Bukidnon, from the root word “bukid” is a highland province of the Philippines located in the Northern part of Mindanao. It is where Mt. Dulang-dulang and Mt. Kitanglad was located - the 2nd and 4th highest mountains in the Philippines. True to its name, Bukidnon offers a variety of fun filled, thrilling and exciting adventures waiting for you to experience.
Mt. Loay has become the hiker and trail runner’s haven after it was opened to the public. Since then, Loay has slowly become an attraction to hiking enthusiasts in the region. There’s even a meme that circulated on facebook stating “dli ka climbers kung wala pa ka kasulay sa Loay (You are not a climber if you didn’t experience hiking Loay)”. With its strenuous trail, one would surely flex the experience when hiking this celebrity mountain of Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur.
It’s been 3 years since my last hiking romance with nature and I miss it so bad. To be honest, the call of nature adventure remains loud despite the fact that I have shelved the call after my Byaheng Mindanaw team disbanded. The scent of the mountain is a breath of life, a respite, a medicine, an addiction of which I can hardly get over with. And from time to time, I look back at my photographs, wondering when I will have another chance to immerse with the outdoors. Yes, I still wander. I sometimes plan a trek but it can be easily traded with the beach as my set of friends prefer it over an exhausting hike.
"Are we there yet?" Almost everyone expressed the same uncertainty to our young tour guide minute by minute as we continue to tramp deeper into the jungle of barangay Sicao, Tamayong. The supposed 30 minutes hike into the hidden Sicao falls had turned into a daunting and tiring two hours of endless pursuit. Later the tour guide affirmed she lost track of the trail. And we're stuck in the middle of the forest with no food to feed our hungry tummies.
As soon as I got the invitation from a good friend slash
travel blogger Olan about the outreach climb, I instantly nodded without a
doubt. Perhaps, It's a fresh start for me to rather focus on productive things than ponder about the distress life has rewarded me the past few weeks.
I am not an adept climber thus the limited experience I have is something I need to deal with along the way. I even asked myself about the bittersweet reality.. Am I ready? Well, at least, spiritually I guess (Blame me for being frailty!). The only reason that motivated me to tag along this journey is the great cause of lending a hand to the local community of Sitio Kule in Tboli, South Cotabato.
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