Hello, Hive!
We’re halfway through the month of July and I can’t help but think the days are seamlessly passing at 2x speed. In a blink of an eye, the year will end and a new one will begin. And, as always, we find ourselves facing one of life’s classic dilemmas: so many things to do yet so little time.
Looking back, I haven’t completed most of my 2023 plans and goals. A pile of books still remains unread. My journal’s been cut short. The last poem I wrote was dated February 7. And I just gained 4 kgs of fat weight instead of muscle weight. HAHA. Anyway, that’s life. It happens.
A lot of unplanned things, however, also came my way this year. Some kept me on track, while others opened new doors. The biggest surprise of all was joining this community. I’m glad to finally have a separate platform to "house" all my travel stories. Five months of sharing and now we're here...
Picking up from where I left off last week, as promised, here’s a blog post specifically about my favorite section of our 3D4N climb in Mt. Apo.
The Boulder Face
Known for its roughness, thrills and threats, climbing the Boulder Face is surely an experience one should never miss when climbing Mt. Apo.
It was 4:30 AM when my friends and I regrouped at the starting point of this section. With the sight of the uphill and rocky terrain up ahead, we decided to take a breather and prepare ourselves mentally and physically. We also took the opportunity to take group photos since we knew that the next three to four hours will be spent on scrambling on all fours.
The Boulder Face is a four-kilometer ascending hike (or crawl) on a trail-less path. Extreme caution is a must when you're climbing this area because a lot of the boulders are loose and unsteady. One has to get a stable foothold while working against the gravity's pull. The wide open space is also an additional challenge since there's nowhere to hide when strong winds blow. And though you won't feel the heat up there, you will definitely come home with a sunburn on your face.
If you have been following my hikes, you'd know that I'm one of those people who prefer climbing down the trails. This time, however, I enjoyed the climb up. Scrambling up those rocky ridges and looking back at how far we've gone is a whole different kind of feat.
Being a dormant volcano, there are sulfur vents belching out smokes on Mt. Apo's boulder section too. Fortunately, I didn’t have to endure the foul odor since I was having a runny nose.
An hour later, we reached the Rock Tower where we had our breakfast. The sun was up, exposing the vibrant landscapes below. The view before us revealed Davao del Sur’s beauty. Plain fields seemed miniaturized as we stood atop. Mountains rolled in the horizon from end to end. The weather was great and the sky was blue. We would have loved to stay longer and freeze that moment, but the “road ahead was long and winding.” And the fog was slowly setting.
We regrouped at the White Sand Emergency Camp at 9 AM, exhausted and burdened by our heavy load. Just when we thought we were close, our guides told us that the summit was still far ahead. Yet, despite all reasons to be frustrated, we moved forward to our the final assault.
The Summit
Mt. Apo is capped by a 500-meter wide volcanic crater with a small crater lake and has three prominent peaks. As we headed toward the first peak where Santa Cruz and Kapatagan trails converge, we met several other hikers from different groups. By this time, getting to the summit became more challenging. 1) Because the ascent became steeper. 2) The fog became thicker 3) The gust of wind became stronger and unbearably cold.
It took us an hour to reach the crater lake which was almost invisible due to thick fog. Ten minutes away from it was Davao Peak. The weather here in the summit was the complete opposite of the sun-drenched boulder face. We knew we will get no clearing, but we still decided to get a group photo for memory’s sake.
We then traversed to Mother Peak while taking several stops to catch our breaths. It was no different from the first one. If anything, the wind got angrier to the point that it was almost pushing our bodies from all sides. The blast of wind was so bad that we didn’t get a decent group photo in this area.
As we descended from Mother Peak, we saw the Philippine Warty Pig of Mt. Apo. We did not stay long since it was crowded with hikers and instead regrouped at the Old Camp where we had our lunch since it was past 12 noon. Afterwards, we prepared ourselves for the last assault of the day. Kapatagan Peak has a signage which indicates the height of Mt. Apo. There were climbers queueing for photo ops despite the “bondpaper” background. We got ours too before heading down to Lake Venado where we would spend the second night.
And just like that, we’ve reached the highest point of the country. Yes, it would have been great if we were able to get a clear view of the ‘world’ from the summit. How awesome would it be to stand on Mt. Apo’s crater? Yet, despite not being blessed with a clearing at the top, I could say that we were blessed with a wonderful experience along the way. The long hours of walking and scrambling are worth it. It reminded us of our vulnerability and our weakness. It taught us that what comes before the grand finale can also be the best part.
That’s it for now. What goes up must come down… but that will be for another story. Until next time! 😁🤍
Check out Part 1 of this continuing series here: Mt. Apo: Our two-years-in-the-making climb to the Philippines’ highest mountain
Maria is a hopeless romantic who travels in pages and places. She is an INFP who loves sunrises and moonlight nights and reading books in between. On weekdays, she works for a self-publishing company as a copywriter. On weekends, she lives for life as a poet or hiker. She hopes to share her love for words and the world with you here on HIVE.
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