It's my first time to try out hiking, basically, this decision to hike is because part of my 2016 year goal is to travel and explore more, plus I read blogs about budget hike, so why not give it a try, right? It's my first ever hike, and I kind of forced people around me to come and join me on my impulsive desire to climb a mountain.
I'd say this POST - really did help a lot in our exploring, we just followed their itinerary :)
We arrived at the Grand Terminal around 12nn, one jeepney driver offered us a ride going directly to the jump off in Mt. Gulugod Baboy or Philpan Dive; which cost us Php100 each, the driver is really nice and told us he could also pick us up after the hike (that also costs Php100 back to the Grand Terminal). We arrived at the jump off around 1:30pm, we had our lunch there at the nearby Carinderia, we also hired a guide(Php500) since it's our first time climbing and had no idea what's instore for us, and paid our registration fee(Php35).
We started the hike at 2pm and gladly the sun isn't as up and too hot that time in Batangas, good thing the weather cooperated with us. I'd say the road going to the summit is hard, there's no chance I'm 100% physically fit, Haha! The start of the climb was in a cemented road, and within 10 minutes into the trek we were already tired and sweating as much. They say that the road to the peak can be reached in 1 hour but the amount of rest and breathe catching we had, took us about 2 hours to reach the summit.
Stunning, wonderful and breathtaking is probably an understatement.
We also met different hikers climbing up and going down, everyone was so friendly and supportive - some gave motivational and encouraging words, I love seeing this kind of unity with the hikers. "malapit na", "kapit lang", "kaya niyo yan", "dalawang bahay na lang", "enjoy! worth it yan". There were also climbers who chose to stay overnight in the peak. I would love to try it too, one day.
And we will definitely hike again, we are still planning on where but once you start hiking I think you can never stop craving for that kind of feel being one with nature, it's so relaxing and you forget about everything for a while.
This just felt like a whole new world, a whole new feel to me, to be honest, you won't feel any tiredness once you are up in the summit and see the wonderful creation that is Gulugod Baboy, it just feels like being on top of the world, with the land, sea, air surrounding you.
