Life Saver: Benguet📍Ambangeg Trail of Mount Pulag

27 August 2017

Benguet📍Ambangeg Trail of Mount Pulag

When someone told me that I couldn’t do this or that, that’s the time that my eagerness to achieve a thing I really wanted to do gets stronger.

This was happened to me and my co hiker and a work colleague as well, Flori. Negative vibes we’ve heard from people who thought negative to this adventure never hindered us to climb Mount Pulag. Even the unexpected weather condition seemed did not agreed on our plan to conquer Mount Pulag. But it doesn’t matter at all because we have the positive spirit that the weather will be calmed and we believed that everything’s going to be okay.

We were picked up at Baguio City with a van of the agency that accommodates our hiking experience. The name of the agency is Ageyteng Tours.

Here is the Sample Itinerary

Day 1: VIEW OF THE SUNSETTING/FEEL OF THE COLD BREEZE/TOUCH OF THE CLOUD

0400 Calltime at Otek Business Center, Otek Street Baguio City

0630 Depart for Mount Pulag

0630 Stopover at Ambuclao Dam for sightseeing/Breakfast (On pax account)

0800 Proceed to DENR station for orientation

0900 Arrival at DENR station, freshen up, orientation proper

1000 Depart for Ranger Station

1130 Arrival at Ranger Station, Lunch, Start trek to camping site

1400 Stopover at halfway point

1600 Arrival at camping site, rest

1700 Depart for tower 1 for sunset (depending on fog condition)

1830 Return to camping site

2000 Lights Out

Day 2: VIEW OF THE SUNSETTING/FEEL OF THE COLD BREEZE/TOUCH OF THE CLOUD

0300 Wake up call, light breakfast

0400 Depart back for Mt. Pulag summit for sunrise, bring flashlight

0500 Arrival at summit, wait for sunrise

0630 Depart back to camping site

0730 Arrival at camping site, heavy breakfast, pick-up

0830 Trek down

1130 Arrival at Ranger Station, depart for DENR Station

1230 Arrival at DENR station,Lunch at the junction

1330 Depart back to Baguio City

1730 Estimated time of arrival in Baguio City yet.

DENR Entrance

Outfit Tips and Things to Bring

Hiking Mount Pulag is merely hiking in a very cold temperature so it is advice to wear jacket that can assist the extreme cold. Aside from a good jacket, listed are the things that must be wore and bring for Mount Pulag Hiking adventure.

Sweater
Extra shirts
Rain Coat just in case it rains
Gloves
Scarf
Bonnet or Cap
Mask
Medicine
Water
Foods

Dos and Don’ts

Mount Pulag is a well preserve mountain and the locals consider the mountain as a sacred place so here are the dos and don’ts while hiking the mountain:

Never throw garbage anywhere. Bring all your garbages with you that means never leave any a bit of piece of trash in the vicinity of Mount Pulag.
Be Respectful, always say “Tabi-tabi po”. This is to pay respect to the mountain. Learn how to respect the sacred place they believe in.
Makes sure to be polite to the local tribes. Say “Magandang Umaga po” if morning, “MagandangTanghali po” if afternoon or “Magandang gabi po” if evening.
Don’t shout. Lower your voice tone.
Don’t pick any plant inside the mountain that you may think nice like wild flowers.
Never harm any animals or wildlife that you may see in the mountain
Smoking is prohibited.

Quick Facts

Mount Pulag is the Philippine’s Third highest mountain which is famous because of its Sea of Clouds. This mountain has the highest peak of 2, 922 meters above sea level. The name Mount Pulag is named after the local term called “Pul-ag” which means Bald. The best bit features in Mount Pulag are the dwarf bamboo slopes, mossy forests and the grassland summit where the “sea of clouds” is best viewed. There are four famous trails in Mount Pulag namely Ambangeg, Akiki, Tawagan and Ambaguio Trail.

The Trail Experience

As mentioned, we were picked up in Baguio City together with our co hikers and as a part of the itinerary, Ambuklao Dam View Deck became our first stop. We had our quick photo snap in the view and after we continue the travel going to Mount Pulag National Park Station which is under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. There we had our registration and our orientation.

Afterwards, we travelled the highway going to Kabayan Benguet where the Ranger Station Jump Off is. But unfortunately the weather was not that good so we haven’t started the trail directly. And Kabayan Ranger Station became our camping site then. There we waited until 12:00 midnight for the real trail adventure.

Ambuklao View Deck

Inside DENR Registration Center

DENR Office

Exactly 1:00 am we started leaving the ranger station and started hiking in darkness with our head lights on and flashlights together with our tour guide. Before reaching Camp 1 we hiked with extra careful at the narrow trails besides dangerous clips. Camp 1 became our first resting area and also area to wait for other hikers in the group that were left behind.

Ranger Camp

Portrait of Kabayan

After one hour, we’ve reached Camp 2 and another rest was conducted to prepare ourselves for the final summit. Minutes of rest challenged us and prepared us for the peak.

The temperature was getting brutally cold as we got nearer to the summit. Even in the lower part of the grassland, the cold was getting unbearable and we were really freezing because of the cold breeze plus the light rain that worsen the cold feeling as we continue hiking for the peak.

We took our time to take photos at the summit as a memorabilia that we were able to conquer the summit of Mount Pulag. It was a five hours hike upon reaching the summit.

We had also a few minutes of break preparing ourselves to go back in the ranger station. It was a quick rest since the temperature at the peak was really too cold when we say “too cold”, it was really a kind that was unbearable.

Going back, we appreciated most the Mossy Forest of Mount Pulag. The said part of the forest is really enchanting. We’ve seen twisted trees like bonsais that are alike in the fairytale stories.

We were also met some of our companions at Camp 1 who weren’t able to continue the trail and then we took pictures together and went back to the ranger station. It was a 10 hours total hiking experience.

To conclude the trail was not perfect. We were a bit disappointed because it was foggy so we weren’t able to catch the beauty of Mount Pulag’s Sea of Clouds. But it’s okay because the experience was so great; that kind of feeling that you’ve achieved something you've thought you cannot do in your life but in the end because of your perseverance you were able to do it. That was great! Hiking Mount Pulag was really an achievement. Words aren’t enough to describe the feeling of making it.