@ Malaybalay Park
To end 2012, the year where I accomplished solo hikes, few traverses, major climbs and dream mountains, I chose Mt. Dulang dulang - Mt. Kitanglad traverse as my year end climb. Scheduled during my holiday break in Cagayan de Oro, I could say this was the best Holiday vacation so far. Spent time with my family and squeezed a day for myself. So what made me choose D2K (Dulang Dulang - Kitanglad)? I've been following a blogger who loves Bukidnon Mountains so much that she usually visits the place from time to time, Ms. Tin-tin of Nagbabasang Pinoy. She was my inspiration.... First Avenue Inn Day 00 was a whole day stay at Malaybalay Bukidnon. My guide, Sir Ben recommended that I have to stay at Malaybalay prior the climb proper to have enough sleep which was a very good idea because the next day was knee pounding trek. I roamed around the city for a quick tour, visited the St. Thaddeus church and stayed for an hour at the park observing the locals around. For final preparation, I went to Gaisano mall for trail food and packed lunch for the next day and then met Sir Ben for the final briefing. Sir Benjamin "Ben" Maputi is a very busy person. His business is tied up with DENR. He co-owns a Nature Park (Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ecological Techno Demo Center) and spearhead all projects of DENR for Kitanglad Range, all trails leading to every mountains he knows it by heart. After the very very short briefing, he called up a hostel (First Avenue Inn) and reserved a room for me. The place was clean and the staff were accommodating, I would say a perfect place to stay for backpackers.
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Kiss the wall Scrambling all the way up.... looking up for some roots to hold.... securing every steps I took.... It was scary.. seriously it was a 90 degree wall not made of stone but of soil.... I was lucky it did not rain prior my climb or else..... I believe this was the portion were rope was needed. Sir Ben then greeted me "Congrats, you made it"... smiling while waiting near a bonsai tree.... Grabbed the last root then positioned myself on a small open space.... took a very deep breath.... Thank God I made it.... I'm alive!!! woot woot....... now I am very close to the summit of Mt. Kitanglad, this traverse is almost over. Summit Mt. Dulang dulang at the background Ending the traversed, we were greeted by another Guide accompanying 2 mountaineers who stayed at Mt. Kitanglad. Mt. Kitanglad's summit is occupied with several telecommunication towers. A bunker can be used at the summit for hikers/mountaineers thus tents are no longer needed, I am not sure though if there are open spaces to pitch your tent somewhere. Freezing cold despite the Sun was shinning brightly that day, we opted not to stay longer. Few photo ops were taken then started descend around 3:45pm. Along the trail we met 12 mountaineers and one of them noticed my shirt and called my attention, he knew PACKERS and asked where are the rest of the team? I smiled and said it was a Solo climb. Bid farewell to their group, me and Sir Ben then started running. Eto na! magtratrail run na kami... and it was a very difficult descend-trail-run because some parts of Kitanglad Trail has steel ladders. These ladders were installed to fill the gaps which were mostly cliffs, some were just to high. Mt. Kitanglad was greatly affected by the recent Typhoon Pablo and the aftermath can be seen every where. There were trees uprooted which mostly hid the trail. These huge trunks blocking the trail caused us delay, we then need to crawl or hop from one uprooted tree to another and some areas were in complete mess. With this wreck, I was not able to appreciate the beauty of Kitanglad. Since these trees no longer offered shades, mosses and lichens were all dried out.... dying.... died. Such a dismay seeing the beauty as it fades away.. Over all, Kitanglad's trail was moderate to some difficulty thus some times trail run activities were organized and held in the area. Success : Solo D2K Dayhike Traverse We reached Kitanglad's Jump off point, where Sir Ben's pick up was waiting, around 6.40pm. It was full moon at that time when we exited Impasug-ong ........ Watching the outline of the Kitanglad range as it fades.... It was once a dream....came to reality, the happiest 13 hours trek I ever had. Click > Mt. Dulang Dulang Entry.... The Fork Ahead - to Malipunyo Back - to Manabu Right - to Susong Dalaga A fork diverge, linking trails to Mt. Manabu, Mt. Susong Dalaga and Mt. Malipunyo. Our next stop was Mt. Malipunyo, twice the fun, twice the distance. Unlike Susong Dalaga, reaching the summit requires passing a series of peaks and ridges. After a fast paced descent (kasi karamihan sumemplang) from Susong Dalaga, Tatay Mokring (Our Guide) invited us to his rest house, we took our lunch and ate some banana from Tatay's Mokring garden. |
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