful sunset that day.
My college friends - King and Jane.
It takes about 30 - 40 minutes of easy hike through the wide open trail before reaching the base of the mountain. There is a small hut/cottage that serves as another stop over for climbers here. We stumbled upon a group of people who also came from a trek up to Mt. Lanaya's peak.
Eudel reading the Seven Leave No Trace Principles.
We settled at the hut for an hour. We ate our packed lunch and had some fun shots. We decided to leave our bags here since it will just be about 40 minutes to reach the peak. There is no camping site at the top. At this point, grey clouds started to loom over the mountain peak. Not a good sign...
Dale and Dencio having fun with these tools.
Once we entered the dense forest, fog have already settled among the trees. The air was getting chilly. Don't know what we were thinking knowing that we wouldn't have a clearing anymore but still we pushed forth with the hike to the peak.
However, walking on this quiet and remote trail was soothing. Though not the huge trees you might be expecting but the multitudes of them make you feel small and yet a part of them. The surrounding mist makes it all the more mysterious and eerie.
The path was not steep but the ground can be slippery. There is no water source too so it's best to carry a bottle of water although this we didn't do because we didn't have plans to stay long at the peak. If I'm not mistaken, it was around 4 pm when we started our ascend to Mt. Lanaya's peak. Anyways, it didn't take us long until we reached the peak.
Fog. Just fog. Yep, this was the scenery we faced. Dale was a bit dissatisfied but he knew what we were going to see. We were still hoping to have a little glimpse of that picturesque view of the sea and sunset but we all knew that was unlikely to happen. We still had a good laugh about this though. When you don't get a clearing at the top, they say the mountain is asking you to come back again. Perhaps, my old friends did but as for me...I haven't came back here since.
If you head on to search other photos on the internet, Mt. Lanaya has breathtaking views of its surrounding nature. It was just not our time. We still had a good time at the peak, took some photos to serve as memories. 30 minutes went by and we went back our way.
Midway, the rain started to pour in. Dark skies were quick to greet us. There was no escape. To be honest, we weren't completely sure if we would make it to the hut. It was raining hard accompanied by strong winds. We didn't expect the weather would turn to worst in just an instant. Good thing Dale brought a headlamp. We were soaking wet when we arrived at the hut. Plans to camp out disappeared and we all agreed that it would be best to stay warm and comfortable inside.
We quickly changed into dry clothes. After settling in, we cooked our dinner and enjoyed a simple but yet satisfying meal that day. We had another good laugh right just before we bid goodnight because of the ironic moments we experienced. Well, this is what climbing makes it an amazing activity. You never know what could happen so it's always best to come prepared with no expectations at all. The very next day, we bid our goodbye to Mt. Lanaya.
Anyways, that is all for this story. Thanks for making it this far.
You can find my other climbing stories here: That time when I used to climb...
Talk to you on my next blog!
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