Mt. Pinatubo via Sapang Uwak | The Long Way Up

Because reaching the crater of Mt. Pinatubo via the famous Capas trail is too mainstream, we decided to take the much longer, and more physically demanding route (via Sapang Uwak Trail). Para maiba lang. Who would have thought, this unpopular trail offers not only a brand new experience of Mt. Pinatubo, but also a total different perspective of the crater lake. Up to this date, that view of the Pinatubo lake from the crater rim is one of the best sceneries I ever witnessed in my life. Totoo yan, peks man! 

Being a common site for many trail running events, Sapang Uwak trail is actually more popular to trail runners than regular hikers. Its 28-km trail length has long been a challenge to all sorts of adventurers. Usually, hikers would give it one day up to Patag Campsite, spend a night there, continue to the crater the following day and descend the mountain that same day. Giving it a total of 2 days of an adventure.

But not so very long ago, I participated in an event arranged by Sabit-Sabit mountaineers, which aims to hike Mt. Pinatubo via Sapang-uwak trail in just one day. I know, that 50+ kilometer (balikan) in a day sounds a bit absurd, but the fact that a few groups have already done it in the past encourages me to bite this crazy idea. Bahala na si batman.

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Sunday - April 6, 2014 

A van full of adventurous souls left Manila at around 12 midnight. The catch is, if we want to finish early, we must as well start very early. Organizers of the hike have made the necessary arrangements with the Sapang Uwak Tourism prior to our hike so getting to the jump-off point went pretty smoothly. Meron kasing check point en route to Sapang Uwak Village. No permit would mean illegal entry, thus bawal tumuloy.

It was 3 in the morning when we arrived at Sapang Uwak Village, and right away we began hiking. Accompanying us were 2 aeta guides from the village. By the way, Sapang Uwak is an aeta village. 

The trail was rather friendly during the first few hours of our hike. It was a long open dirt road with a seemingly never ending series of uphills and downhills. The sun hasn't pierced the dark sky just yet so I was kind of clueless how the environment looked like on the early parts of the trail.

Two hours into trekking, the sun finally showed up, revealing the distinct contour of Mt. Arayat.

Pawikan Conservation Center | Free, turtles, free!

To live in a tropical country like the Philippines, especially during the season of summer, is like spending every hour of the day inside an oven. Super hot! And for this very reason, many wishes bum in a beach just to ease that feeling of heat. Luckily, with a coastline of more than 22 thousand miles, the Philippines is just so blessed with plenty and different kinds of beaches (white sand, black sand, grey sand, pebbles, name it, we have it!).

Oddly, Dawn and I visited a beach in Morong, Bataan last March not for the same reason others go to beach. The deal here are the turtles! Yes, we went to the beach just to see turtles.

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Day 1 - March 1, 2014

Just so you know, a total of 7 species of marine turtles swim across oceans in different parts of the world. And from these seven species, five are found in the Philippines. Ang cool di ba? The 5 species that swim in this beautiful country are the Green Turtle, the Hawksbill Turtle, the Olive Ridley, the Loggerhead, and lastly and the biggest of them all, the Leatherback Turtle. Interestingly, the shores of Bataan, particularly along the coastal towns of Bagac and Morong, is a nesting hotspot for 3 of these 5 turtle species.

The itch to see these gentle creatures gave Dawn and I an idea to spend a weekend in Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong, Bataan. By the way, to those who aren't familiar, Pawikan Conservation Center is a local initiative whose aim is to conserve and protect the marine turtles or pawikan who found their way to the shores of Bataan. Turtle eggs laid in the area are also under their protection.

Getting into the conservation ceneter is actually easier than I thought. From Manila, we took a bus to Balanga City. We asked the conductor to drop us anywhere we can take a ride to Morong town. When we arrived at the central terminal of Balanga City, he directed us to the lined up mini bus with "Morong" signboard. What followed was a 1-hour ride on the winding but scenic road to Morong Town. It was almost lunch time when we got in town so we ate first in a karinderya before finally taking a tricycle up to our destination in Brgy. Nagbalayong.

All in all, it took us roughly 6 hours to reach Pawikan Conservation Center from Manila via Balanga route. Sensya na sa tabingi na piktyur, marami ako hawak eh.