I've already mentioned this in one of my replies to the comments in my post, but I'll say this again: Cebu is probably one of the best places to have a little bit of everything. You can go up to the mountains and then to the beach in one day. That's totally doable.
Note: All photos are taken from my phone and I think they're best viewed on mobile. I didn't bring my camera last weekend because I knew I wouldn't be able to use it.
Hello everyone!
We are preparing for our major climb by the end of May. We will be scaling Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. As early as last week of March, we were already slowly tracing back the old trails. Due to the pandemic and Super Typhoon Odette, the trails are now overtaken by fallen trees and shrubs are now slowly growing back that some parts of the trail are impassable. This is now a challenge in almost all of the trails here in Cebu. About 3 weeks ago, we got lost along Bocaue trail and for a moment I panicked because we were blanketed by a thick fog that it's difficult to orient ourselves in the right direction. Good thing we found the old trail and we were all safe. I say that's part of the challenge of climbing mountains.
Since we were just retracing the old trails, I won't be sharing those I've already shared here before. I'll be sharing the part of the route that I hiked for the first time. So, this post will just cover the Mt. Babag to Temple of Leah route. If you're interested in the other parts of the route, you can visit the posts below:
Napo-Babag Trail always starts at Guadalupe Church. We agreed to meet at the church at 6:00 AM. It was Easter Sunday, so I expected a lot of churchgoers. We had breakfast at the karenderias (food stores) near the church. There are two routes that will lead to Napo which is the jump-off point of the trail. Our usual route is through barangay Sapangdaku. Before the pandemic, we would just ride a habal-habal (motorcycle) to Napo for Php 50.00, but the fare is now doubled. To save money, we decided to just walk from Guadalupe Church to Napo via Sapangdaku-Kalunasan Road. It's much farther than the other route, but the ascent is gradual compared to the other route. It took us almost an hour and a half to reach the jump-off point.
From the jump-off point, we continued to walk along Guadalupe River until we reached the continuous assault of the infamous Napo-Babag Trail. As with any other climbs we had in the past month, that trail is just treacherous. It usually started very hot as the area is so exposed, but once we reached the last part before reaching the RCPI Towers of Mt. Babag, it would rain. The initial blistering hot and continuous assault would end us drenched in both sweat and rain near the peak.
The trail is almost non-existent in the last part of the assault to Mt. Babag, so we ended up making our own trail in a dense part of the forest. I was afraid there might be snakes because it was really damp and ideal for snakes to lurk around. Luckily, I haven't seen one and reached Mt. Babag at noon. After about 10 min rest, we split into two groups, the other group wanted a longer and more challenging trail which is Bocaue-Pamutan-Baksan trail, but I was really exhausted so I went with the Temple of Leah group. We basically just walked along the road until we reached Busay. The other trail was just not for me at that time. Since I haven't traversed the Mt. Babag to Temple of Leah route before, I was excited to try that route.
And it turned out to be a good decision.
All the photos here are taken along that route and I can say it's one of the best views of metropolitan Cebu.
We just walked an established road from RCPI Towers. I was not able to take a single photo of the area, but if you search on the web, Mt. Babag is where most of the transmitters of the local TV channels are located. That area is strategic. It was a blazing hot early afternoon and that might be the reason why I was not able to take a photo. I was amazed by the view though. I think the following photos are the first ones I took. I can't remember anymore which part of the route I took them.
It was mostly going downhill, so it was not as difficult as the hike in the morning, but we still have to be very careful. Most injuries happen during downhill. I was mostly at the last part and I was always catching up to them because I took a lot of photos of the view of the city. It was really awesome that my exhaustion was slowly fading away.
We reached the part in Barangay Babag I where there are flower fields and it's overlooking the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. I just couldn't resist taking photos that I had to run after my friends because I couldn't see them anymore.
And then we passed by a restaurant/cafe called "Badjang". It's a newly opened restaurant located in Babag I. It's owned by a PBB (Pinoy Big Brother) contestant. We decided to have a late lunch there. Aside from the awesome view of the city, their food is really good. I'm not sure if it was because of exhaustion and hunger that the food is really good or their chef is awesome. I guess you'll have to figure out for yourself if you're in Cebu.
Here's the view of Badjang:
I ordered sisig with egg, 2 cups of garlic rice, and a glass of iced tea. When you're so tired from the hike, the food tastes phenomenal. It was a delight!
We stayed there until around 2:00 PM before continuing with the hike to Temple of Leah. The other group chatted that there was no barbeque at the store where we usually eat. I would say that's the main reason why choosing the Temple of Leah group was a good choice.
More photos of the city:
I guess that's all for this post! I think I can continue with my Coron series in the next post. See you!
Kim Ybañez
Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying hard photographer so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.
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