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| Mt. Amuyao |
In search for the Sea of Clouds, I didn't think twice on joining in this climb set by MMS member, Ed Velasquez. According to some blogs that I've read, Mt. Amuyao has a greater chance of having sea of clouds as compared to Mt. Pulag and other mountains in the Philippines. Since Ed is a hardcore mountaineer, he decided to make it a Reverse Traverse (Batad, Ifugao to Barlig, Mountain Province).
Day 0
I was excited and a little bit nervous. I know that this would be the hardest climb because aside from the story of my officemate who already conquered Amuyao, it will really hurt my knees. The difficulty of Amuyao Traverse is 8/9 as per PinoyMountaineer.com.
Our departure going to Banaue is 10PM and we already got our tickets thru online reservation. So we have to be in Ohayami Bus Station which located in Sampaloc, Manila before 10PM. We arrived in the bus station 2 hours before. It is much better to arrive at least an hour before the departure so you can double check your things or buy other stuff.
Day 1
We arrived in Banaue, Ifugao at around 8 o'clock in the morning. First thing we did was to buy bus tickets going to Manila for Sunday, and we got the 7PM trip.
We looked for our driver that will bring us in Batad. We should be in Batad after 2 hours, but while on our way, we've noticed that we've traveled so long but we're still far. We thought that we're going to Barlig, Mt. Province so we asked the driver, and yes we're heading to other point of the traverse. Since we really wanted to do the Reverse-Traverse, we headed back to Banaue then to Batad, but we first had our lunch in Mt. Polis near the boundary of Ifugao and Mt. Province.
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| Mama Mary at Mt. Polis |
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| Welcome to Mountain Province |
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| Mummies |
When we arrived in Batad, we prepared our things and headed to Batad Rice Terraces view point to register. I was so excited to see Batad Rice Terraces while trekking because it would be my first time to see a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was very stunning. I couldn't help myself taking lots of photos of it. I was also surprised to know that we're going to trek in the rice terraces, and it was really cool.
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| Batad Rice Terraces |
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| View while trekking Batad Rice Terraces |
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| View while trekking Batad Rice Terraces |
Our goal for Day 1 was to reach Cambulo Village. However, the original plan was to reach Pat-yay Village but due to some delays, we opted to stay at Cambulo and start early on Day 2.
We arrived at Cambulo at around 5PM and we started to set our camp in Cambulo Elementary School. We tried to rest and chill as much as we can, so we had a beer session at the school.
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| Approaching Cambulo Village |
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| Cambulo Kids with Bigote Brothers |
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| Beer session at Cambulo |
Day 2
In order for us to arrived in Mt. Amuyao Summit before sunset, we woke up at around 2AM and start the trek at 2:30AM. It was the hardest part of the adventure. Trekking at the edges of Cambulo Rice Terraces in dark is really hard and quite dangerous. But the experience is awesome.
We arrived at Pat-Yay Village before lunch time. We had our lunch and rest for at least an hour while enjoying the view.
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| Tata Edmund on the go |
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| Approaching Pat-yay Village |
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| Home we stayed for lunch |
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| Rice Terraces of Pat-yay Village |
Trek resumed and our next stop is the summit. We were really tired but we still need to trek at least 4 to 5 hours. The trail going to summit made the trek more difficult for us, but if you're an adventurous one, you're gonna like it. :)
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| Resume Trek going to Mt. Amuyao Summit |
We reached the Mossy Forest at around 5PM. It was the last part before the summit and we were really tired and hungry. While trekking in the Mossy Forest, we had a lot of breaks and I shouted "Summit na?!???" many times. Please take note to avoid shouting on the Mossy Forest because Edmund had a creepy experience that I will share later.
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| Bigote Brothers taking 10 minutes before entering Mossy Forest |
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| Edmund sleeping in the Mossy Forest |
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After we passed the Mossy Forest, we dealt with a very steep assault and that would be the last. Finally, we've reached the summit just in time for the sunset.
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| Just passed the Mossy Forest |
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| Last assault to Summit |
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| Finally, Summit |
We were 2 groups in the summit. Since we were the first group to arrived, we got the bunker. The other groups camped outside. The other group was headed by Warren Causing with 12-15 participants. In their group, I met 2 girls, Sheryl and MJ who also lives in Batangas and also my schoolmates in Batangas State University.
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| Bunker house in Mt. Amuyao Summit |
Day 3
Before I go to sleep for Day 3, I was so excited for the chance of seeing the Sea of Clouds for the very first time. I woke up exactly 5AM, that's our call time for us to cook. While we were cooking, I can't help myself to go outside the bunker and check if there's already a sea of clouds. I think around 5:15AM, I went outside and it was still dark but you can see that dawn has started. There was no clouds that time yet and I already gave up. Haha! I went back in, and after 15 minutes, I went outside again to check and it was finally forming. To my surprise, I called Edmund to see the formation and we stayed there until sunrise together with other group. The view was surreal and the feeling of finally seeing the sea of clouds is really awesome.
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| My first captured photo of Sea of clouds |
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| Sunrise in Mt. Amuyao |
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| Ms. Che at Mt. Amuyao Summit |
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| MJ and Sheryl at Mt. Amuyao Summit |
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| Mt. Amuyao |
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| Bigote Brothers at Mt. Amuyao Summit |
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| Addition to the reward, Rainbow |
We started our descent going to Barlig, Mountain Province at aroung 8AM. In Barlig side, you'll see the typical Cordillera view, Rice Terraces and Pine Trees. It took 5 hours when we reached the Barlig jump-off. We immediately bought sodas to re-hydrate, reward ourselves and tidy up. From Barlig, we traveled 2-3 hours going to Banaue. We were fetched by the same driver that brought us to Batad. While on our way, we've saw Mt. Amuyao from afar, we opted to stop and take photos.
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| View while descending to Barlig |
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| Can't help myself taking photos of this surreal view |
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| Wilderness |
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| Pine trees in Barlig side |
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| Barlig, Mountain Province |
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| The team trekking in the edges of rice terraces |
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| The blogger with Mt. Amuyao at the background |
I was really amazed in the elevation of Mt. Amuyao and I'm so proud of myself that I already conquered the mountain. I've already conquered 2 of the 10 highest mountains in the Philippines. Lots of goals have fulfilled because of this climb, truly an awesome experience.
But before I end this, the creepy story I want to share is that Edmund saw a doppelganger of Ms. Che (one of the participants) out of the trail. At first he thought Ms. Che was taking photos, but at the back of Edmund's mind, Ms. Che is many meters away from us. So lower your voice while trekking in the Mossy Forest.
Mt. Amuyao Reverse-Traverse
March 11 - 13, 2016
Entry point: Batad Rice Terraces, Banaue, Ifugao
Exit point: Poblacion, Barlig, Mountain Province
Difficulty:8/9
ACTUAL ITINERARY
Day 0 - March 10,2016
1800 Assembly : OHAYAMI BUS SAMPALOC MANILA
2100 ETD for Banaue, Ifugao
Day 1 - March 11,2016
0800 ETA Banaue/ Breakfast
0830 Take rented Jeep to ‘Saddle’
1200 Lunch at Mt. Polis
1400 ETA ‘Saddle’ Jump off; Start Trek to Batad
1430 ETA Batad; Quick Lunch. Register
1500 ETD to Cambulo Village
1730 ETA Cambulo Village. Set Camp
1900 Socials
2030 Lights out
Day 2 - March 12,2016
0200 Wake-up Call / Quick breakfast
0230 Start trek to Pat-yay Village
1100 ETA Pat-yay Village. Lunch
1300 ETD to Summit
1600 ETA Mossy Forest
1530 ETA Summit. Either stay at bunkhouse or camp outside
1900 Dinner / SOCIALS
Day 3 - March 13,2016
0600 Wake-up Call / Breakfast
0700 Break Camp
0800 Start Descend
0830 ETA Barlig Viewpoint (~2400 MASL)
0930 Proceed with the trek
1200 ETA Macalama, Barlig, take Lunch/wash up
1300 ETD for Banaue
1730 ETA Banaue (Dinner)
1900 ETD for Manila
Day 4 - March 1,2016
0200 ETA Manila
EXPENSES
Bus from Manila to Banaue (online booking)--------P480/head
Jeep---------------------------------------------------------P8,000/group
Registration in Batad-------------------------------------P150/head
Guide Tip--------------------------------------------------P25/head
Banaue to Manila-----------------------------------------P450/head
Guide Fee (1500/day)------------------------------------P4,500/group
Estimated Budget = P2,900 - P3,5000
There are porters available and it cost too much, P1,500/day.
CONTACT NUMBERS
Ms. Jane Buyao from Banaue Tourism Office - 639196142266
Ms. Juliet Mateo - (+6374)3864010
Jayson Tindongan (Jeepney Driver) - 0935 765 4068
For more info about our climb, contact Ed Velasquez or me.
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