My Solo Plight to Mt. Pulag (Part 7/7): The Descent and A New Perspective

How's your heart doing so far, Hivers! I know today has been a whirlwind experience for most of us who're holding Hive in our accounts. But I'm not gonna talk about Hive's all-time high. Let's leave that to the experts! 😁

Here's a piece of great news for people who might not be that interested in mountains, I am finally closing my Mt. Pulag series today. Yep, yep, yep! At some point, you probably wondered "When is this girl going to stop talking about her adventure in Mt. Pulag?". Well, the time has come and you're reading the last bits and pieces of what I can recall from this trip. I admit, it has been an exhausting journey to revisit what I've labeled as the most painful and life-changing event of my life. It wasn't easy recalling what brought me here but despite all the I needed to go through, I'm just grateful that I went out of my comfort zone and for all the things this trip taught me.

If you missed any of my old write-ups about Pulag, you can still read through them here: Part 1: No Plan, No Problem, Part 2: Life's simplicity at its finest, Part 3: The Sound of Silence, Part 4: The Calm Before the Storm, Part 5: The Miracle of Sunrise and Part 6: I'm on the top of the world.

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A difficult goodbye

So, where were we? Hmm... I left a photo of me and some of my strangers-turned-to-friends in my last post. Mt. Pulag is the Philippines' 3rd highest mountain standing at 2,926 MASL.

When we were done taking photos at the sought-after Mt. Pulag peak signage, we still couldn't get enough of the beauty right in front of us. It was unbelievably oozing with warmth and peace. I personally wanted to take a photo at each and every angle possible. There's this joke going around for ages that you just have to pay a few cents and you'll be in Heaven already. That's exactly how I felt during the last few minutes we stayed on top. It felt like wandering in Heaven.

_{This photo was still taken at the top of Mt. Pulag.}

But just like anything else, we had to bid goodbye to this enchanting creation. By the time we were done taking photos, the sun's up and it was showing off. Sunrise had never been as glamorous as that morning in Pulag. Without a guide who'd tell us if we're overstaying at the top, the group finally came to a consensus: We had to start our descent before the sun rises high enough to burn us like roasted pigs.

_{Mt. Pulag from a distance. She's just enormous.}

The descent was fast and easy. In fact, after just a few minutes, we were at the foot of the summit. It's funny that despite learning that there are just things that are better off if you don't look back at them, I just had to take one final glance at Mt. Pulag (before continuing the chill walk back to Camp 1, where our guide and the rest of the group were probably waiting for us).

_{I couldn't hide how happy I was to meet her}

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Mt. Pulag's Varying Vegetation

I believe I haven't mentioned it but there are three kinds of vegetation you'll encounter when you climb Mt. Pulag, namely: grassland and dwarf bamboo plants, mossy forest, and pine forest.

One will not be able to appreciate the diversity of flora and fauna of Mt. Pulag upon ascending to the peak since it's just too dark and too cold to observe anything. But on our way down, the diversity was obvious, and encountering one after the other feels like entering a new world.

Grassland and dwarf bamboo plants

The majority of what you'll see is acre after acre of grassland filled with dwarf bamboos. And you'll encounter this from the peak going down to Camp 1 (if I am not mistaken). You could've seen hundreds of 'grasslands' before but believe me when I say that Pulag's grassland brings the best of Pulag. It adds extra detail to its hills and valleys. If only Pulag is just in our backyard, I'd be a pleasure to climb it every single day.

Leaving you here some shots I took at the grassland portion of Mt. Pulag:

Mossy Forest

I couldn't forget how I entered the Mossy Forest. I was walking alone for the past five minutes, no one in front of me and no one behind me; it felt I owned Pulag and her vast grassland. A few minutes later, I entered a thick mossy forest. It was my first encounter with a mossy forest. I've been climbing for some time in Cebu but haven't seen one like this before.

Can you imagine the transition from an open, seemingly never-ending grassland full of dwarf bamboos to this mossy forest? It felt creepy for me but when I realized that the rest of my group were just a few meters away, I wandered around and of course, didn't let the opportunity to take photos to slip my hands.

Pine Forest

And finally, after a few more minutes of walking, we reached the pine forest. And this only told us one thing: we were near the end of this journey.

At this point, my heart ached again. This time not from a heartbreak but from the thought that I am finally leaving Pulag for good. It has been the shortest yet most incredible 12 hours of my life spent outside of what I've believed I am only capable of all these years.

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A New Perspective

Right before we could reach the point where we can ride on a motorcycle that will take us to our homestay, I observed everyone slowed down. Maybe because they've exhausted all the energy they had. In my case tho, I slowed down to remind myself of a few lessons I learned while climbing Mt. Pulag:

(1) You can rest but you can't give up altogether
(2) You are more than the debris of a painful past
(3) You are in control of how you respond to life's (sometimes) unfair treatment

To close this "moving on" travel series (although this wasn't the last place I went to just to move on. Moving on can be too costly 😂), I'd like to share one last encounter. There was one time when I asked Gio how should I tell my kids one day about us, about him, about what happened to me and his words landed right in my chest when he said: Tell them their mom is strong, that she, she didn't give up on life. I held unto his words for the first few months after we parted ways because I wanted to tell my kids someday that at the darkest hours of my life, I didn't give up. As a matter of fact, I accomplished so many things because of what happened and first on the list (well actually second, since a week before this climb, I ran my first half marathon in less than three hours without practice) is conquering Mt. Pulag.

Okay, that's enough! In the end, what I really wanted to say is that we're lucky to have places we can explore when our realities get a bit difficult and too much to handle.

How about you? Have you tried taking a "moving on" trip? What was your experience?

_{We took one last group photo before heading back to our homestay to wash up and to travel back to Baguio}

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That's it! By far my longest series of posts! You guys are amazing for walking with me on this journey. And since we just finished one series, this could mean two things (1) I'll be writing another series about my other trips to the mountains of Cebu, or (2) I might take you to one of the best beach destinations in the Philippines.

Take your pick and let me know in the comment section! Adios for now. 😍

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