I've been feeling great lately and finally have the mood to write about my overwhelming first-ever major climb in my life. It happened during the first weekend of October in Ormoc City, Leyte, Philippines. What made it so overwhelming, aside from being my first major climb, was that I didn't just climb one or two mountains, but three! Those three mountains are Mt. Janagdan, Mt. Malingatong, and, of course, the highest peak in Eastern Visayas, Mt. Alto. Basically, this is our ORMOC TRILOGY ADVENTURE!
Firstly, I would like to say thank you to @mariasalve and Kuya James who invited me and @katiemeow , and to Kuya Enzo who organized the climb. We wouldn't have experienced our first memorable major climb if it weren't for them.
The Journey to Ormoc City
On Friday night, as early as 8 PM, we headed to Cebu Port. We boarded a cargo-passenger ship bound for Ormoc City. We had already secured our tickets and paid 1,200 pesos for the round trip. Since it was an overnight cargo journey, we made ourselves comfortable and prepared to get some sleep because the next day, we would need extra energy as we were planning to climb two mountains, Mt. Janagdan and Mt. Malingatong, for the whole day.
After we arrived at Ormoc Port, we disembarked and met the other hikers who would be joining us for the entire adventure. We exchanged greetings and introduced ourselves one by one. With us, we had Enzo, Michael, JL, James, Mier, Frenz, June Reil, and Alwin, making us a total of 12, including me, Ate Kim, Ate Salve, and Kuya James. After that, we headed straight to a food stall to have our breakfast and then purchased more food for our upcoming meals and the next day. We then went to McDonald's, where the driver of our rented elf cab was waiting for us.
But before anything else, let's take a look at Mier's big bananas hanging from his bag. HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Barangay Cabintan
Way before our major climb, I had already learned about the necessary preparations, such as attending a before-climb orientation, coordinating with the barangay's Tourism Center or the City Police, obtaining climbing permits, and hiring a professional guide, etc.. In our case, we visited Brgy. Cabintan's Tourism Center and had a brief orientation. We were also introduced to our two guides, Kuya Ferdinand and Kuya Jurry.
Mt. Janagdan and its Lake
From the staging area, we took first a group picture. Just don't mind the lady covering herself with a towel from the back (she maybe had her moment hihi). Look at that smiles on our faces, surely not tired yet but maybe soon hahaha.
Started around 9 AM, and while all the way to the summit, it was quite tiring because of its nonstop ascending terrain. And look at that burger steaks from Jollibee (that were trying to survive until lunch time hahaha). We just had our stops from time to time to catch our breath and to sip some water.
First summit down! We were finally at the summit of Mt. Janagdan, and I was excited because it meant we were almost at Lake Janagdan.
Look how beautiful the lake is. It is as peaceful as it appears in the photo and as vibrant as it is in person. Since we reached the lake at noon, we decided to take a break and eat our lunch as well. But before eating lunch, of course, we took some time to take pictures and videos, making sure that we'll capture enough memories of this amazing lake scenery.
After the not-so-long break, we started to descend from this Mt. Janagdan. As we were going down, this beautiful view, which is the triangular-shaped mountain Mt. Alto, became very visible and that amazed me. It made me excited to reach its summit the next day!
As soon as we reached the junction, everyone decided to call the driver of our service and asked if he could buy us some drinks (cold water, soft drinks, and the other kind of drink, you know what I mean, hahaha) because everyone was extremely thirsty. After the driver arrived, we grabbed all our bags and the drinks he bought and took an extended break.
Mt. Malingatong View Deck
Next mountain to climb! Around 2-3 PM, we started the journey to Mt. Malingatong. As we were ascending, we encountered this white soil or rocks (I'm not sure if it's sulfur or what). When we finally reached the view deck, I was literally mesmerized by its clear panoramic view, and once again, there's the beautiful perfect triangle of Mt. Alto!
We took advantage of the clear view and immediately took turns taking solo shots and then had group shots using the drone from one of our new mountaineering friends, Kuya Michael.
Due to lack of time, we weren't able to go to the summit of Mt. Malingatong. It was a majority decision, but we really insisted that if others wanted to go to the summit, they could go, but they would have likely reached the campsite probably around 8 pm or 9 pm. However, none of us pursued it.
So we all went ahead to the campsite and reached there around 6 pm. It was already dark, and it was raining, which made pitching our tents a challenge. But of course, we did overcome that trying time, hahaha. Thanks to Kuya James!
I guess this is it for this blog. I'll be sharing part 2 of our Ormoc Trilogy adventure soon because I've got to share my unforgettable Mt. Alto climb and what happened the rest of our night in the campsite.
Thank you for reading, everyone!
Let's keep exploring and enjoying life!
Hello there! I'm Danah, a Marketing Services Associate by profession. I'm an adventurous person, always seeking to discover new experiences and extract valuable life lessons from each of them. I'm passionate about dancing and performing on stages in front of the crowd. I thrive on exploring the great outdoors and capturing memories.
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